Why does California take so long to finish counting votes?
BEN ADLER with CPR: "Two weeks after Election Day, two California propositions and numerous local races remain too close to call. That’s because counties estimate there are still more than two million unprocessed ballots."
"So why does it take California so darn long to count the votes?"
"Well, for one thing, blame coffee."
California's Legislature is becoming more diverse, but women are losing ground.
JAZMINE ULLOA with LAT: "The new California Legislature will look slightly more racially and ethnically diverse than the last, but its number of women has dropped lower than it has been in more than two decades, according to an analysis of preliminary 2016 election results from the California Research Bureau."
"Of the 89 members in office, the number of nonwhite lawmakers has increased from 47 to 53, with gains made among Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino and multiracial lawmakers."
"The rise in diversity is most pronounced in the Assembly, where the majority, or 54%, of legislators are now minorities."
L.A. Mayor Garcetti is worried about a Trump administration's possible federal funding cuts over immigration.
DAKOTA SMITH with LAT: "Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday that President-electDonald Trump would be making a “mistake” if his administration cuts federal funding to L.A. over the city’s immigration stance."
“Anything that would take away federal aid would cause social, economic and security problems,” Garcetti said. “I am hoping we can have this conversation separate and without threats.”
"Reince Priebus, Trump's designee to be the White House chief of staff, told CNN on Sunday that the Trump administration is exploring cutting off federal money to so-called sanctuary cities."
An Orange County GOP official has caught serious flak for anti-Muslim comments.
MARTIN WISCKOL with OC Register: "Mary Young, an Orange County GOP official and volunteer to Donald Trump’s campaign, broadly attacked Muslims in a Facebook post Monday, among other things writing in all capital letters, “I DO NOT WANT ANY TYPE OF MUSLIMS IN OUR COUNTRY, PERIOD!”
"The comments were promptly condemned by county Republican Party Chairman Fred Whitaker, who said they did not reflect the position of the local or national party -- or the position of Trump."
"“Mary’s comments are totally unacceptable,” Whitaker said."
Scott Shafer sits down with U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein about the Trump election.
SCOTT SHAFER with KQED: "KQED’s Politics and Government desk senior editor Scott Shafer sat down with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Monday to talk about the presidential election and the road ahead for Democrats and the nation, especially on key issues such as immigration and Obamacare. Here is the interview, which has been edited for brevity and clarity."
"How surprised were you by the results?"
"It will take some time to really speculate on why this happened. It’s just a very hard situation."
Undocumented students at Sac State strategize on how to protect themselves and others from being deported under a Trump administration.
STEPHEN MAGAGNINI with Sacramento Bee: "More than 500 undocumented students and their advocates from around California gathered at Sacramento State on Monday to discuss how they could avoid deportation under the administration of the incoming president, Donald Trump."
"Along with the 11 million undocumented immigrants throughout the country, another 750,000 young people granted temporary work permits under President Barack Obama’sDeferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program may be at risk, said Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, an undocumented Filipino activist."
"Vargas called Trump’s pick for attorney general, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, “the most anti-immigrant senator in history ... Trump isn’t kidding around."
California's Lt. Governor looks for a way to combat post-election racism and bullying in K-12 schools.
JOYCE TSAI with EBT: "To combat an alarming surge in racism, hate and bullying in the schools post-election, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom called on local and county superintendents to act immediately to establish a zero-tolerance policy for hate in the schools and create a clearinghouse to report such incidents statewide."
"The Southern Poverty Law Center has tracked reported hate crime and racist incidents statewide and nationwide from Nov. 9 to Nov. 16. During that period California had more than 80 reported incidents, the most overall of any state in the country, Newsom said."
"The Bay Area is not immune. Racist graffiti was discovered last week at a boys’ bathroom at Monte Vista High School in Danville. In that case, a urinal was marked “whites” and another other was marked “colored.” Newsom’s message was further reinforced when another incident of racist graffiti at the school was reported Monday, this time found on a school bus over the weekend, according to San Ramon Valley Unified School District officials."
READ MORE related to Education: Rhee's support of Common Core could be deal-breaker in possible Trump appointment -- LOUIS FREEDBERG with EdSource
California's cannabis industry is an unregulated market with haphazard enforcement.
THOMAS FULLER with NYT: "California’s multibillion-dollar marijuana industry, by far the nation’s largest, is crawling out from the underbrush after voters opted to legalize cannabis in this month’s election. In Sonoma County alone, an estimated 9,000 marijuana cultivation businesses are operating in a provisional gray market, with few specific regulations, and are now looking to follow the path of the wine industry, which emerged from its own prohibition eight decades ago and rose to the global prominence it enjoys today."
"But the bruising ordeals of one of the state’s largest cannabis companies, CannaCraft, have made many in the marijuana industry fearful, and they suggest a long and bumpy road from marijuana’s approval at the ballot box to the same on-the-ground acceptance enjoyed by wine and beer businesses."
"CannaCraft produces medical marijuana products, which have been legal in the state for two decades, but operated in a kind of Wild West, unregulated market. In June, the company’s newly opened headquarters was raided by federal and local law enforcement officers, who said the process it used to make marijuana products was dangerous and illegal. The agents seized $5 million in equipment, inventory and cash. This year, company drivers have twice been stopped by the California Highway Patrol, and, in one case, 1,600 pounds of marijuana was seized."
Richard Spencer, an Alt-Right icon, can be seen leading a crowd in neo-Nazi salutes: "Hail Trump!"
JESSICA ROY with LAT: "A newly released video shows a room full of people doing the Hitler salute and yelling "Hail Trump!" after listening to a speech about white nationalism that invokes Nazi terminology."
"The video was taken over the weekend by a reporter for The Atlantic while working on a documentary about Richard Spencer. Spencer is the person speaking in the video. He runs the National Policy Institute, a self-described "alt-right" think tank that openly supports white nationalist and neo-Nazi policies. In the past, he has called for a "peaceful ethnic cleansing" of the United States."
"In the video, Spencer calls the media "leftists" and "cucks," invoking popular "alt-right" insults for people they disagree with. He calls the media the "Lügenpresse," which is what the original Nazi Party called the media in Germany – the "lying press."
Trump's pick for CIA head could spell disaster for Americans concerned with privacy laws.
BOB EGELKO with The Chronicle: "The federal government’s long-hidden authority to sweep up records of all phone calls made in the U.S. was repealed last year in a bipartisan vote of Congress. But President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to head the CIA has called for reinstatement of the data haul and said its elimination was part of “Edward Snowden’s vision of America.”
"Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, revealed in 2013 that the NSA had been collecting bulk data on U.S. phone calls without a warrant for more than a decade. President George W. Bush’s administration had ordered the collection unilaterally after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, then obtained approval from a secret intelligence court in 2006."