Justice Department sues to block California laws requiring ICE officers to show their faces, badges
Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "New California laws prohibiting federal as well as local officers from wearing masks and requiring them to display their name or badge number were challenged in court Monday by the Trump administration, which said the state has no power to regulate U.S. law enforcement officers.
“The Federal Government, not California, has authority to control its own agents and activities,” lawyers for President Donald Trump’s Justice Department wrote in a suit filed in federal court in Los Angeles. They said the two laws “would recklessly endanger the lives of federal agents and compromise the operational effectiveness of federal law enforcement activities.”
CalPERS isn’t divesting from fossil fuels, but climate activists keep pushing
SacBee, WILLIAM MELHADO: : "Year after year, various groups have petitioned the state’s largest pension system to divest its billions of dollars from fossil fuel companies as the consequences of climate change continue to impact California.
While the California Public Employees’ Retirement System agrees with the activists that climate change presents financial risks to the fund, it doesn’t support divestment. CalPERS maintains that divestment increases investment risk, loses money and endangers the fund’s fiduciary duty to provide benefits for California retirees."
After three decades, O.J. Simpson’s estate agrees to pay millions to Goldman family
LA Times, RICHARD WINTON and HANNAH FRY: "Ron Goldman’s family has been fighting for justice for three decades, ever since the man they believed responsible for his murder was found not guilty. They’ve waged court fights, done painstaking forensic accounting and even some detective work to try to get O.J. Simpson to pay.
But all efforts ended in frustration, as the football legend, who was also found not guilty of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, spent his days on the golf course, served time in prison and wrote a book featuring a hypothetical description of the slayings as if he were the assailant."
Trump Bows to Reality in Epstein Reversal, Beating a Rare Retreat
New York Times, ANNIE KARNIE and TYLER PAGER: "President Trump denounced calls for the release of the Epstein files as a Democratic hoax. He dispatched aides to warn Republicans that backing it would be seen as a “hostile act.” He placed personal calls to those who dared to do so, and even dispatched his attorney general and F.B.I. director to meet with one in the White House Situation Room in efforts to get her to flip.
In the end, none of it worked. And on Sunday night, Mr. Trump did something he has rarely been forced to do: He caved in the face of pressure from his party and called on House Republicans to go ahead and back a bill that would order his Justice Department to release all of its investigative files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein."
How baby boomers got so rich, and why their kids are unlikely to catch up
Washington Post, SHANNON NAJMABADI and FEDERICA COCCO: "Baby boomers hold more than $85 trillion in assets, making them the richest generation by far. New research explores the extraordinary rise in their good fortunes — one that experts say successive generations will be hard-pressed to replicate.
The reasons come down to timing and time: Americans 75 and older bought homes and invested in stocks well before such assets exploded in value, according to Edward Wolff, an economics professor at New York University. In a working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, he examined the four decades between 1983 and 2022 when those older boomers saw their wealth climb and their younger peers recorded relative declines."
Newsom touts climate leadership while blocking data center impacts bill
SacBee, CHAEWON CHUNG: "At the United Nations climate summit in Brazil, Gov. Gavin Newsom emphasized California’s role as the world’s fourth-largest economy and touted the state’s leadership in artificial intelligence, saying the state “dominates” in AI while stressing that he is “deeply mindful” of the energy and water implications of technological innovation and entrepreneurial growth.
But his record tells a more complicated story when it comes to addressing the environmental impacts of AI expansion."
After Gen Z march in Mexico, government and critics spar as Trump cites ‘big problems’ south of border
LA Times, PATRICK J. McDONNELL and KATE LINTHICUM: "A weekend protest march convened to highlight the concerns of Mexico’s Generation Z has instead dramatized deep political divisions extending well beyond the needs of young Mexicans.
The mostly peaceful demonstration in downtown Mexico City on Saturday culminated in several hours of clashes when small groups of protesters battled with phalanxes of riot police deployed to protect the National Palace in Mexico City’s central square, or zócalo."
