Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León stripped of City Council committee posts over racist leak
LAT, DAVID ZAHNISER/RACHEL URANGA: "The Los Angeles City Council struggled on Monday to find a way out of the crisis that has engulfed City Hall over the last week, with two embattled councilmembers losing their committee assignments and a potentially divisive vote looming over the council’s top leadership post.
Acting L.A. City Council President Mitch O’Farrell announced early in the day that he had removed Councilmembers Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo from an array of council committee assignments — the latest in a series of attempts to pressure the two men to step down, following reports that they participated in a secretly recorded conversation where racist and disparaging remarks were made.
The two councilmembers were pulled from committees dealing with real estate development, housing, homelessness and other issues. Protesters have settled in near De León’s Eagle Rock home, setting up tents and saying they don’t intend to leave until he resigns."
California to require insurance discounts for property owners who reduce wildfire risk
LAT, HAYLEY SMITH: "California will become the first state in the nation to require insurance premium discounts for owners of homes and businesses that are made safer from wildfires.
New rules mandate that insurance companies reward consumers who take wildfire safety and mitigation actions under the state’s Safer From Wildfires framework, the Department of Insurance announced Monday. The framework includes a list of expert-recommended actions that home and business owners can take to better protect themselves from fires.
The regulation is largely a response to skyrocketing insurance costs for residents in wildfire-prone areas, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said. Currently, fewer than half of the insurance companies doing business in California provide such discounts."
Newsom will call off COVID state of emergency next year
LAT, TARYN LUNA: "Gov. Gavin Newsom said he plans to take action in February to end the COVID-19 state of emergency in California that he initially declared in 2020.
The governor declared the state of emergency in the early days of the pandemic in order to waive state regulations and statutes and to redirect funds to rapidly respond to the public health crisis. Republicans have criticized Newsom’s decision to keep the declaration in place for so long, calling it an unnecessary abuse of his executive powers.
“The State of Emergency was an effective and necessary tool that we utilized to protect our state, and we wouldn’t have gotten to this point without it,” Newsom said in a statement. “With the operational preparedness that we’ve built up and the measures that we’ll continue to employ moving forward, California is ready to phase out this tool.”"
He wanted to blow up Sacramento’s Democratic HQ; judge now questions his mental state
Sac Bee, SAM STANTON: "Three weeks after rejecting a plea agreement for a man accused of plotting to blow up Sacramento’s Democratic Party headquarters, a federal judge has delayed sentencing until defendant Ian Benjamin Rogers can have his mental status evaluated.
“Because the court desires more information as to defendant Ian Benjamin Rogers’s mental condition for the purpose of sentencing, the court hereby orders a psychiatric examination and report,” Senior U.S. District Judge Charles E. Breyer wrote in an order filed in San Francisco Friday.
Breyer, who halted a Sept. 28 sentencing hearing after saying Rogers appeared more concerned about the fact that he was caught than his actual plot, ordered that all sentencing documents be turned over to a San Francisco psychiatrist to “assess the defendant’s mental condition, recommend an appropriate course of treatment, if any, and assess the defendant’s dangerousness.”"
Agency battling wage theft in California is too short-staffed to do its job
CALMatters, ALEJANDRO LAZO/JEANNE KUANG/JULIE WATTS: "For decades California’s lawmakers and regulators have taken aim at employers who rob their workers of pay, overtime premiums, tips and other forms of compensation.
Just last year, legislators made certain instances of wage theft a felony. They also fixed their sights on wage theft in the garment industry, eliminating some longstanding pay practices that often resulted in workers being paid below the minimum wage.
Earlier this month, California Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower recovered $282,000 in stolen wages and penalties for 22 workers of a Long Beach car wash using a law enacted in January that empowers her office to place liens on the property of problematic worksites."
An EPIC Week for the Los Angeles City Council
Capitol Weekly Podcast: "Los Angeles saw the most intense political implosion in decades last week after an anonymous source released a secretly-taped recording of LA City Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon, and Ron Herrerra of the Los Angeles County Labor Federation, disparaging colleagues, making racist remarks and discussing strategies to reduce the political clout of Los Angeles’ Black community.
One week later, Herrerra and Martinez have resigned, and Cedillo and de Leon are facing widespread calls to step down, a chorus that includes President Joe Biden.
If the language on the bombshell recording was a surprise – the underlying issues are not. Los Angeles’ multi-ethnic tapestry has been fraying for years as demographics change and different communities jockey for power."
Nury Martinez’s resignation may quell fury but won’t ‘deal with Latino anti-Blackness,’ experts say
LAT, ERIN B. LOGAN: "Nury Martinez, the Los Angeles City Council president who derided a progressive district attorney for being “with the Blacks,” described a small Black boy as “parece changuito” (like a monkey) and claimed his white father handled him as if he were an “accessory,” resigned her seat last Wednesday.
But Councilmembers Kevin De León and Gil Cedillo, who were in the room during the leaked conversation in which Martinez spewed racist statements, are still in office.
