California water officials warn of scant deliveries from reservoirs next year
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "California officials announced Monday that state reservoirs are on track to provide just 5% of the water requested by cities and farms next year, a remarkably small amount of water that could necessitate big water cuts — should the projection hold.
The grim estimate comes after what officials described as a slow start to the wet season; however, the allocation was calculated before storms over the past two weeks gave a significant boost to reservoir levels. The state is also trying to recover from a record hot summer that dried up rivers and creeks and faces long-term forecasts suggesting less-than-average precipitation for winter."
Major California river flows freely as historic dam removal concludes
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "After decades of planning and pounding, the removal of four dams on the Klamath River near the remote California-Oregon border wrapped up this week — all but a few loose ends.
The monumental effort, considered the largest dam dismantling in U.S. history, is the longtime aspiration of the two states and their several partners, including Native American tribes. The goal has been to clear the old hydroelectric infrastructure from the 250-mile Klamath and restore a free-flowing river and its native fish and wildlife populations, principally the imperiled salmon runs."
A major California river dried up below Yosemite. The reason was a mystery — until now
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "Two years ago, California water regulators were stunned to learn that a major river in the San Joaquin Valley had stopped flowing. The waterway ran dry for 5 miles, leaving young fish stranded in muddy pools, birds fleeing to new homes, and paddlers, waterfront property owners and farmers gripped with frustration.
In a state partly defined by its thirst for water, the emptying of the Merced River for four months in 2022 remained something of a mystery. Fed by the snowy peaks of the Sierra, the Merced has long been heavily pumped for agriculture, and its levels often dip considerably during droughts. Yet California generally restricts water draws to keep at least some flow moving downstream."
Aliso Canyon likely to stay open for years under closure plan; residents outraged
LAT's ANDREW J. CAMPA: "California regulators voted Thursday to continue using the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility probably into the next decade, over the objection of local activists and residents who demanded a swifter closure of the site of the largest methane leak in U.S. history.
The California Public Utilities Commission voted 4 to 0, with one abstention, in favor of a plan first pitched Nov. 13 to develop a process to wind down the storage facility as demand for natural gas falls — as is expected in the coming years."
New California voter ID ban puts conservative cities at odds with state
CALMatters's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "California has become the latest battleground over voter identification requirements, a longtime conservative priority newly propelled in recent years by election fraud complaints from President-elect Donald Trump.
Under a state law that takes effect on Jan. 1, local governments across California will be prohibited from compelling voters to present identification to cast a ballot in an election."
As Democrats rip Elon Musk, this Bay Area mayor wants to stay neutral
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "While Democrats struggle with how to respond to Elon Musk’s powerful new role in the Trump administration, the mayor of the city with the most to lose by incurring Musk’s wrath is confident in his approach to dealing with the world’s richest man.
Raj Salwan, a 50-year-old Indian immigrant who was just elected mayor of Fremont, the East Bay city that is home to Musk’s Tesla factory, is not even a full-time elected leader. Like many smaller city electeds, he spends about half his week doing his day job as a veterinarian to supplement his annual mayoral salary of $55,485.96."
Sacramento officials announce city manager’s last day. ‘I have done my very best’
Sac Bee's ROSALIO AHUMADA, MATHEW MIRANDA: "Sacramento City Manager Howard Chan’s last day in that job will be Dec. 31 after the City Council on Tuesday voted to reject his contract extension following months of criticism by residents over his high salary and decision-making.
While Chan could continue to work without a contract, city officials on Wednesday formally announced his departure and his final day as city manager."
California board backs rules aimed at protecting workers from deadly silicosis
LAT's EMILY ALPERT REYES: "California regulators voted Thursday to impose a permanent set of workplace rules aimed at protecting countertop cutters from silicosis, an incurable disease that has been killing young workers.
The unanimous vote by the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board extends and expands on workplace safety rules approved a year ago on an emergency basis, which are due to expire soon."
Who is Anh Phoong? Sacramento’s celebrity lawyer opens up about life behind her billboard
Sac Bee's JENAVIEVE HATCH: "Close to 900 people milled around the geometric patterned carpet of the Apex at Red Hawk Casino in Shingle Springs on Friday the 13th, hoping to get a selfie with the woman of the hour. Anh Phoong — lawyer, mother, boss, and billboard celebrity — sported a red festive top and, adorned in a matching nutcracker hat, greeted guests with warm hugs and doled out drink tickets like Oprah Winfrey: you get a drink ticket, you get a drink ticket, and you get a drink ticket, too.
