In his recount of votes for state controller, John Pérez is targeting areas heavily populated by Latinos.
Jim Miller reports in the Sacramento Bee: “Whether the recount will help Pérez close a 481-vote gap out of 4 million cast and overtake his Asian American opponent, Betty Yee, will be decided in the ensuing weeks of tedious vote-counting by hand.”
“But the strategy highlights a system now coming under national criticism from vote-monitoring groups as inherently unfair.”
Meanwhile, California’s process to perform a recount is criticized.
Juliet Williams reports for the Associated Press: “Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have provisions for an automatic recount when the vote threshold is extremely close. California's controller race would be within the margin for an automatic recount in all of them, although the state is one of only a few that has a mandatory 1 percent manual tally of precincts for all counties, an attempt to expose any problems.”
“California's recount system invites criticism that it is unfair to candidates who do not have large campaign accounts to challenge contested outcomes, even when they believe there has been a mistake.”
For the first time in seven years, the state ends its fiscal year in the black.
Robin Respaut reports for Reuters: “The cash-positive balance is another sign of fiscal recovery after seven years of "record-high borrowing just to pay our everyday bills," Chiang said in a news release. But he added, "We should remain laser-focused on paying down the Wall of Debt, reversing the many accounting gimmicks to which we’ve become addicted and keeping the State as liquid as possible to avoid experiencing the payment delays and IOUs that plagued our State during the Great Recession."”
In determining a single strike, multiple counts may be considered says California Supreme Court.
Maura Dolan reports in the Los Angeles Times: “But in a ruling written by Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, the state high court said convictions based on a single act committed at the same time and against the same victim do not justify the harsher sentences imposed by the 1994 ballot measure.”
“The decision will overturn a 25-years-to-life sentence meted out to a woman who was convicted of a home burglary.”
Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff is urging Gov. Brown to appeal the recent ruling on teacher tenure.
Judy Lin reports for the Associated Press: “Huff urged Brown to consider the civil rights of disadvantaged students.”
"Senate Republicans strongly believe an appeal would further disenfranchise inner-city students and those who come from challenging socio-economic circumstances," Huff wrote. "The proper response would be to take advantage of this historic ruling as an opportunity to promote true education equality and fix California's broken public school system."”
Don’t bet on El Nino rescuing California from its historic drought.
Kurt Alexander reports in SF Gate: “The U.S. Climate Prediction Center, which issued its monthly report on Pacific Ocean weather patterns Thursday, is still projecting that sea surface temperatures will rise, a phenomenon known as El Niño. But the El Niño that's in the forecast will likely be "weak to moderate," the report says.”
“While strong El Niños have been associated with California's wettest years, lesser El Niños have not been linked to rainfall in Northern California.”
