Kevin McCarthy uses PAC to lavish cash on high-end resorts, private jets and fine dining
LA Times, PAUL PRINGLE: "Rambling above the rust-colored cliffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the Terranea Resort is known for its ocean views, world-ranked spa and villas that can command $3,000 a night or more.
The property is less well known as a gathering spot for federal elected officials and the campaign donors they wine and dine."
McCarthy resignation sets off mad scramble
CALMatters, JOE KIETA: "Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s announcement today that he will vacate his seat and not seek reelection sets off a tidal wave of speculation on who will represent a wide swath of California’s agricultural heartland.
The timing of the announcement also puts McCarthy in a spot to be a political kingmaker if he makes an early endorsement. It’s a role he’s played before and relishes. In announcing his resignation in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, McCarthy reiterated that he will “continue to recruit our country’s best and brightest to run for elected office.”"
Newsom appointed a replacement for Feinstein. Why can’t he do that for McCarthy?
Capitol Weekly, BRIAN JOSEPH: "When U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein died in late September, there was immediate speculation as to who Gov. Gavin Newsom would appoint to fill out much of the remainder of her term.
But when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced today that he will be leaving Congress at the end of the year, the talk has all been about who will run in the special election to replace him."
How well is your legislator representing you?
CALMatters, SAMEEA KAMAL: "Pop quiz: What does your state senator do?
And for extra credit: Which Assemblymember represents you?"
A majority of Californians will vote yes on Proposition 1 next spring, survey says
Sacramento Bee, ANDREW SHEELER: "Two-thirds (68%) of likely California voters say they will support Proposition 1, the March 2024 ballot measure that would provide billions in bond money for homeless individuals and restructure the state’s funding model for behavioral health services.
That’s the finding of the Public Policy Institute of California, which published its latest survey Wednesday evening."
Tech CEO, Palo Alto council member join packed Silicon Valley House race
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Two more Democratic candidates — one a Palo Alto City Council member and former Stanford University dean, the other a veteran and tech CEO — are expected to enter the crowded field Thursday in the race to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo.
Julie Lythcott-Haims, who serves on the Palo Alto City council, told the Chronicle she was “astonished” that no other female candidates have filed the paperwork to run. After top female elected officials in the region told her that they weren’t entering the House race, Lythcott-Haims said she made her move."
3 killed, 1 injured in UNLV mass shooting; shooter was an academic in his 60s, sources say
LA Times, STAFF: "A gunman opened fire Wednesday on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, killing three people and unsettling a city that six years ago endured one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.
The shooting, which also left the assailant dead and at least one other person injured, was reported around noon at the Frank and Estella Beam Hall, home to the Lee Business School, police said."
READ MORE -- In wake of UNLV, how California colleges gird against active shooters -- LA Times, STAFF
Buying guns for criminals: Easy, illegal and ‘extremely difficult’ to stop
LA Times, GABRIELLE LAMARR LEMEE, CONNOR SHEETS: "Vainiaku Magic Na’a walked into a Scheels sporting goods store south of Salt Lake City on a September afternoon in 2021. He strode past racks of camping supplies and the indoor Ferris wheel and headed upstairs to the expansive gun section.
He picked out a Glock 43 pistol from one of several locked display cases set amid a taxidermied menagerie, according to a federal criminal complaint. He showed the clerk his Utah driver’s license and concealed-carry permit and checked “yes” on the required federal form that asked whether he was purchasing the gun for himself."
California can take kids from abused moms. Why the separation can harm both
CALMatters, CHRISANNA MINK: "Worried that her abusive partner would kill her or her boys, Jackie had nowhere to go and no one to ask for help. She said her partner had angry outbursts, beat her, degraded her and destroyed things in the house. She knew she had to escape.
She called the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, hoping for a path to a safe place to stay. Instead, she received a warning that struck a different kind of fear in her."
California will mandate electric school buses. But rural districts say they don’t work
LA Times, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "As the yellow bus carrying the Lassen High School girls’ volleyball team turned right on Highway 44, a sign flashed in its headlights: NEXT SERVICES 51 MILES.
It was just after 10 p.m. on a Thursday, and Bus 7221 was deep in the fire-scarred Lassen National Forest on a dark and winding two-lane highway, with no cellphone service."
Why five superintendents decided to walk away from their jobs
EdSource, DIANA LAMBERT: "California school superintendents have been leaving their jobs in large numbers this year. Many reached retirement age; others, tired of dealing with the aftermath of pandemic school closures, are retiring early or leaving for other jobs or business opportunities. Some are just looking for a change.
