Gas-tax repeal made California ballot because of GOP. Then GOP walked away
The Chronicle's JOHN WILDEMUTH reports: "Republican leaders who pumped more than $1 million into the effort to get a gas tax repeal measure on the November ballot have closed their wallets, leaving the Proposition 6 campaign underfunded and falling behind in the polls."
“We’ve known all along that the fall campaign was going to be a grassroots effort,” said Carl DeMaio, the conservative San Diego talk-show host behind the repeal effort. “It’s David versus Goliath, no doubt about it.”
"Goliath, however, is coming up big in this fight. Opponents of rolling back last year’s 12-cent-a-gallon gas-tax increase, the centerpiece of a $5.2 billion-a-year road repair effort, have far more money to buy ads, pack mailboxes and get out the vote as mail balloting starts Monday."
READ MORE about the gas tax: Garcetti urges voters to reject Proposition 6, which would repeal California's new gas tax -- LAT's LAURA J. NELSON
California inmate volunteer firefighters ‘like the special forces’
RICH DEATLEY in the PRESS ENTERPRISE: "As the flames picked up on a hillside over a McVicker Canyon Park neighborhood of Lake Elsinore during the Holy fire in August, a crew in bright orange protective clothing with “CDCR Prisoner” in black letters across their backs lugged chainsaws and hand tools up a steep hillside."
"Above the threatened homes along High Ridge Drive, the La Cima Fire Crew went to work, creating a firebreak between the dry, untreated brush on the upper part of the hill and an area below layered with bright fire retardant, dropped the night before."
"The neighborhood escaped the flames."
"The La Cima crew, based in Julian in San Diego County, is among the 2,519 volunteers from California’s prison system, along with some county jail inmates, who fight fires on the front lines."
He’s on trial in a murder but didn’t pull the trigger. Could new California law avert a life term?
From the SACBEE's DARRELL SMITH: "It began as a robbery between drug dealers. It turned into an early morning massacre that left three men dead."
"In coming months, the case may become a test of a controversial law that bars felony murder charges for some accomplices to killings, and the continuation of a battle between Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert and outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown over how tough the state should be on crime."
"Prosecutors say in April 2016, Elijah Johnson was recruited by his then-girlfriend and his co-defendant David Nguyen to steal $30,000 in cash stashed at the family home of Nguyen’s marijuana-dealing partner Dong Le. Then the shooting started."
There's a lot of money in cheap digs: Two measures would raise record-breaking $6 billion for affordable housing
From the Chron's KEVIN FAGAN and ERIN ALLDAY: "Two years after voters approved billions of dollars to fund low-income homes around California, affordable housing advocates are upping the ante bigtime — with two statewide bond measures on the Nov. 6 ballot to raise a record-breaking $6 billion for housing for struggling families, veterans and severely mentally ill people."
"If they pass, the two measures would generate the most money ever approved by statewide voters for affordable and supportive housing in California."
"So far, no organized opposition has emerged for Proposition 1, which would create a $4 billion bond for loans, construction and preservation of rental housing for families and loans to veterans for the purchase of homes and farms."
Suit to block California's net neutrality law could be overshadowed by broader challenge in D.C. Circuit
The LAT's MAURA DOLAN: "When the Trump administration decided last year to dump net neutrality rules designed to treat all data equally, the states revolted."
"Thirty legislatures introduced bills to prohibit internet service providers from hindering access to certain sites and charging fees for faster speeds. Four states, including California, passed laws, and six governors issued executive orders declaring they would not do business with internet providers that violated net neutrality."
“People were upset across the country,” said Ernesto Falcon, legislative counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which supports net neutrality."
Gov. Jerry Brown got better with calming age and invaluable experience — and so did his signing and veto messages
From LAT opinionator GEORGE SKELTON: "Gov. Jerry Brown may have had more fun and been more entertaining while acting on bills than any California governor in history."
"He almost certainly has decided the fates of more measures than any governor — 19,680, according to his office. He signed 17,851 and vetoed 1,829, or 9.3%."
"The huge volume is because the Democrat has been governor far longer than anyone else — 16 years by the time he walks out the door at year’s end. He is the only California governor to be elected four times — twice in his relative youth and twice as an old guy."
A sexual harassment suit, but this one goes the other way: Professor sues UC Berkeley following his suspension for sexual harassment
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "A prominent UC Berkeley architecture professor who resigned in Septemberafter being suspended for three years without pay for sexually harassing a graduate student and abusing his faculty power has sued the campus chancellor and the University of California regents."
"Professor Nezar AlSayyad, who taught at UC Berkeley since 1985 and was tenured for most of that time, filed his lawsuit against the regents and UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ on Sept. 25. In it, he claims that Christ improperly overruled a disciplinary panel of fellow professors who had recommended a shorter unpaid suspension of one year on grounds that AlSayyad’s sexual harassment consisted only of “touching her thigh for one to two seconds while in a car” in 2013."
"The faculty panel — a secretive body that conducted its closed-door hearing in late 2017 — found no evidence that AlSayyad abused his position or his power over the student “to coerce her judgment ... for personal reasons,” according to court documents."
Meanwhile, down south, asbestos is found at San Onofre Units 2 and 3; nuclear plant officials say issue 'not unexpected'
The Union-Tribune's ROB NIKOLEWSKI: "Areas in the Unit 2 and Unit 3 containment domes at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station are under restricted access after workers recently discovered particles of asbestos and the plant’s operator, Southern California Edison, has hired a contractor to test and clean up the areas."
"Workers on Aug. 2 found what are called “friable” amounts of asbestos — materials that when dry can be easily reduced to powder by hand — as part of the preparations to eventually dismantle buildings at the plant, which is in the process of being decommissioned."
"Officials with Edison said asbestos was commonly used in nuclear power plants back in the 1970s and ‘80s when the two containment buildings were constructed."
Stem cell: Feds' crackdown could affect California
The California Stem Cell Report's DAVID JENSEN in Capitol Weekly: "The recent federal crackdown on the use of fetal tissue in scientific research could well be a harbinger of an effort to revive restrictions on the use of human embryonic stem cells, placing a roadblock in the way of creation of therapies to treat often deadly afflictions that affect millions of Americans."
"And it could have an impact on the fate of California’s $3 billion stem cell program, which expects to run out of money for new awards by the end of next year."
"A leader of the pro-life movement signaled today that anti-abortion groups’ next target is likely to be the National Institutes of Health(NIH), which provide billions of dollars in research funding, including use of embryonic stem cells (hESC). Writing on The Hill web site, Tom McClusky, president of March for Life Action, denounced current federal research practices. His opinion piece was headlined: “Trump’s move on unethical fetal tissue experimentation isn’t enough”
