Latest news with #JesseGabriel
Eater
25-07-2025
- Business
- Eater
A New Bill Could Solve Infamous Restaurant Permitting Problems
is the associate editor for the Northern California and Pacific Northwest region writing about restaurant and bar trends, coffee and cafes, and pop-ups. It's a tragic and common tale in the Bay Area: a would-be restaurateur is destroyed by mountains of paperwork and ongoing permitting entanglements, draining the cash and steam before opening. Assembly Bill 671 might cure this ailment. The San Francisco Chronicle reports Assembly Members Buffy Wicks of Oakland and Jesse Gabriel of Los Angeles County authored a bill that would require 'local building departments to approve or deny restaurants' permit applications within 20 business days.' This might sound humdrum, but those in the industry know this would be a game changer. Further, resubmitted changes would only get a 10-day response window. If department workers fail to meet these time frames, permits would be automatically approved. While building permits are just one of the different kinds of permits required for newcomers, this expediting could make a difference; Saltwater Bakeshop, for instance, has been delayed more than two years in opening due to these processes. The bill will be heard in the chamber on Monday, August 18. San Jose coffee pros open new shop The operators at Academic Coffee in San Jose, one of the city's favorite specialty shops, have opened Playback Coffee Co. with a grand opening set for Saturday, July 26. To ring in the affair, there'll be DJs for a pop-up coffee and house music party starting at 10 a.m. The new cafe is located inside the San Pedro Square Market and is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Bay Area is only okay at tipping The data is in, and it looks like tipping between 15 and 20 percent is more of an aspiration than a reality for many in the Bay. The San Francisco Standard worked with payment firm Square to analyze tipping data from 2022 to 2025 across the region. Per the findings, Northern California 'never quite reached 15 percent.' The outlet found San Francisco at 14.8 percent average tip for food and beverage, and that Antioch has the area's best tippers at an average of 15.4 percent. Mexican restaurant launches DJ series In the same music-heavy spirit, Celia's Mexican Restaurant is throwing its first vinyl brunch listening party at its Outer Sunset location on Saturday, July 26. Bottomless mimosas, new brunch offerings, and lots of cumbia and Latin music selected by Discodelic Records await guests. The idea came from owner Phil Havlicek and Sal Lopez's love of Mexico City-style listening parties. The festivities start at 11 a.m. and run until 3 p.m. Eater SF All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
California gun control bill that could ban popular Glock pistol sales moves forward
( — A bill that could ban the sale of the most popular handgun in the U.S. is potentially on its way to becoming law after it passed through the California State Assembly on Tuesday. Assembly Bill 1127, also referred to by many people as the Glock Ban Bill, was authored by Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) and would prohibit licensed firearms dealers from selling guns that can be 'easily converted by hand or with common household tools' into a machine gun. Although the Glock isn't specifically mentioned in the written legislation, it falls into that category of firearms. New gun laws won't be enforced by Sutter County Sheriff's Office 'I am pleased to be presenting AB 1127, which will protect communities from mass shootings and gun violence by encouraging gun manufacturers to prevent the conversion of their firearms to dangerous automatic weapons,' Gabriel said during an Assembly Standing Committee hearing. He continued, 'Automatic weapons are exceptionally lethal and capable of firing hundreds of rounds per minute. They are illegal in California. Unfortunately, some semi-automatic firearms feature a dangerous design flaw that allows them to be converted to fully automatic weapons through an attachment of a cheap and easy-to-use device, known as a switch.' Northern California police warn of $1,000 fine per illegal firework amid Fourth of July holiday The Glock is infamous for its easy-alteration capabilities by using a 'Glock switch'. In 2022, a converted Glock was reportedly used in a mass shooting that occurred just blocks from the California State Capitol Building. It left six people dead and several others injured. 'Sadly, certain companies in the gun industry have known about this issue for decades and have done nothing meaningful to address it,' Gabriel said. 'This common-sense legislation will ensure that the gun industry is held accountable and that we're doing everything we possibly can to protect our communities from mass shootings.' AB 1127 is supported by organizations like Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, and Voices for Progress. However, other groups such as the National Association for Gun Rights and Gun Owners of California Inc. are in opposition. 'AB 1127 is a blatant attack on your right to own one of the most common self-defense firearms in America,' Gun Owners of California said on social media before the bill passed through the Assembly. 'This bill targets semiautomatic pistols used by millions of law-abiding gun owners—and it's being pushed under the false pretense of 'safety'.' NAGR vowed to fight back against the proposed legislation. 'California (is) pushing rapidly towards a total ban of Glock pistols,' NAGR said on social media. 'The most popular firearm in the country. If you think there is a line they will not cross, think again.' AB 1127 passed on a vote of 58-17, with Democrat support and Republican opposition. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CNN
