Newsom pledges to serve all 4 years in one and only 2022 gubernatorial debate
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "The underdog Republican candidate for California governor, state Sen. Brian Dahle, used his one shot to debate Gov. Gavin Newsom face to face Sunday to rip the governor as “someone who talks real slick and smooth” but delivers little.
“What he’s done in the last four years is just throw money at every single issue — more than there’s ever been —and what are the results for Californians? Higher gas prices, inflation, homelessness on our streets, our schools are failing our children and people are fleeing California,” Dahle said.
Newsom, meanwhile, belittled Dahle for regurgitating “Big Oil’s talking points” and opposing abortion rights, and called him long on criticism but short on solutions."
A sexual misconduct settlement could threaten #MeToo progress at California Capitol
LAT, TARYHN LUNA/HANNAH WILEY: "As women came forward at the height of the #MeToo movement with stories of pervasive harassment and discrimination in California politics, confidentiality became central to calls to reform the culture at the state Capitol.
Accusers demanded the ability to anonymously blow the whistle. Lawmakers relied on that desire for secrecy to shield details of their probes. And targets of the investigations decried having to defend themselves against anonymous allegations.
Then, in the summer of 2020, a California judge tentatively ruled that former California Assemblyman Matt Dababneh had a right to know the identities of the 52 witnesses who had participated in a state Assembly investigation two years earlier into a sexual misconduct allegation against him."
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG/DUSTIN GARDINER: "After Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to tax their windfall profits, oil companies have spent millions to convince voters to elect their chosen candidates to the Legislature, hoping to stack the deck in their favor.
Since Oct. 7, when Newsom announced plans to call a special session for lawmakers to consider his tax proposal, oil companies have spent more than $5.8 million to influence eight key races that will determine the composition of the Legislature. The candidates they support come from both parties, and in some cases are Democrats running against other Democrats.
Newsom called the special session to combat what he sees as “price gouging” at the gas pump. Tension between the governor and the industry has been building for months, as Californians face skyrocketing fuel prices."
Ex-FDA chief refutes false claims about kids and vaccine mandates
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI/ANNA BUCHMANN: "Data shows most Californians aren't getting their latest bivalent booster — even in San Francisco, with the second-highest rate of uptake across the state besides Marin County, less than 20% of eligible adults had gotten the shot as of Oct. 18. The slow uptake has Bay Area health officials concerned...
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb on Sunday addressed misinformation in the wake of a vote last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee to add COVID-19 vaccines to its childhood and adult immunization schedules. In its unanimous vote Thursday, the panel emphasized that the decision did not make the shots mandatory for anyone, but would add them to the list of recommendations to physicians on which shots their patients should receive and when.
However, in a segment Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” host Margaret Brennan said false claims had circulated “on the campaign trail and in conservative circles” that the CDC move equated to vaccines being mandated for children to attend school.
Gavin Newsom calls for resignations of Los Angeles council members after racist recording
MAGGIE ANGST, SacBee: "Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday called for the resignations of Los Angeles City Council members who used crude and racist remarks during a private conversation about political redistricting that became public two weeks ago.
“I think they should (resign),” Newsom said during a press briefing after his Sunday gubernatorial debate in San Francisco.
When asked why he didn’t call for resignations earlier, Newsom said that he “wanted to give them space.”
Racist audio leak could push L.A. City Hall further left in Nov. 8 election
LAT, JULIA WICK/DAVID ZAHNISER: "Dissatisfaction with Los Angeles City Hall has been simmering for years, with residents growing exasperated over the protracted homelessness crisis, anxious over crime and exhausted by a string of corruption indictments targeting various city leaders.
But publication of an incendiary leaked audio recording less than a month before election day provided yet another damning argument against the city’s political establishment — and perhaps the most explosive.
Angelenos who rarely thought about municipal government turned their eyes toward City Hall in disgust. Residents who were already frustrated are now breathing fire."
Mike Bonin remains in middle of City Council race, though he dropped out 9 months ago
LAT, JAMES RAINEY: "It’s been nine months since Mike Bonin, a progressive stalwart representing the Westside of Los Angeles, beat back a recall attempt and then, just one week later, declared he would not seek a third term on the City Council.
But while his name is missing from the ballot, Bonin and his legacy remain front and center in the campaign to represent Council District 11.
Erin Darling has Bonin’s endorsement and has vowed to continue some of Bonin’s policies, while his rival in next month’s election, Traci Park, has hammered Darling as a “Bonin clone” who will continue policies that she contends have exacerbated homelessness and rising crime."
More antisemitic hate seen in L.A. after Kanye West’s remarks
LAT, KEVIN RECTOR: "Kanye West’s weeks-long spate of antisemitic comments drew a well-known hate group to Los Angeles this weekend for a demonstration of support on a 405 Freeway overpass, raising alarms from local officials and residents that the rapper’s rhetoric was inspiring more public bigotry.
West, also known as Ye, has attracted widespread criticism and was locked out of his Instagram and Twitter accounts in recent weeks for comments online and in TV interviews espousing antisemitic conspiracy theories that have spurred hate and violence against Jewish people in the past — including that they have outsized power and influence in the media. In addition to freezing his social media accounts, West’s comments have drawn public demands that he lose lucrative endorsements and further threatened his waning celebrity cachet.
