New Rules Aim To Keep High School Athletes Safe During Hot Weather

Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, September 6, 2024…

• California schools must now adjust sports practices and games when it’s too hot outside. The state law went into effect this summer. 
• A bill on Governor Newsom’s desk would ban employers from forcing workers to attend anti-union meetings.
• Criminal justice advocates are hopeful the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into two California state prisons will bring much needed change.

New High School Sports Rules Mandate More Breaks, Water, Cancellations In Heat

California schools must now monitor the heat and adjust athletic practices and games according to new policies developed by the state’s high school sports governing body and mandated by state law.

Heat was responsible for nearly 20% of high school and college athletic catastrophic injuries in the most recent year studied by researchers at the University of North Carolina. Dozens of high school athletes in the U.S. have died from heat-related illnesses in the last two decades.

“The goal is that we don’t have any more fatalities due to what is an entirely 100% preventable issue, which is heat stress and heat related illness,” said Mike West, California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section’s commissioner of athletics.

California Lawmakers Want To Ban Anti-Union Meetings At Work, But Will Newsom Go Along?

On the final day of their session, California lawmakers sent Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill banning employers from forcing workers to sit through anti-union meetings — the latest attempt by Democratic politicians to support union activity amid a revived labor movement. 

If Newsom signs Senate Bill 399, California would join nine other states that have recently passed laws prohibiting an employer from requiring workers to attend so-called captive audience meetings about their political or religious views. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, signed one such law last year, and has touted it on the campaign trail. 

The California bill can cover discussions of employers’ views on political candidates or legislation, but it’s largely aimed at one specific kind of required workplace meeting — when bosses discuss whether workers should unionize.

Feds Investigate California Prisons Where Women Say ‘Culture of Impunity’ Surrounded Abuse

Following hundreds of lawsuits alleging systemic sexual abuse by correctional officers at two California state prisons, advocates for incarcerated women are hopeful a newly launched federal investigation by the Department of Justice will bring change.

The department said on Wednesday that it had “significant justification” to evaluate whether the state was meeting its constitutional duty to protect residents of the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla and the California Institution for Women in Chino, which for years have been plagued by misconduct scandals.

“We are incredibly grateful that the DOJ is stepping in,” said Amika Mota, executive director of advocacy group Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition. “As formerly incarcerated people that have lived inside, it tends to be when the feds get involved that we see some action and shift. And unfortunately, in these last couple of years working closely with CDCR and also trying to get access to provide more trauma-informed support to people on the inside, we’ve seen reluctance to allow advocates inside.”