The enigma that is Patty Lopez continues to get more intriguing – the newly-sworn legislator says that her win was the result of a plan orchestrated with Kevin Suscavage, a primary opponent, to oust an incumbent who was out of touch with the district. Jeremy White has the story in the Sacramento Bee.
“Shortly before the primary, Lopez said, they discussed forming an alliance to replace an incumbent they viewed as a Sacramento insider.
“’I approached him at the time and I said, “We’re working together to get the same position,”’ Lopez said. ‘If you get it I will support you, and if I get it and I finish in good position in June, maybe you can come and help me.’”
Violent protests over the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown continued for a third night in Berkeley, with demonstrators blocking traffic on the I-80 freeway, and even stopping a train. From Vivian Ho, Evan Sernoffsky and Kale Williams at SFGate:
“Just south of the bridge near Addison Street and Essex Way, a group blocked an Amtrak train while another tore down a fence and again blocked traffic on the interstate in both directions, the CHP said.
“Danielle Fung, 30, was one of more than a dozen who linked arms and stood on the tracks to stop the slowly rolling train while one blew a conch shell and the others yelled, ‘Shut it down! Shut it down!’ She said she felt like stopping a train represented power.
“’We’re standing up for what we want, standing up for ourselves,’ she said. ‘We are bringing attention to humanity.’”
The governor’s office announced yesterday that Governor Brown will combine his inauguration and State of the State address into one event – no big surprise for an official who has downplayed many of the formal, ceremonial aspects of the governor’s gig. From John Myers at KQED:
“Brown’s office on Monday announced that the governor will take the oath of office for an unprecedented fourth term on the morning of Monday, Jan. 5, in the chambers of the state Assembly — and then deliver his annual State of the State address.
“Two tasks, one event. Probably all over in time for lunch.”
Numbers for California’s Black Legislative Caucus and the Asian and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus are at an all time high, reports Samantha Gallegos in Capitol Weekly.
“Until now, the number of black members in the Legislature peaked at nine and the Asian and Pacific Islander members reached a record high last session with 11.
“There are now 12 lawmakers who have Asian or Pacific Islander descent – a new high that will likely soon be match by their Black Legislative Caucus colleagues. The Black Legislative Caucus currently has 11 members, but the anticipated election Tuesday of Isidore Hall would bring the Black Caucus to 12 members, too.”
A report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says that natural weather variations – not global warming – are responsible for California’s record drought. Many climate scientists disagree. Seth Borenstein has the story for the Associated Press.
"’The conditions of the last three winters are not the conditions that climate change models say would happen,’ [Study lead author Richard Seager] said. But he said the La Nina, which is the cooler flip side of the warming of central Pacific ocean, can only be blamed for about one-third of the drought. The rest of the causes can be from just random variation, he said.
“Some outside climate scientists criticized the report, saying it didn't take into effect how record warmth worsened the drought. California is having its hottest year on record, based on the first 11 months of the year and is 4.1 degrees warmer than 20th-century average, according to the National Climatic Data Center.”
Business groups say that west coast longshoreman are playing the Grinch this holiday season, choking supplies of goods at port warehouses to pressure the Pacific Maritime Association into signing a new contract. Mike Elk has the story at Politico.
“If action isn’t taken immediately to stop the slowdown, the business groups allege, there will be tears on Christmas morning. ‘We are hearing from folks that they are having issues with some of the last-minute hot items that are still stuck at the ports,’ said the National Retail Federation’s Jon Gold. ‘It used to take cargo two to three days to get out of the ports. Now it’s taking seven to ten days, and that has an impact.’”
We all have our recurring nightmares - falling off a cliff, leaving the house naked, being trapped in an elevator with Mike Duvall - but surely, this tops them all: you’re making breakfast for a bunch of hooligans, in Saskatoon, and they throw a snake at you. Really. From the Star Phoenix:
“After a dispute over diced onions on a breakfast sandwich, two men threw a snake over a counter towards an employee of a Saskatoon Tim Hortons…
“’I’ve never heard of a snake being thrown at an employee by a customer … It was definitely a little chaotic,’ said Saskatoon police spokeswoman Alyson Edwards.”
Police say no one was injured in the incident, and the snake – now nicknamed ‘Outlaw,’ will be cared for until spring when it can be released into the wild.
