Friday Must Reads: SF Jailers Forced Inmates to Fight for Sport; State Relaxes Sex Offender Residency Rules

Stories you shouldn’t miss:

1. San Francisco sheriff’s deputies forced inmates to fight “gladiator-style” for jailers’ entertainment, the SF Examiner reports, citing a new investigation by Public Defender Jeff Adachi. The sheriff’s office has placed four deputies on administrative leave pending the outcome of further investigations. Adachi called the fights “outrageously sadistic scenarios that sound like it’s out of Game of Thrones.”

2. The California Department of Corrections has relaxed the rules regarding residency requirements for former sex offenders in the wake of a court decision that declared aspects of Jessica’s Law unconstitutional, the LA Times$ reports. The law had prohibited ex-sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of parks or schools, but civil rights advocates noted that the law was forcing numerous people to become homeless. California officials now only plan to enforce the residency rules on child molesters and other high-risk offenders.

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3. Environmentalists are continuing to strongly criticize Governor Jerry Brown’s $1 billion so-called “drought relief” plan because it includes very little money for actual drought relief, the LA Times$ reports. However, the state legislature overwhelmingly approved the plan.

4. The plastic bag industry spent $3.1 million late last year in its attempt to overturn California’s ban on single-use plastic bags, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting. The industry is expected to spend tens of millions on 2016 ballot measure on the issue.

5. The board overseeing Doctor’s Medical Center in San Pablo voted to close the financially troubled hospital next month — unless there’s a last-minute plan to keep it open, the CoCo Times$ reports.

6. And Nan T. McEvoy, the last member of the San Francisco Chronicle’s founding family to run the newspaper, has died at the age of 95, the Chron reports.