California Policy & Politics This Morning  

Rep. Maxine Waters speaks out on Republican health care bill at packed town hall meeting, as protesters gather outside -- To illustrate why she believes everyone should have access to comprehensive health care, Rep. Maxine Waters said she and her 12 siblings never saw a physician or a dentist their entire childhood. Andrea Castillo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/25/17

California activist Tom Steyer adds health care to his brand -- California billionaire activist Tom Steyer made his name as an environmental activist, worked with Democratic groups to register a million new voters and redefined green politics with high-profile campaigns on climate change and clean energy. Now as he weighs a run for public office, he's adding health care — specifically drug prices — to his brand. Victoria Colliver Politico -- 6/25/17

Political Road Map: California's big change in voting rules is off to a rocky start for 2018 -- Perhaps no part of California has thought more about the future of voting than Orange County. And yet when it comes to a sweeping change to state elections, the county has decided to take a pass. John Myers in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/25/17

'Protect them like your own': At cadet graduation, LAPD Chief Beck defends program amid scandal -- Astrid Saenz wants to be a Los Angeles police officer one day, and as one of the most decorated cadets in the LAPD’s signature youth program, she’s already well on her way. James Queally in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/25/17

California Politics Podcast: Immigration Plan's Law Enforcement Focus -- This week: A big endorsement for the "sanctuary state" bill pending in Sacramento and how law enforcement could be key. Plus, a conservative GOP assemblyman joins the race for governor in 2018. With John Myers and Melanie Mason of the Los Angeles Times and Marisa Lagos of KQED News. Click here -- 6/25/17

Willie Brown: The party that doesn’t know how: Democrats in disarray -- The special election to fill a vacant House seat in Georgia shows, once again, how out of touch the Democrats are these days. They spent something like $30 million campaigning for a candidate who didn’t even live in the district. Willie Brown in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/25/17

Willie Brown: House Democrats have no good alternative to Pelosi -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is catching unholy hell from her Democratic colleagues over the Georgia special election debacle. I know, because I’m getting their calls. Willie Brown in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/25/17

Diaz: State attorney general: leader of the California resistance -- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s aggressive legal counterattack to Trump administration policies has been compared to the efforts by Texas to undercut President Barack Obama’s orders on everything from the environment to immigration to transgender rights. John Diaz in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/25/17

Kings River flooding forces mandatory evacuations -- A surging Sierra Nevada snowmelt caused the Kings River to overflow near the Central Valley town of Kingsburg on Friday night, forcing mandatory evacuations. Doug Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ Chueyee Yang in the Fresno Bee -- 6/25/17

With record-setting Sierra runoff, officials warn to stay away from Yuba River -- Even areas that may appear to be safe could have dangerous undertow currents, the department said in the release. Plus the water is e xtremely cold. Thomas Oide in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/25/17

Cities look for ways to enforce no-drone zones -- At least 78 drone flights were detected during the June 15 NBA championship parade in downtown Oakland, even though police tried to make the celebration a no-drone zone, according to San Francisco startup Dedrone, which was enlisted to track the devices. Benny Evangelista in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/25/17

What is causing an outbreak that has infected 181 people and killed four? -- San Diego County’s public-health officials are focusing on hygiene as they rev up their battle against the state’s largest h epatitis A outbreak in nearly two decades, a scourge that has infected 181 people and killed four since it was first detected in November. Paul Sisson in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/25/17

Medicaid Cuts May Force Retirees Out of Nursing Homes -- Alice Jacobs, 90, once owned a factory and horses. She has raised four children and buried two husbands. But years in an assisted living center drained her savings, and now she relies on Medicaid to pay for her care at Dogwood Village, a nonprofit, county-owned nursing home here. Jordan Rau in the New York Times$ -- 6/25/17

Senate health-care bill faces serious resistance from GOP moderates -- A small group of moderate Republican senators, worried that their leaders’ health-care bill could damage the nation’s social safety net, may pose at least as significant an obstacle to the measure’s passage as their colleagues on the right. Juliet Eilperin and Amy Goldstein in the Washington Post$ -- 6/25/17

Homeless  

‘I’ve had to become tough’: How homeless women survive the dangers of Skid Row -- Skid row is a man’s world. It started out that way more than a century ago, when transient men took trains to work on the nearby railroads. Hotels and social services sprouted up just for them, and not much has changed since. Susan Abram in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 6/25/17

