New reporter joins The Bee + NYT fans Newsom for POTUS flames + Bill stalls in committee

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

WELCOME MATHEW MIRANDA TO THE BEE

Via Mathew Miranda...

Saludos a toda mi gente Latina! My name is Mathew Miranda, a Los Angeles native and son of two Salvadoran-born parents. I’m the newest Latino communities reporter for The Sacramento Bee. I am extremely grateful and excited for this opportunity to report on the successes, challenges, issues and everyday realities of my community.

Before landing in Sacramento, I spent two years at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, where my thesis was on the spread of Spanish-language misinformation in closed-network groups. During my time in graduate school, I also interned at multiple publications, writing about vaccine hesitancy among Latinos, how campus affinity groups can help Latinos succeed in college and a Las Vegas Police Department’s attempt to build trust with its ‘agua fresca with a cop.’

My interest in writing about Latinos began in my first job after college, where I was the only Spanish-speaking reporter at the Chico Enterprise-Record. It’s during this time that I realized the importance of using my language skills to highlight other’s stories.

Growing up, I did not go a single day without being around someone who spoke Spanish. Whether it was chatting with my abuelitas, hearing La Sonora Dinamita at family parties or visiting our local taqueria, I was fortunate to grow up speaking two languages. We know that for years legacy media has missed an opportunity to speak to and be a voice for the Spanish-speaking community. I hope to bridge that gap.

But I’m also just one Latino in a state where they are 39.4% of the population. I can’t assume to know everything or speak for the 15.6 million Latinos in California. It’s why this job is a privilege and challenge. And it’s also why I have a request for readers.

Let me know what you think I should be focusing on. I invite you to send me your concerns, tips, observations and story ideas. I also encourage you to speak with parents, abuelos, tios, brothers, sisters, primos, and friends to ask them what issues affecting Latinos are not being talked about. I want to hear from a full-range of perspectives. We are not a monolith, and our stories go beyond immigration and crime.

I plan to explore how some Latinos are gravitating toward White nationalism and the effect of misinformation on family relationships. I also hope to write small business features and profile local leaders and organizations helping communities flourish. And of course, I plan to put an emphasis on policy, legislation and public officials affecting Latinos for the better and worse. Between the public and reporters, we can hold these officials accountable.

I’ve already started racking my brain with potential ideas, yet I know there’s a lot I’m still missing. But I’m hopeful that with your help, I will better cover and represent the ever-growing Latino communities across the state. Feel free to reach me at mmiranda@sacbee.com or @mathewjmiranda on Twitter.

NEWSOM FOR PRESIDENT? NYT ARTICLE FANS THE FLAMES

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said on several occasions that he is not running for president in 2024. In May, he told the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board that he has “sub-zero” interest in running for that job.

The Democratic governor also said in that interview that he wants Vice President Kamala Harris, a former California senator and attorney general, to succeed President Joe Biden, both Democrats, as the next president.

That didn’t stop the New York Times from openly wondering whether California’s 40th governor is harboring Oval Office ambitions, in a newsletter titled “Gavin Newsom pokes the GOP bear.”

Times political writer Blake Hounshell says Newsom is two things the leaders of his party — Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — are not: Young and popular.

“As demoralized Democrats search for political heroes, Newsom offers the allure of a proven winner. He crushed a recall attempt last year and emerged stronger. In California’s recent primary election, he finished ahead of his closest opponent by nearly 40 percentage points,” Hounshell wrote.

Hounshell’s piece quotes a number of political insiders who all are high on Newsom’s chances of becoming the next leader of his party, including California Republican consultant Mike Madrid and former President Barack Obama’s political adviser, David Axelrod.

“If the president were not to run, it’s hard to imagine that Newsom would not be sorely tempted to enter the race,” Axelrod told the Times. “Newsom is young and politically muscular, which may be just what the market will be seeking post-Biden.”

One person in the Times piece poured cold water on the notion of a Newsom presidential bid in ‘24, at least if Harris is running as well.

Los Angeles County official and Democratic National Committee member Michael Kapp said it’s highly unlikely that Newsom would run if Harris were in the race.

“I can’t imagine a world in which they would run against each other,” Kapp told the Times.

BILL TO RECOMMEND AAPI STUDIES IN K-12 DRAWS POLITICAL FRICTION AS IT STALLS IN COMMITTEE

On Wednesday, Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Red Bluff, was joined on the west steps of the Capitol by leaders of community and civil rights groups, including Henry Chang of the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA); Pastor Tecoy Porter of the National Action Network; and Ardell Harrison, vice president of the Sacramento NAACP, to rally on behalf of the senator’s bill, SB 1363, which encourages the teaching of Asian American and Pacific Islander history in K-12 classes.

The bill has stalled in the Assembly Education Committee, where Chair Patrick O’Donell, D-Long Beach, has held it up without a hearing. June 29 marks the deadline for bills to be heard in committee, and “it appears that the chair is running the clock on SB 1363 to kill the bill,” according to a statement from the APAPA.

The bill is opposed by the California Asian American and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, which is chaired by Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento.

At issue is that SB 1363 only encourages that AAPI history be taught, but does not require it.

In a statement, Pan thanked O’Donnell “for being a champion for the AAPI community” and said that that community “deserves more than symbolism.”

The caucus said in a statement that APAPA “chose not to inform or work with the (caucus) or the education community before introducing the bill and chose to introduce a performative bill that only ‘encourages’ teaching the contributions of California Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders as part of social sciences in California schools.”

APAPA disputes that, saying in a statement of its own that Nielsen offered to amend the bill to make AAPI education a requirement and to make Pan a joint author of the bill.

“The API Legislative Caucus told us they would only sign onto SB 1363 if they were the lead author and Republicans were removed. APAPA is a nonpartisan community-based organization so that was just something we could not agree to,” said APAPA founder CC Yin in a statement.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“All those responsible for attempting to overthrow our democracy must be held accountable. From top to bottom, without exception, full stop.”

- California Sen. Alex Padilla, via Twitter.

Best of the Bee:

• About 42,000 public safety employees in California will receive pandemic bonuses of $1,500 each through union agreements posted online on Friday, via Wes Venteicher.

• California Assembly Democrats are forming a select committee to investigate why the state’s $6-per-gallon gas prices are among the nation’s highest. But many of the answers Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Assemblymembers seek are no mystery at all, experts say, via Lindsey Holden and Andrew Sheeler.

• Once again, California’s largest healthcare workers union is campaigning for dialysis reform — but they face powerful opponents, via Owen Tucker-Smith.