The "sanctuary state" bill currently before the Legislature needs some amendments, according to Gov. Brown.
Sacramento Bee's CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO: "Gov. Jerry Brown expressed his reservations over California’s so-called “sanctuary state” legislation in a nationally televised interview Sunday."
"Speaking on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Brown suggested he wants further amendments to the bill barring state and local law enforcement from using their resources to help federal immigration officials enforce violations against unauthorized immigrants who haven’t been convicted of a violent crime."
"We’re looking at it very carefully. We’re having discussions with the author. There are some changes that I think would be very important,” Brown said."
Even with cannabis legalization, the black market in California is booming as much as ever.
Calmatters' LAUREL ROSENHALL in the Chronicle: "Legalizing marijuana, California voters were told last year, would create a “safe, legal and comprehensive system” allowing adults to consume the drug while keeping it out of the hands of children. Marijuana would be sold in highly regulated stores, the Proposition 64 campaign promised, and California would gain new tax revenue by bringing the cannabis marketplace “out into the open.”
"Voters overwhelmingly bought the message, with 57 percent approving Prop. 64. But as state regulators prepare to begin offering licenses to marijuana businesses Jan. 1, it turns out that a huge portion of the state’s weed is likely to remain on the black market."
"That’s because California grows a lot more pot than its residents consume, and Prop. 64 only makes marijuana legal within the state’s borders. It also didn’t give an automatic seal of approval to every cannabis grower. Those who want to sell legally must be licensed by the state and comply with detailed rules that require testing plants, labeling packages and tracking marijuana as it moves from farm to bong."
READ MORE related to Economy: This tiny Sierra Valley town voted to pull out of CalPERS. Now city retirees are seeing their pensions slashed -- LA Times' PHIL WILLON
Meanwhile, back to Brown: He says that if Democrats want to win any future elections, they need to not neglect the average American.
Sacramento Bee's CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO: "Gov. Jerry Brown, assessing the deepening rifts within his Democratic Party as it confronts the Trump administration, said in an interview airing Sunday that it should avoid litmus tests over divisive issues like abortion and instead take up the causes of the “common man."
"If we want to be a governing party of a very diverse, and I say diverse ideologically as well as ethnically country, well, then you have to have a party that rises above the more particular issues to the generic, the general issue of making America great, if I might take that word,” Brown said on NBC’s “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd,” borrowing Donald Trump’s populist slogan."
"The litmus test should be intelligence ... (and) caring about the common man,” Brown said on a special edition of the public affairs show called “Our Broken Politics.” “We have to rise above some of our most cherished ideological inclinations and find a common basis.”
Vice President Mike Pence, angrily responding to a New York Times story, says he's not exploring a 2020 presidential bid.
LA Times' LAURA KING: "For months, President Trump’s White House has been prone to veering off message, sometimes wildly so. But it was crystal clear on one point Sunday: No one except Trump should put up a hand for the 2020 GOP presidential nod."
"Vice President Mike Pence denied that he is considering a run for the presidency the next time around, issuing a statement, the vehemence of which underscored how sensitive the White House is to any questioning of whether Trump will seek a second term."
"In what appeared to be a coordinated message, the White House also hit back Sunday at a report in the New York Times that described steps Pence and some GOP lawmakers have taken that could position themselves for presidential bids."
READ MORE related to Beltway: Trump complains that 'fake news' refuses to report his accomplishments -- LA Times; President Trump is tasked with governing, but he keeps harping on these 7 things -- LA Times' KURTIS LEE
Returning to the state Capitol, a revoked perk taking away legislator's cars has ultimately saved the state hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
Bee's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Despite the Legislature’s protest that switching to a mileage-based reimbursement system would raise expenses, the 2011 elimination of a perk providing cars to lawmakers has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, according to a Sacramento Bee analysis of travel records."
"The California Senate and Assembly spent about $750,000 on mileage in the 2015-16 session, paying members 53 cents per mile when they drove their personal vehicles on legislative business. That’s almost half the nearly $1.4 million cost of car leases, maintenance and gas in 2009-10, the last full two-year session before the program was dumped amid state budget woes."
"It is nevertheless a small drop in the Legislature’s overall budget, which includes salaries and benefits for thousands of employees, travel, office supplies and other services. Spending for the Senate and Assembly totaled $246.8 million last year alone, according to annual reports, up about 14 percent since 2010."
