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PG&E reports $1.6 billion third-quarter loss amid high fire costs -- PG&E Corp. on Thursday reported a $1.6 billion loss for the third quarter this year as the company grappled with costs stemming from wildfires its power lines caused and its related bankruptcy case. J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Michael McGough and Dale Kasler in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/7/19

‘The Heart Is Still Pumping’ -- A year after the Camp Fire, only 14 of the 14,000 ruined homes have been rebuilt. Residents struggle with grief and financial hardship. But many are committed to restoring their community, making it stronger along the way. Lizzie Johnson in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/19

Half their community burned in the Woolsey fire. Recovery is wreaking its own misery -- Every day for a year, Marsha Maus has trekked up Mulholland Highway to tend to her garden. Her yard overflows with towering sunflowers and creeping vines, so green it looks neon. Her plot looks down on the 1960s-era section of Seminole Springs Mobile Home Park, a tidy subdivision tucked high in the Santa Monica Mountains. Above it lies a wasteland. Sonja Sharp in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/19

Annette Bening’s movie portrayal of Feinstein gets senator’s thumbs up -- “The Report,” a forthcoming film from Amazon, traces the story of a Feinstein staffer who led a years-long investigation into the CIA’s torture of overseas terrorism suspects in the years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The movie premiered in Washington on Tuesday night to a crowd that included some of the staff and senators who were central players in the investigation. Tal Kopan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/19

Taylor: Longtime Oakland residents — now homeless — get pushed out of Wood Street encampment -- Willie Johnson has a job, but for five months he’s lived in a homeless encampment on a private lot on Wood Street in West Oakland. “I can’t afford to live in the city I was born in,” Johnson, 60, told me one afternoon last month. Otis R. Taylor Jr. in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/19

Seattle’s already doing what California’s about to do to limit police use of force. How’s it working out? -- Seattle police have cut their use of moderate and lethal force 60%. But controversial police shootings still happen, and no officer has been prosecuted since the change took effect. Laurel Rosenhall Calmatters -- 11/7/19

LAPD will inspect random body-worn camera videos for training lapses, biased policing -- With body-worn cameras recording 14,000 interactions each day, the Los Angeles Police Department will soon start reviewing random recordings to make sure officers are following guidelines when dealing with the public. Mark Puente in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/19

As L.A. ports automate, some workers are cheering on the robots -- Day after day, Walter Diaz, an immigrant truck driver from El Salvador, steers his 18-wheeler toward the giant ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Will it take him half an hour to pick up his cargo? Or will it be as long as seven hours? He never knows. Margot Roosevelt in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/19

In a sign of changing economy, an iconic flower company closes its doors -- Each morning, just after the sun lights up the shores of Half Moon Bay, Rosa Manrriquez steps out her door, walks past the neatly manicured flowers lining her walkway, and drives to the Bay City Flower Company, a place she has called a second home since 1979, when she began working there. Erica Hellerstein Calmatters -- 11/7/19

California’s vaccine laws aren’t likely to have a dramatic effect, study says -- California’s legal efforts to increase vaccination rates among school children could have a weaker impact than lawmakers hoped for, according to a new study that analyzed the state’s two laws that restrict when families can skip vaccines. Hannah Wiley in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/7/19

John Bolton declines to appear for impeachment inquiry -- Former national security adviser John Bolton failed to show up for an interview with impeachment investigators Thursday, making it unlikely that he will provide any testimony to the House about President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine. Mary Clare Jalonick Associated Press -- 11/7/19

Fox: A Holmes and Watson Approach to the Homeless Crisis -- I’m not sure who plays which role but Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas are attacking the California crisis of homelessness like the team of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson using what Steinberg called a “deductive” approach to the problem. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 11/7/19

 

California Policy & Politics This Morning  

California attorney general seeks court order on Facebook data privacy -- California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced Wednesday that he is seeking a court order to force Facebook to provide information about user privacy that he says the tech company has refused to provide as part of his office’s 1½-year investigation into Facebook. Catherine Ho in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Sebastian Herrera in the Wall Street Journal$ Peter Talbot KQED Andrew Sheeler in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/7/19

