Adios, La Niña. See you next year, maybe?
Kurtis Alexander with The Chronicle: "La Niña may not happen after all."
"Federal climate scientists on Thursday dialed back their forecast for the influential weather pattern that is sometimes associated with dry years in parts of the Americas, including California — where another winter of scant rain could wreak havoc on the drought-plagued state."
"California saw near-normal precipitation in most places last winter, but the state is still wrestling with the fallout from an unprecedented four-year dry spell before that. Water supplies are only beginning to recover, and many farmers and small towns still face restrictions while fish and forests continue to languish."
Trump has a storied history of donating to politicians, but scrutiny about a donation he made to U.S. Senate candidate Kamalla Harris during a time when Harris' office was investigating Trump University for predatory practices, has placed an unsavory spotlight on both the presidential nominee and the Senate candidate.
Matthew Artz with Mercury News: "When Donald Trump made illegal immigration his political calling card, dubious Republicans wasted no time pointing out his financial support for one of the most prominent defenders of Sanctuary Cities: California Attorney General Kamala Harris."
"Trump donated $5,000 to Harris’s campaign fund in 2011 and another $1,000 in 2013.Ivanka Trump gave Harris $2,000 in 2013. Trump has donated to several prominent Democrats over the years, including Gov. Jerry Brown and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, but it turns out that he had extra incentive to fortify Harris’ war chest."
"Several news outlets reported this week that Trump contributed $25,000 to a group supporting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in 2013 at the same time her office was considering joining a lawsuit against the now defunct Trump University by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. According to the New York Times, Trump gave money to Schneiderman, then-Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot and Harris, whose office also was investigating the for-profit real estate academy for defrauding studnets.
Harris donated Trump’s money to charity."
READ MORE related to U.S. Senate Race and Beltway: Sanchez calls on feds to take over CPUC probe -- Jeff McDonald with San Diego-Union Tribune; Trump dismisses fact checkers, claims incorrectly (again) that he opposed Iraq War -- Jose A. DelReal
Despite population boons and an increase in pregnancies, the state still lacks adequate medical care or legislation protecting and helping pregnant women in non-metropolitan areas.
Minerva Canto with CalMatters: "Affordable homes with ample lots lure many families to the town of Apple Valley in the Mojave Desert. But amenities are limited—no department stores, no Costco and, more importantly, few affordable medical care options for pregnant women. For Cassandra Lindstrom, that meant scheduling the birth of her second baby at a hospital at least an hour away via busy Cajon Pass."
"I was worried that I wouldn’t make it in time and give birth on the freeway,” she said."
"Her situation is mirrored by countless other women in a state with a severe shortage of obstetricians and gynecologists. Eight California counties—particularly those in the far north and east—lack even one licensed obstetrician-gynecologist, and 11 other counties have a handful or fewer, according to the state’s Health and Human Services Department."
The illegal cannabis industry has a much darker side to it -- one involving sexual abuse and human trafficking horror stories -- within our very own Emerald Triangle.
Shoshana Walter with The Center for Investigative Reporting: "The trees towered above them, limbs etched in black against the night sky. He steered his pickup down a narrow path of mud and rocks and parked in front of a trailer. He tried to kiss her. She froze."
"What are you doing?” she asked."
"I have to get up early,” she said."
Yesterday's news saw an update to the sex scandal involving then-minor Celeste Guap and several police departments in the Bay Area when multiple officers lost their positions and jobs--but today will bring forth a revelation of charges against those involved.
Rachel Swan with The Chronicle: "Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley is expected Friday to announce decisions about charges in a sexual misconduct scandal rattling several Bay Area law enforcement agencies."
"The woman at the center of the case, a 19-year-old sex worker from Richmond who calls herself Celeste Guap, said she had sex with 29 officers from various cities over the past two years. Some of the encounters took place when she was a minor."
"Among the officers Guap named was a Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputy who she said would pick her up and drive to a secluded road near the Caldecott Tunnel. Guap said the two had sex in his car “about 10 times” when she was 17."
It's no secret that government entities mishandle money, but a recent audit within the last 2 years has shown that mental health services -- which gets nearly $2 billion in tax revenue yearly due to Proposition 63, or 'Millionaire's Tax'--is not being tracked nor accounted for.
Juliet Williams with AP: "Weak financial reporting and limited oversight of revenue have tainted Proposition 63, known as the Millionaire's Tax, the Little Hoover Commission said in the report sent to Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature."
"Twelve years and $17 billion later the state still can't handily show the impacts of this funding, how it is spent or who is helped," the report said."
"Commission Chairman Pedro Nava, a former state lawmaker, said the panel heard many success stories from within the program, but too many were anecdotal and there was no statewide data to back up the transformative reports."
Students held a protest at U.C. Berkeley yesterday morning amid the return of an embattled Law School Dean who left the campus earlier this year due to allegations of sexual harassment.
Austin Weinstein and Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks with Daily Californian: "As a new semester begins at the UC Berkeley School of Law, former dean Sujit Choudhry returns to the school for the first time since news broke that a campus investigation found he had violated university sexual misconduct policy, attracting criticism from students and faculty members alike."
"About 40 students and community members gathered on Sproul Plaza on Wednesday afternoon and later marched through the Berkeley Law campus protesting Choudhry’s return, as well as the publication of an open letter written by Choudhry and published in The Daily Californian’s opinion section Tuesday."
"I don’t want to feel unsafe walking down a hallway to a classroom,” saidAxenya Kachen, a campus senior who organized the protest."
A program to help low-income drivers navigate traffic court and pay accrued debt in an effort to lift license restrictions may soon go into affect.
Farida Jhabvala Romero with KQED: "A bill that would have allowed potentially millions of low-income Californians with traffic debt to regain or keep a valid driver’s license has been scaled back significantly to focus instead on expediting the state’s temporary traffic amnesty program."
"Gov. Jerry Brown has characterized the traffic court system as a “hellhole of desperation” for the poor. In California and other states, the courts use license suspensions as a way to pressure drivers to pay for tickets and related court fees, which can snowball into hundreds of dollars for minor infractions such as driving with a broken taillight or alone in a carpool lane."
"The bill that the Legislature sent to Brown last week focuses on expediting how the state’s temporary traffic amnesty program works, by requiring courts to decide amnesty claims within 90 days, and to process all claims filed by March 31, 2017, when that program ends."
A tweet from a SF School Board President Matt Haney in which he proposes renaming 'slaverholder branded' schools has landed him in seriously hot water with the public.
"Matt Haney, the president of the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education, was discussing Maya Angelou with friends on a lazy Sunday afternoon when he decided to tweet an idea he had been mulling over."
“We should rename Washington High School after San Francisco native, poet and author Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou High School. No schools named after slave owners,” Haney wrote, according to the Los Angeles Times. (His account has since been set to private.)"
"Haney, a white male, knew full well how this might be taken, but he says he only wanted to spark a debate. But he didn’t expect the outpouring of anger on social media."
"Nor did he expect, after an appearance Wednesday on “The O’Reilly Factor” to receive a call from the San Francisco Police Department warning him of a threat against him."
READ MORE related to Education: State board unanimously adopts new school accountability system -- John Fensterwald with EdSource
And for the peson who had the worst week in California, #WorstWeekinCA, we picked former state lawmaker Tom Calderon, who faces prison time for money laundering.
