TOP POLITICAL STORIES
Local/Regional Politics:
California GOP leader (Modesto’s) Kristin Olsen resigns – and warns about infighting
The Sacramento Bee
Republican activists are claiming credit for the resignation of a key party official, but former Assembly Minority Leader Kristin Olsen says she wrestled for months over her decision last weekend to step down as vice chair of the California Republican Party.
New survey paints a moderate picture of inland California
The Business Journal
Residents of inland California’s agricultural communities mostly believe Gov. Jerry Brown is doing a good job, that race relations today are worse than in the past and that a wall between the U.S. and Mexico is a bad idea — but are divided on whether Russia meddled in last year’s presidential election.
State Politics:
Another Set Of Gun Bills Awaits Gov. Brown’s Pen
Capital Public Radio
California added many new firearms restrictions in the aftermath of the 2015 San Bernardino mass shooting, and even more currently await Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature.
California political leaders react to Las Vegas massacre
San Francisco Chronicle
California politicians and other leaders expressed condolences — and some called for a renewed examination of gun laws — Monday after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Mathews: A California-Catalonia Secession Connection?
Fox and Hounds Dail
In a year when protests against federal government has become as fashionable in California as board shorts, the protests on the last Saturday of September stood out.
LA Times
After years of spending money to influence political races around the country, billionaire Democratic philanthropist Tom Steyer is turning his attention to his home state in hopes that investing early in vulnerable Republican districts could help Democrats take back the House.
Right to Work Supreme Court Case Is Coming Next Year
National Review
The Supreme Court has announced that it will hear the case Janus v. AFSCME. It will likely prove to be one of the most consequential labor-law cases in U.S. history. At issue is whether public-sector workers can be forced to join or pay fees to a union as a condition of employment.
Trump’s tax plan is one big step from reality
Brookings Institution
While President Donald Trump’s latest tax plan moves in the right direction, the math still does not work.
See also:
· It’s time to stop reducing taxes on the wealthy Brookings Institution
Other:
Valley Resident Provides First-Hand Account Of Las Vegas Shooting Valley Public Radio
Law enforcement in Las Vegas, Nevada are putting together the pieces of what lead to the most deadly mass shooting in modern American history. But already, the impacts are being felt here in the Central Valley
See also:
· Valley residents attended Las Vegas concert The Fresno Bee
· Response at blood centers in the Valley abc30.com
· Valley residents’ stories of survival during Las Vegas mass shooting abc30.com
· Vigils scheduled in Bakersfield for victims of Vegas shooting bakersfield.com
· Bakersfield PD Officer Among Injured In Deadly Las Vegas Shooting KMJ-AF1
Gov. Jerry Brown, key lawmakers say they ‘stand with the people of Nevada’ after mass shooting LA Times
California added many new firearms restrictions in the aftermath of the 2015 San Bernardino mass shooting, and even more currently await Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature.
be the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
See also:
· Gubernatorial Candidates Chiang, Newsom Spar Over Vegas Shooting Comments capradio.org
· Another Set Of Gun Bills Awaits Gov. Brown’s Pen capradio.org
· California adopted some of the toughest gun control laws in country after multiple mass shootings LA Times
Reuters
A 64-year-old gunman fired into a country music festival from the 32nd-floor window of an adjacent hotel, killing at least 58 people and injuring more than 400 before killing himself. This shooting eclipses the death toll from June 2016, when a gunman killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
See also:
· 461 people have been killed in mass shootings in the US in 2017 mic.com
· Are Americans 25x more likely to be shot & killed than others in developed countries? PolitiFact California
· Facebook and Google pledged to stop fake news. So why did they promote Las Vegas-shooting hoaxes? LA Times
· PolitiFact’s guide to fake news websites and what they peddle PunditFact
· You don’t need a permit to buy a gun in Nevada CNN
· House lawmakers weigh lifting gun restrictions Star Advisor
· Has your U.S. Congress person received donations from the NRA? Washington Post
· Leading doctors group calls for automatic weapons ban after Las Vegas shooting TheHill
· How the NRA Rewrote the Second Amendment POLITICO Magazine
· NRA delays political ads after Las Vegas shooting TheHill
· NRA goes dark after Vegas massacre POLITICO
· Washington’s Ritualized Response to Mass Shootings The New Yorker
· Las Vegas horror unlikely to shift gun debate CNNPolitics
