Brown sues to save California sentencing laws
AP's DON THOMPSON: "Outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown sued Thursday to protect one of his signature actions in office, a voter-approved measure that allows most prison inmates to seek earlier release and participate in rehabilitation programs."
"His administration filed a lawsuit challenging a pending 2020 initiative that seeks to toughen criminal penalties as part of an effort to roll back reforms adopted by voters within the past decade."
"Brown's lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court contends the measure lacked enough valid signatures to overturn a previously approved constitutional amendment."
READ MORE related to Gubernatorial: Jerry Brown predicts 'fiscacl oblivion' if pensions are off limits for government employers -- Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON/AMY CHANCE
Key lawmaker calls for 'systematic change' in PG&E managedment, board
The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS: "A state lawmaker who helped Pacific Gas and Electric Co. secure key legislative aid this year has called for a management shakeup in light of state regulators’ claims that the utility falsified gas pipeline safety records.""State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, said Thursday that the recent findings of the California Public Utilities Commission showed that the utility and its parent company, PG&E Corp., need “systematic change,” including on its board of directors “and in the executive suite."
"In an interview, Dodd declined to say whether he is calling for the departure of CEO Geisha Williams, who joined the company in 2007 and was promoted to her current role last year.."
READ MORE related to California Burnin': Inundated with Camp fire survivors, Chico is a 'city within a city' -- LA Times's NICOLE SANTA CRUZ
Newsom will put his wineries, hotels into a blind trust
Sacramento Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Incoming California Gov. Gavin Newsom will put his businesses in a blind trust and will release his tax returns every year, he announced Thursday."
"Newsom, who takes office Jan. 7, has made millions of dollars from his wineries, restaurants and hotels. He’s promising to disclose his personal and business holdings every year in addition to his tax returns. He says he’ll be the first governor to release his tax returns annually."
"It’s a big deal,” said Jessica Levinson, a government ethics expert and professor at Loyola Law School. “This is much more than a symbolic gesture.”
Spending SF's $181M windfall: Breed breaks down how she'd do it
The Chronicle's TRISHA THADANI: "San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced a detailed spending plan for the city’s $181 million windfall Thursday that would steer all the money toward homelessness and housing initiatives."
"It’s the most specific proposal to emerge yet for spending the unexpected influx of cash left from a state program that allocates local property taxes for public schools."
"Some San Francisco officials have called for spreading the money around to a variety of programs, including raising teacher salaries. Breed, however, has been adamant that all the money should be directed at programs aimed at reducing homelessness and creating more low-cost housing."
California justices order public release of clemency record
AP: "The California Supreme Court ordered the public release of court records related to Gov. Jerry Brown's consideration of a pardon for a former state lawmaker."
"The justices on Wednesday granted a motion by the First Amendment Coalition to unseal the records related to former state Sen. Roderick Wright. They rejected, however, a request to also release records from other clemency cases that are before the court."
"A Los Angeles County jury in 2014 determined Wright lived outside the district he represented and convicted him of voter fraud and perjury. Some lawmakers at the time defended Wright, saying state law was ambiguous about the issue."
Trump administration lawyers rush cases to the Supreme Court, and blame blue-state federal judges
LA Times's DAVID G SAVAGE: "It’s the latest sign of how political polarization is changing the rules in Washington, even for the judiciary."
"In a wide array of politically charged disputes, the Trump administration’s top courtroom lawyer, Solicitor Gen. Noel Francisco, has repeatedly gone directly to the Supreme Court, short-circuiting federal appeals courts to seek quick relief when district judges block the president’s policies."
Mexico appears willing but unready to hold US refugees
AP's MARKO ALVAREZ/MARK STEVENSON: "Mexico's willingness to accept U.S. asylum seekers while their applications are processed appears to be yet another sign of the blooming honeymoon between leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and President Donald Trump, though it is also causing concern among officials in Mexican border cities already struggling to deal with thousands of Central American migrants."
"Mexico could have simply refused, as it historically has, to accept the return of non-Mexicans. But this week's announcement of $10.6 billion in U.S. development aid and the personal relationship between the two presidents appeared to smooth the path. It is the same relationship that helped resolve stalled negotiations on Mexico's free trade agreement with the United States and Canada."
"Right now it's a honeymoon, in part because even though one is on the left and the other is more to the right, they have things in common — protectionism, the anti-establishment thing, each one's nationalism," said Jose Antonio Crespo, a political analyst at Mexico's Center for Economic Research and Training."
