Posts Tagged: police

Opinion

Dem anti-prostitution bill oils Republican deportation machine

Image by romkaz.

OPINION – The Trump Administration is waging a war – with military troops on the ground – on Los Angeles and the rest of California because we refuse to hand our migrant neighbors over to unidentifiable goons who spit on the Constitution and due process protections we are all afforded in this country. Amidst this climate, AB 379 will cause devastating and irreparable harm in our communities, especially among migrant sex workers and survivors.

Opinion

UCLA protests: the campus police perspective

Photo via UCLA police

OPINION – As the guardians of public safety on college campuses, we have called on the UC Board of Regents to work with us on solutions that allow for peaceful protests while ensuring California universities achieve their mission of safely educating their students.

Podcast

Closing the CALeg gender gap, with Susannah Delano

Capitol Weekly editor Rich Ehisen with Susannah Delano of Close the Gap

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Susannah Delano, Executive Director at Close the Gap California, joined us to talk about the work of identifying and preparing women to run for elected office, and about the very real challenges women face when they choose to enter public life.

Podcast

What Will it Take to Get the Mentally Ill Homeless Off the Streets?

A homeless person sleeping on the street. Photo from Shutterstock user easyshutter.

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom released a proposal for a $3 billion bond measure aimed at the 2024 ballot, to fund housing for people with severe mental illness. At the same time, Newsom asked the legislature to revise 2004’s Proposition 63. Author and journalist Dan Morain joined us to talk about the two proposals, the half century of policy and politics that got us to where we are today, and shared his own personal story of a family member unable to live on his own after a devastating accident.

News

New CA law removes crime of loitering to commit prostitution

Photo illustration of a person loitering late at night on a deserted street. (Image: M-Production, via Shutterstock)

Roxanne is used to being harassed by the police. A trans woman, Roxanne – who uses only her first name – is an attorney. She owns two homes in San Jose about a mile apart and regularly walks from one to the other. Years ago, while exercising, she was arrested across the street from one of her homes, she said.

Opinion

Crisis Intervention Teams have advantages over CARE courts

Depressed and alone, a young woman sits beside the ocean. (Photo: PKpix, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Debates about the Governor’s CARE Courts program have raged across the state in recent months. A major point of contention is whether Californians with mental health challenges will be helped or hurt by being pushed into the legal system.

News

Lawmakers send historic mental-health bills to Newsom

The state Capitol in Sacramento, the seat of California government. (Photo: Always Wanderlust, via Shutterstock)

Landmark legislation to improve California’s notoriously fractured mental-health system has been passed and sent to the governor in the waning days of a chaotic legislative session disrupted by the COVID pandemic. “This package of legislation is a game-changer,” said Maggie Merritt, executive director of the Steinberg Institute.

News

Dangerous mix: Law enforcement and mentally ill suspects

A suspect in custody, handcuffed by police. (Photo: Boyfare, via Shutterstock)

Police response to mental-health calls often ends – again and again – in chaotic, noisy hospital emergency rooms, where staff is stretched thin, and a heart attack is likely to take precedence over someone in the throes of a mental-health crisis. “Traditionally, people would be dropped off at the ER, and the only option was to transfer them to a psychiatric facility,” says Dr. Scott Zeller, a nationally known emergency psychiatrist and former president of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry.

News

A Democratic battle in SF’s 11th Senate District

Jackie Fielder, candidate in the 11th Senate District. (Photo: Fielder campaign)

Jackie Fielder is an activist and educator with her sights set on California’s 11th Senate District, hoping in an uphill race to topple incumbent state Sen. Scott Wiener, a fellow Democrat. Fielder is young (25), educated (Stanford University), a person of color (both Native American and Latina), an environmental protester and an activist with a background in grassroots organizing. She describes herself as a Democratic Socialist.

News

Health officials to Newsom: Lockdown requires enforcement

The Santa Monica Pier, usually crowded, is closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo: BrittanyNY, via Shutterstock)

But one week into the lockdown, epidemiologists tracking rates of transmission in California and the United States worry that Newsom’s shelter-in-place order will be less effective in controlling new infections without stronger enforcement.

Support for Capitol Weekly is Provided by: