Remembering Ghost Ship victims

The Ghost Ship fire victims' lives were both mourned and celebrated during a Berkeley parade this past Sunday, the first of scheduled services planned for those who perished.

MICHAEL CABANATUAN with SF Chronicle: "The long and painful parade of funerals and memorial services for the 36 victims of the Ghost Ship fire started Sunday with remembrances of video artist Jonathan Bernbaum and the youngest victim, 17-year-old Draven McGill."

"Several hundred people crowded into Congregation Beth El in Berkeley for Bernbaum’s funeral, filling the overflow rooms and spilling into the lobby."

READ MORE related to Ghost Ship Fire: Oakland fire prompts national crackdown on artists' spaces -- STAFF with The Chronicle; The last hours of Oakland's Ghost Ship warehouse -- JULIA PRODIS SULEK with East Bay Times

The CHSRA hopes to receive $2.6b in funding from Proposition 1A, a 2008 bond act that would build nearly 120 miles of rail tracks in the San Joaquin Valley. 

TIM SHEEHAN with Fresno Bee: "More than eight years have passed since California voters approved a $9.9 billion bond measure to help pay for construction of a high-speed rail system in the state. On Tuesday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority may take its first step toward getting its hands on a sizable chunk of that money for work now taking place in the central San Joaquin Valley."

"The authority’s board, meeting in Sacramento, will consider approving two funding plans required by state law before the agency can use any of the money from Proposition 1A, the 2008 high-speed rail bond."

"One of the plans is for the 119 miles of the route from north of Madera to north of Bakersfield; the second is for electrifying and improving Caltrain commuter train tracks between San Francisco and San Jose to be shared with high-speed trains."

READ MORE related to Transportation: Metro Red Line bomb threat highlights vulnerabilities of rail systems to attack -- BRENDA GAZZAR and STEVE SCAUZILLO in Daily News

California's water wars are a result of congressional 'wrangling' as lawmakers continue to 'forge a comprimise' with each other across the aisle. 

SARAH D. WIRE with LAT: "Few people expected a California water fight in the final days of a lame-duck Congress, and fewer still expected landmark water legislation to pit the state’s U.S. senators against each other in the last moments of their 24-year partnership."

"It took years of negotiations, and the right political timing, to bring the first major water policy affecting California in decades through the House and Senate. Over frayed feelings and filibuster threats, both chambers overwhelmingly passed the bill, which changes how much water is pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to San Joaquin Valley farmers and Southern California."

"How did things get to this point?"

Ever wondered about the proper ethics of Diamond Lane Driving? Tony Bizjak may have some answers for you.

TONY BIZJAK with Sacramento Bee:  "The speed limit on most California freeways is 65, but plenty of drivers in the fast lane go 75 mph. They’ve learned they generally can go that fast without being ticketed. (Watch out, though, CHP sometimes does speed limit enforcement blitzes.)"

"That prompts a question from carpool commuter Celia McAdam, who uses the 10 new miles of carpool lanes on Interstate 80 in north Sacramento:"

"How fast should you drive in the carpool lane during commute hours? Put another way, is that lane considered the “fast” lane, or is it really an extra, special-purpose lane next to the fast lane?"

California's continued support of the death penalty, as evidenced by the results of the November election, is at odd's with Gov. Brown's own moral views of capital punishment.

LAUREL ROSENHALL with East Bay Times: "Although he has served as governor longer than anyone else in California history, Jerry Brown has never been forced to make one of the weightiest decisions governors face: whether to spare a convicted criminal from execution."

"California has executed more than 500 people, but the death penalty has been on hold pending legal challenges during both of Brown’s two-term stints as governor. It’s been a politically convenient coincidence for the Democrat who rose to prominence as an outspoken opponent of capital punishment, even as California voters repeatedly demonstrated support for it."

"Their most recent affirmation came on Nov. 8. Voters rejected Proposition 62, which would have abolished capital punishment, and passed Proposition 66, which seeks to expedite death penalty appeals. The outcome means California may resume executions during Brown’s final two years as governor, potentially challenging the legacy of the former Jesuit seminarian, who was once so morally opposed to capital punishment that he protested outside the gates of death row."

President-elect Trump continues to deny the veracity of scientific consensus in regards to man-powered climate change.

JULIET EILPERIN with Sacramento Bee: "President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that “nobody really knows” whether climate change is real and that he is “studying” whether the United States should withdraw from the global warming agreement struck in Paris a year ago."

"In an interview with “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace, Trump said he’s “very open-minded” on whether climate change is underway but has serious concerns about how President Barack Obama’s efforts to cut carbon emissions have undercut America’s global competitiveness."

"I’m still open-minded. Nobody really knows,” Trump said. “Look, I’m somebody that gets it, and nobody really knows. It’s not something that’s so hard and fast. I do know this: Other countries are eating our lunch."

READ MORE related to PEOTUS/National: Trump to inherit state-run TV network with expanded reach -- TARA PALMERI with Politico; Trump dismisses value of daily intel briefings as he doubts CIA on Russia hacks --  TIM JOHNSON with Sacramento Bee; Khizr Khan rose to fame with his emotional pleases against Trump. Now he's targeting the 'politics of fear' -- JAWEED KALEEM with LAT; Chinese state media slams Trump for his latest Taiwan comments -- JESSICA MEYERS with LAT; US Defense Secretary in Israel as country gets F-35 fighter jets -- AP's ROBERT BURNS in SF Chronicle

Speaking of President-elect Trump, many are wondering how California can work around a scenario involving The Donald's refusal to sign the International Climate Treaty.

LAUREN SOMMER with KQED: "With President-Elect Trump’s pro-fossil fuel rhetoric and the future of the international climate treaty looking cloudy, some are hoping California take over leadership on the international stage."

"That’s raised an unprecedented question: if the US pulls out of the international climate treaty, as Trump has said he wants to, could California sign on to it?"

"The idea came up when international leaders held their annual climate change meeting in Marrakesh just after Election Day in November. The goal was to put some teeth in the international treaty to cut carbon emissions, signed last year in Paris."

Long Beach could soon become a sanctuary city.

ANDREW EDWARDS with Daily News: "Activists are demanding the City Council follow the lead of their counterparts in nearby Santa Ana and declare Long Beach a sanctuary city, which generally means refusing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities."

"Representatives of the liberal Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, or CLUE, and the Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition, called on Long Beach’s council to deem Long Beach – California’s seventh most populous city – a sanctuary in anticipation that President-elect Donald Trump will follow through on campaign promises for more stringent enforcement of immigration laws."

"This election has caused a lot of fear in the community,” CLUE organizer Grecia Lopez-Reyes said in a telephone interview."

A report by PG&E overviewing the company's gas storage systems during 2015 revealed myriad safety hazards.

TED GOLDBERG with KQED: "A Pacific Gas and Electric review of a major outage last year has uncovered a list of safety problems at the utility’s largest gas storage facility."

"The December 2015 outage, which left thousands of eastern Contra Costa County households without heat on one of the coldest days of the season, is still under investigation by state regulators."

"It came five years after a PG&E natural gas pipeline explosion drew attention to poor record keeping and unsafe practices in operating the utility’s pipeline network."

The rise of the PizzaGate faux-news conspiracy has galvanized an effort to pursue media literacy for students in school.

MORIAH BALINGIT with Sacramento Bee: "History teacher Chris Dier was in the middle of a lesson last week at Chalmette High School in Chalmette, La., when a student raised his hand with a befuddling inquiry: “He raised his hand and asked if I knew about Hillary Clinton using pizza places to traffic people."

"About a thousand miles away at Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., distressed students in teacher Eden McCauslin’s history and government classes asked why a North Carolina man armed with an assault rifle had appeared at their local pizza shop, Comet Ping Pong, telling police that he wanted to free child sex slaves he believed to be harbored there, a false narrative conspiracy theorists have pushed on the Internet."

"Hoaxes, fake news and conspiracy theories have abounded on the Web, spreading with increasing speed and intensity during the recent presidential election cycle. While they have duped many - and provided entertainment to others - they also have created a sense of urgency for social studies teachers and librarians to teach students how to distinguish the real from the invented, to identify bias in news articles and to evaluate sources for credibility."

Could the past week's scattered deluge help bring some relief to California's water crisis?

ELLEN GARRISON with Sacramento Bee: "October was wet, November dry. And December? The soft but steady rains this weekend were enough to push the Sacramento region to 155 percent of normal precipitation for the season."

"And there’s more to come. After a break between storms, wet weather is expected to return Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. The wet system should linger over the region through Thursday, dropping two to three inches of rain in Sacramento and five to eight inches of rain and snow in the Sierra."

"So what does that mean for California’s drought, now entering a sixth year? While Northern California has seen a wet start to winter, the situation is more complicated across the state. Central and Southern California continue to experience unusually dry conditions. And even in the north state, it’s not clear how the rest of the rainy season will shape up."

The Emerald Cup, a well known medical marijuana convention/festival, reached a record number of attendees this year -- due in no small part to the legalization vote passed last month.

DAVID DOWNS with SF Chronicle: "A record-breaking estimated 30,000 California medical pot farmers, family, friends and fans swamped Santa Rosa for a gargantuan marijuana festival dubbed the Emerald Cup at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds over the weekend."

"The agricultural competition featured more than 1,100 flowers, extracts, edibles and other formulations — a 50 percent increase from last year — battling it out for the title of best in California. Judges spent the past month sampling up to 300 strains each."