Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez sat down with the L.A. Times for a Q&A to detail their positions to voters.
SARAH D. WIRE with L.A. Times: "With two Democrats on the ballot for U.S. Senate for the first time, and only one debate between them, it can be hard to tell how they would serve Californians differently."
"The Times invited U.S. Senate candidates California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris and Rep.Loretta Sanchez to answer questions that might help readers get a better sense of the race."
"Twitter users submitted some questions via social media, and others came from Times reporters and editors. Each campaign received the same questions. The questions and answers have been edited for length, style and clarity."
A leader of the polling community, The Field Poll, will begin incorporating online surveying in an effort to combat increasingly unreliable phone polling.
LISA RENNER with Capitol Weekly: "One of the state’s most respected polls has begun incorporating online surveys for the first time, underscoring the increasing difficulty of relying on telephone questioning."
"The Field Poll, which was founded in 1947, started using online surveys to gather voter opinion on nine of the 17 statewide ballot propositions that will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot. The Field Poll conducted the surveys in partnership with the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley and YouGov, an international market research firm headquartered in the United Kingdom. Results were released last month."
"Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, said the main reason he used online was because he believed it was the best way to get voters’ opinions on a large number of ballot measures. He wanted to give voters the exact title and wording of the measures and he knew that for telephone surveys, voters will typically only give their opinion for two or three propositions."
READ MORE from Capitol Weekly: Podcast: Buffy Wicks -- STAFF with Capitol Weekly
A new federal courthouse has officially opened in Los Angeles after almost 20 years of delays.
JOEL RUBIN with L.A. Times: "After nearly two decades of delays, the scales of justice are moving down the street in Los Angeles."
"Thursday marked the opening of a new federal courthouse on 1st Street, in the city’s downtown civic center."
"The $350-million glass cube structure replaces a stately but outdated courthouse a few blocks away that has been in use since 1940."
California has had an amazing year in healthcare which gave the state invaluable safeguards, including boons to Medi-cal and expanded services to pregnant women. But a surge in benefits and coverage also means more control over spending.
PHIL GALEWITZ and PAULINE BARTOLONE with California Healthline: "With a record 73 million people enrolled in Medicaid, most states next year will tighten controls on spending to battle swelling budgets in the public health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans, according to a report released Thursday."
"The leading strategies to contain costs are already used in some states, but they will soon take root in more places, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported in its annual 50-state survey. (California Healthline is produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.)"
"They include hiring private managed care companies to deliver services to enrollees, shifting more long-term care services from nursing homes to community settings and restricting the use of ever-more expensive prescription drugs."
READ MORE related to Healthcare: California reforms target workers' compensation fraud -- CHRISTINA JEWETT with California Healthline
Despite threats from Donald Trump, the New York Times refuses to retract its story about two women who came forward with claims of sexual assault committed by the presidential candidate.
AP in Sac Bee: "The New York Times on Thursday rejected Donald Trump's claim the newspaper had libeled the Republican presidential nominee, saying its story about two women who said he sexually assaulted them was "newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern."
"In a letter, Times attorney David McCraw said Trump "has bragged about his non-consensual sexual touching of women" and that multiple women had already come forward. "Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself," he wrote."
"The Times reported Wednesday that two women told the paper of his unwanted sexual advances. One, Jessica Leeds, said Trump groped her on an airplane more than three decades ago. The other, Rachel Crooks, said Trump kissed her without invitation in 2006 when she was a 22-year-old receptionist for a real estate firm located at Trump Tower."
Obama has some harsh words for the GOP, crediting them for the vitriolic platform that currently stages the presidential race.
CHRISTI PARSONS with L.A. Times: "President Obama railed against the Republican Party on Thursday night, mocking GOP officeholders who he says created Donald Trump but now distance themselves from him."
"Republicans who tolerated years of insults against the Democratic president helped create the environment in which Trump could take over the party, Obama told a crowd in Columbus, Ohio."
"The people who knew better didn’t say anything,” Obama said. “They didn’t say ... we can’t allow our politics to descend into the gutter. They stood by while this happened."
