UN report on global warming carries life-or-death warning
AP's SETH BORENSTEIN: "Preventing an extra single degree of heat could make a life-or-death difference in the next few decades for multitudes of people and ecosystems on this fast-warming planet, an international panel of scientists reported Sunday. But they provide little hope the world will rise to the challenge."
"The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its gloomy report at a meeting in Incheon, South Korea."
"In the 728-page document, the U.N. organization detailed how Earth's weather, health and ecosystems would be in better shape if the world's leaders could somehow limit future human-caused warming to just 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit (a half degree Celsius) from now, instead of the globally agreed-upon goal of 1.8 degrees F (1 degree C). Among other things:"
Prop. 7: California considers full-time daylight savings, end of changing clocks
The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI: "Imagine never losing an hour of sleep in the spring or an hour of sunlight on cold winter evenings. Imagine — gasp! — never having to change the clocks. Life is full of tradeoffs, but forgoing the semi-annual time change has become a enticing idea for some."
"A proposition on the ballot in November would allow California to decide whether to repeal the Daylight Saving Time Act of 1949, which requires clocks to be set forward by an hour every spring and fall back an hour back every autumn."
"If the voters approve Proposition 7, the Legislature could then clear the way by a two-thirds vote of both houses for the state to adopt full-time daylight saving, similar to Hawaii and Arizona. Final approval would require congressional dispensation."
Newsom called Lt. Gov. job dull, but candidates have big plans
The Chronicle's MELODY GUTIERREZ: "The lackluster portfolio of California’s lieutenant governor job makes the position easy to overlook. Even some who have held the post have complained that with almost no duties, it’s a bore."
"But two Democrats asking voters to elect them Nov. 6 say they have a plan for making the most of the opportunity."
"Eleni Kounalakis says she would bring a strong voice to the boards the lieutenant governor sits on — particularly the University of California regents and California State University trustees."
READ MORE related to gubernatorial campaign: California's John Cox: the politico who distrusts other politicos -- The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI
West Sac election gets competitive as longtime mayor Cabaldon faces challenger
Sacramento Bee's ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS: "With several major endorsements from public safety unions and political clubs and a growing campaign fund, Joe DeAnda, a lifelong West Sacramento resident and CalPERS communications manager, is now widely considered the leading challenger against 20-year incumbent mayor Christopher Cabaldon, a well-known figure in both local politics and national political circles."
"Esther Moskalets, a retired Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department employee, is also running for the position, though she said she is intentionally not receiving outside campaign donations to avoid being beholden to “political interests."
READ MORE related to Local: SF public defender has attorney take polygraph in joust with judge -- The Chronicle's EVAN SERNOFFSKY/RACHEL SWAN/GWENDOLYN WU; George Gascon is out. Here's who might jump into SF DA's race -- The Chronicle's MATIER & ROSS; SF prosecutors halt enforcement of street-camping citations -- The Chronicle's MATIER & ROSS
Rohrbacher's brushes with Russia probe complicate his reelection bid
LA Times's DAVID WILLMAN: "When President Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort pleaded guilty to assorted federal crimes in mid-September, court papers cited his lobbying of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, an Orange County Republican, as part of the illicit scheme."
"The prosecutors did not say Rohrabacher is suspected of wrongdoing. And Rohrabacher’s spokesman said the congressman has not been interviewed by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s team and “does not believe he’s under investigation."
"But Rohrabacher’s dealings with Manafort, his public defenses of Russia’s authoritarian president, Vladimir Putin, and his efforts with advocates pushing Moscow’s agenda in Washington remain a puzzle — and a potential problem — as he fights for his political survival in the Nov. 6 election."
LA immigrant who spent six months in detention describes harsh conditions at Adelanto facility
LA Times's ANDREA CASTILO: "From his cell at the Adelanto immigration detention facility on July 11, 2017, Romulo Avelica Gonzalez scrawled out a journal entry on lined notebook paper."
“Another person hanged himself,” he wrote in Spanish. “Lost asylum.”
"It was one of five suicide attempts over the course of eight months at the facility that houses nearly 2,000 detainees. Four months earlier, a Nicaraguan man had been found hanging in his cell from his bed sheets."
