Camp Fire 95 percent contained, 84 dead
Sacramento Bee's DALE KASLER: "The death toll from the Camp Fire reached 84, officials said Thursday evening. The fire is 95 percent contained with 153,336 acres burned, according to Cal Fire."
"On Wednesday, emergency agencies kept a close eye on the rains and the possibility of debris flows in the burn zone."
"Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea, in a Wednesday briefing at the Cal Fire command post in Chico, said two more people were found Wednesday — one each in Paradise and Magalia. He said 563 people remain unaccounted for, a drop of 307 in just a day’s time. “I’m encouraged by the fact that we’re continuing to account for and locate people,” the sheriff said."
READ MORE related to Camp Fire Calamity: The Camp Fire took their house, but it didn't ruin the deviled eggs -- Sacramento Bee's ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS; Butte County fire survivors share strange, sad Thanksgiving -- The Chronicle's LIZZIE JOHNSON; PG&E is sued over dad's death in Camp Fire -- The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN
Jerrry Brown pardons ex-CA lawmaker Roderick Wright for perjury, voter fraud
The Chronicle's TRAPPER BYRNE/MELODY GUTTIEREZ: "Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday pardoned a Democratic former legislator who was found guilty four years ago of perjury and voter fraud for lying about living in his district."
"Roderick Wright was convicted in 2014 after prosecutors said he lied about residing in the state Senate district in Los Angeles County that elected him in 2008. He served an hour in jail and 2½ years of probation. In addition, he was barred from running for office because of the felony convictions."
"Wright “has shown that since his release from custody he has lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character, and conducted himself as a law-abiding citizen,” Brown wrote in his pardon message."
Awkward moments between Newsom and Trump
The Chronicle's MATIER & ROSS: "Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom was clearly uncomfortable during President Trump’s visit to see the fire devastation in Paradise and Southern California — and with good reason."
"Trump had earlier branded Newsom “a clown” at one of his midterm rallies, and the two have sparred in the press over immigration, climate change and other issues."
"But aside from the ongoing national political show between Trump and the deep-blue Newsom, there are some behind-the-scenes personal issues at play as well."
In the Trump era, a lighter shade of Latino can make life easier
LA Times's BRITTNY MEJIA: "Over her 42 years, Lisette Flores’ brown skin has at times struck at a rich vein of insecurity."
"In the more mundane moments, she’s been quizzed about her background, whether she’s Mexican or Native American. In college, the young woman taking her ID photo offered to lighten the shade in the background to make her look less dark."
"In Mexico, a bouncer at a nightclub looked down at her and asked if the others in her group looked like her — far from the blond, light-skinned women often featured in the country’s popular telenovelas."
Tony Thurmond names second in command at California DOE
EdSource's JOHN FENSTERWALD: "Tony Thurmond has named a veteran California education administrator as his chief deputy superintendent in his first act as state superintendent-elect of public instruction."
"In January, Lupita Cortez Alcalá, 45, will return to the California Department of Education, where she was an administrator for a dozen years, including deputy superintendent of instruction and learning support. For the past three years, she has served as executive director of the California Student Aid Commission, which provides $2 billion in Cal Grants and other forms of state college aid to 400,000 students. The commission is in the middle of a major effort to reorganize and streamline operations, which Alcalá has led."
"Like many of the students whom the commission helps, Alcalá and her siblings were English learners and the first in their family to attend college in the U.S. She moved from Mexico to the San Diego area when she was 3 and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC San Diego as well as a master’s degree in planning administration and social policy from the Harvard University School of Education."
Race isn't over after Run to Feed the Hungry draws a smaller crowd
Sacramento Bee's THERESA CLIFT: "More than 27,000 people were greeted with sunny skies and smoke-free air Thursday as they jogged through the streets of East Sacramento for the 25th annual Run to Feed the Hungry."
The popular event drew about 2,400 fewer runners than last year, though, likely due to the 10 days of smoke that descended on the region from the massive Camp Fire in Butte County, said Blake Young, president and CEO of Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services."
"Young expects the food bank to receive about $100,000 to $120,000 less in revenue from the event than last year."
'El Chapo' trial is treated as a nuclear and conventional terrorism target
LA Times's SONJA SHARP: "At the downtown Brooklyn federal courthouse where Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is on trial, New York Police Department snipers roam the rooftops and K-9 units prowl the halls."
"The Brooklyn Bridge closes whenever the defendant is transported to court from Manhattan, and even attorneys must take off their shoes at the new TSA-style checkpoint outside the courtroom."
"With such a conspicuous show of force, it’s easy to overlook the two or three servicemen at a small fold-out table near the X-ray machine in the lobby, quietly scanning the Eastern District of New York courthouse grounds for explosives, biological weapons and dirty bombs."
Oldest US military survivor of Pearl Harbor dies at age 106
AP's JOHN ROGERS/JULIE WATSON: "Ray Chavez, the oldest U.S. military survivor of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor that plunged the United States into World War II, died Wednesday. He was 106."
"Chavez, who had been battling pneumonia, died in his sleep in the San Diego suburb of Poway, his daughter, Kathleen Chavez, told The Associated Press."
"As recently as last May he had traveled to Washington, D.C., where he was honored on Memorial Day by President Donald Trump. The White House Tweeted a statement Wednesday saying it was saddened to hear of his passing."
Olivia Hooker, one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, dies at 103
LA Times's DENEEN L BROWN: "Olivia Hooker called it “the catastrophe,” the notorious 48 hours of fire and death that leveled “Black Wall Street” in Tulsa, Okla. She was 6 at the time of the Tulsa rampage, which erupted on May 31, 1921, when a white lynch mob descended on the courthouse where a black teenager was being held."
"A group of black war veterans tried to protect the teen, and in the ensuing violence, as many as 300 black people died; thousands more saw their homes and livelihoods destroyed by torch. Some people were burned alive, and 40 square blocks of business and residential property — valued then at more than $1 million — were destroyed."
"Hooker was among the first black women to serve in the Coast Guard and retired as an associate professor of psychology at Fordham University in New York. But at the time of her death on Wednesday at 103, she had also become one of the last known survivors of the Tulsa race massacre and an enduring witness to what is often regarded as the deadliest episode of racial violence in American history — and one that was long an afterthought in history texts, if mentioned at all."