State Auditor Elaine Howle is retiring. She found problems at EDD, UC
Sacramento Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "State Auditor Elaine Howle, whose scathing audits of the embattled Employment Development Department boosted efforts this year to reform the agency, will retire at the end of the year, her office said Monday.
Howle, 63, the state auditor for more than 21 years, has been the state’s independent voice, leading examinations of state agencies and winning both sharp anger and lavish praise from the Assembly and Senate members.
A certified public accountant and a certified government financial manager, she became a strong voice over the past 18 months with her detailed looks at EDD as it struggled to deal with an overwhelming number of unemployment claims during the COVID-triggered economic crisis."
READ MORE WORKFORCE NEWS --- With almost 140K backlogged claims, EDD is grilled by California lawmakers on unemployment benefits fiascoes -- The Chronicle, CAROLYN SAID
After historic downpour, here's what to expect as storm continues through California
Sacramento Bee, MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "Now what?
The “bomb cyclone” hit hard Sunday, giving Sacramento its wettest day in recorded history and dumping several inches of rain throughout the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills.
Residents and emergency authorities across Northern California are taking inventory Monday morning, after rain inundated roadways and produced debris flows and mudslides, and gusty winds felled trees and knocked out power for many."
READ MORE WATER/DROUGHT-RELATED NEWS --- This incredibly detailed map shows where it rained hardest in the Bay Area this weekend -- The Chronicle, YOOHYUN JUNG; Sacramento city utilities crews respond to over 3,000 calls for help in historic rainstorm -- Sacramento Bee, ROSALIO AHUMADA; Was NorCal bomb cyclone a '100-year storm'? The answer's a bit complicated -- Sacramento Bee, MILA JASPER
Newsom moves to international stage to tout California's climate efforts in Scotland
Sacramento Bee, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom will travel to Glasgow, Scotland, next month for the United Nations climate conference, his first major conference abroad since becoming governor in 2019.
World leaders will meet at the conference, which runs Oct. 31 through Nov. 12, to discuss progress on achieving their climate goals and set more ambitious targets to lower global emissions. Newsom will attend the conference from Nov. 1-3, his office said.
Newsom will attend the conference alongside his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and several members of his administration, including Environmental Protection Secretary Jared Blumenfeld and Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot. More than a dozen Democrats in the Legislature also plan to attend, according to Newsom’s office."
Recall of SF DA Chesa Boudin likely to head to voters, with many more signatures submitted than needed
The Chronicle, TRISHA THADANI: "A recall effort against San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin very likely will reach voters as early as June, after campaign organizers submitted approximately 83,000 signatures Friday to qualify for the ballot — roughly 32,000 more than required.
Campaign organizers beat the Oct. 25 submission deadline, and city officials now have 30 days to validate the signatures.
If the the signatures are certified, an election will be held next year, and voters would be asked a simple yes or no on whether to keep Boudin in office. If he’s ousted, Mayor London Breed would choose a replacement. It’s unclear if she will take a position on the recall."
For the first Latino senator from California, citizenship for undocumented immigrants is personal
MARIA SACHETTI, Washington Post: "In the neighborhood where Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) grew up, undocumented immigrants have long occupied the aging bungalows and faded campers that jam up against roaring freeways.
“Ilegales,” his father, Santos Padilla, now 80 and a naturalized U.S. citizen, said with a sweep of his hand following Mass one recent Sunday when asked how he and his late wife arrived in the United States. “Like everyone.”
Alex Padilla became the first Latino senator from California in January when Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) appointed him to fill the seat left open by Vice President Harris, and he took over the immigration subcommittee. But he and others have twice failed to convince the Senate parliamentarian that citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States should be included in a budget bill that Democrats hope to pass this year as part of a massive spending package."
Biden picks Stanford human rights advocate for international justice post
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Beth Van Schaack, a Stanford law professor and longtime human rights advocate, has been nominated by President Biden to become the State Department’s top official on international criminal justice and war crimes, potentially enabling her to reverse Trump administration policies she has strongly criticized.
Van Schaack, who teaches courses in international law and formerly directed Stanford’s Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic, was nominated last week as the department’s ambassador at large for the Office of Global Criminal Justice, where she served as deputy director under President Barack Obama.
She is also a former executive director of the Center for Justice and Accountability, a San Francisco nonprofit that represents torture victims, and previously worked in the office of an international war crimes prosecutor."
California prison agency faces whistleblower retaliation lawsuit, filed by its own attorney
Sacramento Bee, ANDREW SHEELER: "The attorney for a California state agency that provides work opportunities for incarcerated people is suing his employer, as well as the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, alleging that they retaliated against him when he came forward with complaints about the now-former general manager.
Jeff Sly, the general counsel for the California Prison Industry Authority, or CalPIA, alleges in his complaint that then-General Manager Scott Walker harassed him and attempted to coerce him into retirement.
