The new charges filed Thursday — three felonies and six misdemeanors — are in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018. They come after the implosion of a plea deal over the summer that would have spared him jail time, putting the case on track to a possible trial as his father campaigns for reelection."
California budget rollercoaster: Analyst predicts $68 billion deficit
CALMatters, ALEXEI KOSEFF: "With tax revenues in a free fall comparable to the Great Recession and the dot-com bust, California faces a projected $68 billion budget deficit next year that will require spending cuts and reserve funds to close, state finance officials said today.
He’s become a political influencer in S.F. Now he might run for mayor
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Since opening shop five years ago, Manny Yekutiel has rallied patrons of his eponymous Mission District civic engagement space to raise $10 million for Democrats around the country. More recently, he helped to create the Civic Joy Fund, whose $2 million endowment is focused on revitalizing San Francisco with everything from volunteer trash cleanups to last weekend’s citywide drag shows.
Soon, though, Yekutiel may be more focused on spotlighting one particular cause: his own."
Proposed changes to gaming regulations spark outrage from both cardrooms and tribal casinos
Capitol Weekly, BRIAN JOSEPH: "California’s competing gambling interests – cardrooms and tribal casinos – are once again preparing battle over “California Blackjack.”
On September 11, the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Gambling Control (one of the state’s two gambling regulators) announced its intent to promulgate new regulations concerning Blackjack-style games in cardrooms and the operations of third-party proposition players, which are special, licensed businesses that help cardrooms offer games like Blackjack."
As California leans into offshore wind power, do problems on the East Coast raise caution flags?
LA Times, ROB NIKELOWSKI: "Although multiple offshore wind energy projects on the East Coast have been jeopardized or pulled off the table, California policymakers say they remain confident that a veritable bonanza of electrical power will be captured off the coast of the Golden State.
“I see it as a fundamental piece of our energy policy over the next 30 years in California,” said David Hochschild, chair of the California Energy Commission."
As California’s redwoods recover from fire, an astonishing fact emerges
LA Times, JULIE JOHNSON: "Raging wildfires in 2020 transformed Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County from a towering forested cathedral into a standing boneyard with some of the oldest trees on the planet seemingly burned beyond survival.
But soon after the flames were gone, California’s coast redwoods began calling upon a remarkable energy storage system helping these trees survive even after fires burned away every life-sustaining green needle."
Tahoe is getting more snow than expected. Here’s the latest
LA Times, KATE GALBRATH, GREGORY THOMAS, MEGAN FUN MUNCE: "A Winter Weather Advisory for the Central and Northern Sierra is set to last until 10 p.m. Thursday, with a foot or more of snow already piling up in some high elevation areas as of late morning Thursday.
Interstate 80 over the mountains briefly closed Wednesday night due to spinouts, and while it has reopened, chain requirements remain in effect."
Legislative Analyst’s Office forecasts $19 billion state budget deficit for schools and community colleges
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: "Schools and community colleges likely will face a $19 billion, three-year state funding deficit, the Legislative Analyst’s Office reported Thursday. The funding for TK-12 this year is $108 billion.
The LAO’s annual projection is a forecast of what to expect from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first pass next month on the 2024-25 state budget. It reflects a decline in funding in Proposition 98, the 35-year-old constitutional amendment that determines the portion of the state’s general fund that must go to schools and community colleges. Complicating the picture is that about half of the education deficit covers money that schools and community colleges spent in 2022-23."
Advanced algebra, data science and more: UC rethinks contested issues of high school math
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: "Next month, a panel of University of California professors in the sciences and math will give their recommendations on the contentious issue of how much math high school students should know before taking a college-qualifying course in data science. Its answer could influence future course offerings and admissions requirements in math for UC and CSU.
“There’s a tension between the interest in adhering to math standards and ensuring students learn math and also recognizing the changes that are happening in the uses of math in industry and the world in general,” said Pamela Burdman, executive director of Just Equations, a nonprofit that promotes policies that prepare students with quantitative skills to succeed in college."
Nine months after scandal, publishers are still sorting out a plagiarism mess
LA Times, CORINNE PURTILL: "This week, Simon & Schuster finally published “The Book of Animal Secrets: Nature’s Lessons for a Long and Happy Life,” the highly anticipated book by USC’s Dr. David Agus whose release was suspended after the manuscript was found to contain numerous instances of plagiarism.
The new version of the book differs subtly from the one originally slated for March, with multiple sections revised and reworded. But there is one conspicuous difference: the removal of a passage in the acknowledgments praising Agus’ former collaborator, Los Angeles writer Kristin Loberg."
‘Coolio-style hair’: LAPD union official’s column sparks backlash and debate
LA Times, LIBOR JANY: "Hours into a standoff with a barricaded suspect in northeast Los Angeles earlier this year, a Black officer said he was cornered by a white lieutenant who berated him for sporting a beard that was longer than permitted by LAPD regulations.
“This department is accepting anything now,” the lieutenant said, according to a complaint filed in the case. The officer who reported the incident declined to comment and asked that his name be withheld, citing fear of retaliation within the department."
Who rides the subway in L.A.?
LA Times, STAFF: "A healthcare worker on her way to the night shift. A rapper hoping his latest demo will get him on the festival circuit. An 85-year-old on his way to buy theater tickets. An aerospace worker part-way through a three-hour commute. A student “unfortunately” headed to a sketch show at Hollywood and Vine.
They’re your co-workers, your neighbors and some of the only people you can’t blame for making rush-hour traffic worse."