READ MORE related to POTUS: Michelle Obama delivers what may be a defining moment in the presidential campaign -- EVAN HALPER with L.A. Times; Clinton lauds Michelle Obama's blasting of Trump in SF stop -- MICHAEL BODLEY with The Chronicle
Proposition 51 would give schools nearly $9 billion in funding if it passes on this year's ballot. But what exactly does the measure entail?
LIAM DILLON with L.A. Times: "The first statewide initiative Californians will see on their ballots next month is Proposition 51, which would authorize $9 billion in school construction spending statewide."
"If Proposition 51 passes, what could the money be spent on?"
"The bond measure breaks down like this.."
READ MORE related to Education: Duel between California and Obama administration over education continues -- LOUIS FREEDBERG with EdSource; Campus Disabled Students' Program has been noncompliant with state regulations for years -- ASHLEY WONG with Daily Californian
A Sacramento city council meeting on police use-of-force reform was interrupted by protesters and ultimately cancelled.
ANITA CHABRIA with The Bee: "Protesters briefly shut down the Sacramento City Council meeting Thursday night during a discussion about police use-of-force policies."
"The protesters took over the council chambers during a 15-minute hiatus, when Mayor Pro Tem Larry Carr recessed the meeting because of disturbances. Carr had warned audience members not to clap or make noise during public comments, but they continued."
"Twenty-six people were signed up to speak on Carr’s proposed policy limiting lethal force, but only two made it to the podium before chaos erupted. Carr was leading the meeting in the absence of Mayor Kevin Johnson and Vice Mayor Rick Jennings."
READ MORE related to Public Safety: Gang member pleads not guilty in ambush killings of two Palm Springs police officers -- RICHARD WINTON with L.A. Times
Highway 99 has received the title of Deadliest Major Highway in the Nation.
TONY BIZJAK with Sacramento Bee: "Highway 99 in the Central Valley is the deadliest major highway in the country, according to an analysis released Thursday."
"The 400-mile highway that runs through the centers of Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto and other valley cities recorded 62 fatal accidents per 100 miles over a recent five-year span."
"The report is from ValuePenguin, a private consumer research organization based in New York that reviews personal finance products. The company analyzes consumer data."
ICE says a law signed by Gov. Brown could help keep dangerous illegal detainees in the USA.
BOB EGELKO with The Chronicle: "A new California law requiring detained immigrants to be notified of their rights before questioning by federal agents violates U.S. law and could interfere with deportation of dangerous people, a federal agency said Thursday."
"The state legislation, AB2792 by Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, is “in conflict with federal law,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. The agency stopped short of announcing a legal challenge, an action that may depend on the outcome of the presidential election."
"AB2792, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in September, applies to noncitizens who have been arrested on criminal charges and have been identified by immigration officials as subject to deportation. A 2013 law signed by Brown eliminated a requirement that local law enforcement agencies keep such immigrants in custody and turn them over to federal officers."
The Scripps Institute in San Diego is deciding whether or not to extend a nearly 100-year-old program that helps track ocean salinity and temperature.
DEBORAH SULLIVAN BRENNAN with Union-Tribune: "Every day for 100 years, Scripps researchers or their colleagues at Birch Aquarium have pulled a bucket of water from the swells below Scripps Pier in La Jolla, and checked the temperature and salinity."
"The Shore Stations Program, based at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and spanning the California coast, is the longest continuous series of ocean temperature measurements in the Pacific Rim, according to the institution."
"The program employs a simple, low-tech method for collecting samples, but the result – a century’s worth of water data – has been invaluable to research on topics from climate change to algal blooms."
READ MORE related to Environment: Port sues feds for chemical pollution -- CARL PRINE with Union-Tribune
Speaking of San Diego, the county's farms could possibly grow cannabis if it sees legalization come November -- but the answer is not yet definite.
LOGAN JENKINS with Union-Tribune: "Ten days ago, the Board of Supervisors took a sternly principled stand in opposing Proposition 64, a statewide measure that legalizes the sale of recreational marijuana and, let’s not forget, the industrious hemp."
"The unanimous vote was a ringing affirmation of law enforcement’s deeply jaundiced view of legalization."
"But if the supervisors’ unanimous declaration moved one voter to the No column, I’d be surprised."
And for the person who had the worst week in California, #WorstWeekCA, we pick John Stumpf, who was forced to resign as head of San Francisco-based Wells Fargo over a $185 million account fraud.
