Early voting is surging across the country. It’s unclear who benefits
LAT's SEEMA MEHTA: "After Katie Kern and her father, Robert Kern, cast their ballots for former President Trump in this suburb of Las Vegas, they said they wanted to make sure their vote was counted in the critical battleground state of Nevada so that the Republican would retake the White House."
Is a new plan for delivering Delta water worse than Trump’s rules? Environmentalists say yes.
CALMatters's ALASTAIR BLAND: "When the Trump administration presented a new plan exporting more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta five years ago, state officials and environmentalists objected that the new rules would increase the chances that salmon, smelt and steelhead would go extinct.
Now, state and federal agencies are nearing the finish line on a replacement plan that could boost water supplies for cities and some growers but, according to a federal analysis, could be even more harmful to the estuary and its fish."
How protecting Central Valley communities from flooding can help restore the Bay-Delta and salmon
RICK FRANK and JULIE RENTNER in Capitol Weekly: "The San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem is in deep trouble. Salmon runs are declining. Salmon fishing has been completely closed in 2023 and 2024 for only the second time ever. A growing list of fish are in danger of extinction. Harmful algae blooms are proliferating. All evidence points to a lack of freshwater flows as a primary cause.
We need to take action to protect the largest estuary on the West Coast, as well as those who suffer as the environment declines, including Delta communities, Tribes, and salmon fishermen. But the two traditional pathways to leave more water in our declining rivers are struggling."?
Gasoline price-hike issue: California Republicans in U.S. House demand delay in state board vote
LAT's RUSS MITCHELL: "All 12 California Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have sent a letter to the California Air Resources Board demanding it delays a Nov. 8 vote on policies that will increase the price of gasoline.
The Republicans accuse the board, known as CARB, of “a failure to provide complete transparency” about consumer costs stemming from new environmental policies under discussion. The letter sent Thursday from the congressional delegation said the vote should be delayed so CARB can “focus on analyzing and communicating its policies’ impact on consumers in our state.”"
California’s plan to overhaul a key climate program — raising the cost of gas — ignites debate
CALMatters's ALEJANDRO LAZO: "California plans to overhaul one of its cornerstone climate programs — a decision that could push gasoline prices higher in a state where residents already pay the most at the pump.
On Nov. 8, just three days after an election marked by concerns over rising costs, the California Air Resources Board will hold a public hearing and vote on its plan to amend the Low Carbon Fuel Standard."
Ballot titles and arguments
Capitol Weekly's CHRIS MICHELI: "California’s Elections Code provides rules for ballot titles that are used for measures submitted to the voters. These rules are found in Division 9, Chapter 1, Article 5. Section 9050 requires that, after the Secretary of State determines that a measure will appear on the ballot at the next statewide election, the Secretary of State must promptly transmit a copy of the measure to the Attorney General.
The Attorney General is required to provide and return to the Secretary of State a ballot title and summary and ballot label for each measure submitted to the voters of the whole state by a date sufficient to meet the state voter information guide public display deadlines."
Column: A Trump judge just overturned the government’s most effective anti-fraud tool, which has stood for 150 years
LAT's MICHAEL HILTZIK: "Since 1986, whistleblowers have been in the forefront of the government’s war on fraud, accounting for $53 billion, or more than 70%, of the $75 billion recovered from swindlers on defense contracts, from Medicare and from other federal programs.
There’s no debate over what’s driving this record: It’s a 1986 federal law that awards whistleblowers up to 30% of the recovery. For the federal government, this is a bargain. Without the law, the government might never even know about most of the $75 billion in fraud that was unearthed."
California’s Yes Man: Meet the Democratic lawmaker who has never said ‘no’ to a bill
CALMatters's RYAN SABALOW: "The Democrats who control California’s Legislature vote “no” on average less than 1% of the time. But one Assemblymember stands out even among this group of “yes” men and women.
Mike Fong, a Democrat from Monterey Park, is the only one of California’s 120 state lawmakers who has never cast a “no” vote on a piece of legislation, according to the Digital Democracy database."
Cofer or McCarty will make history as Sacramento’s second Black mayor. How they see that legacy
Sacramento Bee's DARRELL SMITH: "The two mayoral candidates took their places on the raised stage at a recent debate, one that preceded The Bee’s and KVIE’s Oct. 23. They were accompanied only by their microphones to talk about the issues vexing Sacramento — homelessness and housing; public safety and the economy.
It was as common a scene as there was during election season: the neighborhood candidates’ forum."
Aaron Peskin gains in S.F. mayor’s race, delighting progressives — and alarming familiar foes
The Chronicle's JD MORRIS: "As Supervisor Aaron Peskin tried to spread the word about his mayoral campaign in San Francisco’s Mission District Wednesday morning, he kept encountering the same response. Over and over, passersby said they had already voted for him or planned to do so.
Peskin wasn’t surprised by the reception he received at the 24th Street BART plaza in one of the city’s most progressive neighborhoods."
The internet goes wild for this Bay Area milk, which is at the center of an election controversy
The Chronicle's MARIO CORTEZ: "Social media users have moved past the lure of trendy, crunchy Dubai chocolate and rare einspanner coffees and onto the next big thing: whole, organic milk from a Bay Area dairy that’s connected to a controversial ballot measure about factory farms.