Travel, furniture, ‘lavish’ meals: Nonprofit head misspent $1.7 million, filing alleges -- The former head of the L.A.-based anti-poverty nonprofit Youth Policy Institute improperly used the organization’s funds to pay the property taxes on his house, buy furniture for his home office and make national political donations, the group alleged in court documents filed this week. David Zahniser in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/19

Orinda Airbnb violence fits pattern — at least 42 people shot at short-term rentals in last 6 months -- At least 42 people have been shot inside or just outside short-term rental properties across the United States over the past six months — and 17 have died, according to police and news reports. Anna Bauman and Alejandro Serrano in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/19

PG&E gets all the blame for deadly wildfires. But do California regulators go easy on them? -- The tone was flat and bureaucratic, but the investigator’s outrage was unmistakable: Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s equipment had sparked a fire, even after the utility pocketed millions of dollars earmarked for trimming trees. Dale Kasler in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/7/19

How PG&E's Power Shutoffs Sparked an East Bay Disability Rights Campaign -- Milbern, whose East Oakland apartment was just outside PG&E's public safety power shutoff zone, has muscular dystrophy and uses a ventilator to breathe. For her and other members of the disability community — many of whom depend on electrical devices like ventilators, CPAP machines and wheelchairs — losing power signifies much more than just an inconvenience: It can be life-threatening. Matthew Green KQED -- 11/7/19

Walters: Audit backs school finance critics -- A half-decade ago, Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature overhauled California’s school finance system with the avowed goal of closing the “achievement gap” separating poor and English learner students from their more privileged classmates. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 11/7/19

OC Sheriff’s Department now using belly chains on all inmates taken to court, a practice called inhumane -- The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has begun fitting all court-bound inmates with shackles binding their arms to their bellies, sparking complaints of inhumane treatment from the Public Defender’s Office. Tony Saavedra in the Orange County Register -- 11/7/19

College students, seniors and immigrants miss out on food stamps. Here’s why -- Acollege student in Fresno who struggles with hunger has applied for food stamps three times. Another student, who is homeless in Sacramento, has applied twice. Each time, they were denied. A 61-year-old in-home caretaker in Oakland was cut off from food stamps last year when her paperwork got lost. Out of work, she can’t afford groceries. Jackie Botts, Felicia Mello Calmatters -- 11/7/19

Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions  

L.A. firefighter banked $360,010 in overtime pay in one year, city audit finds -- Eighteen employees of the Los Angeles Fire Department earned more than $200,000 in overtime pay last fiscal year, with one firefighter making $360,010 in overtime alone, according to an audit released Wednesday by City Controller Ron Galperin. Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/19

Ex-Twitter workers accused of spying on users for Saudis -- A federal complaint alleges that two former Twitter employees took bribes from a member of the Saudi royal family in exchange for improperly accessing user information to help the family and track critics, with one worker alleged to tell a foreign official that “we will delete evil my brother.” George Kelly in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/7/19

Nearly half of SF families are financially insecure, despite high median income -- Despite the median household income in San Francisco County being $112,376, more than half of all San Francisco families do not have at least $2,000 in savings, according to a report released by the nonprofit Urban Institute Wednesday. Madeline Wells in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/19

SF’s Hayes Valley has banned chain stores. They’re coming anyway -- Hayes Valley thought it had banned chain stores. Since 2004, the newly redeveloped shopping district, once shadowed by freeways and now dotted with boutiques, has barred the arrival of chains with more than 11 outlets. Shwanika Narayan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/19

Truckers protest California gig-work law that could make them employees -- With the blare of truck horns punctuating their chants, dozens of truck owner-operators gathered outside government office buildings in Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, Fremont, Salinas and other cities this week to protest California’s new gig-work law, which could make them employees rather than independent contractors. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/19

Drivers protest as Uber stock lockup period expires -- The protests, six months to the day after Uber’s initial public offering, sought to highlight a message that wealthy investors are getting richer on the backs of low-paid drivers, as well as many protesters’ desire to be employees rather than independent contractors, especially now that California has passed AB5, the gig-work bill that makes it harder for companies to claim that workers are not employees. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/19

Uber hoped to celebrate a big payday. Instead, a sinking stock and more protests -- Around 50 cars with Uber and Lyft logos plastered on their windshields wound through the palm tree-lined streets of Beverly Hills, down Rodeo Drive and into the quiet hills, past palatial homes. They stopped in front of the $71-million residence of Garrett Camp, co-founder of Uber, and the drivers piled out. Suhauna Hussain, Johana Bhuiyan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/19

