Adam Schiff leads latest California Senate poll, with Katie Porter close behind
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter are still battling for the lead in the California Senate race, but the largest bloc of voters remains united in their opinion: They’re undecided who to vote for, according to Emerson College Polling/Nexstar Media California poll released Friday as the California Democratic Party convention delegates meet in Sacramento.
Schiff, of Burbank, leads with 16%, followed by Porter, of Irvine, with 13%. Retired Los Angeles Dodger Steve Garvey, a Republican, follows with 10%, followed by Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, of Oakland with 9%. Republican businessman James P. Bradley of Laguna Niguel received 3%, former Los Angeles TV reporter Christina Pascucci and Los Angeles attorney Eric Early both got 2%."
PG&E bills to soar nearly $400 a year in 2024 in ‘biggest rate case’ California ratepayer group has ever seen
The Chronicle, JULIE JOHNSON: "Millions of California households served by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will pay about $384 more in 2024 for utilities to help the company prevent wildfires and meet rising demands for electricity. That amounts to about $32.50 more per month for average residential customers, according to PG&E.
The California Public Utilities Commission approved the increase Thursday, ending a years-long debate over how much more PG&E customers must pay to help the embattled utility — which caused a catastrophic explosion in 2010 and major wildfires in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021 — modernize its infrastructure, primarily to be more safe."
TRIBES GAIN CLOUT AS COLORADO RIVER SHRINKS
Water Education Foundation, NICK CAHILL: "The climate-driven shrinking of the Colorado River is expanding the influence of Native American tribes over how the river’s flows are divided among cities, farms and reservations across the Southwest.
The tribes are seeing the value of their largely unused river water entitlements rise as the Colorado dwindles, and they are gaining seats they’ve never had at the water bargaining table as government agencies try to redress a legacy of exclusioccn."
California strikes another blow against rooftop solar (COLUMN)
LA Times, SAMMY ROTH: "Just a few weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom returned from a trip to China that he claimed was focused on tackling the climate crisis, his appointees back home voted to slash financial incentives for rooftop solar power — for the second time.
Thursday’s 5-0 vote by the California Public Utilities Commission will make solar panels less economically enticing for apartment dwellers, farmers, schools and strip malls, solar companies say. The commission approved similarly dramatic solar incentive cuts for single-family homes in December — a decision the industry says has prompted a steep drop-off in sales."
As storms arrive in California, reservoirs are in good shape. But the water forecast is murky
CALMatters, RACHEL BECKER: "As forecasts tease California with rainstorms this week, the state’s reservoirs are already flush with water.
It’s a big departure from a year ago: The state’s major reservoirs — which store water collected mostly from rivers in the northern portion of the state — are in good shape, with levels at 124% of average. In late 2022, bathtub rings of dry earth lined lakes that had collectively dipped to about two-thirds of average — until heavy winter storms in January filled many of them almost to the brim."
Sacramento Sister District Project helped turned tide in favor of Dems in Virginia
Capitol Weekly, BRIAN JOSEPH: "The Sacramento region had no major elections on Nov. 7. Still, Democrats in the area played a critical role in one of their party’s biggest wins on election night this year.
In the weeks and months leading up to the election, Sacramento-area Democrats phone banked, fundraised and sent postcards in support of two Democrats running for the Virginia state legislature, Lashrecse D. Aird, who was running for 13th Senate District, and Michael B. Feggans, who was running for the 97th District in the House of Delegates."
APEC in San Francisco: Road closures, traffic impacts still in effect on final weekday of summit
The Chronicle, STAFF: "Today is the final day of official meetings at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco, however with the security zone still in place, road closures and traffic impacts across the region continue. Officials have said that APEC-related events and cleanup will cause many closures and impacts to remain in effect until Nov. 19.
Lane closures on the Bay Bridge are still in effect. On Thursday, a pro-Gaza protest blocked all lanes of the westbound Bay Bridge for hours, before the bridge finally reopened shortly before noon."
READ MORE -- ‘No one’s here’: S.F. restaurants are suffering inside APEC security zone -- The ‘No one’s here’: S.F. restaurants are suffering inside APEC security zone -- The Chronicle, ELENA KADVANY; Where did San Francisco’s homeless people go during APEC? Not very far -- BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN VARIAN
Grief, fear, and hopes for peace: California college students describe campus climates during Israel-Palestine conflict
CALMatters, STAFF: "Over the past five weeks, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has sparked vigils, sit-ins, walkouts, protests and counter-protests at college campuses throughout California. At some campuses, emotions are high and students are divided — some even experiencing violence, hate speech and fear. Meanwhile, at other campuses, students are gathering to grieve and learn in more peaceful ways.
At CalMatters, student reporters in the College Journalism Network fellowship program have filed the following dispatches about the climates at their campuses."
