California has moved its primary election date around before, and the latest attempt awaits action on the governor's desk.
Capitol Weekly's PAUL MITCHELL: "With just-passed legislation from Sen. Ricardo Lara sitting on Gov. Brown’s desk, the 2020 California Primary looks to be headed to the front of the line."
"Well, not the very front – the first four spots in the nominating calendar would be reserved for Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina."
"But with a March 3 date, California would move as far forward it can without facing punitive measures. The state would join a Super Tuesday that includes a number of southern states, including Texas and Virginia."
Marijuana industry groups to LA: Don't shut out existing suppliers
Daily News' ELIZABETH CHOU: "A Los Angeles City Council committee on Monday signed off on draft rules for licensing marijuana businesses, but many industry groups are still far from satisfied with the latest regulation language, which they warned could lead to a shutdown of the local pot industry."
"Council President Herb Wesson admitted during a Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations committee hearing that there was still “a flaw” in the proposed regulations, and that there was still some work to do."
"But he said he wanted the city attorney to begin working on the legal language for the rules, since the majority of it is ready. Meanwhile, he plans to figure out the final pieces of the legislation in the coming weeks, he said."
FBI: Violent crime up in California and US for 2nd straight year
The Chronicle's EVAN SERNOFFSKY: "Violent crime climbed in California and around the country in 2016, the second straight year of increases that have been driven by spikes in big cities like Chicago and have reversed longer-term trends toward safer cities and towns, the FBI reported Monday."
"The per capita rate of homicides, robberies, assaults and rapes went up 4.1 percent nationally last year when compared with 2015. Killings alone were up 5.3 percent and reached a level last seen in 2008."
"But the recent jumps, while prompting concern and a search for causes, do not reflect a picture of spiraling lawlessness suggested by some observers, criminologists said. President Trump earlier this year falsely claimed the U.S. murder rate had surged to its highest level in nearly 50 years."
READ MORE related to Public Safety: This upscale Sacramento infill development was hit by a weekend rash of car break-ins -- Sacramento Bee's TONY BIZJAK; A surprising change in Sacramento's crime rate that bucks the national trend -- Sacramento Bee's RYAN LILLIS
SF ethics panel blocks political trading ban
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "An ordinance to end the timeworn practice of donating to a public official’s pet cause in exchange for a political favor stalled at the San Francisco Ethics Commission Monday, failing to get the four votes needed to move ahead."
"Commissioners Daina Chiu and Yvonne Lee voted against the anticorruption and accountability ordinance, which had vigorous support from Commissioners Peter Keane, Paul Renne and Quentin Kopp. It will now go back to the commission’s staff for revision."
"The proposal would ban city officials from asking wealthy donors to contribute to a charitable cause when that donor has a contract up for approval or a land-use decision pending before the city."
He died before he could testify about his slain son, but jurors still heard his voice Monday
Sacramento Bee's DARRELL SMITH: "The jurors silently listened to the voice of Ted Rose describe how he pleaded with a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy for answers to why his son lay dead."
"Rose died Sept. 19, one day before he was to testify at a federal civil trial in Sacramento in the fatal shooting of his 24-year-old son, Johnathan, a paranoid schizophrenic. His son was killed in Jan. 17, 2012, at the hands of the deputy the Rose family had called for help."
"Jurors on Monday heard excerpts of a videotaped deposition Rose gave before attorneys in the case in 2013. His widow, Karen, also took the stand Monday."
Lawsuit: Coffee sold in California should carry cancer warning labels
AP: "A future cup of coffee in California could give you jitters before you even take a sip."
"A nonprofit group wants coffee manufacturers, distributors and retailers to post ominous warnings about a cancer-causing chemical stewing in every brew and has been presenting evidence in a Los Angeles courtroom to make its case."
"The long-running lawsuit that resumed Monday claims Starbucks and about 90 other companies, including grocery stores and retail shops, failed to follow a state law requiring warning signs about hazardous chemicals found everywhere from household products to workplaces to the environment."
LA Daily news photographer Hans Gutknecht spent a year photographing the homeless. Here's what it meant to him.
Daily News: "Over the past year, Los Angeles Daily News photographer Hans Gutknecht has photographed more than 50 people struggling with homelessness and poverty across L.A. County."
"Using a simple white board and a black marker, he asked them to write a personal message or answer this question: “If you could say something about yourself to anybody, what would it be?”
"Driven by a need to show the humanity of the tens of thousands of people who sleep on L.A. County streets, Hans spent any extra time he had chipping away on his project. One day, it was a trip to Venice. Another, Santa Clarita. Then there was Hollywood, Downtown L.A. And so on, whenever he could."
A pastor leaves ICE custody, but finds a new flock among fearful immigrant inmates
Daily News' BRENDA GAZZAR: "Inside the walls of the Adelanto Detention Facility, Pastor Noé Carias found himself preaching to dozens of detainees who could be deported back to their home countries."
"Carias, 42, of North Hollywood, who leads an evangelical congregation near Echo Park, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement two months ago during a routine appointment with immigration authorities. He said he was released Thursday night wearing an ankle bracelet to monitor his whereabouts and is scheduled to resume routine check-ins with ICE on Thursday."
"I gave (the detainees) Biblical advice, (telling them) don’t dismay, raising their spirits that they continue onward because they came to me crying. ‘Pastor, they’re going to deport me, I’m not going to be able to see my family again. I’m not going to see my children,'” Carias said Monday during an interview in North Hollywood. “I started to pray for them that God helps them, protects them, that God aids them and that they feel strengthened."