Visa to vastly expand SF headquarters with move to Giants waterfront project -- On Tuesday, the payments company signed a lease for an entire 300,000-square-foot, 13-story office tower planned at the Giants’ Mission Rock waterfront project, the company told The Chronicle. The building has space for 1,500 employees. Roland Li in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/19

How the Google walkout transformed tech workers into activists -- At the end of October 2018, Claire Stapleton, then a YouTube employee, sent an email to an internal listserv where women discussed their experiences at Google. Johana Bhuiyan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/19

Alphabet is investigating how it handled sexual-misconduct allegations against execs -- The investigation includes the behavior of Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, a longtime senior executive who has been accused of having relationships with employees, CNBC reported earlier Wednesday. The board of directors has hired a law firm to help with the investigation and contact alleged victims, CNBC also said. Gerrit De Vynck Bloomberg -- 11/7/19

Taxes, Fees, Rates, Tolls, Bonds 

SF’s proposed tax on Uber, Lyft leads by razor-thin margin -- San Francisco voters are edging closer to taxing Uber and Lyft rides. Proposition D, which requires a two-thirds margin to pass, had 66.71% of the vote on Wednesday afternoon after the Department of Elections counted additional mail ballots. Prop D teetered on a razor-thin margin throughout election night. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/19

California initiative to raise property tax on businesses gains support from L.A. mayor -- The proposed ballot measure would change the state’s 1978 law known as Proposition 13, which limited property taxes by basing them on value at purchase, as opposed to current assessed value. The so-called split roll proposal Garcetti is backing would undo that protection for business properties worth more than $3 million and instead tax them on current value. Sophia Bollag in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/7/19

Transit  

BART installs gates, adds attendants to make elevators safer, more secure -- BART rolled out a new piece of infrastructure to combat fare evaders Wednesday: a fare gate at the Montgomery Station platform elevator, flanked by tall barriers of glass and steel. Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/19

LAX expanded its new pickup lot for Uber, Lyft and taxis — and killed Park ‘N Fly -- At Los Angeles International Airport’s newly expanded pickup lot Wednesday, shuttles came and went smoothly, and travelers walked leisurely to their waiting cars. Alejandra Reyes-Velarde, Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/19

Housing  

Sen. Scott Wiener blasts ‘extreme’ local control of housing issues -- State Senator Scott Wiener on Wednesday blasted what he called “extreme local control” for hampering housing production in California, but said he’s optimistic about the future. Emily DeRuy in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/7/19

Sacramento County Eviction Protection Ordinance Falls One Vote Shy -- Landlords can still evict tenants without giving a reason in Sacramento County after an attempt to give renters temporary protection failed Tuesday. Bob Moffitt Capital Public Radio -- 11/7/19

Rent Control Proponents Threaten To Sue City Of Sacramento If Measure Not On Primary Ballot -- There are 47,000 signatures supporting a rent control measure in the city of Sacramento, but the City Council hasn’t put it on the March 2020 ballot. Supporters say they'll sue if it isn't. Bob Moffitt Capital Public Radio -- 11/7/19

Wildfire  

Climate Change is Driving California’s Wildfires. The Kincade Fire? Not So Much -- Let’s get something out of the way. California’s wildfire activity has increased for five decades, and a strong body of research implicates climate change as a key driver. Kevin Stark KQED -- 11/7/19

Here's Why You Lost Cell Service During PG&E Power Shutoffs -- When Justin Lane and his family prepared for the recent PG&E power shutoffs at their home in Sonoma County, they counted on using their cellphones to get emergency notifications and updates about the nearby Kincade Fire that had erupted in their area days earlier. Miranda Leitsinger KQED -- 11/7/19

As California Fire Seasons Worsen, First Responders And Their Loved Ones Navigate Difficult Terrain -- As California fire seasons worsen, organizations serving first responders are trying to spread the word about the need for mental health services. And they’re encouraging family members and loved ones of firefighters to seek help, too. Sammy Caiola Capital Public Radio -- 11/7/19

