Updating . .   

Official: Passenger jumps off plane after SFO landing -- A 17-year-old passenger opened an emergency exit door of a Boeing 737 jet, stepped out onto the wing and jumped to the runway after the plane landed at San Francisco International Airport Tuesday afternoon, officials said. The item is in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/1/17

Gavin Newsom raises more money for his gubernatorial bid than Villaraigosa, Chiang and Eastin combined -- According to campaign finance disclosures that cover the first six months of 2017, Newsom raised nearly $5.4 million since Jan. 1, and ended June with $13.1 million cash on hand. The bank balance reflects the fact that he entered the race in early 2015, far earlier than his rivals. Seema Mehta in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/1/17

California's race for lieutenant governor is attracting a lot of money -- California’s 2018 race for lieutenant governor, likely to be lost in shadow of the governor’s race, could turn out to be a pretty competitive contest. Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/17

Covered California premiums will rise 12.5%, and Anthem Blue Cross cuts coverage -- State officials said Tuesday that Anthem will continue providing coverage only in Santa Clara County and parts of Northern California and the Central Valley. The 12.5% average increase is slightly lower than last year, when premiums rose by more than 13%. Officials said that people who switch to the lowest-priced plans could see a rise of only about 3%. Jonathan J. Cooper Associated Press Catherine Ho in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Cathie Anderson in the Sacramento Bee$ Courtney Perkes in the Orange County Register -- 8/1/17

Homeland Security To Bypass Environmental Regulations In San Diego Border Wall Construction -- The Department of Homeland Security will be allowed to bypass environmental regulations to speed up the process of building a wall on the international border in the San Diego area, the agency announced Tuesday. KPBS -- 8/1/17

Brown vetoes a bill to make school districts consider ties between zero-tolerance policies and suicide -- Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill Monday that would have required school districts that have zero-tolerance policies toward drugs or alcohol use to hold community-wide conversations on whether expulsions related to substance abuse deter students from seeking help for mental health problems. Joy Resmovits in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/17

Setbacks put affluent Moraga in fiscal straits -- The two minor disasters in the last 16 months have turned the town of 17,000 people into a symbol of the legacy of Proposition 13, the voter-approved state law that limits property taxes — and town revenue. Alison Graham in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/1/17

See where California is taking guns with restraining orders -- California courts ordered people to temporarily give up possession of their firearms 86 times last year. A new law, which took effect in 2016, allows family members or law enforcement officers to seek a “gun violence restraining order” against someone they believe poses an “immediate and present danger” of harming themselves or others. Alexei Koseff in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/1/17

Lawsuit: Fox coordinated with White House on false story -- An investigator who worked on the Seth Rich case claims Fox News fabricated quotes implicating the murdered Democratic National Committee staffer in the WikiLeaks scandal and coordinated with the Trump administration as it worked on the story. David Bauder Associated Press Hadas Gold Politico -- 8/1/17

Democrats snub new party message -- Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill will spend the next 15 months talking up the “Better Deal” economic message they unveiled last week. What’s not clear is whether anyone else will follow. Gabriel Debenedetti, Elana Schor and Heather Caygle Politico -- 8/1/17

 

California Policy & Politics This Morning  

Conservative media is keeping tabs on Kamala Harris -- U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris has given little public consideration to running for president in 2020. But the conservative media is all over it already. Christopher Cadelago in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/1/17

Inquiries about immigration status will be barred in most civil liability cases under a new California law -- Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Monday that makes a plaintiff's immigration status irrelevant to the issue of liability in civil cases involving consumer protection, civil rights, labor and housing laws. Jazmine Ulloa in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/17

Gov. Brown signs bill making it easier to create bike lanes — but not that much easier -- It might sound strange that one of the main impediments for bike lanes in California is a state environmental law, but it's true. The California Environmental Quality Act requires new projects to take into account effects on car congestion, and doing so has stymied bike lanes up and down the state for more than a decade. Liam Dillon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/17

California considers lower bar for its tough lawyer exam -- The State Bar of California on Monday proposed lowering the minimum score on the most recent licensing exam for attorneys amid an alarming decline in people passing the test, considered one of the toughest in the U.S. Sudhin Thanawala Associated Press -- 8/1/17

Gas utility resumes injections at Aliso Canyon despite opposition from county, residents -- Southern California Gas Co. announced Monday it had resumed injections at the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility, less than two days after an appeals court lifted a temporary ban on operations. Nina Agrawal in the Los Angeles Times$ Brian Melley Associated Press -- 8/1/ 17

