News

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Christine Blasey Ford, the Palo Alto psychologist who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of trying to rape her when they were in high school, has been named the 24th Assembly District’s Woman of the Year by Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto.

Ford, 52, continues to do biostatistics research and work with doctoral students at Palo Alto University but is not currently teaching classes, a university spokeswoman said yesterday (March 4).

Berman will present Ford with the award at a private event later this month.

“In a remarkable act of courage, Dr. Ford put the country ahead of her own well-being, speaking out in the most public way imaginable about her sexual assault,” Berman said in a statement. “Dr. Ford exhibited strength and dignity under the most extraordinary conditions, and in telling her truth, she paved the way for countless other survivors to tell their own.”

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Wednesday, February 27, 2019

A slate of Peninsula lawmakers are trying to ease the path for school districts seeking parcel taxes by lowering the voter support threshold required for the local funding measures to pass.

State Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, introduced with co-authors Assemblymen Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, and Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, legislation designed to push the parcel tax approval requirement to 55 percent.

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Monday, February 25, 2019

Obviously, it’s hard to get through college if you have to worry about whether you will eat on any given day or where you will sleep at night. But that’s the situation that many students in California face. Surveys of the state’s community college students have found that about one in five have been homeless during the previous 12 months. That means they’re sleeping in a car, couch-surfing with friends, or living in an abandoned building or out on the street. Although there are also homeless students in the University of California and California State University systems, the numbers are significantly higher at the community colleges.

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Thursday, February 21, 2019

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Recently proposed legislation in California would allow homeless students at all California Community Colleges to park their cars in campus parking lots overnight.

Assembly Bill 302, introduced by Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto), intends to give all homeless students attending a California Community College a place to sleep at night. Subsequently, if the bill is passed, California Community Colleges [CCC] with parking facilities would be required to allow students to park overnight.

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Monday, February 11, 2019

In a reflection of just how dire the state’s housing crisis has become for its young residents, a Palo Alto legislator has proposed allowing community college students to sleep overnight in their cars in school parking lots.

Assembly Marc Berman calls it Safe Lot legislation, and it would require the state’s community colleges to give homeless students access to their parking lots and facilities—so long as that student is in good standing with the college.

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Tuesday, February 5, 2019

A local lawmaker is looking to ease the burden of students struggling with the cost of living by proposing a law allowing those attending community colleges to sleep in their car overnight on campus.

Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, proposed Assembly Bill 302 last week with an eye on helping students who attend community college without access to stable housing.

Acknowledging the proposal arrives in advance of a larger, more substantial solution, Berman said he believes the initiative could assist many students pressed to make ends meet.

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Thursday, January 31, 2019

A bill proposed in the California State Assembly would allow homeless community college students to sleep in their vehicles in campus parking lots, according to the Sacramento Bee.

The bill is reportedly aimed at combatting California’s increasing homeless problem — particularly among college students — as property values and rent prices soar in the state.

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