Collins' opposition essentially kills GOP health care drive
AP's ALAN FRAM: "The last-gasp Republican drive to tear down President Barack Obama's health care law essentially died Monday as Maine Sen. Susan Collins joined a small but decisive cluster of GOP senators in opposing the push."
"The Maine moderate said in a statement that the legislation would make "devastating" cuts in the Medicaid program for poor and disabled people, drive up premiums for millions and weaken protections Obama's law gives people with pre-existing medical conditions. She said the legislation is "deeply flawed," despite several changes its sponsors have made in an effort to round up support."
"The collapse of the legislation marks a replay of the embarrassing loss President Donald Trump and party leaders suffered in July, when the Senate rejected three attempts to pass legislation erasing the 2010 statute. The GOP has made promises to scrap the law a high-profile vow for years, and its failure to deliver despite controlling the White House and Congress has infuriated conservatives whose votes Republican candidates need."
READ MORE related to Healthcare: Will California House Republicans get another chance to vote against Obamacare? -- Sacramento Bee's ANGELA HART; COLUMN: Republicans should gladly pay for my preexisting condition -- LA Times' DAVID LAZARUS
Fast-moving wildfire burns 2,000 acres, damaging one home as hundreds evacuated
LA Times' ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN/JAMES QUEALLY: "Cora Angeles parked her car near a gas station at the foot of her Corona hillside neighborhood. With her granddaughter by her side, she said a prayer."
"Put out the fire, Lord,” the 66-year-old said, through tears. “Please help us."
"Just an hour earlier, she was watching Monday afternoon as flames lit up a mountain ridge in the distance. The flames looked far away from her home. But soon after, the winds shifted and they crept closer."
Feds rush aid to Puerto Rico amid growing pleas for help
AP: "The U.S. ramped up its response Monday to the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico while the Trump administration sought to blunt criticism that its response to Hurricane Maria has fallen short of it efforts in Texas and Florida after the recent hurricanes there."
"Five days after the Category 4 storm slammed into Puerto Rico, many of the more than 3.4 million U.S. citizens in the territory were still without adequate food, water and fuel. Flights off the island were infrequent, communications were spotty and roads were clogged with debris. Officials said electrical power may not be fully restored for more than a month."
"In Washington, officials said no armada of U.S. Navy ships was headed to the island because supplies could be carried in more efficiently by plane. The Trump administration ruled out temporarily setting aside federal restrictions on foreign ships’ transportation of cargo, saying it wasn’t needed. The government had waived those rules in Florida and Texas until last week."
Equifax CEO Richard Smith steps down after massive internet breach
LA Times' JIM PUZZANGHERA: "Equifax announced Tuesday that its chief executive would retire effective immediately following a massive data breach."
"Richard Smith, who also served as chairman of the Equifax board, is the latest casualty at the credit-reporting company as a result of the breach, which exposed the Social Security numbers and birth dates of as many as 143 million people."
Back into the Trump vortex America goes, where the president fuels a divisive debate
LA Times' CATHLEEN DECKER: "America once again finds itself where it has been so often since the day Donald Trumpdescended an escalator to a podium at the tower named for him to announce his presidential candidacy: pulled into the vortex of partisanship as a master publicist plays notes of division and dispute."
"President Trump’s continued stoking of debate over football players kneeling during the national anthem— and the way the subject has dominated public discussion — raised anew the question that surrounds many Trump controversies: Is this part of a plan? Does he believe he gains political advantage from playing off national divisions on topics as fraught as race relations and patriotism? Or does the resulting chaos deliver personal satisfaction to a president who often appears bored with the more humdrum aspects of his post?"
"Eight months into Trump’s presidency, there’s no answer. But regardless of his motivation, Trump’s impact on the national psyche has been profound."
READ MORE related to POTUS45/Beltway: Trump and former aide loom large in Alabama Senate race -- AP
'Tremendous' Newhall Ranch deal paves way for $13 billion project after years of battles
Daily News' SUSAN ABRAM: "After decades of battles, a $25 million settlement has been reached between developers and environmental groups that will allow the massive Newhall Ranch development in the Santa Clarita Valley development to move forward without any further legal entanglements, it was announced Monday."
"The deal means the $13 billion, 21,500-home Newhall Ranch project, which will be built north of the Santa Clara River and west of Interstate 5 Freeway near Magic Mountain, moves closer to construction. It would be considered the largest subdivision of its kind in the nation."
"Orange County-based FivePoint Holdings reached the deal with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, the Wishtoyo Foundation, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the California Native Plant Society. The settlement includes protection of the endangered unarmored three- spined stickleback, a scaleless, freshwater fish."
Sacramento's economic growth was twice the national average last year. Here's why
Sacramento Bee's HUDSON SANGREE/MARK GLOVER: "The Sacramento region’s rebounding housing market, which had collapsed during last decade’s downturn, helped drive economic growth last year to more than double the national average, economists said Monday."
"The Sacramento region had a bunch of catching up to do because it got so hard hit by the recession,” said Stephen Levy, head of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, based in Palo Alto."
"The center issued its take Monday on the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis’ figures for gross domestic product by metropolitan area in 2016. California and a number of its urban areas were among the big winners in the federal numbers released last week."
