Aaron Read
Edsource.org
Olson Hagel
Capitol Weekly
 
Maplight.org
CA Leg Analyst
 

Updating . .   

Coronavirus is again stalking California, but there is still time to prevent a ‘third wave’ -- While California has started to see a rise in coronavirus cases, the pace of increase is still far milder than the rest of the United States and experts said there is still time to prevent a “third wave." Rong-Gong Lin Ii, Iris Lee, Sean Greene in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

Election  

The CA50 race that is sending Darrell Issa back to Congress carries lessons -- Issa was winning the seat by 7 points, in part by capitalizing on a rare California pocket of support for President Donald Trump. Charles T. Clark in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/8/20

Todd Gloria will bring lots of firsts as San Diego’s new mayor -- Gloria, who is Latino, Filipino and Native American, will be San Diego’s first mayor of color. He also will be the city’s first mayor who has come out as gay. Gloria also will be — arguably — the most powerful mayor San Diego has ever had. David Garrick in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

No landslide for Biden? California Democrats dismayed by the power of Trump love -- As she watched results come in on election night, California Democrat Jodi Hicks found what she was seeing shocking. Lara Korte in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/8/20

Muslim voters want more than ‘just a seat’ at the table from President-elect Joe Biden -- In the lead-up to the midterm election two years ago, Sara Deen noticed that many fellow Muslims in her South Bay community weren’t voters. Some didn’t understand the process. More lacked faith that their voice would matter, or had trouble navigating a ballot. Sarah Parvini in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20\

What Joe Biden’s victory means for California in Washington -- California’s relationship with the federal government appears poised to shift dramatically, a change that could mean more federal money for coronavirus response and unemployment backlogs as well as legal victories on greenhouse gas emissions. David Lightman and Sophia Bollag in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/8/20

Policy & Politics 

A newly constituted City Council could change L.A.'s approach to homelessness -- For years, homelessness has loomed over the civic culture of Los Angeles as its most intractable problem, one that defined the city and its government in the eyes of many people. Now change may be in the air, with the election of three new members to the City Council, relentless pressure from a federal judge and the potential for a new administration in Washington. Benjamin Oreskes in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

Churches shut down by coronavirus offer refuge to immigrants released from detention -- Before Tsegai fled Eritrea and made the months-long journey to the United States to seek asylum, his image of this country was colored by what he’d seen on TV. America, he thought, was the kind of place where people could be welcomed in with nothing and manage to turn their lives around. Andrea Castillo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

Street  

A little known private company has an outsize role writing policies for police departments -- Lexipol has quietly become a major influence in law enforcement, writing policies for thousands of departments nationwide and some 95 percent of all policing agencies in California Greg Moran in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/8/20

San Diego Unified will require ‘restorative’ rather than punitive discipline in some cases -- In a major step away from punitive discipline for students, the San Diego Unified School Board is replacing in-school suspensions with alternative-to-suspension programs and requiring that schools exhaust so-called “restorative” interventions before suspending a student out of school. Kristen Taketa in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/8/20

 

California Policy & Politics Sunday Morning  

After four years of battling Trump, California politicians welcome Biden-Harris win -- For four years, the dominant politics in the Golden State was Trump vs. California. Carlos Lozano in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

Car caravans of joy parade through L.A. streets after Biden-Harris victory -- Los Angeles car culture met collective joy on Saturday afternoon, as honking cars festooned with flags and homemade signs clogged Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood after Joe Biden defeated President Trump. People leaned out of sunroofs and passenger side windows, clanging pots and pans, flashing peace signs and raising fists. Julia Wick, Matthew Ormseth in the Los Angeles Times$ David Rosenfeld, Mindy Schauer, Hunter Lee in the Orange County Register -- 11/8/20

San Francisco erupts in cheering as Biden is announced president-elect -- Cheers could be heard all around San Francisco Saturday morning as Joe Biden won the 20 electoral votes allowing him to clinch victory. Strangers congratulated each other, horns honked incessantly and this reporter heard at least two San Francisco businesses blasting Kool & The Gang's "Celebration." Tessa McLean in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 11/8/20