READ MORE related to Immigration: LA County watchdog investigating team of deputies that stopped thousands of innocent Latinos on 5 Freeway -- LA Times's BEN POSTON/JOEL RUBIN/MAYA LAU
For survivors of the Tubbs Fire, a new, unhappy normal
The Chronicle's LIZZIE JOHNSON: "Melissa Geissinger measured grief by the number of cars she could see in a driveway or a hotel parking lot."
"They were a sign of loss. More vehicles meant more heartache."
"In the weeks after the Tubbs Fire, thousands of people displaced by the North Bay fires fled to temporary housing in far-flung corners of Sonoma County. They couldn’t go home, so their cars clotted the neighborhoods of their friends or were parked all day outside the Finley Community Center in Santa Rosa — one of 43 evacuation centers that opened in the county during the fire that broke out late Oct. 8."
Amazon to open 4-star concept store in West Berkeley
Daily Californian's KATHERINE KEMP: "Amazon is opening a four-star concept store at 1785 Fourth St., selling products that have received at least four out of five star customer ratings, are new and trending or are top sellers on the Amazon website."
"Amazon opened the first four-star store in New York City on Sept. 27, and Berkeley’s Amazon four-star location will be the second store of its kind. The store, which is moving into the location where Crate and Barrel used to be, will sell products ranging from kitchenware to toys."
"The concept store is one of the ways Amazon is expanding into offline retail, with its purchase of Whole Foods and other storefronts including Amazon Go and Amazon Books. The store’s opening day is not yet known, and Amazon could not be reached for comment as of press time."
The Tenderloin and SoMa: SF's safe sites for drug dealers
The Chronicle's HEATHER KNIGHT: "There’s one,” the police sergeant said as we drove through the Tenderloin. “There’s one of them there. That guy, see him?"
"And another. And another. Sgt. Kevin Healy was showing me known drug dealers, and they were everywhere — swarming the neighborhood, chatting and smiling. They didn’t seem to have a care in the world."
"That’s because they don’t. Not in San Francisco."
NorCal red flag warning to last into Monday
Sacramento Bee's VINCENT MOLESKI: "Cal Fire issued a red flag warning for Sacramento and other Northern California counties on Saturday until Monday morning, citing high winds and low humidity as factors that could cause wildfires."
"Cal Fire asked that residents in affected areas use extreme caution when outdoors."
"The affected regions can expect north winds of 15-30 mph, with the strongest winds occurring on Sunday, and daytime humidity as low as 15 percent, according to the National Weather Service."
A CO was charged with groping. The state now refuses to provide records
Sacramento Bee's RYAN SABALOW: "Days after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that will open files in police sexual misconduct cases next year, state prison officials refused to release records that could show if a recent groping charge filed against a prison captain is indicative of a larger pattern at the facility."
"Last week, The Sacramento Bee reported that High Desert State Prison Capt. Christopher Lewis was charged Sept. 5 in Lassen Superior Court with a misdemeanor count of groping an unidentified woman."
With the midterm election looming, calls to impeach Kavanaugh pose an awkward challenge for Democrats
LA Times's LAURA KING: "Even before the judicial oath was administered and Judge Brett Kavanaugh became Justice Kavanaugh, some on the political left were sounding calls to impeach. A month before midterm elections, that makes many mainstream Democrats nervous."
"As both parties move on from the most bruising Supreme Court confirmation battle in a generation, Democrats hope to harness voter anger over the explosive proceedings and the narrow outcome, but not turn the midterm contest into a polarizing referendum on whether the party should try to remove Kavanaugh an effort that would have little likelihood of succeeding."
"Republicans and Democrats have put competing spins on how the confirmation fallout might play out at the polls. The GOP says the battle over Kavanaugh has energized its voters, who have lagged behind Democrats in previous measures of enthusiasm over the election."
Nobel Prize in economics awarded to two American researchers for their studies in climate change and innovation
AP: "Two American researchers have been awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for studying the interplay of climate change and technological innovation with economics."
"William Nordhaus of Yale University and Paul Romer of New York University were announced winners of the $1.01-million prize on Monday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences."
"The academy said Romer's work "explains how ideas are different to other goods and require specific conditions to thrive in a market." Previous macroeconomic research had emphasized technological innovation as a driver of growth but had not modeled how market conditions and economic decisions affected creation of new technologies, the academy said."
