Breaking down the ballot

"Thirty minutes later, with Cutting huffing from exertion and choking in thick smoke, the evacuation of Redwood Hill was still playing out one door at a time. He followed the sound of shouts to an officer struggling to carry a disabled woman. Her house was on fire. Her shoe on the ground. The night around them was orange in every direction."

"It was 11 on a Sunday night, the beginning of what would be the most destructive fire siege in California history. Frantic rescues were taking place across wine country as heavy winds ripped down power lines and the dry hills lit up in flames. Modern technology in the form of robocalls and digital alerts would not join the fight to roust sleeping residents for another half an hour."

READ MORE related to The West is Burning: Animal victims of Wine Country fires honored at memorial -- The Chronicle's TARA DUGGAN; Price gouging complaints after the wildfires -- NYT's CONOR DOUGHERTY/ADAM NAGOURNEY

When it comes to California's proposed bullet train, it's a tale of two stations in Bakersfield.

From DOROTHY MILLS-GREGG IN Capitol Weekly: "Bakersfield, California’s ninth-largest city in terms of population with more than 380,000 residents, is trying to decide where to put a bullet-train station. This battle has lasted for years."

"The council opposed the Truxtun Avenue station because it would take out the city’s corporation yard and police vehicle maintenance facility, in addition to eliminating all the parking spaces for one of the city’s proudest accomplishments, the Rabobank Arena Theater and Convention Center."

"Instead, the preferred site may be about two miles north of Truxtun, at F Street and Route 204, known locally as the Golden State Highway."

A union battle at an anti-union bastion

NYT's ADAM NAGOURNEY: "The Los Angeles Times has been a bulwark against union organizing for more than a century, since Gen. Harrison Gray Otis acquired part-ownership of the company in 1884 — helping to shape not only a powerful newspaper but Los Angeles itself. Two union organizers set off a bomb at the paper’s downtown headquarters in 1910, killing 20 people, a bloody event that is integral to the paper’s history."

"The newspaper stayed in the Otis-Chandler family until The Tribune Company took control in 2000. Now, with the paper controlled by Tronc, which is based in Chicago, what once seemed unthinkable is about to happen: The newsroom is going to vote next week on whether to join The NewsGuild, which represents 25,000 reporters, editors and photographers across the nation."

"Anyone who knows the history of Los Angeles knows what a big deal this is,” said Matt Pearce, a national correspondent with the paper and a member of the organizing committee. “General Otis must be rolling over in his grave."

Valley housing prices shattered records in 2017. That's great for sellers, 'depressing' for buyers

Daily News' OLGA GRIGORYANTS: "After a year of looking for a house in the San Fernando Valley, Elizabeth Coipel-Liverman and her husband Daniel Liverman could only find “overpriced fixer-uppers in bad neighborhoods.” Now, the Chatsworth couple is turning to Ventura County to find their dream home."

"We don’t want to pay a half million dollars for a dumpy house in the Valley,” Daniel Liverman, 40, said, adding that he and his wife are aiming to buy a house in the $600,000 to $700,000 range. “I don’t want to live in a crappy neighborhood and send my children to a crappy school. That’s why we’re looking for a house in Ventura County."

"The Livermans are among many home buyers who have struggled to find affordable homes in a sizzling San Fernando Valley market, where home prices skyrocketed to record highs in 2017 ."

SMUD is hiking your rates soon

Sacramento Bee's MARK GLOVER: "Sacramento Municipal Utility District customers will see increases in their bills at the start of the new year."

"In 2017, SMUD approved a rate increase of 1.5 percent for all residential customers in 2018 and a 1 percent increase in both 2018 and 2019 for all commercial customers."

"The utility provider said the rate increases will be used for upgrades for a modern energy grid and to meet customer needs. The increases also will go to improve technology that SMUD customers use to monitor and manage their energy use."

Apple apologizes for secretly slowing older iPhones

Sacramento Bee's RYAN NAKASHIMA: "Apple apologized for secretly slowing down older iPhones, a move it said was necessary to avoid unexpected shutdowns related to battery fatigue."

"Many customers had interpreted the move as a way to for Apple to juice demand for newer iPhone models, their suspicions fueled by the fact that the company didn't initially disclose the slowdowns or its reasons for them."

"Apple also said it will cut the price of a battery replacement by $50 to $29 through next year. New batteries had previously cost $79 for those who didn't purchase the Apple Care maintenance plan."

It's still unclear if recreational marijuana will be sold in Sacramento on January 1st

Sacramento Bee's BRAD BRANAN: "Four days before marijuana becomes legal to sell for recreational use in California, it remains an open question whether consumers will be able to buy it in Sacramento on Jan. 1."

"Most of the city’s 30 medical marijuana dispensaries have expressed interest in retail sales and some of them have applied for permits from the state and city. Both state and city permits are needed to sell marijuana."

"But none of them had been permitted by the city or state as of Thursday afternoon."

Old lightbulbs to vanish from California shelves -- judge removes last obstacle

Sacramento Bee's DALE KASLER: "Traditional lightbulbs are about to start disappearing from hardware store shelves in California, with an assist from a federal judge in Sacramento."

"U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller has denied bulb manufacturers’ plea for a court order that would have blocked new energy-efficiency standards from taking effect New Year’s Day. Those standards will effectively make most traditional incandescent lightbulbs obsolete."

"Although manufacturers can continue to pursue their lawsuit, the ruling means the energy standards will take effect Jan. 1, said spokeswoman Amber Pasricha Beck of the California Energy Commission."

READ MORE related to Cannabis: How Congress unwittingly turned the nation's capital into the Wild West of marijuana -- LA Times' EVAN HALPER; OP-ED: Think California is ready for legal marijuana? Think again -- Sacramento Bee's EDITORIAL BOARD

White House looks to make internal changes amid worries of a tough year ahead

WaPo's ASHLEY PARKER/JOSH DAWSEY: "While President Trump spent the past week at his Mar-a-Lago Club — golfing, tweeting, relaxing with family and talking to old friends — White House officials have been in quiet talks about revamping the West Wing operation and filling open posts ahead of what could be a politically difficult 2018."

"The discussions come at a critical time for the administration. The president ended his first turbulent year in office with a major legislative victory — the Republican tax plan — but also suffered an embarrassing setback when the Republican candidate he endorsed in Alabama’s Senate race suffered an upset loss following allegations of sexual misconduct."

"The unexpected defeat in the deep-red state narrowed the Republicans’ already tissue-thin majority in the Senate and underscored the challenges the White House faces as Republicans head into the 2018 midterm elections with a president facing approval ratings in the 30s."

A powerful person has been accused of misconduct at a rate of nearly once every 20 hours since Weinstein