Updating . .
Before becoming LAPD chief, Moore retired, collected a $1.27-million payout, then was rehired -- Before Michel Moore was promoted to become the Los Angeles Police Department’s new chief in June, he took a brief, highly unusual retirement. Jack Dolan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/11/18
All-out aerial assault helps firefighters save homes in Holy fire as containment grows -- Tera Swick watched in horror as monster flames raced down a mountain Friday morning and toward her mother’s neighborhood. Ruben Vives in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/11/18
California fires: Videos show how far biggest fires have spread each day -- The summer of 2018 in California has been dominated by news about wildfires. More than 15 major fires have blackened hundreds of thousands of acres around the state, and fire season, which typically runs through October, is only half over. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/11/18
Power-grid expansion bill returns to Senate amid questions over cost, governance -- One section of a bill to expand the California power grid to multiple states calls for owners of the transmission network to receive “just and reasonable compensation” for their past investments in poles and wires if and when operational control of the system changes. Jeff McDonald in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 8/11/18
'Undetectable' plastic 3-D printed guns have been detected by TSA airport screeners -- While lawmakers feud over the release of blueprints for 3-D-printed plastic guns, the Transportation Security Administration wants fliers to know that airport security screeners have been able to spot the so-called untraceable and undetectable weapons in carry-on bags. Hugo Martin in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/11/18
San Francisco’s record budget focuses on saving lives, cleaning streets, improving Muni -- When San Francisco Mayor London Breed signed the city’s $11 billion budget this month, she set the largest spending plan in the city’s history into motion. Dominic Fracassa in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/11/18
Former student sentenced for posting online threat against San Diego high school -- A former Torrey Pines High School student whose online threats in May prompted school officials to cancel classes for a day was sentenced Friday in San Diego Superior Court to a residential treatment facility and placed on probation for five years. Pauline Repard in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/11/18
California Policy & Politics This Morning
Holy fire containment rises to 10% as firefighters battle heat and steep terrain near Lake Elsinore -- Firefighters gained a toehold Friday evening against the Holy fire burning in the Cleveland National Forest near Lake Elsinore, doubling the fire’s containment to 10%, officials said. Ruben Vives and Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times$ Beatriz E. Valenzuela in the Orange County Register -- 8/11/18
Nelson Fire prompts evacuations in Fairfield, Vacaville, and inmate relocations -- A grass fire swept through the hills of Fairfield and Vacaville on Friday evening, destroying at least one home and prompting hundreds of residents, including inmates from a correctional facility, to flee. Lauren Hernandez in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Cassie Dickman in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/11/18
Yosemite Valley set to reopen after closure due to Ferguson Fire -- Firefighters on Friday were working to keep the fire out of Yosemite Valley by securing an area between El Portal Road and Wawona Road, which was expected to take two to three days. Carmen George in the Modesto Bee -- 8/11/18
California jury awards $289 million to man who claimed Monsanto's Roundup pesticide gave him cancer -- A San Francisco jury on Friday found Monsanto liable for a school groundskeeper’s lymphoma that he said developed after years of applying the company’s trademarked Roundup weed killer. Geoffrey Mohan in the Los Angeles Times$ Bob Egelko and Peter Fimrite in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/11/18
San Diego federal judge pleased with government progress to reunite deported parents with children -- A San Diego federal judge on Friday called the new plan to locate and reunite hundreds of deported parents with their separated children “impressive” and gave U.S. officials the green light to move ahead full bore over the weekend. Kristina Davis in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/11/18
Judge Rejects Plea Deals in Deadly Oakland Warehouse Fire -- In an unusual move, a California judge on Friday rejected the plea deals of two men who were charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter after a 2016 California warehouse fire. Paul Elias and Michael BalsamoAssociated Press Kimberly Veklerov in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/11/18
Students, unions demand UC divest from ICE-related companies -- In reaction to President Trump’s policy of separating families at the border, students and labor leaders at the University of California are urging UC President Janet Napolitano to sever contracts with dozens of companies doing business with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/11/18
John Cox checking out lines at the California DMV — for votes -- Down in the polls and trailing Democrat Gavin Newsom in fundraising, Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox may have latched onto an populist issue that unites a lot of Californians: long lines at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Cox popped into a DMV office Thursday near his San Diego home and handed out bottles of cold water to people waiting in line, including some who had been there since 5:30 a.m., before the doors opened. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/11/18
