California conservatives leaving the state for 'redder pastures'
LA Times's SARAH PARVINI: "The Volkswagen SUV whizzed past the Texas state line, a U-Haul trailer in tow, as it made its way toward Amarillo."
"Yay!” Judy Stark cried out to her husband, Richard, as they officially left California. The pair bobbed their heads to ’50s music playing on the radio."
"Like many other Republican and conservative voters in California, the retired couple have decided to leave the state. A major reason, Stark and her spouse say, is their disenchantment with deep-blue California’s liberal political culture."
California's Voters Choice Act and the 2020 el\ections
From PAUL MITCHELL in Capitol Weekly: "Tne constant in California elections is change."
"In the past 20 years, we’ve seen changes to when the primary is held, then changed back, then back again. We’ve seen an open primary, then another version of the open primary. We shook up the Legislature with term limits, then imposed different term limits. We have moved increasingly to vote by mail, shifting the timeline of our elections, and now there is a move in some counties to vote completely by mail."
"In March of 2020 we will see 15 counties shifting to all-mail elections under the new Voters Choice Act model — 4.7 million voters in just those counties."
For Harris' presidential hopes, Iowa is do or die
LA Times's MELANIE MASON: "In better times, Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign was full of flash: a launch rally that drew more than 20,000 people to Oakland, a five-day summer tour of Iowa on a luxury bus with her name blazing from the side in colorful capital letters, a robust multi-state operation headquartered in Baltimore."
"Now, the bus has been swapped for a nondescript black SUV. The campaign stops are more intimate than immense — a few dozen people in a pastoral red barn, several hundred in a pub. And her efforts have narrowed to a single make-or-break prize: Iowa."
"To revive her flagging campaign, Harris is betting big on going small. It is a marked tonal shift and a strategy born of necessity, reflecting her dwindling cash and limp poll numbers."
Judge orders PG&E to answer questions about Kincade Fire, blackouts
The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS: "The federal judge overseeing Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s probation is demanding more information about the kind of equipment problem the utility has reported around the time and place the Kincade Fire ignited last month in Sonoma County."
"U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Monday ordered the company to answer a series of questions he posed about the nature of the transmission line malfunction PG&E disclosed near the roughly 78,000-acre wildfire’s origin point northeast of Geyserville."
"Alsup, who is presiding over PG&E’s probation arising from the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion, also asked for more details about the blackouts PG&E imposed for millions of people in late October, including at the time when the Kincade Fire started."
PG&E's spending on lobbying climbed amid bankruptcy, rate hike requests
Sacramento Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "As Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s bankruptcy unfolded, the embattled utility increased its lobbying at the California Capitol, expense records filed with the Secretary of State show."
"The state’s largest privately owned utility faces billions of dollars in claims from wildfires sparked by its equipment in 2017 and 2018."
"In its latest filing, PG&E reported lobbying on a slew of wildfire and utility-related bills, including Senate Bill 209, which establishes a state-run weather center to help predict wildfire threats. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed that measure and a host of other wildfire-related bills into law last month."
READ MORE related to PG&E, Blackouts, Wildfires: PG&E says its equipment may have caused another California fire during windstorm -- Sacramento Bee's DALE KASLER; Why cell phones failed in PG&E outages, and how to prevent a repeat -- Sacramento Bee's MALLORY MOENCH
White powder forces evacuation at resigned Rep. Katie Hill's office, LA cops say
Sacramento Bee's JARED GILMOUR: "An envelope containing a suspicious white powder forced evacuations at a Southern California office of resigned Democratic Rep. Katie Hill on Monday, according to local media reports."
"Several people were exposed to the unknown white powder at the ex-congresswoman’s field office in Palmdale, and the Los Angeles County Fire Department was called in shortly after noon, KABC reported."
"Those exposed to the substance “will go through a decontamination process and be taken to a medical facility,” according to KABC."
What to know about Tuesday's NorCal election for AD1
Sacramento Bee's ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS: "Election Day is almost here for voters in California Assembly District 1."
"Republican Megan Dahle and Democrat Elizabeth Betancourt are vying for the district spanning much of Northern California’s eastern edge. The seat was vacated by Dahle’s husband and former Assemblyman Brian Dahle earlier this year after he won the District 1 state Senate seat in June."
"In the August special primary, Betancourt led all candidates with 38.6 percent of the vote. Megan Dahle won 35.6 percent of the vote. The other three candidates in the race, all Republican, garnered a combined 25.7 percent of the vote."
California's presidential primary is up for grabs. How to win it is the question
Sacramento Bee's BRYAN ANDERSON: "Kamala Harris has left for Iowa. Joe Biden decided to skip a third major California event. Visits from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have been few and far between."
"Democratic candidates for president flocked to California after the state bumped up its presidential primary to March 3, 2020. Twenty-four of the 26 who opted to run came to the state in the first months of their campaigns, according to a Sacramento Bee analysis of their visits."
"But the campaign trail in the Golden State is largely empty three months before mail balloting begins on Feb. 3. Political experts suggest the lack of attention is a sign that crafting a strategy just for California is nearly impossible."
California appeals court says more languages must be offered in election materials
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "California election officials are not fully complying with a law that requires them to post ballot materials in languages other than English at polling places where surveys show voters need them, a state appeals court ruled Monday."
