World population hits 8 billion, U.N. says, creating many challenges
LAT, DAN IKPOYI/CHINEDU ASADU: "The world’s population is projected to hit an estimated 8 billion people Tuesday, according to a United Nations projection, with much of the growth coming from developing nations in Africa.
Among them is Nigeria, where resources are already stretched to the limit. More than 15 million people in Lagos compete for everything from electricity to light their homes to spots on crowded buses, often for two-hour commutes each way in this sprawling megacity. Some Nigerian children set off for school as early as 5 a.m.
And over the next three decades, the West African nation’s population is expected to soar even more: from 216 million this year to 375 million, the U.N. says. That will make Nigeria the fourth-most populous country in the world after India, China and the United States."
California election results: Who won? Which propositions passed?
CALMatters, STAFF: "After tens of millions of dollars in spending, thousands of door knocks and hundreds of attack ads, voting ended Nov. 8 in California — and the verdict of voters is now rolling in.
Among the seven ballot measures, Californians said yes to enshrining “reproductive freedom” in the state constitution, but rejected pricey campaigns that would have allowed sports betting online and at Native American casinos, as well as a tax on millionaires to combat climate change.
In the vote count thus far, no Republican was winning statewide office — something that last happened in 2006. Will Democrats keep their stranglehold on the Legislature with super-majorities? Will this be the most diverse Legislature ever? Did either party flip congressional seats, and will it matter for overall control of the U.S. House?"
Will this be the most diverse California Legislature ever?
CALMatters, ARIEL GANS/SAMEEA KAMAL: "Leading up to Election Day, advocacy groups were predicting — or at least hoping — that California voters would elect record numbers of women and LGBTQ people to the Legislature.
Based on the results so far, it appears that history will be made — and that the state Assembly and Senate will look more like California than ever before.
With eight openly LGBTQ candidates winning, including four potential new lawmakers, plus four holdovers, the Legislature is on track to have at least 10% LGBTQ representation for the first time ever, according to Equality California. If that happens, California would be the first state to achieve proportional LGBTQ+ representation in its legislature — and the number could go as high as 14 of the 120 legislators."
Wins in California have GOP poised to seize U.S. House control
AP: "Two threatened U.S. House Republicans in California triumphed over Democratic challengers Monday, helping move the GOP within a seat of seizing control of the chamber while a string of congressional races in the state remained in play.
In a bitter fight southeast of Los Angeles, Republican Rep. Michelle Steel defeated Democrat Jay Chen in a district that was specifically drawn to give Asian Americans a stronger voice on Capitol Hill. It includes the nation’s largest Vietnamese community.
In Riverside County, Republican Rep. Ken Calvert notched a win over Democrat Will Rollins. With 80% of the votes tallied, Calvert, the longest-serving Republican in the California congressional delegation, established a nearly 5,500-vote edge in the contest."
GOP Rep. Michelle Steel wins reelection after campaign marked by charges of red-baiting, racism
LAT, SEEMA MEHTA: "GOP Rep. Michelle Steel held onto her congressional seat after a campaign that included claims of red-baiting, misogyny and racism in a congressional district created to empower Asian American voters.
In an Orange County district centered on the community of Little Saigon, Steel bested Jay Chen, a Democratic Navy reserve officer, in one of the most divisive races in California this year. The Associated Press called the race Monday, though official results will take longer.
“I am humbled that voters have given me the opportunity to continue to fight for them in Washington, DC,” Steel said in a statement."
Republican Rep. Ken Calvert defeats Democrat Will Rollins to hold Riverside County seat
LAT, SEEMA MEHTA: "Rep. Ken Calvert, the longest-serving Republican member of California’s congressional delegation, won reelection in Riverside County despite being drawn into a less favorable district during the decennial reconfiguring of congressional maps.
Calvert beat Democrat Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor, in a district that became much more competitive this year, in part because of the inclusion of one of the nation’s largest concentrations of LGBTQ voters. The Associated Press called the race Monday, though official results will take longer.
“This election demonstrated that Riverside County voters are more interested in people serious about solving our challenges, than personal politics,” Calvert said in a written statement in which he called Rollins an “extremist liberal.” “It’s clear that this district, like our country, is narrowly divided on a partisan basis. I am proud of my record of delivering results for Riverside County by working in a bipartisan manner throughout my career.”"
Breed appointee Matt Dorsey wins S.F.’s District Six supervisor race
The Chronicle, JD MORRIS: "Matt Dorsey has won election to a full four-year term on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, defeating his main challenger, Honey Mahogany, in a show of strength for the city’s political moderates.
