Newsom rips into Trump celebration plan to fire missiles over California’s I-5 freeway
Chronicle, ALDO TOLEDO: "Picture it: U.S. warships firing live ammunition over a busy California freeway.
That’s the latest eye-popping proposal that has Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump locked in a pitched fight as tensions continue to flare between the federal government and California."
READ MORE: Camp Pendleton weekend live-fire military event won’t require shutting down 5 freeway, Marines say -- LAT, MELODY GUTIERREZ
Judge temporarily blocks mass staff firing of federal government workers
EdSource, BETTY MARQUEZ ROSALES: "A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to place an immediately hold on the mass firing of thousands of federal government workers, including 466 at the U.S. Department of Education, according to a press release by one of the unions that filed the motion.
The temporary restraining order granted by Judge Susan Illston states that existing reduction-in-force notices cannot be enforced and no additional notices can be issued to workers represented by the unions, which are the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGFE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)."
Trump keeps name-checking the Insurrection Act. It could give him extraordinary powers
LAT, SONJA SHARP: "There are few laws President Trump name-checks more frequently than the Insurrection Act.
A 200-year-old constellation of statutes, the act grants emergency powers to thrust active-duty soldiers into civilian police duty, something otherwise barred by federal law."
After CalMatters report, Newsom signs law forcing lawmakers to disclose their new jobs
CALMatters, RYAN SABALOW: "California’s elected and appointed officials will now have to tell the public when they’ve accepted a job offer from a new employer that might seek favors from them while they’re still in a position of power.
Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this month signed Assembly Bill 1286 by Democratic Assemblymember Tasha Boerner of Solana Beach. The measure requires California’s elected officials and state appointees to note on mandatory conflict of interest forms whether they’ve gotten a new job before their term in office ends."
Is Lindsey Horvath running for mayor of Los Angeles?
LAT, JULIA WICK: "Lindsey Horvath knew all the words to “Pink Pony Club.”
It was an overcast Sunday in June, the WeHo Pride parade was in full swing and the hit song about an iconic West Hollywood gay bar was blasting at full volume."
Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: "President Donald Trump on Wednesday indicated that he wanted to send federal troops to San Francisco, hours after Mayor Daniel Lurie and local law enforcement leaders pushed back on calls for the president to do just that.
Trump said at the White House that he was “strongly recommending” that his administration “start looking at San Francisco,” which he said had been “one of our great cities 10 years ago, 15 years ago.”"
Echoing the raids in L.A., parts of Chicago are untouched by ICE, others under siege
LAT, SUSANNE RUST: "Since the Trump administration announced its intention to accelerate and forcefully detain and deport thousands of immigrants here, the Chicago area is a split screen between everyday life and a city under siege.
As many people shop, go to work, walk their dogs and stroll with their friends through parks, others are being chased down, tear-gassed, detained and assaulted by federal agents carrying out immigration sweeps."
Newsom unveils $11 state insulin for Californians: ‘We took matters into our own hands’
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "Starting next year, Californians with diabetes will be able to purchase state-branded insulin at steeply reduced prices, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced today.
Long-acting insulin pens will be available at pharmacies for $11 per pen — or $55 for a five-pack — beginning Jan. 1. The pens are interchangeable with glargine, the generic alternative for Lantus, a once-a-day injection that regulates blood sugar. An equivalent amount of Lantus sells to pharmacies for more than $92, according to data compiled by the governor’s office, but consumers may pay a different price based on their insurance."
New fraud claims in L.A. County’s $4-billion sex settlement leave victims outraged
LAT, REBECCA ELLIS: "It felt like the kind of thing that must happen in Hollywood all the time: a hundred bucks to be a movie extra.
Austin Beagle, 31, and Nevada Barker, 30, said they were trying to sign up for food stamps this spring when someone offered them a background role outside a county social services office in Long Beach. They thought the gig seemed intriguing, albeit a bit unusual."
California hospitals are suing over the state’s efforts to curb their spending
CALMatters, ANA B. IBARRA: "California hospitals filed a lawsuit against a state health regulator Wednesday, seeking to block rules meant to keep consumer health care costs from growing too quickly.
The state Office of Health Care Affordability sets limits on health care spending, capping the amount that a hospital’s spending can grow each year. The California Hospital Association argues that the rules are illegal and will result in layoffs and cuts in services, ultimately reducing access to care."
‘They delayed, they denied’: How insurance errors endanger California patients
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "Mary Kuhn went to the emergency room at John Muir Medical Center because it felt like she was having a heart attack. Her chest and jaw hurt. Her tongue was numb. Instead of confirming a heart attack, testing later ordered by a cardiologist revealed a shocking diagnosis.