San Diegans take to the streets in celebration of Biden win -- Passengers hung out of sunroofs, fists raised in the air and fingers spread in peace signs. There were American flags, Pride flags, Black Lives Matter flags and Biden 2020 flags. Kristina Davis, Morgan Cook in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/8/20

Biden, Harris win launches parties, protests in California -- Supporters of President Donald Trump rallied outside the state Capitol in Sacramento and marched in Beverly Hills demanding a recount of votes. Meanwhile, residents in Oakland threw block parties and honked car horns as they expressed hometown pride in Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her history-making turn as the first Black woman elected to the second-highest office in the United States. Daisy Nguyen Associated Press -- 11/8/20

Trump, Biden fans clash at California Capitol rally after presidential election call -- Tensions flared as supporters of both the current president and the presumptive winner of Tuesday’s election rallied at the California state Capitol on Saturday afternoon in a show of support for their preferred candidate. Vincent-Moleski in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/8/20

Despondent Trump supporters say they can’t accept Biden-Harris win -- Nguyen, an accountant, was incensed by what he described as the Democrats’ attempts to “steal” the election with illegitimate votes. President Trump and his supporters have accused Democrats of election fraud, offering no evidence to back it up. So far, courts have rejected GOP efforts to stop the voting counting over unfounded fraud concerns. Matthew Ormseth, Anita Chabria, Stephanie Lai, Jaclyn Cosgrove in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

Willie Brown: Joe Biden has been elected, but he has few reasons to celebrate -- I hope Joe Biden is enjoying his victory over President Trump, because he is about to walk into a nightmare. Willie Brown in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/20

Lopez: Good riddance, President Trump -- Joe Biden is not the best politician to ever play the game, and the challenges in front of him are enormous. That’s especially true if the Senate holds its majority and stymies every attempt by Biden to get something done. But the people have spoken, and they chose class over crass. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

LZ Granderson: Joe Biden’s election came not a second too soon for the LGBTQ community -- Public sentiment had changed, opening the door for a presence in pop culture for celebrities like the once-vilified Ellen DeGeneres and sitcoms like “Modern Family.” Gays and lesbians were finally able to get married and enjoy the government benefits that came with their newly recognized union. Transgender people — a group too often overlooked by even gays and lesbians — were being elected to public office. Then came Donald Trump. LZ Granderson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

Trump couldn’t win. So he golfed and tweeted -- In the end, nothing could save him. Not the lawsuits, not the lies about voter fraud, not his iron-clad grip on the Republican Party. And yet there was still one last refuge for President Trump on Saturday. He stepped into his motorcade to be whisked away to his private club in Virginia. Just before he arrived, he tweeted “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” Chris Megerian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

News Analysis: Joe Biden will take the helm of a nation divided -- President Trump lost the election, but his bombastic brand of conservative populism lives on, leaving President-elect Joe Biden the momentous task of unifying a land divided over race, immigration, the COVID-19 pandemic and how we see ourselves. Jaweed Kaleem in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

Ahead   

Here’s what Joe Biden wants to do as president, and what could stop him -- Joe Biden won the White House with one of the most progressive agendas of any major party presidential candidate in history. But his ability to implement any of it will depend on whether he can govern a divided nation through what he called a “perfect storm” of four crises, starting with the coronavirus pandemic that has taken more than 236,000 American lives. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/20

Donald Trump may go away, but Trumpism will be here for a while -- But after he leaves the White House, Citizen Trump will still have influence — even in California, where two out of every three voters supported President-elect Joe Biden. “He will become that much more influential,” said Lisa Moreno, a physician’s assistant who lives in Fresno and is one of more than 4 million Californians who voted for Trump. “Because he’s not going to be under the constraints of politics anymore.” Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/2

Kamala   

Harris, first woman to win vice presidency, vows to ‘not be the last’ in speech introducing Biden -- “When our very democracy was on the ballot in this election, the very soul of America at stake and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for America,” she said. Dustin Gardiner in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/20

Mothers and daughters celebrate a historic win: Harris (and Biden, too) -- When they look at Harris, they see the laughing, dancing, Chuck Taylor-wearing stepmom. They see the former prosecutor and senator from California who grilled then-Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh about whether he knew “of any laws that give government the power to make decisions about the male body.” Andrea Castillo, Ruben Vives, Anita Chabria, Maria L. La Ganga in the Los Angeles Times$ Marcos Bretón in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/8/20