Oral History Project: Clay Jackson
Capitol Weekly STAFF: "Clay Jackson was once the most powerful lobbyist in Sacramento, representing the insurance industry and overseeing hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to politicians. His firm billed $2 million annually."
"But Jackson, along with 11 others, was caught in the FBI’s undercover corruption investigation of the state Capitol and wound up going to federal prison. The probe came to light in August 1988 following the FBI’s nighttime raid on the Capitol. The fallout of that investigation, one of the darkest episodes in the Capitol’s history, continued for years."
"The imposing Jackson — at the time, he weighed 300 pounds and stood 6-foot-6 — dominated any meeting he attended. “When Clay walked into a room, his awesome size and presence literally blocked out the light,” then-Assembly Speaker Willie Brown once told a reporter."
SF officials want health officer's role in shipyard home sales investigated
The Chronicle's JASON FAGONE/CYNTHIA DIZIKES: "San Francisco officials have called for investigations of a city health department employee who helped a powerful developer sell homes on land reclaimed from a toxic Superfund site."
"Four current or incoming members of the Board of Supervisors said this week they want to know if Amy Brownell, an environmental engineer, should have been directly involved in individual home sales at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard — the city’s biggest redevelopment project in a century."
"The officials said they plan to investigate and possibly hold a hearing."
READ MORE related to Housing & Homelessness: OP-ED: On housing, it's YIMBY, not NIMBY -- Capitol Weekly's ANTHONY GILBERT
Big recall ordered of pot products after lab is caught faking tests
The Chronicle's PETER FIMRITE: "State regulators ordered the recall of marijuana products from 29 cannabis companies after a Sacramento laboratory was caught falsifying test results for pesticides, a scandal that could have serious financial consequences for already struggling retail outlets."
"The California Bureau of Cannabis Control sent out recall notices this week to all businesses that had contracts starting in July with Sacramento-based Sequoia Analytical Lab to test their products."
"The laboratory closed down and surrendered its business license after state inspectors discovered on Nov. 27 that the director, identified as Marc Foster, had for four months been faking test results for 22 of the 66 pesticides he was required under California law to analyze." \
Crime once plagued San Joaquin County, but now its jail has empty beds. Here's what it did right
LA Times's ABBIE VANSICKLE/MANUEL VILLA: "When California lawmakers unveiled a plan in 2011 to reduce the number of inmates in state prison, officials in San Joaquin County thought the timing couldn’t have been worse."
"There were already signs that a recent dip in crime might be coming to an end in this Central Valley county east of San Francisco. Homicides were up by nearly 40% from the previous year. And in the midst of a financial crisis, the county and local cities were laying off police officers and prosecutors."
"Now the county would have to quickly absorb an influx of nearly 1,000 released prisoners."
Mattis resigning as Pentagon chief after clashes with Trump
AP's ZEKE MILLER/LOLITA BALDOR: "Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned Thursday after clashing with President Donald Trump over the abrupt withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and after two years of deep disagreements over America's role in the world."
"Mattis, perhaps the most respected foreign policy official in Trump's administration, will leave by the end of February after two tumultuous years struggling to soften and moderate the president's hardline and sometimes sharply changing policies. He told Trump in a letter that he was leaving because "you have a right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours."
"Mattis went to the White House with his resignation letter in hand to meet with the president and spoke to Trump for about 45 minutes, according to a senior U.S. official familiar with the incident but speaking on conditions of anonymity to discuss a private meeting."
READ MORE related to POTUS45/KremlinGate: What happens in a partial government shutdown -- AP's MATTHEW DALY; House GOP approves Trump's wall money as shutdown looms -- The Chronicle's LISA MASCARO/MATTHEW DALY/CATHERINE LUCEY; House heads towards a govt shutdown, closing 8 years of Republican majority in chaos -- LA Times's JENNIFER HABERKORN; Mattis issues a sharp rebuke to Trump as he announces his depoarture as Defense secretary -- LA Times's DAVID S CLOUD
Elon Musk just rolled out an update to make Teslas sound like they're passing gas
LA Times's MICHAEL HILTZIK: "For those of you consumed with curiosity about how Elon Musk spends his spare time — and isn’t that everybody? — here’s a clue. He just rolled out an update to the software in Tesla cars allowing them to make farting noises on demand."
"Yes, you read that, or heard that, right."