North Bay News

• The California Endowment is classifying police killings as a public health issue that must be addressed.

• The Trump administration has pointed to a 200 percent spike in arrests along the Southern border in March compared with the same month a year ago. How many of took place along the California border with Mexico and how significant is this increase?

Today's reporting by Sammy Caiola and Chris Nichols.

,• A new kind of poaching is taking place in California. Thieves are stripping succulents from cliffs near the ocean, boxing them up and sending them to countries like Korea, China, and Japan.

• California cities dominate the list of places with the most polluted air in the United States according to an annual report by the American Lung Association.

Today's reporting by Ezra David Romero and Randol White.

• A bill that would expand health care coverage to undocumented adults has moved forward in the California state Assembly.

• When you eat eggs from your friend's backyard coop, those yolks are connected to the soil hens scratch around in. After last year's fires, UC Davis researchers are testing backyard eggs statewide to see if contaminants ended up in those eggs.

Today's reporting by Ben Bradford and Julia Mitric.

• The battle to save net neutrality comes to California today – after the Trump administration repealed Obama-era rules designed to make sure internet service providers can't play favorites.

Today's reporting by Suzanne Potter.

• The caravan of immigrants that president Trump says threatens security at the U.S.-Mexico border is reported to include a large number of LGBTQ people seeking asylum from South American countries.

• A Texas Federal Judge ruled that Title VII includes protections for gay and transgender people because discrimination based on those identities is a form of gender discrimination. 

• Some California Democrats are trying to pass their own Internet laws in response to the Trump Administration's rollback of Net Neutrality rules enacted under President Obama.

• Lawmakers seek to alleviate emergency room overcrowding by sending people in mental health crisis or under the influence of drugs and alcohol to destinations other than the hospital.

Today's reporting by Sally Schilling and Sammy Caiola.

• The California governor’s race is heating up, just weeks before vote-by-mail ballots go out for the June 5th primary, with a new $7 million donation the first sign that the big money is starting to move.

• Republican Congressman Paul Ryan announced earlier this week he is not seeking reelection and has made suggestions that Republican Marjority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield will succeed him as House Speaker.

Today's reporting by Ben Adler and Sally Schilling.

• A new statewide agreement in California will make it easier for community college students to graduate with a bachelor's degree.

• Mayors from 11 California cities are continuing to make a big ask for investments in solutions to their homelessness crises.

Today's reporting by Randol White and Adhiti Bandlamudi.

• A controversial bill to increase the number of tall housing developments near transit stops in California, has been amended in response to a chorus of concerns.

• California’s largest water district has given key support to a 17-billion-dollar water project, long sought by Governor Jerry Brown.

Today's reporting by Randol White and Ben Bradford.

• An opioid prescription database that was supposed to be a required part of physician practice two years ago still isn’t ready to use. Patient advocates say it’s costing lives.

• We’re still waiting for word from Gov. Jerry Brown about whether he’ll agree to President Trump’s request to deploy California National Guard troops to the Mexican border. What would Trump's options be if Brown says no?

Today's reporting by Sammy Caiola and Ben Adler.

• A man in the United Kingdom has been infected with the world’s worst case of treatment-resistant gonorrhea after a sexual encounter with a woman in Asia.  Health officials are worried about a spread of the infection immune to traditional antibiotics. 

• Vice President Mike Pence says he is happy to see high school students engaging in the civic process after it was announced a group was organizing a Pride celebration in his hometown. 

• Santa Rosa Gaydar is hosting a cornhole tournament at the Jaded Toad in Cotati next Sunday.

• Every border state governor has embraced President Trump’s requested deployment of National Guard troops to the Mexican border — except in California.

• President Trump says voter fraud rampant in California.

Today's reporting by Ben Adler and Drew Sandsor.

• California Governor Jerry Brown’s administration says it’s reviewing President Trump’s proclamation deploying National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.

• The two Democratic leaders of the California state Legislature threw their support behind California State University administrators, faculty and students calling for more state funding.

Today's reporting by Ben Adler and Ben Bradford.

• The shooting of Palm Spring gay man in Puerto Vallarta has LGBTQ tourist rattled.  The man was walking with his husband home to their condominium last Sunday when the shooting happened.

• 2018 is becoming the deadliest year yet for members of the transgender community.  The latest victims was found shot to death in a motel room in Louisiana.