Kamala Harris, the transformative vice president-elect: Oakland native shatters barriers -- California Sen. Kamala Harris’ election as vice president is more than a data point for the history books. It’s a long-sought achievement for women and people of color that could forever change the face of politics. Tal Kopan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/20

‘Now we’re uplifted’: Kamala Harris’ Bay Area friends exhale, extol historic election -- Amelia Ashley Ward has had Kamala Harris’ back since their early days in San Francisco, when Ward was running a Black community newspaper and Harris was a little-known Black woman running for district attorney. Julia Prodis Sulek in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/8/20

A joyous celebration springs up at the Berkeley house where Kamala Harris grew up -- On a block along Berkeley’s Bancroft Way, in front of the small, yellow house where Sen. Kamala Harris, the vice president-elect, grew up, there was a small but festive celebration Saturday afternoon. Susanne Rust in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

Home State Advantage: What a Vice President Kamala Harris means for California -- Goodbye, state of resistance. Hello, state of influence. Laurel Rosenhall CalMatters -- 11/8/20

10 things to know about Kamala Harris and her Bay Area background -- Sen. Kamala Harris, Democrat Joe Biden's running mate who became the vice president-elect on Saturday, is an East Bay native with deep roots in the region. Here are 10 things to know about her background. Kellie Hwang in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/20

Policy & Politics 

Biden win sets off rush for Harris' Senate seat in California -- Many Newsom insiders insist that the governor wants to make a historic choice, making Secretary of State Alex Padilla a leading contender. If picked, Padilla, a longtime Newsom supporter, would become the first Latino senator in the state's 170-year history. Carla Marinucci Politico Phil Willon, Taryn Luna in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

Walters: How long will Newsom have one-man rule? -- California has been a one-party state for the last decade, with Democratic governors and supermajorities in both legislative houses doing pretty much as they pleased without paying any attention to the relative handful of Republican legislators. Dan Walters CalMatters -- 11/8/20

Knight: ‘Going through a war’: How Mayor Breed led S.F. through one of the city’s toughest years ever -- A year ago, London Breed won her first four-year term as mayor of San Francisco, and the city mostly shrugged. She seemed like a fine mayor, but few people expressed much excitement about her. She mostly talked about small changes and didn’t present a clear, ambitious vision for the city. Heather Knight in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/20

Election  

California Republican Darrell Issa headed back to Congress -- Former California Republican U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa was victorious Saturday in his race to return to Congress where he once headed the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and became a GOP favorite for launching a string of investigations of the Obama administration. Julie Watson Associated Press -- 11/8/20

‘The anticipation is killing me’: Results from Bay Area close-call races could take weeks -- If anyone knows the importance of waiting for every ballot to be counted, it’s Lan Diep, the San Jose Councilman who made national headlines when he was sworn into his seat with a Captain America shield just four years ago. Maggie Angst in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/8/20

California dramatically cut provisional ballots. Here’s how -- Election workers around California discovered good news in this year’s crush of ballots to be processed and counted: far fewer provisionals. Officials who faced a mountain of 1 million provisional ballots four years ago instead found just over one-third of that this year. Lewis Griswold CalMatters -- 11/8/20

With some 4 million ballots to go, what are the odds that big California races swing? -- Buried in the mountain of yet-to-be-deciphered popular will of Californians lie the fates of too-close-to-call statewide propositions and dozens of congressional and legislative races. Ben Christopher CalMatters -- 11/8/20

Voting at 17? Not so fast -- By some measures Proposition 18, which would have allowed 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections if they turned 18 by the next general election, should have been a shoo-in. Elena Neale-Sacks CalMatters -- 11/8/20

All-mail ballots and multiple-day voting centers may be here to stay -- Of all the societal changes brought by the novel coronavirus, the one that lasts the longest might be the one we just went through: Everyone voting by mail. John Wilkens in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/8/20

Covid 

Here’s how Joe Biden’s victory will change coronavirus strategy -- In his victory speech on Saturday, Biden pledged to name a coronavirus advisory group on Monday. The group, he said, would consist of scientists and other experts, and would take a COVID plan formulated during the campaign and convert it into a “blueprint” that can be immediately implemented when he takes office Jan. 20. Erin Allday in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/20

