Updating . .   

L.A. County deputies stopped thousands of innocent Latinos on the 5 Freeway in hopes of their next drug bust -- The team of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies cruises the 5 Freeway, stopping motorists on the Grapevine in search of cars carrying drugs. Joel Rubin and Ben Poston in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

Republicans face big risks in contested California races as Democrats fight for control of the House -- Republicans are at risk of a wipeout in California’s six most hotly contested congressional races, a new poll shows — a result that could radically reshape the state’s political map, with major consequences nationally. But the poll, conducted for the Los Angeles Times by UC Berkeley’s Institute for Governmental Studies, also underscores how close many of the contests remain. David Lauter in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

Feinstein slams FBI Kavanaugh investigation: ‘Most notable part of this report is what’s not in it’ -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein blasted an FBI investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday, calling it “incomplete” — even as two key undecided senators described it as thorough. Casey Tolan in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/4/18

Marriott hotel workers in San Francisco strike amid busy convention season -- Nearly 2,500 workers walked off their jobs Thursday morning from seven Marriott hotels in downtown San Francisco to call for higher wages, workplace safety and job security. Sarah Ravani in the San Francisco Chronicle Mark Gomez in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/4/18

New report finds overlooked earthquake vulnerabilities in some San Francisco high-rises -- Dozens of downtown San Francisco high-rises should be inspected for previously undetected damage they might have sustained during the Loma Prieta earthquake nearly 30 years ago. That’s the conclusion of an unprecedented report on the city’s tallest buildings to be released Thursday. Dominic Fracassa in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18

California water woes: Ballot measure aims at solutions, but at a steep cost -- The biggest ticket item on California’s November ballot, tucked between the governor’s race and local elections, is an $8.9 billion bond to help modernize California’s sprawling waterworks. Kurtis Alexander in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18

Canada is about to legalize marijuana. How did that happen? Justin Trudeau, for starters -- Politicians herald it as transformative. Residents offer resounding support in the polls. Investors see billions of dollars on the horizon. Kurtis Lee in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

Murder convicts hope new California law is their ticket to freedom -- Adnan Khan wasn’t the killer, but he is serving 25 years to life at San Quentin State Prison for murder. Megan Cassidy in the San Francisco Chronicle Darrell Smith in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/4/18

ACLU sues San Francisco police, claiming unchecked racism in department -- The San Francisco Police Department is infected with a culture of racism, the American Civil Liberties Union charged in a lawsuit over undercover police drug buys in the Tenderloin that led to the arrests of 37 people, all of them African American. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18

Taylor: Home cooking helped a Berkeley woman pay her rent, then two inspectors paid her a visit -- For more than two years, Josephine paid the rent on Renée McGhee’s one-bedroom apartment in Berkeley. No, Josephine isn’t a person. Josephine was an online marketplace that let home cooks like McGhee sell meals to nearby customers who paid around $12 per serving and picked up the food at the seller’s place. Otis R. Taylor Jr. in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18

UC Davis prof wins prestigious MacArthur ‘genius’ grant for her work in planet science -- Sarah T. Stewart, a professor and planetary scientist at UC Davis, was named to the 2018 class of MacArthur Fellows, commonly known as MacArthur “genius” grants. The Chicago-based foundation gave the awards to Stewart and 24 others in the fields of science, academics and the arts, announced Thursday. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/4/18

De-Bug founder awarded MacArthur ‘genius grant’ for social justice work -- The mysterious phone call came as Raj Jayadev left the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice after yet another day helping families of criminal defendants navigate the sometimes intimidating labyrinth of the court system. Robert Salonga in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/4/18

Abcarian: With Brett Kavanaugh, it's not a question of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It's a question of credibility -- In the national cacophony that arose after Christine Blasey Ford testified that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school, one refrain from his supporters has begun to drown out all others: Our country has abandoned its cherished ideal that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Robin Abcarian in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

Jeffe & Jeffe: The GOP’s Court of Last Resort -- It’s ironic that the Republican establishment, which has long railed against judicial activism, is increasingly looking at the courts as the last bastion of the GOP “resistance”. Sherry Bebitch Jeffe & Doug Jeffe Fox&Hounds -- 10/4/18

