Updating . .
California bullet train’s mishandling of land deals adds to mounting costs and delays -- California’s bullet train project confronts an array of political and financial challenges, but its biggest problem involves mismanagement of land acquisitions, which has contributed to construction delays, cost increases, litigation and the launch of a federal audit. Ralph Vartabedian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/16/19
California trumpets its climate leadership. But wildfires and flying could stymie its goals -- California prides itself on having steadily lowered its greenhouse gas emissions over the past decade, surpassing a major goal for 2020 years early. But the reality behind that progress is more complicated. J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
California Gov. Gavin Newsom takes executive action on vaping and e-cigarettes -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a crackdown on illicit e-cigarettes on Monday and plans to launch a state-sponsored public awareness campaign about the dangers of the devices amid a nationwide outbreak of serious lung illness connected to vaping. Phil Willon in the Los Angeles Times$ Sophia Bollag in the Sacramento Bee$ Catherine Ho in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
Newsom to visiting Trump: Help us on homelessness -- As Trump has mulled a federal intervention, Newsom has repeatedly implored the president to provide support rather than a crackdown and assailed him for cutting aid. Jeremy B. White Politico -- 9/16/19
California asks Trump for housing vouchers to aid homeless -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday asked President Donald Trump to approve more housing vouchers as Trump’s administration weighs in on the most populous state’s massive homelessness problem. Don Thompson Associated Press -- 9/16/19
Vapers seek relief from nicotine addiction by turning to cigarettes -- Lucas McClain started smoking cigarettes in high school but switched to vaping after he heard e-cigarettes were a safer alternative. His vape of choice became Juul, the king of electronic cigarettes — which comes with a king-size nicotine hit. Now 21, McClain wants to quit so badly that he’s turning back to the problem he fled in the first place: good old-fashioned cigarettes. Ana B. Ibarra Kaiser Health News via the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/16/19
California gas prices are likely to rise after attack on Saudi oil plant -- Within a week or two, prices at the pump could be up 10 to 25 cents per gallon, said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at Gas Buddy, a company that tracks real-time gas prices. They could jump even higher if the Saudi plant cannot resume operations as quickly as expected, he said. Samantha Masunaga in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/16/19
No One Can Agree on How to Price California Home Insurance for Wildfires -- Finding home insurance in wildfire-prone parts of California is getting more difficult and more expensive. No one can agree on how to make it any easier. Nicole Friedman in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 9/16/19
AB5 gig work bill: All your questions answered -- Groundbreaking new California legislation impeding many companies from claiming workers are independent contractors takes effect in 2020. AB5 passed the Senate and Assembly last week, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has indicated he will sign it. Here are answers to questions about the gig work bill. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
California’s Legislature tackled big issues in 2019. Bigger fights might be coming -- Sixteen weeks will pass between the first and second acts of the California Legislature’s two-year session, an intermission that began Saturday and is often seen as a chance to switch gears from one set of topics to another. But this time, the second year could be consumed by battles left over from the first. John Myers in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/16/19
New vision for two megaprojects: One development of almost 4,000 homes across SF and San Mateo counties -- Three years ago, a San Francisco supervisor threatened to annex the former Baylands landfill in Brisbane if the bordering town didn’t agree to build housing on the 660-acre site. J.K. Dineen in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
Disaster Days: How megafires, guns and other 21st century crises are disrupting CA schools -- Each year, millions of Californians send their children to public K-12 classrooms, assuming that, from around Labor Day to early summer, there will be one given: A school day on a district’s calendar will mean a day of instruction in school. But that fixed point is changing, according to a CalMatters analysis of public school closures. Ricardo Cano Calmatters -- 9/16/19
