Updating . .
California lawmakers approve cap-and-trade extension -- In a big victory for Gov. Jerry Brown, state lawmakers approved a 10-year extension for California's cap-and-trade program. The vote came with bipartisan support, a significant shift from previous years where climate policies squeaked by along party lines or with only a handful of Republicans in favor. Chris Megerian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/17/17
California Senate approves cap-and-trade extension -- State senators advanced legislation to extend California's cap-and-trade program in a narrow vote on Monday. All Democrats voted yes, and they were joined by one Republican, Sen. Tom Berryhill (R-Modesto). The measure, AB 398, now goes to the Assembly for another vote before it can reach Gov. Jerry Brown's desk. Chris Megerian in the Los Angeles Times$ Alexei Koseff, Taryn Luna and Jim Miller in the Sacramento Bee$ Katy Murphy in the San Jose Mercury$ David R. Baker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/17/17
2 more GOP senators oppose health bill, killing it for now -- The latest GOP effort to repeal and replace “Obamacare” was fatally wounded in the Senate Monday night when two more Republican senators announced their opposition to legislation strongly backed by President Donald Trump. Alan Fram Associated Press Thomas Kaplan and Robert Pear in the New York Times$ Sean Sullivan and Lenny Bernstein in the Washington Post$ -- 7/17/17
Federal officials order 15,000 new visas for low-wage workers -- The Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced a one-time increase of 15,000 additional visas for low-wage, seasonal workers for the remainder of this fiscal year, a seeming about-face from President Trump's "Hire American" rhetoric, following heavy lobbying from the fisheries, hospitality and other industries that rely on temporary foreign workers. Tracy Jan in the Washington Post$ -- 7/17/17
Fundraising frenzy over five SoCal congressional seats -- Money is flowing in early to the battle for five congressional seats in Southern California that are currently held by Republicans but Democrats see as especially vulnerable to flipping. Jill Replogle KPCC -- 7/17/17
Will cap and trade survive Capitol politics? -- After months of speculation, and weeks of intense negotiations to secure a compromise package, lawmakers are scheduled to take up an extension of the state’s signature climate change program today. The complex system, know as cap and trade, is a market-based approach that began as a Republican idea. Christopher Cadelago and Hawken Miller in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/17/17
Threatened by Trump's budget, tsunami warning system gets backing from congressional panel -- A congressional panel has voted to continue funding a global tsunami detection system that gives U.S. officials an accurate forecast of when and how big floodwaters will arrive from a distant earthquake. Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/17/17
He blew the whistle when an inmate died. Then he was fired, and his lawsuit tossed out -- Two years after state corrections officials fired a psychologist for exposing the death of a mentally ill inmate at Mule Creek State Prison, a federal judge has tossed out the whistleblower lawsuit he filed over his dismissal. Sam Stanton in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/17/17
CA to begin anti-discrimination testing of Airbnb hosts -- State regulators plan soon to test hosts on Airbnb to prevent discriminatory practices, picking audit targets using information provided by the online homesharing platform. Josie Huang KPCC -- 7/17/17
'Please Stay Out': Wildfire scorches 7,100 acres in Central Valley, triggering evacuations -- The Detwiller fire, which started just before 4 p.m. Sunday, scorched 7,100 acres Monday, two miles east of Lake McClure in Mariposa County, about 40 miles east of Modesto, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The blaze destroyed one structure and damaged another. Veronica Rocha in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/17/17
An overdose, a young companion, drug-fueled parties: The secret life of USC med school dean -- In USC’s lecture halls, labs and executive offices, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito was a towering figure. The dean of the Keck School of Medicine was a renowned eye surgeon whose skill in the operating room was matched by a gift for attracting money and talent to the university. Paul Pringle, Harriet Ryan, Adam Elmahrek, Matt Hamilton and Sarah Parvini in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/17/17
Elon Musk Warns Governors: Artificial Intelligence Poses ‘Existential Risk’ -- Tesla CEO Elon Musk, speaking to U.S. governors this weekend, told the political leaders that artificial intelligence poses an “existential threat” to human civilization. Camila Domonoske KQED -- 7/17/17
San Francisco man, 71, shot and killed at Twin Peaks overlook -- A 71-year-old San Francisco man was shot and killed on Sunday morning at the city’s popular Twin Peaks viewpoint, officials said Monday. The victim, identified by the city medical examiner’s office as Edward French, was found bleeding from a gunshot wound shortly before 8 a.m. at the picturesque overlook, police said. Evan Sernoffsky in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/17/17
