California forum letters: Bee readers weigh in on positive changes at The Bee and more

Saving lives

“Laura’s Law might have saved my daughter’s life. I support its approval in Sacramento,” (sacbee.com, June 5)

Kudos to Sacramento County for adopting Laura’s Law, which will save lives and money. Laura’s Law targets a small group of severely mentally ill treatment-refusers who are too sick to know they are sick. Such individuals cycle between repeated involuntary hospitalizations or jail until they die, usually by suicide or physical ailments they also don’t treat. They are also a group most frequently killed by law enforcement. Laura’s Law keeps them in the community and on their medications — and studies show recipients like the program. They can agree to participate, and if they begin refusing medications again, the worst that happens is they are given a choice between a three-day hospital evaluation or their meds. Most choose meds. That’s the Laura’s Law miracle.

Mary Ann Bernard

Sacramento

Roe is faulty

“Roe v. Wade is solid constitutional law. The U.S. Supreme Court will overturn it anyway,” (sacbee.com, June 12)

I took a bar review course from Erwin — he was great at that. However, he also knows that Roe is unfortunately predicated on a finding of a “penumbra of privacy rights” that don’t explicitly appear in the Constitution. Justice Ginsburg was attacked by the far left for speaking about the truth of this. Roe is vulnerable, and rallying in the streets won’t help. The Berniebot feminists who bashed their biggest reproductive rights heroine, Hillary Clinton, are about to reap the whirlwind. Sadly, they’ll likely have to start from square one, yet again.

Christine Craft

Sacramento

Positive change

“A reimagined Sacramento Bee: We’re investing in exclusive, in-depth journalism,” (sacbee.com, June 6)

Congratulations on a very welcome improvement to The Bee. Sunday’s edition even had positive articles which I have been craving to offset the relentless negative news of the past 14 months. The layout as well as the content made it a pleasure to read.

Carolyn Martin

Sacramento Bee

Telework transformation

“Government workers must return to downtown Sacramento offices. Our recovery depends on it,” (sacbee.com, June 13)

Since before the pandemic, Sacramento city leaders have aimed to transform downtown from a mere employment center into a walkable, livable cultural and entertainment district. But there was a problem: those pesky commuters who needed offices to work in and wide roads to get to the freeway. With most downtown workers transitioned to full- or part-time telework, the city now has an opportunity to transform downtown as it wishes and the state can attract employees who prefer a suburban or rural lifestyle without spending several hours per week in their cars or on transit. While the transition is difficult, telework is a win-win for the City of Sacramento and state government. Don’t throw away the opportunity.

Andy Nevis

Shingle Springs

Tired EV narrative

“How far can you go in an electric car? California needs 1.2 million charging stations,” (sacbee.com, June 16)

The narrative for EV ownership always seems to be negative, inconvenient, and impractical. In order to facilitate mass adoption of EV, the narrative needs to focus on the positives. For example, this article easily could’ve been about educating people on the positives of EV charging: it talked about cost, which I think is understated, as many EVs using SMUD can charge for 0.03/mile. The convenience of having a ‘full tank’ every morning as you charge while you sleep. Also, instead of talking about how dire the charging infrastructure is, talk about how readily available it is for the cars on the road now. As more people own, infrastructure will keep up. Alleviate range anxiety, instead of highlighting it, because it truly is a myth for most owners. It mentions the challenge of refueling, how about an expert comment on how easy it truly is. This is how we get there.

Michael Ko

Elk Grove

Hospital scrutiny

“New use for Sacramento’s Sleep Train Arena site revealed: ‘A hub of innovation,’” (sacbee.com, June 16)

While building a new medical center and teaching hospital seems like a wholly admirable enterprise, this deal needs to be looked at critically. California Northstate University is a for profit institution. Will the hospital itself be for-profit? While nonprofit hospitals are certainly not immune to financially abusive practices, for-profit hospitals are known for their questionable billing and other profit-driven behavior. If the hospital is for-profit, will it be training young doctors to maximize profit over patient welfare. Sacramento is currently free of for-profit hospitals, and while care here is far too expensive, it could certainly be worse. I hope to see answers to these questions in the Bee soon.

Jack Kashtan

Sacramento