California Policy & Politics This Morning
Guns to marriage to the environment: What a new Supreme Court could mean to California -- Imagine civilians legally packing pistols as they stroll the streets of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Or health care that is harder for Californians to obtain or even afford. Or air in the Central Valley with higher concentrations of methane gas, or county jails across the state that have no recourse but to allow federal agents inside for an immigration search. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/18
Proposed San Francisco tax to address homelessness could hit retail hardest -- Some of San Francisco’s largest companies could collectively be facing an estimated $300 million annual tax increase, which is likely to spark a political fight amid concerns over higher costs for consumers and the effect on businesses. Roland Li in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/18
Sacramento intends to declare homeless ‘shelter crisis.’ Will that enable public camping? -- Faced with a growing homeless population and skyrocketing housing costs, the city of Sacramento is poised to declare an “emergency shelter crisis” that would bring millions of dollars in state money to fund structures for hundreds of people now living on the streets. Cynthia Hubert, Ryan Lillis in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/14/18
Willie Brown: Resisting Trump’s Supreme Court pick isn’t worth Democratic Senate seats -- Democratic senators in swing states have a tough choice ahead of them on Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court pick. Their base may not forgive them for voting “yes,” but there may not be enough of that base to offset the backlash from voting “no.” Willie Brown in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/18
San Francisco Mayor Breed takes a stroll — and it’s not in the prettiest part of town -- About 15 minutes into San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s unannounced walking tour of the Tenderloin on Friday afternoon, the first needle appeared. Luckily, Barbara Garcia, the city’s director of Public Health, had some wooden tongs and a portable disposal kit at the ready. Dominic Fracassa in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/18
State Dem Party shuns private-prison donations -- Party Chair Eric Bauman said any contributions received since May 21, 2017 would be “donated to organizations doing critical work to protect immigrants from the Trump administration or to support and rehabilitate recently incarcerated folks.” Scott Soriano Capitol Week -- 7/14/18
California 2018 Midterm Primary Turnout Highest In 2 Decades -- California's June primary saw the highest percentage of voter turnout in a midterm primary election since 1998. More than 37 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the primary. Sophia Bollag Associated Press -- 7/14/18
Is Tom Steyer the progressive answer to the Koch brothers? -- Tom Steyer is a billionaire from San Francisco who comes bearing tantalising gifts for American progressives. Rory Carroll The Guardian -- 7/14/18
Have you spent hours waiting at DMV lately? These offices will open earlier -- Beset by crowding and complaints, the state Department of Motor Vehicles has announced it will open five Sacramento-area field offices an hour earlier, starting Monday, and will expand Saturday hours at other offices. The head of the DMV issued an apology Friday to customers, some of whom have waited up to five hours at overcrowded field offices this spring. Tony Bizjak in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/14/18
Gov. Jerry Brown, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom lose 10% of followers after Twitter purge -- Two of California’s most prominent politicians lost a noticeable slice of Twitter followers this week, as the social media platform began a crackdown on accounts it deemed to be suspicious. John Myers, Jon Schleuss, Ellis Simani in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/18
Judge tentatively dismisses lawsuit seeking to remove Xavier Becerra as California attorney general -- A judge has tentatively ruled against a lawsuit by a former candidate for state attorney general who alleged incumbent Xavier Becerra is ineligible to hold the post because he was not active in practicing law in the five years before becoming the state’s top cop. Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/18
Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions
New staffing law, old struggles bedevil California nursing homes -- Despite the challenges, the 27-year-old professes a love for her job, which involves bathing, feeding and attending to other daily needs of patients. But the stressful work — coupled with low wages and a booming economy — has made it more difficult than ever for nursing homes to fill the position. Ethan Millman in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/18
Paychecks Lag as Profits Soar, and Prices Erode Wage Gains -- Corporate profits have rarely swept up a bigger share of the nation’s wealth, and workers have rarely shared a smaller one. The lopsided split is especially pronounced given how low the official unemployment rate has sunk. Patricia Cohen in the New York Times$ -- 7/14/18
Wildfire
California Wildfires Were Terrible Last Year. Will This Year Be Worse? -- As blame for California’s wildfires rises over Sacramento like smoke from last year’s blazes, the state is being forced to confront the possibility that it’ll happen again in 2018. Brian K Sullivan and Mark Chediak Bloomberg -- 7/14/18
Guns
Gun owners issue challenge to Del Mar exhibit protestors -- A group of San Diego gun owners, worried that the Del Mar Fairgrounds might not renew its controversial gun shows, issued a challenge Friday to anyone who can prove illegal sales have taken place there. Phil Diehl in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 7/14/18
