CalPERS president loses board seat to policeman
From Calpensions' ED MENDEL: "The new CalPERS president, Priya Mathur, lost her board seat this week, defeated by a Corona police sergeant, Jason Perez, who wants to shift the $360 billion investment fund toward higher yields that secure pensions with less focus on social issues."
"Mathur, a Bay Area Rapid Transit District analyst serving on the board since 2002, rose to the leadership post in January. The first female CalPERS president was chosen by board members to replace Rob Feckner, president and public face of CalPERS for a dozen years."
"The CalPERS president, one of 13 members of a powerful board that sets annual rates that must be paid by government employers, has the power to appoint board committee members and approve board member travel requests."
READ MORE about the CalPERS election: Shakeup at CalPERS board: Cop unseats pension fund’s president -- SacBee's ADAM ASHTON; CalPERS board president is ousted in election, losing to Corona police officer -- JOHN MYERS, LATimes.
Internet provider groups sue over California net neutrality rules
Reuters' DAVID SHEPARDSON reports: "Four industry groups representing major internet providers and cable companies filed suit on Wednesday seeking to block California’s new law to mandate net neutrality rules, which they say are complex, burdensome and harmful to innovation."
"The groups represent companies including AT&T Inc, Verizon Communications Inc, Comcast Corp and Charter Communications Inc. The lawsuit came after the U.S. Justice Department on Sunday filed its own lawsuit to block the new law."
"The lawsuit was filed by the American Cable Association; CTIA - The Wireless Association; NCTA - The Internet & Television Association; and USTelecom - The Broadband Association. It called California’s law a “classic example of unconstitutional state regulation” and urged the court to block it before it is set to take effect Jan. 1."
A disrupter from day one: How Kevin de León became the Democrat trying to topple Dianne Feinstein
From CALmatters' LAUREL ROSENHALL: One morning at the end of August, with the capstone of his political career in the balance, state Sen. Kevin de León retreated to his Capitol office and turned on the TV. On the screen, colleagues who had known the Los Angeles Democrat for years debated his landmark bill to eliminate fossil fuels from California’s electrical system. The bill was big, attracting national attention. But it wasn’t going to pass, at least not on this vote, and no smart politician sets himself up for a public loss."
"So here he was, hunkered down in his half-emptied workspace, when talk of the bill’s merits morphed into a debate about de León himself."
“Tumbleweeds,” Assemblyman Adam Gray of Merced had just fumed, resurrecting a gaffe de León made in 2014 when he used that word to describe the Central Valley and inadvertently insulted the entire region."
READ MORE about Democrats: California Democrats ‘well-positioned’ in most swing House districts, poll shows -- SacBee's ANDREW SHEELER; Biden Pushes Democratic House to 'Take This President On' -- AP's MICHAEL BLOOD; Former VP Biden stumps for CA House candidates in Fullerton: ‘This is the most important election you’ve ever voted in -- OC Register's JORDAN GRAHAM
‘We’ve got a mess on our hands’: Millions of Californians still need Real IDs from DMV
From the Bee's BRYAN ANDERSON: "Amid withering criticism from the Legislature and the driving public, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has spent the last couple months aggressively working to reduce lengthy wait times at field offices."
"But lawmakers learned Thursday that the embattled agency could soon face more trouble: A dramatic increase in customers coming in for federally-mandated Real ID cards — identification required by Oct. 1, 2020 for people wishing to board planes without passports."
"Thus far, the DMV has largely blamed Real ID for the uptick in wait times. Since the program’s implementation in January, it has issued 1.5 million Real ID cards. But the agency expects more than 15 times that many — an estimated 23.5 million — have yet to be issued, as millions of Californians have not come in for the new card."
Want A Median-Price Home In Sacramento? You’ll Need To Make Nearly $100,000 A Year
Capital Public Radio's STEVE MILNE: "You'd need an annual income of nearly $100,000 or more to buy a median-price home in the Sacramento area."
"Third-quarter information out Thursday from ATTOM Data Solutions shows that home prices between July and September were at their least affordable since the end of 2007, with a median priced home in Sacramento County at just more than $350,000."
"So we're going back more than 10 years now, almost 11 years, [a] low in affordability for Sacramento County when we look at that index," said ATTOM's Daren Blomquist."
Booming San Francisco takes unprecedented step to target earthquake-vulnerable high-rise towers
The LAT's RONG-GONG LIN II reports: "For all the tech wealth that has flown into this city in recent years, it’s also an unnerving time for city builders."
"First, a centerpiece of San Francisco’s new downtown, the 58-story Millennium Tower, started sinking and tilting. Then last week, the city’s new $2.26-billion transbay bus station was abruptly shut after cracks were found in two steel beams. Both events have fueled anxiety about how San Francisco’s growing skyline would hold up in the kind of major quake that destroyed much of the city in 1906."
"So on Thursday, the city opened up a new front on California’s seismic safety, releasing an unprecedented list of more than 150 of its tallest buildings, including many constructed before modern seismic codes."
Column: Duncan Hunter's 'Red Scare'
From the U-T's MICHAEL SMOLENS: "Two candidates are running to represent the 50th Congressional District. Only one would likely qualify for a federal security clearance today."
"That would be Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democrat who previously obtained such a clearance to work in the Obama administration, first helping select letters for the president to read and then as a public information official in the Department of Labor."
"Incumbent Republican Duncan Hunter probably would be denied a security clearance because he and his wife were indicted in August on numerous charges alleging personal use of $250,000 in campaign contributions."
They’re back! Scarecrows are lining the streets of Cambria and other North Coast towns
From KATHE TANNER in the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune: "It’s that time of year again on the North Coast, as special soft sculptures are lining the downtown streets in Cambria, San Simeon and Harmony."
"It’s the 2018 Scarecrow Festival, which includes “well over 400 scarecrows this year,” according to Dennis Frahmann, a fest spokesman and former president of the festival board."
"It’s the 10th such display on the North Coast. In 2009, the fledgling fest included 30 soft sculptures in Cambria, and yes, a lot of them looked like scarecrows."