Then there are the superintendents who, having put off plans for retirement to help districts through pandemic closures, now finally feel comfortable enough to leave."
One Temecula Valley PAC submits signatures for Joseph Komrosky recall
EdSource, MALLIKA SESHADRI: "One Temecula Valley PAC has submitted 5,236 signatures to initiate a recall election against Temecula Valley Unified School District’s school board president, Joseph Komrosky — surpassing the requirement of 4,280 two days before Friday’s deadline.
The Registrar of Voters in Riverside County will now formally count and verify the legitimacy of the signatures to determine if the recall campaign will lead to an election. Jeff Tack, co-founder of One Temecula Valley political action committee — which aims to combat “a very real and dangerous threat to local governance posed by political and religious extremist views” — anticipates that the process will take a couple of months."
LA Times, JENNY JARVIE: "The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was best known for its sit-ins against segregation in the Deep South. But in the summer of 1967, the civil rights group used its newsletter to weigh in on a different topic.
In an article headlined “The Palestine Problem,” the group wrote: “Do you know that Zionism, which is a world-wide nationalistic Jewish movement, organized, planned and created the ‘State of Israel’ by sending Jewish immigrants from Europe into Palestine (the heart of the Arab world) to take over land and homes belonging to the Arabs?”"
The Chronicle, RAHEEM HSSEINI: "It has the makings of an annual tradition Olivia Du could do without.
This past July, the New York financial worker ponied up $2,000 for a round-trip plane ticket and endured a 22-hour flight for the sole purpose of getting her work visa, which is good until 2028, restamped at a U.S. embassy in her native Beijing. The 23-year-old will have to do the same thing next July, and the four Julys after that."
Migrant farmworkers want to live in California. There’s just no affordable housing for them
Sacramento Bee, LINDSEY HOLDEN, MATHEW MIRANDA: "Many migrant farmworkers living in California-run housing would settle full time in their communities if they could find affordable housing, and their children struggle to keep up in school as a result of frequent moves.
This is what The Sacramento Bee learned during a year-long investigation into the state’s 24 migrant farmworker housing centers, which provide subsidized units for seasonal workers."
Tech billionaire city builders made their case to Solano County residents. It didn’t go well
The Chronicle, J.K. DINEEN: "Rio Vista is Solano County’s smallest town.
But when it comes to shaping — or fighting — a new city proposed in the county by a group of Silicon Valley billionaires, the tight-knit riverfront town of 10,000 residents could feature the loudest and most influential voices."
READ MORE -- Billionaires’ utopia CEO defiant in face of loud calls to drop lawsuit against Solano County property owners -- BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN BARON
S.F. created a list of ‘serial offender’ builders and engineers. It has one name on it
The Chronicle, ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH: "Disturbed by a City Hall corruption scandal that exposed a pay-to-play culture in the building department, San Francisco supervisors voted to crack down on builders and engineers who flout the rules.
In 2021, they unanimously passed legislation requiring the Department of Building Inspection to track and log violation notices handed to developers, contractors and engineers. The idea was that some would be placed in an “Expanded Compliance Control Program” and their identities be made public, and that building inspection officials would be required to notify licensing boards or regulatory agencies of their investigations and findings and give extra scrutiny to any new applications for permits."
A pilotless plane just flew for 12 minutes over Northern California
The Chronicle, CLARE FONSTEIN: "A plane took off and landed from a Northern California airport with no pilot on board.
The flight was operated by Reliable Robotics, a Mountain View-based company founded in 2017 by former SpaceX and Tesla employees."
S.F. merchants want controversial bike lanes removed, say they’re ‘destroying’ businesses
The Chronicle, LAURA WAXMANN: "Restaurateur David White has owned businesses in San Francisco’s Mission District for nearly two decades, and also lives in the neighborhood. He usually bikes to Yellow Moto Pizzeria, his recently rebranded restaurant that operates at the corner of 18th and Valencia streets.
White considers himself to be “pro-biking, pro-public safety and pro-good transit.” He says he even was in favor of the, now, highly controversial pilot program that planted a two-way, protected bike lane down the center of the Valencia Street corridor earlier this year — a plan that bicycle advocates point out was a compromise with merchants to an earlier proposal that called for adding protections to curbside bike lanes on the street."
Bay Area postal workers are being robbed of essential keys. Thousands are now at risk
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "Keys granting access to mailboxes inside apartment complexes and postal collection boxes were stolen in San Jose last month when robbers attacked a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier at gunpoint, a security risk that could affect thousands of people in the city, officials said.
It’s the latest example of what officials called a growing threat to mail carriers that continues to jeopardize mail and package deliveries across the region."