Why Trump is holding a rally in the California desert, weeks before election day
LAT's SEEMA MEHTA: "Former President Trump will rally supporters at a Coachella Valley polo field on Saturday, in a state he lost by more than 29 percentage points four years ago — less than a month before what is widely expected to be a razor-thin presidential election nationwide.
Trump’s planned late-afternoon appearance at Calhoun Ranch, just outside the city of Coachella, as temperatures there top 100 degrees, caused head-scratching among local Republicans given the state’s deep blue tilt. The last GOP presidential nominee to win the state was George H.W. Bush in 1988; Democrats have received more than 60% of the state’s vote since 2008."
Kamala Harris was hailed as ‘the female Barack Obama.’ It built credibility, and a burden
LAT's NOAH BIERMAN: "Sixteen years ago, the late journalist Gwen Ifill appeared on David Letterman’s “Late Show” and touted a group of emerging Black politicians, including a little-known district attorney from San Francisco who she described as a tough and brilliant prosecutor who “doesn’t look anything like anybody you ever see on ‘Law & Order.’”
“They call her the female Barack Obama,” Ifill said. “People aren’t very imaginative about these things anymore.”"
Podcasts, ‘The View’ and Howard Stern: How Harris and Trump are ‘microtargeting’ voters
LAT's SEEMA MEHTA: "The viewers of “The View” talk show and the listeners of Howard Stern’s satellite radio program couldn’t be more different: older women who watch daytime television for the former versus young and middle-aged white men who have long constituted the fervent followers of the once-raunchy stylings of the latter.
Yet within the span of a couple of hours Tuesday, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris traveled between their studios in Manhattan to sit down for lengthy interviews, an odd juxtaposition of a television show initially viewed as a ladies-who-lunch klatch and a radio host who became famous because of pornographic, misogynistic and at times racist diatribes that led to millions of dollars in indecency fines from the federal government."
Garvey, Schiff clash on abortion, guns and Trump in only one-on-one debate
CALMatters' YUE STELLA YU: "The sparks started flying between U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff and former L.A. Dodgers star Steve Garvey minutes into their only one-on-one debate, as both accused each other of failing Californians.
In an hour-long televised forum this evening for the U.S. Senate seat — held by Dianne Feinstein until her death last year — the two traded verbal jabs and clashed over a range of issues, including reproductive rights, gun control and immigration."
Five takeaways from the testy U.S. Senate debate between Schiff and Garvey
LAT's KEVIN RECTOR, LAURA J. NELSON: "The only head-to-head debate in California’s high-stakes U.S. Senate race between Rep. Adam B. Schiff and former Dodger Steve Garvey was dominated Tuesday by contentious exchanges on a host of national political issues — from immigration to the economy, expanding conflict in the Middle East, reproductive healthcare and global warming.
The sharpest exchanges, however, related to the two candidates’ vastly different stances on former President Trump."
This California ballot measure promises money for health care. Its critics warn it could backfire
CALMatters' KRISTEN HWANG: "Among the blitz of election ads flooding TV, social media and street corners, you won’t see any opposition to a ballot measure proposing to lock in billions of dollars to pay doctors more for treating low-income patients.
But opponents of Proposition 35 have a warning even if they don’t have the money to pay for ads: The measure could backfire and cause the state to lose billions in federal funding."
California continues revitalization efforts after pandemic
MAHRUKH SIDDIQUI in Capitol Weekly: "Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 969, authored by Sen. Scott Wiener (D- San Francisco), which allows cities and counties across California to create local ordinances creating “entertainment zones” where local bars and restaurants can sell alcohol to-go in designated areas.
The measure makes statewide provisions in a previous Wiener bill, 2023’s SB 76, that authorized the city of San Francisco to adopt ordinances establishing “entertainment zone” boundaries where local restaurants and bars could sell open container to-go alcoholic beverages to be consumed off premises."
Prop 2 explained: What California’s $10 billion school bond measure means for taxpayers
Sacramento Bee's JENNAH PENDLETON: "As schools across the state face a great deal of existential issues like staffing shortages, declining enrollment and inadequate special education programming, many teachers and staff must address these challenges from inside the walls of dilapidated buildings. Should California add $10 billion to state debt to help solve its school infrastructure problem?"
The list is out: These are the SFUSD schools facing closure
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "San Francisco could see 11 schools shuttered this year, shifting nearly 2,000 students to other sites and saving the district up to $22 million, according to a plan released Tuesday by district officials.
