It was Election Night last night in Los Angeles, and amid all the action there was one stubborn fact -- the turnout, again, was low.
From the LAT's Michael Finnegan and Dakota Smith: "Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti won reelection Tuesday in what appeared to be one of the biggest landslides in the city’s history, crushing 10 little-known rivals and strengthening his standing for a potential run for higher office."
"With nearly half the ballots counted, Garcetti was holding more than 80% of the vote. If his vote share remains in that range when the tally is done, it will likely surpass the record of nearly a century of Los Angeles mayors."
"With Tuesday’s low voter turnout, however, it’s possible that Garcetti will have won fewer votes than other mayors, such as Tom Bradley."
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Time to take a deep dive into the Capitol's legislative procedure, and we mean deep.
CHRIS MICHELI in Capitol Weekly: "Welcome to Part II of our series on the myths and realities of legislative procedure. This time we’ll take a look at how bills are amended and moved around. After our earlier piece appeared, one reader called to thank us – he said it helped him sleep at night. We’re glad we were able to help."
"And now to the bills: There’s a lot going on here …"
"Misconception: Lawmakers can add an urgency clause to any bill.
Reality: Nope
The state constitution says an urgency statute “may not create or abolish any office or change the salary, term, or duties of any office, or grant any franchise or special privilege, or create any vested right or interest.”
CalPERS has nearly 200 more pensions lined up to be reduced by 63 percent as retirees struggle to get a hold on their benefits.
Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON: "For the second time in four months, CalPERS is preparing to slash benefits for a group of retirees whose former employer stopped cutting checks to fund their pensions."
"The California Public Employees’ Retirement System could act next week to reduce pensions by as much 63 percent for 197 people who used to work for a defunct job-training program that was created by a group of local governments in Los Angeles County."
"The agency, known as East San Gabriel Valley Human Services or LA Works, folded in 2014 when Los Angeles County suspended its contracts with the group over a billing dispute."
The Obamacare repeal 'doesn't go far enough' according to some Republicans, as the new controversial replacement catches flak from both sides of the aisle.
LA Times' LISA MASCARO: "House GOP leadership faced mounting opposition Tuesday after introducing an Obamacare repeal and replace bill that was rejected by small government conservatives, panned by Republican moderates and given only lukewarm support from President Trump."
"One day after unveiling the GOP’s long-promised effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and replace it with something better, the new American Health Care Act already appears to be on life support, unlikely to survive the onslaught of friendly fire unless Trump personally rallies his party."
"But Trump’s intervention looks uncertain. While the president embraced “our wonderful new healthcare bill” in an early morning tweet, he also suggested it’s just a starting point “for review and negotiation” — opening the floodgates to alternative ideas and proposals that could take weeks to sort out."
READ MORE related to Health: Jerry Brown wants details about GOP healthcare plan: 'This thing has been done in secret' -- Sacramento Bee's CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO; Obamacare replacement bill appears dead on arrival -- McClatchy DC's ALEX DAUGHERTY/DONOVAN HARRELL; GOP Obamacare replacement plan already in jeopardy -- The Chronicle's CAROLYN LOCHHEAD; California health advocates blast GOP bill as harmful -- AP's JONATHAN J. COOPER; GOP health proposal would upend consumers' cost caluclations in California -- California Healthline's CHAD TERHUNE; Repealing Obamacare: Trump stands behind health plan as critics arise -- AP
WikiLeaks has just released a new trove of documents which detail an extensive cyberintelligence effort concerted by the CIA to access and hijack peripheral devices and use them as rogue surveillance equipment.
LA Times' PARESH DAVE/BRIAN BENNETT: "The government agents charged with uncovering foreign secrets have had their own laid bare."
"Secret Central Intelligence Agency files published Tuesday paint a portrait many would expect of government cyberespionage efforts, yet they threaten to again disrupt the nation’s digital spying programs."
"The nearly 9,000 documents shared online by the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks show the CIA sought to observe targets’ conversations, online browsing and other activities by infiltrating the technology that surrounded them, including Apple and Android smartphones, laptops, TVs and even cars. Operatives worked closely with intelligence agencies at U.S. allies to develop the hacking techniques. And they borrowed ideas from adversaries and the private sector too, refining tools that originated from Russia, criminals and university researchers."