Kuhn had a massive hiatal hernia that required surgery. Her entire stomach had pushed into her chest cavity through an opening in the diaphragm, a muscle that divides the torso, and was wrapped around itself. In the crowded space, her esophagus was bent and twisted. If the entwined organs kept rotating further, they could cut off their own blood supply."
Chronicle, MAGGIE ANGST/GABRIELLE LURIE: "Austin Draper leaned back against a thin hospital pillow, gazing over at the clear liquid dripping into his veins.
“To think that I did something to myself to require all of this is scary,” the 35-year-old said in June."
New legislation could create state department to oversee youth sports
EdSource, DIANA LAMBERT: "New legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom could create a department to support and regulate youth athletics.
Assembly Bill 749, dubbed the Youth Sports for All Act, requires State Public Health Officer Erica Pan to create a commission to study the need for a California Department of Youth Sports."
Making applying to college a lot easier
Capitol Weekly, ACSAH LEMMA: "What if we just erase that gap between high school and higher education? What if we made applying to university as easy as transitioning from ninth to tenth grade?
Those were questions asked by freshman Senator Christopher Cabaldon (D-West Sacramento) and the inspiration for Senate Bill 640."
CSU ends decade-long graduation push with some success, some shortfalls
EdSource, AMY DIPIERRO: "California State University is marking the end of a decade-long effort to improve graduation rates with mixed results. While CSU has had long-term success in buoying the share of students who earn bachelor’s degrees, some metrics this year stayed flat, and equity goals remained stubbornly out of reach.
Systemwide, CSU has exceeded only one of the ambitious goals it set back in 2016. That’s the two-year graduation rate for transfer students, which beat CSU’s 45% goal over the 10-year graduation initiative by less than a percentage point."
A popular charter faces closure to make more room for an LAUSD school
LAT, HOWARD BLUME: "A divided Los Angeles school board has voted to shut down a popular charter school to make more space for its own program on the same Echo Park campus, pushing the boundaries of state law and school district authority over charters.
The 4-3 vote late Tuesday denied a renewal authorization for Gabriella Charter School, which means the 400-student school specializing in dance instruction, can’t operate beyond the end of the current school year."
How the tiniest domestic violence survivors heal with the help of a San Diego preschool
CALMatters, ADRIANA HELDIZ: "Elizabeth Gibot’s son James was normally a quiet and well-behaved toddler. But she noticed he began to cry more and appeared anxious whenever she wasn’t around. He also stopped using the sign language she taught him as a baby. She knew something was wrong, so she reached out to their pediatrician, but the doctor couldn’t provide any help or answers.
“He regressed from everything that I had taught him,” she said. “I guess it was very hard for other people to notice because nobody knows your child more than you.”"
San Francisco dries out after first storm. When will rain return?
Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "San Francisco is set for an extended stretch of dry weather after the first storm of the season soaked the region, but rain probably isn’t done with the Bay Area this month. Long-range forecasts indicate a return to wetter conditions is possible before Halloween.
With the next rain chance more than a week away, it’ll give San Franciscans time to enjoy tranquil mid-October weather, typically one of the warmest times of the year."
California’s annual earthquake drill happens today. Here are details
Chronicle, JACK LEE: "Get ready: The Great California ShakeOut is coming today.
The event is an annual earthquake drill, aimed at increasing public awareness about what to do during major shaking. Millions of people around the world have signed up for the drills, which are scheduled for 10:16 a.m. local time."
This historic town — with beer, beavers and a shipwreck — is the Bay Area’s secret getaway
Chronicle, PETER HARTLAUB: "Driving by Martinez for the last 40 years, my instinct has been to roll up the windows and increase my speed. The city has mostly been defined to outsiders by the imposing wall of refinery equipment visible along Interstate 680.
But that’s the East Bay city’s secret weapon: the element of surprise."
‘Shocked and confused’: Someone is menacing a quiet Oakland neighborhood by throwing rocks
Chronicle, ANNA BAUMAN: "Early last Wednesday morning, a man walked up to a duplex on a residential, tree-lined block in North Oakland and hurled a cantaloupe-sized rock through the front window, shattering the glass.
The vandal then turned and ran down the sidewalk, according to Ring camera footage shared by the property owner with the Chronicle, leaving residents of the Rockridge-area neighborhood alarmed by what they said marked a recent escalation in an ongoing pattern of similar attacks."