Seventeen dead in California mudslides, more than a dozen missing
AP's MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/AMANDA LEE MYERS: "Anxious family members awaited word on loved ones Wednesday as rescue crews searched grimy debris and ruins for more than a dozen people missing after mudslides in Southern California destroyed an estimated 100 houses, swept cars to the beach and left at least 17 victims dead."
"It's just waiting and not knowing, and the more I haven't heard from them — we have to find them," said Kelly Weimer, whose elderly parents' home was wrecked by the torrent of mud, trees and boulders that flowed down a fire-scarred mountain and slammed into the coastal town of Montecito in Santa Barbara County early Tuesday."
"The drenching storm that triggered the disaster gave way to sunny skies, as hundreds of searchers carefully combed a messy landscape strewn with hazards."
READ MORE related to Environment: Decision to spare Florida from offshore drilling could help California -- The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO; Many still trapped as death toll rises in Montecito mudslides -- LA Times' BRITTNY MEJIA/MELISSA ETEHAD/JAMES QUEALLY; Restaurants in Montecio, Summerland ordered closed over water safety concerns -- LA Times' ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN; From Oprah to the insurance man, Montecito residents reel from devestation -- LA Times' BRITTNY MEJIA/ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN
LA Times' JOHN MYERS: "Insisting that California lawmakers continue to restrain government spending growth in preparation for a recession he believes is just around the corner, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday unveiled a state budget for 2018 that proposes banking most of a $6.1-billion tax revenue windfall expected to show up in the fiscal year beginning July 1."
"Most of the money would be placed into the state’s primary reserve fund, a savings account that would grow to $13.5 billion — the largest such crisis contingency fund in California history."
"Here are some of the key parts of the budget the Legislature will now consider. A final agreement is due on Brown’s desk by June 15."
Proposal for $9 tolls on Bay Bridge, $8 on other bridges gets big boost
The Chronicle's LIZZIE JOHNSON: "A measure to raise Bay Area bridge tolls to $9 on the Bay Bridge and $8 on others over several years took a major step forward Wednesday when a key transportation committee unanimously recommended putting it before voters in June."
"The Bay Area Toll Authority Oversight Committee unanimously voted in favor of the regional measure, which would increase tolls over six years, with $1 hikes in 2019, 2022 and 2025, if voters in the nine Bay Area counties approve it. The money would go toward three-dozen much-needed regional public transportation and roadway improvements."
"But to get before voters, the recommendation will need approval from the full Bay Area Toll Authority, which usually follows the committee’s lead. A vote is expect Jan. 24."
California's effort to dodge President Trump's tax plan faces political and practical challenges
LA Times' LIAM DILLON: "A complex proposal to help Californians evade a provision in
"The state legislation would create a state-run nonprofit, the California Excellence Fund, to accept donations to fund schools, road repairs and everything else in the state budget. The donations would allow residents to reduce their state income tax payments and also receive a federal charitable tax deduction."
From the Bee's ADAM ASHTON and ANGELA HART: "Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday said California plans to ask for an exemption from the Trump administration’s proposed expansion of off-shore oil-drilling, seeking the same exception that the White House gave to Florida from a controversial plan that upset residents of coastal states."
"Trump’s Interior Department last week released a plan to open more shorelines to oil and gas drilling, including proposing six new leases for drilling platforms off the California coast. The Trump administration cast the proposal as an effort to boost energy security."
"Coastal governors, however, condemned the plan. The West Coast’s three governors, for instance, released a joint statement saying the drilling plan would expose their shorelines to oil spills and exacerbate global warming."
Trump's tweet the stuff of re-election dreams for Calif. Sen. Feinstein
The Chronicle's JOHN WILDERMUTH: "Sen. Dianne Feinstein, facing a re-election challenge from a fellow Democrat, has received some unexpected — and unintended — help from President Trump."
"In an angry tweet, Trump attacked her as “Sneaky Dianne” for releasing a transcript from the Senate Judiciary Committee probe into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russian intelligence sources."
“The fact that Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, who has on numerous occasions stated that collusion between Trump/Russia has not been found, would release testimony in such an underhanded and possibly illegal way, totally without authorization, is a disgrace,” the president tweeted Wednesday morning. “Must have tough Primary!”
New state water director appointed
Capitol Weekly's JOHN HOWARD: "Karla Nemeth, a veteran water official and a ranking member of the Brown administration, was named the new director of the state Department of Water Resources, part of a major shakeup at the agency, officials said Tuesday."
"The change follows a turbulent period at the Water Resources Department, which included the dramatic failure last year of the emergency spillway at the department’s Oroville Dam — an event that an independent report said was due in part to human error. That failure, in turn, followed years of severe drought in California."
"Nemeth replaces Grant Davis, who is returning to the Sonoma County Water Agency as general manager."
GOP Rep. Darrell Issa won't seek re-election, giving Democrats an opening
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "Democrats hoping to recapture the House by flipping 24 GOP-held seats caught their second huge break in California this week when Republican Rep. Darrell Issa unexpectedly announced Wednesday that he would not seek re-election."
