Biggest California earthqauake in decades ruptured on at least 24 faults
LA Times's RONG-GONG LIN II: "When an earthquake strikes, the instinct of many Californians is to ask: Which fault ruptured — the Newport-Inglewood, the Hayward, the mighty San Andreas?"
"But scientists are increasingly saying it’s not that simple."
"New research shows that the Ridgecrest earthquakes that began in July ruptured at least two dozen faults. It’s the latest evidence of how small faults can join together to produce a large earthquake, and how those quakes can cover a wider area than expected."
CA lawmakers: Time to consider revoking badges of problem officers
BANG's ROBERT LEWIS/DAVID DEBOLT: "State lawmakers said this week that it’s time for California to consider joining 45 other states that can revoke the badges of officers who commit crimes and other serious misconduct."
"The call for action comes in the wake of a six-month investigation from a statewide coalition of news organizations, including McClatchy, that revealed more than 80 law enforcement officers working today in California have a prior criminal conviction."
“We need to do something about this,” said state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, a Democrat and member of the Public Safety Committee representing Santa Barbara and part of Ventura County. “Having convicted criminals on our police force is just not O.K. in any way, shape or form.”
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "California property taxes are one area that U.S. presidents have no control over, but that hasn’t stopped candidates for the Democratic nomination from lining up behind a prospective ballot measure to overhaul Proposition 13, the state’s landmark tax-cutting law."
"The audience for the presidential hopefuls’ message is not so much ordinary Californians — most of whom are not yet paying close attention to a 2020 measure that would boost property taxes for large businesses — as it is organized labor, a key Democratic constituency."
"The state’s powerful public employee unions have made the initiative an election-year priority. If passed, it would unleash billions of dollars for schools and local governments that employ union workers."
During PG&E outages, generators caused fires, carbon monoxide poi soning
The Chronicle's MALLORY MOENCH: "When PG&E cut power in rural Nevada County in late September, 90-year-old Art Bern went to turn on a generator outside his garage. It took him a few tries to get the machine, bought along with the house in 1989, going. But after he finally did and returned inside, the lights, which had just gone on, flickered out with a pop."
"That’s when Bern looked out his window and saw the garage on fire."
"Nevada County Consolidated Fire District Fire Marshal Terry McMahan confirmed the Sept. 25 blaze was started by the generator because it was not maintained and too close to the building."
Drug overdoses probed in USC student deaths, pointing to 'twin epidemics'
LA Times's COILLEEN SHALBY/SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA/TERESA WATANABE/RICHARD WINTON: "Some of the nine recent deaths of USC students are potentially linked to drug overdoses, reflecting a growing concern among educators and health officials about rising drug use by college-age adults and the need for greater mental health services at universities."
"Particularly worrisome is that investigators are probing whether any of the USC deaths are connected to tainted drugs — drugs touted as one thing but which actually contain more potent narcotics."
“We all know that people that get drugs on the street have no idea what is in those drugs,” USC President Carol Folt said Wednesday."
95% of voters say homelessness is LA's biggest problem, Times poll finds. 'You can't escape it'
LA Times's BENJAMIN ORESKE/DOUG SMITH/DAVID LAUTER: ""As people living in tents, RVs and makeshift shelters become a fact of life in neighborhoods far and wide, homelessness is now an all-consuming issue in Los Angeles County, with 95% of voters calling it a serious or very serious problem, according to a new poll conducted for the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Business Council Institute."
"The near-unanimous opinion that homelessness ranks as a top concern marks a sharp change from earlier surveys of Los Angeles voters over the past dozen years, said Fred Yang of Hart Research, the Washington, D.C., polling firm that conducted the survey."
"Only traffic congestion and housing affordability — at 88% and 85%, respectively — came close to rivaling the near universal concern over homelessness."
Oakland City Council tells attorney to drop suit against Alamedy County over Coliseum sale
The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI: "The Oakland City Council directed the city attorney Wednesday to “immediately drop” the city’s lawsuit against Alameda County that has prevented the county from selling its half of the Coliseum site to the Oakland A’s."
"The announcement came just a day before the county and the city were due back before a judge to discuss next steps. The City Council made the decision in a special closed meeting Wednesday."
"Mayor Libby Schaaf, Council President Rebecca Kaplan and Vice Mayor Larry Reid released a joint statement saying they’re dropping the lawsuit because “we’re pleased with our recent discussions with the A’s and our shared interests in Oakland’s future."
California jails are in crisis; Newsom is calling for more oversight
Sacramento Bee's JASON POHL/RYAN GABRIELSON: "Faced with a surge of homicides in some of California’s largest jails, inmates held in inhumane suicide-watch conditions and elected sheriffs who rebuff state inspectors, Gov. Gavin Newsom is crafting plans that would give the state more power to oversee local sheriffs and the lockups they run."
"The measure will be part of a broader criminal justice reform package he plans to introduce next year, he told The Fresno Bee editorial board last week. Also on the table: adding “step-down facilities” to bolster rehabilitation and reentry options for people being released from custody and, ultimately, shutting one of the state’s 35 prisons."
"“I’m generally not satisfied with oversight, period. Across the board,” Newsom said, when asked whether he was content with the state’s supervision of county jails that house about 70,000 inmates. Local decision-making fosters “wonderful flexibility” in running governments, providing services and operating local criminal justice systems."
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "In an extraordinary meeting of the University of California regents Wednesday, a doctoral student publicly accused Regent George Kieffer of putting his hand on her upper thigh at a dinner in 2014."
"This persisted throughout the evening,” Rebecca Ora said into the microphone, describing her shock during the dinner for student leaders hosted by Kieffer. The UC Santa Cruz student said she felt “powerless to stop this figure of authority from putting his hands on my body. I told myself we were discussing the tuition of hundreds of thousands, and I should not make a scene."
"None of the regents responded, consistent with practice at such meetings."
Public-funded Oroville Dam advertising called 'propaganda.' Here's how much it cost.
Sacramento Bee's RYAN SABALOW/DALE KASLER: "The state agency that manages Oroville Dam is on the PR offensive nearly three years after its spillways collapsed, triggering the evacuation of nearly 200,000 Sacramento Valley residents."
"The latest public relations effort cost California water ratepayers $29,000 to produce an eight-page color advertising insert that ran in recent days in six Sacramento Valley newspapers including The Sacramento Bee. The advertorial praises the dam and profiles the Department of Water Resources employees who manage it."
"Critics argue it’s inappropriate for a state agency to be spending public money on an advertisement that they say serves little purpose other than to try to make the government look good."
The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN/ERIN ALLDAY: "A woman living in Marin County died from complications related to vaping, the county’s health officer said Wednesday — the first such death in the Bay Area and the fourth in California since July."
"Dr. Matt Willis, the health officer, said that the 45-year-old woman was healthy before she took up vaping about six months ago. She died Friday of a severe lung injury related to vaping less than 24 hours after her family brought her to the hospital, he said."
"The woman thought she had a bad cold with a cough and fever, Willis said. But after her family took her to Novato Community Hospital, the illness progressed rapidly into acute respiratory distress and she was placed on a breathing machine and moved into the intensive care unit."