As of Monday, Dorsey had 51.7% of the first-choice votes compared with Mahogany’s 43.1% in the race to represent District Six, which includes SoMa, Mission Bay and Treasure Island.
The election of Dorsey, a former police spokesman whom Mayor London Breed appointed to the District Six seat in May, does not shift the political balance of the progressive-majority board. But the outcome is nonetheless helpful for Breed, since Dorsey has been in lockstep with the moderate mayor by broadly embracing her views about how to improve public safety and address the city’s housing crisis."
Bass ‘on track to win’ L.A. mayor’s race as lead grows to more than 29,000 votes
LAT, JULIA WICK/JAMES RAINEY: "U.S. Rep. Karen Bass moved closer to victory in the still-undecided Los Angeles mayor’s race Monday, with an updated vote tally showing the congresswoman leading real estate developer Rick Caruso by more than 4 percentage points nearly a week after polls closed.
The results are not yet definitive, and thousands of votes probably remain to be counted. But the latest release saw Bass continue to build her lead, with experts saying they struggled to see a path for Caruso to make up the ground ceded to Bass over the last several days of results.
She would be the first woman elected mayor of Los Angeles and only the second Black Angeleno to lead the city."
Judge wants to meet with new LA mayor, Bass or Caruso, before approving homeless settlement
SCN*LA Daily News, STAFF: "A federal judge said on Monday, Nov. 14, that he wants to meet with the new mayor of Los Angeles once election results are final before approving the settlement of a lawsuit over local governments’ response to the homelessness crisis.
U.S. District Judge David Carter said he will meet with either Rep. Karen Bass or billionaire developer Rick Caruso — once the final mayoral votes are tallied — and the chair of the county Board of Supervisors before signing off on the agreement.
During a hearing in federal court discussing the proposed settlement, Carter indicated that the city, and especially the county, “can do better” in figuring out how to bring increased housing, outreach and supportive services to the thousands of people living on the streets."
Loren Taylor maintains lead as Oakland mayor’s race tightens
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI/RACHEL SWAN: "The contentious race to be Oakland’s next mayor got tighter after more ballots were counted Monday afternoon, with City Councilmember Loren Taylor sustaining a narrow lead even as his closest challenger, Sheng Thao, began closing the gap.
As of Monday afternoon, Taylor, a moderate ally of outgoing Mayor Libby Schaaf, had 34.4% of the first-choice votes. Thao, a progressive city councilmember, had 30.1%. A little more than 63,000 votes have been counted.
After factoring in ranked choice voting, Taylor received 52.1% of the vote. Thao was in second place with 47.9%, meaning she picked up a percentage point in the latest ballot drop. Former City Council member Ignacio De La Fuente, also a moderate who came in third in the first round of ballot counts, had been eliminated by Monday."
It’s now taken longer to decide San Jose’s next mayor than the last open race in 2014
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "It was six days after Election Day in 2014 when trailing candidate Dave Cortese in San Jose’s last open mayoral race phoned front-runner Sam Liccardo to concede. San Jose’s current mayoral race between Cindy Chavez and Matt Mahan is at that point now, but likely will go days longer before a clear winner emerges with tens of thousands of ballots left to be counted.
On Monday, Mahan again saw his narrow lead inch up, to 4,266 votes from 3,631 on Sunday, with his overall share of the total 214,698 votes counted so far notching back up a bit to 50.99% to Chavez’ at 49.01% after several days in which Chavez received more of the votes counted that day than he did.
Mahan got 53% and Chavez 47% of the additional 11,847 votes counted Monday."
California reports first child in state to die from RSV and flu
The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO: "California health officials on Monday reported the first death of a child under age 5 who was infected with flu and respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV.
The California Department of Public Health did not disclose where the death occurred, citing patient confidentiality. Although the child tested positive for both influenza and RSV, it’s not clear which one was responsible for their death.
It’s possible but not common to be infected with both viruses at the same time. But it can be hard to determine which one caused a patient’s death, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease doctor at UCSF."
4,500 COVID cases logged over 4-day holiday period in LA County
SCN*LA Daily News, STAFF: "More than 4,500 new COVID-19 infections were logged by Los Angeles County over a four-day period ending Monday, Nov 14, including Veterans Day, along with 27 additional deaths.
The county Department of Public Health recorded 1,617 new COVID cases Friday, 1,188 on Saturday, 938 Sunday and 822 Monday. The new cases lifted the county’s cumulative total from throughout the pandemic to 3,506,367.
The actual number of current COVID infections in the county is likely higher, with many people using at-home tests without reporting the results to health officials."
