As the North Bay fires burn on, ash and agony are left in their wake.
The Chronicle's JENNA LYONS/STEVE RUBENSTEIN/HAMED ALEAZIZ/ANNIE MA/JILL TUCKER: "Latest developments in the North Bay fires:"
"2:26 a.m. Virgin Sport cancels planned half marathon: Virgin Sport, which had organized a half marathon to take place in San Francisco this weekend, has canceled the event. Concerns cited include poor air quality due to the fires."
"2:20 a.m. Hospital lines established: Sutter and Kaiser have established phone numbers for the public to find patients who have been evacuated to other facilities. For Sutter, that number is (797) 543-4511. For Kaiser, that number is (855) 599-0033."
READ MORE related to The West is Burning: Evacuations widened as Northern California wildfires spread to 170,000 acres with at least 23 dead -- LA Times' LOUIS SAHAGUN/PAIGE ST. JOHN/JAVIER PANZAR/JOEL RUBIN; California removes artifacts from historic Spanish Nussuib as fire nears -- The Chronicle's MARISSA LANG; 6 things fire disaster victims should do now -- The Chronicle's KATHLEEN PENDER
Community health centers battle for funding
Capitol Weekly's ALEX MATTHEWS: "It’s been nearly two weeks since a crucial deadline passed to continue funding for community health centers, the nonprofit facilities that deliver care to the poor and uninsured in California and across the country.
"Now, Congress is still squabbling over the details, advocates are still scrambling to get the funding renewed and the centers are starting to plan for the bottom line."
"In California, the cut is estimated to reach more than $300 million, affecting nearly 300,000 patients, according to a report by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC)."
Here's how the looming DACA deadline changes the game for California's vulnerable Republicans
LA Times'CHRISTINE MAI-DUC: "For years, Orange County Republicans such as Reps. Ed Royce and Mimi Walters have drawn from a familiar GOP playbook on immigration."
"Walters campaigned saying that people who enter the U.S. illegally “should not be rewarded,” and she has voted at least three times against protections for immigrants who were children when they were brought here illegally. Royce once decried the Dream Act, which would have given those young people a path to citizenship, as “amnesty” and said illegal immigrants would take the spots of American university students."
"But when President Trump announced last month that he would end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, Royce sympathized with “children who have only known America as their home,” and Walters said it would be “unjust to punish them.” Both called on Congress to find a permanent solution for DACA recipients, though neither have signed on to one."
The Chronicle's CAROLYN SAID: "Robot cars with no steering wheels, brake pedals or accelerator pedals — and no drivers — could be legal in California by June under updated regulations proposed by the state Department of Motor Vehicles on Wednesday."
"However, makers of the autonomous cars must certify their safety to federal regulators under standards that are still evolving, so actual deployment is likely to take longer."
"We are excited to take the next step in furthering the development of this potentially life-saving technology in California,” said Brian Kelly, state transportation secretary, in a statement."
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "Despite objections from privacy advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a Bay Area business executive who was convicted of fraud for getting onetime co-workers to download confidential information from the company computer that he then used to start his own firm."
"A federal jury convicted David Nosal, former regional manager of Korn/Ferry International in Redwood City, a prominent executive search firm, in 2013 of six felony charges, including computer fraud, theft of trade secrets and conspiracy."
"He was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $60,000."
LA TImes' MARK Z. BARABAK: "There are many paths to the presidency, most of them a standard climb from one elected office to the next."
"A whole passel of lawmakers have cycled their way through a governorship or the U.S. Senate en route to the White House. Others arrived with less buttoned-down backgrounds. There have been war heroes, a former haberdasher, a onetime movie actor."
"And then, of course, there is the current occupant whose resume — real estate developer, beauty pageant promoter, conspiracy monger, reality TV celebrity — comprises a category all its own."
READ MORE related to Local: Who runs Alameda, city manager .... or the fire union? -- East Bay Times' DANIEL BORENSTEIN
In Las Vegas, the casino is always watching -- and yet it missed Stephen Padlock
LA Times' MATT PEARCE/JAWEED KALEEM/MELISSA ETAHD/RICHARD WINTON: "The casino hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, with all their glitzy delights, aren’t just palaces of distraction. They’re miniature surveillance states."
"A typical facility might be armed with thousands of cameras, which watch gamblers as they enter, while they play and when they leave. The footage is stored as potential evidence and monitored by internal security forces who are prepared to dispatch a response within moments in case of problems."
"“In Vegas, everybody’s gotta watch everybody else,” Robert De Niro said in the 1995 drama “Casino.” Dealers watch the players, pit bosses watch the people watching the dealers, and the “eye in the sky” — the camera — watches over all."
With shock and anger, Hollywood responds to the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal
LA Times' TARA PANIOGUE: "Within a week, Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein’s empire has seemingly crumbled to the ground. Fanned by damning investigations by the New York Times and the New Yorker, allegations that the producer and former Weinstein Co. executive has sexually harassed and assaulted multiple women for decades have piled up. It didn’t take long for several celebrities to weigh in on Weinstein’s downfall. Here’s a sampling of some of the responses, which The Times will update as they come in."
READ MORE related to Weinstein Sex Scandal: From fledgling actresses to Hollywood royalty, here's a full list of Harvey Weinstein's accusers and their allegations -- LA Times' NARDINE SAAD; LAPD responds to family disturbance call involving Harvey Weinstein -- LA Times' RICHARD WITON
Special education in 'deep trouble' and still needs reform, says California ed board president
EdSource's LOUIS FREEDBERG/THERESA HARRINGTON: "Special education in California is in “deep trouble,” exacerbated by outmoded concepts and an extreme shortage of fully-prepared teachers, according to Michael Kirst, president of the California State Board of Education."
"Kirst said that the state’s special education system – which serves students with physical, cognitive and learning disabilities – is based on an antiquated model and that it needs “another look."
"Someone needs to sit up and say, ‘We need to update it,'” he said."