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Walters: How California education money is spent matters — a lot

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 13:40:19 GMT

A decade ago, California’s political apparatus finally recognized a yawning achievement gap in its public schools, separating poor and English-learner students from their more privileged classmates.While overall, California’s nearly 6 million K-12 students were not faring very well in state and federal tests of academic achievement, the shortcomings were particularly evident among Latino and Black kids from poor families.The political response by then-Gov. Jerry Brown and legislators was the Local Control Funding Formula, or LCFF, which provided extra funds to local school systems with large numbers of kids “at-risk” of failure on the expectation that the money would be spent specifically on improving their outcomes.Tens of billions of dollars have been spent on LCFF grants, but the results have been, at best, marginal, and there’s been a running political and legal battle over accountability for spending the extra money and its effects.Brown, for obscure reasons that he extrapolate...

Mathews: California’s most important 2024 election affects India

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 13:40:19 GMT

On Jan. 28, Californians will cast ballots in a historic vote on creating a new independent country.Why is the first you’re hearing of it? Because the only Californians who can vote in the election are Sikhs. The proposed country would be in northern India.But that’s no reason to overlook the most important election in the Golden State next year.Indeed, the Khalistan Referendum is worthy of your attention for two reasons. First, it raises the questions of whether democracy is more likely to quell, or to inflame, violence during disputes over nationhood. Second, the vote is part of an ongoing experiment in how ballot measures might shape a new global system of democracy.The Khalistan Referendum is a global election, held on different dates and in different world cities that are home to many Sikhs. The Jan. 28 balloting, which will take place in San Francisco, follows votes in London, Geneva, Rome, Toronto, and Vancouver.The referendum itself is non-binding — even if the majorit...

Kristof: So many child deaths in Gaza, and for what?

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 13:40:19 GMT

Consider this: The most dangerous place to be a child in the world today is the Gaza Strip.That’s the assessment of Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, who is not a bleeding-heart radical but a former ambassador and veteran lawyer who worked for Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.Already it appears that more than twice as many children have died in Gaza just since the war started Oct. 7 than in all the conflicts worldwide in 2022, according to United Nations figures.“Almost 1 out of every 150 Palestinian children in Gaza have been killed in just two months,” noted Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president of MedGlobal, an aid group working there. “That is the equivalent of half a million American children.”Sahloul warned that many others may “die from infections, waterborne diseases or dehydration,” while others will suffer from lifelong physical disabilities.We can and should despise Hamas, a repressive, misogynist and homophobic force that uses Palestinian civilians as human sh...

When it comes to digital ‘experts,’ it’s fear versus facts

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 13:40:19 GMT

Q: We are first-time homebuyers. We live in the Bay Area. The chatter on the internet is that foreclosures are increasing in numbers. We are patient. We can wait to buy a foreclosure. Or we can wait until the interest rates on home loans return to the low-interest rates two years ago. Realty gurus on the internet think home prices will fall, too.  Your columns promote homebuying promptly. You rely on your experts. We rely on ours. What will happen with any certainty has yet to be determined. No one knows. So why don’t you present both sides of this homebuying issue? A: The World Wide Web and the Wild West of the 1800s have much in common: lawlessness and charlatans. The lack of governance is evident. The proliferation of self-proclaimed experts is staggering. Opportunists are capitalizing on fears, trends and misinformation.The Old West snake oil salesman gained trust. He was preying on the public — the desperate or gullible. The mirror image of today’s digital “expert.” So-called e...

Feldman: Supreme Court may push Sackler opioid case to Congress

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 13:40:19 GMT

Bankruptcy law is all about fresh starts. But just how much of a fresh start does the Sackler family deserve — without having to declare bankruptcy themselves?The family’s former company, Purdue Pharma, has become synonymous with the U.S. opioid epidemic and filed for bankruptcy in 2019. Plaintiffs harmed by that epidemic came to an agreement with the company that if the Sacklers paid $6 billion to victims and states, the family would be protected from further civil suits, even though they hadn’t personally declared bankruptcy. Last week, the Department of Justice argued before the Supreme Court that the deal went too far.At oral argument, Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that Congress would have to pass a law expressly authorizing a bankruptcy court to offer protection from civil suits for defendants in cases like this one. Since the justices seemed to be split between liberals and conservatives, if Roberts can convince at least one other justice of his view, it is likely to de...