Spangle: My Neighborhood Was on Fire. My Neighbors Came Together to Save It. -- I spent five days last year fighting the California wildfires in Malibu. It felt like the combat patrols I had been on as a Marine in Afghanistan. Robert Spangle in the New York Times$ -- 11/7/19

Education 

LAUSD board rejects Yelp-like rating system for schools -- The Los Angeles school board rejected a proposal to give Yelp-like ratings to its schools, but agreed Tuesday to make data on how students perform year to year on standardized tests more easily available. Sonali Kohli, Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/19

How California schools’ HVAC systems are ‘silently undermining’ your child’s chance at success -- Even when California schools install new heating and ventilation systems, the contractors aren’t properly adjusting or programming the units to provide enough ventilation to protect the health and welfare of students or their teachers, according to a study released this week by researchers at the University of California, Davis. Cathie Anderson in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/7/19

For better or worse, school construction bond on March 2020 ballot will be Prop. 13 -- You don’t have be superstitious to fear the number 13. Both supporters and opponents of a proposed $15 billion school and college construction bond headed for the March 2020 state ballot are somewhat apprehensive now that the Secretary of State has designated it Proposition 13. John Fensterwald EdSource -- 11/7/19

Immigration / Border 

An endless fight: as border infrastructure on land improves, smugglers take to the water -- Human and drug smugglers are increasingly turning to the Pacific Ocean to get into the United States while the Trump administration tightens border infrastructure on land with the president’s signature border wall. Wendy Fry in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/7/19

Health 

More Californians Will Get Help Paying For Health Insurance Through Obamacare -- This year as many as 50,000 more San Diego County residents could get help paying for health insurance through Covered California, the state's insurance marketplace. Priya Sridhar KPBS -- 11/7/19

Environment 

Rising seas will threaten San Clemente’s railroad and pier, could wipe out beaches, study says -- Sea-level rise in San Clemente will threaten portions of the seaside railroad, increase the pier’s exposure to high surf, radically shrink beach size, hurt surfing quality and eventually erode bluffs that are topped with homes, according to a vulnerability assessment presented to the City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Martin Wisckol in the Orange County Register -- 11/7/19

Also . . . 

To stop adults with mental illness from losing their housing, L.A. County may intervene -- The L.A. County Board of Supervisors were alarmed last year by a report detailing the rapid loss of board-and-care homes, often the final stop before a tent on the streets for adults with little income and debilitating mental illness. Doug Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/19

How Borderline shooting survivors revived a fallen friend’s legacy with a dance club -- But if Meek could take pride in a legacy, his sister thinks, it would be the friends and former classmates who gather nearly every Wednesday on a patio near the Student Union. There, on balmy nights beneath strands of white lights, the Cal Lutheran Line Dancing Club that Meek created dances on. James Rainey in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/19

A year later, Borderline shooting victims’ families, survivors seek ways to cope and move forward -- Before the dry November evening last year when Borderline Bar & Grill became ground zero for one of the deadliest mass shootings in the state’s history, thrusting the quiet suburban city of Thousand Oaks into the national spotlight, the bar was a space where several times a week, cowboy boots stomped on the wood of its 40-foot by 40-foot dance floor, young bodies spinning and swaying to country anthems and two-step ballads. Jonah Valdez in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 11/7/19

POTUS 45  

Trump wanted Barr to hold news conference saying the president broke no laws in call with Ukrainian leader -- President Trump wanted Attorney General William P. Barr to hold a news conference declaring that the commander in chief had broken no laws during a phone call in which he pressed his Ukrainian counterpart to investigate a political rival, though Barr ultimately declined to do so, people familiar with the matter said. Matt Zapotosky, Josh Dawsey and Carol D. Leonnig in the Washington Post$ Michael D. Shear, Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman in the New York Times$ -- 11/7/19

Ambassador’s testimony offers window into impeachment inquiry’s first public hearing -- The top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine had a “clear understanding” that U.S. military aid for Kyiv would not be sent until the country pursued investigations that could benefit President Trump politically, according to a transcript of his closed-door testimony released by House impeachment investigators on Wednesday. John Hudson, Mike DeBonis, Karoun Demirjian and Elise Viebeck in the Washington Post$ -- 11/7/19

In Louisiana, Trump Attacks ‘Deranged’ Impeachment Inquiry and ‘Radical’ Governor -- Ahead of another election, the president sought to tie the state’s Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards, to the party he has repeatedly painted as “delusional.” Katie Rogers and Richard Fausset in the New York Times$ Matthew Choi Politico -- 11/7/19