Major California political figures, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, have joined protestors in calling for the resignations of Cedillo, whose term ends this year, and De León, who is set to serve through 2024. Even President Biden, who was in Los Angeles last week, has called on the lawmakers to leave office."
Why was Newsom absent during Biden visit?
CALMatters, EMILY HOEVEN: "President Joe Biden’s three-day trip to Southern California, which concluded Friday, featured events with a who’s who of California Democrats — but not Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Many of the state party’s biggest names — including U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; U.S. Reps. Karen Bass, Katie Porter and Ted Lieu; and state senator and congressional candidate Sydney Kamlager — turned out alongside the president as he made stops in Los Angeles and Orange County to tout federal infrastructure investments and plans to lower health care costs. Biden also headlined a fundraiser with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Los Angeles.
Newsom’s absence was “strange,” given that “it certainly is the tradition that the governor of the state — particularly when the governor’s from the same party — will see the president” when he’s in town, Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor and California political commentator, told me Sunday."
Kamala Harris, once Karen Bass’ rival for vice presidency, offers support in mayor’s race
LAT, ANUMITA KAUR/GREGORY YEE: "For some Los Angeles voters, a packed room in Mid-City was a place of affirmation and reinvigorated focus Monday amid a scandal that’s fractured City Hall and fueled racial tensions ahead of the mayoral election.
U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris for a moderated discussion with Celinda Vázquez, vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, about the fight for reproductive rights, the fears felt by women across the U.S. and the country’s place on the international stage as a moral lodestar.
An audience of at least 200 people greeted the women with a standing ovation at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center as “Hail, Columbia,” the entrance march of the vice president, played."
Democrats are trying out a new pitch with Latino voters, one centered on abortion rights
LAT, MELANIE MASON/NOAH BIERMAN: "Gabe Vasquez’s latest campaign ad is simple to the point of austere: Black-and-white portraits of women, a melancholic piano score, and a recitation of his opponent’s stance on abortion.
“I will always protect a woman’s right to choose,” Vasquez, a Democrat, vows, drawing a contrast with his Republican opponent, Rep. Yvette Herrell.
Such a commercial could be running in any number of contested congressional seats, where Democrats nationwide are leaning hard into abortion rights as the November election approaches. Most notable in Vasquez’s pitch, however, is that it is airing, in both English and Spanish, in New Mexico’s 2nd District — the most Latino seat in the state with the highest percentage — 47.7% — of Latinos in the nation."
Judge blocks California law allowing gun owners’ personal information to be shared with researchers
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "A state law providing the names and other identifying information of gun owners in California to researchers studying the effectiveness of gun-violence restraining orders has been blocked by a judge, who says it may violate the owners' privacy rights.
The information, which also includes the addresses, phone numbers, fingerprints and any criminal records of the more than 4 million Californians who own firearms, is collected by the state attorney general’s office, which uses it for background checks on purchases and for studies of the relationships between gun ownership, homicides and suicides."
Report clearing Sacramento Councilman Loloee tells different story than what he told media
Sac Bee, RYAN LILLIS: "For months, Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee has maintained he resides in a home in his North Sacramento district, despite evidence that another family lived there and that Loloee’s family lives in Granite Bay. And on Wednesday, a law firm hired by the city of Sacramento to investigate the matter issued a report exonerating the embattled first-term councilman.
Throughout the 20-page report by Sacramento attorney Melinda Guzman are statements and evidence backing up Loloee’s claims. The report paints a picture of a man seeking to protect his family, while respecting his wife’s wishes to maintain the familial traditions of their native Iran by owning a separate home.
Loloee and his wife have long lived apart, sometimes at different ends of the state, Guzman found. Both are immigrants from Iran, and their personal and “socio-political” values have led them to maintain a level of independence perhaps unfamiliar to many others. Loloee also sought to protect his family, Guzman’s report says, both from a deadly pandemic and a tumultuous environment in which local elected officials are the target of threats."
Stockton serial killer: Police probe more shootings in search of links to suspect
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "Days after the arrest of the man suspected of shooting five people during a monthslong killing spree in Stockton, law enforcement officials were still trying to answer critical questions Monday about a potential motive and whether any unsolved shootings fit the alleged serial killer’s pattern.
Wesley Brownlee, the man accused of carrying out the series of nighttime killings, was the focus of an intense search since August that culminated in his arrest early Saturday, when police allege he was “out hunting” for another victim. The 43-year-old remained at the San Joaquin County jail on Monday, awaiting a Tuesday court appearance."
‘Slow and sluggish’ COVID booster uptake worries Bay Area health officials
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Bay Area health officials are worried that not enough people are rolling up their sleeves to get the updated bivalent COVID-19 booster shots ahead of the upcoming holiday season.
“What we’ve seen so far is a very slow and sluggish uptake of these boosters,” Dr. Sara Cody, the Santa Clara County health officer, said at a briefing Monday. “Among those who are eligible, just 11% of people living in our county have gotten their booster shot.”"
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH: "San Francisco is pushing a new initiative to speed up its glacial bureaucratic hiring process for city workers and fill thousands of vacancies in government.