Fox: Jeopardy for the Bullet Train with Cap-n-Trade Amendment? -- Late Friday, Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes threw into the cap-and-trade negotiation mix a plan to require a one-time two-thirds vote requirement on how cap-and-trade revenues are spent. The vote would come no sooner than 2024. That proposed vote is a long way off but it could play a role in the funding of the controversial high-speed-rail project. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 7/17/17
Spreading fake news becomes standard practice for governments across the world -- Campaigns to manipulate public opinion through false or misleading social media postings have become standard political practice across much of the world, with information ministries, specialized military units and political operatives shaping the flow of information in dozens of countries, a British research group reported Monday. Craig Timberg in the Washington Post$ -- 7/17/17
Avoiding Awareness Gaps With Promise Programs -- Surveys find that language and distance, particularly for small groups of nationalities, can be barriers to raising awareness about Long Beach's popular college promise program. Ashley A. Smith Inside Higher Ed -- 7/17/17
Matthews: L.A.’s Revelatory Light Rail for Nerds -- I’m a regular rider of “The Brain Train,” officially known as the Gold Line on the L.A. Metro system’s. The Gold Line is light rail running from the eastern San Gabriel Valley into downtown L.A. and then back out again to East L.A. Along the way, it connects enough smart institutions—from innovative community colleges, to a leading cancer center, to the world’s greatest scientific university—to explode stereotypes about public transportation and Southern California itself. Joe Mathews Zócalo Public Square -- 7/17/17
California Policy & Politics This Morning
California lawmakers to decide fate of landmark climate law -- California lawmakers are nearing a high-stakes decision that will decide the fate of a climate initiative that Gov. Jerry Brown holds up as a model to be replicated around the world to confront rising global temperatures. Jonathan J. Cooper Associated Press -- 7/17/17
Skelton: As cap-and-trade evangelist, Gov. Brown shows he's the most effective politician Sacramento has seen in a long time -- He’s single-minded like a bull,” said a close friend of Gov. Jerry Brown. That was more than 42 years ago. Another Times reporter and I had tracked down friends and relatives of Brown, looking for some insight into the young man about to be inaugurated California governor for the first time. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/17/17
Walters: of Equalization isn’t California’s only governmental problem child -- To put it mildly, the elected members of the state Board of Equalization are unhappy that the huge tax collection agency is being dismantled. Dan Walters Calmatters.org -- 7/17/17
Former Navy officer-turned-lottery-winner to challenge Orange County Rep. Ed Royce for Congress -- Orange County Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) has picked up another challenger. Philanthropist and Navy veteran Gil Cisneros, a Democrat, has entered the race to unseat Royce in the 39th Congressional District. Christine Mai-Duc in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/17/17
Federal court's agenda has topics that draw Trump's ire -- Immigration, fake news and meddling in the U.S. election are among the subjects to be discussed or touched on at the four-day conference of the 9th Circuit courts in San Francisco starting Monday. Sudhin Thanawala Associated Press -- 7/17/17
State Fair exhibit honors California’s farmworker movement -- California’s 400,000 farm laborers are being celebrated in an educational exhibit at this year’s State Fair, running through July 30. The exhibit, in Building A at Cal Expo, focuses on the past, the present and the future of the farm labor movement, which had its roots in the 1960s. Laura Sussman in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/17/17
PolitiFact California's Top 10 fact checks -- In the first half of 2017, PolitiFact California’s most popular fact-checks and articles, in terms of pageviews, ranged from a Pants On Fire claim that state lawmakers legalized child prostitution to a Mostly True statement about the extremely slim odds of being killed by a refugee in a terror attack. Chris Nichols PolitifactCA -- 7/17/17
Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions
Social Security, a pension booster, faces shortfall -- Social Security trustees project a 2.2 percent increase for recipients next year after little or no increase the last two years. And the Social Security trust funds are projected to run out of money by 2034, triggering a 23 percent cut unless Congress takes corrective action. Ed Mendel Calpensions.com -- 7/17/17
Labor Dept. must accept less data than it asked of Google, judge says -- The Department of Labor lost a significant portion of its case to pull more employee data from Google on Friday, when a judge ruled the department couldn’t access the full breadth of its request. Wendy Lee in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/17/17
Google San Jose: Can the search giant prevent traffic, housing woes? -- The potential downsides to Google’s planned campus in the heart of downtown check all the boxes on the list of Bay Area horrors: escalating traffic, overburdened transit systems, skyrocketing housing costs, displacement of lower-income people. Ethan Baron in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/17/17
Housing
‘Yes in my backyard.’ Silicon Valley money fuels fight against state’s housing crisis -- Brian Hanlon is a Bay Area guy who made his name “suing the suburbs.” Too many cities and counties, he says, aren’t complying with state housing law that says it’s illegal to deny or scale back affordable housing projects that meet local zoning designations and other land-use rules. Angela Hart in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/17/17
Activists blast environmental changes for Newhall Ranch development as ‘flawed’ -- Activists against the massive Newhall Ranch development in the Santa Clarita Valley are expected to speak out during a public hearing at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday to express concerns over environmental changes made for the 21,500 units proposed for the area just west of Magic Mountain. Susan Abram in the LA Daily News$ -- 7/17/17
The Cost of a Hot Economy in California: A Severe Housing Crisis -- A full-fledged housing crisis has gripped California, where the lack of affordable homes and apartments for middle-class families is severe. The median cost of a home here is now a staggering $500,000, twice the national cost. Homelessness is surging across the state. Adam Nagourney and Connor Dougherty in the New York Times$ -- 7/17/17
Education
California's community colleges' new push to improve graduation and transfer rates -- The California Community Colleges must do a much better job preparing Californians for the state’s future workforce, Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley said in advance of an important vote to approve ambitious new goals for the 114-college system. Mikhail Zinshteyn EdSource -- 7/17/17
Cannabis
Oakland begins foray into equalizing cannabis industry -- Oakland’s attempt to fix racial inequality in the cannabis industry by giving permits to ex-convicts to sell, grow or transport the drug for which they were once criminalized is off to a surprisingly good start by most accounts. Kimberly Veklerov in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/17/17
Immigration / Border
Mixed message from Trump on DACA sparks frustration from Dreamers as well as critics of illegal immigration -- Ever since Donald Trump was elected, Melody Klingenfuss has known her time in the United States could be limited. The 23-year-old has temporary immigration relief under President Obama’s landmark Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which seemed imperiled amid Trump’s vowed crackdown on illegal immigration. Cindy Carcamo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/17/17
Population in local immigration jails swells, more judges assigned to handle cases -- Almost six months into the Trump administration’s stepped-up enforcement against illegal immigration, the two local immigration jails are holding more people in detention and the number of judges assigned to hear their cases has more than doubled. Greg Moran in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 7/17/17
Health
Doctors fear Trump change could lead to more teen pregnancies -- High school students toting both textbooks and newborns are becoming increasingly rare. But a Trump administration proposal to rewrite federal birth control mandates could soon change that, some medical experts fear. Lizzie Johnson in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/17/17
POTUS 45
Trump Goes on Attack as Russia Revelations Appear to Take Toll -- President Trump unleashed a new fusillade of tweets on Sunday morning, defending his son Donald Trump Jr., slashing the news media and tarring his long-vanquished opponent, Hillary Clinton. Mark Landler in the New York Times$ -- 7/17/17
Beltway
Obamacare repeal bill plunges into new uncertainty -- Republicans’ long-held plans to repeal Obamacare are again in serious doubt, with no clear timetable for a Senate vote following the surprise news that John McCain will be out as he recovers from surgery. Burgess Everett, Seung Min Kim Politico -- 7/17/17
How the White House and Republicans underestimated Obamacare repeal -- The longer Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare flounder, the clearer it becomes that President Donald Trump’s team and many in Congress dramatically underestimated the challenge of rolling back former President Barack Obama’s signature achievement. Nancy Cook, Burgess Everett Politico -- 7/17/17
Three Pinocchios: Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s claim that ‘criminals take notice’ of cities with sanctuary policies -- In a speech about “sanctuary cities,” Sessions cited research from University of California at Riverside that does not actually support his point. There is little research looking at the impact of sanctuary policies on crime. Michelle Ye Hee Lee in the Washington Post$ -- 7/17/17
-- Sunday Updates
‘Huge failure’: 80 percent of Oakland firefighter warnings of unsafe buildings go unchecked -- In what an expert calls a “huge failure,” hundreds of residential and commercial buildings across Oakland were never inspected after firefighters flagged fire dangers and referred them for followup, including more than 200 apartment buildings housing thousands of residents, an investigation by the Bay Area News Group has found. Thomas Peele, Matthias Gafni and David DeBolt in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/16/17
One child, a $21-million medical bill: How a tiny number of patients poses a huge challenge for Medi-Cal -- Somewhere in California, one child’s medical expenses in 2014 totaled $21 million — a bill covered entirely by Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid. The child’s condition is not known. But the cost of care was mentioned in recent Twitter and Facebook posts by Jennifer Kent, head of the state Department of Health Care Services, which runs Medi-Cal. Soumya Karlamangla in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/16/17
