Former California Lt. Gov. Ed Reinecke has passed away at the age of 92.
CINDY CHANG with LAT: "Ed Reinecke, the California lieutenant governor who resigned after being convicted of perjury in a Watergate-era scandal, died Saturday in Laguna Hills."
"He was 92 and died of natural causes, said his son, Mark Reinecke."
"Reinecke was a protege of then-Gov. Ronald Reagan, who appointed him to be the state’s second-in-command in 1969."
A case against Native American tribal lenders in an online gaming dispute moves forward, after a decade in the making.
JAMES RUFUS KOREN with LAT: "A decade after California financial regulators first went after a pair of online payday lenders with ties to Native American tribes, the California Supreme Court on Thursday handed the state a victory, ruling that case against the lenders can proceed."
"At issue is whether the lenders, doing business through half a dozen different names including Ameriloan and OneClickCash, are immune from state lending laws because of their affiliation with the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and the Santee Sioux Nation of Nebraska. Tribes and tribal entities are not subject to state laws."
'The court ruled, though, that while the lenders were tribal entities in name, they had little connection to the tribes in practice. In a unanimous decision, the court found “scant evidence that either tribe actually controls, oversees, or significantly benefits from the underlying business operations of the online lenders."
Software venders in San Francisco have managed a 'four-year bid-rigging scheme' that gave them a lopsided shake at state government contracts.
ADAM ASHTON with Sacramento Bee: "With pricey cases of wine and a source on the inside, a pair of San Francisco software vendors allegedly managed a four-year bid-rigging scheme that steered millions of dollars worth of contracts with California state government to their company."
"Now, they’re facing up to 10 years in jail and a $1 million fine under a new bid-rigging indictment released this week by the Justice Department."
"The indictment charges that leaders of San Francisco-based Expert Network Consultants manipulated state government procurement protocol between 2008 and 2012 by gaining advanced knowledge of contracts and persuading partners to submit straw bids at inflated prices."
California has a long and storied history with 'secession fever.'
JOHN MYERS with LAT: "California’s famous chronicler Carey McWilliams once wrote that some see “this highly improbable state” as more illusion than reality. Perhaps that explains its residents’ perpetual efforts to shake things up and break away — either from the national government or each other."
"Since 1849, more than 200 efforts have imagined a political do-over to the idea of California as a single, sprawling American state. Every attempt has failed."
"All major social and political movements in this country take time and inevitably have to overcome failures and setbacks before they are ultimately successful,” Louis Marinelli, the latest provocateur with secessionist dreams, told The Times in an email."
Feinstein and Boxer part ways after a 24-year partnership come January 2017.
SARAH D. WIRE with LAT: "In 1992, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer pitched themselves to California voters as the dynamic duo, as “Thelma and Louise,” as “Cagney and Lacey.”
"They were trying to convince voters to do something no state had ever done: Elect two women to represent them in the U.S. Senate."
"When they got to Washington, reporters followed the pair, looking for signs of discord. Boxer and Feinstein derided the attention as bizarre and sexist, but they remained conscious of the intense interest in how the nation’s first female pair of senators would work together."
California sees a slate of new laws coming to the state next year.
AP's Juliet Williams in Union Democrat: "A higher minimum wage, a ban on using "Redskins" as the name of a school team or mascot, and new restrictions on assault weapons are among the latest California laws taking effect with the new year:"
"MINIMUM WAGE"
"California's minimum wage will increase from $10 an hour to $10.50 for businesses with 26 or more employees under SB3 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. It will eventually rise to $15 an hour in 2022. The law delays the increases by one year for smaller employers."
READ MORE related to 2017 Policy: California's new laws in 2017: Driver's can't hold phones, barbers can serve free beer -- KATY MURPHY with The Mercury News
Bipartisan quarreling over proper handling of allegations of Russian election-interference will prove to be a challenge for the state as Trump's administration lurches ever closer to inauguration.
MICHAEL DOYLE with Sacramento Bee: "The two contrasting Californians who lead House of Representatives oversight of U.S. intelligence operations will be tested as never before once Donald Trump becomes president."
"The committee’s chairman, Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of Tulare, advises the Trump transition team. The top-ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, assails the president-elect. Already, the two disagree over how Congress should handleallegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election."
"Soon, Nunes and Schiff will confront other challenges, starting, perhaps, with Trump’s apparent scorn for the CIA, the best-known of the 17 agencies that make up the intelligence community."
Changes to the ocean over the past two years have changed life for many fishing villages around the state.
MARY CALLAHAN with The Press-Democrat: "In any other year, the large bins of Dungeness crab that are loaded dockside in this busy fishing village and rolled out by truck to be sold and served during the holidays would seem like no big deal."