Column: The bravery of Jennifer Siebel Newsom facing Harvey Weinstein — and facing us all
LAT, ANITA CHABRIA: "Jennifer Siebel Newsom did not have to testify against Harvey Weinstein. But Monday, she did — reminding us that sexual assault carries its own kind of life sentence for victims.
Siebel Newsom took the stand in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom where Weinstein faces charges of multiple sex crimes only a few minutes before court stopped for a lunch break. But in those few minutes, her pain and humiliation seeped out of a wound still open, 17 years after it was inflicted.
Asked if she could identify Weinstein, she began to cry. Later in the day, in detail heartbreaking, explicit and profound in its ugliness, she described Weinstein raping her in a Los Angeles hotel room in 2005. It was an encounter “like an out-of-body experience,” she said, that left her frozen and “trying to process what happened.”"
Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s role in Weinstein trial raises thorny legal issues
The Chroinicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "California’s first partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, is slated to testify soon at the trial of former movie producer Harvey Weinstein in another landmark moment in the #MeToo movement.
Siebel Newsom’s lawyer, Beth Fegan, confirmed to The Chronicle that her client is one of the witnesses, but has not commented further on her testimony. During the trial, Siebel Newsom is referred to not by name but as one of multiple anonymous “Jane Doe” witnesses who allege Weinstein sexually assaulted them.
The way she is described, however, leaves little doubt as to which of the Jane Does she is; both the defense and the prosecution have described her in court as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wife."
LA County officials kick off United Against Hate Week
LA Daily News, STAFF: "Los Angeles County marked the beginning of United Against Hate Week at the at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration and Grand Park on Monday, Nov. 14, 2022.
The rally included speakers and the unveiling of a “Wishing Tree” art project, on which visitors tied paper tags expressing residents’ wishes for a hate-free county.
The effort is aimed at urging communities to “reject hate and bigotry and promote inclusion through a unique, community-building blend of art, social media and educational resources,” organizers said."
Fast-food workers to stage protest over opposition to new labor law
SGV Tribune, KEVIN SMITH: "Fast-food workers in Los Angeles and Orange counties will join others Tuesday, Nov. 15 in a statewide protest aimed at keeping McDonald’s, Starbucks and other restaurant chains from trying to block a new law that will boost wages and give workers a stronger voice on the job.
Assembly Bill 257, also known as the FAST Recovery Act, is set to take effect Jan. 1 2023. It will create a 10-person, state-run council to negotiate wages, hours and working conditions for the more than half a million fast-food workers in California.
The measure was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 5. But Stop AB 257, a coalition of franchisees and franchisors who oppose the measure, was quick to attack the legislation."
UC officials call for mediator as strike by 48,000 academic workers causes systemwide disruptions
LAT, GRACE TOOHEY/SUMMER LIN/: "About 48,000 unionized academic workers across the University of California’s 10 campuses — who perform much of the teaching and research at the state’s premier higher education system — walked off the job Monday morning, calling for better pay and benefits.
In the nation’s largest strike of the year, teaching assistants, postdoctoral scholars, graduate student researchers, tutors and fellows across the UC system took to the picket line, prompting canceled classes, shuttered labs and other academic disruptions just weeks before final exams. The strike, which union leaders said was the largest at any academic institution in history, also included workers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The massive work stoppage will continue Tuesday."
From prison to a campus home: CSU Fullerton welcomes formerly incarcerated students
EdSource, BETTY MARQUEZ ROSALES: "Safe walking paths, study spaces, nearby horse trails and a garden are just a few of the amenities available at the John Irwin House, housing for previously incarcerated students attending California State University, Fullerton.
It’s been Jimmie Conner’s home for nearly three years as he works toward his bachelor’s degrees in sociology and business. It is official university housing for up to nine students but was founded and run by Project Rebound, a campus-based student program dedicated to helping students meet their goal of graduating from the CSU system upon their release from prison.
Such a housing option is rare for students with an incarceration experience, and the John Irwin House, named after the program’s founder, is believed to be the first of its kind in the country. Given its success, Project Rebound programs at other campuses, like CSU Sacramento and CSU Fresno, are looking to soon open similar housing initiatives."
Breed-picked school board member Ann Hsu now trails in tight race
The Chronicle, JILL TUCKER: "The biggest spender in the San Francisco’s school board race dropped into fourth place Monday in what has been the tightest contest in the city since the election a week ago.
Ann Hsu, one of Mayor London Breed’s appointees following the recall of three board members in February, had been losing ground to challenger Alida Fisher with each new daily count, although the race was still close to call.
The one with the most votes in the end will take the last of three seats up for grabs in the election."
