Rep. Xavier Becerra has been appointed by Gov. Brown to replace Kamala Harris as the new state Attorney General.
JOHN HOWARD with Capitol Weekly: "Congressman Xavier Becerra, the Democrats’ highest-ranking Latino in the House and a 24-year veteran of Congress, was appointed Thursday by Gov. Brown to replace state Attorney General Kamala Harris, who was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 8."
"Becerra, 58, who will be the first Latino to serve as California’s top law enforcement officer, will formally take over the attorney general’s office next month, when Harris leaves for Washington, D.C."
“Xavier has been an outstanding public servant – in the State Legislature, the U.S. Congress and as a deputy attorney general,” Brown said in a written statement announcing the appointment. “I’m confident he will be a champion for all Californians and help our state aggressively combat climate change.”
READ MORE related to Becerra: 'Come at us,' California attorney general pick Xavier Becerra tells feds -- JEREMY B. WHITE with Sacramento Bee
An ex-L.A. Times reporter has been ordered by a judge to testify in the corruption trial of former Sheriff Lee Baca.
CINDY CHANG with LAT: "A federal judge ruled Thursday that a former Los Angeles Times reporter who interviewed then-Sheriff Lee Baca during an unfolding scandal over abuses in the county jails must testify in the former sheriff’s corruption trial, which is scheduled to begin next week."
"Prosecutors want the reporter, Robert Faturechi, to testify about a Sept. 29, 2011, article in which Baca described an FBI undercover sting and a visit that sheriff’s investigators made to an FBI agent’s home. They also want to ask Faturechi about statements he made on KCRW radio earlier this year."
"Attorneys for Faturechi, who is now with the nonprofit news outlet Pro Publica, argued that the First Amendment protects him from testifying, in part because prosecutors could find other witnesses to establish similar facts."
A Mexican businessman convicted of campaign finance fraud will now face a new federal charge of illegal firearm possession.
GREG MORAN with Union-Tribune: "Federal prosecutors said Thursday they plan to retry Mexican businessman José Susumo Azano Matsura on a charge of illegal gun possession."
"Azano was convicted in September of 36 charges of conspiracy and making illegal campaign contributions in the 2012 San Diego mayoral race."
"Jurors did not reach a verdict on a charge that Azano, who is not a U.S. citizen and was in the country on a visa, kept a firearm in the bedroom of his Coronado home. It’s illegal for people in the country on a visa to possess a gun."
A drop in 'domoic acid levels' has prompted state officials to rescind the closure of a commercial Dungeness crab fishery near Marin and Sonoma counties.
MICHAEL BODLEY with The Chronicle: "A 50-mile stretch of the commercial Dungeness crab fishery between Point Reyes in Marin County and Salt Point in Sonoma County that had been closed by state officials will open Saturday on the news of a drop in domoic acid levels, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife."
"Fishing grounds north of Salt Point to the North Jetty of Humboldt Bay will remain closed due to continued high acid levels, officials said."
"Domoic acid, produced in algae blooms, almost completely wiped out last year's season and devastated the crab industry in California. From the blooms, the toxin travels up the food chain to fish, crabs and sea lions."
A new report details racial and economic disparities in the Bay Area which has lead to a 'resegregation.'
TATIANA SANCHEZ with East Bay Times: "The Bay Area’s black population experienced a dramatic migration into outer suburban parts of the region over a 14-year span, the result of the rising cost of living in inner regions, according to a new report by the Oakland nonprofit Urban Habitat."
"An estimated 22,000 black residents — about the population of Millbrae — left the Bay Area altogether during that time period, according to the report, which analyzed data in 11 counties between 2000 and 2014."
"The report aims to highlight the socio-economic disparities that have led to a “resegregation” of the Bay Area, according to the group, as people of color migrate to more affordable pockets of the region. But in these new, distant places — such as Antioch and Stockton — residents also encounter difficulties finding quality jobs and schools, decent affordable housing, public transportation and adequate social services."
A recent poll finds that Obamacare is still viewed positively by a majority of Americans.
TRACY SEIPEL with East Bay Times: "More Americans want to keep the Affordable Care Act than see it killed or dialed back — and the law’s major provisions remain quite popular across party lines, according to the first comprehensive, post-election poll on the law."
"The new survey, conducted by the Menlo Park-based Kaiser Family Foundation in mid-November, found that 49 percent of the public want to keep the law or see it expanded, versus 43 percent who want lawmakers to eliminate or dial back the law, commonly called “Obamacare."
