Updating . .
Kamala Harris says DHS chief should resign over immigrant family separations -- California Sen. Kamala Harris called for Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to resign Monday, citing her “record of misleading statements” about the Trump administration’s separation of migrant children from their parents at the border and other issues. Trapper Byrne in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/18/18
L.A. lawmakers face opposition over homeless shelter plans -- In a hot and packed elementary school auditorium, Venice residents swarmed around Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, peppering him with questions. Reporters and activists strained to hear as Bonin laid out his case for setting up a temporary shelter for homeless people a few blocks away. Emily Alpert Reyes in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/18/18
Mayor's office won't talk about 'inappropriate behavior' among Garcetti staff -- Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti moved quickly to address sexual harassment at City Hall after allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein last fall sparked nationwide outrage over unwanted behavior in the workplace. Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/18/18
Democrats who once had competing ideas on net neutrality now join forces in the California Legislature -- As the fight to preserve net neutrality gears up in California, two state senators are melding their efforts to establish rules that would prevent internet service providers from manipulating or slowing access to online content. Jazmine Ulloa in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/18/18
Rich people crowded onto California’s ballot — and many finished out of the money -- In a year when there’s a wave of first-time candidates running for office nationally, one truism remains in California: Being rich may get you in the game, but it is no guarantee that you’ll win. John Wildermuth and Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/18/18
Slicing and dicing a three-way split -- It has been said, over and over again, that “The Devil is in the Details.” If Californians approve splitting themselves up into three new states this November, and the remaining political obstacles can somehow be overcome, the details will indeed become devilish. Chuck McFadden Capitol Weekly -- 6/18/18
Where do the ‘Three Californias’ converge? A clothing-optional hot springs, of course -- If California splits into three states, maybe it’s fitting that the corners would converge here: among a clothing-optional hot springs resort, a tin-roofed fruit stand and an old roadhouse saloon where ranchers drink beer and talk Trump. To meet some of the people in this particularly remote spot where Fresno, San Benito and Merced counties meet, it almost feels like three Californias in one already. Julia Prodis Sulek in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/18/18
DMV visit times can top five hours. Here are ways to avoid the worst hassles -- Visit times at the Department of Motor Vehicles are topping five hours, and unwary motorists find themselves spending entire mornings or afternoons trapped in crowded field offices. Tony Bizjak in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/18/18
Mexico’s soccer fans celebrate win in the streets of Southern California -- When Mexico’s national soccer team won its opening World Cup match against Germany on Sunday, thousands of local fans took to the streets of Southern California to show their pride and celebrate a major upset. About 1,000 revelers gathered along Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles. Several hundred more were seen waving flags and singing in Santa Ana. Angela Ratzlaff, Josh Cain, Nathaniel Percy in the Orange County Register -- 6/18/18
Trump digs in on im migration amid family separation crisis -- Facing rising outrage from some Republicans as well as Democrats over the forced separation of migrant children and parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, President Donald Trump dug in Monday, again falsely blaming Democrats and declaring he would keep the U.S. from becoming “a migrant camp.” Jill Colvin, Catherine Lucey Associated Press -- 6/18/18
Jeffe & Jeffe: “Top Two” Takes California -- Despite the grumbling of pundits and partisans, California’s top-two primary is almost certainly here to stay. The voters like it and the system fits the realities of this state’s politics. Sherry Bebitch Jeffe & Doug Jeffe Fox & Hounds -- 6/18/18
California Policy & Politics This Morning
How the California state budget helps undocumented immigrants fight deportation -- The California state budget on Gov. Jerry Brown's desk puts tens of millions of dollars into programs that could help undocumented immigrants fight federal efforts to deport them, including opening up $10 million to hire lawyers for unaccompanied minors trying to stay in the U.S. Adam Ashton in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/18/18
Will stronger rent control spread across California? -- California voters are set to vote this November on an initiative that would allow California cities and counties adopt stronger rent control laws, which limit how much landlords are allowed to raise rents each year. Angela Hart in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/18/18
