Californians will soon set clocks back. Here’s why daylight-saving time still isn’t year-round
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: "Californians will set their clocks back an hour this weekend, bringing an end to daylight-saving time — and the biannual time change ritual isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
Daylight-saving time will end at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5, when clocks “fall back” an hour to standard time. Things will stay that way until the second Sunday in March, when we “spring forward” again."
Turbulent weather is headed for California. Here's a timeline of impacts
The Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "After an October that was drier and warmer than normal across much of California, November weather is shaping up to vary considerably statewide.
A strengthening jet stream is expected to ferry moisture toward Northern California throughout early November, while Los Angeles and San Diego remain mainly dry. But by Thanksgiving, long-range weather models indicate that turbulent weather could slide toward the Central Coast and Southern California."
Rising Stars: Monika Lee, a star on the move
Capitol Weekly, MALLY JACOBY: "Monika Lee’s story showcases many of the possible avenues for creating meaningful change in Sacramento. In her five years in the community, Lee has moved up the ranks in three different organizations and worked with a variety of issue areas, letting her passion for equity guide her along the way.
Identity is a complicated subject for Lee, who grew up in San Diego after being adopted from China at eight months old. It was in that upbringing in a predominantly white suburb where she learned the challenges of growing up in between cultures."
10 California congressional races could tip the 2024 balance
CALMatters, LYNN LA: "Yes, the headline race in California’s 2024 election is the first open U.S. Senate seat in 30 years.
But voters should also pay attention to the U.S. House: California helped flip control to Republicans in 2022 (and the speakership went from Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco to Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, until he was deposed last month)."
Where are the top U.S. Senate candidates raising their cash?
CALMatters, YUE STELLA YU, JEREMIA KIMELMAN: "In northwest Los Angeles, a 15-square-mile enclave sits at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains. Tucked between Bel Air and the ridges, the neighborhood is where nature, art and wealth concentrate: It boasts both the Getty Museum and the Skirball Cultural Center.
It is also home to the most generous donors in California’s 2024 U.S. Senate race."
The March 2024 primary gave California Republicans a shot at relevance. Then came Trumps
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Earlier this year, California Republican Party leaders couldn’t contain their excitement at what awaited them. For the first time in a generation, they predicted, the state’s GOP voters would play a decisive role in choosing their party’s nominee for president.
For one of the rare times this century, California Republican voters would matter."
Why the fall of Kevin McCarthy leaves California Republicans in a tough spot
LA Times, ERIN B. LOGAN: "Since House Republicans unanimously elected Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson as speaker last week, the GOP has sought to portray itself as an emboldened party willing to battle President Biden and the Democratic-controlled Senate.
But for California Republicans, Johnson’s election presents a host of potential problems that could make trying to survive in a deep-blue state even harder than it already was."
Shasta County ditched its Dominion voting machines. Now, residents are braced for turmoil on Nov. 7
LA Times, JESSICA GARRISON, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "In many elections, the suspense comes from wondering which candidate is going to win.
In Shasta County, the question everyone is hanging on is: Will the local election next Tuesday bring unrest or even violence?"
Embattled Sacramento councilman recently evicted eight households, property manager says
Sacramento Bee, THERESA CLIFT, PHILLIP REESE: "Shortly after purchasing a Hagginwood apartment building last year, Sacramento Councilman Sean Loloee evicted the tenants of all eight units, according to the property manager.
“The owner wanted to rehabilitate the units,” Frank Thornton of Second Chance Property Management told The Sacramento Bee earlier this week. “They got cleared out.”"
Here’s the first glimpse of who is spending money to oust Alameda County DA Pamela Price
BANG*Mercury News, JAKOB RODGERS: "A mix of real estate moguls, technology executives, retirees and former Alameda County prosecutors are among the early backers of the effort to recall Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, newly released campaign filings show.
The financial backers of the recall were identified for the first time Wednesday as having donated to Save Alameda For Everyone, or SAFE, a group that formed over the summer to oust Price. The first-term district attorney was elected last year on a platform of reforming the East Bay’s criminal justice system and combatting the legacy of mass incarceration."
