SF appeals court: 2A grants right to carry openly
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "Americans have a constitutional right to carry guns openly outside the home, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Tuesday on an issue that has divided federal courts and is likely headed to the U.S. Supreme Court."
"The 2-1 ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case from Hawaii may not last long — it was written by one of the court’s most conservative judges, Diarmuid O’Scannlain, whose previous decision striking down a California concealed-weapons law was overturned by the court’s liberal majority. But it highlights a Second Amendment issue the high court has sidestepped since 2008, when it ruled for the first time that the Constitution guarantees the right to possess a handgun at home for self-defense."
"Supreme Court intervention in the open-carry issue appears likelier with the widening split among lower courts — three federal appeals courts have found no right to carry guns openly in public — and with the possible addition on the court of President Trump’s nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, to succeed the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. As a federal appeals court judge, Kavanaugh has interpreted the Second Amendment broadly, saying in one dissenting opinion that it protects the right to own semiautomatic weapons."
Jerry Brown's plan lowers PG&E's liability for wildfire damages
Sacramento Bee's TARYN LUNA: "Gov. Jerry Brown released a proposal Tuesday to reduce PG&E’s legal responsibility for wildfire damages after months of intense lobbying at the California Capitol."
"The change could shift the financial burden for blazes onto insurance companies and lead to higher coverage premiums for homeowners."
"Now more than ever, Californians depend on reliable electrical power to heat and cool homes, run hospitals and fire stations and so much more,” Brown wrote in a letter to the Legislature. “Yet, the increasingly destructive and costly wildfires and natural disasters have the potential to undermine the system, leaving our energy sector in a state of weakness at a time when it should be making even greater investments in safety.”
READ MORE related to Energy & Environment: California's largest reservoir project in decades gets an $800M boost. But is it feasible? -- Sacramento Bee's DALE KASLER/RYAN SABALOW; With Yosemite closing because of the Ferguson fire, here's what you need to know about what's open, what's closed and how to get a refund -- LA Times's MARY FORGIONE; To keep electricity flowing to Angelenos, the DWP says it might cut their power -- LA Times's EMILY ALPERT REYES; How a SV City cut landmark deals to solve a water crisis -- Water Deeply's TARA LOHAN
Judge to consider how quickly families can be deported after reunification
LA Times's KRISTINA DAVIS: "How quickly can immigrant families be removed from the U.S. after being reunited?"
"It’s the latest question that a San Diego federal judge will be considering in light of the Trump administration’s massive effort to reunify parents separated from their children at the border."
"More than 1,000 children age 5 and older have already been reunified with their parents under U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw’s court order, and hundreds more are expected to be by Thursday’s deadline — an achievement Sabraw called “remarkable” during a hearing Tuesday."
Homelessness is getting worse across California. Gavin Newsom says he has plan to turn it around
Sacramento Bee's ANGELA HART: "Homeless people, many displaced by California’s housing crisis, are erecting tent encampments in cities across the state. They’re filling up shelters, sleeping on sidewalks and along river banks and living in their cars."
"City and county officials are struggling to find a way to deal with the problem. It is causing public health concerns as homeless people defecate outside and discard their used needles on the street, absent public restrooms and safe injection sites."
"Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the frontrunner in the governor’s race, has outlined an ambitious agenda for tackling it, if elected. He says it’s among his top priorities."
Sacramento floats ban of unruly protesters from city council meetings, kicks out speaker
Sacramento Bee's RYAN LILLIS: "The Sacramento City Council is considering a ban on “abusive or threatening” protesters from council meetings — an apparent response to an increasingly tense atmosphere at public sessions in recent months."
"Several speakers have been removed from the City Council Chambers since the shooting of Stephon Clark by Sacramento police officers in March. In some cases, activists have been escorted out of City Hall by police officers after yelling obscenities at Mayor Darrell Steinberg and members of the City Council."
CalPERS tackles opioid epidemic
Sacramento Bee's HANNAH HOLZER: "Having already spent tens of millions of dollars toward the cause, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System is continuing its efforts to combat the statewide opioid epidemic, following the launch of a 2017 objective to reduce prescriptions of opioids."
"In addition to internal actions within the pension system aimed at reducing prescription levels for drugs like Oxycodone and OxyContin, CalPERS has joined forces with Medi-Cal and Covered California for Smart Care California, a collaborative effort to promote safe health care."
"The three partners account for the purchasing and management of health care services for over 40 percent of the state, Smart Care reports."
State audit targets employee misconduct
Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON: "A California DMV data operator slept three hours a day at her desk for three years, and the department failed to take disciplinary action — despite complaints from her colleagues, according to an audit released Tuesday."
"Four witnesses told investigators from the California State Auditor’s office that the DMV employee consistently slept at her desk. The auditor estimated the employee misused 2,200 hours of work time between February 2014 and December 2017."
LAPD officials defend predictive policing as activists call for its end
LA Times's CINDY CHANG: "Early each morning, computers spit out maps of Los Angeles, marked with red squares where a complex algorithm has judged that property crimes are most likely to occur."
Some GOP lawmakers critical of relief program for farmers
AP's KEN THOMAS/PAUL WISEMAN/LISA MASCARO: "The Trump administration says it will provide $12 billion in emergency relief to ease the pain of American farmers slammed by President Donald Trump's escalating trade disputes with China and other countries."
"However, some farm-state Republicans quickly dismissed the plan, declaring Tuesday that farmers want markets for their crops, not payoffs for lost sales and lower prices."
"The Agriculture Department said it would tap an existing program to provide billions in direct payments to farmers and ranchers hurt by foreign retaliation to Trump's tariffs."
READ MORE related to Trump Trade War/Economy: California farmer skeptical about Trump farm aid -- McClatchy DC's EMILY CADEI; House Reeps seek more tax cuts as elections near -- AP's MARCY GORDON
Trump recorded discussing paying for Playboy model's story
AP's MICHAEL BALSAMO/JONATHAN LEMIRE: "A secretly recorded tape of Donald Trump by his longtime personal lawyer was played on CNN Tuesday night in which the two can be heard talking about a potential payment for a Playboy model's story about an alleged affair and the soon-to-be president is heard discussing whether to "pay with cash."
"The audio recording , surreptitiously made by Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen two months before the 2016 presidential election, was provided to CNN by Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis."
"The conversation between Trump and Cohen came weeks after the National Enquirer's parent company reached a $150,000 deal to pay former Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story of a 2006 affair, which it never published, a tabloid practice known as catch and kill. Trump denies the affair ever happened and his campaign had said he knew nothing about the payment."
READ MORE related to POTUS45: Giuliani: Trump didn't offer to pay cash on tape -- AP; Ivanka Trump shuts down her namesake clothing brand -- LA Times's JAMES F PELTZ
