Judge in San Bruno criminal case demands answers from PG&E on Camp Fire
Sacramento Bee's DALE KASLER: "A federal judge overseeing PG&E’s criminal probation from the deadly San Bruno pipeline explosion is demanding answers from the utility about its potential role in the Camp Fire or other major wildfires."
"In a written order, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco told PG&E to explain whether “reckless operation or maintenance of PG&E power lines” started a wildfire — and whether that might constitute a violation of the terms of the utility’s probation."
"PG&E was found guilty in federal court of obstruction of justice and other charges in connection with the 2010 San Bruno disaster, which killed eight people and injured 58 others. At sentencing in January 2017, the utility was placed on five years’ probation, fined $3 million and ordered to perform thousands of hours of community service."
READ MORE related to Camp Fire: Federal judge overseeing PG&E's probation demands answers on Camp Fire - The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS; 88 dead, 203 still unaccounted for in Camp Fire; 16 more victims identified -- ANDRE BYIK, Chico Enterprise-Record
Gov. Jerry Brown asks California Supreme Court to keep pardon records sealed
PATRICK McGREEVY, LAT: "Gov. Jerry Brown has asked the California Supreme Court to keep records sealed that involve his pardon of former state Sen. Roderick Wright, arguing confidentiality is consistent with historic practice and is supported by state law."
"A court filing was submitted late Monday by Peter A. Krause, the governor’s legal secretary, after the nonpartisan First Amendment Coalition last week petitioned the court to unseal records filed by the governor’s office, including a review of the pardon application and letters that supported clemency for Wright."
"Courts have repeatedly recognized an executive privilege that protects the governor's decision-making process from public scrutiny," the filing says.
Say hello to your next lieutenant governor, Eleni Kounalakis
From LISA RENNER, Capitol Weekly: 'Eleni Kounalakis bristles at the suggestion that she won the election for California lieutenant governor because of her wealthy father’s support."
"It’s true that her father Angelo Tsakopoulos is a very rich land developer. But his mother couldn’t read or write and he spent his early years working in the fields after arriving in this country from Greece."
“My father started as a farm worker,” she said. “The community I grew up in in Sacramento was a hardworking immigrant community. It never occurred to me in my life that I wouldn’t need to work to support myself. I have always been a hard-working person.”
Blue wave crashes down on California senator who threatened lobbyist
From the SacBee's BRYAN ANDERSON: "The California state senator who drunkenly threatened to “bitch slap” a female lobbyist at a Sacramento bar this summer will soon be out of office."
"Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, conceded defeat in his bid for a seat on the state’s elected tax board — the Board of Equalization — on Tuesday. It’s the first time a Democrat has captured the San Diego-based seat in at least four decades."
"When the bar confrontation erupted this summer, the California Nurses Association immediately called on Anderson to resign from the Senate and end his candidacy for tax board."
One leader rescinds call for boycott of Giants, another leader does not
THe Chronicle's HENRY SCHULMAN: "One of the Bay Area civil-rights leaders who on Monday called for a boycott of the Giants reversed course Tuesday after Charles B. Johnson, the team’s largest shareholder, said he was asking for an oft-criticized political donation to be returned."
"Another leader who called for a boycott until Johnson has divested from the Giants said he was less moved by the owner’s actions Tuesday."
"The Rev. Amos Brown, president of the San Francisco NAACP chapter, rescinded his call for a boycott, which a day earlier he said he would do if Johnson sought his donation back from U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Johnson and his wife, Ann, contributed $5,400 on Nov. 20 to the campaign of Hyde-Smith, a Republican who won a runoff election Tuesday against Democrat Mike Espy."
Whiter, poorer, Trumpier: the new Republican California
From BEN CHRISTOPHER, CALmatters: "After the shellacking that California Republicans took in this year’s midterm elections, many figures within the more pragmatic wing of the party establishment had hoped that the party would turn away from the divisive politics of President Donald Trump and seek to become a more diverse coalition."
"But in the short term, the midterm election whittled away all the purple sections of the state now represented by the GOP, leaving only the scarlet-red core. With striking losses in Orange County and the Central Valley, the Republican Party’s diminished congressional delegation will now represent a less diverse and less well-off subset of Californians—and an electorate that was most enamored with the president. It will also be a much smaller portion of the state."
"This year, 26 percent of Californians are represented in Congress by a Republican. Next year, it will be down to 13 percent."
Billion-dollar project nearly compromised by rogue employee in Folsom, Intel alleges
Sacramento Bee's SAM STANTON: "The technology Intel Corp. was working on was so promising — and secret — that the company says it has invested more than $1 billion in the project."
"Only a few hundred people worldwide know the details of the memory technology known as 3D XPoint, and the processes for developing it “are not written in any textbook or taught in any school,” according to Intel."
"But in September that world of high-tech secrecy nearly collapsed as an Intel computer hardware engineer at the company’s Folsom campus tried to download details of the project the night before leaving for a competing firm, a lawsuit filed in federal court in Sacramento Tuesday alleges."
'Alexa, who won the $500K AI prize?' UC Davis team's chatbot is champ
Sacramento Bee's SAWSAN MORRAR: "A talkative bot that can hold up its end of a conversation for nearly 10 minutes claimed a half-million-dollar prize Tuesday for the UC Davis student team that invented it."
"The team of 11 graduate and undergraduate students won the $500,000 global 2018 Amazon Alexa Prize with their “chatbot,” which speaks with humans on topics that they both find to be engaging."
"UC Davis was one of eight universities to receive $250,000 in funding upon entering the contest. Three teams became finalists, and the Amazon Alexa prize was announced Tuesday at the annual Amazon Web Service re:Invent conference in Las Vegas."
SF sues over health department conflict of interest -- and wants $1.2M back
The Chronicle's TRISHA THADANI: "City Attorney Dennis Herrera is suing a former Department of Public Health employee, her supervisor, husband and a cybersecurity firm over a $1.2 million contract he said was riddled with conflicts of interest and rewarded the former city employee and company with taxpayer dollars."
"According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court, Heather Zalatimo, a former information technology systems engineer at the health department, allegedly steered the agency toward a $1.2 million contract with Fidelis Cybersecurity, a software and services company where her husband, Maarek Zalatimo, was a regional sales manager. The city signed the contract in October 2016."
"Herrera said the contract violated San Francisco’s conflict-of-interest laws for city employees: Maarek Zalatimo’s pay package included a base salary plus commissions based on sales — meaning his wife could have benefited financially from the deal. Herrera’s office estimates that Maarek Zalatimo received a commission of about $65,000 from the contract."
READ MORE on courts: Federal appeals court upholds California's right-to-die law -- BOB EGELKO, Chronicle