Column: A lot of Californians loathe both the Democratic and Republican parties
LA Times, GEORGE SKELTON: "For lots of Californians — Democrats and Republicans alike — it’s a pox on both parties. And they’d like to see a new third party created.
There have always been people who were sour on both parties and desired another significant option. But their numbers have been substantially increasing in recent years."
Diplomacy intensifies to pause fighting, ease siege as Israeli troops advance in Gaza
AP, NAJIB JOBAIN, KAREEM CHEHAYEB: "Israel’s ground troops advanced toward Gaza City on Thursday as the U.S. and Arab countries intensified diplomatic efforts to ease the siege of the Hamas-ruled enclave and bring about at least a brief stop to the fighting to help civilians. More than 9,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war broke out, health officials said.
President Biden suggested a humanitarian “pause” the day before, as an apparent agreement among the U.S., Egypt, Israel and Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, allowed hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports and dozens of wounded to leave Gaza for the first time. Dozens more left Thursday."
These are California’s mega-landowners and maps of what they control
The Chronicle, CHRISTIAN LEONARD, EMMA STIEFEL: "Who are California’s biggest landowners?
According to a Chronicle analysis relying on 13.2 million property records obtained from property data company Regrid, the state’s seven largest owners of private land share something in common: All are in the forestry or agriculture industries, ranging from long-standing logging companies to a nut tycoon."
Climate change is turning swaths of California’s mountains into ‘zombie forests’
LA Times, ALEX WIGGLESWORTH, IAN JAMES, LUIS SINCO: "There’s something eerie about this forest in the southern Sierra Nevada. Tangles of bony branches obscure the ground. Dead trees stand gray and bristly. An aura of doom hangs over the green conifers that remain.
The expanse of Sierra National Forest near Shaver Lake is a relic of the climate before global warming. Scientists believe that the conifers won’t be able to survive the current conditions. Researchers at Stanford University found in a recent study that roughly one-fifth of all conifer forests in the Sierra are mismatched with the warmer climate and have become “zombie forests.”"
Teachers from the Philippines and beyond are filling gaps in Bay Area schools
BANG*Mercury News, ELISSA MIOLENE: "This time last year, John Carlo Chan was teaching students half a world away.
He’d been educating 30 kids on the autism spectrum in his native Philippines. But when a friend mentioned the demand for teachers on the other side of the ocean, Chan decided to apply. Less than a year later, he landed a job as a special education teacher at Pacifica’s Oceana High."
Meet School Gig: A new app to connect schools and artists
EdSource, KAREN D'SOUZA: "Elmo Lovano fell for the drums at the age of 10. He was touring as a musician by 15, performing with the likes of Miley Cyrus and Juliette Lewis. His affinity for music eventually led him to found Jammcard: The Music Professionals Network, which has been described as a sort of LinkedIn for the music industry, connecting musicians to jobs.
“Art and music led me to become the entrepreneur that I am today,” Lovano said. “It taught me how to communicate with others and how to lead. Drumming gave me a feeling of passion that fueled my drive.”"
California says electric cars now make up a fifth of auto sales
Bloomberg, STAFF: "One out of every five cars sold in California is now powered by a battery, registration data released Wednesday by the California New Car Dealers Association shows.
In the first nine months of 2023, electric vehicles accounted for 21.5% of cars sold in California, a figure that’s more than doubled in the past two years. When combined with hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles, the year-to-date figure is 35.4%."
S.F. police brass struggle to explain racial disparities in use of force
The Chronicle, DANIEL LEMPRES: "San Francisco Police Department officials struggled to answer questions from the city’s Police Commission at a Wednesday meeting when asked to explain how, in a city where Black people make up only 5% of the population, they somehow made up 44% of police use-of-force incidents during the first half of the year, far more than any other race or ethnicity.
From January through June of this year, the San Francisco Police Department reported using force against Black people 502 times, compared with 311 times against Hispanic people, 223 against white people and 80 times against Asian people. SFPD categorized 35 incidents as against other racial groups."