L.A. County reports third straight day with more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases -- Los Angeles County health officials Saturday announced more than 2,400 new COVID-19 cases, marking the third consecutive day with more than 2,000 confirmed infections and signaling that the disease is “widespread and increasing in L.A. County.” Adam Elmahrek in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/20

Why is San Diego County facing COVID-19 shutdown if hospitalizations remain low? -- More recently, COVID-19 patients have made up a small minority of those being treated at local hospitals. Though a recent surge in cases is now causing the number to trend upward a bit, those with coronavirus infections have recently represented only about 6 percent of all local hospitalizations. Paul Sisson in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/8/20

Bay Area health officials considering coronavirus travel advisory -- Bay Area health officers are considering issuing an advisory ahead of the holiday season that would urge people who travel to places where the coronavirus is spreading widely to either quarantine for two weeks after they return home or get a negative test result before going back to work or school. Erin Allday in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/20

Should Disneyland reopen? Orange County says yes, but California disagrees -- California’s most popular amusement park has become the focal point of a struggle over how best to contain the coronavirus while keeping the economy afloat. Anna Almendrala in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/20

How Bay Area restaurants are winterizing outdoor spaces: an 85-feet Christmas tree and fire pits -- All around the Bay Area, restaurateurs are adding roofs to parklets, tents to patios and heaters by tables in the hopes of combating rain and chill, in one case spending as much as $10,000 a month to rent equipment. Janelle Bitker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/20

Covid on Campus  

UCSD fights COVID-19 by erecting large outdoor tents for classrooms, study space -- UC San Diego has erected four large, outdoor tents near the center of campus to give students a place to take lectures and study that would pose little risk of exposing people to the novel coronavirus. Gary Robbins in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/8/20

Education 

More changes proposed for California's ethnic studies curriculum to strengthen 'balance' -- The California Department of Education is recommending dozens of wording changes and additional lesson plans about Pacific Islander, Japanese and Korean Americans and other ethnic groups to its proposed model ethnic studies curriculum. The revisions respond to criticisms that the document, which is undergoing its third revision, is too polemical in presenting racial struggles and omits the achievements and history of various ethnic and religious groups. John Fensterwald EdSource -- 11/8/20

Wildfire  

Zogg Fire investigation puts PG&E under microscope again -- Months after concluding a bankruptcy case arising from its responsibility for numerous wildfires, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is facing new scrutiny over yet another devastating blaze. J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/20

POTUS 45  

Trump, a president obsessed with winning, spends the day refusing to admit his loss to Biden -- On Saturday, Donald Trump finally became the one thing he hates the most: a loser. Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey in the Washington Post$ -- 11/8/20

Beltway   

Meet the contenders for Biden’s Cabinet -- In the next two and half months, Joe Biden needs to build a governing team to help him tackle an historic pandemic and rebuild the economy — all while winning approval from what's likely to be a Republican-controlled Senate and holding together an unruly coalition of Democrats. It's a task that will be nearly impossible to pull off. Politico -- 11/8/20

 

-- Saturday Updates   

Fireworks and dancing in the streets of L.A. as Biden and Harris win -- Californians rejoiced at the news Saturday that Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump to secure the presidency. In a history-making turn, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris became the first woman, the first Black person and the first Asian American to win the seat. Alex Wigglesworth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/20

Celebrations, protests hit the streets in wake of Biden’s presumed victory -- More than 1,000 people turned out in downtown Los Angeles in the wake of Joe Biden’s projected presidential victory to celebrate the win, defend democracy and demand an end to white supremacy. Various groups led in part by United Teachers Los Angeles, Black Lives Matter and others converged at Pershing Square to rally for a March toward City Hall. David Rosenfeld, Mindy Schauer in the Orange County Register -- 11/7/20

Kamala Harris, the transformative vice president-elect: Oakland native shatters barriers -- California Sen. Kamala Harris’ election as vice president is more than a data point for the history books. It’s a long-sought achievement for women and people of color that could forever change the face of politics. Tal Kopan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/20