· White House says now not the time for gun debate POLITICO
· Trump offers the expected rhetoric of gun massacres, but little is expected to change LA Times
· Trump: ‘We’ll be talking about gun laws as time goes by’ POLITICO
· Trump Supported Obama’s Sandy Hook Massacre Response Calling for Gun Control Newsweek
· Schumer: Congress must ‘pass laws to keep our citizens safe’ after Vegas TheHill
· Pelosi calls on Ryan to form select committee to curb gun violence POLITICO
· GOP still plans to vote on NRA-backed legislation that eases gun restrictions LA Times
· White Men Have Committed More Mass Shootings than Any Other Group Newsweek
· Bill O’Reilly calls mass shootings ‘the price of freedom’ LA Times
· Did Las Vegas Shooter Stephen Paddock Use a Fully Automatic Rifle? The Weekly Standard
· Las Vegas Shooting — Very, Very Strange National Review
· Las Vegas Shooting — Gun Control Advocates Are Passionate But Misguided National Review
· Las Vegas Shooting & Gun Control: Blood on the Strip National Review
· The promise: The families of Sandy Hook and the long road to gun safety Brookings Institution
EDITORIALS
Las Vegas shooting must, finally, stir Congress to act. But will it?
Fresno Bee/ Sacramento Bee
Thoughts and prayers are well and good. But we know what actions must be taken. This time, what happened must not be forgotten.
We must find a way to end this bloody horror
Modesto Bee
First, Congress must not pass bills that allows murders to work more efficiently, quietly
Las Vegas carnage made in America
Visalia Delta-Times
In a country of 320 million people and almost as many guns, it is never too long before another mass shooting sets yet another deadly record, warping the nation’s sense of safety, breaking hearts and scarring its collective soul.
Community Voices:The national anthem, understanding and unity
Bakersfield Californian
NFL protests of the National Anthem have infuriated many Americans and pushed public debate in some interesting ways. The symbolism on both sides is telling.
Gerrymandering is almost as old as the United States, but it’s never too late to rein it in
LA Times
Drawing legislative and congressional districts to favor one party over another makes a mockery of the constitutional guarantee of “one person, one vote.” On Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court will be asked to end that inherently undemocratic practice.
AGRICULTURE/FOOD
California farmworkers will have to undergo sexual assault prevention training
Los Angeles Times
Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed legislation to ensure farm labor contractors train employees on how to prevent and report sexual assault, a response to a 2013 PBS Frontline investigation that found sexual violence against women was a pervasive problem in California fields.
California’s legalization of marijuana will light up hundreds of new government jobs
San Francisco Business Times
When recreational marijuana becomes legal in 2018, it will bring with it hundreds of new government jobs, as the state struggles to fill positions to help regulate and the nation’s largest pot economy.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE / FIRE / PUBLIC SAFETY
For a coverage of the Las Vegas massacre, please see “Top Stories – Other,” above.
Crime:
Acting Police Chief appointed in Tulare
Barry Jones, Tulare police’s longest-tenured officer, was named to lead the department after Police Chief Wes Hensley was placed on paid administrative leave late last week.
California Prisons Expand K-9 Program To Find Contraband
Capital Public Radio News
Solano State Prison in Vacaville will begin training eight dogs this week as a program to find contraband like drugs and cell phones expands.
Wearable Technologies for Law Enforcement: Multifunctional Vest System Options
RAND
This report reviews the current and projected status of wearable technologies with potential for use by law enforcement and describes three conceptual integrated vest systems that incorporate these technologies. These three systems are meant to represent what could conceivably be implemented very quickly to enhance existing capabilities, what might be done in the near term to provide additional capabilities, and what might be considered to take advantage of technologies that are still in development and could provide even greater capabilities. Wearable technologies provide an opportunity to address several problems faced by law enforcement officers in an increasingly complex and technologically challenging environment — for example, the size and weight of equipment they must carry, the proliferation of batteries for electronic devices, the need for mounting and docking systems for body-worn cameras, and the need for comfort and flexibility while wearing body armor underneath uniforms.
Public Safety:
Bullet holes found in windows of CalSTRS building
Sacramento Bee
Employees at the CalSTRS building in West Sacramento reported finding bullet holes in windows of the building on Monday, the California Highway Patrol confirmed.
