From the LATimes' PHIL WILLON: "Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox often cites his role in the financial turnaround of a Chicago potato-chip company as evidence of the sharp business mind he’d use to run California."
:But there is another aspect of his relationship with the family that owned the snack company, Jays Foods, that has gotten less attention. Founder Leonard Japp Sr. and members of his family sued Cox 20 years ago alleging financial misconduct, a case that led to Cox paying a $1.7-million settlement in 1999, according to court documents obtained by the The Times. Cox denied any wrongdoing."
"The plaintiffs claimed that Cox “engaged in self-dealing; charged excessive and unnecessary fees; misappropriated partnership funds; and violated the partnership agreements and Illinois law” related to their investments in a string of Midwest apartment buildings and condominiums, according to the suit filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County."
California Net Neutrality bill effortlessly passes Asembly
The Chronicle's MELODY GUTIERREZ: "A closely watched bill to create net neutrality protections in California passed the state Assembly on Thursday, thus keeping alive efforts to restore internet protections."
"SB822 by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, has faced fierce opposition from the telecommunications industry and was nearly abandoned after an Assembly committee gutted it in June. After that committee’s chairman, Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, faced severe backlash, he reached a deal with Wiener to restore the bill."
"On Thursday, Santiago presented the bill to the Assembly, where he championed it as key to a free and open internet."
The Carr Fire is now fully ccontained.
Sacramento Bee's ADESUWA AGBONILE: "The Carr Fire, the massive blaze that destroyed more than 1,000 homes in and around Redding and was blamed for the death of eight people, has been fully contained, Cal Fire officials announced Thursday night."
"The fire, which has burned for 38 days and chewed through 229,651 acres, is the sixth most destructive wildfire in state history. It destroyed 1,604 structures and damaged 279 others."
"State fire officials said that the Carr Fire is surrounded. However, firefighters will continue to patrol the area for several days and crews are still working on repairing broken fences and other damage caused by firefighters."
Here's how the DMV cut wait times in NorCal by 50 minutes in the past month
Sacramento Bee's ADESUWA AGBONILE: "On Thursday afternoon at the main Sacramento DMV office, the mood was relatively calm. People sat in small blue chairs, watching the screens, waiting for their numbers to be called."
"A woman who went only by her first name, Byrd, fed milk to a tiny, 11-day-old Chihuahua curled in the palm of her hand. She said she had been waiting for thirty minutes — she knew because her dog had to be fed in half-hour intervals, and she had fed it just before starting in the queue."
"It was a scene indicative of a larger trend: In the past month, average DMV wait times throughout Northern California have dropped by 50 minutes. In the Sacramento office on Broadway, it was reduced by 65 minutes, making the new average wait time 85 minutes."
California high court allows DNA databases to keep samples from non-felons
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "California voters reduced large numbers of drug and theft crimes from felonies to misdemeanors in 2014, lowering their sentences and ending, for future defendants, a requirement to provide DNA samples for state and national crime databases. But the state Supreme Court says DNA already in the databases will stay there."
"Although the ballot measure, Proposition 47, was intended to reduce punishment for past as well as future cases — allowing convicted drug users and thieves to have their crimes reclassified as misdemeanors and, if still imprisoned, reduce their sentences — it was not drafted to remove genetic samples from the collection that police use to identify criminal suspects, the court said in a unanimous ruling Thursday."
"“Because requiring the submission of a (DNA) sample is not punishment … it follows that retention of a sample is not punishment either,” Justice Carol Corriga said in a pair of cases involving youths from Contra Costa County. She said removing their DNA from the database would not advance Prop. 47’s goals of reducing the prison population and refocusing police and prosecutors on more serious crimes."
LA Times's TONY BARBOZA: "Officials have long known that children across a swath of southeast Los Angeles County are exposed to brain-damaging lead from two distinct sources: pollution from a now-shuttered battery recycling plant and lead paint in the walls of their homes."
"The state has begun cleaning soil contamination from yards near the Exide Technologies plant in California’s biggest-ever lead cleanup. But bureaucratic mistakes and a lack of cooperation between state and local agencies have blocked efforts to fix lead house paint, state records reviewed by The Times and interviews show."
OP-ED: Leadership must act now on climate change
CRAIG CORNELIUS/GEORGE HERSHMAN in Capitol Weekly: "As firefighters from across the West come together to battle wildfires, and legislators meet for their last week of this year’s legislative session, our state’s leadership has before them a real opportunity to take decisive action to help mitigate the climate trends that are weighing on our state today."
