Something big is blocking California’s winter storms — here’s what that means
Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "San Francisco’s wettest month, climatologically, isn’t shaping up to follow the traditional script this year.
The city averages more rain in December than any other month, but California’s precipitation forecast to close out 2025 is grim."
Hard lives in California’s fields: ‘The American dream eats us alive’
LAT, BRITTNY MEJIA: "The American squatted in the dirt, struggling to free the cantaloupe from its prickly stem, almost toppling over.
On either side, men bent at the waist, clearing fruit with one quick sweep of the knife and moving on to the next. The American fell further behind."
Robert Garcia leads Democrats’ strategy on Epstein probe, to GOP’s dismay
LAT, ANA CEBALLOS: "Rep. Robert Garcia and his team faced a monumental task on Nov. 5: Sift through more than 20,000 documents obtained from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein in search for something that would shed more light into President Trump’s relationship with the now-deceased convicted sex offender.
After six tedious days combing through the records, Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and four staff members identified three emails that would go on to ignite a political firestorm."
New California law means a big change for grocery shoppers in 2026
Chronicle, LUCY HODGMAN: "Plastic grocery bags will start vanishing from California grocery stores after Jan. 1, when restrictions are set to tighten as part of the state’s campaign to keep the bags from clogging waterways and landfills.
California technically banned plastic grocery bags more than a decade ago, in 2014. But at the urging of plastic and grocery lobbyists, that law left an exception for thicker plastic bags that can theoretically be reused 125 times. It didn’t take long for the bulkier bags — which use more plastic and are still often thrown away after a single use — to become standard at grocery store registers."
S.F. Mayor Lurie taps Sunset native and former City Hall aide for supervisor
Chronicle, JD MORRIS/ALYCE MCFADDEN/LUCY HODGMAN: "San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has tapped community college trustee Alan Wong to be the Sunset District’s new city supervisor, concluding a closely watched appointment process that became a politically fraught test for the mayor’s administration in recent weeks.
Wong, 38, is a Sunset native who was elected to the Board of Trustees for the City College of San Francisco in 2020 and 2024 and also works as policy director for the Children’s Council of San Francisco. Wong used to work as an aide to former Supervisor Gordon Mar, the progressive lawmaker who narrowly lost reelection to Supervisor Joel Engardio in 2022. Engardio was ousted in a September recall."
Migrants face a choice: Wait years for a hearing, or agree to be deported now
Times-SD, LILLIAN PERLMUTTER: "When ICE agents pulled her over in Phoenix in August, Dugeys Perez was on her way to deliver a McDonald’s order for UberEats.
She had lived in the U.S. for a year and a half with temporary protected status granted by the government, sending money home to Venezuela, while hoping courts would grant her asylum."
Suspect in National Guard attack struggled with ‘dark isolation’ as community raised concerns
LAT, FARNOUSH AMIRI: "The Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard members in the nation’s capital last week had been unraveling for years, unable to hold a job and flipping between long, lightless stretches of isolation and taking sudden weeks-long cross-country drives, emails obtained by the Associated Press show.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal’s behavior deteriorated so sharply that a community advocate reached out to a refugee organization for help, fearing he was becoming suicidal."
‘No parent should have to bury their child’: Stockton mourns mass shooting deaths; no arrests yet
Chronicle, ANNA BAUMAN/LUCY HODGMAN: "The people who died at the mass shooting at a children’s birthday party in Stockton on Saturday ranged in age from 8 to 21, according to a spokesperson for the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office.
Heather Brent, the public information officer, said Sunday morning that 15 people were shot, four of them fatally, and the deceased victims were ages 8, 9, 14 and 21. At least one of the surviving victims remained in critical condition Sunday night, according to the sheriff's office."
READ MORE -- 4 dead, including 3 children, in shooting at family event in Stockton -- LAT, JESSICA GARRISON/JACK FLEMMING/CAROLINE PETROW-COHEN/JASMINE MENDEZ; What we know about mass shooting in Stockton that killed 4, wounded 11 -- SacBee, KATHLEEN QUINN/GRAHAM WOMACK/DANIEL LEMPRES
Possible strike in East Bay school district reflects statewide tensions
EdSource, LOUIS FREEDBERG: "Along with at least a half dozen school districts in California, the West Contra Costa Unified School District is struggling to break an impasse in labor negotiations with teachers at a time of declining enrollments and rising costs for both schools and employees.
In West Contra Costa Unified, which includes the city of Richmond and four surrounding communities in the San Francisco Bay Area, the district is bracing for a possible strike that union leaders say they might call this week if their demands for higher compensation and other issues are not met."
‘Tech wealth effect’: Most Bay Area homes have lost value — except for one type
Chronicle, CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "For much of 2025, the Bay Area housing market has been fairly cool. Prices and mortgage rates are too high to justify taking out a 30-year loan, many would-be buyers and real estate agents lamented.
But in wealthy communities like Atherton or Woodside, cash and deeds are still changing hands briskly. The luxury home market is heating up even faster than the rest of the market, which started to pick up in the second half of this year as the artificial intelligence boom brought a wave of new money — at least for some buyers."
California EV drivers could now get a $490 ticket if they break this new rule
Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "Drivers of electric vehicles who continue cruising solo in California’s carpool lanes could face a $490 citation, starting Monday.
The specter of an expensive fine marks the end of a privilege that EV owners have enjoyed for decades: unfettered access to faster-moving sections of freeways, which are normally reserved for cars with two or more people inside. Once in the carpool or “diamond” lanes, EV drivers also enjoyed discounted bridge tolls."
LAT, LISA BOONE: "As travelers prepare to fly home on what is anticipated to be one of the busiest travel days in 15 years, a powerful winter storm in the Midwest and Great Lakes region has prompted the cancellation of hundreds of flights nationwide.
As of noon Sunday, 6,211 flights have been delayed into and out of the United States, and 1,006 flights have been canceled, according to flight tracker FlightAware, which provides live flight delay and cancellation updates."
San Diego County World AIDS Day events continue despite federal directive
Times-SD, City News Service: "San Diegans will commemorate the 37th annual World AIDS Day Monday at various events around the county.
This year’s theme is “Overcoming disruption; transforming the AIDS response,” a call for sustained political leadership, international cooperation and a human rights-centered approaches to ending AIDS by 2030."