"“Two decades ago, when I stepped away from the business I’d built to enter public service, I never could have imagined that a long-shot bid for U.S. Senate would lead to 18 years in the House of Representatives and endless opportunities to make a meaningful impact,” Issa, R-Vista (San Diego County), said in a statement."
“While my service to California’s 49th District will be coming to an end, I will continue advocating on behalf of the causes that are most important to me, advancing public policy where I believe I can make a true and lasting difference, and continuing the fight to make our incredible nation an even better place to call home,” Issa said."
SF cop who hunted Zodiac killer dies. Dave Toschi was 86
The Chronicle's KEVIN FAGAN: "Dave Toschi, a dapper cop who became the lead San Francisco police investigator for the Zodiac serial-killer case in the late 1960s and ’70s, has died at the age of 86."
"Toschi died at his home in San Francisco on Saturday after a lengthy illness, relatives said."
"The Zodiac terrorized the Bay Area in 1968 and 1969 when he stabbed or shot at least five people to death, writing taunting notes and cryptograms to police and newspapers including The Chronicle after his kills. Toschi was drawn into the case when he was assigned to investigate the killing of the Zodiac’s only San Francisco victim — Paul Stine, a cabbie shot to death in his taxi on Oct. 11, 1969."
READ MORE related to Public Safety: Drug charge dropped in hit-and-run case scrutinized after LAPD body cam footage became public -- LA Times' KATE MATHER
California regulators to decide fate of state's last nuclear plant Thursday
The Chronicle's DAVID R. BAKER: "A plan to close California’s last atomic power plant, Diablo Canyon, in seven years could win the approval of state regulators Thursday, despite the efforts of pro-nuclear activists to save it."
"The California Public Utilities Commission is expected to decide Thursday whether to shut down the plant when its two federal operating licenses expire in 2024 and 2025."
"Perched on a seaside bluff near San Luis Obispo, Diablo Canyon has been a source of controversy since long before it opened in 1985. It has also been the state’s single largest power plant, generating 9 percent of the state’s electricity without producing greenhouse gases."
Breed, Leno, Kim and Alioto trounced in SF poll by 'Undecided'
The Chronicle's MATIER & ROSS: "San Francisco’s mayoral race is wide open, with acting Mayor London Breed, former state Sen. Mark Leno and Supervisor Jane Kim running neck and neck, a new poll shows."
"None of the three candidates, however, is setting the electoral world on fire. Leno and Breed were the top pick of only 15 percent of the voters surveyed, and Kim came in with 12 percent."
Russian tycoon sues former Trump campaign manager Manafort
WaPo's STEVEN MUFSON: "The billionaire Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska filed suit in New York State Court Wednesday against President Trump’s former campaign manager Paul J. Manafort and his partner Rick Gates, claiming the two had defrauded him of $18.9 million."
"The case was filed by Surf Horizon, a firm controlled by Deripaska. It alleged that Manafort and Gates had used as “their personal piggy banks” a web of partnerships financed with funds invested by Deripaska in 2007 and 2008."
"The lawsuit refers often to the indictment brought against Manafort and Gates by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. The lawsuit said that “the dealings of Manafort and Gates with Surf mirror the pattern of corporate dealings alleged in the Indictment” and that the special counsel’s case “provided further support” for the allegations."
READ MORE related to KremlinGate: Mueller adds veteran cyber prosecutor to special-counsel team -- WaPo's MATT ZAPOTOSKY
Teacher questions pay raise for superintendent and gets arrested. Then the protests begin
LA Times' JENNY JARVIE: "Deyshia Hargrave had a question for the Vermilion Parish School Board: Why was the superintendent getting a pay raise when teachers like her and other school employees hadn't had one in years?"
"I feel like it is a slap in the face of all the teachers, cafeteria workers and any other support staff we have," she told the board in a public meeting Monday. "We work very hard with very little."
"What happened next might have stayed in the tiny Louisiana town of Abbeville, about 150 miles west of New Orleans. But captured on videotape and viewed nearly 2 million times on YouTube, it became an international incident. The school board reportedly received death threats from around the world, as local parents and teachers planned their own protests."
The rise of XXXTentacion underscores rap's fraught battle with the law
LA Times' GERRICK D. KENNEDY: "As Jahseh Onfroy turned 19 early last year, his rap career hit a new peak."
"The Florida native’s homespun brand of hip-hop had already attracted a fierce cult following and the attention of major labels as his single “Look at Me” blew up. The lo-fi track with blistering (and unprintable) lyrics had clocked Soundcloud and Spotify plays by the millions, sending it up the Top 40 based almost entirely on its number of streams."
"When a spat with superstar Drake, who was accused of co-opting the rhythm of “Look at Me,” put the single on mainstream radars, Onfroy — who performs as XXXTentacion (that’s “X -X -X -Ten -Tah -See -Ohn ”) — found himself the face of a movement of Soundcloud rappers disrupting hip-hop."
UK rejects request for diplomatic immunity for Assange
AP: "Britain's Foreign Office says it has rejected Ecuador's request to grant diplomatic status to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living in the nation's embassy in London since 2012 to avoid arrest by U.K. authorities."
"In a statement Thursday, the Foreign Office says "Ecuador knows that the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice."
"Ecuador gave Assange, 46, political asylum after he sought refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden for investigation of sex-related claims."