Phoong lives her life by a simple yet powerful ethical code: Go all in. The Phoong Law Center annual holiday festivities were an abundant manifestation of that motto. It was as much family friendly, with go-karts, Build-a-Bear workshops and face painting, as it was camp extravagance, with a Michael Jackson impersonator, Chinese lion dancing, a mariachi band and approximately one metric ton of shrimp cocktail."
A review of California’s legislative publications
Capitol Weekly CHRIS MICHELI: "There are a number of publications that are regularly used by the California Legislature. Of note is that several of these publications are specified in the California Government Code. Article I, Sections 9700-9708, deals generally with legislative publications. As an overarching provision, all printing for the Legislature and the individual houses is governed by the individual rules of the State Senate and the State Assembly, as well as their Joint Rules.
The Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly are charged with printing all of the legislative bills, resolutions and constitutional amendments proposed by their respective members. All of the legislative printing is done by the State Printing Office (SPO), which is required by statute to print the laws, including initiative measures, as well as any other printing that is ordered by either the Senate or the Assembly."
How far Northern California counties are creating more jobs for young people
CALMatters's FIONA KELLIHER: "People living in the northernmost reaches of California refer to their community as the “Redwood Curtain,” a nod to the region’s abundance of redwoods and natural beauty — but also its remoteness.
With a combined population of less than half a million people scattered across Del Norte, Siskiyou, Modoc, Humboldt, Trinity, Shasta and Lassen counties, the area faces relatively lower wages, extremist politics and brain drain, and fewer educational opportunities compared to other parts of the state."
‘I have no safety net’: Mental health patients anxious as Kaiser SoCal strike hits week 10
CALMatters's JOE GARCIA: "Ezekiel Koontz recalls being a Kaiser Permanente patient “forever, for as long as I can remember” — first as a child and now as a working adult receiving gender-affirming treatment.
But while battling severe depression and experiencing suicidal episodes for the last several years, the 26-year-old teacher struggled to find a therapist with whom they felt comfortable."
California’s college financial aid chief on FAFSA chaos, concerns about Trump and more
EdSource's MICHAEL BURKE: "When Dr. Daisy Gonzales took over as executive director of the California Student Aid Commission in June, she stepped into the position at a tumultuous time on the financial aid front, marked by state budget deficits, outside schemes to defraud financial programs and concerns over what President-elect Donald Trump will mean for undocumented students.
Among her first priorities: making sure more students apply for financial aid this year following declines in 2024 amid the chaotic and oft-delayed rollout of the federal government’s revamped Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The U.S. Department of Education last month made the 2025-26 version available. Most students in California use that form to access both state and federal aid for college costs. FAFSA completions in the state declined by an estimated 10% among incoming freshmen in 2024, mirroring a national decline, as students and families found it difficult to access and complete the form in a timely manner."
Woodland parent fights school district to get special ed services. She’s not the only one
Sac Bee's JENNAH PENDLETON: "Several months into fifth-grade, Meagen Reveles Kuntz realized her daughter, who requires special education services, had stagnated and even regressed in her academic progress.
For over a year since, Reveles Kuntz has been battling Woodland Joint Unified School District to compel them to provide the special ed services outlined in her daughter’s individualized educational plan (IEP)."
‘Messy’ atmospheric storms in California could slam holiday travel: What to expect
LAT's SUMMER LIN: "A series of atmospheric river storms are expected to impact Northern California over the weekend, raising the likelihood of making holiday plans for many travelers more complicated.
The first of the storm systems is expected to move into the Bay Area on Saturday morning, bringing about a quarter of an inch to a third of an inch of rain to San Francisco and Oakland, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Dial Hoang."
Atmospheric rivers are returning to the Bay Area. Here’s the rain timeline
The Chronicle's GREG PORTER: "The final days before the Christmas holiday are shaping up to be wet ones, as two weak storm systems bookend the weekend with rain. They are part of a larger train of atmospheric river-induced storms that look to bring several rounds of rain and wind to the Bay Area through the end of next week.
Friday will start with areas of dense fog, particularly along the Pacific coast, western San Francisco, the Marin shoreline, and through the interior East Bay down to the South Bay. The fog could cause some morning flight delays at the region's three major airports."
Battle over luxury Verdugo Mountains housing development spills into court
LAT's JACK FLEMMING: "The latest chapter in the saga of a 300-acre development in the Verdugo Mountains revolves around surveillance cameras and native bumblebees. The developer is suing protesters for trespassing onto the property in attempts to gather evidence for why the land should be preserved.
