.Wednesday’s Briefing: Schaaf Proposes Sanctioned Homeless Camps; Oakland May Miss Jan. 1 Deadline for Legal Pot

Stories you shouldn’t miss for Sept. 27, 2017:

1. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is pushing forward with a plan to create three city-sanctioned homeless camps that would house people in small Tuff Sheds rather than tents, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The encampments, which Schaaf is calling “outdoor navigation centers,” would include toilets, fencing, security, and daytime staff managers. The centers would be located in North Oakland, West Oakland, and East Oakland, on public property near to current homeless encampments. Schaaf said the city wants to get the camps “off the sidewalks” and homeless people into “safety and services.”

2. Oakland and most other large California cities are expected to miss the Jan. 1 deadline for permitting the legal sale of cannabis for recreational use, reports David Downs of the San Francisco Chronicle$. Many cities, especially ones with bustling medical cannabis industries like Oakland, have been slow to implement the necessary regulations for permitting legal pot businesses.

3. Numerous students from Alameda’s Encinal High School took a knee and raised their fists during the playing of the National Anthem on Monday at a planned event after school, reports Sarah Tan for the East Bay Times$. “‘The impetus was President Trump’s remarks,’ Encinal government and economics teacher Kevin Gorham said. ‘A few students texted me and said, ‘We need to do something about this and promote freedom of expression, peacefully.’”

4. Firefighters were able to control a four-alarm wildfire in the Oakland hills on Tuesday before it could spread to homes, the East Bay Times$ reports. The blaze broke out in the old Leona Quarry off Edwards Avenue in East Oakland and quickly spread uphill toward Campus Drive, before fire crews were able to stop it.

5. Berkeley middle school teacher Yvette Felarca was again arrested during a protest against neo-Nazis — this time in Berkeley, Berkeleyside reports. Felarca, who was arrested last year for allegedly punching a white supremacist in Sacramento, was arrested in Berkeley on Tuesday on suspicion of battery and resisting arrest.

6. Millions of Americans in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico are living in misery, without power, water, and food, CNN reports. Puerto Rican officials say the Trump administration has been slow to react and provide help.

7. President Trump plans to unveil a sweeping tax plan today that would provide significant tax cuts for the wealthy and promises to explode the federal government’s deficit, The New York Times$ reports.

8. And Senate GOP leadership finally abandoned their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare this year after failing to secure enough votes, The New York Times$ reports.

$ = news stories that may require payment to read.

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