Gov. Brown's cap-and-trade 'evangelism' showcases his political skills.
LA Times' GEORGE SKELTON: "He’s single-minded like a bull,” said a close friend of Gov. Jerry Brown."
"That was more than 42 years ago. Another Times reporter and I had tracked down friends and relatives of Brown, looking for some insight into the young man about to be inaugurated California governor for the first time."
"The single-minded bull description came from Frank Damrell, a former college roommate of Brown and a fellow Jesuit seminarian. He’s now a retired U.S. district judge."
"The late Peter Finnegan, another longtime friend and fellow seminarian, said of Brown: “I don’t think he’s a mystic. But I sure as hell think he’s got a spiritual dimension that you don’t find in politicians.”
Wildfires are displacing residents up and down California.
LA Times' PALOMA ESQUIVEL: "Two wildfires that began Sunday afternoon in Northern and Central California are prompting evacuations."
"The Detwiller Fire, which began shortly before 4 p.m. just east of Lake McClure in Mariposa County, has spread to 2,500 acres and is forcing evacuations of residents on Hunters Valley road and parts of Bear Valley Road, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection."
Meanwhile, USC's med school dean is coming under fire after a newspaper investigation revealed the moonlighting, secret life of the prominent professor.
LA Times' PAUL PRINGLE/HARRIET RYAN/ADAM ELMAHREK/MATT HAMILTON/SARAH PARVINI: "In USC’s lecture halls, labs and executive offices, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito was a towering figure. The dean of the Keck School of Medicine was a renowned eye surgeon whose skill in the operating room was matched by a gift for attracting money and talent to the university."
"There was another side to the Harvard-educated physician."
"During his tenure as dean, Puliafito kept company with a circle of criminals and drug users who said he used methamphetamine and other drugs with them, a Los Angeles Times investigation found."
Donald Trump's immigration hardline continues to stoke fear in vulnerable communities after an announcement that the DACA registry would be targeted was released.
LA Times' CINDY CARCAMO: "Ever since Donald Trump was elected, Melody Klingenfuss has known her time in the United States could be limited."
"The 23-year-old has temporary immigration relief under President Obama’s landmark Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which seemed imperiled amid Trump’s vowed crackdown on illegal immigration."
Speaking of Trump, AlterNet is reporting that both the Trump campaign and Russia, in tandem, specifically targeted online Clinton supporters
for disinformation dissemination -- the details of which have yet to fully emerge.
AlterNet's STEVEN ROSENFELD: "Donald Trump’s campaign was working in parallel with Russian anti-Hillary Clinton propaganda efforts, although the specific nature of their cooperation has yet to emerge, according to new analyses connecting the dots between Russia’s theft of Democratic Party and Clinton campaign emails and Trump campaign social media messaging."
"As congressional investigators and journalists compare timelines of anti-Clinton social messaging on FaceBook and Twitter in October 2016 with statements by officials high up in Trump’s campaign and some family members, it's becoming clear that the micro-targeting of Clinton voters in swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin was certainly done by the Trump campaign—and also possibly done by Russia."
"The big unanswered question is just how closely coordinated those operations were."
READ MORE related to Kremlingate: Michael Flynn seeks sanctuary from Russia scandal in hometown surf -- AP's MICHELLE R. SMITH/JENNIFER MCDERMOTT
A flashy federal building in the SF Bay Area skyline has failed to meet its city-improvement expections after a decade.
The Chronicle's JOHN KING: "Ten years after it opened, the San Francisco Federal Building stands as a dynamic but troubled testament to the fact that in the real world, visionary architecture can only accomplish so much."
"The 18-story tower, with its jagged cloak of perforated steel, remains the most aggressive high-rise on the skyline. But the long-troubled block at street level is as squalid as ever. And while the building’s eco-friendly extras have helped reduce energy use, they haven’t been copied by the architects and developers of other towers."
"It’s a big building in a big city — one actor in a cast of thousands, not the catalyst that turned things around."
Medical experts worry that a federal rewrite of birth-control mandates could lead to a rebounding increase in teen pregnancy.
The Chronicle's LIZZIE JOHNSON: "High school students toting both textbooks and newborns are becoming increasingly rare. But a Trump administration proposal to rewrite federal birth control mandates could soon change that, some medical experts fear."
"The teenage birth rate in the United States has hit an all-time low after nearly three decades of decreases, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show. The number of 15- to 19-year-olds who gave birth in 2016 was down 9 percent from the year before, to 20.3 births per 1,000 women. Since 1991, the rate has plummeted by 67 percent, the biggest drop since the CDC began tracking the data nearly eight decades ago."
"More than half of teens have had sex by age 18, the CDC found — a rate that’s down a bit from the early 1990s, but not nearly as sharply as the number of births. Medical professionals and policy experts say increased contraception use has contributed to the decline in teenage motherhood."
READ MORE related to Health: In health care, PBMs are crucial -- but not regulated -- Capitol Weekly's ANNA FRAZIER
Oakland might be leading the charge in reforming California's cannabis industry by allowing the city to give growing/selling permits to ex-convicts.
The Chronicle's KIMBERLY VEKLEROV: "Oakland’s attempt to fix racial inequality in the cannabis industry by giving permits to ex-convicts to sell, grow or transport the drug for which they were once criminalized is off to a surprisingly good start by most accounts."
"The city has received 72 applications for pot business permits since May, and nearly half are seeking equity permits under a city program meant to provide reparations for the war on drugs, a U.S. government campaign that researchers say disproportionately affected African Americans. The numbers are putting to rest fears that few would apply for the program."