A Google engineer recently sparked controversy over his anti-female sentiments.
Sacramento Bee's ADAM DARBY: "Outrage is growing in Silicon Valley and beyond after a 10-page document written by a senior Google engineer blasted the company’s “left leaning” culture and attributed differences in pay between men and women in tech jobs partly to biological differences between genders."
"The document made the rounds within the company on Friday, CNBC reports, and was published in full by Gizmodo."
"The essay was titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber.” The engineer’s identity has not been revealed."
USC's upper-echelon is now responsible for determing what happens to USC's med school dean after a drug-fueled scandal and overdose coverup rocked the recent news cycle.
LA Times' SONALI KOHLI/SARAH PARVINI/MATT HAMILTON/ADAM ELMAHREK: "How USC handles one of the biggest scandals in its history will be decided behind closed doors by a small group of wealthy and powerful people."
"Composed of 57 voting members, USC’s board of trustees includes noted philanthropists, accomplished alumni, Hollywood insiders and industrial tycoons. The group’s influence extends from the floor of Staples Center to metropolises in India and China."
"A small executive committee makes many of the significant decisions facing the university. A USC spokesman refused to identify who is on this committee. Nor would the university disclose what happens at its meetings or release minutes."
LA's 2028 Olympics hosting session could be met with an upgrade in transportation to accomodate the expected increase in traffic.
Daily News: "It’s a long way off, but the 2028 Olympic Games is looming large for Metro officials."
"They’ve designed a vision of what the LA Metro public transit system would look like in 2028, when the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are set to take place in Los Angeles, pending a vote in September by the International Olympics Committee."
"The improvements to the subway and light rail network stem from Measure R and Measure M, two transportation ballot measures approved by L.A. County voters in 2008 and 2016, according to Metro."
A look at the Oroville Dam, six months after the spillway failed and thousands of people were forced from their homes.
East Bay Times' PAUL ROGERS: "Six months ago, relentless winter storms dumped nearly 13 inches of rain in four days on the Sierra Foothills, tearing an enormous hole in the spillway at Oroville Dam, the nation’s highest, and leading to an unprecedented emergency that prompted the evacuation of 188,000 people from nearby towns."
"Today, what could have been ground zero for America’s worst dam disaster is now a hotbed of construction activity. Hundreds of construction workers are laboring 20 hours a day, six days a week with huge dump trucks, cranes, excavators, bulldozers, concrete pumps and other equipment to demolish and rebuild the 3,000-foot-long main spillway — a massive chute as wide as 15 lanes of freeway– by Nov. 1, before the next winter rain season begins anew."
“We are on target. We have done about 95 percent of the demolition that needs to take place, and we are already placing new concrete for the new spillway,” said Erin Mellon, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Water Resources, which owns the dam."
Where are they now? John Dunlap
Capitol Weekly's ALEX VASSAR: "Political dynasties are nothing new in California: There are eight current legislators who are children of former legislators."
"It’s been 15 years since Gene Mullin arrived in Sacramento, and his son Kevin is now serving his third term in the state Assembly. The Holden and Berryhill families each arrived more than 40 years ago, and it has been more than 50 years since Assemblywoman Yvonne Burke’s mother was sworn into the Assembly."
"The California Legislature’s longest-lived political dynasty was the Coombs-Dunlap family, which included four generations and stretched over 120 years."
OP-ED: Kamala Harris, Rand Paul try to take bail reform national, as California still dithers -- East Bay Times
Finally, from our "What's in the salad?" file, comes the tale of the man who demanded cucumbers.
"Police say a Pennsylvania man ranted that there weren't enough cucumbers on his Wendy's salad before he threw his food at an employee and made a threat."
"Police say they were called to the fast-food restaurant on Sunday afternoon in New Holland after 58-year-old Theodore Gunderson Jr. cursed, threw the salad at an employee and said, "If I had a gun or knife you would be the first to go."
"The clerk called police, and officers arrived to find Gunderson in his vehicle with the windows rolled up. Police say Gunderson eventually rolled down his window but then tried to drive away as an officer reached inside."
"Online court records don't list an attorney for Gunderson. He remained jailed Friday on aggravated assault, terroristic threats and other charges."
Hold the onions, hold the lettuce ....