03-06-2025
- Business
- CNN
California acts to eliminate ultraprocessed foods in schools, beating MAHA to the punch
Food & healthFacebookTweetLink Follow Move over, MAHA. California has just overtaken President Donald Trump's 'Make America Healthy Again' Commission in the quest to identify which ultraprocessed foods are the most harmful for human health. Numerous studies have linked an additional serving a day of ultraprocessed foods, or UPFs, to a greater risk of developing or dying from dozens of adverse health outcomes, including cancer, heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes and various mental health conditions. Which of the thousands of ultraprocessed foods on grocery shelves could be most responsible for such ill health? To date, answers are elusive. Research is in its infancy. Expert advocates and food manufacturers disagree on harms and definitions, while lobbyists battle behind the scenes. California, however, intends to offer a solution in just over a year. On Tuesday, a bipartisan coalition of the California State Assembly voted to pass AB 1264, which lays out a plan to remove 'particularly harmful' ultraprocessed foods from the state's school meals. The bill's passage is expected to be finalized Tuesday night. The legislation requires that the first step, defining which ultraprocessed foods are most detrimental to human health, be completed by July 1, 2026. Once passed by the California Senate and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, AB 1264 would be the first such legislation in the nation, said Jesse Gabriel, the Democratic California assemblymember who introduced the bill. 'Our understanding is that this would actually be the first statutory definition in the world, not just in the United States,' said Gabriel, who represents California's 46th Assembly District. Focusing on school lunches will have a significant impact on children's health, he said. 'The busiest restaurant in California is our school cafeterias,' Gabriel said. 'We'll serve over a billion school breakfasts, lunches and dinners in 2025 alone. If you want to improve the nutritional health of young people, starting with school lunches is a really powerful way to do it.' The MAHA Commission, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is also trying to address children's nutrition. In mid-May, the commission released a Trump-mandated report recommending federal agencies reassess the impact of ultraprocessed foods (as well as vaccines, lifestyle, pollutants and the overprescribing of drugs) on the 'childhood chronic disease crisis.' The document was quickly criticized for errors and citing studies that don't exist, as first reported by NOTUS, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news site. The administration discounted the errors as 'formatting issues,' but some experts who previously spoke with CNN said the mistakes suggest the report was likely created using artificial intelligence. Regardless, the MAHA Commission is expected to identify more specific actions on ultraprocessed foods and its additional concerns by August 12. By then, AB 1264 should be close to a signature if all goes well, Gabriel said. 'We hope to have this bill on the Governor's desk for a signature in late August or early September,' Gabriel said. 'We are really targeting the worst of the worst UPFs, where there is really strong science and research and data. If federal regulators were doing their job as intended, there wouldn't be a need for states to do this.' In response, the Consumer Brands Association, a national advocacy group that represents food and beverage manufacturers, told CNN the new California bill would create an unnecessary duplicate regulatory framework. 'AB1264's attempt to classify certain proven-safe ingredients as unhealthy is so broad that it could limit access to certain nutrient-dense foods, such as fruits, salads and soups, cause consumer confusion, and lead to higher prices for Californians,' said John Hewitt, CBA's senior vice president of state affairs, in an email. In response, Gabriel told CNN that suggesting AB 1264 would ban healthy foods or drive up prices is 'ridiculous.' 'On the contrary, the bill would phase out foods with dangerous chemical additives linked to cancer, reproductive harm, and other serious diseases from our schools,' Gabriel said via email. 