The city spends a median of 255 days to hire a permanent city worker. That timetable runs from when the city approves a new position to when the new employee starts work."
Most people who work for San Francisco don’t live in the city. Here’s why
The Chronicle, ADRIANA REZAL/SRIHARSHA DEVULAPALLI: "The majority of people who work for the city of San Francisco don’t actually live there, according to data provided by the city.
In fact, 58% of San Francisco’s public workers live outside of the city as of 2022, a slight increase from where it was a decade ago. S.F. workers commuting into the city most often live in San Mateo County (19%), but that number is also decreasing."
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "Removing nutrients from the wastewater that flows from San Francisco sewage plants into the bay — which likely encouraged the growth of a massive algae bloom this summer — could cost up to $1.5 billion, according to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
The SFPUC reported its findings to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Monday at a hearing to discuss how the city and county can address the impacts of wastewater in red tides that are expected to be more frequent with climate change, such as the algae bloom that killed tens of thousands of fish in the San Francisco Bay in August.
“An event like this has already changed things remarkably,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who called the hearing. “So let’s talk about what we can do, and how San Francisco can be a leader and an early actor-adopter, and help lead the region sooner rather than later.”"
How Big Sur’s luxury resorts plan to protect themselves from the next big wildfire
The Chronicle, GREGORY THOMAS: "From a ridgeline overlooking Big Sur’s dramatic countryside, Rayner Marx surveyed a landscape of peaks and canyons, redwood forest and scrubland that has been brutalized by wildfire several times over the past 15 years. Nestled among the slopes are small enclaves of homes where residents live under a threat that only heightens each year.
“We have all chosen to live here, so what do we do in response to what nature does?” Marx said. “Firefighters are awesome but they can’t be everywhere all the time.”
Fire response is especially tricky in Big Sur, a community sandwiched between 3,000-foot mountains to the east and the Pacific to the west, and spread across 70 remote miles of Highway 1. There is a volunteer fire department there, but the closest fire district is 30 minutes away in Carmel Highlands. Roads are narrow and winding. There is no municipal water system or gas utility provider. The 1,500 residents there are proudly self-reliant — some live completely off-grid — but wildfires are putting that lifestyle to the test."
Are Yellowstone’s devastating floods scaring off tourists? Here’s what the numbers say
Sac Bee, DANIELLA SEGURA: "The number of visitors at Yellowstone National Park is down from previous years after devastating floods caused the national park’s temporary closure earlier in 2022, according to park officials.
With 567,587 recreation visits in September, the park had a 36% decrease in visits compared with September 2021, when there were 882,078 visits, and an 18% decrease compared with September 2019, when there were 693,118 visits, according to data released from the National Park Service on Monday, Oct. 17.
“So far in 2022, the park has hosted 3,014,569 recreation visits, down 32% from 2021 at the same time,” the release said."
What California community college students want in a new chancellor
CALMatters, ANDREA MADISON: "The search is underway for a new California Community Colleges chancellor and the new hire has a tough job ahead. The newly-appointed chancellor will be tasked with solving a lower enrollment rate resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, while working on some of the long-standing problems facing the community college system, such as the closing of student achievement gaps.
It won’t be easy: As CalMatters reported, the 116-college system is not on track to meet goals it set five years ago to narrow by 40% the graduation-rate gap among its Black, Latino and white students and shrink the gaps between different regions of the state.
Search firm Academic Search, Inc. is leading the hiring process, which Board of Governors President Pamela Haynes estimates will run through early next year. The hiring committee includes members of the Board of Governors, as well as Academic Senate President Virginia “Ginni” May and Clemaus Tervalon, president of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges. "
L.A. sheriff targeted lieutenant for donating to opponent, lawsuit says
LAT, ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN: "A Los Angeles County sheriff’s lieutenant filed a lawsuit Monday alleging sheriff’s officials targeted him with a trumped-up criminal investigation as retaliation after he made a campaign donation to one of Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s political challengers.
In the lawsuit filed Monday in L.A. County Superior Court against the county, Villanueva, and other sheriff’s officials, Lt. Joseph Garrido claims his $1,500 donation to retired Cmdr. Eli Vera’s campaign led to him being the subject of a bogus criminal probe into whether he misused his department-issued vehicle.
Garrido also alleges in the lawsuit that a coveted assignment that had been offered to him was rescinded because of his support for Vera."
Ebola outbreak in Uganda puts California doctors on alert
The Chronicle, RONG-GONG LIN II/LUKE MONEY: "California officials are urging doctors to be on alert for any signs of Ebola symptoms among people who have recently traveled to Uganda, the East African nation currently undergoing a significant outbreak.
So far, the Ebola outbreak in Uganda has been limited to rural areas of that East African country. Ebola cases have not been reported in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, nor Entebbe, home to the nation’s international airport, according to a recent bulletin by the California Department of Public Health.
“However, spread of the outbreak within the region is possible due to several factors,” the report said. They include the likelihood that Ebola was spreading weeks before the index case was identified and that patients initially sought care at healthcare facilities with sub-optimal infection-control practices."
Scientology church looms over actor Danny Masterson rape case