Firefighter overtime surged 65% in a decade, costing California $5B a year in wages
LA Times's MATT STILES: "Faced with an unprecedented string of wildfires across California, overtime costs for firefighters have surged by 65% in the last decade, pushing annual wages to nearly $5 billion, according to a Times analysis of state payroll records."
"The overtime spending is further evidence of a statewide toll: Wildfires have destroyed thousands of homes, killed scores of residents and disrupted power supplies across large swaths of the state — and, increasingly, they are chewing through government budgets."
"With overtime, firefighters are among the best-paid workers in California government, in some cases earning sums that rival their commanders. In the city and county fire departments in Los Angeles, for example, the number of firefighters earning more than $100,000 in overtime alone has surged from 41 in 2011 to 1,085 last year."
California’s presidential primary is wide open — but not because Kamala Harris dropped out
From the LAT's GEORGE SKELTON: "he winner of the Democratic presidential primary in California will likely be decided in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Maybe throw in Nevada as a California decider too."
"That’s how human nature behaves, and therefore so does American politics."
"Those other states will vote first, starting with pampered pipsqueaks Iowa and New Hampshire. They always get all the fun choosing presidential front-runners."
New California law redefines who gets employment benefits. The lawsuits are just starting
Sacramento Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "A new law that dictates which California workers must receive full employment benefits takes effect Jan. 1, but the latest battle over Assembly Bill 5 is playing out in courts and could take years to resolve."
"On one side are groups seeking to roll back the law, such as truck drivers who are already suing to block it, arguing it will interfere with their ability to earn a living as independent contractors."
"On the other side are labor advocates like bill author Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who wrote the law to provide more financial security for gig economy workers and others. The law empowers California’s attorney general and city attorneys in the state’s four biggest cities to force companies to follow it."
California pot dispensary fights IRS tax case as costs mount for industry
The Chronicle's MALLORY MOENCH: "Cannabis may be legal in California, but in the eyes of the federal government, a business selling it is just “a giant drug trafficker."
"At least that’s what U.S. Tax Court Judge Mark Holmes of Washington, D.C., said in the case of Oakland’s Harborside, one of the country’s oldest and largest dispensaries, as the company tries to figure out how much it should pay in taxes."
"Nearly two years after legalization in California, cannabis businesses still face costly hurdles because of federal law that criminalizes marijuana possession, use and cultivation. Companies can’t deduct all their business expenses on tax returns, and some can’t use mainstream banks, resorting instead to credit unions or even armored trucks full of cash. Industry reports project the state’s legal cannabis market will grow 19% annually over the next five years. But as state taxes rise and federal barriers remain, experts say higher prices for legal pot could drive buyers back to the black market."
Nunes' Democratic opponent launches digital ads after raising $450K during impeachment
Sacramento Bee's KATE IRBY: "A Fresno Democrat challenging Rep. Devin Nunes is launching a five-figure advertising campaign Monday that is expected to highlight a set of phone calls between Nunes and allies of President Donald Trump who are at the center of his impeachment inquiry."
"The digital advertising campaign is the first significant paid media attack from a Democrat against Nunes in his district this election cycle."
"It comes from Phil Arballo, whose national following and campaign war chest swelled last month as Nunes defended Trump at high profile impeaching hearings."
Elizabeth Warren was paid at least $1.9M for past corporate legal work
AP: "Elizabeth Warren was paid nearly $2 million for legal work stretching back three decades, her campaign disclosed Sunday night, amid calls from a top Democratic presidential rival that the Massachusetts senator should be more forthcoming about what she earned from past corporate clients."
"In May, Warren released a list of close to 60 cases she worked on as an attorney going back to the 1980s. Fifteen pages of new data now show what she was paid in nearly 40 of those — about $1.9 million."
"The list includes “all the income she earned from each case that we have been able to determine from public records, Elizabeth’s personal records and other sources,” Warren spokeswoman Kristen Orthman said."
Harris' campaign exposed her California weakness. Trump can help her
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "The good news for Sen. Kamala Harris, now that she has to return to the Senate full time after spending 11 months running for president, is that she will soon have a job that plays to her strength: judging President Trump in his likely impeachment trial."
"The more troubling news for Harris is that her campaign exposed her vulnerabilities back home."
"Just 43% of likely California voters surveyed in September thought Harris was doing a good job in the Senate. And even though she often introduced herself as a “proud daughter of California” on the campaign trail, her California siblings didn’t think much of her as a presidential candidate. She was running a distant fifth in a poll taken last month, even in the Bay Area, where voters knew the former San Francisco district attorney best."
California pension fund financing its $281M riverfront tower with green bonds
Sacramento Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "California’s teacher pension fund wants to pay for a $300 million office tower on the Sacramento River with green bonds, a type of investment used to finance projects that meet environmental sustainability standards."
"CalSTRS is issuing $281 million worth of the bonds to finance the expansion of its West Sacramento headquarters, according to bond documents."
"The $246 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System is adding a 10-story tower next to its 17-story headquarters on Fourth Street. The fund’s board approved spending up to $300 million on the project in November 2018 to accommodate future growth in its workforce."
With new grant program, Bay Area spreads electric cars to low-income drivers
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "Standing beside his new car, a 2016 Ford C-Max hybrid with an eggshell-white exterior, Ignacio Hernandez beams."
