California storm hits 'triple bombogenesis'; torrential rain, hurricane-force winds expected
The Chronicle's JESSICA FLORES, GREG PORTER, AIDIN VAZIRI: "A strong atmospheric river-fueled storm has arrived in California, with heavy rain forecast in many regions and possible flooding. Weather authorities issued a series of flood watches, advisories and winter weather warnings, urging residents in affected areas to take precautionary measures.
The atmospheric river is being driven by a rapidly intensifying low-pressure system over the Pacific Ocean, which has met the meteorological criteria for a “bomb cyclone.” Unlike the bomb cyclone that made landfall over San Francisco in March 2023, this week’s storm will spin up hundreds of miles away from California."
As storms arrive, here’s what your phone weather app may miss in the forecast
The Chronicle's JACK LEE: "A bomb cyclone and strong atmospheric river are expected to fuel downpours across Northern California this week, with flood watches and wind warnings in effect starting Tuesday night.
But whether parts of the North Bay face over 8 inches of rain from Wednesday through Friday or collect just a few inches is still up in the air."
California’s slow vote count sows doubt. Here’s how one group is trying to fix that
CALMatters's YUE STELLA YU: "California has a notoriously slow ballot counting process — one that Kim Alexander describes as “a pig in the python.”
“This giant wad of ballots that all arrive at once, that all have to move through the process, and you can’t speed it up,” said Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation. “You have to do every single step, otherwise you lose the integrity of the process.”"
A California Republican won a seat he didn’t want. Now taxpayers are paying for a new election
CALMatters's RYAN SABALOW: "San Joaquin Valley Republican Vince Fong was on the ballot this fall for an Assembly race, but he didn’t want to win it. After all, he left that job for Congress earlier this year, and he planned to stay in the nation’s capital.
He even went so far as to endorse the Bakersfield city councilmember who was listed as running against him on the November ballot."
California Republican lawmaker slams Latino Caucus over apparent exclusion of GOP colleague
Sacramento Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "Second verse, same as the first.
Once again, the California Legislative Latino Caucus is drawing heat from the right for apparently precluding Republican lawmakers from joining."
Gavin Newsom pledged to release his tax returns every year. The last one was for 2020
CALMatters's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Despite pledging to be the first California governor to release his tax returns every year while in office, Gov. Gavin Newsom has yet to make any additional filings public during his second term.
Newsom last disclosed a tax return nearly three years ago, in March 2022, as he was running for re-election. Under a state law, signed by Newsom himself, that requires gubernatorial candidates to release their five most recent income tax returns, the governor shared filings through 2020, when he and wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom earned nearly $1.5 million and paid about $480,000 in taxes."
‘Ultra-powerful’ supercomputer El Capitan to serve national security purposes
Daily Californian's PAARTH MISHRA: "El Capitan, an exascale, or “ultra-powerful,” supercomputer built by the Hewlett Packard Enterprise, was displayed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, or LLNL, and officially verified as the fastest supercomputer in the world.
The National Nuclear Security Administration and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. also contributed to the development of the supercomputer, according to an article from LLNL. El Capitan’s primary purpose is to ensure the quality of the nation’s aging nuclear stockpile in response to increasing threats from potential adversaries, according to Teresa Quinn, the associate program director of the computing department at LLNL."
No raise for California’s minimum wage workers. Voters reject Prop. 32
CALMatters's JEANNE KUANG: "A ballot proposition to raise California’s minimum wage to $18 an hour has been rejected by voters, even as the state continues to grapple with its high cost of living.
The Associated Press called the race Tuesday after two weeks of ballot counting. Nearly 51% of voters said “no” in a rejection that opponents on Monday called “historic.”"
READ MORE -- Proposition 32 was just rejected. In blue California, why did the minimum-wage boost fail? -- LAT's ANDREA CHANG, DON LEE, CAROLINE PETROW-COHEN
L.A. ‘sanctuary city’ law won’t prevent deportations. But ‘we are hardening our defenses’
LAT's DAKOTA SMITH: "Facing President-elect Donald Trump’s promised mass deportation of immigrants in the country illegally, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday tentatively backed a “sanctuary city” law that forbids city employees and resources from being involved in federal immigration enforcement.
Because the law, which passed unanimously, was amended during the council meeting, a second vote is required in the coming days."
A California child tested positive for bird flu. Here’s why this case is different
CALMatters's KRISTEN HWANG: "An Alameda County child with mild upper respiratory symptoms tested positive for bird flu, state public health officials announced today. The potential infection is the first known case in California that does not appear to have originated from contact with infected cattle.
State health officials are waiting for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the test result."
Trump taps Linda McMahon as Education secretary, a pro-wrestling mogul with little school experience
LAT's TERESA WATANABE, JAWEED KALEEM, JENNY GOLD: "President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is nominating Linda McMahon, a billionaire professional wrestling mogul and small-business champion with minimal schools experience, as secretary of Education.
The nomination of McMahon, a major Republican donor, caught many education experts by surprise. She was not on the Trump transition team’s shortlist of Education secretary candidates, an informed source said, and many had expected leading opponents of diversity and equity programs to be tapped for the job, including state superintendents of Oklahoma and Louisiana."
Educators divided on impact of changes in STEM math placement at California community colleges
EdSource's BETTY MARQUEZ ROSALES: "The California community colleges will soon implement changes to STEM math placement in which more students will be enrolled directly in calculus without first taking a longer sequence of lower-level courses such as precalculus and trigonometry.
