California congressman offers bill to allow striking workers to collect unemployment pay
LA Times, QUEENIE WONG: "The political fight over whether workers on strike should be allowed to collect unemployment benefits is reigniting in Washington.
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who is running for Senate, is planning to introduce legislation on Tuesday that would provide unemployment benefits nationwide to workers on strike. Most states don’t allow striking workers to collect unemployment with the exception of New York and New Jersey. Eligibility requirements and the amount of weekly unemployment pay also varies by state."
Newsom signed over 60 housing bills this year. Here’s how they’re going to change California
The Chronicle, ALFRED TWU: "From enforcing tenant protections to making it possible to build faster and taller, California’s 2023 legislative housing package was the largest yet, with over 60 housing bills signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Many of this year’s bills build on previous legislation, expanding the impact and reach of those laws. Others took successful local programs and brought them statewide.
Here’s how these new laws are poised to change the Bay Area."
Canons of statutory construction commonly used in California
Capitol Weekly, CHRIS MICHELI: "For purposes of statutory construction, the courts and bill drafters use a series of “canons” to guide them. These include textual canons (intrinsic aids), linguistic presumptions and grammatical conventions, substantive canons, and extrinsic aids. It is impossible to list them all, but there are some common canons, and those are most useful for legislative drafting.
We start with the presumption that the Legislature drafts its bills carefully and intentionally. Because of this presumption, the usual approach of the judicial branch is to narrow statutes rather than expand them, and the courts are less activist in their interpretation."
Here are some of the ballot measures S.F. voters might face in the March 2024 election
The Chronicle, ALDO TOLEDO: "San Francisco voters are set to decide on a host of ballot measures in the March election.
From deciding whether the city should end district elections to potentially mandating that welfare recipients engage in drug treatment before receiving payments, voters are expected to decide on ballot measures that could have significant impact on how San Francisco is governed."
Sacramento mayor directed old campaign money to disgraced L.A. councilman (OP-ED)
Sacramento Bee, ROBIN EPLY: "Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg has given disgraced Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León the maximum amount of money in campaign donations for the upcoming primary election — $900 — out of his own campaign fund from the 2020 mayoral election.
He’ll be eligible to give de León an additional $900 should the L.A. councilman make it to the general election. Should he? Most certainly not."
Jenna Ellis becomes latest lawyer to plead guilty in Trump’s Georgia election case
AP, WILL WEISSERT, KATE BRUMBACK: "Jenna Ellis, an attorney and prominent conservative media figure, reached a deal with prosecutors Tuesday and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge over efforts to overturn former President Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia.
Ellis, the fourth defendant in the case to enter into a plea deal, was a vocal member of Trump’s reelection campaign in the last presidential cycle and was charged alongside the Republican former president and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law."
Death toll in Gaza surges amid increased Israeli bombardment
AP, NAJIB JOBAIN, SAMY MAGDY, RAVI NESSMAN: "Rapidly expanding Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip killed more than 700 people in the last day as medical facilities across the territory were forced to close because of bombing damage and a lack of power, health officials said Tuesday.
The soaring death toll from Israel’s escalating bombardment was unprecedented in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It could signal an even greater loss of life in Gaza once Israeli ground forces backed by tanks and artillery launch an expected offensive into the territory aimed at crushing the ruling Hamas militant group."
California Water: A status report from Jenn Bowles (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "We are joined today by Jenn Bowles of the Water Education Foundation, or WEF. WEF was founded in 1977, in the midst of a deep drought, to facilitate a better understanding of water resource issues in California and the West, and to give context to the challenges facing California’s most precious natural resource. Now, nearly five decades later, we are just emerging from the latest drought period thanks to 2023’s historic rain season.
The Water Education Foundation’s Annual Water Summit will be held this week in Sacramento. Jenn gives us a preview of the topics they’ll be looking at and an update on the status of California’s water supply. Plus: groundwater management, the Delta Tunnel project, and of course, Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics."
One of California’s riskiest volcanoes has been seeing more earthquakes. Is an eruption coming?
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II: "One of California’s riskiest volcanoes has for decades been undergoing geological changes and seismic activity, which are sometimes a precursor to an eruption, but — thankfully — no supervolcanic eruptions are expected.
That’s according to Caltech researchers who have been studying the Long Valley Caldera, which includes the Mammoth Lakes area in Mono County. The caldera was classified in 2018 by the U.S. Geological Survey as one of three volcanoes in the state — along with 15 elsewhere in the U.S. — considered a “very high threat,” the highest-risk category defined by the agency."
Proposed California marine sanctuary would protect vast area
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "A beautiful and ecologically rich stretch of the California coast is about to get major protection: a new national marine sanctuary that would preserve 5,617 square miles of the ocean along the San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County coast.
The proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary also aims to honor the Indigenous people who have lived in the area for tens of thousands of years. President Joe Biden recently endorsed it, and if finalized it will be the first marine sanctuary nominated by Indigenous groups and the first in California in 30 years."
Bay Area gets last day of warm weather before big shift
The Chronicle, ANTHOINY EDWARDS: "Impacts of Sunday’s rain continue to linger around the Bay Area, as patchy dense fog is possible around the inland valleys Tuesday morning.
Wet ground from the recent rain, combined with long, clear October nights, will lead to areas of morning fog around the Bay Area, particularly in the North Bay. However, dry air is expected to move toward Central California on Tuesday, potentially limiting just how much fog forms away from the wind-sheltered inland valleys."
Humans have driven 21 more species to extinction. Here’s why we should care (COLUMN)
LA Times, MICHAEL HILTZIK: "The removal of a species from the government’s endangered species list is often a cause for celebration, as it means a plant or animal variety has somehow beaten the odds and recovered from its parlous condition.
That’s not the case for 21 animal species just delisted from the Endangered Species Act by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They’re being taken off the list because they have moved in the opposite direction. They’ve gone extinct."
Inside a Sacramento resident’s fight to save a giant tree the city plans to cut down
Sacramento Bee, JOE RUBIN: " Susan Christian lives in the historic Boulevard Park section of Midtown. She loves trees, especially the over 100-year-old American Elm that towers 70 feet with its broad canopy, defining and sheltering her house on 22nd St.
But in August the city slapped a notice on the giant elm she adores. The city deemed the tree a safety hazard. It had to come down."
California mental health care: State prisons, police fall short
CALMatters, LYNN LA: "Though Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a handful of laws earlier this month to address the state’s mental health crisis — including a measure to loosen rules about who is eligible for involuntary treatment and another that gives voters the opportunity to decide on a multi-billion dollar bond measure to add thousands of treatment beds statewide — it’ll take several months, or even years, to truly know the effect of these initiatives.
Until then, inadequacies of California’s mental and behavioral health systems continue to manifest — at times resulting in violent outcomes for bystanders but mostly for those who seek or need treatment themselves."
How are UC and CSU students managing the cost of textbooks?
EdSource*CSJC, STAFF: "For college students struggling with high tuition and the cost of living, the expense of instructional materials adds to an already heavy burden.
To understand how students are managing the cost of textbooks, EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps asked the following questions at nine California universities:"
Bay Area pilot’s neighbors shocked by accusation he tried to bring down S.F.-bound plane
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN, MATTHIAS GAFNI, JULIE JONSON: "An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot was booked into jail in Oregon on Monday morning on 83 attempted murder charges, after he allegedly tried to shut off the engines of a San Francisco-bound plane.
Flight 2059, an aircraft operated by regional airline Horizon Air, reported a “credible security threat” after departing from Everett, Wash., when the pilot — identified in jail records as 44-year-old Joseph David Emerson of Pleasant Hill — tried to seize control of the operation engines, spokespeople for the airline said in a statement."
READ MORE -- Shock over off-duty Bay Area pilot accused of trying to shut off plane’s engines in flight -- BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK/RICK HURD/KATE TALERICO
Disabled parking abuse ‘is a concern’ in California, DMV says. How is fraud monitored?
Sacramento Bee, BRIANNA TAYLOR: "Disabled parking placards are designed to make life easier for people with disabilities, but misuse across California takes resources from people who need them the most.
Spokesman Ronald Ongtoaboc with the California Department of Motor Vehicles said there are more than 2.3 million active disabled placards across the state after the department cracked down on fraudulent activity under a new renewal law this summer. Almost 350,000 placards were not renewed, the department confirmed."
Apple Maps app is giving drivers dangerous wrong-way directions; how can it be fixed? Roadshow
BANG*Mercury News, GARY RICHARDS: "There is a dangerous and incorrect instruction on the iPhone Maps app. I don’t know how to contact them. If one wishes to enter Highway 101 north from Bailey Avenue just south of San Jose, coming from the west, the app tells you to turn right at the stop sign, just after crossing over the freeway.
If one does exactly what it says, you would turn into the exit from northbound 101 going in the wrong direction. The on-ramp to 101 north is about 25 feet before the stop sign, not at the stop sign."
Dov Charney, Milo Yiannopoulos, Kanye West and the battle over a Silver Lake compound
LA Times, NOAH GOLDBERG: "The streets of Silver Lake are dotted with historic properties, but none quite like the Garbutt House.
The nearly-century-old residence is sprawling: 11,000 square feet with eight bedrooms and seven bathrooms. At the top of the gated Hathaway Hills Estates community, the home rises above the tidy suburban-style cul-de-sacs to offer 360-degree views of Los Angeles and the reservoir below, with gargoyles standing guard on stone stairways. Thanks to its “eclectic” concrete construction and marbled floors, it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places."