With optimism, high hopes and nonpartisan revelry, the session has begun. Marc Lifsher looks at the legislature’s first week for the Los Angeles Times.
“With children in tow, state lawmakers gathered for a moment of bipartisan good cheer last week. Democrats and Republicans alike hugged and backslapped, got themselves sworn in and offered a few clues about the issues ahead.
“By the end of Day One, they managed to introduce 114 bills and resolutions in the Assembly and the Senate and reelect Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) before going home for the holidays. They are due back Monday, Jan. 5.”
Inflamed by the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, Berkeley protesters spent the weekend demonstrating. The protests began peacefully, but by early evening protesters were blocking freeways, setting fires, rioting and looting...
Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris, two California political heavyweights who each cruised to reelection last month, may be on a collision course. From Carla Marinucci at SFGate:
“Both Newsom, 47, and Harris, 50, are A-list candidates for high office. No other Democrats are as well known in California, and Republicans, who lag 13 points behind on voter registration, are all but out of the picture for statewide office for the foreseeable future.
“But Newsom, the former San Francisco mayor, and Harris, the former San Francisco district attorney, share many of the same supporters and donors — one reason Democrats worry about a demolition derby on their next political lap.
“’They’re legitimate superstars, and it would be a tragedy if they bump into each other,’ said Dan Newman, a partner in SCN Strategies, the political consulting firm that ran the re-election campaigns of both Harris and Newsom in November.”
Two papers offer profiles of two major GOP donors whose causes aren’t as predictably red as they once were. Jean Merl of the Los Angeles Times talks with Bill Bloomfield; and over at the Bee, Dan Morain chats with B. Wayne Hughes, Jr. Between them, they are responsible for pumping over $7 million into the 2014 election.
Water from abandoned mines could be contaminating California’s water supply, according to the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a state agency. Ed Joyce reports for Capital Public Radio:
“Joan Keegan, Conservancy Assistant Executive Officer, said abandoned mines with contaminated soil are a ‘huge problem…’
“She said contaminated soil from abandoned mines drains in waterways that flow to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
"’Basically, a lot of the mercury and other toxins, that are a result of abandoned mine lands in the Sierra, have and continue to make their way downstream into the Delta,’ said Keegan.
While Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is announcing his plans today to ban single-use plastic bags in the city, the plastics industry is working overtime to overturn SB270, the statewide ban set to take effect in 2016. Dorothy Mills-Gregg has the story at Capitol Weekly.
“Referendum proponents have until Dec. 29 to collect enough signatures to put the referendum before voters in November 2016. If they qualify the measure, the law signed by Brown will remain frozen until voters decide whether to keep the law or throw it out.
“Between Oct. 13 and Dec. 1, a handful of companies donated $2.74 million to fight the new law. Much of the money, about $1.7 million, came from South Carolina-based HiLex Poly, a national bag manufacturing company. Durabag, a California company, contributed $50,000, while another California company, Crown Poly, donatged $12,000. Much of the money is going to signature gathering.”
And a sad anniversary today: former Beatle John Lennon was assassinated outside his home 34 years ago today by obsessed fan Mark David Chapman. Chapman shot Lennon four times in the back at 10:50 PM as the star and his wife, avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, returned home. Lennon was declared dead at 11:15. He was 40 years old.
Let’s remember John in happier times - here’s a link to live footage of John singing “Twist and Shout” with The Beatles at the Royal Variety Show in October 1963.