READ MORE related to Beltway: CIA turned phones, TVs into spy devices, hid flaws from companies, WikiLeaks says -- McClatchy DC's TIM JOHNSON; Trump's reference to 'honor killings' criticized as exploiting fear -- The Chronicle's HAMED ALEAZIZ
Sacramento police will all be body camera-equipped by the end of the year.
Sacramento Bee's ANITA CHABRIA/NASHELLY CHAVEZ: "A handful of Sacramento patrol officers will begin wearing body cameras this month and all should have them by September under a plan the City Council passed Tuesday night."
"The Sacramento Police Department will purchase 750 cameras for all patrol staff, as well as 70 cameras for training, 50 shared units for officers with occasional contact with the public and 20 spares under a five-year, $4 million agreement approved by the Council. The city will buy the cameras from Taser International, the company best known for its yellow-tipped electric stun guns."
"All patrol officers are expected to be wearing them by September, according to police spokesman Bryce Heinlein. The city plans to have 28 cameras on officers by the end of March."
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Historic Folsom district is getting a lifeline reinstated as light-rail service is scheduled to resume in the area.
Sacramento Bee's CATHY LOCKE: "A light-rail train pulled into Historic Folsom on Tuesday night for the first time in nearly three months."
"Following the arrival of the test train, Sacramento Regional Transit officials announced that service to central Folsom will resume Wednesday."
"Service to the historic district had been disrupted since Dec. 12, when a semi-truck transporting an oversized load ran into the crossing gate mechanism at the Natoma Street intersection in Folsom."
READ MORE related to Transportation: OP-ED: Don't roll back the vehicle fuel standards -- NYTimes/CA Today's JODY FREEMAN; Trump ready to roll back fuel-economy standards -- AP
"The study looked at the Newport-Inglewood and Rose Canyon systems — previously thought to be separate — and concluded they actually form a continuous fault that runs underwater from San Diego Bay to Seal Beach in Orange County and on land through the Los Angeles basin."
"The fault poses a significant hazard to coastal Southern California and Tijuana, Mexico, according to the study."
READ MORE related to Environment: Governor declares state of emergency for storm-wrenched California -- The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER.
Trump is pushing his DeVos-backed 'school choice' campaign as a civil rights initiative aimed at indigent students.
EdSource's LOUIS FREEDBERG: "Against the backdrop of a series of ongoing controversies and embarrassing missteps concerning civil rights and race, President Donald Trump, backed by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, is framing his push for greater “school choice” as a civil rights initiative, intended to help the nation’s most disadvantaged children."
"In his speech to a joint session of Congress last week, Trump said “education is the civil rights agenda of our time,” reprising the exact words of President Barack Obama in 2011 and President George W. Bush in 2002. He repeated that phrase when he and DeVos visited a private Catholic school in Florida last Friday – the first school he has visited since becoming president. This time he made the connection even more explicit by quoting Martin Luther King, Jr."
"This month, we commemorate the thousands of peaceful activists for justice who joined Martin Luther King on the march from Selma to Montgomery. And that day, Reverend King hoped that inferior education would become, as he said, “a thing of the past.” And we’re going to work very much for the future and what he predicted would be with the future. As I’ve often said in my address to Congress and just about anyplace else I can speak, education is the civil rights issue of our time. And it’s why I’ve asked Congress to support a school-choice bill. And we’ve come a long way. I think we’re ahead of schedule in so many ways when it comes to education."
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A UCLA Anderson Forecast says that the immigration hardline could be devastating to California's tourism economy.
Valley Tribune's KEVIN SMITH: "The Trump administration’s proposed travel restrictions and crackdown on undocumented immigrants could slow the production of food, clothing and homebuilding in California and also cost the state billions in tourism dollars, according to a new report."
"The UCLA Anderson Forecast notes that by some estimates undocumented immigrants account for about half of the state’s agricultural workforce, and that percentage is likely higher for crops that are labor intensive."