LA could lose federal funds for refusing new immigration rules. But is that legal? -- Los Angeles officials on Monday questioned the legality of tougher rules announced last week that would require cities to work more closely with federal immigration officials in order to receive public safety related grants. Elizabeth Chou in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 8/1/17

Auditor to study alleged ethics offenses by Oakland councilwoman -- For hours on end, not one of the dozens of people at a special meeting of Oakland’s Public Ethics Commission at City Hall on Monday evening seemed able to discern what Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney may have done wrong, and why. Michael Bodley in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/1/17

Former football star Rosey Grier takes a pass on the California governor's race -- Grier, a member of the famous “Fearsome Foursome” defensive line, announced he was running in January but he never officially filed for office or actively campaigned. Grier, a Republican who lives in west Los Angeles, has an eclectic political history. He supported the presidential bids of Democrat Jimmy Carter as well as Republican Ronald Reagan. Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/17

McEwen: Conservative John Cox aims to be California’s Bernie Sanders. And next governor -- Our state’s great wealth helps explain why you’ve probably never heard of John Cox, even though the San Diego area venture capitalist, CPA and lawyer is worth about $200 million and long has been active in politics, first in his native state of Illinois and now in California. Bill McEwen in the Fresno Bee -- 8/1/17

L.A. gains financial concessions in return for agreeing to host the 2028 Olympic Games -- After weeks of intense negotiations with the International Olympic Committee, Los Angeles officials have agreed to host the Summer Games in 2028 — instead of 2024 — in return for a deal they hope will generate hundreds of millions in additional savings and revenues. David Wharton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/17

California Lawmakers Likely Must Reapprove State Funding For Olympics -- California lawmakers will likely have to reapprove a quarter-billion dollars for the newly-announced Olympic games in Los Angeles. A law passed last year authorizes the funding in case of cost overruns, but it only mentions a 2024 Olympics. Ben Bradford Capital Public Radio -- 8/1/17

Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions

‘Troublesome’ diversity study shows Hollywood doesn’t ‘want to change’: analysts say -- Despite a year that brought historic awards recognition and box office success for diverse films such as “Hidden Figures” and “Moonlight,” Hollywood continues to face an “inclusion crisis” when it comes to opportunities for women and people of color, according to a USC study on diversity in the movie industry released Monday. Matthew Carey in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 8/1/17

Cosmic Girl, Virgin Orbit’s space launch plane, touches down in Long Beach -- Cosmic Girl, Virgin Orbit’s specially modified jumbo jet designed to serve as a flying launchpad, touched down Monday afternoon at Long Beach Airport to the delight of those working to help the company join the United States’ nascent private spaceflight industry. Andrew Edwards in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 8/1/17

Wells Fargo hit with class-action lawsuit over auto insurance charges -- Wells Fargo & Co., which is still settling class-action lawsuits over its fake-accounts scandal, has now been hit with yet another — related to the bank’s revelation last week that it charged auto loan customers for unnecessary insurance. Laurence Darmiento in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/17

Tech Incubator Faces Challenges of Tackling Sexual Harassment Among Investors -- To an outsider, the actions might have looked swift and decisive: Within weeks of being accused of sexual harassment in the press, two high-profile venture capital investors issued public apologies and resigned. Queena Kim KQED -- 8/1/17

San Diego approves equal pay law to address persistent gender gap -- San Diego on Monday became the largest city in the nation to pass a law requiring city contractors and consultants to pay employees equally regardless of gender or ethnicity. David Garrick in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ Andrew Bowen KPBS -- 8/1/17

California Mobile Home Park Gets Cutting Edge Renewable Energy System -- The California Energy Commission is bank-rolling a plan to bring renewable energy to a mobile home park near Bakersfield, California. The money will allow for the installation of solar panels and a battery storage system. The idea is to make the technology available to communities that otherwise could not afford it. Erik Anderson KPBS -- 8/1/17

Electric Bus Makers Poised for an L.A. Gold Rush -- There’s a highly charged competition going on in Los Angeles right now, and it’s between manufacturers of electric buses. Transit agencies around the country are going electric. San Francisco has been buying biodiesel hybrid buses and electric trolleys for years. Los Angeles wants to go electric, too. Avishay Artsy KQED -- 8/1/17

Google age-discrimination lawsuit: nearly 300 people have signed onto class action -- A judge’s ruling has revealed the scale of the claim that Google has discriminated against older people by not hiring them. Plaintiff Cheryl Fillekes, a systems engineer, alleges that Google interviewed her in person for four different jobs, starting when she was 47, but never hired her, in spite of “affirmatively” reaching out to her about positions because of her “impressive qualifications.” Ethan Baron in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/1/17