Obamacare repeal bills could put coverage out of reach for millions of sick Americans -- President Trump and congressional Republicans, despite repeated pledges to preserve sick Americans’ access to health coverage, are poised to scrap this core insurance protection in their campaign to roll back the Affordable Care Act. Noam N. Levey in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/16/17
Walters: Despite Proposition 13, California property tax revenue has soared -- Much has been said and written – mostly negatively – about the effects of Proposition 13, California’s iconic law limiting property taxes. Its critics say that Proposition 13, which restricts taxes to 1 percent of property values and caps increases in those values at 2 percent a year, has starved schools and local governments of vital revenue. Dan Walters Calmatters.org -- 7/16/17
Wisckol: Glut of Democratic congressional candidates raises questions -- Surveying the crowd of Democratic congressional candidates hoping to unseat Orange County’s four GOP incumbents – already 16 – county Republican Party Chairman Fred Whitaker can hardly contain his glee. Martin Wisckol in the Orange County Register -- 7/16/17
Smolens: Bid for governor or not, Faulconer still a hot ticket on statewide stage -- Mayor Kevin Faulconer says he’s not running for governor next year — no way, no how. But that doesn’t mean he’s lost his “rising star” status in statewide politics. Michael Smolens in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 7/16/17
Caitlyn Jenner mulling California Senate run -- Just after musician Kid Rock tweeted out the possibility of Senate run in Michigan, Olympic gold medalist and transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner told a New York radio audience she is eyeing a Senate run in California. Bartholomew D Sullivan USA Today -- 7/16/17
Central California wildfire grows as hot, dry conditions persist -- A damaging wildfire burning on California's scenic central coast was expected to expand on Sunday afternoon, with higher temperatures, lower humidity and high winds working against efforts to contain it, officials said. Bernie Woodall Reuters -- 7/16/17
Bay Area doctors learn to navigate California’s right-to-die law -- In a state of 39 million residents — and more than 100,000 licensed physicians — just 173 California doctors wrote lethal prescriptions for 191 patients in the last half of 2016, according to the California Department of Public Health. Tracy Seipel in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/16/17
Cigarette theft ring hits several Walgreens as new California tax raises prices -- A group of men are suspected of stealing large quantities of cigarettes from Walgreens locations across the eastern San Fernando Valley, including in Burbank, according t o authorities. Andy Nguyen in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/16/17
NPR and SAG-AFTRA reach a tentative deal on a three-year contract -- Terms of the new deal reached just after midnight Eastern time on Saturday night were not disclosed. A representative for SAG-AFTRA said the deal provides for “salary increases and effectively repelled efforts to erode union protections and institute a two-tiered salary system.” Stephen Battaglio in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/16/17
Sacramento district can’t find enough teachers, so it turns to Philippines for help -- The district says it has no choice but to look abroad to fill vacancies, as schools around California and the nation face a shortage of employable teachers. Richard Chang in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/16/17
Google San Jose: Can the search giant prevent traffic, housing woes? -- Google will be traveling a razor’s edge of love and hate all the way to its planned new 20,000-worker San Jose campus as it brings jobs and star power to a city that needs both while delivering extra helpings of the ills that have sparked public ire against Silicon Valley’s big technology companies. Ethan Baron in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/16/17
Abcarian: How crazy do you have to be to run the world's most grueling foot race? (Hint: Not very) -- I drove to Death Valley last week because I had always been curious about the kind of people eager to spend up to 46 hours on their feet, with no sleep, running across the hottest place on Earth, dodging oncoming traffic, in the middle of July. Robin Abcarian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/16/17
Inmate fight put their brother in a coma. Siblings still seeking answers month later -- A brutal fight between two prisoners in a Sacramento County Main Jail cell has left an inmate in what family and friends call a vegetative state, no longer able to communicate with friends or loved ones. Nashelly Chavez in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/16/17
San Francisco chefs leaving for rural areas in search of work-life balance -- Just three years ago, Jake and Shauna Des Voignes were names that San Francisco food-watchers knew well: Jake as the chef of Local Mission Eatery, Shauna as the chef-owner of Knead Patisserie. Jonathan Kauffman in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/16/17
White House unveils ‘Made in America’ week, though many Trump products are made overseas -- President Trump, whose company outsources the manufacturing of many of its products to overseas factories, is unveiling “Made in America” week at the White House to promote products made in the United States. Philip Rucker in the Washington Post$ -- 7/16/17