Sonoma County’s Straus Family Creamery has seen a boom in demand after its nonhomogenized whole milk — specifically, the milk’s cream top — recently spurred a frenzy on TikTok. The trend, known as MilkTok, features videos of people digging into the company’s half-gallon glass bottles and scooping out dabs of the cream layer that sits at the top."
How a car auction billionaire plans to resuscitate these tarnished California wineries
The Chronicle's JESS LANDER: "Just over a week ago, billionaire Jay Adair was a small, unknown player in the California wine industry. The automobile mogul said he was perfectly content owning a boutique winery in Solano County’s small and overlooked Suisun Valley region.
Overnight, that changed."
Nursery owned by Central Valley congressman has history of safety violations
LAT's LAURA J. NELSON: "California regulators have cited the Central Valley nursery owned by Republican Rep. John Duarte and his family for several safety violations during the years that the incumbent congressman was in charge of the business, records show.
Founded by Duarte, his parents and his brother in 1989, Duarte Nursery is now the country’s largest permanent crop nursery. Duarte was the president of the family-owned company in Stanislaus County from 2008 until 2022, when he won a seat in Congress."
In the heart of Black Los Angeles, the future of Latino political power emerges
LAT's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "The two dozen volunteers gathered on a Saturday morning at the appropriately — almost cinematically — named Unity House got the message over and over and over again as they reviewed what to tell voters about Sade Elhawary.
Her bid for the 57th Assembly District, a historically Black swath of South Los Angeles that is now predominantly Latino, aims to build Black and brown solidarity and the political power of both groups. Elhawary, a 36-year-old former teacher and community organizer seeking public office for the first time, is herself biracial, the daughter of Guatemalan and Egyptian immigrants."
S.F. school board candidates focus on avoiding state takeover
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "The San Francisco school board race on the November ballot might be well down the ballot from the divisive presidential election and even below the city’s heated mayoral race, but the outcome in the education contest is no less crucial.
The next school board will arguably face one of the most difficult periods in the district’s recent history with massive budget cuts needed to avert insolvency and an overhaul of the student assignment system pending along with a new payroll system to replace a bug-riddled $40 million platform."
L.A. teachers union supports blocking U.S. sale of about $20 billion in weaponry to Israel
LAT's HOWARD BLUME: "The governing body of the L.A. teachers union has weighed in on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, voting Wednesday to support a congressional effort to block the sale of more than $20 billion in U.S. weaponry to Israel on the grounds that American-supplied arms were being used against civilians.
The United Teachers Los Angeles union vote calls for California Sens. Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler “to pledge their support” for a government action called a “Joint Resolutions of Disapproval,” which, according to its sponsors, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), would halt the sales of specific armaments to Israel. The issue is expected to be taken up after the Senate reconvenes in November."
Storm more than 1,000 miles away from S.F. to bring unsettled weather to Northern California
The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "Late October tends to be a time of weather changes in Northern California, with a clash between lingering summer warmth and approaching winter storms. Storms typically fizzle before reaching the Bay Area, but some can break the pattern, resulting in a significant soaking.
This weekend’s weather system will be a fizzling one, with decent rainfall totals north of the Golden Gate — and even some light Sierra Nevada snowfall — but unfavorable for widespread showers in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose."
Ex-wife of Bob Lee storms out of courtroom as Khazar Momeni testifies
The Chronicle's KEVIN FAGAN: "Murder defendant Nima Momeni’s sister finished four days of grilling in his trial’s witness box Wednesday with a testy flourish, unspooling more details of heavy drug use and sex abuse allegations and accusing slain tech mogul Bob Lee’s ex-wife of intimidating her.
After hearing Momeni’s sister say she had intimidated her, ex-wife Krista Lee stormed out of the San Francisco Superior Court room and told a cluster of TV cameras in the hallway that Khazar Momeni, the sister, could “go f— herself.” The judge promptly barred Krista Lee from the courtroom for the remainder of any testimony by Khazar Momeni, for fear of any other outbursts tainting the jury while everyone was out of the courtroom on breaks."
Q&A: Advancing education equity through collaboration with the housing sector
EdSource's BETTY MARQUEZ ROSALES: "Education and housing are often inextricably linked, but policy decisions made in the two sectors are generally siloed, at times shaped and passed without considering how a housing policy might impact education and vice versa.
Meghan Gallagher’s research bridges the two, focusing on housing and educational collaborations that support students’ academic outcomes. Some of her latest work as a principal research associate at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization focused on public policy, provides school officials and housing developers with ideas on how to partner together to desegregate schools by desegregating neighborhoods."
6 ex-BART workers get over $1 million each after jury said they were denied COVID vaccine exemptions
The Chronicle's NORA MISHANEC, BOB EGELKO: "The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District must pay $7.8 million to six former employees after a jury found the agency discriminated against the workers who sought religious exemptions to the agency’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Under a 2021 mandate approved by the agency’s Board of Directors, all BART employees were required to get vaccinated at the risk of being fired. The workers sued the following year in a lawsuit filed by the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative legal nonprofit."
How to avoid carmageddon as sports fans head to the World Series and other games Friday
LAT's KAREN GARCIA: "Los Angeles officials are preparing to host the trifecta of sporting events on Friday night as fans are expected to jam the 110 Freeway to get to Dodger Stadium, L.A. Memorial Coliseum and Crypto.com arena to cheer on their teams.
“As everyone already is aware, traffic can be a formidable challenge on a typical Friday afternoon,” said Laura Rubio-Cornejo, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation."