Education
L.A. Unified veteran returns as interim inspector general -- A retired district lawyer and administrator will return to serve as the Los Angeles Unified School District’s inspector general after the board failed to renew his predecessor’s contract. Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/18
Ex-USC gynecologist retains high-profile criminal attorney -- Former USC gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall, accused of sexually abusing young patients, has retained a prominent Los Angeles attorney to represent him amid a widening criminal probe and mounting lawsuits. Leonard Levine, one of the region’s best-known defense lawyers for sex crimes cases, was recently hired to handle the high-profile case. Matt Hamilton, Harriet Ryan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/18
Immigration, Border, Deportation
Man suspected of attacking wife with chain saw was deported 11 times -- A man suspected of attacking his wife with a chain saw in Whittier had been deported 11 times since 2005, immigration officials said. Alejandro Alvarez Villegas attacked his wife in their home Wednesday, with their three children inside, according to Whittier police. The 32-year-old then fled the scene in a stolen car. Brittny Mejia in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/18
Health
Emergency Care Options Dwindle in the East Bay -- In a cramped office in San Pablo, a group of health care providers work as fast as they can to treat a growing line of people seeking treatment. Already, at the break of dawn on this April morning, the line is spilling down the hall and out the front door. Bo Kovitz and Hao Guo KQED -- 7/14/18
Riverside University Health System doctors are fighting the opioid epidemic with this electronic toolkit -- Doctors and pharmacists at Riverside University Health System have developed an electronic toolkit that aims to help physicians, nurses and other medical professionals decrease the risk of opioid addiction among patients with chronic pain. Deepa Bharath in the Riverside Press Enterprise$ -- 7/14/18
Environment
An off-road playground nearly the size of Los Angeles could be protected in Southern California desert -- A plan to keep open roughly 300,000 acres of Southern California desert for off-road vehicle use — a land area nearly as big as Los Angeles — and preserve hundreds of thousands of other acres is being considered in the Senate after being approved last month by the U.S. House of Representatives. Jeff Horseman in the San Bernardino Sun$ -- 7/14/18
Also . . .
San Francisco Police Announce Arrest of Alleged 'Rideshare Rapist' -- A San Mateo man is in jail in San Francisco and facing felony charges for allegedly posing as a driver for a ride-hailing app to lure women into his car and sexually assault them. Alex Emslie KQED -- 7/14/18
POTUS 45
Trump asked Russians to get Clinton emails. They immediately started trying -- President Donald Trump has repeated like a mantra there was "no collusion!" between his campaign and Russians trying to meddle in the 2016 US election. But in the shocking new 29-page indictment filed by the US Department of Justice against 12 Russian intelligence operatives for meddling in the 2016 election, there is one passage that brings to mind a moment when Trump publicly asked the Russians to do something -- and privately, they turned around and did exactly what he'd requested. Byron Wolf CNN -- 7/14/18
Trump denies he said something that he said on a tape everyone has heard -- President Trump's complaints about “fake news” are often dishonest. But rarely has it been so transparent. Aaron Blake in the Washington Post$ -- 7/14/18
Beltway
6 questions from the indictment of 12 Russians for hacking -- One thing is very clear from Friday's indictment of 12 Russian spies: The Justice Department believes the Russian government hacked Democrats' emails during the election to try to hurt Hillary Clinton's chances of winning. But the indictment left some tantalizing questions unanswered about who may have had contact with the Russian hackers and why. Amber Phillips in the Washington Post$ -- 7/14/18
Timeline: How Russian agents allegedly hacked the DNC and Clinton’s campaign -- The indictment was the most significant of those obtained by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and his team because it, for the first time, directly and publicly implicates the Russian government in the hacking effort, a central part of that country’s apparent attempt to influence the outcome of the election. Philip Bump in the Washington Post$ -- 7/14/18
‘Warning Lights Are Blinking Red,’ Top Intelligence Officer Says of Russian Attacks -- The nation’s top intelligence officer said on Friday that the persistent danger of Russian cyberattacks today was akin to the warnings the United States had of stepped-up terror threats ahead of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Julian E. Barnes in the New York Times$ -- 7/14/18
-- Friday Updates
Victorville prison strains to handle hundreds of immigrant detainees: 'We cannot take care of these inmates' -- Immigration detainees who were sent to a federal prison in Victorville last month were kept in their cells for prolonged periods with little access to the outside and were unable to change their clothing for weeks, according to workers at the facility and visitors who have spoken with detainees. Paloma Esquivel in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/13/18
As immigration courts battle record backlog, retired Bay Area judges offer solution -- Spurred into action by the country’s overwhelming immigration court backlog, two retired Bay Area federal judges have asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to appoint retired judges to help clear the more than 700,000 open immigration cases in the United States. Tatiana Sanchez in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/13/187
