26 dead in Texas church shooting, with children among the victims
From the LA Times' MATT PEARCE and JOHN SAVAGE: Worshipers had filed in for their weekly song and prayer service at First Baptist Church Sunday when a man clad in black, wearing a tactical vest and carrying an AR-15-style assault rifle, pulled into the parking lot, got out and opened fire. Soon the man made his way inside, and kept shooting, and shooting, and shooting.
But this was Texas. As the gunman exited the church, a neighbor with a gun opened fire on him, forcing the attacker to drop his weapon and flee in his SUV. The neighbor and another bystander in a truck followed in hot pursuit until the gunman drove off the side of the road, mortally wounded — perhaps by one of the neighbor’s bullets, or perhaps by his own.
It was too late. Back in Sutherland Springs, a rural suburb 35 miles southeast of San Antonio, 26 churchgoers were dead and 20 more were wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in the modern history of Texas.
'The canary in the coal mine for mass shootings': Texas suspect's history fits a pattern.
Sacramento Bee's SCOTT BERSON: "Four days before a black-clad gunman walked into a south Texas church and sprayed the congregation with bullets, killing at least 26 people, late-night host Samantha Bee highlighted the connection between men with a history of domestic violence and the perpetrators of mass shootings."
"The alleged shooter in Sutherland Springs, 26-year-old former Air Force airman Devin Kelley, was court-martialed in 2012 and sentenced to a year in military prison for assaulting his wife and child, an Air Force spokeswoman told The Washington Post. The Post also reported that Kelley faced a misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals in Colorado after being discharged from the military for bad conduct in 2014."
"In her segment, Bee challenges the claim that it’s impossible to predict or prevent mass shootings."
READ MORE related to Gun Violence: Church shooter identified, after 26 people killed in deadliest mass shooting in Texas history -- Sacramento Bee's JIM VERTUNO
If Jerry Brown can't sell California on two Delta tunnels, would just one fly?
Sacramento Bee: "It sounds like a nice, elegant compromise for a California water project swamped in uncertainty: If there isn’t enough money to build two Delta tunnels, why not build just one"
"Drastically downsizing Gov. Jerry Brown’s tunnels wouldn’t merely save money. It would also reduce the project’s footprint and make it more palatable to some of its critics. A coalition of environmental groups has endorsed a lone-tunnel approach."
"Nothing is ever simple in California water, however, and scaling back the $17.1 billion twin tunnels plan is no exception. Reducing the size and scope of California WaterFix, as the project is officially known, would create complications of its own – and might not win over most of the opposition."
Lawmakers can't police themselves: How statehouses are confronting sexual harassment
Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON: "A powerful Missouri lawmaker’s lust for a 19-year-old intern compelled his colleagues to ban romantic relationships between lawmakers and capitol staff."
"In New York, three simultaneous sexual harassment scandals involving different state lawmakers prompted a crackdown in Albany.And in Tennessee, persistent harassment by a state representative led his peers to expel him from the legislature last year."
"And in Tennessee, persistent harassment by a state representative led his peers to expel him from the legislature last year."
California has yet to crack down on anti-vaccination doctors despite rise in medical exemptions
LA Times' SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA: "A year ago, California officials appeared to be coming down hard on doctors and parents who were reluctant to vaccinate children.
The state had just implemented one of the strictest vaccination laws in the nation. The medical board was threatening to pull the license of Dr. Robert Sears, a celebrity in the anti-vaccine community.'
'One vaccine skeptic called the case against Sears “a shot across all the doctors’ bows."
Mueller probe a political time bomb that could detonate in 2018
McClatchy DC's DAVID GOLDSTEIN: "Republicans enter the new election cycle already carrying the weight of Sisyphus: Rarely does the party in power gain seats in midterm congressional elections. But in 2018, they have an additional burden to bear, as Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Donald Trump’s team colluded with Russia drags into the campaign season."