Immigrant parents report faulty, slow translation of special education documents
EdSource, ZAIDEE STAVELY: "When Los Angeles mother Tania Rivera signed a crucial document for her son Luis’ special education program in 2022, she was hoping he would be able to return to in-person classes after two years of distance learning.
But the individualized education program, or IEP, required for all children who need special education, was available only in English. Rivera’s first langusage is Spanish."
What’s behind E. coli in Point Reyes National Seashore? Beef grows between ranchers and environmentalists
BANG*Mercury News, LISA M. KRIEGER: "The National Park Service has found E. coli bacteria levels well above health standards in several water bodies around the Point Reyes National Seashore, reigniting the contentious debate over the future of cattle grazing at the beloved Northern California landscape.
Even as the park has taken major steps to make ranching less harmful to watersheds, contaminated water was detected at several sites, including a lagoon that flows into popular Kehoe Beach, indicating runoff from cattle manure at upstream ranches."
Newsom appoints Oscar Grant's uncle to police advisory board
The Chronicle, JORDAN PARKER: "The uncle of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Bay Area retail worker and father who was fatally shot by BART police in 2009, was appointed to a state board that reviews police misconduct cases, according to a Thursday announcement by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Cephus “Uncle Bobby” Johnson, a San Jose resident, will serve on the Peace Officer Standards Accountability Advisory Board. The 9-member board “serves as an advisory body to the Commission (On Peace Officer Standards and Training) and reviews serious misconduct cases involving peace officers,” according to a state website. “The Board conducts public hearings to formulate decertification recommendations to the Commission.”"
A skeleton and a smoking gun: Why a newly elected deputy union board member’s tattoo is sparking concern
LA Times, KERI BLAKINGER: "A union representing Los Angeles County sheriff deputies recently elected to its board of directors a veteran lawman who has a controversial tattoo and was involved in two fatal shootings that cost the county $4 million in legal payouts, sparking concern among oversight officials and justice advocates.
Incoming Assn. of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs board member Jason Zabala previously described his tattoo under oath, saying it depicted a skeleton in a cowboy hat with a smoking rifle and the number 140. He called the stark combination of imagery a “station tattoo,” but others described it as the symbol of a deputy gang known as the Regulators."
Bay Area and California job markets bounce back with October gains
BANG*Mercury News, GEORGE AVALOS: "The Bay Area posted job gains during October, an upswing that helped the nine-county region snap a string of job losses, a new government report released Friday shows.
Despite the improvement, the job gains in the Bay Area in October remain well below the robust pace of employment increases that the region achieved in the first half of this year."
Sacramento leaders push law enforcement agencies to release records following Bee report
Sacramento Bee, THERESA CLIFT: "Following a Sacramento Bee investigation, an elected official is criticizing the Sheriff’s Office for failing to release records for roughly 50 incidents in which deputies severely injured residents in the last five years.
“In order for our communities to have faith in law enforcement, agencies need to act as transparently and openly as possible,” Sacramento County Supervisor Patrick Kennedy told The Bee Thursday. “At the very least, we should expect law enforcement agencies, like all government agencies, to follow the law — which should serve as a floor, not a ceiling.”"
An L.A. sheriff’s deputy shot a man in the back. Two years later, the case remains open
LA Times, JAMES QUEALLY: "When Adrian Abelar was shot in the back while face-down on the pavement at a Rosemead auto body shop in October 2021, the consequences were swift for everyone but the L.A. County sheriff’s deputy who pulled the trigger.
Abelar, 27, suffered multiple fractured vertebrae and woke up in a hospital bed, court records show. The bullet narrowly missed his spine, according to his lawyer, who said he could have easily been paralyzed or killed."
10 Freeway to reopen by Tuesday, much earlier than originally thought
The Chronicle, JEREMY CHILDS, RUBEN VIVES: "Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that the fire-damaged 10 Freeway would reopen sooner than expected — Tuesday “at the latest.”
“Five lanes in both directions,” Newsom said at a news conference Thursday evening at the site of the fire in downtown Los Angeles."
BART’s 2023 ugly holiday sweaters are here — and they’re glorious
The Chronicle, PETER HARTLAUB: "Bay Area Rapid Transit’s Oakland headquarters resembled the North Pole this week, as thousands of BART holiday sweaters arrived, and the first wave was shipped to transit fans.
“It looks like Santa’s workshop, except filled with BART enscsgineers,” BART spokesperson Alicia Trost said on Wednesday, watching volunteers spend their lunch hour quality testing the 2023 sweaters."
I am an expert on polls. Here’s why they can’t tell you if Biden beats Trump again
LA Times, DAVID LAUTER: "President Biden has had a tough couple of weeks in polls, deepening the anxiety among his fellow Democrats about his age, political liabilities and the prospect that he could lose a rematch with former President Trump.
Biden’s allies pooh-pooh the grim talk. Presidents Clinton and Obama both had miserable polls in the fall of their third years and bounced back to win reelection, they note. Polls a year out from an election have little if any ability to predict the outcome, they add."