'That's why AB 1264 has received broad bipartisan support.' If passed, AB 1264 will go in effect on January 1, 2026. Then the clock starts ticking. By July 1, a mere six months later, experts from the University of California and the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment must establish a subcategory of 'particularly harmful' ultraprocessed foods. Because research on UPFs is exploding, the bill requires that definition to be updated every two years. Experts deciding how to identify an ultraprocessed food as 'particularly harmful' should use the following criteria, according to the bill: • Are any of the ingredients linked by established science to cancer, obesity, metabolic or cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, or developmental or reproductive harm? • Does the food contain additives that have been banned, restricted or required to carry a warning by other local, state, federal or international jurisdictions? (The European Union has banned various UPF additives over health concerns.) • Has the food been modified to include high levels of sugar, salt or fat? (That's a key way manufacturers design ultraprocessed foods to meet the 'bliss point' human taste buds yearn for.) • Can any ingredient contribute to food addiction by being hyperpalatable, or extremely difficult to resist? (The Bert Lahr potato chip commercial from the 1960s said it all: 'Betcha can't eat just one.') Foods may also be considered ultraprocessed, the bill says, if they contain additives such as emulsifiers, stabilizers and thickeners, flavor enhancers and non-nutritive sweeteners that aren't on the US Food and Drug Administration's radar. (Manufacturers are constantly inventing new ways to make food delicious, and not all of those are reported to the FDA.) Once the 'harmful' ultraprocessed food definition is established, the bill moves on to implementation. Beginning on February 1, 2027, vendors selling food to California schools will be required to submit an annual report listing any UPFs that fall under the new definition. Because school districts often create menus up to three years in advance, the bill gives school nutritionists a bit of breathing room — using the information provided by vendors, they must begin phasing out all particularly harmful ultraprocessed foods by January 1, 2028. The bill's momentum then slows. Six years after the bill goes into effect, by January 1, 2032, vendors may no longer offer harmful ultraprocessed foods to school district nutritionists to be included in their menus. Three years later, by January 1, 2035, school districts will no longer be able to provide children any meals containing particularly harmful UPFs. (That restriction, however, does not apply to school fundraising events.) 'While the timeline may appear long, we think that change is going to happen right away. We're already seeing schools take action, and this bill is going to help put pedal to the metal on getting schools to make that shift way ahead of 2032,' said Bernadette Del Chiaro, the senior vice president for California at the Environmental Working Group, or EWG, a health advocacy organization based in Washington, DC, that cosponsored AB 1264. 'I can tell you that farmers are really excited about it — nothing would please them more than to be able to deliver food directly to California's kids and schools,' Del Chiaro said. 'And we have strong bipartisan support — a left and right grassroots movement of people saying, 'Let's correct this. Let's get our schools to be healthy.' So there's all of these really great win-win-win elements to this bill.' Success stories already exist. One school district in Santa Clara County, California, is now feeding over 8,000 students with grass-fed beef, organic milk, and antibiotic-free chicken and pork from local farmers and ranchers. However, what the Morgan Hill United School District did to remove added sugars was truly startling, said Nora LaTorre, CEO of Eat Real, a national nonprofit that provides K-12 schools around the country with free tools to transform their menus. 'Morgan Hill removed 34 pounds of sugar per student per year by removing foods with hidden added sugar, such as sauces, dressings and condiments,' said LaTorre, who gave the school district an Eat Real certification in 2024. 'Now the children are served items with less than 6 grams of added sugar.' Replacing ultraprocessed foods with real food is not only possible, but easy, said LaTorre, who has testified in support of AB 1264. One example: a makeover of a school-purchased high-sugar yogurt cup with 13 grams of added sugar and flavors. 'The children are now served parfaits out of plain Greek yogurt, which can be purchased through USDA commodities,' she said. 'The parfaits are topped with fresh fruit or house-made fruit compote with zero added sugar. 'It really doesn't take that long to make a significant change in children's school nutrition,' LaTorre said. 'Eat Real is on track to reach 1 million kids in schools across some 20 states. Our average time from initial assessment of a school to certification is about 23 months.' Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
California Democrat takes on ‘ultra-processed food' — and RFK Jr.
