S.F. billionaire Tom Steyer announces run for California governor
Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Tom Steyer, the billionaire former hedge fund manager, 2020 presidential candidate and environmentalist who was an early leader of the drive to impeach Donald Trump, is running for California governor in 2028, he announced Wednesday.
Steyer, who lives in San Francisco’s Sea Cliff neighborhood, makes the argument that he will make corporations “pay their fair share” in order to help Californians build a “life they can afford,” in a campaign video released Wednesday. He said he wants to lower electricity prices by “ending corporate monopolies,” close corporate loopholes and use the revenue to make preschool and community college free for all Californians and ban corporate PAC money from state elections."
READ MORE -- Billionaire hedge fund founder Tom Steyer is running for governor -- LAT, SEEMA MEHTA; Billionaire activist Tom Steyer joins race to succeed Newsom as California governor -- CALMatters, MAYA C. MILLER
FBI intercepted communications within Gavin Newsom’s office in probe of former aide
Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "The FBI has notified some current and former members of the Newsom administration that agents intercepted their communications as part of its investigation of the governor’s former chief of staff.
Such notices are required by law and expected when the federal government concludes an investigation, according to a source in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office who declined to be named, in keeping with the Chronicle’s policy on anonymous sources, because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the investigation. The source declined to say how many staffers were notified or whether the governor received such a notice."
READ MORE -- FBI sent letters to CA lobbyists as part of corruption probe involving ex-Newsom chief of staff -- Sac Bee, LIA RUSSELL
‘Played with fire, got burned’: GOP control of House at risk after court blocks Texas map
LAT, MICHAEL WILNER: "A federal court on Tuesday blocked Texas from moving forward with its new congressional map, hastily drawn in hopes of netting up to five additional Republican seats and securing the U.S. House for the GOP in next year’s midterm elections.
The ruling is a major political blow to the Trump administration, which set off a redistricting arms race throughout the country earlier this year by encouraging Texas lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional district boundaries mid-decade — an extraordinary move bucking traditional practice."
Inside the implosion of S.F. Mayor Daniel Lurie’s pick for Sunset supervisor
Chronicle, MICHAEL BARBA/J.D. MORRIS: "San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and his aides gathered outside a Sunset District library on an overcast morning two weeks ago, eager to announce the biggest political appointment of his career.
After weeks of secretive deliberations, he had finally chosen a replacement for ousted Supervisor Joel Engardio: an energetic former small business owner named Beya Alcaraz."
Sacramento DA Thien Ho announces bid for open 6th Congressional seat
Sac Bee, NICOLE NIXON: "After one term as Sacramento County’s top prosecutor, District Attorney Thien Ho is running for California’s 6th Congressional District, which currently does not have an incumbent running after voters redrew the state’s congressional map earlier this month.
Ho’s family fled Vietnam and came to the United States when he was a young child, a backstory that features prominently in his decision to run for the congressional seat."
Casino workers’ union rallies support for contentious Sky River campaign
Sac Bee, ANNIKA MERRILEES: "The hotel and casino workers’ union rallied in Elk Grove, Tuesday, in an attempt to galvanize support for a contentious organizing campaign at the nearby Sky River Casino.
The organizing effort has escalated into a prolonged legal dispute between the union, Unite Here Local 49, and the Wilton Rancheria, which opened Sky River in 2022. More than 100 casino workers and union allies gathered at Old Town Plaza in Elk Grove Tuesday evening, and called on Sky River to recognize the union as its workers’ representative. During the rally, a group of union organizers and allies delivered worker-signed petitions to the Wilton Rancheria’s offices nearby."
California officials condemn Trump’s plan to break up Education Department
EdSource, DIANA LAMBERT: "California state officials and some education advocates joined others around the country in condemning a plan announced Tuesday by the Trump administration to disassemble the U.S. Department of Education.
The plan creates partnership agreements between the Department of Education and six other federal agencies, allowing the Trump administration to move programs by using an interagency agreement permitted under the Economy Act."
Cal State wants to offer bigger raises to campus presidents while cutting elsewhere
CALMatters, MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN: "California State University’s trustees will vote tomorrow on whether to increase how much the system’s 22 campus presidents and other senior executives earn, potentially paving the way for up to 15% in annual incentive-based raises paid for by philanthropic funds and base salaries that reflect how much presidents at similar universities earn.
Exact numbers aren’t available; those will be revealed during tomorrow morning’s board meeting. Committee members will discuss the matter and decide on whether to advance the idea during a scheduled vote before noon. The full board will vote on the measure in the afternoon. The plan will kick in the next year or two. No executives will receive raises under the proposed plan this year."
A rare stratospheric warming event is about to occur. Here’s what it means for California
Chronicle, GREG PORTER: "Something strange is taking shape high above the Arctic this month. The stratosphere, a cold, still layer of the atmosphere about 20 miles up, appears to be about to experience a dramatic warm up. It’s a rare change for November and one that could set the stage for sharp weather swings across the Northern Hemisphere in December.
A sudden stratospheric warming is a sharp temperature spike, where the air high over the Arctic warms dramatically over just a few days. That part of the atmosphere is usually bitterly cold, with strong west-to-east winds whipping around the north pole like a racetrack. That spinning ring of winds is called the polar vortex. Those winds are driven by the temperature contrast between the pole and the mid-latitudes."
SAFE Credit Union could merge with larger firm. What it means for Sacramento
Sac Bee, ANNIKA MERRILEES: "Folsom-based SAFE Credit Union, an 85-year-old area institution that employs nearly 700 people and headlines Sacramento’s downtown convention center, has taken steps to merge with a larger, Washington state-based credit union, the organizations announced Tuesday.
SAFE reached a definitive agreement to merge with BECU — a credit union based on the outskirts of Seattle, originally founded for Boeing employees — in a deal that would expand BECU into the nation’s fourth-largest credit union, overseeing $33 billion in assets, up from fifth. SAFE officials said the merger would fortify their organization, bring about new services for members and necessary investments in technology, and allow them to compete more effectively with banks."
Ticket fee at A’s games? Sales tax hike? Yolo supervisors hope to raise revenue
Sac Bee, ISHANI DESAI: "Yolo County voters may see higher taxes as elected officials contemplate revenue raising measures to prevent a budget deficit in the upcoming years.
The Yolo County Board of Supervisors heard Tuesday a series of measures intended to inflate county coffers as estimates show expenditures rise faster than revenue for five years, starting from 2026. Elected officials heard a presentation on cost-raising strategies that could be employed but did not decide on a preferred financial mechanism."
This Arizona town is an unexpected magnet for Californians: ‘We do it our way’
LAT, TERRY CASTLEMAN: "In 1968, inventor Robert McCulloch purchased the decommissioned London Bridge for $2.4 million and began to move it to newly founded Lake Havasu City, Ariz.
Each of the bridge’s 10,276 granite blocks were shipped by sea to Long Beach, then trucked to Arizona."
8 in 10 Bay Area homes have lost value in the last year. Here’s why that might not help buyers
Chronicle, CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "More than 80% of homes in the San Francisco metropolitan area have lost value from last year. But most are still worth far more than they were purchased for.
The San Francisco metro area, which includes the city, San Mateo, Marin, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, has passed that 8 in 10 rate only twice in recent history — in 2023, when spiking interest rates caused a massive slowdown in the U.S. housing market; and in the wake of the 2008 recession. That’s according to a new report from real estate company Zillow, which estimates the market value of homes."