On Tuesday, during an EdSource roundtable, “A new law aims to expand access to STEM. What troubles some educators?” panelists discussed both the potential upsides and their concerns as Assembly Bill 1705 — the 2022 law requiring the changes — is implemented."
UC files unfair practice charge and injunction against AFSCME, strike will continue as planned
Daily Californian's KIRA PAN: "Following an announcement to strike by AFSCME, Local 3299, which represents UC Service and Patient Care workers, the University of California filed an unfair practice charge Nov. 9 and a complaint for injunctive relief to the Public Employment Relations Board, or PERB, against AFSCME for including “essential employees” in strike efforts.
According to an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, press release, the two-day strike will take place from 12 a.m. today to 11:59 p.m. tomorrow. Public pickets will occur at all UC campuses and medical centers from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m."
The crops and their paychecks went up in flames: How the Mountain fire hammered farms and farmworkers
LAT's KAREN GARCIA: "When the Mountain fire broke out more than two weeks ago, Samuel and Florentino witnessed the all-too familiar hazy, gray sky and the smell of smoke as they harvested strawberries in an Oxnard field.
The men were more than 25 miles from the blaze but a combination of high winds and smoke was enough to foul the air. Despite having N95 masks, they could endure work for only about two hours before they were sent home because of worsening air quality."
‘Charter’ cities are gaining popularity in California, but voters are worried about new taxes
The Chronicle's KOTA SUZUKI: "Over the last several decades, an increasing number of California cities have transitioned to “charter cities,” and many more could follow suit. The main obstacle? Recent elections show many residents don’t actually want that designation.
Charter cities in California are incorporated jurisdictions that can impose special taxes at higher rates and with greater flexibility than the state law allows, as long as they receive voter approval. For example, charter cities like Oakland and L.A. can implement a business license tax for any purpose or levy a property transfer tax, options unavailable to non-charter cities like Cupertino and Fremont."
Risk of Oakland insolvency prompts anxious queries from council members
The Chronicle's DAVID HERNANDEZ, SARAH RAVANI: "Oakland officials raised the alarm Tuesday about the city’s dire financial situation, warning that cuts to police and fire budgets are unavoidable and necessary to avoid a financial emergency. What the cuts will consist of remains unclear.
“I want you to hear clearly at this dais that we must take action over the next month and a half to preserve our solvency,” Bradley Johnson, the city’s budget administrator, told the City Council."
Comcast to spin off MSNBC, CNBC and other cable channels
LAT's MEG JAMES: "Comcast Corp. is cleaving off a huge chunk of its television portfolio to create a new company composed of its cable channels, including MSNBC, CNBC and USA Network.
The Philadelphia-based cable giant unveiled its plan to create a new publicly traded company as well as a new corporate structure for NBCUniversal on Wednesday. The new company — currently dubbed SpinCo, although that will change — will offer news, entertainment and sports channels reaching about 70 million U.S. homes and have the financial heft to acquire other channels, Comcast said in its announcement of the move."
What’s really happening when you agree to a website’s terms of service
The Chronicle's JESSICA ROY: "Have you ever signed a lengthy legally binding contract without consulting an attorney or reading the document in its entirety?
Almost certainly."
Trump takes a hard line on homelessness. Why L.A. Mayor Karen Bass hopes to find common ground
LAT's NOAH BIERMAN: "President-elect Donald Trump has promised to arrest thousands of homeless people sleeping in American streets and move them to large tent cities on “inexpensive land,” one of several planks of his agenda that would upend a national strategy that focuses on finding people housing on a voluntary basis.
“We will use every tool, lever and authority to get the homeless off our streets,” Trump said in a video announcing his policy last year. “There is nothing compassionate about letting these individuals live in filth and squalor, rather than getting them the help that they need.”"
Fresno has a homelessness problem. So why are its leaders rejecting state-funded housing?
LAT's MELISSA GOMEZ: "Dez Martinez greeted the homeless dwellers of Santa Clara Street on a recent October afternoon with open arms and a warm smile. As she walked through Fresno’s version of Skid Row, homeless residents waved in greeting from the tents and tarps lining both sides of the street.
“I need help,” one man told her as she offered him a hug. She gave him her cellphone number and email."
Gov. Newsom will not make clemency decision for Menendez brothers until new DA reviews case
AP: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he won’t make a clemency decision on the murder convictions of Erik and Lyle Menendez until newly elected Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman reviews the nearly 35-year-old case.
In October, prosecutors submitted a recommendation for the brothers’ resentencing on the murder conviction in the 1989 killings of their parents in their Beverly Hills home. George Gascón, the current district attorney, asked a judge to impose a new sentence 50 years to life, which could make them eligible for parole immediately."
San Mateo sheriff crisis: Supervisors seek power to oust Christina Corpus from office
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "San Mateo County supervisors, locked in an escalating standoff with their scandal-plagued sheriff, are considering a dramatic step to push her out: Putting the matter to voters.
The board on Tuesday unanimously passed an ordinance sponsored by Supervisors Noelia Corzo and Ray Mueller, the most vocal critics of Sheriff Christina Corpus, to call for a special election on March 4. It would allow residents of San Mateo County to vote on a charter amendment enabling the board to oust an elected sheriff for cause, if 4 out of 5 supervisors agree to do so."