Skelton: Gambling on a California split has its allure, but it's too much hassle — and a 'real threat' -- Troublemaker Tim Draper’s latest proposal to split California into three states has some appeal for Northerners. At least it does for me. That doesn’t mean it’s a smart idea. It’s impractical, a fantasy and doomed. But it does have an allure. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/18/18
Walters: The Capitol weighs another big, dicey power play -- There aren’t too many folks in and around the state Capitol who were there 22 years ago, when the building’s denizens committed one of California history’s most horrendous errors. The Legislature unanimously passed—and then-Gov. Pete Wilson signed—a misnamed, misbegotten “deregulation” of the state’s electric power system. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 6/18/18
One vote threatens Republican's case that he's independent enough to win this key California district -- Democrats know they’ll need more than President Donald Trump to defeat an incumbent like Jeff Denham. Alex Roarty McClatchyDC -- 6/18/18
Competitive Fight for U.S. House Brings Big Jump in Ad Spending -- The San Diego market, which includes a California district where 12 candidates were vying for an open Republican-held seat that’s expected to be competitive in November, had the biggest barrage of ads in the nation so far. John McCormick Bloomberg -- 6/18/18
Climate-Related Disasters Make It Harder to Buy Home Insurance in California -- Insurers can calculate how likely your home is to burn down in a wildfire, or flood in a high tide, and for some time now they've been using climate science to shape those estimates. Molly Peterson KQED -- 6/18/18
Many coastal properties may be flooded out by 2045, climate report warns -- That oceanfront property in Stinson Beach you’ve dreamed about may not be so perfect after all. A report published Monday finds that nearly 4,400 homes in Marin County might not make it beyond a 30-year mortgage because of encroaching seawater. Kurtis Alexander in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/18/18
Devastated by ALS, trying to save others -- A year and a half ago, this scientist’s future seemed boundless. He was a rising star at the University of California at San Francisco, a researcher of degenerative brain diseases. He had just begun the biggest study ever of the genetics of ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the disease made famous by Lou Gehrig and Stephen Hawking. Laurie McGinley in the Washington Post$ -- 6/18/18
Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions
Why the robot apocalypse won’t kill all gig economy jobs -- Robots won’t eat all the jobs, says Marco Zappacosta, the CEO and co-founder of Thumbtack, a marketplace for service professionals from plumbers to yoga teachers to personal trainers. While automation is expected to replace many positions, he thinks huge growth will come in the types of local trades that Thumbtack showcases — work that cannot be sent offshore or done by machines. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/18/18
Amazon won a major battle in Seattle, but a Big Tech 'head tax' could still happen for Apple and Google -- Multiple Silicon Valley cities are considering similar taxes, and Amazon's win in Seattle doesn't seem to be stopping them. The decision to repeal could set an anti-tax precedent in Silicon Valley cities that are considering similar legislation. Leanna Garfield Business Insider -- 6/18/18
California farmers, politicians won't feel full impact of Trump tariff wars until fall -- David Phippen’s almond orchards in Manteca are a few months away from harvest, the nuts still green on the trees. That gives him some breathing room before China's tariffs on almonds — California's largest agricultural export — and other crops really bite. Emily Cadei in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/18/18
Xi to Counter Trump Blow for Blow in Unwanted Trade War -- In his announcement of tariffs on Chinese goods on Friday, Trump vowed additional duties if China retaliated -- which Beijing immediately did. Bloomberg -- 6/18/18
Homeless
City's shelters falling short of goals in finding permanent housing for the homeless -- San Diego’s three large dormitory-style tents for the homeless are called “bridge shelters” because they’re supposed to transition people from the street into permanent housing. But that’s not happening, new data shows — at least not at the scale originally envisioned. John Wilkens in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/18/18
Housing
Bay Area residents are inundating Sacramento new home websites -- If you're touring a model home this weekend in Sacramento, chances are the other couple over there, the ones checking out the quartz counters and sizing up the master closet, are not locals. Emigres from the San Francisco Bay Area will comprise one-third of house hunters in the capital region this summer, real estate analysts predict. Tony Bizjak in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/18/18
Education
Building L.A.'s rail system will create thousands of jobs. Can a transportation boarding school fill them? -- Boarding school conjures a certain image: children in preppy blazers, leafy quadrangles in New England and tuition that costs more than many families earn in a year. That stereotype would not apply if officials carry out their vision for a dusty, trash-strewn lot in South Los Angeles that has sat vacant for more than two decades. Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/18/18