SACRAMENTO, California — In many ways, state lawmaker Jesse Gabriel was trying to make California healthy again before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Gabriel, a Democratic assemblymember from the Los Angeles area, has been on a tear in recent years getting synthetic dyes and artificial preservatives out of snacks and school lunches. His newest proposal in Sacramento, reported first by POLITICO's California Playbook, would define 'ultra-processed food,' and phase it out of the billion school meals California serves every year. It could be the first time a definition of ultra-processed food has ever been set down in law, anywhere in the world, according to Gabriel's office. But he isn't thinking about RFK Jr. In an interview with POLITICO, Gabriel didn't mention the secretary of Health and Human Services by name even once. 'I've never spoken to him, we haven't worked with him on any of this,' Gabriel said. 'This has been an effort that predates him and has been successful. We have developed a formula here in California that is working for us, this common sense, science-based, bipartisan approach, and that's the formula that we're gonna keep working with.' Gabriel gained a reputation in the past few years as the 'Skittles' lawmaker. His 2023 law banned four chemicals (like brominated vegetable oil and red dye 3) from any food sold in the state and his 2024 law exorcised synthetic dyes (like red 40) from school meals. If he sounds like a certain secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there's a good reason. Kennedy pledged at his confirmation hearings to go after food additives, and at a closed-door meeting with food company CEOs in early March, said they would have to start removing some dyes from their products or face a government ban. Ultra-processed foods have become the latest villain in the country's war on chronic disease. The Goop-reading set have been skeptical of processed food for years, and there's new life being pumped into the movement from Washington. Gabriel takes credit for inspiring a host of other reforms. The federal Food and Drug Administration banned brominated vegetable oil and red dye 3 in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order this year directing state agencies to investigate the harms of ultra-processed foods and find ways to limit them. Dozens of states including West Virginia and New York have introduced similar legislation to ban many of the dyes and preservatives in Gabriel's last two laws. He sees it as quintessentially Californian: getting out ahead on something health and wellness-related while everyone else follows suit. 'We were doing this work before anyone had heard of Make America Healthy Again, this started with Democrats in California,' Gabriel said. 'I am very encouraged by the fact that people who identify themselves with Make America Healthy, and people who identify themselves as very progressive Democrats and a lot of folks in between, have all come on board to support these bills, and we welcome all that support again.' Republican Minority Leader James Gallagher and Assembly Progressive Caucus Chair Alex Lee have both lent their names to the cause. Wellness has become one of the biggest areas of bipartisanship in an otherwise divisive Trump era. RFK Jr.'s distrust of corporations, 'big food' and 'big ag' is appealing to people outside of left vs. right politics. In California especially, wellness has been an area of political agreement. Crunchy moms from the affluent Marin County outside San Francisco, who don't want to feed preservative-laden snacks to their kids, have often found common ground here with a more right-leaning crowd skeptical of giving their kids preservative-laden vaccines. First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom has been pushing for more vegetables and fewer chemicals in school since at least 2019. Gabriel's proposal, which is being introduced Wednesday, directs University of California scientists to find the 'particularly harmful' ultra-processed foods based on evidence that links them to chronic illnesses like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and neurological issues. They will also factor in whether they're banned in other places, are addictive or are high in fat, sugar and salt. Then, the bill would require California to phase those chemicals out of school lunches by 2032. 'Part of what I'm trying to do here is intentionally not make this a divisive political issue,' Gabriel said. Like this content? Consider signing up for POLITICO's California Playbook newsletter.
