Mark Davis.
1. The Oakland Raiders remain at an impasse with officials from the City of Oakland and Alameda County over a new stadium because team owner Mark Davis continues to demand that he receive free land in the deal, the Chron$ reports. Oakland Councilmember Larry Reid, who is on the Coliseum Authority board, said “there is no way that the city and county are going to agree” to give the Raiders taxpayer-owned property for free. The city, however, is offering to spend up to $120 million on infrastructure upgrades around the Coliseum site. The revelation about the Davis’ demand comes just before the NFL will hold a town hall at the Paramount Theatre concerning the Raiders desire to move to Southern California if they don’t get what they want in Oakland.
2. Uber will pay the City of Oakland’s $1 million affordable housing fee as part of the company’s deal to purchase the old Sears building in Uptown and expand its headquarters to the city, the SF Business Times$ reports. Oakland charges the impact fee for warehouse and office development in the city — and it’s dependent on the size of the development. The city does not have an impact fee for market-rate housing development, although it has been studying the issue. The $1 million will only pay for three to four affordable housing units.
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3. California students continue to perform miserably on standardized tests, the Mercury News$ reports. The latest results from the nation’s report card showed that just 27 to 29 percent of California fourth- and eighth-graders were rated as being proficient in math and reading. California tied for 39th among states nationwide in fourth-grade reading, and was 44th in eighth-grade reading, 46th in eighth-grade math, and 50th in fourth-grade math.
4. The state also continues to do a horrible job in closing the racial divide in K-12 education, particularly when it comes to Black students, the Bay Area News Group$ reports, citing a new analysis from the Oakland-based nonprofit, Education Trust-West. A few school districts, however, have made some progress, including Oakland Unified, according to the report.
5. And Anthem Blue Cross has agreed to refund $8.3 million to about 50,000 customers as part of a class-action lawsuit settlement, stemming from illegal fee hikes by the giant insurer, the LA Times$ reports. Anthem also agreed to stop its unlawful practice of “raising deductibles and other yearly out-of-pocket costs on individual policies in the middle of the year.”