Beltway 

President Trump’s lawyer Giuliani hires his own lawyers, as investigations mount -- President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, has hired lawyers of his own to represent him, as federal prosecutors in New York probe his interactions with two men charged with campaign finance violations. Rosalind S. Helderman in the Washington Post$ -- 11/7/19

A Not-So-Special Relationship: Facing Voters, Johnson Backs Away From Trump -- Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain spoke with President Trump by phone on Tuesday, and to judge by the dueling summaries of the call provided by the White House and 10 Downing Street, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Trump were involved in two completely different conversations. Mark Landler in the New York Times$ -- 11/7/19

Google Weighs Changes to Political Ad Policy -- Alphabet Inc. ’s Google is in discussions about changing its political ad policy, according to people familiar with the matter, about a week after Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. publicly diverged on how to handle those ads amid the spread of misinformation. Emily Glazer in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 11/7/19

 

-- Wednesday Updates 

California justices skeptical of law requiring Trump to release tax returns for primary -- California’s top court appeared skeptical Wednesday that the Legislature may require presidential primary candidates to disclose not only their tax returns but also their birth certificates and psychiatric records. Maura Dolan in the Los Angeles Times$ Bryan Anderson in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/6/19

Democrats pull presidential primary debate from UCLA over union dispute at school -- The Democratic National Committee has yanked its Dec. 19 presidential primary debate from UCLA in solidarity with labor unions that are engaged in disputes with the university. Michael Finnegan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/6/19

Extreme storm could overwhelm Southern California dam and flood thousands -- Federal engineers have found that a dam protecting the high desert communities of Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley and Barstow falls short of national safety standards and could erode and collapse in an extreme flood, inundating thousands of people. Louis Sahagun in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/6/19

A Camp fire survivor lost everything. Then someone stole their insurance payout, police say -- A woman suspected of embezzling more than $63,000 in insurance money from a 75-year-old Californian whose home burned in last year’s deadly Camp fire was arrested this week, authorities said. Hannah Fry in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/6/19

Nail-biter San Francisco races hinge on 70,000 uncounted ballots -- The ultra-tight, undecided races to determine San Francisco’s next district attorney and District Five supervisor will hinge on the roughly 70,000 ballots that the city’s Elections Department still needs to count. Dominic Fracassa in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/6/19

San Francisco keeps e-cigarette ban as voters reject repeal measure once backed by Juul -- San Francisco’s upcoming ban on the sale of e-cigarettes will move forward after voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure Tuesday that aimed to overturn the prohibition. Hannah Fry in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/6/19

Airbnb to verify all 7 million rental listings in wake of Orinda shooting -- Airbnb Chief Executive Brian Chesky said Wednesday the home-sharing company will implement a sweeping verification system of all 7 million of its listings following the Halloween night shooting at a rental house in Orinda that left five people dead. Rex Crum in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/6/19

Judge orders state takeover of insurer at heart of Lara political controversy -- A Superior Court judge in Northern California has ordered the insurance company at the heart of a political controversy enveloping the state insurance commissioner to be taken into immediate conservatorship by government regulators. Jeff McDonald in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/6/19

250 tons of debris pulled from Oakland homeless camp — that’s just for starters -- Oakland city crews have pulled 75 truckloads — about 250 tons — of debris out of the sprawling homeless encampment that surrounds the Fruitvale Home Depot in the past two weeks. Phil Matier in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/6/19

New park to be built on top of highway tunnels near Golden Gate Bridge -- In the latest step toward the rebirth of San Francisco’s Presidio from an aging former Army base to a bright light of America’s national park system, crews are set to break ground Thursday on a project to build a new 14-acre public park on top of two freeway tunnels near the Golden Gate Bridge. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/6/19

Fox: Senator Warren’s Wealth Tax Example Hit Home in CA 40 years Ago -- While Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is gaining attention and objections on how she proposes to pay for her Medicare-for-All plan, let’s focus on the initial defense of her wealth tax proposal which proves to be a succinct explanation for why middle class Californians embraced Proposition 13’s property tax protections. Joel Fox Fox & Hounds -- 11/6/19