On Saturday, demonstrators gave Nazi salutes as they stood behind a large overpass banner that read, “Kanye is right about the Jews,” according to images collected by antidiscrimination organizations and Jewish residents appalled by the group’s message."
Some California retirees go back to work with CalPERS pensions. Union lawsuit seeks limits
Sac Bee, WES VENTEICHER: "California departments that employ former state workers for years after their retirements often are violating state civil service rules, and they’re doing it with impunity, a state employee union alleged in a lawsuit filed this week.
The California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges, and Hearing Officers in State Employment made the allegations in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Fresno County Superior Court.
The union sued the state Human Resources Department, accusing it of failing to enforce restrictions on the duration and the circumstances under which departments may rehire retirees who work while continuing to receive pension checks."
Scores nationwide crater on national math test, California’s not quite so much
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: "Nationwide scores plummeted in math and fell significantly in reading in 2022 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP, providing new evidence of the pandemic’s unparalleled impact on student learning and reinforcing calls for extra help for students who have fallen behind. Scores in California followed the national pattern in math but less so in reading.
The last time NAEP was given was in spring 2019, a year before the emergence of Covid.
The decline in math nationally — 8 points in eighth grade and 5 points in fourth (the two grades that take the national test) — was the largest drop in the three decades that NAEP has been given. This is “stark, it is troubling,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, the federal agency that administers the test."
Central American Studies gains popularity on California campuses
EdSource, ITZEL LUNA: "When East Los Angeles Community College announced its new Central American Studies program in August, it represented a win for students and faculty in the field who say they have long been fighting for space and respect in higher education.
Now, those scholars are hoping to capitalize on the current momentum for ethnic studies across the state to further expand their field of study.
“Since the summer of 2020, we have a lot of people talking about diversity, equity, and inclusion. There was almost a renewed invigoration of developing ethnic studies,” said Jocelyn Duarte, a professor of Central American Studies at East Los Angeles College and Cal State University Northridge. “We were already ahead of the curve. We’ve been fighting for this. Now, it’s time to amplify the conversation.”"
First snow of season drops inch and a half in Sierra
The Chronicle, SAM WHITING: "The season’s first dusting of snow hit the Sierra Nevada Saturday afternoon and a cold front kept it on the ground well into Sunday morning.
The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab recorded 1.4 inches of snowfall and a picture posted to its Twitter account showed tree branches weighed down in white. The snow came exactly one week after temperatures hit the low 70s at Lake Tahoe and the water was perfect for swimming."
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "With deepwater spires plastered in pink and orange coral, Cordell Bank sits on the edge of a canyon that drops down a mile or two. The colorful, breathtaking seamount has only been seen by a few divers even though it’s 22 miles from Point Reyes National Seashore.
“There’s probably been more people in space than have ever been in Cordell Bank,” said Robert Lee, a diver with the group Bay Area Underwater Explorers.
Over the past month, Lee and a handful of other highly skilled divers spent a total of five days diving as far as 250 feet to view and photograph the sponges, anemones and bocaccio rockfish that make their home among the pinnacles and valleys of Cordell Bank. It was their fourth time diving in the area but the first in six years, an experience Lee calls “sensory overload.”"
Restaurant chain to pay $2.2 million in wages withheld from California workers, settlement shows
Sac Bee, MAYA MILLER: "A restaurant chain has agreed to pay $2.2 million to hundreds of California workers after it stiffed them out of minimum wage and overtime pay.
Three Bay Area franchises of Saravanaa Bhavan, which describes itself as “the world’s number one chain of high quality Indian vegetarian restaurants,” must pay 317 workers an average of $7,000 each as part of a settlement with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office.
The settlement covers unpaid minimum wages, overtime and other premiums, as well as allegations that the employers stole tips customers left for the employees."
'Why bother with a real map?': Here are the dubious sites NIMBY Bay Area cities propose for housing
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Danville has suggested building housing atop a creek. Los Altos says it will develop homes on the site of a grocery store — a store the owner has no intention of moving. Los Altos Hills foresees residences on the campus of Foothill-DeAnza Community College — never mind the lack of support from college leaders.
And, until recently, Piedmont was proposing to build housing on the site of its current City Hall.
As municipalities in the Bay Area furiously write plans describing how they’ll meet their state-mandated goal to collectively build 441,176 units of housing over the next eight years, the challenge of getting it done extends beyond high costs and sprawling NIMBYism. Some wealthy cities that are opposed to building far more housing — or are simply resigned to failing — have offered up outlandish or logistically impossible sites in their blueprints to accommodate future homes."
Sacramento council to consider funding 820 new affordable housing units. Here’s where
Sac Bee, THERESA CLIFT/RYAN LILLIS: "Faced with a severe shortage of affordable housing, Sacramento is poised to spend roughly $35 million to help subsidize 820 units of low-income housing across the city.
The City Council will vote Tuesday on what “may be the single biggest commitment to affordable housing in one action that the council has ever taken,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg said. The units would be located mostly in new apartment complexes in Upper Land Park and south Sacramento, as well as a controversial project in North Sacramento’s Woodlake neighborhood.
“We know, as we have known for a long time, that the issue of our time is affordable housing, and it’s obviously related to the issue of homelessness,” Steinberg said."