"On the campaign trail and again at a rally in Cincinnati on Thursday night, President-elect Donald Trump vowed to “repeal and replace” the law, which has insured 20 million Americans since 2014, many of them through an Obamacare provision that expanded Medicaid, the nation’s health care program for the poor."
READ MORE related to Healthcare: 'Code Blue!' UC Davis med students call Trump a 'medical emergency' -- CLAUDIA BUCK with Sacramento Bee; UC San Diego performs region's first heart-liver transplant -- PAUL SISSON with Union-Tribune
Donald Trump has picked Gen. James 'Mad Dog' Mattis for Secretary of Defense.
DAN LAMOTHE with WaPo: "President-elect Donald Trump will nominate retired Marine Gen. James N. Mattis to be secretary of defense, picking a former senior military officer who led operations across the Middle East to run the Pentagon less than four years after he hung up his uniform."
"Trump announced the decision during a rally in Cincinnati on Thursday night. He said a formal announcement would come Monday."
"To take the job, Mattis will need Congress to pass new legislation to bypass a federal law that states secretaries of defense must not have been on active duty in the previous seven years. Congress has granted a similar exception just once, when Gen. George C. Marshall was appointed to the job in 1950."
A judge has ruled the officer-involved shooting death of a homeless man on skid row was legally justified.
KATE MATHER with LAT: "Prosecutors have concluded that Los Angeles police officers were legally justified in shooting a homeless man last year on skid row, a videotaped killing that attracted international attention and renewed the local debate over interactions between police and L.A.’s homeless population."
"The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office found that the officers — Sgt. Chand Syed and Officers Francisco Martinez and Daniel Torres — reasonably believed Charly Leundeu Keunang posed a lethal threat during the March 1, 2015 shooting. Their decision was outlined in a 22-page memo obtained by The Times on Thursday."
"Prosecutors said video from a body camera worn by the sergeant — when played at a slow speed — showed that Keunang had wrapped his fingers around the butt of a rookie officer’s holstered gun while wrestling with police. The rookie, Joshua Volasgis, did not fire his weapon during the encounter."
Health officials in L.A. County have ordered two Paramount plants to stop emissions of a cancer-causing air pollutant or face closure.
TONY BARBOZA with LAT: "In a rare intervention, county health officials Thursday ordered two Paramount metal-processing plants to stop emissions of hexavalent chromium or shut down operations contributing to high levels of the cancer-causing air pollutant."
"The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health directed Aerocraft Heat Treating Co. and Anaplex Corp. to “immediately take all necessary actions to eliminate the current nuisance endangering the health of the public, which may include full or partial suspension of operations."
"The orders come two days after the facilities in the city southeast of Los Angeles were targeted with enforcement action by air quality regulators. The South Coast Air Quality Management District filed Tuesday for an administrative order to force the facilities to halt their emissions or shut down, accusing them of exposing Paramount residents to high cancer risks."
Here's a preview of what California's waterscape looks like for 2017.
JAY LUND with Water Deeply: "California is a big, diverse place."
"California probably will experience droughts this year of different types in different places, and no drought at all in some places, simultaneously. Even if conditions this year are very wet, with flooding, parts of California will have drought issues. (This is what makes California a great place to work on water problems.)"
"The first two months of this new water year have been wetter than average in the north and much drier than average in the south. But it is still early days."
EdSource takes a look at Donald Trump's proposed tax breaks and how they impact families in different socioeconomic brackets.
JEREMY HAY with EdSource: "Tax deductions and rebates are at the heart of President-elect Donald Trump’s child care policy proposal, which would offer the most help to high-income families, some help to middle-income taxpayers and less to low-income parents."
"In recent weeks, most attention has been focused on K-12 education following the appointment of Betsy DeVos as Trump’s secretary of education. But since his upset victory on Nov. 8, the president-elect’s detailed plan on child care is getting additional scrutiny, especially in light of widespread recognition of the importance of early education to later academic success."
"Trump unveiled his plan in September, spurred by his daughter Ivanka’s announcement in her nominating speech for her father at the GOP convention that he would focus on “making quality child care affordable and accessible for all."
A death warrant for the P-45 mountain lion has been nullified.
BRENDA GAZZAR and DANA BARTHOLOMEW with Daily News: "The rancher who obtained a permit to kill a mountain lion believed to have slaughtered some of her alpaca in the Santa Monica Mountains said Thursday she would not have the trigger pulled."
"The point was never to kill the animal,” Victoria Vaughn-Perling said during a news conference at her Malibu hills ranch home amid a backdrop of more than a dozen alpaca spared by the big cat. Instead, she said, she got the permit to raise awareness and “try to get it relocated."
"I’m not looking for revenge for my alpaca,” she added."