In a vote with global impacts, the United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union, a move that caught most of the world by surprise.
From the NYT: "Britain has voted to leave the European Union, a historic decision sure to reshape the nation’s place in the world, rattle the Continent and rock political establishments throughout the West."
"Not long after the vote tally was completed, Prime Minister David Cameron, who led the campaign to remain in the bloc, appeared in front of 10 Downing Street on Friday morning to announce that he planned to step down by October, saying the country deserved a leader committed to carrying out the will of the people."
"The stunning turn of events was accompanied by a plunge in the financial markets, with the value of the British pound and stock prices plummeting."
See also, in Vox: "These five battle lines are key to understanding the Brexit vote."
Meanwhile, back in the Golden State, new polling shows that the desire to have Judge Persky recalled for his lenient sentencing of Brock Turner runs deep indeed.
Capitol Weekly's Jonathan Brown and Paul Mitchell write: "Explosions of anger may be the hallmark of this political cycle. Each party had presidential candidates’ campaigns that were based – at least partly – in anger. There has been violence at rallies and social media often resembles a verbal war zone."
"However, we’re often unsure of how deep the anger goes."
"Is it concentrated among activists, or does it exist deeper into the world of average voters who are less engaged with issues? Is it ephemeral or more lasting?"
An attempt to limit the salaries of some hospital CEOs may not be on the November ballot after all.
John Myers in L.A. Times reports: "An effort to cap the salaries of hospital executives may be blocked from California's Nov. 8 ballot, after a Sacramento judge wrote Thursday that its labor union backers broke a political peace treaty with hospitals."
"If upheld, Sacramento Superior Court Judge David Brown's ruling would force Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West to withdraw an initiative that would limit executive compensation at nonprofit hospitals to $450,000 a year."
"SEIU-UHW turned in almost 650,000 voter signatures on the measure last month , and it's likely to qualify for the ballot next week."
Speaking of the November ballot, the minimum wage initiative proposed by a healthcare worker's union has been withdrawn as Gov. Brown's minimum-wage increase proves satisfactory.
L.A. Times' John Myers reports: "The healthcare workers union that successfully placed a minimum wage increase on the November statewide ballot formally withdrew the proposal Thursday, two months after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a similar plan into law ."
"We think the law that was passed is a really good law," said Steve Trossman, a spokesman for the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers and one of the initiative's official proponents."
"Days after the SEIU-UHW measure qualified for the ballot in March, Brown and lawmakers announced their own deal on a plan to boost the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour . That law will gradually raise low-wage paychecks over the next five years."
Wage measures aren't the only initiatives on November's ballot, however, as this year's election fills up with hot-button, controversial issues.
Martin Wisckol in the O.C. Register reports; "A list of 20 or so ballot measures can turn into a mind-numbing journey to obscure corners of government financing and bureaucracy."
"Not this time."
"Pot, the death penalty, condoms, plastic bags, the price of drugs, English only, Citizens United ... There’s a deep pile of hot-button initiatives on the November ballot that even non-voters are likely to have an opinion on."
California's cap and trade program sees support from staff on the state's air regulator.
Reuter's Rory Carrol reports: "Staff for California's air regulator on Thursday recommended the state extend its carbon cap and trade system beyond 2020, a move supported by utilities and some environmental groups but opposed by environmental activists representing low income communities."
"The show of support comes after the state failed to sell any permits covering 2016 emissions at a recent state-run auction and market participants await the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the program."
"Market regulators maintained that selling the permits, the proceeds of which fund low carbon programs like the state's bullet train, is not the primary point of the program – cutting carbon emissions is."
SEE ALSO: California's climate change agency just approved a $500 million dollar plan -- but there's no money for it -- Liam Dillon in L.A. Times.
As Oakland PD continues to reel over its sex trafficking scandal, the department hires a private investigator to weed out their media mole.
Matthias Gafni & David DeBolt report in East Bay Times: "Following weeks of embarrassing press and revelations of police misconduct, city leaders have hired a private investigator in an attempt to quash leaks and find out who has been sharing police personnel information with media."
"City Administrator Sabrina Landreth released a statement Wednesday announcing that she launched the internal probe to preserve delicate ongoing police misconduct investigations and to abide by state laws requiring confidentiality for police personnel information."
"The overarching goal is to make sure that all complaints of police misconduct are thoroughly investigated," Landreth said in her statement. "Our intention is to root out misconduct and prevent cover-ups, not to silence critics or whisteblowers."
SEE ALSO: Op-Ed: Agency exacerbates Oakland police chief saga -- Daniel Borenstein with East Bay Times.
Oakland isn't the only police department dealing with blowback as Long Beach is forced to pay out nearly $3 million dollars after 2013's fatal 19-round shooting of an unarmed man.
L.A. Time's James Quealy reports: "Long Beach will pay nearly $3 million to the family of an unarmed man who was shot 19 times during a fatal clash with police in 2013."
"On Wednesday, a federal court jury awarded $1.05 million to the parents of Tyler Woods, who was shot while fleeing Long Beach police officers after he was detained in November of 2013, court records show. The city has also agreed to pay $1.9 million in damages to Woods’ 4-year-old son, according to John Fattahi, one of the attorneys representing the family."
"Woods, 19, of Rialto, ran from police during a vehicle stop, leaping across rooftops and over fences during a daring escape attempt. He was shot at more than three dozen times by officers who believed he was reaching for a weapon, court records show."
U.C. Berkeley is taking an interesting approach to acquire funds to patch up it's $150 million deficit as problems with state funding continue to prove troublesome for the campus. Could this be a new fund-raising approach that other campuses begin to employ as well?
Daily Californian's Anderson Lanham reports: "UC Berkeley announced Tuesday the launch of a new crowdsourcing website intended to gather ideas on raising its revenue from the campus community."
"Due to its current annual budget deficit of $150 million, UC Berkeley has been seeking out innovative revenue solutions and cost-cutting measures. William Rohrer — a community engagement specialist in the Office of New Revenue Initiatives that was created about two months ago by the vice chancellor for administration and finance — spearheaded the development of the crowdsourcing site, called Ideaction, and said the students, staff, faculty and alumni of UC Berkeley had valuable ideas to offer."
"“The idea with this site is that we have this great big (UC) Berkeley community,” Rohrer said. “They’re leaders and experts in every field, both on campus and off campus. Their experiences are so much more vast than anything our small department could know or come up with.”"
And now from our "Dark Vortex" file ...
Ah.. lovely, lovely Neptune: a calm, tranquil blue planet composed of hydrogen, helium... and apparently, massive dark vortices that could swallow the United States. HuffPost explores.
HuffPost: "An unusual new feature has appeared on Neptune: a “dark vortex” so massive that it would swallow the United States if it was here on Earth."
"Dark vortices coast through the atmosphere like huge, lens-shaped gaseous mountains,” Berkeley research astronomer Mike Wong, who led the team that analyzed the Hubble data, said in a news release. “And the companion clouds are similar to so-called orographic clouds that appear as pancake-shaped features lingering over mountains on Earth.”
"A dark vortex on Neptune is a high-pressure system that usually is accompanied by bright “companion clouds,” NASA said."