Professional employees say LA County Sanitation Districts is unfairly withholding pay bump -- About 450 professional employees working without a contract for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts have filed a complaint with the Public Employment Relations Board as part of an ongoing dispute over salaries and pension contributions. Steve Scauzillo in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 8/1/17

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweets about his mental health -- File this in the ever-growing folder marked How Social Media Has Changed the World: Elon Musk said on Twitter that he might be bipolar. It started off with the Tesla/SpaceX CEO responding to a tweet Sunday about Musk’s Instagram use and the billionaire’s seemingly charmed existence. Levi Sumagaysay in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/1/17

Education 

Ting rips UC for withdrawing admission to hundreds at Irvine -- Hundreds of students planning to attend UC Irvine this fall were told that their acceptance into the university had been withdrawn, prompting San Francisco Assemblyman Phil Ting on Monday to call on UC President Janet Napolitano to intervene. Melody Gutierrez in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/1/17

FUSD invests $1 million in black students in hopes of combating high discipline rates -- The district’s black students are suspended at a rate nearly three times higher than white and Latino students. While black students only account for 8 percent of enrollment at Fresno Unified – California’s fourth-largest district – they made up nearly 25 percent of all suspensions in the 2014-15 school year. Mackenzie Mays in the Fresno Bee -- 8/1/17

Summer program teaches key skills to prepare children for kindergarten -- The Summer Pre-K camp, located in several schools in East and West Oakland, is part of a renewed effort across California to ensure children without preschool experience are not at risk of falling behind, as the academic requirements for kindergarten increase.​ Ashley Hopkinskon EdSource -- 8/1/17

Immigration / Border 

Teenager’s Death At San Ysidro Port Of Entry Inspires Calls For Action -- Congressman Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, and other representatives are asking the Department of Homeland Security to improve training in response to the 2013 death of a Mexican teenager who drank liquid methamphetamine at the alleged request of customs officers at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Jean Guerrero KPBS -- 8/1/17

Also . . . 

Mother of man killed outside Ladera Heights gym sues Sheriff's Department and county -- The mother of a man who was shot and killed in March during an encounter with Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies has sued the county and the Sheriff’s Department, saying that deputies lacked proper training and used unnecessary force against her son, who suffered from a mental illness. Leila Miller in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/17

POTUS 45  

Trump dictated son’s misleading statement on meeting with Russian lawyer -- On the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Germany last month, President Trump’s advisers discussed how to respond to a new revelation that Trump’s oldest son had met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign — a disclosure the advisers knew carried political and potentially legal peril. Ashley Parker, Carol D. Leonnig, Philip Rucker and Tom Hamburger in the Washington Post$ -- 8/1/17

4 men have done 5 stints as Trump’s communications director that lasted an average of 44 days -- On Dec. 22, President-elect Donald Trump picked Jason Miller to be his White House communications director. Miller resigned on Christmas Eve. Callum Borchers in the Washington Post$ -- 8/1/17

Four Pinocchios: President Trump’s claim that illegal immigration went up under past administrations -- Curbing illegal immigration is a major promise by President Trump, and he frequently touts successes in doing so. While Southwest border crossings have, indeed, declined as a result of Trump’s rhetoric, it’s not nearly as dramatic as 78 or 80 percent. Moreover, Trump now says illegal immigration went up under previous administrations — which is false. Michelle Ye Hee Lee in the Washington P st$ -- 8/1/17

Kelly has to say “no” to Trump to be an effective chief of staff -- Installing John Kelly as chief of staff won’t change the trajectory of the Trump administration unless the president grants the retired four-star general a power no one in the White House seems to have: saying no to Donald Trump. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/1/17

Beltway 

Republicans ignore Trump's Obamacare taunts -- Senate Republicans have no plans to revive their party-line attempts to repeal Obamacare this summer, despite President Donald Trump’s increasing frustration over the chamber’s failed attempts last week to gut the law. Burgess Everett and Jennifer Haberkorn Politico -- 8/1/17

 

-- Monday Updates 

Los Angeles reaches deal with international Olympic leaders to host 2028 Summer Games -- City Council President Herb Wesson’s office confirmed the deal Monday. Spokeswoman Caolinn Mejza says the pact is expected to be reviewed by the council later this week. The agreement to be formally announced later Monday follows a vote earlier this month by the International Olympic Committee to seek a deal to award the 2024 and 2028 Games. Michael R. Blood Associated Press David Wharton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/31/17

Los Angeles father, detained by ICE after dropping daughter off at school, could be deported -- The family of Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez, an immigrant in the country illegally whose case has drawn international media attention, was devastated to learn that he could be deported as early as next week. Andrea Castillo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/31/17

