Aliso Canyon wants to resume operations a year after the worst man-made greenhouse-gas disaster in history drove thousands of residents from their homes.
BRIAN MELLEY with AP: "A utility asked California regulators Tuesday to resume operations at the largest underground gas storage facility in the West a year after a well blowout spewed methane uncontrollably for months and drove thousands of residents from their Los Angeles homes."
"Southern California Gas Co. said about a quarter of its wells at the Aliso Canyon facility had passed rigorous testing ordered by the state in the wake of the disruptive leak that persisted for four months and led to widespread complaints of nausea, nosebleeds, headaches and other vexing symptoms."
"The request to resume injecting gas into the field — where it is piped into abandoned oil wells more than a mile underground — comes as the utility needs to store gas for winter heating, cooking and electricity needs throughout the greater Los Angeles area."
Former state superintendent Delaine Eastin is mulling over a 2018 gubernatorial bid.
DAVID SIDERS with Politico: "Delaine Eastin has been out of public office for more than a decade and is confronting a large field of better-known Democrats, but the former state superintendent of public instruction told POLITICO California on Tuesday that she will run for governor in 2018."
"Eastin, a former state assemblywoman, said she will open a campaign account and formally announce her candidacy in January. She will make education the centerpiece of her campaign, calling for class size reductions, universal pre-kindergarten and mandatory full-day kindergarten."
“Budgets are statements of values, and I’m running to at least force the candidates to speak to [education],” Eastin said over coffee in Davis.
READ MORE related to Education: Charter organization fills gap with new school ranking system -- JOHN FENSTERWALD with EdSource; New standards contribute to academic improvement in many states, report asserts -- THERESA HARRINGTON with EdSource
READ MORE related to 2018 Gubernatorial Race: Villaraigosa to announce political plans -- JOHN HOWARD with Capitol Weekly
Meanwhile, Prop. 64 is getting support from political heavyweights.
PATRICK MCGREEVY with L.A. Times: "Activist billionaires Sean Parker and George Soros and companies hoping to profit from legalizing marijuana in California have helped this year’s campaign for Proposition 64 raise close to $16 million, about four times the amount spent on a failed effort in 2010."
"With a week left before voters go to the polls, the campaign to legalize recreational marijuana use is leading in surveys and has a massive fundraising lead over the opposition, which has brought in a little more than $1.6 million."
"Observers say the outpouring of cash for the initiative is, in part, due to recognition by the national movement against marijuana prohibition that this may be the best chance in years to pass legalization in California, which could spark similar changes in other states."
READ MORE related to Ballot: Maverick AIDS activist to porn police? Meet the man behind California's Proposition 60 -- APRIL DEMBOSKY with KQED; Bernie Sanders to campaign for drug price measure in Sacramento -- CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO with Sacramento Bee; Reality check: Prop. 53 ad exaggerates disaster relief risk -- PAUL ROGERS with Bay Area Newsgroup; Bay Area voters asked to support transportation fixes -- MICHAEL CABANATUAN with The Chronicle; Pot startups flying high with California posed to legalize marijuana -- MARISA KENDALL with Mercury News
Rep. Darrell Issa and Doug Applegate are back in the trenches after a small lull in their negatively-fueled ad campaigns.
JOSHUA STEWART with Union-Tribune: "For 30 seconds, no more and no less, Rep. Darrell Issa and Doug Applegate dropped their negative attacks and delivered a more upbeat message in some of their newest commercials."
"Applegate, a Democrat making his first appearance in politics, has released a spot that tells a little bit of his story and raises his name profile. Issa, also in a first, has released a new commercial where several women praise the Vista Republican for his work in Congress."
"But just as fast as it takes to halfway cook Minute Rice, they were back to their attacks in another round of ads. As before, Applegate went after Issa for backing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, rerunning portions of the infamous video where Trump bragged about groping and other physical contact with women without their consent. Issa, as he has in past ads, brought up the restraining orders that Applegate’s ex-wife obtained against her former husband."
READ MORE related to Local Races: Darrell Issa 'appreciates' Donald Trump's Twitter shoutout -- JAVIER PANZAR with L.A. Times; Kamala Harris picks up the slack for Santa Barbara Democrat who can't make campaign rally -- PHIL WILLON with L.A. Times; A record 3 million Californians have already voted, but there's a catch -- JOHN MYERS with L.A. Times
Billionaire Tom Steyer spent $7.3m during the 2015-2016 legislative session.
TARYN LUNA with Sacramento Bee: "Led by environmentalists and oil companies, California lobbyist employers spent $84.4 million to advocate to officials and influence legislation from July 1 through the end of September."
"The latest spending reports cover a busy time for lobbyists representing more than 3,000 businesses, unions, trade groups and other lobbyist employers. Lawmakers acted on hundreds of bills, including major climate change measures, leading up to the Aug. 31 regular-session deadline, and Gov. Jerry Brown had until Sept. 30 to sign or veto legislation."
