As the first presidential debate ended last night, fact-checkers looking for truth on both sides of the debate jumped all over the candidates.
CALVIN WOODWARD with AP: "Donald Trump’s habit of peddling hype and fabrication emerged unabated in the first presidential debate while Hillary Clinton played it cautiously in her statements, though not without error. They both denied making statements that they are on the record as saying."
"A look at some of the claims in the debate and how they compare with the facts:"
"TRUMP, denying Clinton’s accusation that he supported the Iraq war: “Wrong. Wrong.” Later: “That is a mainstream media nonsense put out by her. I was against the war in Iraq.”
As ballot day nears, tax measures on the ballot show varying degrees of voter-support.
CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO with Sacramento Bee: "California’s likely voters solidly support a fall initiative to extend higher income taxes on top earners, while a separate proposal to boost state taxes on tobacco is clinging to a majority vote, according to a new survey released Monday."
"The statewide Field/IGS Poll found Proposition 55, which would prolong for a dozen years 2012 income tax increases on some of the state’s highest-earning residents, was leading by 2-to-1 among likely voters, 60 percent to 30 percent. Proposition 56, a bid to hike by $2 a pack state taxes on cigarettes, is drawing the backing of 53 percent of voters. Forty percent oppose the tax increase, and 7 percent remain undecided."
"Proposition 57, a criminal justice initiative advanced by Gov. Jerry Brown and supported by state Democrats, is backed by a clear majority."
READ MORE related to Polls: Tax increase, crime measures backed by state voters, poll finds -- Filipa A. Ioannou with SF Chronicle; Tobacco tax tight; voters favor parol reforms, poll finds -- THOMAS PEELE with E.B.T.
California has finally completed its new voter registration database.
JIM MILLER with Sacramento Bee: "After years of technology glitches and vendor problems, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla made it official Monday: the state’s new voter registration database is finally complete."
"Padilla’s certification of VoteCal as the system of record for voter registration in California clears the way for the state to begin pre-registering 16- and 17-year-olds via paper registration forms. Starting in January, people will be able to register to vote on Election Day."
"Also, Monday’s announcement checks off a requirement of 2015 legislation to offer automatic registration of voters at the DMV when they apply for a new license or file a change of address . That system is scheduled to working by July 2017."
Gov. Brown vetoed a college smoking-ban bill, stating that schools already have sufficient law to put such practices into action at their own behest.
ALEXEI KOSEFF with Sacramento Bee: "Score one for smokers."
"On Monday, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a proposed ban on cigarettes and other tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes, at all California State University and community college campuses."
"The governing boards of our public colleges and universities already have the authority and are fully capable of setting smoking policies on their campuses,” he wrote in a veto message for Assembly Bill 1594. “Current law should suffice."
READ MORE related to Gov. Brown: California expands restrictions for phone use while driving -- ALEXEI KOSEFF with Sacramento Bee; Jerry Brown signs battery fee, other bills spurred by environmental disasters -- JEREMY B. WHITE with Sacramento Bee
A mere 6 years after being erected, the Millenium Tower in downtown San Francisco is sinking and tilting at an alarmingly fast rate, and now homeowners battling the city have hired specialists who are beginning the first round of tests in an effort to get a more accurate picture of the damage.
J.K. Dineen with The Chronicle: "Soil experts representing Millennium Tower homeowners started drilling the first of three holes Monday that will be used to collect data on the water and soil conditions under the sinking San Francisco luxury high-rise."
"Standing on Mission Street in front of the Millennium’s main entrance, workers drilled a 6-inch-wide hole using a rotary drill rig that will eventually sink 260 feet into the ground. The hole will allow soil experts to drop three instruments deep into the earth below the busy intersection: an inclinometer, a piezometer and an extensometer to measure the building’s tilt, the groundwater and soil conditions, and how much the soil under the building has settled, going all the way to bedrock."