Housing  

Why millennials living with their parents has become the norm in Southern California -- Xitlali Tapia and Ivan Perez got engaged in January and set a wedding date for Nov. 25. After that, they’ll move in with a pair of unexpected roommates — her parents. Ian Wheeler in the LA Daily News$ -- 6/25/17

Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions  

L.A.'s new tallest building is poised to become a lightsaber with massive LED displays -- Nearly a fifth of a mile up in the sky atop Los Angeles’ tallest building, two massive LED displays — each 42 by 60 feet — sit dormant, ready to beam messages out across the city. Benjamin Oreskes in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/25/17

Lopez: With millions set to lose Obamacare, DWP workers keep getting a sweeter deal -- Two news items jumped out at me in the last several days. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/25/17

Uber: Headless company in driverless race -- Everyone knows the wheels have come off Uber. Reports abound of a toxic corporate culture, a string of scandals, a mass executive exodus and the messy ousting of CEO Travis Kalanick. But it’s as big a deal that the company’s push into robot cars seems to be veering off the road. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/25/17

Shipping industry sees smoother waters, ports benefit -- The 40-foot-long, fading-blue shipping containers — once scattered around Peter Grim’s truck yard like giant, discarded dominoes — disappeared months ago. Other visible signs of last August’s Hanjin Shipping collapse, which roiled the international cargo-movement business at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, have faded, too. Rachel Uranga in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 6/25/17

Hackers in West Oakland are racing DIY autonomous cars — and it may revolutionize your ride -- They aren’t much to look at with their bare plywood or plastic frames, exposed wires and electronic innards on display. But don’t be fooled by these vehicles’ rough exteriors. With cameras that let them see, and sophisticated software telling them where to go, these mini self-driving cars could help democratize the burgeoning autonomous car industry — and may just revolutionize it in the process. Erin Baldassari in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/25/17

Education 

Trump administration delays student loan forgiveness program. How to tell if you still qualify -- New rules set to expand federal student loan forgiveness for borrowers who believe that they were defrauded by their schools have been put on hold until further notice, according to the Department of Education. Anne Helhoski in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/25/17

How California’s community colleges are changing -- As the jobs that keep California’s economy running change at a rapid clip, the workers who fill them are expected to keep pace. That puts enormous pressure on all schools in the state, but especially on the state’s community colleges — which help prepare more than 2.1 million students across 113 campuses to enter or move up in the workforce. Emily DeRuy in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/25/17

Health 

Nation's top health official vows attack on wasteful spending -- The nation’s top health-policy official told an audience in San Diego on Saturday that he’s committed to wringing out wasteful spending — regardless of what happens with efforts by President Donald Trump and the GOP-led Congress to reshape Obamacare. Paul Sisson in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/25/17

Also . . . 

Man believed dead is alive – family buries wrong person after mix-up by O.C. Coroner’s office -- “Your son is alive.” Frank J. Kerrigan, 82, couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It was May 23, at night, and he clutched the phone at his home in Wildomar. On the line was Bill Shinker, a long-time family friend. Shinker also had been a pall bearer, just 11 days earlier, at the funeral of Kerrigan’s son, Frank M. Kerrigan. Scott Schwebke in the Orange County Register -- 6/25/17

Petitioners fight to save cross at desert airport in San Diego County -- For 51 years, a cross at the San Diego County airport in Ocotillo Wells has stood to honor a soldier who died in the Vietnam War, but is now slated for removal because of one complaint. Karen Brainard in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/25/17

Officials investigate possible hate crimes at Islamic centers in Sacramento, Davis -- The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department said Saturday that it is investigating an incident at Masjid Annur Islamic Center in south Sacramento. Officials said a sheriff’s deputy was waved down by a citizen shortly after 2:30 p.m. and was led to a burned Quran filled with bacon, hanging by a handcuff from a fence. Mark Glover in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/25/17

Beltway 

AP analysis shows how gerrymandering benefited GOP in 2016 -- The analysis found four times as many states with Republican-skewed state House or Assembly districts than Democratic ones. Among the two dozen most populated states that determine the vast majority of Congress, there were nearly three times as many with Republican-tilted U.S. House districts. David A. Lieb Associated Press -- 6/25/17