By next weekend, Jerry Brown will be the longest serving governor in California history, edging out Earl Warren, who left his third term in order to go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
From the Chronicle's Carla Marinucci: "As an energetic political wunderkind, he first took office in 1975 at age 36 as the nation's youngest governor. Today, he's an energetic, 75-year-old political silverback, in the midst of his third term and the nation's oldest governor."
"Brown's service as governor will exceed the late Gov. Earl Warren, also a third termer, who resigned Oct. 5, 1953, to become chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court."
"Political watchers love to speculate over whether Brown, son of the late Gov. Edmund "Pat" Brown, will be the first California governor to run for a fourth term next year. If he does, as is expected, and wins, he and his father together will have governed California for a quarter of a century."
Californians are evenly divided about whether the $68 billion high-speed rail project should be stopped.
From the LAT's Ralph Vartabedian: "Statewide, 52% of the respondents said the $68-billion project to link Los Angeles and San Francisco by trains traveling up to 220 mph should be halted. Just 43% said it should go forward."
"The poll also shows that cracks in voter support are extending to some traditional allies, such as Los Angeles-area Democrats, who have embraced the concept of high-speed rail as a solution to the state's transportation problems. The survey results suggest that the current plan and its implementation are of specific concern to those voters, according to officials with the Republican and Democratic firms that jointly conducted the poll...."
"The new findings mirror a USC Dornsife/L.A. Times poll taken last year, just before the state Legislature approved funding to start construction, under political pressure from the Obama administration and the state's Congressional leaders. At that time, state rail officials argued that public backing would increase as improvements to the rail plan became clear."
Speaking of travel time, the Bay Bridge looks nice, but for drivers who trying to cut their commute time, the new eastern span may not be much help -- in fact, it may make it worse.
From the Chronicle's Matier and Ross: "On average, daily westbound traffic on the Bay Bridge during the first 2 1/2 weeks after the eastern span's Labor Day opening was up 1,625 vehicles over last year, a 1.25 percent bump."
"That's enough to fill up an entire freeway lane for about 48 minutes, said Metropolitan Transportation Commission spokesman Randy Rentschler."
"The bottom line for drivers: Longer commute times. During peaks hours, for example, westbound trips from the Bay Bridge toll plaza to San Francisco's Fifth Street off-ramp have increased from an average of about 13 minutes at this time last year to 15 minutes. "
Silicon Valley bad boy John McAfee, the anti-virus guru who's been in scrapes around the world, came back home to let people know he's got a new device to block surveillance from the NSA.
From the Mercury-News' Tracey Kaplan: "John McAfee lived up to his reputation Saturday as tech's most popular wild child, electrifying an audience with new details of his plan to thwart the NSA's surveillance of ordinary Americans with an inexpensive, pocket-size gadget."
"Dubbed "Decentral," the as-yet-unbuilt device will cost less than $100, McAfee promised the enthusiastic crowd of about 300 engineers, musicians and artists at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center."
"There will be no way (for the government) to tell who you are or where you are," he said in an onstage interview with moderator Dan Holden at the inaugural C2SV Technology Conference + Music Festival."
