Gov. Brown refuses to allow California to regress on its climate-change pioneering, vowing to circumvent any obstacles a Trump administration may try to impose.
CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO with Sacramento Bee: "Gov. Jerry Brown, rallying a room of scientists Wednesday with his most heated rhetoric yet on the topic, suggested California would defy the federal government should President-elect Donald Trump impede the state’s efforts to thwart climate change."
"We’ve got the scientists, we’ve got the lawyers and we’re ready to fight. We’re ready to defend,” he said to boisterous applause at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco."
"Brown struck a more forceful tone than he has since the election, suggesting the energy and enthusiasm in the room for him would be needed in the “battles ahead."
READ MORE related to Governor: Jerry Brown promises to fight Donald Trump over climate change -- JOE GAROFOLI and DAVID PERLMAN with The Chronicle
Kamala Harris' office has reversed direction on a lawsuit challenging the bail schedule in San Francisco's court system.
STEVE RUBENSTEIN with The Chronicle: "A legal challenge to the bail system in San Francisco courts will go forward without the active support of Attorney General Kamala Harris, who has changed her mind and declined to file a motion in its support, her office said Wednesday."
"Her decision, announced by spokeswoman Kristin Ford, reversed a decision last week to join the challenge to the cash-bail system, which requires a criminal defendant to post cash or other security in order to be released from custody before trial."
“We actually didn’t end up filing a motion to intervene,” Ford said."
A reporter's testimony could prove to be a crippling blow for Lee Baca during his obstruction trial.
JOEL RUBIN with LAT: "A former Los Angeles Times reporter who uncovered a scheme by L.A. County Sheriff’s Department officials to interfere with an FBI probe into abusive deputies testified Wednesday that retired Sheriff Lee Baca was aware of the scandal as it unfolded and helped plan part of it."
"Robert Faturechi, who spent several years reporting on the Sheriff’s Department for The Times before joining another news organization, was called to the witness stand against his will by federal prosecutors who have accused Baca of conspiring with a group of subordinates to obstruct the FBI investigation."
"While brief, the reporter’s testimony dealt a blow to Baca."
READ MORE related to Lee Baca Trial: FBI agent tells Baca jury of being threatened with arrest by sheriff's deputies -- FRED SHUSTER with Daily News
Paramount metal processing facilities have agreed to reducing their toxic emissions.
RACHEL URANGA with Daily News: "One of two metal-processing facilities agreed Wednesday to sharply reduce toxic emissions or shut down parts of its operation."
"The South Coast Air Quality Management District and Aerocraft Heat Treating came to an agreement ahead of an administrative hearing held Wednesday to consider regulators’ request that the businesses sharply reduce release of the carcinogen."
"A second business, Anaplex Corp., was in negotiations with air regulators to structure a similar deal."
Artists gather in Oakland to perform a benefit concert dedicated to the Ghost Ship fire victims.
JIM HARRINGTON with EBT: "They stood united."
"More than two dozen local music acts, representing everything from indie-pop and hip-hop to rock and electronic music, came together Wednesday night to pay their respects to the 36 people who lost their lives in the horrific Dec. 2 warehouse fire in Oakland."
"They shared their music, as well as their pain, over the doomed underground concert held at that the warehouse known as Ghost Ship, aching for healing with a capacity crowd of 2,800 during “Oakland United: A Benefit Supporting Oakland Fire Relief."
While voters in the interior of America rejoiced at PEOTUS Trump's promises to end NAFTA, many laborers in border cities find the idea highly discomforting.
PAUL J. WEBER in Sacramento Bee: "Donald Trump's only visit to the U.S.-Mexico border while running for president was a stop in Laredo that lasted less than three hours. On some days, that's not long enough for 18-wheelers hauling foreign-made dishwashers and car batteries to lurch through the gridlocked crossing."
"Trump's campaign promise to tear apart the North American Free Trade Agreement helped win over Rust Belt voters who felt left behind by globalization. But the idea is unnerving to many people in border cities such as Laredo and El Paso or Nogales in Arizona, which have boomed under the 1994 treaty."
"About 14,000 tractor-trailers cross the border daily in Laredo, the nation's busiest inland port. Local officials say roughly 1 in every 3 jobs benefits from international trade."
The rush to fill the vacancy for chancellor of U.C. Davis has proven to be highly competitive, with nearly 525 candidates vying for the position.
DIANA LAMBERT in Sacramento Bee: "Hundreds of people have applied to be the next chancellor of UC Davis."
"The search advisory committee has reviewed approximately 525 candidates. Some of them applied for the job and others were recommended or identified by the search committee, according to UC Davis."
"Thirty-two percent of the candidates are women and 28 percent are minorities, according to the UC Davis website."
California's forests are full of dead trees posing safety hazard risks -- and lumberers are trying to cash out on the situation.
THOMAS CURWEN with LAT: "A low gargle echoes against granite cliffs and resounds in the wooded canyons."
"Each pull of a starter handle and squeeze of a throttle is punctuated by the crack of splintering wood as another dead tree falls in a forest that’s changing all too rapidly."
"Niles Kant stands at the base of a red fir. Its crown, a thatch of brown needles, rises nearly 175 feet above a collection of cabins in the national forest."
The CPUC will be expanding its offices into Sacramento, with a plan to hire and/or relocate nearly 100 employees.
ADAM ASHTON with Sacramento Bee: "Facing tough scrutiny from lawmakers, the state’s energy regulator plans to ramp up its presence in Sacramento by filling out a new office on Capitol Mall with dozens of new workers."