"Through measures that they can pass and sign this week, the Legislature and governor should assure the long-term health of our state’s utilities as agents for action on climate. They should further direct the utilities to accelerate the procurement and construction of more renewable energy in the state."
1 injured, 4 detained in gun-related incident that locks down SF schools
The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI/MICHAEL CABANATUAN/STEVE RUBENSTEIN: "Four Balboa High School students were taken into custody Thursday after a firearm discharged on campus, sending the San Francisco school into lockdown and hundreds of frightened students diving under their desks, police said."
"Officers provided few details about the incident, which began shortly after 11 a.m. Students said they heard announcements about an “armed man” on the school intercom, followed by the lockdown order."
"Several nearby schools — Leadership High School, Denman Middle School and San Miguel Early Education School — were also placed on lockdown as a precaution."
California Legislature sends bill to reduce dolphin, whale deaths to governor
The Chronicle's TARA DUGGAN: "Fishing gear that is responsible for the unintentional deaths of dozens of marine mammals every year will be phased out under a new bill passed by the state Legislature Thursday."
"Called drift gillnets, the often mile-long nets used to catch swordfish also traps and kills many other species, including dolphins, seals and the occasional endangered sperm whale and leatherback sea turtle."
"“Anything that comes in its way, it’s going to (catch) in its net,” said Paul Shively, project director of Pacific Ocean conservation at Pew Charitable Trusts, which has been working to ban the nets for five years. “It’s not only inhumane, it’s just not a good way to manage our U.S. resources.”"
Bars in seven California cities move closer to a 4am last call
Sacramento Bee's TARYN LUNA: "Your ability to bar hop until 4 a.m. hinges on Gov. Jerry Brown."
"The California Legislature on Thursday sent Brown a bill to allow bars in seven California citiecs, including Sacramento, offer a later last call."
"It is a really overdue bill,” said Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat who introduced Senate Bill 905. “California right now has a one-size fits all approach to last call where every bar and night club and restaurant in the state has to stop serving at 2 a.m., whether you’re in downtown LA or in rural area. It makes sense to give our local communities some flexibility."
'Stop eating In-N-Out like yesterday.' California Democrats call for boycott
Sacramento Bee's ANGELA HART: "California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman is calling for a boycott of In-N-Out Burger after the Irvine-based fast-food chain this week donated $25,000 to help Republicans this November."
"Et tu In-N-Out? Tens of thousands of dollars donated to the California Republican Party,” Bauman wrote on Twitter. “It’s time to #BoycottInNOut — let Trump and his cronies support these creeps…perhaps animal style!"
"The burger chain started in Southern California decades ago by a Christian family, whose granddaughter Lynsi Snyder still owns the company. It proudly displays its religious views — there’s a Bible verse on some packaging — and has in recent years contributed to Republicans and pro-business causes."
The Chronicle's ERIN STONE: "After a Caltrain passenger accused a conductor of guiding her to an employee car while she was heavily intoxicated and sexually assaulting her, San Mateo County prosecutors rejected the case, saying video footage of the woman that night did not provide evidence she was too impaired to consent."
"She appeared, they concluded, too steady on her feet."
"But the surveillance videos — obtained from Caltrain through a public records request — offer little insight into the woman’s condition. The footage shows Odalys Vallejo, 22, for a matter of seconds as she runs across the San Francisco station and walks along a platform before boarding a southbound train."
BART ends emergency police patrols it started after wave of violent attacks
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "
BART has ended emergency police patrols that it began after the fatal stabbing of a young woman on a train platform in Oakland, and switched to a leaner staffing plan that it can keep long-term.""At the same time, the agency is struggling to fill vacancies in its force, amid a string of headline-grabbing crimes and a steady increase in complaints about transients and drug use.
The transit agency has long made do with a thin law enforcement staff. But in August it stretched that police force as far as it could go, requiring all cops, dispatchers, non-sworn community service officers and other staff to work 10 hour shifts, six days a week. The change came as BART officials reeled from the slaying of 18-year-old Nia Wilson, who was stabbed from behind at MacArthur Station."
With McCain gone, could women replace the lion of the Senate?
AP's LISA MASCARO: "John McCain is being remembered as a last lion of the Senate, with few others matching his stature. But the next generation of mavericks might come from the ranks of Senate women."
"Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Dianne Feinstein of California and Patty Murray of Washington are all positioned to have enormous influence."
"Republicans and Democrats, they show flashes of the independence that defined McC ain's career, particularly his role as a legislative check on the executive branch, including President Donald Trump's White House.