Updating . .
California sanctuary state bill needs changes, Jerry Brown says -- Speaking on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Brown suggested he wants further amendments to the bill barring state and local law enforcement from using their resources to help federal immigration officials enforce violations against unauthorized immigrants who haven’t been convicted of a violent crime. Christopher Cadelago in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/6/17
Rich and powerful figures will set USC course in wake of scandal, from behind closed doors -- Composed of 57 voting members, USC’s board of trustees includes noted philanthropists, accomplished alumni, Hollywood insiders and industrial tycoons. The group’s influence extends from the floor of Staples Center to metropolises in India and China. Sonali Kohli, Sarah Parvini, Matt Hamilton and Adam Elmahrek in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/6/17
What we know about California's largest toxic cleanup: Thousands of L.A. County homes tainted with lead -- By this fall, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control plans to begin removing lead-tainted soil from 2,500 residential properties near the shuttered Exide Technologies battery recycling plant in Vernon. Tony Barboza and Ben Poston in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/6/17
Oroville Dam: Six months after disaster, a race to repair before next winter -- Six months ago, relentless winter storms dumped nearly 13 inches of rain in four days on the Sierra Foothills, tearing an enormous hole in the spillway at Oroville Dam, the nation’s highest, and leading to an unprecedented emergency that prompted the evacuation of 188,000 people from nearby towns. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/6/17
Walters: California’s economy booms, but a slowdown looms -- What’s not to like about California’s economy this summer? The state’s’s $2.6 trillion economy would be the sixth largest in the world were it a nation, and many politicians are already crowing that it may move into the No. 5 spot due to economic turmoil in Great Britain. Dan Walters Calmatters.org -- 8/6/17
A proposed state law would let Fresno County open clinics for ‘safer’ illegal drug use -- A bill currently making its way through the California Legislature would let eight counties, including Fresno, open “safer” places for people to take illegal drugs – without any legal repercussions – under the supervision of a health professional, who would also monitor the addict for signs of overdose. Rory Appleton in the Fresno Bee -- 8/6/17
BART police chief’s rough ride out of town in Santa Ana -- It turns out that new BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas’ departure from his last job — top cop in Santa Ana — was far from amicable. Matier & Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/6/17
Hayward officials raise questions about ICE arrests of 2 residents -- City officials said they were blindsided by the recent arrests of two undocumented immigrants by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and have raised questions about how two family men headed to work ended up in detention and on a path toward deportation. Tatiana Sanchez in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/6/17
Road to Big Sur, isolated by landslides, now a footpath -- After flying his family nearly halfway around the world to vacation in California, Tokyo resident Iain Ferguson wasn’t about to miss Big Sur’s renowned beauty — even if a lot of it is cut off by landslides. Kurtis Alexander in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/6/17
The later the better? Sleep-in bill would change school start times for some California students -- Here’s a bedtime story for you: Asking middle school and high school students to attend class earlier than 8:30 a.m. is setting them up to fail. Gary Peterson in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/6/17
President Trump is tasked with governing, but he keeps harping on these 7 things -- He’s been in office for more than six months, but it often seems he’s still campaigning. Kurtis Lee in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/6/17
A Google engineer wrote that women may be genetically unsuited for tech jobs. Women wrote back -- The author has not been publicly identified, but his words have sparked a backlash. Critics say his sentiments reflect a tech company culture that's unwelcoming or even hostile to women and minorities. Another fear: The engineer's words reflect the unspoken thoughts of many others in an industry dominated by white men. Cleve R. Wootson Jr. in the Washington Post$ -- 8/6/17
How Trump's FCC aided Sinclair's expansion -- Sinclair Broadcast Group is expanding its conservative-leaning television empire into nearly three-quarters of American households — but its aggressive takeover of the airwaves wouldn’t have been possible without help from President Donald Trump's chief at the Federal Communications Commission. Margaret Harding McGill and John Hendel Politico -- 8/6/17
California Policy & Politics This Morning
The new mental institutions, by default -- Sonoma County has a chronic shortage of psychiatric hospital beds. As as a result, a growing number of mentally ill residents are ending up in local emergency rooms and in the jail system. Martin Espinoza in the Santa Rosa Press -- 8/6/17
A life cut short by mental illness and a family distraught over care -- Untreated, Quoyah Carson Tehee’s schizophrenia was essentially a death sentence. Martin Espinoza in the Santa Rosa Press -- 8/6/17
FAA Is Taking Advice It Earlier Rejected to Prevent Jets Missing Runways -- The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is implementing recommendations it rejected six years ago that could have prevented pilots from nearly landing last month on a taxiway crowded with jetliners awaiting takeoff in San Francisco. Alan Levin Bloomberg -- 8/6/17
State’s prisons struggling to overhaul gender-identity policies -- As President Trump calls for reinstatement of a ban on transgender military service — a ban his predecessor repealed a year ago — another large institution, the California prison system, is going through a court-supervised overhaul of policies on gender identity. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/6/17
Willie Brown: Why a grand jury could be good news for Trump -- Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s convening of a grand jury to investigate possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia could actually turn out to be good news for the president. Good because it signals that there’s an end in sight to the question of who did what in 2016. Willie Brown in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/6/17
Total solar eclipse to create narrow dark path across U.S. --A total eclipse of the sun will turn day into night across a narrow swath of the U.S. this month when the full moon moves to block the sun’s face and create a coast-to-coast phenomenon that hasn’t occurred in nearly 130 years. David Perlman in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/6/17
California Politics Podcast -- This week: A quick podcast to discuss new campaign fundraising reports from the candidates running for California governor, and wht at it means for the rapidly intensifying race. With John Myers and Melanie Mason of the Los Angeles Times. Link here -- 8/6/17
Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions
This tiny Sierra Valley town voted to pull out of CalPERS. Now city retirees are seeing their pensions slashed -- Loyalton’s four retired city employees became the first in California to see their pensions sliced by CalPERS because of a city defaulting on its payments to the fund, but hundreds of other government retirees across the state may soon face a similar fate. Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/6/17
Why fiber optics is key to future Silicon Beach tech expansion -- In the future, doctors will meet virtually with patients via video-conferencing apps linked to body sensors that can monitor health and detect ailments like never b fore. Sandy Mazza in the Inland Daily Bulletin$ -- 8/6/17
Cell transmitters on every block? Cities, counties fight to retain control over expanding industry -- Dave Roberts has seen plenty of calamitous fires, and the lingering thought after they’re extinguished always is, “If we’d only been there sooner.” Rennie Svirovskiy in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/6/17
Wildfire
Gunfire caused destructive blaze near Yosemite -- Fire investigators say gunfire caused a wildfire near Yosemite National Park that destroyed 131 structures, including 63 homes, last month. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Friday that a gun fired on public lands caused the Detwiler wildfire that burned 127 square miles (331 square kilometers) on July 16. Associated Press -- 8/6/17
Education
Judge Drops Rape Case Against U.S.C. Student, Citing Video Evidence -- In the early hours of April 1, neither student at the University of Southern California knew what the other had had to drink. An Uber was called, and the male student was seen on video following the female student into her dorm, where they had sex. Hannah Alani in the New York Times$ -- 8/6/17
Immigration / Border
Some young immigrants are considering seeking their American dreams elsewhere -- The United States was an inspirational place for Karla Estrada Sanchez’s parents, but she is starting to wonder whether the American dream could be turning into a nightmare for herself and other young immigrants. Alejandra Molina in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 8/6/17
Proposal to limit legal immigration ripples through San Diego families -- Almost immediately, critics on both sides of the political aisle criticized the plan and gave it little chance of passage. They disputed the claims that low-skilled immigrants are taking jobs from Americans and driving down wages, and they said the new restrictions would hurt the economy by shrinking the number of foreign-born workers at a time when the native population is decreasing. John Wilkens in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 8/6/17
Environment
Defunct ski areas: Why healing is so hard -- The rope tow is long gone. The parking lot is empty. Instead of the bustling chatter of a happy crowd of skiers, there’s just silence. But the landscape of the abandoned Powder Bowl ski area still bears witness to its past, more than two decades after its closing. Lisa M. Krieger in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/6/17
Also . . .
University of San Diego named nation's most beautiful school -- In an announcement that may come as no surprise to anyone who has walked past its Spanish renaissance-inspired buildings or taken in its views of Mission Bay, the Princeton Review has named the University of San Diego the most beautiful campus in the nation. Gary Warth in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 8/6/17
Deputies fatally shoot man during eviction; replica handgun found -- The 47-year-old man, who had told the deputies he would shoot them if they came inside, retrieved a replica handgun from his room when the deputies forced their way into the home, San Diego police homicide Lt. Mike Holden said. Pauline Repard in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 8/6/17
Beltway
The future of the Democratic Party could be written in upcoming gubernatorial races -- For Democrats, the rapid loss of power in the states is both cause for alarm and some reason for hope. Republicans posted enormous gains in the states and in Congress in the midterm elections of 2010 and 2014. If it happened for the GOP, Democrats ask, why couldn’t it happen for them? Dan Balz in the Washington Post$ -- 8/6/17
-- Saturday Updates
California governor endorses potential 'sanctuary cities' lawsuit -- California Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday endorsed the idea of his state taking the Trump administration to federal court over its threat to pull law enforcement funding unless cities agree to cooperate with a federal call for stricter immigration enforcement. Brent D. Griffiths Politico Chris Megerian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/5/17
California speaker recall effort reflects Democratic tension -- Democrats control every lever of power in California state government, and free from worrying about major losses to Republicans, they're training fire instead on each other. Jonathan J. Cooper Associated Press -- 8/5/17
Democrats fear Russia probe blowback -- Fearful of alienating voters who appear more concerned about the economy and health care, Democrats campaigning in districts across the country are de-emphasizing Russia in their rhetoric — and some are warning that a persistent focus on the Russia investigation could backfire. David Siders Politico -- 8/5/17
With LA’s homeless crisis ‘past the tipping point,’ would Olympics bring change? -- Los Angeles’ agreement to host the 2028 Olympic Games could bring the focus and urgency needed to house thousands of people who live on the city’s streets, but only if local leaders treat homelessness like an emergency, said one downtown social service provider. Susan Abram in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 8/5/17
Morain: This lobbyist is fighting for the biggest cause of his career: his daughter. -- Joe Lang was part of the campaign that raised $26 million for an initiative that would have legalized slot machines at race tracks and card rooms. That was in 2004, before Jordan was born. Dan Morain in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/5/17
Knight: Mom panhandling with newborn sparks polarized debate -- San Franciscans are known for their firmly entrenched viewpoints and their ability to defend them vigorously. Heather Knight in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/5/17
Snap makes money for no one, except insiders -- If Webvan and Pets.com came to signify the dot-com bust of the early 2000s, then Snap Inc. will surely be the perfect case study for unicorn-era excess. Thomas Lee in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/5/17
Republican Shadow Campaign for 2020 Takes Shape as Trump Doubts Grow -- Senators Tom Cotton and Ben Sasse have already been to Iowa this year, Gov. John Kasich is eyeing a return visit to New Hampshire, and Mike Pence’s schedule is so full of political events that Republicans joke that he is acting more like a second-term vice president hoping to clear the field than a No. 2 sworn in a little over six months ago. Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns in the New York Times$ -- 8/5/17