"As the recent indictments and guilty plea of three Trump campaign aides foreshadow, Mueller’s expansive inquiry will put Republicans who have been supportive or at least tolerant of Trump’s behavior on the defensive as they try to win re-election and maintain control of Congress."
"Certainly if we’re in a scenario where it’s totally consuming the news cycle, it will be very hard for Republicans to point to accomplishments,” said Kevin Madden, a Republican communications strategist and top adviser to Mitt Romney, the party’s 2012 presidential nominee. “You could have a very animated opposition that could help Democrats really energize their base to show up on Election Day."
READ MORE related to Beltway: Anthony Weiner set for prison stint -- AP; Trump says US will arm Japan to knock down Korea missiles -- AP's JONATHAN LEMIRE/JILL COLVIN
LA Times' BRIAN BENNETT: "Wrapping up a visit here before flying to South Korea, President Trump called for Japan to buy U.S. anti-missile batteries to counter the growing ballistic missile threat from North Korea, saying buying more U.S. military equipment would create more jobs for Americans and increase security for the Japanese."
"He will shoot them out of the sky when he completes the purchase of a lot of military equipment from the United States," Trump said Monday during a news conference with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe."
"Trump pointedly teased Abe over the trade deficit between the two countries, and seemed to advocate a military buildup as a way to close the gap."
One homeless person a week dies on the streets in Sacramento County, report shows
Sacramento Bee's CYNTHIA HUBERT: "Washington Thrower, 68, died after a car struck him and sped away on a Saturday night on 47th Avenue."
"Shelly Allen, 49, was beaten to death by an acquaintance in Del Paso Heights."
"Eddy Praradov, 30, suffered a fatal drug overdose a week after he vowed to get clean and sober."
LA County leaders fuel new drive reaching out to homeless with severe mental illnesses
Daily News' SUSAN ABRAM: "The homeless man was naked when Santiago Reyes found him lying on a Pasadena street."
"He had fallen off his wheelchair in the rain as Reyes, an outreach worker who knew the man’s mental-health history, called everyone he could for help. 9-1-1. The county. The city. Cop friends."
"The paramedics wouldn’t consider him gravely disabled,” Reyes said, recalling how difficult it was that day to find help, to connect the man to services."
An arrest in Saudi Arabia could be felt as far as Silicon Valley and Wall Street
LA Times' ROGER VINCENT/ALEXANDRA ZAVIS: "Finance, technology, hospitality, entertainment and real estate: Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has invested substantially and with great fanfare in all of them, as befits his status as one of the world’s richest men."
"He is also believed to be under arrest in his native Saudi Arabia, ensnared in an anti-corruption dragnet that also pulled in 10 other Saudi princes, four sitting Cabinet members and “tens” of former Cabinet members."
"The arrests, viewed as the latest move by Saudi Arabia’s young crown prince to cement his hold on power by eliminating potential rivals for the throne, sent shock waves through the kingdom and international business circles, even though such high-profile individuals have been seen for decades as operating above the law."
Blasting California's gas tax while working to cut federal tax breaks? That's called hypocrisy
The Chronicle's GEORGE SKELTON: "California Republicans seem to have conflicting tax philosophies. Or maybe they’re just outright hypocritical."
"They’re trying to gain political mileage by squawking about Sacramento Democrats raising the state gas tax to repair roads."
"But they’re not voicing a peep of protest about Washington Republicans attempting to take away federal tax breaks used by millions of middle-class Californians. President Trump and the GOP are scooping up money to lower taxes for big corporations."
Man suspected of attempting to incite riot at LA anti-Trump protest identified
Daily News' BRENDA GAZZAR: "Los Angeles police released additional details Sunday about two people arrested at an anti-Trump protest and march downtown that began at historic Pershing Square the day before."
"One man, identified as Henry Walters, was booked on suspicion of attempting to incite a riot after he was detained at about 1:20 p.m. Saturday, said Officer Rosario Herrera of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Media Relations Section. Walters was protesting President Donald Trump’s administration with RefuseFascism.org, which had obtained a permit, she said."
"His age and city of residence were not available Sunday, Herrera added."