First California U.S. Senate race debate is Monday — how to watch, and what to watch for
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "While you-know-who is avoiding debates this political season, California voters will get to see the top four candidates for the Golden State’s coveted U.S. Senate on the same stage Monday night.
Get ready for the first of at least two debates in the race to succeed the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and the only one before ballots are mailed out Feb. 5 for the March 5 primary election."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom gloats as longtime rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ends campaign
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom gloated Sunday as his longtime rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ended his presidential campaign.
“Fire sale on all Ron DeSantis merch today!” Newsom tweeted Sunday after DeSantis announced he was suspending his run for the Republican nomination and endorsing former President Donald Trump."
California picks its next governor in more than 1,000 days. Why the race is already so crowded
CALMatters, ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Voters won’t weigh in for more than two years — the primary election is not until June 2026 — but the race to be California’s next governor is already growing crowded with major contenders.
Outgoing state Senate leader Toni Atkins today became the latest high-ranking Democrat to declare their candidacy, holding a kickoff rally packed with union members in her hometown of San Diego."
A California congressman (and former Bernie booster) tries to get New Hampshire voters to write in Biden
LA Times, FAITH E. PINHO: "In a long black pea coat and loafers, California Rep. Ro Khanna looked the part of a New England politician.
“You know, I gotta get better boots,” he joked to a group packed into a Concord home Saturday."
What to watch for in U.S. Senate debate
CALMatters, LYNN LA: "Three Democrats and one Republican walk on to a stage. How well will they get along?
It is one of many key things to watch at tonight’s U.S. Senate debate in Los Angeles — the first time top contenders Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff and former baseball star Steve Garvey face off in a televised debate."
Thousands of CSU faculty vow to ‘shut down’ campuses in first systemwide strike
LA Times, DEBBIE TRUONG: "The union representing 29,000 faculty members at California State University, the nation’s largest four-year public university system, is set to walk off the job for five days beginning Monday, disrupting the first week of the spring semester for tens of thousands of students.
The systemwide strike of professors, lecturers, counselors, librarians and coaches, who are demanding a 12% wage increase and other benefits, is the first ever across all of CSU’s 23 campuses. It is expected to add to the confusion of the first days of classes, a time when students typically make last-minute adjustments to schedules and professors review syllabi and outline class expectations."
NASA finally figures out how to open a $1-billion canister
LA Times, CORINNE PURTILL: "Late last year, a spacecraft containing samples of a 4.6-billion-year-old asteroid landed safely in the desert after a 1.2-billion mile journey. There was only one little problem: NASA couldn’t get the canister containing its prized rocks open.
After months of tinkering, scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston finally dislodged two stuck fasteners that had kept the pieces of the asteroid Bennu out of researchers’ hands."
California offers affordable loans again to first-time home buyers, with a catch
LA Times, JON HEALEY: "When the California Housing Finance Agency offered no-interest, no-monthly-payment loans in the spring to help lower-income residents come up with a down-payment and fees to buy their first home, the entire budget of nearly $300 million was gobbled up in only 11 days.
Lawmakers then steered an additional $225 million into the program during the state budget negotiations last year, and CalHFA is aiming to award those funds this spring. But there won’t be a mad dash for cash this time — instead of handing out the loans on a first-come, first-served basis, the state will choose qualified applicants by lottery."
Boomers aren’t giving up their big homes. Here’s how that plays out in the Bay Area
The Chronicle, CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "Baby boomers own a bigger chunk of the Bay Area’s large homes than any other generation, often deciding to stay in their three-bedroom houses even after their children move out.
Baby boomers owned roughly 37% of the San Francisco metropolitan area’s stock of large homes — those with at least three bedrooms — in 2022. That’s according to an analysis of the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data by real estate brokerage site Redfin. The analysis defined baby boomers as people ages 58 to 76 in 2022 — those born from 1946 to 1964."
There are no street addresses in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Some say it’s time to change
LA Times, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "Good luck finding Bill Woo’s house.
Ask for directions, and he will say: “Brown shingle house with the stop sign and the fire hydrant by the driveway.”"
Have a S.F. residential parking permit? It could cost you more money this year
The Chronicle, RICARDO CANO: "Muni riders who pay via Clipper card and San Francisco residents who utilize annual parking permits could see fee increases under the Municipal Transportation Agency’s plans to plug a short-term budget deficit.
Those are among the proposals that officials at the SFMTA, which operates Muni and oversees city parking and taxis, will propose at a Jan. 30 budget workshop to its Board of Directors."