Politico
19-03-2025
- Health
- Politico
California Democrat takes on ‘ultra-processed food' — and RFK Jr.
SACRAMENTO, California — In many ways, state lawmaker Jesse Gabriel was trying to make California healthy again before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Gabriel, a Democratic assemblymember from the Los Angeles area, has been on a tear in recent years getting synthetic dyes and artificial preservatives out of snacks and school lunches. His newest proposal in Sacramento, reported first by POLITICO's California Playbook, would define 'ultra-processed food,' and phase it out of the billion school meals California serves every year. It could be the first time a definition of ultra-processed food has ever been set down in law, anywhere in the world, according to Gabriel's office. But he isn't thinking about RFK Jr. In an interview with POLITICO, Gabriel didn't mention the secretary of Health and Human Services by name even once. 'I've never spoken to him, we haven't worked with him on any of this,' Gabriel said. 'This has been an effort that predates him and has been successful. We have developed a formula here in California that is working for us, this common sense, science-based, bipartisan approach, and that's the formula that we're gonna keep working with.' Gabriel gained a reputation in the past few years as the 'Skittles' lawmaker. His 2023 law banned four chemicals (like brominated vegetable oil and red dye 3) from any food sold in the state and his 2024 law exorcised synthetic dyes (like red 40) from school meals. If he sounds like a certain secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there's a good reason. Kennedy pledged at his confirmation hearings to go after food additives, and at a closed-door meeting with food company CEOs in early March, said they would have to start removing some dyes from their products or face a government ban. Ultra-processed foods have become the latest villain in the country's war on chronic disease. The Goop-reading set have been skeptical of processed food for years, and there's new life being pumped into the movement from Washington. Gabriel takes credit for inspiring a host of other reforms. The federal Food and Drug Administration banned brominated vegetable oil and red dye 3 in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order this year directing state agencies to investigate the harms of ultra-processed foods and find ways to limit them. Dozens of states including West Virginia and New York have introduced similar legislation to ban many of the dyes and preservatives in Gabriel's last two laws. He sees it as quintessentially Californian: getting out ahead on something health and wellness-related while everyone else follows suit. 'We were doing this work before anyone had heard of Make America Healthy Again, this started with Democrats in California,' Gabriel said. 'I am very encouraged by the fact that people who identify themselves with Make America Healthy, and people who identify themselves as very progressive Democrats and a lot of folks in between, have all come on board to support these bills, and we welcome all that support again.' Republican Minority Leader James Gallagher and Assembly Progressive Caucus Chair Alex Lee have both lent their names to the cause. Wellness has become one of the biggest areas of bipartisanship in an otherwise divisive Trump era. RFK Jr.'s distrust of corporations, 'big food' and 'big ag' is appealing to people outside of left vs. right politics. In California especially, wellness has been an area of political agreement. Crunchy moms from the affluent Marin County outside San Francisco, who don't want to feed preservative-laden snacks to their kids, have often found common ground here with a more right-leaning crowd skeptical of giving their kids preservative-laden vaccines. First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom has been pushing for more vegetables and fewer chemicals in school since at least 2019. Gabriel's proposal, which is being introduced Wednesday, directs University of California scientists to find the 'particularly harmful' ultra-processed foods based on evidence that links them to chronic illnesses like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and neurological issues. They will also factor in whether they're banned in other places, are addictive or are high in fat, sugar and salt. Then, the bill would require California to phase those chemicals out of school lunches by 2032. 'Part of what I'm trying to do here is intentionally not make this a divisive political issue,' Gabriel said. Like this content? Consider signing up for POLITICO's California Playbook newsletter.