L.A. has OKd $1 billion in tax incentives to developers since 2005. That assistance needs more scrutiny, controller says -- Los Angeles officials have signed off on about $1 billion in taxpayer assistance for hotels and other development since 2005, yet they lack a rigorous process for finding out whether the money was well spent, City Controller Ron Galperin said Friday. David Zahniser in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/11/18
California has enough water to fight fires. The problem is overgrown forests, McClintock says -- McClintock, whose district stretches from Lake Tahoe to Kings Canyon National Park, spoke to The Sacramento Bee after meeting with officials battling the Donnell Fire in Stanislaus National Forest on Thursday. “It’s the same old story. I asked them what the tree density was in the forests where the fire is,” McClintock said. “It’s about 300 trees per acre.” Emily Cadei in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/11/18
Sacramento welfare investigators track drivers to find fraud. Privacy group raises red flags -- Police in recent years have tapped into a vast database of license plate images to track drivers and solve crimes. Few people know, however, that Sacramento County welfare fraud investigators have been using that same data since 2016. Kellen Browning in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/11/18
Smoke from wildfires is bad enough, but there’s another air pollutant to worry about -- People in the central San Joaquin Valley have been breathing smoke from the Ferguson Fire for nearly a month, but there’s more than a brown shroud of smoke that is making the air putrid and dangerous to breathe. Ozone, a corrosive gas that sears lungs, is building up to unhealthy and very unhealthy levels. Barbara Anderson in the Fresno Bee -- 8/11/18
Beltway
The Manafort scramble: Raising millions for himself even as he ran Trump’s campaign -- Paul Manafort, a valued customer of the Trump Organization who had spent $3.7 million to buy Apartment 43G in Trump Tower, appeared to be just what Donald Trump wanted in March 2016: A consummate Washington insider, deeply experienced in the byzantine art of wrangling convention delegates, yet also someone who could claim to be an outsider, a successful entrepreneur with overseas clients. Rosalind S. Helderman, Rachel Weiner and Marc Fisher in the Washington Post$ -- 8/11/18
Takeaways from prosecutors' case against Paul Manafort -- After roughly two dozen witnesses and nine days of testimony, federal prosecutors are expected to finish presenting their case against Paul Manafort on Monday. Then lawyers for President Trump’s former campaign chairman will present his defense. Chris Megerian and Eliza Fawcett in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/11/18
-- Friday Updates
Waging a desperate fight to save homes as Holy fire explodes to more than 18,000 acres -- Firefighters on Friday continued to battle an 18,000-acre wildfire in the Cleveland National Forest after it spread into Riverside County overnight and forced thousands to evacuate. Ruben Vives and Alene Tchekmedyian in the Los Angeles Times$ Beatriz E. Valenzuela in the Orange County Register -- 8/11/18
Mendocino Complex Fire 60 percent contained as crews focus on national forest -- Firefighters made further progress against the Mendocino Complex Fire overnight, reaching 60 percent containment of the record-setting blaze, Cal Fire said Friday morning. Julia Sclafani in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/11/18
California wildfires: Red-flag warnings, a mounting death toll and an arson arrest -- The fight against the deadly wildfires scorching California headed into a critical phase Friday with heat, low humidity and gusty winds expected to reemerge during the weekend, officials said. Sarah Ravani in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/11/18
This L.A. sheriff's deputy was a pariah in federal court. But his secrets were safe with the state -- For years, James Peterson’s secrets were safe in the courtrooms of Los Angeles. The L.A. County sheriff’s deputy, who trawled a stretch of the 5 Freeway for drug traffickers, often testified in the state court system about his arrests. No one knew to ask about his troubled past. Then one of Peterson’s cases landed in federal court. Joel Rubin in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/11/18
Fed-up locals are setting electric scooters on fire, smearing them with poop and burying them at sea -- They've been crammed into toilets, tossed off balconies and set on fire. They’ve even been adorned with dangling bags of dog droppings. As cities from Santa Monica to Beverly Hills struggle to control a rapid proliferation of electric pay-per-mile scooters, some residents are taking matters into their own hands and waging a guerrilla war against the devices. Laura Newberry in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/11/18
Amid backlash, Coastal Commission asks state to 'explore all potential options' to open Hollister Ranch to the public -- Facing mounting criticism for allowing Hollister Ranch landowners to keep 8.5 miles of Santa Barbara coastline largely closed to the beachgoing public, state officials indicated Thursday some regret about the controversial deal they quietly agreed to earlier this year. Rosanna Xia in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/11/18
Facebook blocks sharing of 3D-printed gun files and sites -- Facebook is blocking the sharing of blueprints for making 3D-printed guns, saying it is against its community standards — and amid a temporary nationwide restraining order against an organization that seeks to share the code. Levi Sumagaysay in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/11/18