Who will replace Kamala Harris in the Senate? It’s up to Gavin Newsom -- It didn’t take long when Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden selected Kamala Harris as his running mate in August for people to begin wondering who Gov. Gavin Newsom might appoint as her replacement in the U.S. Senate. Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Sophia Bollag, Hannah Wiley, Kate Irby, and Kim Bojórquez in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/7/20

Who would get Kamala Harris’ U.S. Senate seat? The answer could be in Southern California -- With the Associated Press and other major media projecting Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris as winners of the White House, two glaring questions — just theoretical mere months ago — are now framing Southern California politics: Who would take Harris’ seat in the U.S. Senate? And who could end up with posts in a Biden administration? Ryan Carter in the Orange County Register -- 11/7/20

As First Female Vice President-Elect, Kamala Harris Rewrites Script for Presidential Politics -- The rise of Kamala Harris from underdog candidate for San Francisco district attorney in 2003 to vice president-elect of the United States in 2020 is truly an “only in America” kind of story, and one that may forever transform the notion of what a winning presidential ticket looks like. Scott Shafer KQED -- 11/8/20

Who from California will President-elect Biden pick for his administration? -- The state has four big players who have been close to Biden throughout the campaign – Gov. Gavin Newsom, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. David Lightman in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/7/20

Here’s what Joe Biden wants to do as president, and what could stop him -- Joe Biden won the White House with one of the most progressive agendas of any major party presidential candidate in history. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/20

Orange County backed Biden, but Republicans poised for dramatic comeback after ‘blue wave’ -- Like many conservative voters in Orange County, Carolyn Ehret, a longtime Republican in Laguna Niguel, could not stomach voting for Donald Trump a second time. So she split her ticket to support Joe Biden and her district’s Republican congressional candidate, Michelle Steel. Stephanie Lai, Luke Money, Joe Mozingo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/20

Election Update: Garcia breaks ahead of Smith in unpredictable 25th Congressional race -- Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Saugus, broke ahead of Democrat Christy Smith in the race for the northern Los Angeles County’s 25th Congressional District, according to results from the California Secretary of State’s Office. The two are now separated by 432 votes, with Garcia now holding on to the lead. Garcia has 50.1% of the vote, according to the Secretary of State. Ryan Carter in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 11/7/20

Street   

LAPD to dramatically downsize special units, focus on patrol as budget cut shrinks force -- The Los Angeles Police Department in coming months will downsize its specialized units and stop responding in person to traffic collisions and other minor incidents as part of a broad reorganization aimed at preserving patrol and community engagement functions amid new fiscal constraints. Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/7/20

Covid  

Placer County residents are ‘letting down their guard’ on COVID-19. Closures might be coming -- Placer County may be preparing for more closures in the coming weeks as a result of a surge in COVID-19 cases, according to new county data. Molly Sullivan in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/7/20

POTUS 45  

Trump’s bid to discredit election raises fear that he will undermine a smooth transfer of power -- President Trump’s bid to discredit the integrity of the U.S. election results and use legal action to block the completion of vote tallies in some states has raised fears, even among his own aides, that he will refuse to concede and seek to undermine a potential transfer of power after Joe Biden’s victory Saturday. David Nakamura in the Washington Post$ -- 11/7/20

Trump’s post-presidency: Stay relevant, make money, avoid indictment -- He could try another run for office, launching a new political party or investing in a conservative outlet — all intended to keep him in the public eye. Anita Kumar Politico -- 11/7/20

Donald Trump was all about Donald Trump, from start to finish -- Less than a month after Donald Trump was inaugurated, he made it clear to the country he was going to be a very different president. John Wildermuth in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/7/20

'Far From Over': Trump Refuses To Concede As Biden's Margin Of Victory Widens -- Shortly after The Associated Press and other networks called the presidential election for former Vice President Joe Biden, President Trump released a statement claiming the election was "far from over," falsely accusing President-elect Biden of attempting to undermine the electoral process and vowing to take the election to the courts. Sam Gringlas, Scott Neuman, and Camila Domonoske NPR -- 11/7/20

Six White House aides, including Trump’s chief of staff, have the coronavirus -- Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, has contracted the coronavirus, as have five other White House aides and a Trump campaign adviser, officials say, raising fears of another outbreak sweeping through the ranks of the nation’s top officials. Maggie Haberman and Mike Ives in the New York Times$ -- 11/7/20