Abcarian: New Supreme Court decision could upend thousands of deportation cases in setback for immigration hard-liners -- On the 17th floor of Los Angeles Immigration Court the other day, Judge Lori Bass was setting hearings for juveniles who have been charged by the Department of Homeland Security with violating immigration law. Robin Abcarian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/13/18
California DMV will expand Saturday hours to trim interminable waits -- The California Department of Motor Vehicles is expanding Saturday service to alleviate long wait times for driver license and other services at its field offices. Starting Aug. 4, 60 offices will open every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the DMV announced Friday. Kathleen Pender in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/13/18
Democrats push for unity in California House races after bruising primary -- California Democrats are saying all the right things when it comes to unifying the party after a bruising 2018 primary season. But the effort to bring together activists aligned with competing campaigns remains a work in progress. Emily Cadei in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/13/18
The Valley floor is sinking, and it’s crippling California’s ability to deliver water -- Completed during Harry Truman’s presidency, the Friant-Kern Canal has been a workhorse in California’s elaborate man-made water-delivery network. Dale Kasler, Phillip Reese in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/13/18
Three-Californias campaign answers call to strike initiative from ballot -- Advocates for Proposition 9 that calls for splitting California into three states said an environmental group’s bid asking the state’s high court to strike it from the November ballot would disenfranchise voters and deny them a say in how they are governed. John Woolfolk in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/13/18
Pushback against vaccination laws leaves California at risk of a measles outbreak -- Yet, even with the strict new law, there remain schools and neighborhoods with dangerously low vaccination rates, experts say, largely because a growing number of parents are obtaining doctors’ notes exempting their kids from the required shots. At least 95% of the population needs to be vaccinated to prevent an outbreak of a highly contagious disease such as measles, experts say. Soumya Karlamangla in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/13/18
L.A. sheriff watchdogs alarmed about new claims of secret deputy clique at Compton station -- Some members of a Los Angeles County watchdog panel are calling on Sheriff Jim McDonnell to launch a thorough investigation into allegations of a secret society of deputies that brands its members with matching skull tattoos. Maya Lau in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/13/18
Trump's Push For More Basic Insurance Plans Could Equal Big Changes For California Health Care -- The Trump administration has been pushing for the return of short-term health plans and association health plans, two types of coverage that are exempt from Affordable Care Act requirements and could offer an affordable alternative to consumers who feel priced out of the Obamacare marketplace. But some California advocates say these plans offer shoddy coverage and pose a threat to the stability of the healthcare system. Sammy Caiola Capital Public Radio -- 7/13/18
Protesters to return with weekend gun show -- A steadfast group of gun show opponents say they will return to protest outside the Crossroads of the West event in Del Mar this weekend, as they have several times already this year. And once again, they will be vastly outnumbered by firearms enthusiasts. Phil Diehl in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 7/13/18
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos signs off: California's plan finally satisfies federal law -- U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos approved California’s plan for meeting requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act on Thursday, just one day after the State Board of Education sent to Washington its third version of the state plan. John Fensterwald EdSource -- 7/13/18
Regret haunts Wine Country fire hero: ‘I’ve never cried this much’ -- God woke you up, you’re sure of it. He kicked you in the head as smoke filled the room. “Look out the back window,” came the voice. So you did. What you saw at 3 a.m. at the Journey’s End mobile home park in Santa Rosa was orange light where it shouldn’t have been. Row after row of tightly packed units were ablaze along Highway 101. Lizzie Johnson in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/13/18
Fox: Will CA Independent Candidate Influence a Presidential Independent Run? -- Steve Poizner made history with his Independent run for state Insurance Commissioner by nabbing the top spot in the June primary. If Poizner goes on to capture the commissioner’s job his success as an independent in arguably the most influential state in the union just might have national repercussions. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 7/13/18
12 Russians accused of hacking Democrats in 2016 US election -- Twelve Russian military intelligence officers hacked into the Clinton presidential campaign and Democratic Party, releasing tens of thousands of stolen communications, in a sweeping effort by a foreign government to meddle in the 2016 U.S. election, according to a grand jury indictment announced days before President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Eric Tucker Associated Press -- 7/13/18
Trump attacks CNN, NBC and British paper in news conference -- President Donald Trump found time to attack CNN, NBC and the British tabloid The Sun, and offer fashion advice to a fourth news organization, while talking to reporters Friday with British Prime Minister Theresa May. David Bauder Associated Press -- 7/13/18