Kyrgios confirms he won’t compete at the Australian Open

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 13:40:19 GMT

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Nick Kyrgios has confirmed he won’t compete at the Australian Open next month because of injuries.The 28-year-old Australian said on social media he’ll miss the Grand Slam for a second straight year because he needs “a little more time” to recover.Kyrgios, whose name was absent from the entry list for the tournament, pulled out of last season’s Australian Open because he needed knee surgery. He later dealt with a wrist problem.Kyrgios was the runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2022 but played in just one official singles match in 2023.Kyrgios teamed with Thanasi Kokkinakis to win the 2022 Australian Open men’s doubles championship.___AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennisSource

EU urges COP28’s oil chief to ‘lead’ on fossil fuel phaseout

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 13:40:19 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The European Union says it’s time for the oil boss presiding over this year’s global climate talks to step up and push for a fossil fuel phaseout. Spanish Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera, who represents EU governments in the negotiations, said Sultan al-Jaber, the COP28 president and CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, needed to take a more active role in the final days of the two-week-long talks, which are scheduled to end on Tuesday.“We’re in the hard moment where we need the clear engagement of the president of the COP,” she told POLITICO in an interview on Saturday. “He should be playing not only the role of a moderator, but the role of a leader trying to identify how we can open this pathway toward the outcomes that we need to get.”Ribera’s comments came as oil producers have stepped up their campaign against efforts to call for a phaseout of fossil fuels in the final COP28 agreement. In a letter leaked to multipl...

Germany warns of ‘warmonger Putin’ pushing propaganda at Paris Olympics

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 13:40:19 GMT

Germany’s sports minister, Nancy Faeser, has called on the International Olympic Committee to examine “very carefully” the backgrounds of Russian and Belarusian athletes competing in next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.Faeser’s comments came a day after the IOC, headed by Germany’s Thomas Bach, announced that Russians and Belarusians would be able to compete in Paris as neutrals outside of team events, provided they did not actively support the war against Ukraine. But Faeser, who is also Germany’s interior minister, said that it was important the IOC examine their backgrounds and exclude any athletes found to support President Vladimir Putin’s war, or have any connection to the Russian government or military.“The warmonger Putin must under no circumstances use the Olympic Games in Paris for his propaganda,” said Faeser, in a statement sent to POLITICO.In March, the IOC recommended that international sports could reinstate R...

Olaf Scholz on budget crisis: No cuts to German welfare state

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 13:40:19 GMT

BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday rejected his fiscally conservative coalition partners who are demanding cuts to social benefits, as the government tries to plug a €60 billion hole in its budget.“For me, it is very clear: There will be no dismantling of the welfare state in a situation like this,” Scholz said at the Social Democratic Party (SPD) convention in Berlin, during an eagerly awaited speech after weeks of silence on the subject. Scholz’s vow brought relief to his party colleagues, but poses a challenge to coalition partners from the Free Democratic Party, who have repeatedly called for the budget crisis to be resolved by cutting social benefits. Most recently, FDP deputy leader Johannes Vogel described the German welfare state as a “thicket” in an interview, which he said creates injustice, particularly in the area of family-related benefits.But in a 45-minute speech, Scholz gave little insight into how the government would pr...

DA: Brockton shooting suspect hospitalized after being found with self-inflicted wound

Published Sat, 28 Dec 2024 13:40:19 GMT

A man sought in connection with the deadly shooting of a woman in Brockton early Friday morning has been found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and was taken to a Boston hospital, where he remains in treatment, officials said.Gelson Fernandes, 29, of Brockton, is facing a homicide charge in connection with the fatal shooting of Stephanie Beatty, of Norwich, Connecticut, who was found dead in a vehicle on Nason Street, according to the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office.Investigators say Beatty and Fernandes were previously acquainted. This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.