"While siding with Secretary of State Alex Padilla on several disputed ballot-language issues, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said Padilla had wrongly relied on a provision of federal law that requires assistance only for language minorities that amount to at least 5% of a county’s population. California law goes further and covers any language minority that makes up 3% of the voting-age population of an individual precinct, the court said."
"In those precincts, the state would have to provide a translated “facsimile ballot” in the speaker’s native language that will help the voter to fill out an English-language ballot at the polls, said attorney Jonathan Stein of the Asian Law Caucus. Translated material would also be required, he said, in the voter information guide, polling-place signs and the county election website."
DA challenger Tung says Loftus' team tried to get her to run for judge instead
The Chronicle's HEATHER KNIGHT: "Just days before the election for a new San Francisco district attorney, one candidate has revealed an interesting meeting with a challenger."
"Nancy Tung, a prosecutor in Alameda County, said interim District Attorney Suzy Loftus asked for a meeting with her shortly before the summer filing deadline to enter the race. They each brought an adviser and met at a “private office close to City Hall,” Tung said. She declined to say whose office was used for the meeting."
"Toward the end of the get-together, Tung said, Debbie Mesloh, a political consultant, suggested that Tung drop out of the race. Mesloh suggested that Tung run for Superior Court Judge instead in exchange for Loftus’ support in that race. Tung rebuffed the offer and remains in Tuesday’s race for district attorney. Mesloh is a friend of Loftus’ but was not paid by her campaign."
California's plastic pollution fight may be headed to voters
The Chronicle's DUSTIN GARDINER: "California environmentalists battling to stop plastic from polluting the ocean and piling up in landfills say they can’t wait for state lawmakers to act — they’re hoping to take the fight to the ballot box."
"Recology, the Bay Area waste hauler, and environmental groups filed a proposed initiative Monday that would require plastic manufacturers to dramatically reduce the amount of products that people use once and toss in the trash."
"The initiative, aimed at the November 2020 ballot, is a more far-reaching version of two waste-reduction bills that died at the state Capitol this year, both were opposed by the plastics and petroleum industries."
Cops seize almost 1M cannabis plants on black market farm raids
Sacramento Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "California has stepped up its enforcement against unlicensed marijuana grow operations."
"Local, state and federal law enforcement in California have arrested 148 people and eradicated nearly 1 million unlicensed marijuana plants at grow sites across the state, according to a statement from the California Attorney General’s Office."
"As part of the state’s “Campaign Against Marijuana Planting” campaign, law enforcement seized and destroyed 953,459 plants at 345 cannabis grow sites across Northern, Central and Southern California, Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office said in a statement."
Judge rules federal guidelines on campus sexual assault can't be challenged
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos wants to make it harder to prove accusations of sexual assault and harassment on college campuses. Women’s-rights advocates say DeVos’ nationwide policies amount to sex discrimination, but a federal magistrate says they’re only guidelines that can’t be challenged in court."
"One of the changes that President Trump’s top education official announced two years ago encourages colleges to require accusers to prove their claims by “clear and convincing evidence,” repealing rules under President Barack Obama’s administration that allowed accusations to be proved by a “preponderance of the evidence,” or more likely than not."
"DeVos also said schools could allow an accuser to be questioned about her sexual history, could ignore off-campus incidents, and could prohibit the accuser from appealing an unfavorable verdict, allowing only the accused student to appeal — all changes from the previous standards."
House releases first depositions in Trump impeachment inquiry
LA Times's SARAH D WIRE/JENNIFER HABERKORN: "House committees that have conducted the impeachment inquiry into President Trump behind closed doors for the last six weeks released the first two transcripts of witness testimony Monday even as four other White House officials defied subpoenas and refused to appear."
"Among the four was John Eisenberg, a deputy counsel to the president and legal advisor to the National Security Council, thought to be a key witness after others testified that he attempted to conceal records of Trump’s controversial July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by reportedly moving a rough transcript of the call to a highly classified computer server not normally used for that purpose."
"The phone call is at the heart of the inquiry into whether Trump improperly sought to use foreign policy for personal gain by pressing Zelensky to investigate Democrats, including former Vice President Joe Biden‘s son Hunter, to undermine Biden’s 2020 run for the White House."
Trump loses appeals court fight to keep his tax returns from NY investigators
AP: "President Trump’s tax returns can be turned over to state criminal investigators by his personal accountant, a federal appeals court in New York ruled Monday."
"The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is certain to be further appealed after lawyers for the president promised to do so and the three-judge appeals panel predicted it."
"In the written decision, the judges said they only decided whether a state prosecutor can demand Trump’s personal financial records while the president is in office. The appeals court said it did not consider whether the president is immune from indictment and prosecution while in office or whether the president may be ordered to produce documents in a state criminal proceeding."
The new batch of food emoji has arrived
The Chronicle's SOLEIL HO: "The Unicode Technical Committee, the Mountain View body responsible for approving new emoji (among many other things), just rolled out a new batch last week that includes nine new culinary icons: a stick of butter, 
falafel, round waffles, a juice box, yerba mate in a gourd, garlic, onion, oyster on the half shell and one of those fancy ice cubes that you’ll find in a lowball glass at a cocktail bar."
"For many of us, emoji just seem to appear from nowhere every time we update our phones’ operating systems. There might not seem to be any rhyme nor reason behind which ones show up each year, and you might think: what use am I ever going to have for a garlic 
emoji?"
"But when it comes to emoji, a
is never just a banana."
