Kamala Harris looks for common ground as she enters a Republican-controlled Senate.
PHIL WILLON with LAT: "Newly elected U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris said she’s already been in contact with her West Coast colleagues about banding together to implement Democratic priorities in the political era of President-elect Donald Trump."
"I have talked with some of the West Coast senators and certainly we have an alignment of interests on a number of issues,” Harris told the Los Angeles Times in a telephone interview. “I’m looking forward to building those relationships."
"Harris, who won the Senate election last week, didn’t disclose the topics of any of those conversations, but did share her thoughts about working with the Republican Senate majority and what the Democrats must do to reconnect with working-class voters who backed Trump. Harris also said that she plans to continue serving as California attorney general until she is sworn into the Senate on Jan. 3."
READ MORE related to Elections: Applegate gains on Issa as more votes counted -- JOSHUA STEWART with Union-Tribune
LAPD's chief says his institution will not change their stance on immigration enforcement, despite Donald Trump's oath to deport undocumented individuals.
"Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Monday that he has no plans to change the LAPD’s stance on immigration enforcement, despite President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to toughen federal immigration laws and deport millions of people upon taking office."
"For decades, the LAPD has distanced itself from federal immigration policies. The LAPD prohibits officers from initiating contact with someone solely to determine whether he or she is in the country legally, mandated by a special order signed by then-chief Daryl Gates in 1979. During Beck’s tenure as chief, the department stopped turning over people arrested for low-level crimes to federal agents for deportation and moved away from honoring federal requests to detain inmates who might be deportable past their jail terms."
"On Monday, Beck said he planned to maintain the long-standing separation."
Jerry Brown's 2018 gubernatorial successor is favored to be none other than Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom.
CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO with Sacramento Bee: "California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is the early favorite to succeed fellow Democrat Jerry Brown in the 2018 gubernatorial race, as the state’s second-in-command holds large advantages among Democrats and independents, according to a new Field Poll."
"Newsom, leading with support from 23 percent of registered voters, is followed by a pair of rising Republicans: San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer (16 percent) and outgoing Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin (11 percent)."
"The poll, released late Monday, is designed to gauge dynamics of the contest as the field continues to take shape. It shows Newsom out ahead of eight other candidates, including two Democratic rivals already in the race, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Treasurer John Chiang."
California Democrats have labeled Trump cabinet House Strategist Bannon as an alt-right racist, but Majority leader Kevin McCarthy is defending the appointment.
SEAN COCKERHAM and WILLIAM DOUGLAS with Sacramento Bee: "House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, is defending Donald Trump’s right to choose right-wing media provocateur Steve Bannon as chief White House strategist while California Democrats said the pick puts racism at the top level of U.S. power."
"Bannon, who was Trump’s campaign chairman, headed Breitbart News, whose headlines included a call to hoist the Confederate flag in the weeks after the mass shooting at a black church in Charleston, S.C."
"Other Breitbart headlines under Bannon’s leadership called Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol “a renegade Jew,” said “birth control makes women unattractive and crazy” and that “the solution to online harassment is simple: women should log off."
READ MORE related to Trump Administration: What is the alt-right? A refresher course on Steve Bannon's fringe band of conservatism -- JESSICA ROY with LAT; White nationalists' 'man in the White House'? Bannon appointment provokes angry rebukes -- EVAN HALPER with LAT; Obama has given himself a new task: educating Trump -- MICHAEL A. MEMOLI with LAT; Trump has a conflict-of-interest problem. Maybe Congress will investigate him. -- AJ VICENS with Mother Jones
Speaking of Trump, renegotiating NAFTA could prove to be trickier than the president-elect initially thought.
KEVIN G. HALL with Sacramento Bee: "Twenty-three years ago, the United States, Canada and Mexico all said, “I do.” If President-elect Donald Trump keeps his campaign threats to “terminate” the North American Free Trade Agreement, divorcing Mexico and Canada could be both messy and costly."
"NAFTA, a trade treaty enacted with congressional legislation, was designed to integrate the three economies and their 530 million consumers into a powerful trading bloc. It offers excruciating detail on how the three countries bind their economies together, but virtually nothing on how to unwind it."
"The treaty has a provision allowing any partner to leave after six month’s notice, but that’s it. The actual legislation only directs the president to get rid of tariffs, the taxes imposed on goods that cross borders."
Trump protests show no signs of ceasing as more than 1,000 secondary school students marched in Oakland Monday.
KATRINA CAMERON with HARRY HARRIS and JOYCE TSAI in East Bay Times: "Joined by many of her classmates, Yasmine Selvin, 17, marched out of Oakland High School Monday to protest against Donald Trump’s election as the 45th president."
"Yasmine attended her first protest because she wanted to express her disapproval of the president-elect. She said feels like “he’s not really thinking for the people."
"I decided to walk out of class today because I feel like in times of distress we need to unite in a peaceful way, which we did as youth,” she said as she sat on the steps of City Hall. “… I really support it because I feel like we’re really developing our own voices and speaking out for how we really feel."
With marijuana legalization policy under way in California, Oakland wants to reform current law by seeking to process permits for those with drug offense convictions.
DAVID DEBOLT with East Bay Times: "Oakland is moving closer to deciding how it will run a ground-breaking medical marijuana permitting process that seeks to reverse damages by the U.S. war on drugs by giving permits to people with past pot convictions or possibly those who live in an area with high pot-related arrests."
"City Council in May approved the equity permit program but in the months since there has been a flurry of opposing revisions by council members."
2016 sees California being the most aggressive state in advocating and enacting free community college programs under a promise President Obama made a year ago.
MIKE MCPHATE with NYT: "After President Obama announced a goal last year to make community college free for all Americans, no state has moved as aggressively as California."
"In 2016, at least 20 programs offering support to incoming community college students were introduced in California, bringing the state’s total to about 30, according to the federal Department of Education."
"“I think it’s a grand experiment frankly,” said Martha Kanter, the executive director of the College Promise campaign."
Meanwhile, government agencies play out a 'Deep Impact' scenario (minus Morgan Freeman as president): preparation for a major asteroid strike on Los Angeles.
CHRISTOPHER MELE with NYT: "Imagine if scientists discovered that an asteroid was hurtling toward Los Angeles."
"The possibility has existed on the pages of Hollywood scripts. But in what may be a case of life imitating art, NASA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other government agencies engaged last month in a planetary protection exercise to consider the potentially devastating consequences of a 330-foot asteroid hitting the Earth."
"The simulation projected a worst-case blast wave by an asteroid strike in 2020 that could level structures across 30 miles, require a mass evacuation of the Los Angeles area and cause tens of thousands of casualties."
Restrictions on bilingual education in California have come to a resounding end.
LOUIS FREEDBERG with EdSource: "The overwhelming approval by California voters to end restrictions on bilingual education in its public schools marks another significant shift from the political expressions of racial and ethnic resentments that swirled across California’s multiethnic landscape during the 1990s."
"Its passage highlights the changes that have occurred in California over the past two decades – the inexorable shift to a multiracial and multiethnic society – along with a realization that multilingualism is a benefit, not a disadvantage, in a world of global communication."
"With a 72.5 percent yes vote, the passage of Proposition 58 last Tuesday could not have been more definitive. The initiative received majority support in each of the state’s 58 counties."
READ MORE related to Education: Mountain view teacher who compared Trump to Hitler back to work -- MICHAEL BODLEY with The Chronicle