"But after an unprecedented delay in the 2015-16 commercial season forced local crabbers to leave their boats tied up through winter and on into spring, the tons of meaty crustaceans landed in port this month have been a welcome sign of normalcy restored, if only for a moment."
"For here on the edge of the Pacific, where commercial fishing remains a way of life, once reliable ocean rhythms have been seriously unsettled of late, confounding those who depend on predictable, seasonal cycles and highlighting future uncertainties."
Oakland's fire department finds itself embattled amid the Ghost Ship blaze aftermath and a recent email scandal showing negligence on the fire department's part.
DAVID DEBOLT, MATTHIAS GAFNI and THOMAS PEELE with EBT: "Oakland’s embattled fire department, already under scrutiny for failing to inspect the Ghost Ship warehouse before this month’s deadly blaze, is facing a new round of allegations about its lax fire prevention efforts in one of the region’s most vulnerable areas to wildfires: the Oakland Hills, site of a 1991 firestorm that killed 25 people and destroyed thousands of homes."
"Internal fire department emails obtained by this news organization conclude the department’s firefighters — tasked with regularly monitoring the hillsides — often signed off on properties despite overgrown vegetation around homes that clearly posed a high fire danger."
The issues date back to at least 2011 and persist to as recently as this month. One email, dated Dec. 15, shows department inspectors conducting spot checks earlier this year found fire hazards at 28 properties that had recently passed review by department firefighters. A 2014 email from a ranking inspector alleged that a property firefighters had passed turned out to be in “extreme violation” of safety rules."
READ MORE related to Public Safety: California state firefighters gain 11 to 18 percent raises in proposed contract -- ADAM ASHTON with Sacramento Bee
Speaking of a Trump administration, The Donald will enter his first term with a vast amount of influence over the judiciary.
PHILLIP RUCKER and ROBERT BARNES with WaPo: "Donald Trump is set to inherit an uncommon number of vacancies in the federal courts in addition to the open Supreme Court seat, giving the president-elect a monumental opportunity to reshape the judiciary after taking office."
"The estimated 103 judicial vacancies that President Obama is expected to hand over to Trump in the Jan. 20 transition of power is nearly double the 54 openings Obama found eight years ago following George W. Bush’s presidency."
"Confirmation of Obama’s judicial nominees slowed to a crawl after Republicans took control of the Senate in 2015. Obama White House officials blame Senate Republicans for what they characterize as an unprecedented level of obstruction in blocking the Democratic president’s court picks."
A wealthy community in the Bay Area is seeking legal action against tiered water rates.
KURTIS ALEXANDER with The Chronicle: "One of the Bay Area’s wealthiest communities has a small uprising on its hands: a group of millionaires angry about water rates. And local leaders are moving to quash it."
"Attorneys for the town of Hillsborough filed court documents this month defending the practice of hitting residents with higher water rates when they use more of the stuff, a policy that helps encourage conservation."
A law that forced Uber's self-driving car fleet off San Francisco roads was partially developed by one of the heads of Uber itself.
ALEXEI KOSEFF with Sacramento Bee: "A fight with the Department of Motor Vehicles over whether it falls under California rules for testing self-driving cars has forced Uber’s pilot program off the state’s roads."
"It was Uber’s head of autonomous vehicles who made the initial push for that regulation in 2012, when he held a similar role at Google."
"Anthony Levandowski, who has defended Uber’s decision not to seek permits for its test vehicles as an “issue of principle,” was a leader on Google’s self-driving car project when the company decided to clear up the legal gray area around the emerging field by asking to be regulated before someone else came along with a less-favorable proposal."
L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey faces a backlash over two high-profile police shootings and her perceived lack of forcefulness in pursuing prosecution.
MARISA GERBER with LAT: "You help killer cops, you help killer cops!”
"As the chant rumbled through a packed community center in South L.A. recently, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey stared at the people pointing their fingers at her."
“You’re a race traitor,” one woman screamed. “A betrayal, an accomplice to murder."
Los Angeles communities pool their resources to provide thousands of homeless families with a warm holiday experience.
ROSANNA XIA with LAT: "The line outside the Midnight Mission in downtown Los Angeles began two days ago, as hundreds of men, women and their children waited patiently for a warm meal and a toy from Santa’s Village on Christmas morning."
"Volunteers arrived early Sunday to greet them, handing out beanies, caps and jackets in the chilly hours before the mission’s Santa’s Village opened its doors at 8 a.m."
"Cecelia Rosales bounced Troy, her 1-year-old son, on her hip as he waved to everyone and said “hi” and “thank you,” among the first few words he has learned. Rosales giggled with him as he welcomed the day’s sunshine and saw no difference between those who lived on the streets and those volunteers who came to skid row to spend the day with them."
Water-starved California is soaking up the recent torrential coldsnap, but travelers may find the weather less than agreeable.