Pack Fire near Mammoth Lakes leaves dozens of families homeless
Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "As firefighters gain the upper hand on the Pack Fire that tore through communities near the Mammoth Lakes, residents in California’s Eastern Sierra are beginning the long process of recovery — with neighbors, local businesses and strangers rallying to help those who lost everything.
The wildfire, which ignited Nov. 13 near McGee Creek, burned nearly 2,000 acres before crews brought it to 69% containment, according to Cal Fire.
Eric Swalwell’s campaign for California governor looks inevitable
POLITICO, BLAKE JONES: "Eric Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign appears imminent — and not just because a fundraising page for his campaign was posted on the Democratic platform ActBlue before being taken down Sunday.
Allies have for weeks been circulating polling emphasizing his opening to run as a more moderate alternative to Katie Porter. The Bay Area representative has been making overtures to California labor and other interest groups regarding a run, a key step toward overcoming skepticism in Sacramento fueled by his poor presidential primary performance in 2019 and lack of roots in the state capital. And he spent election night not in Washington or his district, but at a local party event in Los Angeles.
Another attempt to clean up what may be California’s most visible homeless camp
LA Times, JAMES RAINEY: "There are probably more prominent homeless encampments in California, but the collection of tents, lean-tos and makeshift shacks along the edge of the Pasadena Freeway, perched precariously above the Arroyo Seco, tend to get your attention.
Nearly 100 people have made their home inches from where 100,000 vehicles a day go screaming by. On the other side of the encampment: A massive cement channel, carrying nasty urban runoff."
(Podcast) Jim Wunderman: From Bay Area Council to California Forever
Capitol Weekly: "Our guest today is Jim Wunderman, who has been at or near the center of Bay Area Politics for four decades, starting with his time working in the office of then-San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein. Feinstein taught Wunderman to think of the larger San Francisco region as one interconnected entity, an approach that ultimately made him a perfect fit as the head of the Bay Area Council. Wunderman served as the CEO of BAC for just over 21 years.
Last month he announced that he will be leaving the organization to head up public affairs for California Forever, the ambitious project to create en entirely new European-style city on what is now cow pasture just outside of Rio Vista."
One California city’s idea to tackle the housing crisis: Take the stairs
CalMatters, BEN CHRISTOPHER: "In late September, Culver City became the first municipality in California to legalize the construction of mid-rise apartment buildings with a single staircase.
Unless you’re a member of the niche but fervent subculture of architects, urbanists and pro-housing advocates who clamor for “single stair reform,” this might not sound like big news. But supporters say it could be the key to unleashing the kind of urban apartment building boom that years of pro-development legislation in Sacramento has tried, and so far failed, to deliver."
OPINION: Dana Williamson’s indictment reveals a hidden world of political operatives
CalMatters, DAN WALTERS: "Most Californians probably see the Capitol as a place where governors, legislators and other state officials gather to do the public’s business. That’s true, at least superficially.
Elected officeholders come and go, but the Capitol has a permanent substructure of men and women who do the real, if often hidden, business of retail politics. Those in the “community,” as some dub it, constantly circulate among its three pillars — staff on the public payroll, lobbyists for interest groups, and managers of political campaigns."
Students oppose UC tuition hikes. Leaders say campuses need money in the Trump era
LA Times, JAWEED KALEEM: "UC regents vote this week on tuition increases amid state budget cuts and federal uncertainty, facing strong student opposition. Student leaders from all nine UC undergraduate campuses plan to rally against the hikes, arguing the increases make education more inaccessible.
The highly anticipated vote on Wednesday has generated intense opposition from students. Student government leaders from all nine undergraduate campuses plan to protest outside the regents’ meeting at UCLA to oppose the hikes and intend to make a long-shot plea for no increases."
Chance of more showers in L.A., with a new storm set to hit Thursday
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II and CLARA HARTER: "Showers could linger in Los Angeles on Tuesday following four straight days of rain — and even more rain is likely on Thursday and Friday.
There’s a 20% to 30% of showers and thunderstorms Tuesday across much of Los Angeles County, the National Weather Service said, although it’s expected to be mostly sunny. The thunderstorms will remain a slight risk because of a cold front that ushered in unstable air Monday."
