California travel forecast: Where storm impacts will be most hazardous on Christmas Eve
CHRONICLE, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "Stormy weather will disrupt holiday travel across California. Heavy rain, strong winds and mountain snow are forecast to batter the state through Christmas Day, likely causing flight delays and crippling vehicle traffic.
The heaviest rain is forecast in Southern California where the National Weather Service warns of life-threatening flooding, especially near burn scars. Strong winds are predicted to batter Northern California, likely snapping trees and knocking out power from the Bay Area to the Oregon border. Heavy snow will bring whiteout conditions to the Sierra Nevada, the weather service warns."
READ MORE -- California storm is raising a rare threat: long-lasting tornado risk -- CHRONICLE, ANTHONY EDWARDS; Major storm slams Southern California, bringing mudslide, flooding risk -- LAT, STAFF
The rise and fall of the greatest Christmas tree in S.F. history
CHRONICLE, PETER HARTLAUB: "The City of Paris holiday tree was the Willie Mays of Christmas trees.
For 122 years, through the Gold Rush, 1906 earthquake and Great Depression, the department store was a beacon of civilized life and prosperity in San Francisco, and the 60-foot-tall tree that appeared every winter at the center of the Union Square store was synonymous with Christmas in the city."
There is more to lawmaking than passing bills
CAPITOL WEEKLY, CHRIS MICHELI: ""Yes, Article IV, Section 1 of the California Constitution grants the lawmaking power to the legislative branch of state government (which it actually shares with the People through direct democracy). Nonetheless, I think lawmaking does not just mean passing bills and creating new laws. It also means oversight and accountability, as well as constituent services.
This is not a partisan stance, nor does it matter who is in office in either the legislative or executive branches of state government. Instead, it is based upon a strong belief that a key responsibility of the Legislature is to evaluate existing laws and determine their effectiveness. This is especially true in tough budget times when the state cannot afford to be wasteful or duplicative in providing critical services."
Nick Reiner’s mental state at center of murder case: Inside the looming legal fight
LAT, RICHARD WINTON: "The slayings of Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and his photographer wife, Michele, have given rise to a complex and intensely watched legal struggle involving their accused son, prosecutors and defense attorneys, who all face key strategic decisions in the coming weeks and months.
Prosecutors allege Nick Reiner fatally stabbed his parents inside the master bedroom of their Brentwood home early on a Sunday morning, then fled the area."
Alleged L.A. bomb plot: What we know about the Turtle Island Liberation Front
LAT, GRACE TOOHEY/NOAH GOLDBERG: "Federal officials announced Tuesday that additional terrorism charges were brought against a far-left group accused of planning a terror plot to bomb Southern California locations on New Year’s Eve, a plan officials said was devised by a radical faction of the relatively unknown Turtle Island Liberation Front.
The alleged bombing scheme immediately grabbed national headlines due to the charges of politically motivated violence. The “violent, homegrown, antigovernment group,” according to the FBI, planned to bomb several Southern California businesses. If true, and successful, the plan could have been deadly and undoubtedly would have left residents and the region stunned on the cusp of a new year."
Families reeling, businesses suffering six months after ICE raided Ventura cannabis farms
LAT, MELISSA GOMEZ: "A father who has become the sole caretaker for his two young children after his wife was deported. A school district seeing absenteeism similar to what it experienced during the pandemic. Businesses struggling because customers are scared to go outside.
These are just a sampling of how this part of Ventura County is reckoning with the aftermath of federal immigration raids on Glass House cannabis farms six months ago, when hundreds of workers were detained and families split apart. In some instances, there is still uncertainty about what happened to minors left behind after one or both parents were deported. Now, while Latino households gather for the holidays, businesses and restaurants are largely quiet as anxiety about more Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids lingers."
In an era of ICE raids, a Latino Christmas tradition proceeds with caution
CALMATTERS, DEBORAH BRENNAN: "On Friday night, organizers of a community holiday festival in San Marcos were busy planning a neighborhood procession and readying trays of tamales for guests.
At the same time, they were preparing security to watch for ICE activity in the largely low-income, Latino area of North County San Diego."
Who Gets To Play After The Final Whistle? (OP-ED)
CAPITOL WEEKLY, RENATA SIMRIL: "With the holiday season upon us, we have a lot to be thankful for. Among those things is a renewed sense of commitment to our children with the passage of AB749, the Youth Sports for All Act, legislation that prioritizes how California can develop a coordinated statewide approach and identify the resources needed to make quality youth sports more accessible, affordable, and safe for every child, in every community.
In less than a year, the world’s biggest sporting spectacle will land in our backyard: the FIFA World Cup. It will bring global attention to California, with sold-out stadiums and dazzling ceremonies. But there is a more important question to ask: Who gets to play after the final whistle?"
Millions of Californians gain access to in vitro fertilization under new law
CALMATTERS, KRISTEN HWANG: "When Megan Meo, 36, and her husband decided to start a family, they knew they wanted two kids. They didn’t know they would have to endure multiple rounds of fertility treatment, causing much heartache and draining away thousands of dollars.
“It’s strange when my body isn’t working to do a thing it was made for,” Meo said. ”It hurts me at my core.”"
Federal judge rules California teachers are allowed to ‘out’ transgender students to parents
EDSOURCE, EMMA GALLEGOS: "A federal judge issued a ruling Monday that strikes down California school policies aimed at preventing schools from revealing a student’s gender identity to their parents.
The class action suit, filed by California teachers and parents, hinges on whether TK-12 educators can breach a student’s confidentiality and tell parents that students are using a name or pronoun other than what they have been assigned at birth."
Downtown L.A.’s struggle is overstated and fixable, says the mogul who built the Grand
LAT, ROGER VINCENT: "Downtown L.A. is doing better than you think it is, but the government needs to do more to energize the city, said one of the region’s longest and most successful real estate leaders.
Bill Witte is retiring after running Related California, a large-scale developer of both luxury and low-income apartments, for more than three decades."
Developer wants to turn this Marin County post office into housing. Is it ‘a terrible idea’?
CHRONICLE, JULIE JOHNSON: "A Marin County developer is proposing a significant boost to housing in Stinson Beach.
Paul Thompson, president of Thompson Builders, a Novato-based construction firm, applied to tear down the Stinson Beach Post Office and build a new post office with two second-floor apartments and four detached condos."
You can now book a ‘private jet’-like train car from the Bay Area to L.A. Here’s how much it costs
CHRONICLE, SAM WHITING: "Luxurious rail travel in a private car was once exclusive to European royalty, American captains of industry and characters in an Agatha Christie novel.
But starting in January, travel startup Lunatrain will begin offering a private charter service attached to Amtrak trains on the California Zephyr route from Emeryville to Denver and the Coast Starlight stretch from Oakland to Los Angeles."
