News

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

The California State Assembly adopted Assembly Concurrent Resolution 70 May 6, designating May 2019 as Bone Marrow Donation Awareness Month across the state.

“Every three minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer or other blood disorder,” said District 24 Assemblyman Marc Berman in a statement. “Patients in need of a bone marrow transplant rely on the selfless commitment of strangers for a cure. I joined the registry, and I hope many more Californians will join me in taking this essential step to save lives.”

ACR70 was inspired by Norah Gratz-Lazarus, a 5-year-old diagnosed with Fanconi anemia, a rare gene disorder. Without a bone marrow donor, Norah has more than a 90 percent risk of developing leukemia or other serious bone marrow diseases.

To become a donor, visit bethematch.org.

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Friday, May 10, 2019

By day, Matthew Bodo worked 12-plus hour days as a valet for Tesla in Palo Alto and studied psychology and communications at Foothill College, long fascinated by neurology, human behavior and media. By night, he slept in a shuttle at the high-end electric car company.

Without a stable home of his own, he became adept at finding places to sleep. If a friend's couch or floor wasn't available, there was the small, carpeted meditation room on campus. There was his car, a 2000 red two-door Mustang with windows that weren't fully sealed and a malfunctioning heater. Sometimes he could park overnight undetected at Foothill. Other times he would be asked to leave, heading into the night to find somewhere out of sight to park, on a quiet street or behind a supermarket.

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Friday, May 10, 2019

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plans to boost funding for health care, education, elections and housing and homelessness in his revised state budget were largely welcomed by San Mateo County lawmakers Thursday as the Legislature sets its sights on finalizing the details of a projected $214 billion budget next month.

Including a projection of $3.2 billion in additional short-term revenue as compared to the budget proposal Newsom introduced in January, the governor’s plan to dedicate the unanticipated funds to reserves, debt repayment and schools was lauded by Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco.

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Wednesday, April 24, 2019

HALF MOON BAY, CA - From California State Senate: State Senator Jerry Hill and Assemblymembers Kevin Mullin and Marc Berman will hold a forum on "Keeping the Coastside Connected" from 7 to 8:15 p.m. Thursday at Half Moon Bay High School.

The panel discussion was prompted by a string of utility outages in Coastside communities this year. They included a 20-hour disruption for internet users in January, an eight-hour power outage affecting more than 10,000 households and businesses in February, and a power outage in March that led to the closure of the Lantos tunnels for more than nine hours, creating confusion and gridlock for communities on both sides of the tunnels.

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Monday, April 8, 2019

A bill that would require community colleges to grant overnight access to parking facilities for homeless students passed an Assembly committee last week and was referred to an appropriations committee.

Assembly Bill 302 directly addresses findings from a recent report that nearly 1 in 5 community college students experienced homelessness in the past year.

“The reality is that students are sleeping in their vehicles right now, and when we don’t provide a safe place for them to sleep, we force them into the shadows — into dark alleys and industrial parks — where they are most vulnerable,” said Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto). “We can no longer pretend that community college student homelessness isn’t a crisis — we have the data that clearly says it is. Shame on us if we turn our backs on these students and choose to ignore them.”

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Monday, April 8, 2019

PALO ALTO, CA -- It's true. "That which does not kill us makes us stronger," -- Friedrich Nietzshe.

Just ask Matthew Bodo, who shared with Patch that one of the biggest challenges he faces attending Foothill Community College in Los Altos Hills may involve what happens out of class and now what happens in state government with a new bill to help homeless students.

The psychology and communication major carryies 15 units and works up to 30 hours a week at an Italian restaurant in town. But after a falling out with his father a while ago, he ended up with no place to live except within his Ford Mustang.

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Thursday, April 4, 2019

Calling it a small step to help students, Assemblymember Marc Berman held a press conference Tuesday to discuss his legislation, AB 302, which would require community colleges to grant overnight access to campus parking facilities for homeless students to sleep in their vehicles.

“We’re here to address the crisis of homelessness that our community college students are facing right now,” Assemblymember Berman said during the press conference at the Capitol.

A recent report released by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, which surveyed nearly 40,000 students at 57 community colleges, found that 19 percent of respondents experienced homelessness in the previous year. Extrapolated to California’s community college population of 2.1 million students, that means nearly 400,000 students have experienced homelessness in the last year.

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