CalPIA and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation declined to comment for this story, with the corrections department citing their policy of not commenting on ongoing litigation."
READ MORE PRISON/PUBLIC SAFETY NEWS --- Judge grants teen's restraining order against Richmond police chief and husband who say she is being sex trafficked -- The Chronicle, MATTHIAS GAFNI
SF could be first to mandate paid sick leave for house cleaners, nannies
The Chronicle, CAROLYN SAID: "Mirna Arana was pregnant and didn’t feel well.
But if she didn’t clean houses, she wouldn’t get paid. So she went to work. She kept cleaning even as cramps racked her body. Then she began to bleed and eventually miscarried.
House cleaners, nannies and others who work in private homes rarely get paid sick leave, sometimes forcing them to choose between their health and their paycheck."
COVID-19 changes outdoorsman's view: Getting vaccine is about respecting people you love
Sacramento Bee, CATHIE ANDERSON: "Outdoorsman Patrick Kittle had a come-to-Jesus moment as he lay in the intensive care unit at Sutter Medical Center in midtown Sacramento, his body felled by an onslaught of COVID-19, and his mind frequently returned to what his family was going through.
The greatest regret that the 55-year-old father of two had, he said Monday in a virtual news conference, was how stubborn he’d been in not heeding his primary care doctor’s advice in early August to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Looking back, I needed to have more respect for my family and the people around me — you know, protecting them and all the things in my life that are near and dear to me,” he said. “I wish I would have taken that insurance policy of vaccination. ... Going forward, I hope I hold on to those lessons.”
READ MORE COVID NEWS --- Three California teens developed severe psychiatric symptoms after COVID. Here's what scientists say about the cases -- The Chronicle. NANETTE ASIMOV
Don't like your kid's school? Initiative would give California parents power to sue for change
Sacramento Bee, LARA KORTE: "Californians next year could vote on a proposed initiative that promises something almost everyone wants: A “high-quality” public education for every student.
But the initiative, backed by longtime education reform advocates, could set up legal battles with the state’s teachers unions and school districts. It would give parents more power to challenge policies they regard as problematic for the kids’ schooling.
Currently, the state’s constitution requires California to fund public education, but says nothing about the quality of that education."
The real terror this Halloween weekend could be Bay Area traffic/transit congestion
The Chronicle, RICARDO CANO: "Tens of thousands of people will flock to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on Halloween weekend for the huge Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival. The gathering, which was canceled last year because of the pandemic, will probably bring back gridlocked traffic to the city’s west side and give Bay Area public transit one of its biggest tests as it emerges from the pandemic.
Even in pre-pandemic times, major events like Outside Lands and the throngs they attract strained the city’s streets to their limits. The proliferation of ride-hail vehicles and street closures paralyzed traffic in the park’s adjacent neighborhoods as overfilled Muni buses and Muni Metro trains attempted to shoulder the load.
The region’s Halloween festivities could be another boon for the region’s public-transit recovery the same way it was during Fleet Week, if riders lean toward taking buses and trains instead of driving on roads that have already returned to 2019 congestion levels on weekends. But while festivities like costume parties and trick-or-treating mark another sign of the Bay Area’s pandemic recovery, they’re also happening at a time when the region’s public transit has yet to see a full recovery of its pre-pandemic weekend and night service."
Shrugging off controversies, FB profits jump higher
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI: "Facebook’s core advertising business keeps booming, showing few signs of strain despite the company’s countless controversies over misinformation, extremist content and revelations of its harm on teens, countries around the world and voters in documents disclosed by whistle-blower Frances Haugen.
The Menlo Park tech giant’s net income grew 17% to $9.19 billion in the third quarter, compared with a year earlier. The company has 2.91 billion monthly active users, up 6% over the past year, on its core social network excluding Instagram and WhatsApp. Revenue was $29 billion, up 25% from the previous year but below Wall Street analyst expectations. Growth was slower after Apple began asking users in April if they wanted to be tracked by apps, making it harder for advertisers.
Its share price was up more than 1.25% during after-market trading Monday, for a market capitalization of $926.7 billion."
State Democrats defer action on banning fossil fuel contributions
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "The California Democratic Party deferred deciding Sunday on a proposal from racial justice and environmental activists to reject future campaign contributions from law enforcement organizations and fossil fuel companies.
Instead, the party’s executive committee voted to create a new committee to examine all of its campaign contributors and report back for another vote in February. The new panel will consider those bans as well as suggest ways to back fill the potential loss of millions of dollars in contributions from banned industries and individuals. The party will not accept contributions from law enforcement or fossil fuel companies until next year’s vote.
The original proposal was pitched as a way for the state Democratic Party — the nation’s largest — to align its rhetoric on racial justice and the environment with its financing sources."
