Last night's second presidential debate was a vicious one.
JULIE PACE and LISA LERER with AP: "In a bitter debate filled with tension and insult, Hillary Clinton declared that Donald Trump's vulgar comments about women reveal "exactly who he is" and prove his unsuitability to be president. Firing back, he accused her of attacking women involved in Bill Clinton's extramarital affairs and promised she would "be in jail" if he were president."
"Trump, who entered Sunday night's debate desperate to steady his floundering campaign, unleashed a barrage of attacks and continually interrupted Clinton. He repeatedly called her a "liar," labeled her the "devil" and contended she had "tremendous hate in her heart."
"On one substantive matter, he acknowledged for the first time that he had paid no federal income taxes for many years."
READ MORE related to Presidential Debate/Beltway: Fact checkers find Trump wrong on San Bernardino claim -- JEFF HORSEMAN with O.C. Register
The extension of Proposition 55 on this year's ballot would create a state budget heavily relient on the tax contributions of the wealthy.
LIAM DILLON with L.A. Times: "Paul Taybi is part of the 1.5%. "
"The 59-year-old retired founder of a data analysis company from El Cerrito is among that percentage of the wealthiest Californians paying the higher income tax rates that voters approved four years ago."
"Now, with those rates set to expire, a coalition of teacher and service worker unions, medical groups and others are pushing Proposition 55, a ballot measure that would extend these higher taxes on the the highest earners through 2030."
READ MORE related to Prop. 55: Proposition 55: How taxing the wealthy could support public education -- JUSTIN PRITCHARD with AP
The state is drawing up a plan to battle sea level rise in San Francisco.
JOHN KING with The Chronicle: "The state agency that keeps watch over San Francisco Bay intends to draw up a plan for how the region can prepare itself for the likelihood of sea level rise."
"The plan would be done within three years and focus on two things — coming up with “vulnerability assessments” for each section of the shoreline and spelling out how to adapt to the changes that might lie ahead."
"We need to take stock of what’s vulnerable, and prepare a response that makes ourselves more resilient and prosperous,” Larry Goldzband, executive director of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, said Friday. The commission was created by the state in the 1960s to review any developments within 100 feet of the bay."
Early voting begins today in Southern California -- and with mere weeks before the election, the amount of registered voters is expected to reach historical peaks.
JOSHUA STEWART with San Diego Union-Tribune: "By any measure, this election will be supersized."
"The ballot, filled with candidates and propositions and measures, spans two cards printed on the front and back, and would stretch six feet if it were laid end to end."
"The county Registrar of Voters will have so many people working for it on Election Day that it will, briefly, be one of the ten-biggest employers in the county. The number of registered voters is expected to reach historic levels as people are still have two weeks to sign up to vote."
The use of private prisons has raised many concerns about the ethical treatment of prisoners and their right to due process -- but before California can enact proper legislation, it must wait for a federal decision on the issue.
BOB EGELKO with The Chronicle: "California lawmakers will have to wait until next year to curb the use of private prisons to hold thousands of immigrants awaiting federal deportation hearings."
"About 3,700 immigrants under federal detention orders are being held in corporate-owned prisons under contracts with four California cities: Bakersfield, San Diego, Adelanto (San Bernardino County) and Calexico (Imperial County). Amid government findings of safety and security problems at private prisons, the Legislature passed SB1289, which would have prohibited such contracts starting in 2018, but Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it."
"In his veto message, issued Sept. 28, Brown said he had been troubled by reports of unsatisfactory conditions and limited access to attorneys at the private lockups. But he noted that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had also expressed concern and was scheduled to issue recommendations in November on whether the government should continue housing immigration detainees in private prisons."
READ MORE related to Public Safety: Proposition 57: California weighs early release for some prisoners -- TRACEY KAPLAN with Mercury News
Southwest Airlines is being sued by a civil rights group for racial and religious profiling after a Muslim U.C. Berkeley student was kicked off a plane for speaking arabic.
MARIAH DE ZUZUARREGUI and MAYA ELIAHOU: "Months after then-UC Berkeley student Khairuldeen Makhzoomi was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight after a fellow passenger overheard him speaking Arabic, a civil rights advocacy group has filed a complaint against the airline alleging racial and religious profiling."
"The local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR-SFBA, filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings on Wednesday to encourage a federal investigation into Makhzoomi’s case."
"In the complaint, the group alleges Southwest Airlines violated a U.S. law prohibiting air carriers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex or ancestry and calls on the U.S. Department of Transportation to “hold Southwest Airlines accountable for their actions against Makhzoomi,” according to a CAIR press release."
A conflict in legal precedant regarding pension law is thrown under the microscope after a series of disparate rulings.
ED MENDEL with Calpensions.com: "Three appeals court justices, citing the alarming view of critics that unaffordable public pensions are headed for the financial cliff, looked for a new way to allow a change in direction and found one."
"In a ruling in a Marin County case last August that reformers called a “game changer,” the panel weakened the “California rule” protecting the pensions of current workers. Most cost-cutting reforms have been limited to new hires, which can take decades to yield savings."
"One reason unions asked the state Supreme Court to review the new ruling last month is that another three-justice panel, also from the first district appeals court, made an opposite ruling in a San Francisco case last year."