In California's poultry plants, refugees fill the vacuum left after President Bush's immigration raid -- Taiseer Al Souki spends most days on his feet at a Foster Farms poultry plant, hefting table-sized plastic brown boxes and feeding them into a machine that cleans them. Cindy Carcamo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/31/17

LA County not giving up on closing Aliso Canyon gas storage facility -- Attorneys for Los Angeles County filed updated papers with a state appeals court today in a renewed effort to block the restart of operations at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility in Porter Ranch, site of the largest methane leak in U.S. history. The item is in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 7/31/17

Ventura Blvd. marches have something in common: The homeless. But that’s where it ends -- As the number of homeless people in the San Fernando Valley has grown, some residents say they’re fed up with criminal activity they claim is associated with those who ask for money at freeway off-ramps or live in tent encampments. Elizabeth Chou in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 7/31/17

Concerned about aggressive panhandling, Chatsworth group escorts customers into Ralphs -- Customers entering a Ralphs in Chatsworth Saturday were greeted by members of a Facebook page who held a “Safe Shopping Day” calling attention to panhandling and homelessness in the area. Wes Woods in the Los Angeles Daily News -- 7/31/17

San Francisco Civic Center focus of urgent, coordinated cleanup effort -- In San Francisco, checking out a book from the Main Library, attending a Symphony concert or going to City Hall for a marriage license can mean confronting some of the most egregious examples of the city’s drug and homelessness problems. Dominic Fracassa in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/31/17

Taylor: BART needs more riders to step up to help keep system safe -- “BART really needs to do a better job of making people feel safe.” That’s what a reader wrote in response to my column about BART commuters terrorized for several stops on the Pittsburg/Bay Point line last week by a man threatening to kill them — and how one rider felt the reaction from BART police was inadequate. Otis R. Taylor Jr. in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/31/17

• Trump Removes Anthony Scaramucci From Communications Director Role -- President Trump has decided to remove Anthony Scaramucci from his position as communications director, three people close to the decision said Monday, relieving him just days after Mr. Scaramucci unloaded a crude verbal tirade against other senior members of the president’s senior staff. Maggie Haberman, Michael D. Shear and Glenn Thrush in the New York Times$ Catherine Lucey Associated Press Tara Palmeri Politico -- 7/31/17

Politically, millennials are a pain -- Millennials are better educated than previous generations; they are technologically savvy. For political types, they are a headache. They are the largest living generation. Even though there are 9.4 million California millennials, making them a potentially rich source of votes, they don’t vote in very high percentages unless they’re thrilled. Chuck Mcfadden Capitol Weekly -- 7/31/17

Millennium Tower can survive Big One, city-ordered report says -- Good news for jittery residents of the Millennium Tower in San Francisco — an engineering analysis ordered up by the city has concluded that, while the 58-story downtown high-rise continues to both sink and tilt, it can nonetheless withstand a magnitude 8.0 earthquake. Matier & Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/31/17

Nearly 2 million California acres were set aside for frogs. But ranchers say decision ignores them -- Tiny frogs and toads used to swarm over the Sierra Nevada. Now they’re considered endangered, and the government says they need to be protected. California ranchers say those protections are hurting their ability to make a living. So another conflict over the Endangered Species Act is going to court. Dale Kasler, Carolyn Wilke and Ryan Sabalow in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/31/17

Booze flows freely in Fresno, but where you find it makes a difference -- As Fresno recently weighed what to do about recreational marijuana businesses, several pastors from the city’s poorer central and southern neighborhoods spoke in support of a ban. They said they were already feeling overrun by beer, wine and liquor retailers. Tim Sheehan in the Fresno B ee -- 7/31/17

Movies still dominated by white male actors despite talk of diversity -- In 2016 “Moonlight” won best picture and “Hidden Figures” was the 14th highest grossing film of the year, but popular Hollywood films remained as white and male-dominated as ever. Lindsey Bahr Associated Press -- 7/31/17

A tug-of-war between Metro, Metrolink intensifies as thousands switch to cheaper Gold Line -- But some existing train riders — particularly those living in eastern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County — have found a different kind of option. Thousands are switching from riding Metrolink, a commuter rail, to taking the Gold Line light rail. Both go to Los Angeles but the Gold Line is much cheaper, offers more trains more often and less waiting. Steve Scauzillo in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 7/31/17

Fox: California at Politicon -- The third annual Politicon convention in Pasadena on all things political produced long lines for lively debates and entertainment, and while a major focus was on national events, as always California and Californians captured a good share of the spotlight. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 7/31/17