• In response to an outbreak of syphilis, Sonoma County health authorities are partnering with Face 2 Face to provide free testing and treatment for syphilis this week.

• The latest police shooting of an unarmed black man – the death of Stephon Clark in Sacramento – has spurred the proposal of a new California law. It would change the almost 150-year-old definition of when an officer can apply deadly force.

Today's reporting by Ben Bradford.

• Following President Trump's move to place tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum exports, China says it may retaliate by levying 2 billion dollars in tariffs on U.S. agricultural exports.What does that mean for California pistachio growers?

Today's reporting by Julia Mitric.

• President Trump’s legal team tried to recruit top attorney Ted Olson to help defend the president in the Russia Investigation.  While Olson won the fight against Prop 8 in the Supreme Court, he won’t be defending Trump. 

• A man on PrEP in Washington State became infected with a drug-resistant form of HIV despite taking Truvada daily.  Health officials continue to say though that Truvada remains a highly effective defense against HIV infection.  

• And in California, the first lesbian woman was elected to the office of Senate President.

• Flags at the California state Capitol are flying at half-staff in honor of the most influential advisor to Governor Jerry Brown since he returned to the office.

• More than a million cigarette butts were collected in the US this year. That’s why Democratic Assembly member Mark Stone is trying to make them illegal for the third time.

Today's reporting by Ben Bradford and Ezra David Romero.

• POLITIFACT CALIFORNA: Gavin Newsom's True Claim: California Ranks 49th In Per Capita Housing Supply

Find more on this and other PolitiFact California fact checks HERE.

• Lieutenant Governor Newsom said he wants to change how higher education is funded during a Q&A Thursday afternoon in Sacramento.

Today's reporting by Chris Nichols.

• Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ohio Governor John Kasich headlined the first event for a group of California Republicans trying to push the party in a more moderate direction.

Today's reporting by Ben Bradford.

• The California Senate will swear in its first ever female leader Wednesday — and its first openly gay leader too. San Diego Democrat Toni Atkins takes the oath as Senate President pro Tem at a unique moment for the state.

• In San Francisco Wednesday the nation's first-ever court hearing on the science of climate change will take place. Major oil companies will answer questions like what created the ice age and what are the sources that cause the planet to warm.

Today's reporting by Ben Adler and Ezra David Romero.

• The nation’s top court will consider whether a California abortion law violates freedom of speech rights of anti-abortion advocates.

• The Chief Justice of California's Supreme Court turned her attention from the state's judicial system to the national stage in her remarks before the legislature Monday.

Today's reporting by Ben Bradford and Julia Mitric.

• After threats of protest by the anti-LGBT Westboro Baptist Church, students at Missouri’s John Burroughs Prep school rallied around a fellow students and football start who came out as gay last fall and staged a counter protest. 

• A federal court in Maryland ruled that schools must allow access to restrooms and locker rooms for transgender students based on their gender identity and that failure to do so violates Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause. 

• Some groups want doctors to be trained on how to ask patients about gun ownership, others say it's inappropriate.

Today's reporting by Sammy Caiola.

• California isn’t moving to a single-payer health care system anytime soon. So a coalition of liberal advocacy groups is calling for policy actions this year to achieve statewide universal coverage under California’s current health care system.

• Lawmakers think the underground pot market is growing. That’s why a new bill would eliminate taxes on cultivating cannabis and drop the excise tax from 15 to 11 percent for three years.

Today's reporting by Ban Adler and Ezra David Romero.

• A key priority of California Governor Jerry Brown before he leaves office is regaining momentum at the Capitol after stalling last year.

Today's reporting by Ben Bradford. 

• As high school students around the country prepare to walkout to protest for tighter restrictions on firearms, California lawmakers and policy advocates are preparing their own responses after the Parkland shooting.

• Donald Trump visited the U.S.-Mexican border and spoke to Marines at Miramar Air Station Tuesday in San Diego during his first trip to California as president. The president’s visit was fraught with political tension.

Today's reporting by Ben Bradford and Drew Sandsor.

• For the second consecutive election, two Democrats are positioned to advance to the run-off for a U.S. Senate seat in California.

• Supporters and protesters are making different kinds of plans to greet President Trump today when he visits San Diego to inspect border wall prototypes.

Today's reporting by Ben Bradford and Julia Mitric.