Despite evidence, Donald Trump alleges voter fraud is rampant in California.
JOHN MYERS with NYT: "President-elect Donald Trump not only alleged widespread national voter fraud in a series of messages posted on Twitter on Sunday, but took the time in one tweet to target the ballots cast in California as an example of the problem."
"Trump called the fraud “serious” in the state, along with Virginia and New Hampshire, and blamed media “bias” for the lack of coverage the allegations have received."
"It was the first time the president-elect has specifically voiced concerns about voting in California. The tweet came in the wake of several days of criticism from both Trump and his advisors over an effort by the Green Party to force a recount of votes cast in Wisconsin and possibly Michigan and Pennsylvania."
California is about to celebrate its first minority female in the House leadership.
SARAH D. WIRE with LAT: "A woman of color will be elected to join House leadership this week for the first time, and she’ll be a Democrat from California."
"While most attention in Washington is focused on whether House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) will beat back a challenge in the Wednesday leadership election, House Democrats will also choose between Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Whittier) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) for vice chair of the Democratic Caucus."
"Neither Sanchez, a longtime leader and current chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, or Lee, a longtime leader and former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, says she’s focused on the historic nature of the race. Several House members said they weren’t even aware of it."
California's BAR association could see an ethics revamp.
SUZANNE HURT with Daily News: "Julie Swann-Paez lay on the floor of the Inland Regional Center trying to play dead."
"The San Bernardino County employee had been shot twice in the pelvis, and her friends and co-workers were dying around her."
"Facing the back of the conference room while shots flew, she texted what she thought might be her last words to her family: “Love you guys. Was shot."
The family of the San Bernardino terrorist attackers is filing for custody of the deceased pair's orphaned children.
AP: "Maybe the child would be hers one day, so Saira Khan began preparing the house for her niece’s next visit. She sanitized the baby toys and double-checked the child safety locks. She cleaned the nursery where the girl had never been allowed to spend a night and tidied the crib that had been recovered and moved from a crime scene. It had belonged to the baby’s parents, and it was in the apartment where they had left her one morning last December before driving to an office party in San Bernardino, armed with pipe bombs, handguns and AR-15s."
"Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik had killed 14 people that day and injured more than 20 others before dying in a shootout with police. They had also orphaned their own 6-month-old daughter. Now that baby had become a toddler who was just beginning to walk, and she was still living in foster care under the official custody of San Bernardino County. Saira, who was Farook’s older sister, had spent 11 months trying to adopt her niece, but so far the county would only agree to grant her regular, six-hour visits."
“Do we have her alone this time, or is someone coming to check on us?” asked Farhan Khan, Saira’s husband."
The Supreme Court has ruled on its own pensions.
"The state Supreme Court last week agreed to hear an appeal of a groundbreaking ruling that allows cuts in the pensions earned by current state and local government workers, including judges."
"When judges have an obvious conflict of interest and excuse themselves from ruling on a case, the legal term is “recuse."
"But the seven Supreme Court justices seem unlikely to recuse themselves from a possible landmark ruling on this Marin County pension case, mainly because there is no clear alternative."
Meanwhile, California teachers are trying to get female students more STEM-motivated.
STEPHEN WALL with Daily Bulletin: "They pretended to be computer scientists, learned about driverless cars and built space towers from spaghetti, string and masking tape."
"The 200 female high school students got a taste of science careers at a recent workshop in Riverside, inspiring them to try to poke more holes in the glass ceiling."
"Such efforts to get more girls and young women to pursue science-related jobs are getting a lift from new state guidelines that seek more gender equity in science education."
Paper or plastic?
LAUREN WILLIAMS with OC Register: "Like many people, Jennifer Hower can think of a million uses for the paper bags she gets in the checkout line at her grocery."
"She heats her homes with fires fed by paper grocery bags. She lines her garden with them. She uses them as mini containers to hold plastics and other refuse bound for the recycling bin."
"But that soon could change."