UC San Diego begins building largest complex in campus history -- Faced with intense pressure to grow, the university on Monday will begin building the largest complex in campus history, a $627 million neighborhood that includes housing for 2,000 students, academic towers, parking and retail space. Gary Robbins in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/18/18
Here's the latest on 5 school safety bills from California lawmakers -- Following the February massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., California legislators, like their counterparts around the nation, introduced a number of bills to address school safety. David Washburn EdSource -- 6/18/18
Immigration, Border, Deportation
Father’s Day protest outside Richmond ICE facility decries family-separation policy -- Several dozen people gathered outside an ICE detention center in Richmond with a special Father’s Day message for the federal government: Stop the inhumane and punitive policy of separating children from their parents at the border. The two-hour event drew roughly 80 to 100 people. Protesters carried signs that read, “End policies of hate,” and, “Imagine if it was you.” Erin Baldassari in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/18/18
‘I Can’t Go Without My Son,’ a Mother Pleaded as She Was Deported to Guatemala -- As a growing number of families are separated as part of the Trump administration’s attempt to control illegal immigration, some parents are being deported before recovering their children. Miriam Jordan in the New York Times$ -- 6/18/18
Leading Republicans Join Democrats in Pushing Trump to Halt Family Separations -- While Melania Trump said that “both sides” need to come together to solve the problem, Laura Bush laid responsibility at the feet of the administration. Peter Baker in the New York Times$ -- 6/18/18
Democrats intensify fight for immigrant children — and bludgeon Trump and Republicans ahead of midterms -- Democrats expanded their campaign Sunday to spotlight the Trump administration’s forced separation of migrant children from their families at the U.S. border, trying to compel a change of policy and gain political advantage five months before midterm elections. Shane Harris, David Weigel and Karoun Demirjian in the Washington Post$ -- 6/18/18
Five dead following U.S. Border Patrol car chase in Texas -- Five immigrants died and several others were injured on Sunday when their vehicle careened out of control while being chased by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Texas about 90 miles (145 km) north of the Mexican border, officials said. Jim Forsyth Reuters -- 6/18/18
Environment
He's dying of cancer. Now, he's the first patient to go to trial to argue Roundup made him sick -- Johnson, a father of two in California's Bay Area, applied Roundup weed killer 20 to 30 times per year while working as a pest manager for a county school system, his attorney said. Holly Yan CNN -- 6/18/18
Protesters reject proposed SDG&E pipeline -- SDG&E wants to partner with Southern California Gas to replace a 16-inch pipeline that runs along the Interstate 15 corridor with a 47-mile line between Rainbow and Miramar. Organizers of Sunday’s protest said one possible route would cut through the park, where about 100 people gathered to speak out against the project. Lyndsay Winkley in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/18/18
Also . . .
Actor Mary McCormack shared a video of her husband's Tesla catching fire in LA -- In a tweet directed at Tesla, actress Mary McCormack shared a video of her husband's Model S ablaze in Los Angeles. "No accident, out of the blue, in traffic on Santa Monica Blvd. Thank you to the kind couple who flagged him down and told him to pull over," she wrote. Tom Murray Business Insider -- 6/18/18
Father's Day without a hero dad: how a widow makes her late husband present to their young daughters -- Tough thoughts raced through Evie Iverson’s tender mind. Attending Palomar Fire Academy’s graduation ceremonies on May 31, the toddler reflected on the other families in the audience — and how her family looked different. “I don’t have a daddy,” Evie, 3, told her mother. Peter Rowe in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 6/18/18
POTUS 45
Giuliani: Trump may pardon targets of special counsel if he thinks they 'have been treated unfairly' -- As former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort spent a first weekend in jail pending trial on charges brought by the special counsel investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Sunday floated the possibility of presidential pardons for Manafort and others charged in the probe. David Willman in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/18/18
Beltway
Family separation policy starts dividing Republicans -- Former first lady Laura Bush called the policy “cruel” and “immoral” while GOP Sen. Susan Collins expressed concern about it and a former adviser to President Donald Trump said he thought the issue was going to hurt the president at some point. Religious groups, including some conservative ones, are protesting. Jill Colvin Associated Press -- 6/18/18