MATT STEVENS with LAT: "The storm moved out, but the traffic troubles remain."
"The heavy rainstorm that closed the Grapevine for a while Saturday continued to cause problems on some mountain roads. In the San Bernardino Mountains, Highway 38 was closed for several hours overnight due to snow that stranded about 100 cars, according to Caltrans. The cars managed to get out and the highway near Big Bear is now open."
"Highway 33 was closed north of Ojai early Sunday because of snow and ice."
A U.N. vote forcing Israeli settlements to abandon their occupation of Palestinian territory has sent a blacklash through Israel against the outgoing administration, combined with an outpouring of praises from Palestine.
JOSHUA MITNICK with LAT: "Still fuming over a United Nations Security Council resolution passed Friday that deems Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem illegal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the rare step of summoning the U.S. ambassador to express his displeasure with the Obama administration for allowing the measure to pass."
"The U.S. had abstained from voting on Security Council Resolution 2334, which passed 14 to 0. The decision not to exercise the U.S.’ veto power as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council was criticized in Israel as a break with American policy to shield Israel at the U.N."
"The decision recognizes all of the West Bank and Jerusalem captured by Israel and the 1967 Arab-Israeli war as “occupied Palestinian territory” and calls for an immediate and complete halt of Israeli building there. Though the Security Council decision is expected to have little immediate effect, analysts say it could give added legal momentum to a possible effort to sue Israel in the International Criminal Court or impose sanctions on Israel."
Obama gives a final Christmas tribute to his troops as his presidential term nears an end.
JOSH LEDERMAN with Sacramento Bee: "For eight years, Barack Obama has led a military fighting in multiple theaters overseas, becoming the only president in U.S. history to serve full two terms with the nation at war. On Sunday, he sought to pay tribute to the men and women who sacrificed along the way in battles that will continue even after his presidency comes to a close."
"There was a tinge of nostalgia as Obama visited U.S. troops on Christmas for the last time, and some solemnity, too. The president, who spent Christmas Eve calling troops serving overseas, pointed out that as Americans celebrate the holidays, U.S. troops are serving in dangerous, remote places like Iraq and Afghanistan."
"He said some were carrying out missions against the Islamic State group even on Christmas Day."
Women uncertain of reproductive services and rights available under a Trump administration figure out ways to get birth control.
SAMMY CAIOLA with Sacramento Bee: "Three days after November’s election results were in, Alia Kuykendall made an intensely personal decision. She rethought her plan to remove the intrauterine device, or IUD, that she had been using since 2014 to ward off pregnancy."
"Like other California women, the 23-year-old Sacramento resident worried about consequences of Donald Trump’s election to the presidency on reproductive services and rights."
"During the campaign, Trump pledged that if elected, he would defund Planned Parenthood clinics, repeal the Affordable Care Act, which covers contraception, and ban abortion.
In that new political environment, Kuykendall wasn’t sure she could get a legal abortion if she became pregnant."
Gov. Brown used his pardoning powers to commute the sentences of 112 during the holiday season.
CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO with Sacramento Bee: "In a holiday tradition, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday announced 112 pardons and one commutation, mostly for years-old offenses involving marijuana and other drugs and lower-level crimes such as robberies and assaults."
"Brown to date has extended 854 holiday-timed pardons and commutations since 2011. The Democrat also has led changes to the criminal justice system in his second stint as governor, including shifting responsibility for lower-level offenders to counties and a successful fall initiative to change parole rules for prisoners."
"Brown’s previous three predecessors combined for just 28 pardons. Prior governors were more in line with Brown’s approach, each issuing hundreds."
Donald Trump vs. the Fed: A battle of interest rates.
DON LEE and JIM PUZZANGHERA with LAT: "After three years of almost single-handedly juicing up the slow-growing economy, Janet L. Yellen and the Federal Reserve should be looking at easier days ahead."
"Yellen, in what will probably be her last full year as Fed chair, may finally get help from somewhere else in Washington."
"Tax cuts and infrastructure spending planned by President-elect Donald Trump, if backed by the Republican-controlled Congress, would lighten the load for a Fed whose easy-money policies have been the primary economic support for the nation."
Actress/writer Carrie Fisher is still in intensive car after her heart attack, but is in stable condition.
RICHARD WINTON and JOSEPH SERNA with LAT: "Star Wars” actress Carrie Fisher was spending Christmas in intensive care at UCLA Medical Center two days after suffering a “cardiac episode” during a flight from London to Los Angeles."
"Fisher’s mother, entertainer Debbie Reynolds, said on Twitter on Sunday that her daughter was in stable condition."
"If there is a change, we will share it. For all her fans & friends, I thank you for your prayers & good wishes,” Reynolds tweeted."