Self-driving — and flying — cars are the future, Newsom says at Shanghai Tesla factory
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "In 30 years, Gov. Gavin Newsom thinks we’ll wonder why we ever let human drivers on the road, he told reporters Sunday after touring a Tesla car factory in Shanghai on his final day in China.
“Autonomy is the future,” California’s Democratic leader said. “I think we’re going to look back in 20, 30 years and go, ‘Why were we allowed to drive and allow 30,000-plus Americans to die every single year in accidents? ’ ”"
READ MORE -- Newsom’s stumble on basketball court in China shows how photo ops can go wrong -- LA Times, LAUREL ROSENHALL
Newsom requires diversity reporting, but not for himself
CALMatters, LYNN LA: "Coming soon to California: a diversity reporting mandate for venture capital firms. Not coming soon to California: a diversity reporting mandate for Gov. Gavin Newsom.
As the bill signing period wrapped up earlier this month, Newsom approved a measure that will force venture capital firms operating in California to collect and disclose demographic data about the founders of the companies they invest in — while on the very same day, he vetoed for the third time a similar transparency requirement for his own gubernatorial appointments."
Sacramento NAACP president, 5 officials suspended amid financial misconduct investigation
Sacramento Bee, DARRELL SMITH: "At least six officers at the Greater Sacramento NAACP including its president, longtime advocate and influential leader Betty Williams have been suspended by the national civil rights organization on allegations of financial impropriety, information obtained by The Sacramento Bee shows.
Those suspended include executive officers at the local chapter and potentially other members stemming from the Sacramento branch’s financial report submitted to the NAACP’s national headquarters in April. National NAACP legal officials flagged the potential improprieties and recommended the suspensions to the organization’s president and CEO Derrick Johnson."
Thousands break into aid warehouses in Gaza; Hamas says deaths top 8,000 and Israel widens ground war
AP, WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY: "Thousands of people broke into aid warehouses in Gaza to take flour and basic hygiene products, a United Nations agency said Sunday, in a mark of growing desperation three weeks into the war between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers.
In response to the crisis, nearly three dozen trucks carrying water, medicine and food entered Gaza from Egypt while tanks and infantry pushed into Gaza as part of what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “second stage” in the war, which was ignited by Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 incursion into Israel."
Dungeness crab fishing season pushed back along California’s coast. It’s all about whales
Sacramento Bee, BENJY EGEL: "Northern California residents may have to alter their holiday Dungeness crab plans after the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Friday the start of the season would be delayed in some parts of the state.
California commercial fishermen from Mendocino County’s southern border down to Mexico won’t be allowed to start catching Dungeness crabs on Nov. 15, when the season was originally supposed to start, according to a CDFW news release."
‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry dead at 54, found in hot tub at L.A. home
LA Times, RICHARD WINTON, MATT BRENNAN, CONNOR SHEETS: "“Friends” star Matthew Perry was found dead Saturday in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home, law enforcement sources said. He was 54.
Authorities responded about 4 p.m. to his home, where he was discovered unresponsive. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, did not cite a cause of death. No drugs were found at the scene, sources said, but a source told The Times prescription medications were recovered at the home and hence toxicology will be part of the investigation. A representative for Perry did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment."
READ MORE -- Hollywood remembers ‘comedic genius’ Matthew Perry: ‘His legacy will live on’-- LA Times, MAANE KHATCHATOURIAN
Half Moon Bay’s Day of the Dead commemorates lives lost in mass shootings
The Chronicle, WARREN PEDERSON: "Families and friends of the departed gathered in Half Moon Bay over the weekend during a Day of the Dead commemoration with a special focus on the lives lost during January’s mass shootings at two farms.
The Día de Los Muertos celebration, sponsored by the nonprofit outreach organization Ayudando Latinos A Soñar (Helping Latinos Dream), drew about 1,000 people and featured a parade, face painting, music, food, altars to memorialize loved ones lost, and sugar skull painting to celebrate the lives of departed souls."
New COVID vaccine uptake is ‘abysmal’ — even among older demographics
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "In the first month following the availability of the new COVID-19 vaccines, a mere 7% of U.S. adults and 2% of children received the shots, a rate deemed “abysmal” by one health expert.
Even among the demographics most vulnerable to COVID-19, the uptake remains distressingly low. As of Oct. 14, only about 20% of individuals aged 75 or older had been vaccinated, and just 15% of those between the ages of 65 and 74."
Despite high Black maternal death rate, California hospitals ignored training about bias in care
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "More than two and a half years after a law took effect requiring maternity care staff to complete racism in medicine training, only 17% of hospitals were in compliance, according to an investigation published by the state Department of Justice Friday.
The training matters, Attorney General Rob Bonta and others said during a press conference, because of the state’s persistently high death rates among Black mothers."
A shortage of teachers for computer science classes puts California near the bottom of a national instruction ranking
CALMatters, CAROLYN JONES: "Five years ago, California embarked on an ambitious plan to bring computer science to all K-12 students, bolstering the state economy and opening doors to promising careers — especially for low-income students and students of color.
But a lack of qualified teachers has stalled these efforts, and left California — a global hub for the technological industry — ranked near the bottom of states nationally in the percentage of high schools offering computer science classes."
San Francisco has fewer trees than most major cities. Residents are trying to fix that
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "When neighbors learned that most of the 101 ficus trees that line 24th Street in the Mission District were at risk of falling and would have to be cut down, they were distraught. The thick-trunked giants tower over apartments and shops, forming a green canopy that frames Calle 24 Latino Cultural District.
“Those trees are the spine in the center of the district, its heart,” Erick Arguello, president of Calle 24, said in a recent documentary about Mission Verde, a neighborhood group that took charge of its trees’ destiny."
Violent video prompts YouTube to briefly suspend LAPD’s account
LA Times, DAKOTA SMITH, MELODY GUTIERREZ: "The Los Angeles Police Department was briefly barred from YouTube after posting footage of a violent attack to seek the public’s help identifying the assailants. By Sunday, the department’s account was restored but without the video that prompted the brief suspension.
“YouTube has reached out to us and has restored the LAPDHQ account,” the LAPD said on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. “The brutal attack has been removed. Our scheduled public information and content will resume as usual.”"
What will ‘Cop Campus’ mean for the Bay Area?
The Chronicle, DANIEL LEMPRES: "The city of San Pablo is forging ahead on a plan to build a $43 million headquarters and training facility for its police department of 59 officers as residents call for the city to address housing affordability.
Despite the massive scale of the project — costing almost as much as the city expects to bring in this fiscal year — it has drawn little public input, raising questions about the level of civic engagement in the lower-income, majority Latino city of 31,000 people."
‘A full-on inferno’: The history of range trailer fires at the L.A. Sheriff’s Department
LA Times, KERI BLAKINGER: "To Steven Propster, the swirling flames looked like something straight out of a Hollywood movie. They crackled and licked at his heels, and he fleetingly wondered whether he’d make it out alive.
After nearly three decades at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Propster — then a deputy — knew this was one of his closest calls. It was the spring of 2019, and he and two co-workers had been testing a training device inside one of the department’s mobile shooting ranges when the trailer caught fire."