 

California Policy & Politics This Morning  

70 national security, foreign policy experts condemn Hunter attack ad -- Seventy current or former national security and foreign policy officials have signed a letter condemning a campaign ad by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) that attempts to link his Democratic opponent to radical Islamists. Maya Sweedler in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

San Francisco federal judge cites ‘s—hole countries’ remark in blocking deportation plan -- The Trump administration’s plan to deport more than 300,000 undocumented immigrants whose home countries have been hit by disasters was blocked Wednesday by a San Francisco federal judge, who said the administration had abruptly changed federal policies without explanation and may have been motivated by racism. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18 Andrea Castillo in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

Dianne Feinstein’s campaign debate dodge may be about to end -- The last time Sen. Dianne Feinstein debated an opponent in a Senate election was in 2000. That means no voter under age 35 has had the privilege of deciding whom to send to Washington after seeing California’s senior senator match wits with a campaign foe. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18

Garcetti urges voters to reject Proposition 6, which would repeal California's new gas tax -- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti joined business and labor leaders Wednesday to urge voters to reject Proposition 6, saying a repeal of the state’s new gas tax could force years-long delays for dozens of transportation projects across Southern California. Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

Gas-tax repeal made California ballot because of GOP. Then GOP walked away -- Republican leaders who pumped more than $1 million into the effort to get a gas tax repeal measure on the November ballot have closed their wallets, leaving the Proposition 6 campaign underfunded and falling behind in the polls. John Wildermuth in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18

Trump officials blame ‘environmental terrorists’ for wildfires. California loggers disagree -- Ryan Zinke knew exactly whom to blame for the catastrophic wildfires that have scorched California and the West this year. Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/4/18

Walters: Changing election rules to change election results -- Clay Matthews, the Green Bay Packers’ much-feared linebacker, was penalized after a hard tackle on Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith on Sept. 23, running afoul of new league rules aimed at protecting Smith and other QBs from injury. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 10/4/18

Howze, eyeing 2020 race, gets big bucks from Denham after opposing him in June primary -- Rep. Jeff Denham and the local GOP organization in recent weeks have given a combined $35,000 to Ted Howze, Denham’s only Republican rival in the hard-fought June primary. Some Democrats say the money appears to be a reward for attempting to game California’s top-two primary system, while Denham’s campaign, Howze and the Stanislaus Republican Central Committee deny collusion. Garth Stapley in the Modesto Bee -- 10/4/18

Women of Color Want to Leave an Impact This Election -- At the recent She the People summit in San Francisco, hundreds of women clapped and cheered as the organization’s founder, Aimee Allison, ran through a list of women of color who she said are bringing excitement to the 2018 elections. Katie Orr KQED -- 10/4/18

Gov. Jerry Brown got better with calming age and invaluable experience — and so did his signing and veto messages -- Gov. Jerry Brown may have had more fun and been more entertaining while acting on bills than any California governor in history. He almost certainly has decided the fates of more measures than any governor — 19,680, according to his office. He signed 17,851 and vetoed 1,829, or 9.3%. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

L.A. could roll back rules that prevent streets from being repaved --- Some streets were officially “withdrawn” from public use in 1936, when the city said it was too strapped to fix dangerous streets. Others were pulled in the decades since because they were not up to city standards, were too expensive to maintain or were crime magnets, according to city reports. Emily Alpert Reyes in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

Lopez: The busboy who tried to help a wounded Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 dies. His life was haunted by the violence -- Juan Romero struggled for decades with a memory he could not escape. He left Los Angeles and moved to Wyoming, later came back west and settled in San Jose, raised a family and devoted himself to construction work. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

When SLO woman could no longer fight for her life, she chose to fight for her death -- With a California law allowing doctors to provide lethal medical aid in dying drugs to terminal patients still in legal limbo, a SLO woman had to leave the county to get a prescription to end her life and die with dignity. Lindsey Holden in the San Luis Obispo Tribune -- 10/4/18

Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions  

Raiders likely to bolt Bay Area early if they can’t reach deal on Coliseum -- The game of chicken between the Raiders and Oakland over where the team will play next year shows no sign of letting up. Matier & Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18

Dozens of Teamsters and their supporters were arrested while protesting near the ports of L.A., Long Beach --The Teamsters wrapped up three days of protesting unfair treatment of port truck drivers by doing something on Wednesday, Oct. 3, that they said had never been done in the union’s 115-year history: they got arrested — intentionally. Mark Edward Nero in the Long Beach Press Telegram$ -- 10/4/18

Why a $400,000 income means you still think you're middle class -- Call it the Bay Area's middle class paradox. Many residents who identify as middle class say they struggle financially even though their salaries put them among the wealthiest in the country. Amy Graff in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18

Homeless  

San Francisco Mayor Breed envisions adding 1,000 beds for the homeless by end of 2020 -- The addition would greatly expand the current supply of 2,500 beds, most of which are in emergency shelters. Beds are also available at Navigation Centers and in transitional housing. Breed wants half of the new beds to be available by the summer. Dominic Fracassa in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18

Federal program spends $5.3 million to help homeless veterans in Bay Area, Central Valley get housing -- More than 300 veterans experiencing homelessness in the Bay Area and Central Valley will soon move into permanent housing with the help of a joint federal program, officials announced Wednesday. Lauren Hernandez in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18

Housing  

Two measures would raise record-breaking $6 billion for affordable housing -- Two years after voters approved billions of dollars to fund low-income homes around California, affordable housing advocates are upping the ante bigtime — with two statewide bond measures on the Nov. 6 ballot to raise a record-breaking $6 billion for housing for struggling families, veterans and severely mentally ill people. Kevin Fagan and Erin Allday in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18

Immigration, Border, Deportation 

Owner of Adelanto Detention Center says corrective actions have been taken in wake of scathing report -- Corrective action has been taken at Adelanto Detention Center in the wake of a scathing federal report that found numerous nooses fashioned from bedsheets hanging in cells and inadequate medical care for immigration detainees, according to the company that owns the facility. Scott Schwebke in the Orange County Register -- 10/4/18

Truck drivers with temporary immigration status rally for permanent solution -- Under gray skies, a convoy of six tractor-trailers pulled up to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, kicking off a protest to call attention to the plight of hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants — some of them truck drivers — who face deportation when their temporary protected status runs out in the coming months. Cindy Carcamo in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

Education 

As more universities drgop SAT and ACT requirements, Cal State chancellor asks for a closer look -- California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White said Wednesday that he has asked academic leaders to study whether the SAT and ACT are valid predictors of student success, raising hopes that the nation’s largest public university system will ultimately drop standardized test scores as admission requirements. Teresa Watanabe in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

Professor sues UC Berkeley following his suspension for sexual harassment -- A prominent UC Berkeley architecture professor who resigned in September after being suspended for three years without pay for sexually harassing a graduate student and abusing his faculty power has sued the campus chancellor and the University of California regents. Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/4/18

Health 

Denti-Cal ‘Remains a Seriously Troubled Program’, Commission Report Finds -- The latest report on California’s low-income dental program finds it’s still plagued by cost and accessibility issues, making it tough for patients to find care. The Little Hoover Commission, an independent watchdog group led by state legislators, found that policy changes to Denti-Cal in recent years haven’t translated to major improvements. Sammy Caiola Capital Public Radio -- 10/4/18

Environment 

In Poor Neighborhoods, Add Rising Seas to List of Housing Woes -- Housing is already a major issue for the Bay Area's economically vulnerable. Now, the rising sea level is compounding worries about environmental contamination and housing scarcity. Molly Peterson KQED -- 10/4/18

Also . . . 

Attorney accuses Orange County sheriff of intentionally eavesdropping on attorney-inmate phone calls -- The defense attorney who discovered that Orange County prosecutors and deputies were misusing jailhouse informants is now accusing the Sheriff’s Department of intentionally recording attorney-client phone calls. Tony Saavedra in the Orange County Register -- 10/4/18

POTUS 45  

Trump mocks Blasey Ford — politicians, celebrities respond with outrage from all sides -- Just days after calling Christine Blasey Ford a “very credible witness” and “very fine woman” who had delivered “compelling” testimony against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump used a Mississippi campaign rally to launch a mocking attack on the Palo Alto University professor. Patrick May in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/4/18

Beltway 

Senate sets preliminary vote Friday on Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh after reviewing FBI report -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday night started the clock for Senate confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, with a preliminary vote set for Friday and a final vote on Saturday. Jennifer Haberkorn, Sarah D. Wire and Chris Megerian in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/4/18

As FBI background check of Kavanaugh nears its end, probe appears to have been highly curtailed -- The FBI background check of Brett M. Kavanaugh appeared to remain curtailed in its scope Wednesday even as agents neared the end of their work, opening up the possibility that the bureau would again face criticism over what some will view as a lackluster investigation. Matt Zapotosky, Robert O'Harrow Jr., Tom Hamburger and Devlin Barrett in the Washington Post -- 10/4/18

More than 650 law professors urge senators to reject Kavanaugh -- More than 650 law professors signed an open letter on Wednesday urging senators to reject Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, citing “aggressive” and “partisan” testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee as evidence that he does not have the temperament required to be a Supreme Court justice. Brent D. Griffiths Politico -- 10/4/18

 

-- Wednesday Updates 

Denham is desperate to stop a California water plan. Nothing has worked – yet -- Rep. Jeff Denham, one of the nation’s most vulnerable Republicans, is trying desperately to shut down a state water plan that’s widely disliked in his district. But nothing has worked so far. One thing could: Yet another lawsuit between the Department of Justice and the state of California over the issue. Kate Irby in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/3/18

Suit to block California's net neutrality law could be overshadowed by broader challenge in D.C. Circuit -- When the Trump administration decided last year to dump net neutrality rules designed to treat all data equally, the states revolted. Maura Dolan in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/3/18

Review of California’s state travel ban dies quiet death -- The Attorney General’s Office quietly killed its review of a law prohibiting government agencies from funding travel to states that have adopted policies viewed by California leaders as discriminatory against gay and transgender people. Adam Ashton in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/3/18

Sacramento schools’ money trouble just got worse: $48 million in cuts over two years -- The Sacramento City Unified School District is even more in the red than previously thought: By 2020, the district will have a structural deficit of $48 million by 2020 if cuts aren’t made, a gap that’s almost $12 million more than announced in June, and $8 million more than the district’s most recent estimates. Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/3/18

Democratic House candidates announce large fundraising hauls -- Three Democratic candidates in competitive House races have announced large hauls for the fundraising quarter that ended Sept. 30. Maya Sweedler in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/3/18

Trump comments on Ford ‘appalling…cruel,’ Dianne Feinstein says -- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein issued a statement Wednesday morning condemning President Donald Trump’s campaign rally comments on Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Andrew Sheeler in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/3/18

Catholic churches move to name molesting priests, but victims say it's too little, too late -- Over the last two decades, Roman Catholic dioceses across California have paid out massive settlements to parishioners who say they were molested by priests; acknowledged institutional breakdowns that facilitated abuse; and wrestled with followers who said they had lost faith in church leaders. Laura Newberry in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/3/18

Alameda County sheriff’s sergeant charged with illegal recording scheme -- A sergeant for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office faces four felony charges of eavesdropping after he illegally recorded privileged conversations between a public defender and juvenile suspects, prosecutors said Wednesday. Megan Cassidy in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/3/18

Lawyer accuses Orange County Sheriff's Department of conspiracy in illegally recorded attorney-inmate phone calls -- An Orange County public defender this week lodged allegations in court documents that the Sheriff’s Department and a contractor that oversees the jail phone system conspired to record and listen in on over 1,000 phone calls between inmates and their attorneys. Hannah Fry in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/3/18

Fox: The Gas Tax Repeal is in Trouble, But…. -- The most recent Public Policy Institute of California poll shows Proposition 6 has fallen behind with likely voters 52% no to 39% yes. On top of that, the $30 million campaign set to defeat the measure is kicking off. This is one measure that has the unusual coalition of big business and big labor on the same side. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 10/3/18