California Public School Closure Database 2002-2019 -- Working with school closure data gathered by the California Department of Education, CalMatters built an interactive database to examine the amount of instructional time public schools lose each year to natural disasters, unsafe conditions and other emergencies in California. Each closure day equals one lost day of instruction at a single public school site. Mohamed Al Elew, Ricardo Cano, and John Osborn D’Agostino Calmatters -- 9/16/19
What wildfire did to one California town’s schools in four years -- Catherine Stone pulled into a packed parking lot at Middletown High School on the hot and excessively windy Saturday of September 12, 2015. A small but fast-growing fire had erupted hours earlier, a dozen miles away on Cobb Mountain. First responders needed an evacuation center and wanted to use Middletown High. Ricardo Cano Calmatters -- 9/16/19
Boy’s death seemed like a failure of L.A.'s child-welfare system. It wasn’t so simple -- A new report about the death of Noah Cuatro has absolved the Department of Children and Family Services of responsibility in the case. Matt Stiles in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/16/19
Pedestrians die every 90 minutes in the U.S., and low-income areas are hurt most -- The memorial to Christian Vega near a busy Los Angeles intersection is a serene arrangement of flowers and votive candles offset from the busy sidewalk by a row of bushes. Arren Kimbel-Sannit, Derek Hall, Lindsay Walker, Kailey Broussard in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/16/19
San Franciscans are fascinated by Sacramento real estate. Is that why prices are skyrocketing? -- Sacramento’s rising rents are among the highest in the country, and housing costs are above the national average. Yet new data shows that the capital region is increasingly popular among San Francisco residents looking for a less costly alternative to the city by the bay. Tony Bizjak in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 9/16/19
An immigrant poet and activist faced deportation by ICE. Then two NFL players bailed him out -- A few months ago, Jose Bello’s future looked grim: detention, imprisonment, deportation and a long-term separation from his infant son. His only offense, he claimed, was reading a poem. Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/16/19
Boyarsky: Does Trump Really Want to Help the Homeless? -- Tackling the immensity and complexity of homelessness has proved itself beyond the reach of local governments and their taxpayers, even those as generous as Los Angelenos. That is why President Donald Trump’s threat–or offer–to intervene in California’s struggle against this affliction deserves close skeptical, attention. Bill Boyarsky Fox & Hounds -- 9/16/19
California Policy & Politics This Morning
California housing, guns, criminal justice reform: Focus shifts to Gavin Newsom -- The California Legislature ended its first year under the tenure of Gov. Gavin Newsom last week. Now the focus shifts to the governor, who has until Oct. 13 to review hundreds of bills sitting on his desk and decide whether to sign or veto them. Alexei Koseff and Dustin Gardiner in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
Skelton: In defying Newsom, she tried to protect California from Trump — and showed how legislating should work -- Combine Friday the 13th with a full moon and weird things can happen — good and bad. We saw this Friday when the California Legislature passed scores of bills — most of them without any semblance of debate — before adjourning for the year about 3 a.m. Saturday. Nothing unusual about that. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/16/19
Walters: Housing action just half-a-loaf -- Gavin Newsom’s first legislative session as governor began with promises to vigorously confront California’s huge and ever-growing housing shortage. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 9/16/19
How California’s ‘red flag’ law thwarted gun threats at Sunnyvale Ford, Netflix, and Palo Alto City Hall -- Just days after a fired employee fatally shot his supervisors at the Ford Store Morgan Hill this June, an eerily similar threat emerged at the automaker’s Sunnyvale dealership: A mechanic about to lose his job for drunkenness had recently threatened to kill a supervisor and brought guns to work. John Woolfolk in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 9/16/19
Hidden guns, bodyguards and a DA raid on the Santa Clara County sheriff -- Prosecutors in Santa Clara County have served at least three search warrants while investigating whether Sheriff Laurie Smith’s office gave out coveted concealed-gun permits in exchange for campaign money, sources familiar with the investigation told The Chronicle. Josh Koehn, Matthias Gafni and Joaquin Palomino in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
Hundreds of migrants waiting months to enter the U.S. may no longer be eligible for asylum -- It took William, a 39-year-old asylum seeker, four months to get from Cameroon to Tijuana. The journey took him through Nigeria, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Guatemala before he finally reached the U.S.-Mexico border. Gustavo Solis in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 9/16/19
SF ranks high in property crime while it ranks low in arrests -- San Francisco has by far the highest property crime rate in California, with more than twice the number of reported thefts per capita than Los Angeles or Santa Clara counties, according to a new report by the Public Policy Institute of California. And when it comes to arrests, San Francisco is 50th out of the state’s 58 counties. Phil Matier in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
Schnur: How can California communities attract doctors and other qualified medical practitioners? -- Most of the political debate over health care reform focuses on expanding coverage for the uninsured and making care affordable for working Californians and their families. But an even more fundamental question for many communities across the state is simply ensuring that there are enough doctors and other medical professionals to serve their health needs. Dan Schnur in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 9/16/19
Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions
Juul CEO discusses vaping illnesses, proposed Trump flavor ban and more -- Juul CEO Kevin Burns hadn’t had the easiest week when he walked into the Chronicle building Wednesday, though critics of the San Francisco vaping company might point out that the company’s $35 billion valuation eases his outlook. Catherine Ho in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
Office rents are so high that Bay Area businesses are buying buildings -- With rents spiking, deep-pocketed companies and public agencies are increasingly buying offices, for some of the same reasons home buyers plunk down for a space to live: more certainty over the long term on what they’ll pay for a roof over their heads. Roland Li in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
Education
Full-day kindergarten could soon be required in every California school -- Kindergartners across California could soon be spending more time in their classrooms if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill approved by the state Legislature last week. The legislation, Assembly Bill 197, introduced by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, would require every public elementary school, including charter schools, to offer at least one kindergarten class the same length as 1st grade, beginning in the 2022-23 school year. Zaidee Stavely EdSource -- 9/16/19
Environment
Our Climate Challenge -- This week, The Chronicle joins more than 200 news outlets around the world in examining the impacts of global climate change, an effort that will lead up to a United Nations summit on the topic on Sept. 23. Audrey Cooper in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
Climate change and the Bay Area: Answers to your questions -- Climate change is a huge problem for the Bay Area and the world. Sometimes it can seem overwhelming — especially since science has established that humans are largely to blame, and we're not doing nearly enough to cap the runaway emissions that make the problem worse. Taylor Kate Brown in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
Also . . .
Last ride of SF’s DeLorean hovercraft -- Matt Riese has spent his adult life creating a lawnmower-powered replica of Doc Brown’s unlikely time machine from 'Back to the Future.' Why? Well, therein lies a tale. Gregory Thomas in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
Yes, she’s a Fisherman’s Wharf tourist attraction. But her story could make you cry -- Docked only a few feet away from the restaurants and tourist attractions of Fisherman’s Wharf is the World War II submarine Pampanito, a monument to both the cruelty and heroism of war. Carl Nolte in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/16/19
He warned of ‘mass shooting’ at L.A. County Fair to avoid going with his parents, police say -- A 22-year-old Sylmar man arrested on suspicion of making false claims about a possible active shooter at the Los Angeles County Fair did so because he was hoping to avoid going to the fair with his parents, Pomona police said. Kiera Feldman, Brittny Mejia in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/16/19
POTUS 45
‘Very cloak-and-dagger’: Secrecy surrounds Trump’s Bay Area trip for fundraiser Tuesday -- It’s typical for the White House to avoid publicizing details of presidential fundraisers in advance for security concerns. But even the city that Trump’s Bay Area event is taking place in and who is hosting the event have been kept tightly under wraps. Casey Tolan in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 9/16/19
Beltway
Calls for Kavanaugh’s Impeachment Come Amid New Misconduct Allegations -- Several Democratic presidential candidates called for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh on Sunday after The New York Times published new information about allegations of sexual misconduct against him, while Republican leaders condemned the reporting as irresponsible and defended him. Sandra E. Garcia in the New York Times$ -- 9/16/19
Top Democrat attempts to block Trump from paying farm bailout money, setting up battle over trade war tactics -- House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) is proposing to block the White House request over its farm bailout program, according to a draft of legislation reviewed by the Washington Post, potentially imperiling President Trump’s ability to direct payments to thousands of farmers. Jeff Stein and Mike DeBonis in the Washington Post$ -- 9/16/19
-- Sunday Updates
Health insurance costs ‘wildly inflated’ for government workers, analysis finds -- Data shows California public agencies squander billions on overpriced insurance; one paid $80,665 to cover a single worker. Teri Sforza in the Orange County Register -- 9/15/19
Five things to know now about California’s new vaccine law -- Doctors will no longer be the final authority on medical exemptions and could be investigated if they write too many. Opponents say physicians may now be afraid to provide waivers, even for kids who need them. Elizabeth Aguilera Calmatters -- 9/15/19
California lawmaker trying to weaken privacy law is married to Ring executive -- Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin's husband, Jon Irwin, is chief operating officer for Santa Monica-based Ring, Inc., a home security and video doorbell startup that Amazon acquired last year for about $1 billion, state ethics disclosures show. Like other companies that collect vast amounts of consumer data, Ring — and its parent company, Amazon — has a financial stake in the details of California's groundbreaking data-privacy law. Katy Murphy Politico -- 9/15/19
'There really isn’t anything that can keep you safe': Women Uber and Lyft drivers speak out -- Laura Alicia Moreno, a Bay Area Uber driver, was driving late one night in Santa Clara County and picked up two unruly men from a bar. They were very drunk, and one immediately started making rape jokes and hitting on her. Madeline Wells in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 9/15/19
San Diego is fifth-most surveilled city in America, study says -- San Diego is among the top US cities for public surveillance cameras per 1,000 people, says Comparitech. San Diego Police officials says the study is misleading. Katy Stegall in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 9/15/19
County’s two largest law enforcement agencies responding differently to police transparency bill -- Assembly Bill 748, signed into law last year, requires departments statewide to release body-worn camera and other video and audio recordings of officer shootings and serious uses of force within 45 days. Lyndsay Winkley in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 9/15/19
‘Flight shaming’ could help unleash billions in airline cash to protect the Amazon and other tropical forests -- Under public pressure, the international aviation industry is poised to inject hundreds of millions and eventually billions of dollars into environmental projects under a United Nations’ deal to counteract the increasing amount of greenhouse-gas emissions expected from airplane travel in coming decades. Joshua Emerson Smith in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 9/15/19
Lopez: A homeless musician changed my life. I wish I could do more to change his -- When we met, in 2005, I wouldn’t have guessed we’d still be in each other’s lives this far down the road. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/15/19
Daycare center for asylum-seeking families in Tijuana lets kids be kids again -- Playtime in Tijuana shelters is a chaotic and dangerous affair. Toddlers play alongside boys three times their size. When one of the bigger kids wants a toy that the younger children have, they simply take it. If the toddlers refuse to give it up, they get beat up. Gustavo Solis in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 9/15/19
Trump rallies to Kavanaugh’s defense after new sexual misconduct allegation surfaces -- President Trump vigorously defended Brett Kavanaugh on Sunday following a new allegation of sexual misconduct during the Supreme Court justice’s college years, as some leading Democrats raised fresh suspicions that Kavanaugh was untruthful during last year’s Senate hearings leading to his confirmation to the high court. Laura King in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 9/15/19
In call with Trump, Pelosi and Schumer say any gun bill that doesn’t include background checks ‘will not get the job done’ -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday urged President Trump to endorse House-passed gun measures and pledged to join him for a “historic signing ceremony at the Rose Garden” if the legislation is passed. Felicia Sonmez in the Washington Post$ -- 9/15/19
Kamala Harris Was Ready to Brawl From the Beginning -- In her first race, she defied her old boss, a fund-raising pledge — and the implication that she owed her career to her ex-boyfriend. Matt Flegenheimer in the New York Times$ -- 9/15/19