Los Gatos, Saratoga students outscore county, state averages in standardized testing
BANG*Mercury News, HANNAH KANIK: "Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District students scored higher than the state and county averages on last year’s standardized test, despite the academic turbulence caused by the pandemic and distance learning.
Students in grades 3-8 and 11 across the state take the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress to measure career and college readiness and overall student success.
“The test serves as just one measure for student achievement within our district,” said Superintendent Bill Sanderson in an email. “In addition to these tests, students’ performance in the classroom and other various assessments, it’s important to measure success through our students’ ability to develop critical thinking, communication, collaboration skills and creativity.”"
To fight wage theft California gets strong assist from worker centers
CALMatters, ALEJANDRO LAZO/JEANNE KUANG: "Annelisa Luong met with the Kome Japanese Seafood & Buffet employees in secret to talk about their sub-minimum wages and lack of overtime pay.
She convened clandestinely with cooks and dishwashers. Sometimes they met at a McDonald’s, other times at a transit stop and other times in workers’ homes.
“Here is an opportunity,” she recalled saying. “The state is investigating. You actually have the opportunity to speak up.”"
Is the world’s richest person the world’s worst boss? What it’s like working for Elon Musk
LAT, RUSS MITCHELL: "In the last two weeks, thousands of Twitter employees have gotten a small taste of what it‘s like to work for Elon Musk: the out-of-nowhere firings, the threats and the bluster, the pubescent jocularity, the day-to-day uncertainty and the urgent demands to work through the night.
If there’s such a thing as a warm and cuddly boss, Musk has long been the opposite to his employees, who now number more than 100,000. He burns through executives with the heat of a battery fire. He takes criticism personally, even when it’s a matter of worker or customer safety. He’s been known to fire people on a whim. Since buying Twitter, his public image is shifting fast, from self-described techno-king to unpredictable court jester and human tornado.
Because Musk makes new employees sign tough nondisclosure agreements, and because he’s developed a reputation for exacting retribution on those who cross him, we’ll never know all the stories."
Elizabeth Holmes should go to prison for 15 years and pay $804 million, feds demand
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN BARON: "Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, set to be sentenced Friday, should go to prison for 15 years and be on the hook to pay hundreds of millions of dollars back to the investors she defrauded, federal prosecutors argue in a blistering sentencing memo.
Holmes, newly confirmed to be pregnant and already the mother of a young son, last week asked in her own sentencing memo for a maximum of 18 months — or no prison time at all. She was convicted in January on four felony counts of bilking investors in her now-defunct Palo Alto blood-testing startup out of more than $144 million. Legal experts expect she will receive a multi-year prison sentence.
Prosecutors say in their memo that Holmes “repeatedly chose lies, hype, and the prospect of billions of dollars over patient safety and fair dealing with investors,” and call her crimes “extraordinarily serious, among the most substantial white collar offenses Silicon Valley or any other district has seen.”"
Buying a Tesla? How to know if an electric car is eligible for a tax credit in 2023
The Chronicle, KATHLEEN PENDER: "The federal tax credit for electric vehicles is about to undergo a major overhaul - and one with major ramifications for car buyers.
Many, if not most, EVs that currently qualify for the credit probably won’t next year. But purchasing a car that still qualifies before year-end may be a challenge, as inventories are extremely low. Meanwhile, some cars that don’t qualify today could become at least partially eligible next year.
The Inflation Reduction Act signed into law on Aug, 16 made sweeping changes to the 13-year old federal credit, available for the purchase of new all-electric models and plug-in hybrids with an electric and small gas motor. The credit is still worth up to $7,500."
Safety advocates call on S.F. to reduce speed limits amid wave of traffic fatalities
The Chronicle, HEATHER KNIGHT: "Paul Rivera vividly remembers the day he moved into his new home on Fulton Street. He sat on the couch he’d lugged one block over from his old apartment, chatting with his wife. Then he heard it: a loud, jolting crunch.
He looked outside to see that a car speeding east had crashed into a parked car attached to a trailer in which somebody lived. The collision was powerful enough to knock the trailer over, but fortunately its inhabitant wasn’t inside at the time.
“It was kind of a bad omen, you know?” Rivera told me in a major understatement."
San Francisco tourism could see a major shift in numbers — here’s why
The Chronicle, YURI AVILA: "Tourism from Asia is finally started coming back to San Francisco. In the last several months, arrivals at San Francisco International Airport from most Asian countries are close to where they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to international non-stop air passenger traffic data from International Trade Administration (ITA).
The uptick appears to be mostly due to eased travel restrictions from a number of countries.
