.Thursday’s Briefing: PG&E faces more trouble; Oakland has $43 million budget shortfall

Hayward's police chief is leaving

Stories you don’t want to miss for Feb. 28:




Day 6 of the Oakland teachers strike.




1. There was some movement in negotiations between striking Oakland teachers and the school district, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The Oakland school district upped its offer to teachers to an 8 percent wage increase plus a 2 percent bonus. Teachers are asking for 12 percent. Meanwhile, the Oakland school board meeting on Wednesday was shut down by protesting teachers. $$




2. PG&E deferred maintenance for five years on the power line suspected to have caused last November’s Camp Fire, the inferno that destroyed Paradise, Calif, reports KGO-TV, and first reported by the Wall Street Journal.




3. Oakland’s two-year budget outlook appears dim once again. The East Bay Citizen reports the city’s finance department is projecting a combined $43 million budget shortfall over the next two fiscal years. The overview does not include a shortfall already identified in the current fiscal year outlook or the specter of a looming recession.




4. East Bay Rep. Ro Khanna was one of the stars of Wednesday’s Michael Cohen hearings.





5. Proponents of Alameda’s Measure B, the April 9 special election initiative aiming to block construction of a wellness center for homeless seniors took a pair of hits to their cause, the Alameda Sun reports. First, the group called Friends of Crab Crove, was issued a fine by the Fair Political Practice Commission for failure to disclose their financial report in a timely manner, and then an Alameda County Superior Court judge denied its request to put the special election on hold. The group preferred to place the question on the November 2020 ballot.




6. Hayward Police Chief Mark Koller announced his retirement after just over two years on the job, reports the East Bay Citizen. Koller, 55, is a Hayward native who served 38 years for the department. An interim police chief will be named in the coming days, the city said.




7. Inspiration for progressives in California? Oregon is set to pass a law enacting rent control for the entire state, reports The Huffington Post. The law limits annual rent increases to seven percent and prohibits no cause eviction after the tenant’s first year. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is expected to sign the bill today. In contrast, California voters declined last November to repeal legislation than banned rent control on single-family homes.




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