LA is pounded by rain, heavy snow and a tornado in wild winter storm
LA Times's HANNAH FRY: "A fast-moving winter storm barreled into Southern California early Thursday, bringing heavy snow, pounding rain and a rare tornado."
"The second of back-to-back cold fronts from the Gulf of Alaska arrived on Christmas Day and stayed overnight, bringing rain that flooded roadways across Los Angeles County and snow that closed the 5 Freeway in the Grapevine, Angeles Crest Highway and the 15 Freeway in the Cajon Pass. Some regions were hit with up to 3 inches of rain, said Tom Fisher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard."
"The 15 Freeway in the Cajon Pass reopened Thursday afternoon, but officials said to expect lengthy delays due to the weather conditions and particularly heavy traffic. Drivers were urged to avoid traveling until the rush dies down."
The Camp Fire led to more than 10,000 residents leaving Butte County in the last year
Sac Bee's ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS: "The devastating Camp Fire that tore through Butte County in November 2018 led to an exodus of more than 10,400 residents in the last year, the latest state figures show."
"As thousands affected by the most destructive wildfire in state history left Butte County between July 2018 and July 2019, some relocated to other cities in the county outside of the affected cities of Paradise, Magalia and Concow. In the immediate aftermath of the Camp Fire, the city of Chico alone swelled by about 19,000."
"But many clearly moved to surrounding counties, according to data released by the state Department of Finance last week."
Charter schools vs teachers union: A high stakes L.A. school board election takes shape
From the LAT's HOWARD BLUME: "The candidates are confirmed and the upcoming Los Angeles school board races are all but certain to make for a high-stakes election cycle that will pit teachers and their allies against backers of charter schools for influence over the nation’s second-largest school system."
"The March election, in which four of the seven board seats are up, comes at a critical juncture for the L.A. Unified School District, which is struggling to make progress academically against the backdrop of budget problems and political instability. District leaders have been focused on raising low student achievement, especially among black and Latino students, and are looking for ways to help low-income families meet basic needs for students’ healthcare and food, as well as family housing."
"The campaigns will be the first since a new state law gave school boards more power to deny petitions for new charter schools. Charters are privately operated, taxpayer-funded public schools, most of which are non-union. The new law amplifies the pressure on school board campaigns that have been the most expensive in that nation."
Martinez News-Gazette to roll out final edition after 161 years of print
The Chronicle's ALEJANDRO SERRANO: "Rick Jones anticipated the end, but it still shocked him when it arrived."
"After 161 years of publishing, the Martinez News-Gazette — among the longest-running papers in California, if not the longest — plans to print its final edition Dec. 29, a painful end for one of the only news agencies committed to covering the city of nearly 40,000, which serves as the seat of Contra Costa County."
"We were told we were losing money and I don’t doubt that,” said Jones, who has served as the paper’s editor for about five years as one of two full-time employees. “We knew it was coming."
State Supreme Court allows therapists to challenge law on child porn reporting
LA Times's MAURA DOLAN: "Psychotherapists have spent years fighting a 2014 California law requiring them to report patients who confided having looked at child pornography, complaining that it deters people with sexual compulsions from seeking treatment and forces therapists to call the police on patients they do not believe pose a risk."
"But they knew they faced a steep hurdle in getting the law overturned, citing what one scholar called “the ick and disgust factor” at the mere thought of the subject."
"A sharply divided California Supreme Court grappled with the case Thursday, deciding the state must show the law actually helps children by presenting evidence at a trial."
What happens to your CalPERS pension after a divorce? It's complicated
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "Ralph Johnson got married a year and a half before he retired from the Alameda County Fire Department."
"Twelve years later, in 2011, he filed for divorce. In the proceedings that followed, his ex-wife was found to be entitled to less than 1 percent of his CalPERS pension."
"He was surprised to learn that her small share of the pension had a much bigger implication: He couldn’t remove her as the plan’s beneficiary. If he dies before she does, she will start receiving a large portion of the pension, said Johnson, 72, of Lincoln."
California is rewriting the rules of the internet. Businesses are scrambling to keep up
LA Times's SAM DEAN: "A sweeping new law that aims to rewrite the rules of the internet in California is set to go into effect on Jan. 1."
"Most businesses with a website and customers in California — which is to say most large businesses in the nation — must follow the new rules, which are supposed to make online life more transparent and less creepy for users."
"The only problem: Nobody’s sure how the new rules work."
New state law makes it easier to blur line between beer and wine
The Chronicle's ESTHER MOBLEY: "The latest trend in craft beer isn’t hazy IPA or kettle sours or nitro coffee stouts. It’s wine."
"Two San Francisco craft breweries are investing seriously in winemaking. And, thanks to a California law that will take effect Jan. 1, a lot more breweries may soon follow."
"The law, AB1825, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in October, allows (among other things) breweries, wineries and distilleries to hold overlapping licenses for the same space. So a brewery, for instance, could obtain a winemaking license for the same facility in which it brews beer — and now, for the first time, the company would not have to separate the production and storage of the two beverages."
California jails use kinder approach to solitary confinement
AP: "An inmate in solitary confinement at a California jail was refusing to leave his cell. The jailers’ usual response: Send an “extraction team” of corrections officers to burst into the cell and drag him out."
"But not in Contra Costa County, one of three in the state using a kinder, gentler approach in response to inmate lawsuits, a policy change that experts say could be a national model for reducing the use of isolation cells."
"So the inmate was asked: “What if we gave you a couple extra cookies and another sandwich? Would you move?” recalled Don Specter, the nonprofit Prison Law Office director who negotiated the new policies. “He said yes. They were like, `'Wow.’ ”
State solar mandate, gas bans take effect in 2020: what you need to know
The Chronicle's MALLORY MOENCH: "If you’re building a California home next year, it will have to produce more clean energy — and in some places use more electric appliances — than ever before."
"A first-in-the-nation law requiring new homes to have rooftop solar panels takes effect Jan. 1. State building codes also require better insulation and air filtration for new homes, and homeowners get additional incentives to install batteries to store solar power."
"Another major new policy, taking effect in a handful of jurisdictions, involves reducing natural gas use: In the Bay Area, if you’re building a new home in Berkeley, San Mateo, Menlo Park, San Jose or Marin County, you either won’t be able to install gas appliances, or you will have to make your home more energy efficient if you do. Similar laws in 14 other Bay Area cities await California Energy Commission approval.
Tribal casinos remain last refuge for California smokers, at least for now
The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "Smoking is prohibited in almost every enclosed public place in California, from bars and restaurants to sports arenas and movie theaters. Even parking garages ban the noxious fumes."
"But tribal casinos in California remain a smoky outlier — at least for now. Only here can bettors play slot machines and other Vegas-style games in a setting reminiscent of the era when smokers were free to light up nearly anywhere they pleased."
"Because the California tribes are sovereign nations, they’re not subject to many state laws, including California’s no-smoking regulations. They can set the rules for their casinos, and only three of California’s 69 tribal casinos are entirely smoke-free."
SF's skyline has a holiday glow. It's a global thing
The Chronicle's JOHN KING: "Forget the harsh edge of the streets below or the grind of President Trump’s daily dramas. Cast your eyes upward instead, to San Francisco’s skyline with its soothing glow of seasonal colors."
"Holiday lighting adorns the Ferry Building, the most venerable of landmarks, and Mission Street towers that in architectural terms are still wet behind the ears. Embarcadero Center’s towers are outlined precisely. City Hall’s regal dome and granite bays are bathed in hues of red and green."
"Flourishes like these are signs of what I call the illuminated metropolis — yet another global trend leaving its mark on our city. As trends go, this one is benign and often pleasurable. But it also can have the feel of a gimmick that’s more interested in hashtag-friendly branding than the structures that are adorned."