Few Californians have earthquake insurance, but interest has jumped since the Mexico quakes
Los Angeles Times
The state’s population, housing stock, home prices and number of renters all have soared in the 23 years since the Los Angeles area’s last major earthquake, a magnitude 6.7 temblor centered in Northridge that left 57 dead and caused an estimated $44 billion in property damage.
ECONOMY / JOBS
Creating a culture of security: The assessment
The Business Journal
You wouldn’t want to take a road trip without first checking your oil and tire pressure, or fly in an airplane that hasn’t had its regular safety check.
EDUCATION
Jerry Brown urged to do more for sexual assault victims on school campuses
Sacramento Bee
Thirty members of California’s Congressional delegation are urging Gov. Jerry Brown to sign into law a bill that would require California schools, from K-12 to college-level, to more rigorously address sexual violence and harassment in schools.
K-12:
The message from Clovis Unified: Racially demeaning messages have no place here
Fresno Bee
Clovis Unified School District officials said on Monday that an investigation continues looking into racially demeaning social media messages that appear to have been posted by students over the weekend.
Visalia Unified allows Confederate Flag attire, bans Daisy Dukes
At the start of every school year, students are sent home with handbooks that list their school district’s policies, codes of conduct and expectations of students.
Can we talk? Schools try to wrest cell phones from students’ hands
EdSource
Three hundred and fifty 8th-graders stood around empty-handed after lunch on the courtyard at Fred Korematsu Middle School last week, forming a throw-back tableau that represented one school’s attempt to revive the art of the face-to-face conversation. No earbuds. No head phones. No music. No photos. No bent necks. No phones.
Schools face challenge bringing homeless children out of the shadows
EdSource
Homeless children are often invisible: They live in nearly every city and town in California, but are vastly undercounted in some areas and in a quarter of the state’s schools, not counted at all.
Remedial education gets big changes at California colleges
The Sacramento Bee
This fall, nearly 40 percent of incoming freshmen at California State University were placed in developmental math or English courses. In the state’s sprawling community college system, three-quarters of any given incoming group is deemed unprepared for college-level work when they arrive.
Supreme Court shuts door on challenge to UC policy on immigrant tuition
San Francisco Chronicle
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will not take up a conservative group’s challenge to UC Regents’ decisions that allow undocumented immigrants in California to pay in-state tuition fees and to receive financial aid.
Want to design theme park attractions? CalArts has a new degree for you
Los Angeles Times
With theme park visitors demanding fresh thrills and more interactive attractions, California Institute of the Arts is launching a degree program to turn out designers of next-generation rides for the nation’s $200-billion industry.
ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY
—
HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES
Tulare hospital board seeks applicants for two vacancies
The search for two Tulare Regional Medical Center board of directors will continue on Wednesday with candidate interviews for the District 5 seat.
California Governor Signs Bill to Extend Tax Checkoffs for Breast Cancer Research
Sierra Sun Times
Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, announced on Monday that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed his legislation to ensure that Californians can continue to mark boxes on their state tax returns to contribute money to cancer research.
Lapse In Federal Funding Imperils Children’s Health Coverage
NPR
Congress finally seems ready to take action on the Children’s Health Insurance Program after funding lapsed Sept. 30.
Why We Shouldn’t Wait on Washington for Better Health Care
Fox and Hounds Daily
Let’s face it, health care in California is a mess. For the average person, buying insurance and accessing care is expensive and confusing. Small business owners must choose between paying enormous amounts of money to insure their employees, or hiring from the much smaller pool of people who have some other way of accessing care. State and local governments pay even more to provide the high level of coverage public employee unions demand. And health care providers spend time they could have spent seeing patients arguing with insurance companies. Believe me, no one went to medical or nursing school for this.
IMMIGRATION
Court eases bail rules for detained immigrants
SFGate
Immigrants who are being held while seeking the right to remain in the United States, and who would pose no threat if released, are entitled to have bail set in an amount that considers how much they can afford to pay and whether they can be safely monitored without bail, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
Recent foreign-born growth counters Trump’s immigration stereotypes
Brookings Institution
President Trump’s war against immigration is premised on the view that rising numbers of immigrants, especially from Mexico, are stealing jobs from blue-collar workers. It is the basis of his plan to build a 700 to 900 mile wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, and his support for a proposed bill to halve the number of legal immigrants to the U.S. Yet, newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2016 American Community Survey (ACS) show that recent foreign-born growth does not at all fit this stereotype. Immigrant growth, thus far this decade, is occurring at a slower pace than the previous two, and is dominated by immigrants from Asia and those with college degrees. Moreover, new Asian and college-educated immigrants are especially prevalent in states that voted for Trump in the 2016 election.
