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California Policy & Politics This Morning  

How PG&E fell 10 years behind San Diego on wildfire safety -- A big reason for the difference, experts say, is that the San Diego company has spent the last decade modernizing its power grid and focusing relentlessly on reducing fire risk, while PG&E has lagged. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/2/19

Firefighters finally getting a handle on wildfires burning across California -- Offshore wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph and humidity below 5% continued to hinder efforts to control the fire Saturday morning, but a shift to weaker onshore wind was expected by midday, said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Ventura County. Mark Puente, Hannah Fry, Doug Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/2/19

Firefighters keep gaining ground on Kincade Fire, now over 70 percent contained -- The fire, which sparked and explosively grew on a windy night a week and a half ago in the mountains east of Geyserville, did not grow Friday night, according to Cal Fire. Nico Savidge in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/2/19

Sonoma’s Kincade Fire was different — no one died. Here’s why -- The reasons vary, from the nature of the fire to the community’s response and the sheer will of the firefighters. The upshot, though, was that a lot was different this year — mostly for the better. Kurtis Alexander in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/2/19

Gov. Gavin Newsom pushes PG&E, investors; says state takeover possible -- Seeking to speed up the utility’s bankruptcy case, Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked PG&E Corp. executives, shareholders and creditors to convene next week to “jumpstart those negotiations.” Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Taryn Luna in the Los Angeles Times$ Adam Beam Associated Press Katherine Blunt and Alejandro Lazo in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 11/2/19

Crucial fire warnings extended through Saturday in L.A. and Ventura counties -- Dangerous fire weather conditions for the windiest areas of Los Angeles and Ventura counties have entered its fourth day, with forecasters extending red flag warnings through at least Saturday evening. Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/2/19

PG&E blackouts: FCC official, politicians demand probe of cell phone outages -- After power outages and wildfires cut cell phone service in some parts of California, state and federal officials are calling for an investigation. No service meant people couldn’t always make 911 calls or get emergency warnings for evacuations. Mallory Moench in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/2/19

Newsom speeds unemployment insurance relief due to fires, outages -- Employees who lost wages because of the Kincade Fire or extensive power outages can file for state unemployment benefits immediately, the Employment Development Department said Friday. Kathleen Pender in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/2/19

PG&E lines caused three fires in Lafayette and Martinez, fire officials say -- Power lines caused the two fires in Pleasant Hill Road and Camino Diablo in Lafayette, and investigations are ongoing, according to the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District. Roland Li in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/2/19

Utility re-energized power line before fire -- Southern California Edison said Friday that it re-energized a 16,000-volt power line minutes before a nearby hilltop exploded into a blaze that is threatening thousands of homes. John Antczak Associated Press -- 11/2/19

Trash truck’s burning load sparked a deadly wildfire, and now a lawsuit -- After a deadly wildfire ripped through their community earlier this month, a Calimesa homeowner is suing a waste company whose truck dumped a load of burning trash on the side of the road that sparked the Sandalwood fire. Alejandra Reyes-Velarde in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/2/19

Even With Evacuation Order Lifted, Two Major Santa Rosa Hospitals Won’t Reopen for Several More Days -- Over next several days, specialized cleaning teams at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital will be scouring the walls, floors and ceilings, as well as washing the linens, sterilizing the cafeteria and “air-scrubbing” the operating rooms. April Dembosky KQED -- 11/2/19

Inmates Saved Homes in the Kincade Fire. They’ll Face an Uphill Battle Getting Firefighting Jobs After Release -- More than 400 inmate firefighters helped California beat back the massive Kincade Fire that destroyed scores of homes and charred tens of thousands of acres in Sonoma County over the last week. Kevin Stark, Ted Goldberg KQED -- 11/2/19

Smith: A humbled California isn’t quite as special as we like to believe -- Now that the Kincade fire is mostly under control, and the Getty and Tick fires are smoldering, the questions will soon turn to whether we will rebuild what was lost. Houses? Businesses? Wineries? Erika D. Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/2/19

Greta Thunberg joins L.A. climate strike, says wildfires ‘will continue to get worse’ -- Young people took to the street again Friday to protest inaction on climate change, joining Swedish teen Greta Thunberg and other activists in a school strike in Los Angeles. Tony Barboza in the Los Angeles Times$ John Rogers Associated Press Elizabeth Chou in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 11/2/19

How Mark DeSaulnier’s cancer gave him new purpose in politics -- Rep. Mark DeSaulnier carries a small pill in his breast pocket. It’s the medicine that keeps him alive. Tal Kopan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/2/19

Groups ask California governor to deter parolee deportations -- The groups asked Newsom to stop prison officials from holding parolees until they can be picked up by federal immigration officials. And they criticized him for vetoing legislation that would have barred private security companies from coming onto prison grounds to pick up immigrants for deportation. Don Thompson Associated Press -- 11/2/19

Fifth victim dies after Halloween party shooting at Airbnb in Orinda -- Five Bay Area residents were killed and at least four others injured on Halloween night when gunfire erupted at an Orinda home that had been rented on Airbnb for an event billed on social media as a “mansion party.” Matthias Gafni, Evan Sernoffsky, Megan Cassidy and Alejandro Serrano in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Stefanie Dazio and Daisy Nguyen Associated Press -- 11/2/19

Orinda shootings: Who will pay for ‘Airbnb Mansion Party’ deaths, injuries? -- What responsibility will lie with Airbnb, the highly valued short-term-stay company that brokered the house rental; or with the renter who hosted the party; or with Michael Wang and Wenlin Lou, the home’s owners, who said their rental listing banned parties? When it comes to criminal liability, all are likely off the hook. Matthias Gafni and Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/2/19

Devin Nunes in Twitter lawsuit demands emails from Democratic strategist -- Rep. Devin Nunes wants to compel a former Democratic National Committee employee and a Democrat-supporting law firm to turn over their communications with anonymous writers who criticize him on Twitter. Kate Irby in the Fresno Bee -- 11/2/19

Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions  

California commercial Dungeness crab season may be delayed -- The California Department of Fish and Wildlife made the announcement Friday in response to a settlement with an environmental group over whale entanglements in commercial Dungeness crab fishing gear. Tara Duggan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/2/19

Southern California’s home prices and sales rise in September -- A sluggish Southern California housing market showed signs of heating up in September, as prices rose modestly and sales jumped by the largest amount in nearly three years. Andrew Khouri in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/2/19

Hiltzik: California blocks a hospital merger amid concerns about religious limits on care -- California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra has blocked a proposed merger of two sectarian hospital chains in Northern California, asserting that the deal had the"potential to increase health costs, and potentially limits access and availability of healthcare services.” Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/2/19

Homeless  

Reward in horrific homeless killing increased to $30,000 -- Frustrated at getting no solid leads in the most shocking homeless killing in recent years, San Francisco police have increased the reward to $30,000 for information leading to the arrest of whoever shot two people in a wooden box while horrified onlookers watched helplessly. Kevin Fagan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/2/19

Education 

Stanford withdraws giant campus expansion after backlash over growth -- The school sought 2.3 million square feet in new academic space, along with 2,172 new housing units and a $1.1 billion transit program to help mitigate the effects of growth over the next couple of decades. But Santa Clara County’s Board of Supervisors, whose approval the university needed, was unconvinced. Roland Li in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/2/19

Immigration / Border 

California is trying to banish private immigration detention centers. ICE has other plans -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is rushing to secure new detention space in three California cities before the state bans for-profit prisons, including immigration detention facilities, on Jan. 1. Tatiana Sanchez in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/2/19

More non-Mexican migrants are being arrested at the border in San Diego than ever -- Border Patrol agents in San Diego arrested a historic number of non-Mexican migrants crossing illegally into the U.S. during the 2019 fiscal year. Gustavo Solis in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/2/19

POTUS 45  

Trump has no China trade pact, but he does have a signing location in mind -- President Donald Trump gave no indication Friday he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are closer to signing a “Phase One” trade pact, but he does have a place in mind where a signing event for it could happen — a battleground state that has borne the brunt of the U.S.-China trade war. John T. Bennett Roll Call -- 11/2/19

White House official who heard Trump’s call with Ukraine leader testified that he was told to keep quiet -- Several days after President Trump’s phone call with the leader of Ukraine, a top White House lawyer instructed a senior national security official not to discuss his grave concerns about the leaders’ conversation with anyone outside the White House, according to three people familiar with the aide’s testimony. Tom Hamburger, Carol D. Leonnig, Greg Miller and Ellen Nakashima in the Washington Post$ -- 11/2/19

The ‘Whimpering’ Terrorist Only Trump Seems to Have Heard -- President Trump offered a vivid account of the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi “crying and screaming” in the final minutes before his death. The only problem: No one else knows what he’s talking about. Peter Baker and Eric Schmitt in the New York Times$ -- 11/2/19

Trump’s 'blowout' jobs number looks like fuzzy math -- President Donald Trump caused widespread bewilderment on Friday by tweeting that the Labor Department’s October employment report showed the economy added 303,000 jobs — when the actual number was 128,000. Victoria Guida Politico -- 11/2/19

Trump administration to pay California nearly $850,000 after failed census citizenship fight -- The Trump administration reached a settlement with California on Friday in which it essentially concluded its fight to add a citizenship question to the U.S. Census. Bryan Anderson in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/2/19

Beltway 

Kamala D. Harris lays off staff, shutters offices in New Hampshire -- The presidential campaign of Sen. Kamala D. Harris laid off more than a dozen field organizers and shuttered three of its four offices in New Hampshire, campaign officials said Friday, amid a dramatic reorganization forced by slow fundraising and declining public support. Michael Scherer in the Washington Post$ -- 11/2/19

Growing number of GOP senators consider acknowledging Trump’s quid pro quo on Ukraine -- In this shift in strategy to defend Trump, these Republicans are insisting that the president’s action was not illegal and does not rise to the level of an impeachable offense as the Democratic-led House moves forward with the open phase of its probe. Rachael Bade and Seung Min Kim in the Washington Post$ -- 11/2/19

 

-- Friday Updates 

Maria fire: Drone hinders firefighting efforts as blaze doubles in size overnight -- As flames rapidly spread along a hillside in Santa Paula on Thursday night, firefighters battling the blaze were faced with a potentially perilous dilemma. Officials were forced to ground a firefighting helicopter with night-flying capabilities several times as a drone circled the area, its pilot apparently trying to snap overhead photographs of the growing Maria fire. Colleen Shalby in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/1/19

Mass shooting at Airbnb in Orinda: 4 killed, others injured at Halloween house party -- Four people were killed and several more were injured when gunfire erupted at a chaotic gathering on Halloween night that was billed on social media as an “Airbnb Mansion Party” in an upscale neighborhood in Orinda. Matthias Gafni, Michael Cabanatuan and Evan Sernoffsky in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Martha Ross, Fiona Kelliher and George Kelly in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/1/19

University of California breaks law and own policies by outsourcing thousands of jobs, union claims -- Even after a state audit two years ago smacked the University of California for not fully following its own policy for outsourcing jobs, the statewide university system has been breaking state law as it secretly contracts out campus work, the union representing thousands of UC employees claims in filings with state regulators. Ethan Baron in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/1/19

Two Years Later, Loopholes Remain In California’s Sanctuary Law -- A new report looks at how local law enforcement is complying with California’s “sanctuary state” law, two years after its passage. The law, known as SB 54, was meant to limit local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Max Rivlin-Nadler KPBS -- 11/1/19

Who started California’s pro-immigrant movement? Democrats thank Republican Pete Wilson -- Latino lawmakers in the California Legislature released a tongue-in-cheek video Friday thanking former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson for running on an anti-immigration platform 25 years ago and inadvertently sparking a political movement among Latinos. Sophia Bollag in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/1/19

Lori Loughlin pleads not guilty to new charges in college admissions scandal -- Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded not guilty Friday to new bribery charges filed against them in the college admissions scandal, according to documents filed in federal court. Matthew Ormseth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/1/19

Sonoma Fairgrounds center of action for Kincade Fire, shows need for unplanned space -- The Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, which loosely fills 180 acres near the downtown of a robust city, fails every measure of good urban planning — until disaster strikes. John King in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/1/19

Across the Bay Area, generator etiquette and other lessons of the PG&E power shut-offs -- When talk of power shutdowns starts, there is a checklist. Get cash, gas and ice. Freeze as many water bottles as possible to keep refrigerators and freezers cold. Keep battery-operated headlamps, lanterns and flashlights at hand. Know generator etiquette: Shut off the noisy machines at night and offer to share them with neighbors. Maura Dolan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/1/19

Five things to know about microgrids -- Energy microgrids, which can power businesses, neighborhoods or even cities, are having a moment. They're touted as alternative ways to keep the lights on when California's big utility companies shut power to avert wildfires. Julie Cart Calmatters -- 11/1/19

The Tiny Radio Station Relaying Critical Kincade Fire Information in Indigenous Languages -- In 2017, the world around Xulio Soriano's family was burning. His mother, who has high blood pressure and diabetes, couldn't get critical information about the fires burning in the North Bay, where she lived. It wasn't because information wasn't being relayed — it just wasn't relayed in a language she understood. Ericka Cruz Guevarra, Marisol Medina-Cadena, Devin Katayama KQED -- 11/1/19

California fires were bad, but they could have been much worse -- Fire officials said they learned from catastrophic fires over the last two years, and that the public did too. More resources were on hand when the fires hit, the evacuations were more extensive and more people heeded the warnings. Ruben Vives, Matthew Ormseth, Leila Miller, Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/1/19

California Fire Danger Continues to Worsen, Experts Say -- As California is living through the most dangerous time of the year for wildfires due to dry and windy conditions, experts say a trio of factors make America’s most populous state more at-risk than ever. Jim Carlton in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 11/1/19

California's Preemptive Blackouts Put A Strain On People With Home Medical Needs -- Fern Brown, 81, sat in the rear of a tent on the windswept fairgrounds of the historic Gold Rush town of Auburn, Calif., this week, drawing deep breaths through the mouthpiece of a nebulizer plugged into a power strip atop a plastic folding table. Mark Kreidler NPR -- 11/1/19

Americans sharply divided over whether to impeach and remove Trump from office, Post-ABC poll finds -- As the House moves to a new, more public phase of its impeachment inquiry, the country is sharply divided along partisan lines over whether President Trump should be impeached and removed from office, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Dan Balz and Emily Guskin in the Washington Post$ -- 11/1/19

Elizabeth Warren proposes new taxes to fund Medicare-for-all but says middle class would be spared -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Friday proposed a $20.5 trillion package of tax increases to pay for the Medicare-for-all plan she backs, a move that attempts to answer critics who question how she would pay for the proposal but could open her to fresh lines of attack. Annie Linskey and Jeff Stein in the Washington Post$ -- 11/1/19

Warren Leads Tight Iowa Race as Biden Fades, Poll Finds -- The top Democratic presidential candidates are locked in a close race in the 2020 Iowa caucuses, with Senator Elizabeth Warren slightly ahead of Senator Bernie Sanders, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., according to a New York Times/Siena College poll of likely Democratic caucusgoers. Alexander Burns in the New York Times$ -- 11/1/19

Fox: California the Bellwether -- Once again California set the pace on a policy issue that is influencing national debate when the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) declared its intention to find a way for college athletes to be compensated for the use of their name or likeness. The NCAA’s turn of mind is sure to confirm for many California politicians and activists that what they do here sets the trend for the rest of the country. But is the rest of the country ready to follow California’s progressive path? Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 11/1/19