The long-awaited list includes eight elementary schools, one K-8 and two high schools, as well as two other schools that were eligible for closure but instead would remain open to accept students coming from one of the shuttered sites, Superintendent Matt Wayne said. No middle schools were included."
How to stay calm when Elon Musk says he’s leaving California — and other lessons from business relocations
CALMatters' LEVI SUMAGAYSAY: "When oil giant Chevron said over the summer that it would be moving its corporate headquarters to Houston from San Ramon, the headlines were dire. “Chevron Dumps California for Texas After 145 Years,” read one. Another called the move a “Snub to California.” A third noted that the departure came “as Regulations Mount in Golden State.”
The gloomy headlines illustrate how the press and corporate leaders often oversimplify big-company departures from California, leading citizens and state officials to under-examine the factors that lessen the impact of corporate departures and overstate their importance. The same type of doomsaying has played out with other big companies whose headquarters are leaving or have left the state, including Tesla, Oracle and SpaceX."
California is cutting 10,000 vacant jobs to address budget shortfall. Will it be enough?
Sacramento Bee's WILLIAM MELHADO: "Hoping to achieve $2.1 billion in savings next year, California recently laid out the steps departments can take to cut the fat from their budgets. The largest cost saving measure is the elimination of approximately 10,000 vacant positions. Removing the thousands of unfilled jobs from departments’ budgets beginning in 2025 is expected to save California $1.5 billion, nearly half of which the state hopes will come from the General Fund."
S.F.’s fight against the doom loop weighed down by stark economic realities
The Chronicle's ROLAND LI, LAURA WAXMANN: "At times this summer San Francisco felt full of life again. Outdoor concerts, night markets and block parties packed thousands of people onto streets that had been barren in recent years. Reported crime plunged and overdose deaths fell slightly. Mayor London Breed has seized on these signs, proclaiming the return of the city’s vibrancy.
“We’re having so many openings. We’re having so many new opportunities that have allowed for people to experience downtown differently,” Breed told the Chronicle last month. “It’s starting to come alive.”"
$550 million plan for Fisherman’s Wharf divides owners of historic businesses — including a father and son
The Chronicle's TARA DUGGAN: "On Tuesday, the San Francisco Port Commission voted to endorse a preliminary $550 million development plan for Pier 45, site of one of the last vestiges of the city’s historic fishing industry in Fisherman’s Wharf.
Fishermen see the project as an existential threat, since Pier 45 is where they unload their catch and store gear such as crab pots, though the development plans leave space for them to continue their work. The proposal has also sparked deep concerns among business owners in the neighborhood, even dividing members of one of its longtime families."
‘Dirty Delta’: California’s largest estuary is in crisis. Is the state discriminating against people who fish there?
CALMatters' RACHEL BECKER: "More than two dozen fishing rods were braced against the railing of San Francisco’s Pier 7, their lines dangling into the Bay. People chatted on the benches, shouting in Cantonese and leaping up when one of the rods bent or jiggled.
One after another, the men and women at the end of the pier reeled in striped bass as long as an arm, and even thicker."
To build or not to build new jails: The question has beset Los Angeles since the 1700s
LAT's KERI BLAKINGER: "When you think of a prison town, you probably think of a place like Huntsville, Texas. Or maybe Forrest City, Ark. Or Susanville, Calif. Even if you don’t know them by name, you know the type: places where the population is half-incarcerated and virtually everyone works for or knows someone who works for a prison. In short, you probably do not think of a place like Los Angeles.
But maybe you should."
Ambulance offload times once topped 90 minutes in Sacramento County. Here’s how it got to 40
Sacramento Bee's ISHANI DESAI: "One year ago, Sacramento County Director of Emergency Services Gregory Kann presented a startling set of statistics to the Board of Supervisors: Residents waited longer to be transferred from an ambulance to a hospital bed in Sacramento County than almost anywhere else in California.
Large percentages of patients — outside of those suffering trauma, heart attacks, strokes or other life-or-death ailments — waited about 97 minutes for a bed in January 2022 after arriving by ambulance."
SFPD solves fewer crimes than other major California cities. Here’s the data for each category
The Chronicle's DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "San Francisco police solved fewer crimes last year than departments in other major California cities, a Chronicle analysis found.
Among five California cities with more than 500,000 people, San Francisco had the lowest clearance rate for both violent crimes and property crimes in 2023, according to data collected by the California Department of Justice — a pattern that has persisted over the last decade. San Jose was excluded from the analysis because it did not submit complete data for 2023."
LA County voters face huge decision on homeless services funding