South Korea started lifting travel restrictions in April, dropping the quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated travelers, and lifted all COVID travel restrictions starting October 1. As a result, the number of passengers from South Korea more than doubled from September 2021 to September 2022, and just 14% below where they were in September 2019."
S.F.’s Muni Central Subway opens soon. Will the $1.95 billion project meet expectations?
The Chronicle, RICARDO CANO/JD MORRIS: "Every weekend, Raymond Zhang and his family visit San Francisco’s Chinatown from their home in Bayview, and every weekend the commute is a pain.
The long drive past a maze of heavily congested streets to a neighborhood with a dearth of parking is stressful, he said. Commuting by transit hasn’t been much better. While bus service improved in recent years, the journey requires transfers, making it inefficient.
But the Central Subway, San Francisco’s $1.95 billion, 1.7-mile extension of Muni’s T-Third Street rail line, will alter that reality, Zhang said."
‘Catastrophic staffing shortage’: Northern California sheriff to suspend daytime patrols
LAT, BRITTNY MEJIA CONNOR SHEETS: "A Northern California sheriff’s office plans to suspend daytime patrols starting this week, citing “a catastrophic staffing shortage” throughout the agency.
The Tehama County Sheriff’s Office announced the suspension — which will start Sunday — in a news release stating that over the last several years there have been “difficulties with recruitment and retention of employees, which has been directly linked to pay disparities.”
Recent shortages led the Sheriff’s Office to reassign deputies from the operations division to fill vacancies within the courts and jail facility, leaving them “with insufficient staff to sustain 24-hour patrol services.”"
A California police chief said his wife killed herself. Her family asks: Was it murder?
Sac Bee, ARIANE LANGE/JASON POHL: "Everyone was crying when Johnny Matthews rushed into the hospital waiting room. He was too late: Sara was already dead. His father, Joseph Matthews, tried to convince him to view his sister’s body, but Johnny said no. He didn’t want to see Sara like that.
She took her last breath by 5:14 that morning, and then Sara — who loved to sing even though she’d be the first to crack a joke about her voice, who danced around a restaurant the night before to celebrate her 32nd birthday — was gone.
Johnny was almost delirious with grief, but he knew he had to call his brothers, Jesse and Aaron Matthews, who didn’t live in town anymore. He walked outside. The sun was just rising, and the air was cold."
Judge delays decision on L.A. County’s proposal to settle a homeless lawsuit
LAT, DOUG SMITH: "LA federal judge on Monday held back a decision on L.A. County’s proposed settlement of a 2020 lawsuit accusing the county and city of Los Angeles of failing to address homelessness, suggesting that he thinks the terms could be better.
Judge David O. Carter told lawyers for the county and the plaintiff in the lawsuit, the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, that their proposed agreement fell short of providing an adequate number of mental health and substance abuse beds. Carter did not specify any changes he expected, instead scheduling a hearing in January.
He said he intended to call the newly elected mayor and member of the county Board of Supervisors into a hearing to discuss the settlement."
The Bay Area’s premier oyster company bets on a new hyperlocal product: sea salt
The Chronicle, NAOKI NITTA: "In a small, steamy workshop overlooking Tomales Bay, Jeff Warrin stands over a large, shallow tub built atop a wood-fired brick oven. He’s bringing a bath of seawater — amber-hued at precisely 29% salinity — to a gentle simmer.
Slowly, the surface begins to crust over like a frozen winter lake. “It's a beautiful, magical process,” says Warrin, an artist and experimental filmmaker-turned-salt maker, describing the final step of crystallizing sea salt.
He could also be referring to the fruits of a year-long experiment to harvest it off the Marin County coast and create Hog Island Saltworks. The new venture from Hog Island Oyster Co. uses an obscure, 18th century method of evaporating seawater to produce a modern and hyperlocal take on the most basic of foods. And the low-impact salt harvesting process will soon become integral, founders note, to creating a circular and more sustainable aquaculture operation for the well-known Bay Area oyster farm.
Biden, Xi clash on Taiwan but try to ‘manage’ differences
AP, SEUNG MIN KIM/ZEKE MILLER: "NUSA DUA, Indonesia — President Joe Biden objected directly to China’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive actions” toward Taiwan during the first in-person meeting of his presidency with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as the two superpower leaders aimed on Monday to “manage” their differences in the competition for global influence.
The nearly three-hour meeting was the highlight of Biden’s weeklong, round-the-world trip to the Middle East and Asia, and came at a critical juncture for the two countries amid increasing economic and security tensions. Speaking at a news conference afterward, Biden said that when it comes to China, the U.S. would “compete vigorously, but I’m not looking for conflict.”
He added: “I absolutely believe there need not be a new Cold War” between America and the rising Asian power."
