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University of California Bans Protest Encampments and Masks at All Campuses

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University of California Bans Protest Encampments and Masks at All Campuses


As University of California students return to school this week, UC President Michael V. Drake has instructed chancellors at all 10 of the school’s campuses to enforce rules banning protests that block walkways, protest encampments and the use of masks that conceal identity.

A similar policy has been announced for the California State University system.

The new policy attempts to limit the kinds of protests against the war in Gaza and American support for Israel in that war seen at college campuses across the country last spring.

“Freedom to express diverse viewpoints is fundamental to the mission of the University, and lawful protests play a pivotal role in that process. While the vast majority of protests held on our campuses are peaceful and nonviolent, some of the activities we saw this past year were not,” Drake wrote in a letter made public Monday.

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“I hope that the direction provided in this letter will help you achieve an inclusive and welcoming environment at our campuses that protects and enables free expression while ensuring the safety of all community members by providing greater clarity and consistency in our policies and policy application,” Drake said also.

The news comes one week after a U.S. district judge ordered UCLA to protect Jewish students in areas of campus where protests against the Gaza war are held.

UCLA was the center of a particularly violent incident on late April, after anti-Gaza war protesters erected an encampment on the school’s centrally located Royce Quad. The entrances to the encampment were guarded, and reportedly, passersby were only allowed to enter if they wore a wristband that indicated they supported the protests.

On April 30, a group of counter protesters, who appeared to consist mainly of right wing activists who did not attend UCLA, attacked the protest encampment with fireworks, tear gas and pipes. The response from law enforcement, particularly UCLA police and security guards but also LAPD was heavily scrutinized after it took more than three hours to quell the attack and the attackers were allowed to leave without being arrested. The chief of the UCLA police department subsequently faced calls to resign.

The ruling against UCLA came as part of a lawsuit from three Jewish UCLA students — Yitzchok Frankel, Joshua Ghayoum and Eden Shemuelian — who say they faced religious discrimination because they have a religious obligation to support the Jewish state of Israel. Because of Royce Quad’s location, the encampment made it more difficult for students who supported Israel to get to class.

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The encampment was evicted on May 6.



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California

California Highway Patrol warns against attempted ‘Amber Alert' scam

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California Highway Patrol warns against attempted ‘Amber Alert' scam


The California Highway Patrol is warning the public to beware of fraudsters posing as “AMBER Alert representatives” offering to “register” children.

“They ask for confidential info and to meet at your home,” the CHP said Saturday on social media. “This is not how the AMBER Alert system works.”

No registration is ever required, the CHP said.

AMBER — which stands for America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response — is only activated by law enforcement agencies investigating reports of an abducted or missing child.

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The alerts are intended to provide the public with immediate information about a child abduction.

The CHP said it is the only agency authorized to activate AMBER Alerts.

“Never provide personal information or answer calls from unknown or ‘possible scam’ numbers,” the highway patrol said.

If contacted by a scammer, the CHP said, report it to your local law enforcement agency immediately.

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Opinion: California utilities have lofty climate goals. Too bad their customers are in the dark

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Opinion: California utilities have lofty climate goals. Too bad their customers are in the dark


Regardless of the presidential election results, the clean energy transition is still a major priority for the nation’s electric utilities. Perhaps nowhere in the world is the pressure more intense than in Southern California, where the demands on the power grid are high and many residents are well acquainted with the consequences of aging, unsuitable infrastructure.

Many electric utilities now consider sustainability crucial to their overall strategy. However, as evidenced by countless examples of conservatives being elected on anti-environmental platforms, the majority of consumers just aren’t thinking that much about clean energy.

For the past four years, my team at J.D. Power and I have been analyzing customer awareness of and support for utilities’ climate programs and goals in an annual Sustainability Index. Without fail, we found that very few customers have any awareness of their utilities’ clean energy goals. This year’s index found that just 22% of customers knew their utilities had such goals, a figure that was even lower in previous years.

I experienced one aspect of this phenomenon as a consumer when I went through the grueling process of learning about and applying for California and federal rebates for an energy-efficient heat pump system I installed in my home last year. Even though I wrote about that ordeal for The Times and heard from consumers who had similar experiences, I have yet to get any response from my utility. Heat pumps have been a cornerstone of clean energy transition efforts, but when it comes to installing and using them and understanding their benefits, utilities are leaving consumers on their own.

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A deep dive into my combined electric and gas bills showed that my total expenses dropped 3% in 2024 compared with the same period in 2022, before I began installing the system. And because average unit electricity prices increased by more than 20% in the interim, my adjusted heating costs are down more than 23%. In addition, I now have the benefit of air conditioning during summer heat waves, which I did not have prior to the conversion.

But before I could even begin to understand the extent of these benefits, I had to download reams of data from Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s data hub, build a spreadsheet to organize and chart my energy use and utility billing trends, and cross-reference everything with federal greenhouse gas equivalency calculations. Does anyone think an average consumer would go through all this?

The experience illustrated the chasm between the way utilities communicate about environmental responsibility and the way consumers live it. The fact is, if any utilities are ever going to meet their sustainability targets — many of which call for reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 — they are going to need their customers to change their behavior. But given that few customers are even aware of these priorities, and that most are far more concerned about affordability than they are about sustainability, there is a complete disconnect between utility and customer goals.

But these goals can be aligned if the companies explain and promote them clearly and convincingly. We’re living through a historic transformation that has the potential to reinvent heating and cooling, travel and more. Smart-grid technologies can put individual homeowners at the center of the energy storage and transmission system. None of that will happen without massive consumer buy-in.

Utilities should be launching bold outreach strategies, investing in customer education on how to save money (and pollution) by adopting new technologies, and making it easy for consumers to help them reach their environmental goals. But most utilities are instead wasting their time talking about lofty sustainability targets that lack the substance and support they need to become reality.

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Electric utilities have a huge opportunity to help customers save money and improve their experience, increase their own revenue and meet their clean energy goals. To do so, they need to start understanding and communicating effectively with their customers.

Andrew Heath is the vice president of utilities intelligence at J.D. Power.



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California’s new ‘Daylighting’ law forces change to Davis parking

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California’s new ‘Daylighting’ law forces change to Davis parking


(FOX40.COM) — To comply with a new California law, the City of Davis announced changes that have been implemented on public parking. The law, Assembly Bill 413, also known as the “Daylighting Law,” prohibits vehicle parking or idling within 20 feet of any crosswalk. It’s also restricted within 15 feet of any crosswalk where a […]



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