You’ve seen it at the airport: a CLEAR lane, separate from the general security line and the TSA PreCheck line, where flyers pay an annual fee to a private company to speed through based on their biometric data. They get escorted ahead of even the regular PreCheck customers to get through security that much more quickly. A Southern California lawmaker is fed up with CLEAR customers cutting to the head of the line and has introduced legislation that could see California become the first state to restrict those lanes. KCBS Radio news anchors Bret Burkhart and Patti Reising spoke to Senator Josh ..read more

Governor Newsom continues to stay on the offensive when it comes to abortion, trying to ensure access while also capitalizing on a potent campaign issue. The governor has launched another ad campaign, this time in the state of Alabama, and tomorrow will unveil legislation aimed at Arizona. The governor has been unrelenting both in his criticism of red state governors and abortion bans, and his expansion of access to abortion in California. This latest TV commercial is aimed at Alabama, where Republican lawmakers are trying to make it a crime to help a minor go to another state for an abortion ..read more

As we’ve been reporting, the US Supreme Court heard a hugely important case today on homelessness, and what cities can legally do about it. The case involves the city of Grants Pass, Oregon but could have major implications for policies here in the Bay Area. The issue in Grants Pass v Johnson is whether Grants Pass can enforce its ban on camping on public property to police homelessness, or whether it’s unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment to tell people who have no place else to go that they can’t sleep outside. A federal district court sided with the homeless people who sued to ov ..read more

Researchers from the Public Policy Institute of California teamed up with Stanford to develop what they say is a health-inclusive California Poverty Measure to understand how Medi-Cal expansion could benefit undocumented immigrants. Researchers looked at data from the fall of 2021 and reviewed insurance needs and costs. When factoring in health coverage, researchers found the poverty rate to be much higher among non-citizens. But if the state-funded expansion of Medi-Cal coverage is successful, it could help bring that rate down.  For more, KCBS Radio news anchors Patti Reising and Bret B ..read more

Despite years of preventive measures, San Francisco still has the highest pedestrian death rate in the nation, and is on track to break its unfortunate record this year. So now the City is going to try something new to slow cars down and make the streets safer for people on foot. This week the Municipal Transportation Agency approved a plan to install 33 “speed safety cameras,” as part of a pilot program made possible by a bill co-authored by State Assemblymember Phil Ting of San Francisco. He’s also behind a bill to help expedite conversion of empty downtown office buildings into housing ..read more

A new report blasts California for continuing to take federal benefits away from foster children, to help balance the state budget. The nationwide study gives California and 43 other states a grade of F, for diverting funds to foster care agencies, without ever even telling kids that the money is rightfully theirs. This has been a practice for many years, but in recent years there’s been a movement to ban it, which Arizona has done, and there’s federal legislation in the works. California applies for Social Security disability and survivor benefits in the names of foster children, then collect ..read more

An unusual recount is underway in a closely watched Bay Area Congressional race that produced an unprecedented result.  This is the race to succeed Representative Anna Eshoo in the 16th Congressional district, which ended with a tie for second place, sending three different candidates on to November. Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo finished first, while Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian and Assemblyman Evan Low finished in a flat-footed tie for second, with the exact same number of votes. Under the state’s Top Two primary law, that means all three of them advance to the genera ..read more

Israel continues to weigh its options to retaliate after Iran’s unprecedented missile and drone attack over the weekend. The Biden Administration says the United States remains “ironclad” in its support for Israel— but will not get involved in a conflict with Iran.  This was the first time Iran has ever directly attacked Israel, instead of fighting through proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas. It was retaliation for a strike in Syria that killed two Iranian generals, which is widely believed to have been Israel’s doing. The US and other allies helped Israel intercept 99% of Iran’s incoming ..read more

At a time of extreme polarization in politics and declining civic engagement, even though studies show how vital it is to our mental health and healthy aging to become more engaged socially, and not to become isolated, more and more Californians are banding together in what are called “giving circles.” It’s a way for people of modest means to pool their resources and have a significant collective impact. Think of it as democratizing philanthropy. Now, meaningful philanthropy is not just the province of billionaires, but instead can be a way for people with common values to work for positive ch ..read more

California lawmakers continue to try to tackle the retail crime epidemic without repealing criminal justice reforms approved by the voters.  The latest package of bills comes from Democrats in the State Assembly, with the Speaker’s seal of approval. Democrats in the state legislature hope to take enough action to head off a move to pass a new ballot measure that would roll back some of  Proposition 47, the initiative that voters passed ten years ago that raised the threshold for some felony theft and drug possession crimes. Instead, they’ve introduced a package of bills they say will ..read more