Nevada-based developer Whitebird Inc. has grandiose visions for the luxury complex known as Canyon Hills. The project would transform the rugged hillside above the Sunland-Tujunga neighborhood, which has largely been spared from development, into a tony community with 221 homes."
How to revive California’s downtowns? This Assembly member is looking for answers
LAT's THOMAS CURWEN: "The sidewalks of the Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles were bustling.
Silver-faced, tuxedoed mannequins tussled with crazy clowns and beaming Hello Kittys. Ball caps, Stetsons and sombreros, baby strollers, toasters and Crock-Pots, lucha libre masks, belts and shoes burst from open storefronts and vendors’ sidewalk card tables. Steam rose up from food trucks and carts."
How fighting affordable housing nearly bankrupted one of America’s richest towns
LAT's LIAM DILLON: "On a Sunday afternoon a few years ago, about a dozen neighbors held a meeting with Craig Hughes, who was then the mayor of Portola Valley. The backyard gathering in the small, wealthy Silicon Valley enclave was civil, Hughes said, but his constituents left an unmistakable message. If Hughes and other town leaders produced a state-mandated affordable housing plan that wasn’t to the residents’ liking, they should expect a battery of litigation that could lead to Portola Valley’s bankruptcy. In a sign of their seriousness, one couple already had hired an attorney well-versed in California politics, the former mayor of San Jose.
“It was a warning,” Hughes recalled."
S.F. promised to cut red tape. Why some small businesses still seeing long waits to open
The Chronicle's CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO: "Zack Schwab had high hopes in 2021 that a new city program to help small businesses would enable him to convert the site of a former dry cleaner into a bagel shop in no time. Instead the then new program was confusing and approvals dragged, with the business “bleeding money” while awaiting the bureaucratic go-ahead to open.
But when he set out earlier this year to expand into a neighboring space to grow Schlok’s Bagels & Lox near the Panhandle, a simpler job on paper, Schwab thought perhaps the city had worked out the kinks in its 4-year-old expedited permitting system known as Proposition H. Instead, his second project took the city weeks longer than it should have, and required the help of a supervisor’s office to push it forward."
San Francisco Zoo slams animal welfare report from city commission
The Chronicle's TARA DUGGAN: "The leadership of the San Francisco Zoo pushed back on Thursday against an animal welfare report issued by a city commission in October that was critical of the facility, calling for a retraction and saying the report had caused donations and attendance to drop at the city-owned facility.
The main author of the report was Jane Tobin, a member of the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare, who is also an adviser to the zoo. It said that the 95-year-old facility was “extremely outdated” and “unsafe for visitors and animals.” The report was based on a short visit to the zoo and discussions with zoo staff, and sections of it were written by animal rights activists."
LAPD investigates scores of bomb threats a year. Was one sent by the deputy mayor?
LAT's LIBOR JANY: "At Los Angeles International Airport last spring, a dispatcher received an anonymous call suggesting that a Spirit Airlines flight to Las Vegas was “going to blow up.”
In April, an employee at a legal clinic received a phone call from someone threatening to bring a grenade to the office if they didn’t receive a callback from an attorney."
How a California prisoner allegedly took over Alaska’s fentanyl trade from inside his cell
LAT's MATTHEW ORMSETH: "As Sunday Powers drove along a remote highway in Alaska, her boss tracked her every move from 3,000 miles away.
A former Girl Scout raised in a town called North Pole, population 2,427, Powers had gotten involved in the drug business. She sold blue fentanyl pills and smuggled money for a dealer in California, according to court documents and interviews."
This nonprofit helps Californians get back on their feet with bikes
CALMatters's ZAYNA SYED: "The leadership of the San Francisco Zoo pushed back on Thursday against an animal welfare report issued by a city commission in October that was critical of the facility, calling for a retraction and saying the report had caused donations and attendance to drop at the city-owned facility.
The main author of the report was Jane Tobin, a member of the San Francisco Commission of Animal Control and Welfare, who is also an adviser to the zoo. It said that the 95-year-old facility was “extremely outdated” and “unsafe for visitors and animals.” The report was based on a short visit to the zoo and discussions with zoo staff, and sections of it were written by animal rights activists."
Airlines are going premium. Prices are rising. Will cheap tickets be harder to find?
LAT's CAROLINE PETROW-COHEN: "In the midst of holiday shopping and travel, Colorado resident Tom Pipes didn’t want to spend extra money on a plane ticket. He flew from Colorado to Los Angeles on Southwest, the grandfather of budget-friendly airlines.
“If there was a first-class option, I wouldn’t use it,” Pipes said this week after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport. “I fly for the price.”"