"The California Public Utilities Commission will keep its headquarters in San Francisco, where it houses about 800 employees who regulate the state’s largest power companies."
"In Sacramento, it plans to hire or relocate employees for about 100 positions who will work in the new office. The commission has about 50 other employees in two other Sacramento offices that it will continue leasing, commission spokeswoman Terrie Prosper said."
A paperwork snafu involving the Pittsburg Police Department has caused the criminal convictions of fifteen defendants to be overturned and dismissed.
MATTHIAS GAFNI with EBT: "Fifteen defendants, including one who served almost 250 days in jail, had their criminal convictions dismissed this week after prosecutors and public defenders agreed that the Pittsburg Police Department failed to disclose information about prior misconduct on the part of police officers involved in the cases."
"The agreement between the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office and Public Defender’s Office is the culmination of months of challenges by defense attorneys after this newspaper reported on the police department’s failure to comply with so-called Pitchess motions. Pitchess motions are common legal requests for records of officer misconduct lodged by defense attorneys in criminal cases."
"Former Pittsburg police Lt. Wade Derby filed a lawsuit earlier this year alleging he had warned the department and gave memos to Chief Brian Addington alerting him that the department needed to turn over the records on officers Michael Sibbitt and Elisabeth Ingram for beating suspects with flashlights."
A Menlo Park legal firm has built quite the reputation for itself over the years, catering predominately to major-league businesses and clients.
MYRON LEVIN and PAUL FELDMAN with Capitol Weekly: "The Fall of Icarus is the Greek myth about a youth who gets a pair of wax-and-feather wings but soars too close to the sun — melting the wings and casting him into the sea."
"In the 1990s, a consulting firm called Failure Analysis Associates ran tongue-in-cheek ads aimed at corporate lawyers that retold the myth as a courtroom drama. The arty-looking promos boasted that Failure’s expert testimony in “Icarus vs. Wax Aviation” would put the onus on pilot error, getting the company off the hook."
"The formula has turned the Menlo Park-based firm, now named Exponent, Inc., into a publicly traded giant in litigation defense and regulatory science. It’s a go-to destination for major industries with liability problems – even as it is derided by critics as a hired gun whose findings are for sale."
Capt. Eric Weueve, An 11 year veteran of the Orange County fire department, has committed suicide.
BEN BRAZIL with LAT: "An Orange County Fire Authority captain from Huntington Beach killed himself Tuesday morning by jumping from the Crown Valley Parkway overpass onto the 5 Freeway and into oncoming traffic."
"The man was identified as Capt. Eric Weuve, 41, who has worked for the OCFA for 11 years, OCFA spokesman Larry Kurtz said. At the time of his death, he was with Truck 64, based in Westminster."
"Kurtz said witnesses saw Weuve park his pickup truck on the overpass, walk over to the edge of the bridge and jump into traffic."
A 'holiday gift exchange' being spread around Facebook is less-than-legal.
JESSICA ROY with LAT: "Sorry to be a grinch, but that viral Facebook post going around about a gift exchange is against the law."
"You've probably seen something like this in your newsfeed:"
"Sometimes the message varies: You're sending a bottle of wine or a book or it includes the men on the holiday fun. But the gist is that you mail one item, repost the message and receive a cavalcade of holiday gifts in return."
Yahoo has discovered a security breach 3 years after-the-fact, and it could prove to be the biggest in history: 1 BILLION user accounts compromised.
MICHAEL LIEDTKE in Daily News: "Yahoo has discovered a 3-year-old security breach that enabled a hacker to compromise more than 1 billion user accounts, breaking the company’s own humiliating record for the biggest security breach in history."
"The digital heist disclosed Wednesday occurred in August 2013, more than a year before a separate hack that Yahoo announced nearly three months ago . That breach affected at least 500 million users, which had been the most far-reaching hack until the latest revelation.
“It’s shocking,” security expert Avivah Litan of Gartner Inc."
"Both lapses occurred during the reign of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, a once-lauded leader who found herself unable to turn around the company in the four years since her arrival. Earlier this year, Yahoo agreed to sell its digital operations to Verizon Communications for $4.8 billion — a deal that may now be imperiled by the hacking revelations."
An interest rate hike enacted by the Federal Reserve could prove to make mortgage loans more costly.
KEVIN SMITH with Daily News: "The Federal Reserve boosted a key interest rate for the first time in a year on Wednesday, and it signaled that three more rate hikes are likely for 2017."
"Wednesday’s quarter percentage point increase — only the second rate hike to be implemented in the past decade — was fueled by a steadily improving U.S. economy that has seen significant employment gains and a stabilization of the nation’s housing market."
"The quarter percentage-point boost will lift the Fed’s benchmark federal funds rate from a 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent range to a range of 0.50 percent to 0.75 percent. That’s extremely low by historical standards but it will have some mild impacts, nonetheless."
Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez continues to garner support from Latino elected officials as he pursues a congressional seat.
CHRISTINE MAI-DUC with LAT: "As other potential candidates have been weighing whether to jump in to the race to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), L.A. Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez has been busy rolling out endorsements from state and national Latino leaders."
"Five members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus have endorsed Gomez so far: Reps. Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk), Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands), Juan Vargas (D-San Diego), Filemon Vega of Texas and Arizona's Ruben Gallego."
"Gomez already has support from state Senate leader Kevin de León of Los Angeles, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon of Paramount and L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis."