Feinstein departing ranking Senate Judiciary gig
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "California Senator Dianne Feinstein on Monday announced that she will not seek a top spot on the Senate Judiciary Committee when the 117th Congress begins next year.
Feinstein has served as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee since 2017, but she will decline to seek the position of chairman or ranking member, her office said in a statement.
“California is a huge state confronting two existential threats – wildfire and drought – that are only getting worse with climate change. In the next Congress, I plan to increase my attention on those two crucial issues. I also believe that defeating COVID-19, combating climate change and protecting access to health care are critical national priorities that require even more concentration,” Feinstein said in prepared remarks.
In a first for The City, DA Chesa Boudin charges cop with murder of Keita O'Neil
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced Monday that he has filed manslaughter charges against the police officer who fatally shot 42-year-old Keita O’Neil during a 2017 chase — the first time in modern history that the city’s top prosecutor has charged a police officer with homicide in a use-of-force case.
The decision marks the third such occasion in the Bay Area, with the case widely viewed as a test for the progressive district attorney. Boudin, a former public defender who campaigned on lenient and compassionate sentences for defendants, won a competitive election last year by also promising to be tough on law enforcement.
“I’m committed to equal enforcement of the law, and to a justice system where the outcomes don’t depend on the color of your skin, how much money you have in the bank, or whether you wear a uniform to work,” Boudin said in an interview Saturday."
New stay-home order looms for L.A. County as COVID-19 cases soar to new highs
LUKE MONEY, RONG-GONG LIN II, LA Times: "The specter of another COVID-19 shutdown is looming over Los Angeles County, as a record-high number of daily coronavirus cases Monday pushed the region over its self-set threshold for issuing a new stay-at-home order.
The strong possibility of more restrictions comes as health officials and epidemiologists expressed increasing alarm at the unparalleled pace of increased cases in L.A. County and throughout the state. California is now on pace to see its cumulative death toll double just before spring, from the more than 18,700 deaths currently tallied to more than 37,000 by March 1, according to model forecasts by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
A Times analysis on Monday found that the average daily number of coronavirus cases over a five-day period has more than tripled since election day. COVID-19 hospitalizations have doubled since mid-October, from 730 on Oct. 18 to 1,473 on Sunday."
Newsom shoulders pressure over Kamala Harris' senatorial replacement
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "As Gov. Gavin Newsom weighs who should replace Sen. Kamala Harris, private lobbying has burst forth into public campaigns by groups hoping to sway the governor’s decision.
Pressure has ramped up in recent weeks for Newsom to select either a Black woman or a Latino to fill Harris’ seat in the U.S. Senate when she resigns in January to become vice president. Both groups have long been underrepresented in elected office, even as their voting power and political influence has continued to grow.
It’s a significant — and potentially historic — decision for Newsom, whose appointee could go on to represent California in Washington, D.C., for decades to come. But first that new senator will face the voters in 2022, requiring them to quickly build public support or risk following in the footsteps of Republican John Seymour, the last California senator appointed by a governor, who lost his election bid to Dianne Feinstein in 1992."
Californians who are in the running for Biden cabinet
Capitol Weekly's CHUCK MCFADDEN: "California stands to gain additional clout in Washington when Joe Biden is sworn in as the nation’s 46th president on Jan. 20.
We already have Californians in powerful Washington positions, of course — including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, who was just reelected easily to her post, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield. With the current 53 members, California’s House delegation is the nation’s largest. (We may be dropped to 52 after the 2020 Census.) On top of that, we’re about to gain Vice President Kamala Harris, an Oakland native who’s now in the Senate.
Those are the most visible California players in Washington. But the Golden State is crammed with possible appointees to a Biden cabinet, for instance:"
Pliny the Younger nixes its hyped up Sonoma County brewpub release due to COVID
ESTHER MOBLEY, Chronicle: "For the first time in a decade, there will not be crowds of thousands lining up on Santa Rosa’s Fourth Street this February. They will not be shivering outside in the often cold, rainy weather as they await the chance to taste Pliny the Younger, the triple India Pale Ale from Russian River Brewing Co. that is one of the world's biggest cult favorites.
That’s all been canceled due to coronavirus concerns, said Russian River co-owner Natalie Cilurzo in what is certain to be a huge — if not exactly surprising — disappointment to the beer geeks who make the pilgrimage to Sonoma County every year during the first two weeks of February, when the cultish, 10.25% alcohol-by-volume beer is offered on draft at Russian River’s two brewpubs.
“It was just becoming really clear that there’s no way we could invite thousands of people who come from around the world and descend upon our community in a very short period of time,” Cilurzo said. “There was just no way we could control that safely.”
Sacramentans are flying to Thanksgiving meals despite dire COVID-19 warnings. Here’s why
TONY BIZJAK, SacBee: "“There she is!“
Lori Simperman’s eyes crinkled above her floral coronavirus mask, suggesting a big smile underneath, as her daughter descended the escalator at Sacramento International Airport, arriving home from college for Thanksgiving.
Simperman, an Orangevale resident, threw her arms wide and enveloped Jadyn, 21, a nursing student, also in mask. Then they and Simperman’s husband headed in the car to a family Thanksgiving with relatives in San Luis Obispo."
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER/MICHAEL WILNER: "America’s largest automaker, in a dramatic break with the Trump administration, declared Monday it would side with California in a fierce battle over climate change, tailpipe emissions and fuel economy.
General Motors Corp. announced it will drop out of litigation between California and the Trump administration over rules governing greenhouse gas emissions from cars.
The decision reflects former Vice President Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump — and the considerable clout California will wield in the new administration over environmental matters. Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, is reportedly among the top candidates for administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."
Sac Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "A large Pentecostal church in Northern California with a history of defying state and local coronavirus restrictions did so again this past weekend in a big way, holding a trio of packed indoor services Sunday with prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a guest.
Kirk, co-founder of the right-wing organization Turning Point USA, joined Pastor Greg Fairrington for hour-long discussions in three morning services at the Destiny Christian Church campus in Rocklin.
The two largely focused their on-stage discussion on the topic of California’s stay-at-home order, which has been in place statewide since Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered it in March."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: Bay Area cases surging; are death tolls also rising? -- The Chronicle's JESS MARMOR SHAW/ANNIE VAINSHTEIN; Newsom talks about family's personal brush with coronavirus and quarantining (VIDEO) -- CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR in Sac Bee
LORI WEISBERG, Union-Tribune: "A San Diego Superior Court judge Monday dashed the hopes of restaurant and gym owners who were hoping to reopen indoors, turning down their request for a temporary restraining order that would have lifted the county’s current order limiting in-person service to outdoors only.
Acknowledging the need to weigh both the financial harm being suffered by the local businesses as well as the health and safety of the populace amid a widening pandemic, Judge Kenneth J. Medel concluded that “the impact on public health of dismantling a portion of the state’s COVID-19 response designed to reduce community spread outweighs the economic harm to Plaintiffs at least pending further examination of these issues in any upcoming hearing on preliminary injunction.”
Even with Medel’s denial of the restraining order, the restaurants and gyms are still entitled to a hearing on the larger question of whether to grant a preliminary injunction, which, if granted, would allow the resumption of indoor operations. The parties will confer next month on when to set a date for that hearing, Medel said."
Santa Clara-based Apple exec indicted for pay-to-play firearm permit scandal
The Chronicle's NORA MISHANEC: "The head of global security for Apple was indicted for what prosecutors said was his role in an alleged bribery scheme to obtain gun permits in exchange for political donations, the Santa Clara district attorney’s office announced Monday.
Apple Chief Security Officer Thomas Moyer, 50, is accused of bribing members of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office with iPads in a bid to secure concealed-weapon permits.
Josh Rosenstock, a spokesman for Apple, said in an email that the company “conducted a thorough internal investigation and found no wrongdoing” after learning of the allegations against Moyer."
Federal prisons among first in line for vaccines -- with staff as priority
AP: "The federal prison system will be among the first government agencies to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, though initial allotments will be given to staff and not to inmates, even though infected prisoners vastly outnumber sickened staff, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press.
Officials at the federal Bureau of Prisons have been instructing wardens and other staff members to prepare to receive the vaccine within weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. The people could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The internal Bureau of Prisons documents, obtained by the AP, say that initial allotments of the vaccine “will be reserved for staff.” It was not immediately clear how many doses would be made available to the bureau."
NYT STAFF: "President-elect Joe Biden plans to name several top national security picks Tuesday, his transition office said, including the first Latino to lead the Department of Homeland Security, the first woman to head the intelligence community and a former secretary of state, John Kerry, to be his international climate czar.
The emerging team reunites a group of former senior officials from the Obama administration, most of whom worked closely together at the State Department and the White House and in several cases have close ties to Biden dating back years. They are well known to foreign diplomats around the world and share a belief in the core principles of the Democratic foreign policy establishment — international cooperation, strong U.S. alliances and leadership but a wariness of foreign interventions after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
At an event in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden will announce plans to nominate Alejandro Mayorkas to be his Homeland Security secretary, his transition office said, and Avril Haines to be his director of national intelligence. He intends to name Kerry as a special presidential envoy on climate. The transition office also confirmed reports Sunday night that Biden will nominate Antony J. Blinken to be secretary of state and Jake Sullivan as national security adviser."
READ MORE related to Biden Cabinet Noms: Biden plans to nominate Janet Yellen for Treasury sec -- BLOOMBERG
Berkeley blaze investigation delayed as flames continue smoldering
The Chronicle's VANESSA ARREDONDO: "Berkeley firefighters were still dousing flames Monday at a 7-story building still under construction that caught fire Saturday evening.
The active remnants of the six-alarm fire — which prompted evacuations after it spread to nearby buildings — prevented fire officials from accessing the building in order to begin an investigation into its cause.
The Berkeley Fire Department declined to say Monday whether the incident was being investigated as an arson."
Roseville, CA (a Sacramento suburb) named among Money Mag's top 10 best places to retire
Sac Bee's MOLLY SULLIVAN: "Money Magazine ranked a Sacramento suburb in its Top 10 best places to retire in America, the magazine announced Monday.
Roseville — which also made the magazine’s list of best places to live — was named the ninth best destination to retire in the U.S.
The rapidly growing Placer County hub was lauded by the magazine for its great weather, easy access to outdoor activities and large senior population. More than a third of Roseville’s population is made up of people 50 years old and older."
Purple tier delays reopening timelines for some school districts
KRISTEN TAKETA, Union-Tribune: "Some San Diego County school districts are slowing down reopening plans because the county has fallen into the worst tier of the state’s COVID-19 monitoring system.
Some districts, including Poway Unified and Santee Elementary, had already reopened to some degree for part-time, in-person instruction, but they are voluntarily delaying bringing back more of their students or starting full-time instruction due to the purple tier.
San Diego County fell to the purple tier Nov. 10, which meant that restaurants, houses of worship, movie theaters and other organizations were to stop or significantly reduce indoor operations. The county fell into the designation because it averaged more than 7 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents."
Trumped by Trump, Mike Pence saunters off into Mondale-Quayle obscurity
GARRY SOUTH in Capitol Weekly: "The biggest casualty of the 2020 election was, of course, Donald Trump, who became only the fifth president since the 1800s to be booted out of office after one term — and the first in 28 years. But the second most prominent victim may turn out to be Trump’s sidekick, Vice President Mike Pence.
It’s been pretty clear from the very beginning that Pence was aiming to run ultimately for president in his own right, probably his motivation for accepting the nod as Trump’s No. 2 in the first place. He has been a sycophantic Trump defender and explainer in all things, having mastered early on the Nancy Reaganesque adoring gaze at the president whenever in his presence. Be true to the boss, I’m sure Pence thought, and he’ll fall heir to Trump’s fanatical base in his own run.
But in the two most recent cases of one-term presidents — George H.W. Bush in ‘92 and Jimmy Carter in ‘80 — their politically ambitious understudies embarrassingly flamed out when they pulled themselves out of the debris, dusted themselves off and ran in their own right four years later."
Biden transition gets govt ok after Trump out of options
AP's ZEKE MILLER/DAVID EGGERT/COLLEEN LONG: "The federal government recognized President-elect Joe Biden as the “apparent winner” of the Nov. 3 election, formally starting the transition of power after President Donald Trump spent weeks testing the boundaries of American democracy. He relented after suffering yet more legal and procedural defeats in his seemingly futile effort to overturn the election with baseless claims of fraud.
Trump still refused to concede and vowed to continue to fight in court after General Services Administrator Emily Murphy gave the green light Monday for Biden to coordinate with federal agencies ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration. But Trump did tweet that he was directing his team to cooperate on the transition.
The fast-moving series of events seemed to let much of the air out of Trump’s frantic efforts to undermine the will of the people in what has amounted to a weekslong stress test for American democracy. But Trump’s attempts to foment a crisis of confidence in the political system and the fairness of U.S. elections haven’t ended and are likely to persist well beyond his lame-duck presidency."
READ MORE related to POTUS: Trump signals he is ready to concede -- The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI; Michigan certifies Biden victory despite GOP overtures -- AP's DAVID EGGERT/ZEKE MILLER/COLLEEN LONG
White House still planning holiday bash, despite pandemic surge
AP: "All those warnings from public health officials begging Americans to limit gatherings this holiday season amid a surge in coronavirus cases aren’t stopping the White House from planning a host of festivities and holiday parties in the midst of a pandemic.
Monday’s delivery of an 18-and-a-half-foot tall Fraser fir by horse-drawn carriage signaled the kickoff of the usual array of White House holiday events that will include the annual turkey pardon and Christmas and Hanukkah events.
“Attending the parties will be a very personal choice,” said Stephanie Grisham, First Lady Melania Trump’s spokeswoman and chief of staff, referring to the plans. “It is a long-standing tradition for people to visit and enjoy the cheer and iconic decor of the annual White House Christmas celebrations."