"NextGen Climate Action, a campaign committee led by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, topped the list of lobbyist employers, spending $7.3 million during the seventh quarter of the 2015-2016 legislative session, according to state filings."
San Francisco City attorney has condemended the state's bailing schedule and calls it unconstitutional, unwilling to defend it in a lawsuit brought against the San Francisco and Sacramento Sheriff's departments.
BOB EGELKO with The Chronicle: "A decades-old California law that keeps people in jail if they can’t afford bail after their arrest came under renewed attack Tuesday from San Francisco’s city attorney, who said the city wouldn’t defend the law in court, and a Bay Area legislator, who promised a bill to repeal it."
"The law “creates a two-tiered system: one for those with money and another for those without. It doesn’t make anybody safer,” City Attorney Dennis Herrerasaid at a news conference as his office informed a federal judge that the city would not fight a civil rights group’s lawsuit challenging the cash bail system."
"The group, Equal Justice Under Law, filed separate suits in San Francisco and Sacramento arguing that the state law, as applied in those counties, discriminated against the poor. The law requires all counties to set bail in varying amounts depending on the seriousness of the crime."
READ MORE related to Public Safety: San Francisco calls on state to abolish cash bail for poor -- PAUL ELIAS with AP; Report cites overworked doctors, poor care at Salinas prison -- DON THOMPSON with AP; Activists critical of SF chief-selection process -- JENNA LYONS and MICHAEL BODLEY with SF Gate; Supervisors approve civilian oversight for LA County Sheriff's Department -- SUSAN ABRAM with LA Daily News
A judge in Sacramento has made a ruling in a federal arson case of excluding evidence for national security purposes.
DENNY WALSH with Sacramento Bee: "Prosecutors are claiming that a serial arson case in Sacramento federal court has national security implications and, in a highly unusual ruling, a judge is allowing the government to withhold parts of the evidence from defense lawyers."
"Attorneys on both sides declined Monday to comment publicly, but court papers they have filed outline a dispute over the legality of hiding evidence with no obligation to disclose the reasons to the defense team."
"The case involves three men charged in February in a 60-count grand jury indictment with plotting to commit multiple arsons for profit between 2009 and 2013."
California is getting a new area code thrown into the East Bay.
GEORGE AVALOS with East Bay Times: "State regulators are preparing to bring a new telephone area code to the East Bay, a move ushered in by a growing array of new devices and technologies that require phone numbers."
"The new area code will be added to the existing 510 area code territory, which covers western Contra Costa County and Alameda County and includes the cities of Richmond, Oakland, Hayward and Fremont."
"There is a lot of demand for phone numbers from all of these new technologies,” said Joseph Cocke, senior relief planner with the North American Numbering Plan Administration, an industry group that administers area codes and phone numbers. “Smartphones, tablets, Wi-Fi hot spots, smart cars that can create their own hot spots, toll-free numbers — all of these need their own phone numbers."
Trump is utilizing Clinton's return to the FBI spotlight to further his campaign, but polling data still shows a race that favors Hillary.
ELI STOKOLS and GABRIEL DEBENEDETTI with Politico: "Donald Trump is claiming a surge of late momentum behind his presidential bid as Hillary Clinton rushes on air with TV ads for the first time in four blue states she supposedly already locked up."
"With less than a week to go, Clinton, with $153 million in cash to spend, is fighting to reclaim the narrative. And she’s taking nothing for granted in Colorado and Virginia, two swing states where she confidently pulled down ads months ago, and New Mexico and Michigan, blue states in which Trump is making a late play amid some signs that the race is tightening."
"Just as Clinton's own behavior may look more skittish than that of the typical candidate with a roughly 80 percent chance of winning the White House, Trump’s outward confidence also obscures the reality of a race that still favors his opponent, even after last week’s FBI shocker."
READ MORE related to Beltway: FBI never asked Clinton aides for all their devices -- JOSH GERSTEIN with Politico
Brokers wonder about their place and their earnings in the current health insurance market of California after open enrollment began this past Tuesday.
JULIE APPLEBY and EMILY BAZAR with California Healthline: "With open enrollment underway as of Tuesday, some health insurance brokers are already fielding questions about coverage and whether existing plans will still be available next year. For an increasing number of brokers, in California and elsewhere, there’s also another question: How much will they get paid, if at all?"
"Some insurers — including Cigna and Aetna — will not pay licensed agents and brokers a commission for helping people enroll in individual health insurance coverage for 2017 in many states, while others have reduced their commissions. They join UnitedHealthcare, which dropped commissions on new business this year in many states."
"That is already prompting some brokers to step back from the exchanges when open enrollment begins this week, which could be a hurdle for consumers who normally would seek help from brokers in navigating the complexities of insurance coverage. (Government-supported navigators are still available.)"