"Charge the electric battery and it glides for 200 miles, swooshing along the Interstate 880 and Interstate 580 freeways from Hernandez’s home in East Oakland to his job managing a Burger King in Dublin. It purrs so quietly that Hernandez barely hears the motor, and in the long run, it will save him money: His old car, a sputtering, 1996 Toyota Camry, cost thousands of dollars a year for gas and repairs."
"But purchasing a hybrid was unthinkable until Hernandez got a $9,500 grant from Bay Area Air Quality Management District, through a program that aims to make clean-air vehicles accessible to low-income Californians."
Dental patients face years of debt, inflated bills with 'out-of-pocket' credit cards
Sacramento Bee's MANUELA TOBIAS: "Kenda Williams, 51, went to West Coast Dental in Torrance to treat the shooting pain in her molar. She spent the day in a drug-induced haze."
"Williams later found out she had signed up for two credit cards that day to cover her dentist’s $9,055 bill. Unemployed and on Medi-Cal, the Los Angeles resident had no idea why her bill was so high, or why she had been approved for so much credit."
"I thought I was just getting a root canal,” Williams said. “They were giving me a bridge. I already had a denture that was brand new. They’re claiming I asked for a bridge and I did not. They knew I could not afford it because I was unemployed. All I went in for was a root canal."
Treasure Island keeps losing power. How will SF fix it?
The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS: "The power went out days after Barklee Sanders moved to San Francisco’s Treasure Island last year. Then it happened again. And again and again and again."
"Food in Sanders’ fridge has repeatedly spoiled because of the outages. His toilet often backs up. And the situation worsened this year: Treasure Island homes and businesses have lost electricity at least 12 times so far, more than double the number of outages in 2018 and higher than each year since 2012, according to local officials."
"We all think, as residents, that it’s pretty ridiculous that we can’t have steady power in the middle of the Bay Area,” Sanders said."
Santa Rosa wants developers to build downtown housing. They're not so sure
The Chronicle's JOHN KING: "In a region where housing advocates proclaim the virtues of adding apartments and condominiums to the cores of established cities, Santa Rosa shows how difficult such a transformation can be."
"No Bay Area city has been more aggressive at cutting developer fees and speeding up the review process. City officials recently took potential builders on a bus tour of potential sites. This month, the City Council and Planning Commission gave their initial OK to a plan that would allow as many as 7,000 new units downtown."
"Despite all this, the only housing under construction near historic Courthouse Square is a modest building with 17 apartments. Developers are intrigued but wary. Blueprints for approved projects are gathering dust."
Restaurant group is hot over Berkeley's natural gas ban. It's suing the city
Sacramento Bee's DARRELL SMITH/THEODORA YU: "It’s a classic California story and restaurants in one East Bay city are caught in the middle."
"Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas in new construction to reduce the city’s carbon emissions goes into effect in January, placing it at the vanguard of a small but growing movement by cities and counties pushing toward an all-electric future. It goes in line with the state’s ambitious goal of obtaining all of its electricity from clean energy sources by 2045, under legislation signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown last year, to fight against global warming."
"But a Sacramento-based restaurant trade group is challenging the ban in San Francisco federal court in a California case of global issues colliding with businesses’ bottom line."
More than 2 feet of Sierra snow and plenty of rain hit NorCal this weekend
Sacramento Bee's VINCENT MOLESKI: "After scattered storms this weekend, Northern California has seen significant amounts of rain and snow, with more than two feet of precipitation at higher elevations."
"Over the weekend, the National Weather Service reported localized roadway flooding amid downpours, while snowfall over the Sierra Nevada forced chain controls and roiled traffic in the region."
"Between Friday morning and Sunday morning, downtown Sacramento received 1.08 inches of rain, while parts of Sacramento County were briefly placed under a flood advisory Saturday by the weather service."
Judiciary Committee hearing sets stage for Trump impeachment charges
AP: "Pushing ahead with articles of impeachment, the House Judiciary Committee convenes Monday to formally receive the investigative findings against President Trump as the White House and its allies launch an aggressive attack on Democrats and the proceedings."
"Chairman Jerrold Nadler expects the committee to vote soon, possibly this week, on at least two or more charges against the Republican president. Democrats say Trump’s push to have Ukraine investigate rival Joe Biden while at the same time withholding U.S. military aid ran counter to U.S. policy and benefited Russia. It could result in impeachment charges of abuse of power, bribery and obstruction."
"The central allegation is that the president put himself above his country several times, that he sought foreign interference in our elections several times, both for 2016 and 2020, that he sought to cover it up,” Nadler said."
Saudi gunman tweeted against US before naval base shooting
AP: "The Saudi gunman who killed three people at the Pensacola, Fla., naval base had apparently gone on Twitter shortly before the shooting to blast U.S. support of Israel and accuse America of being anti-Muslim, a U.S. official said Sunday as the FBI confirmed it is operating on the assumption the attack was an act of terrorism."
"Investigators are also trying to establish whether the killer, 2nd Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani, 21, of the Royal Saudi Air Force, acted alone or was part of a larger plot."
"Alshamrani, who was killed by a sheriff’s deputy during the rampage at a classroom building Friday, was undergoing flight training at Pensacola, where members of foreign militaries routinely receive instruction."