LAND USE/HOUSING
2 million California homeowners live mortgage-free
The Mercury News
Two million Californians are living a dream scenario for the American Dream: They own their home free and clear of a mortgage.
PUBLIC FINANCES
CalPERS has not followed through on pledge to build downtown housing, city says
Sacramento Bee (blog)
For a decade, CalPERS and the city of Sacramento have had a signed understanding that the giant pension fund would build hundreds of housing units along downtown’s R Street corridor. All this time later, CalPERS has not lived up to its end of the bargain.
New law bans interfering with a state audit, after UC tampering
San Francisco Chronicle
Anyone who knowingly interferes with the duties of California’s independent state auditor will be fined up to $5,000 under a bill signed into law Monday by Gov. Jerry Brown.
CalPERS candidates say votes no longer secret
Calpensions
Instead of signing the envelope that contains the mail-in ballot, CalPERS is requiring voters in an election for two board seats to sign the ballot — a change prohibited by state election law protecting voter secrecy, two candidates say.
TRANSPORTATION
Road linking downtown to Chinatown will be closed for 2 years for bullet train work
Fresno Bee
Tulare Street between downtown Fresno and the city’s historic Chinatown district will be closed for about two years starting Thursday for high-speed rail construction.
When Can The Californian Cross The Road, And Other New Laws
Capital Public Radio
It will no longer be illegal to begin crossing the street in California when the orange “Don’t Walk” hand is flashing. That’s under one of 37 bills Gov. Jerry Brown signed on Monday. The measure comes with two conditions: The sign must display a numbered countdown and pedestrians must reach the other side of the street before that countdown ends.
Bicycle Advocates Converge On Sacramento For Statewide Conference
Capital Public Radio News
Hundreds of bicycle advocates from throughout California are converging on Sacramento this week for a statewide conference. Organizers say the push this year is for greater bicycle access in low-income neighborhoods.
Here’s Sacramento’s unconventional plan to stop bicyclists and cars from clashing
Sacramento Bee
The city of Sacramento this week will try out an unconventional way to make downtown streets safer for cyclists. It’s called “parking-protected bike lanes,” and basically it separates two transportation styles that frankly often don’t play well together.
WATER
Ripon seeks way to secure funds for SSJID hook up
Manteca Bulletin
The water supply for Ripon is entirely groundwater. As a way of supplementing that, the City has explored the possibility of connecting to the South San Joaquin Irrigation District’s water supply project.
Lathrop may make water conservation rules permanent
Manteca Bulletin
The City of Lathrop was diligent in taking steps to meet the State of California’s mandated water reductions when the state’s most recent drought hit its peak last year.
Future of Huge California Water Project May Hang on the Next Few Weeks
KQED
California’s biggest water project in decades appears to be in limbo after a key irrigation district voted not to help underwrite Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to build two giant tunnels that would re-engineer water transport in the state.
California is obligated to fix delta water delivery system
San Francisco Chronicle
The Bay Area imports most of its water and relies on the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and its tributaries for about 70 percent of its supply. Those supplies face an uncertain future as a changing climate shrinks the Sierra snowpack and raises sea levels, and a declining ecosystem results in further restrictions — all while the Bay Area’s population and economy continue to grow.
California Today: Handicapping the Rainy Season
New York Times
It was a year of plenty for parched California. State figures released at the end of the water year, which resets each Oct. 1, tell the story.
U.S. Cities Struggle To Meet Tighter Flood Standards : NPR
NPR
The recent string of Hurricanes — Harvey, Irma and Maria — has sparked calls for more flood protection. In fact, after Hurricane Katrina twelve years ago, federal officials did tighten standards, but it turns out many flood-prone communities are still struggling to meet them.
“Xtra”
Nobel Prize in physics: Caltech researchers’ discovery ‘shook the world’
The Mercury News
Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne have won the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics.