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California Policy & Politics This Morning  

Top GOP funding group snubs incumbents Rohrabacher and Walters 3 weeks before midterm election -- In a worrisome sign for two endangered Orange County lawmakers, a major Republican Party funding group has passed over the pair in its opening round of broadcast television advertising across Southern California. Michael Finnegan and Mark Z. Barabak in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/13/18

In light of Kavanaugh, Feinstein vows to speak out against sexual assault -- “So what I have decided to do – and I’ve never done this before – is talk a little bit about it, and say to people, ‘we must change,’” she said during a small luncheon at the Elbow Room in Fresno. “We cannot educate our kids to go to college, play around and attack girls sexually. We just cannot do that.” MacKenzie Mays in the Fresno Bee -- 10/13/18

Gov. Jerry Brown asks state Supreme Court to review pardon application by former Sen. Rod Wright -- An attorney for Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday asked the state Supreme Court to recommend whether former state Sen. Rod Wright should be pardoned for his felony convictions in 2014 on charges of voter fraud and perjury for lying about living in his district. Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times Melody Gutierrez in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/13/18

California governors haven't focused on homelessness 'for decades,' Gavin Newsom says -- Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t mention Gov. Jerry Brown by name on Friday after he toured a facility for homeless veterans in San Diego. But the Democratic gubernatorial candidate had some not-so-subtle criticism of the governor. Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/13/18

After recent errors, California DMV promises new quality control of voter registration process -- The California Department of Motor Vehicles has decided to implement new quality control on its voter registration process following Monday’s revelation of as many as 1,500 non-citizens being wrongly registered to vote. John Myers in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/13/18

Warnings on risks of intensive teen camps led to dismissal, ex-employees say -- Former employees of a Bay Area nonprofit that runs intensive retreats for teenagers to encourage empathy say they repeatedly warned their bosses that some of the camps’ methods were dangerously misguided and risked a potential lawsuit. Karen de Sá and Gwendolyn Wu in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/13/18

Why Proposition 8 Is One Of The Most Contentious, And Confusing, Ballot Measures In Play -- Roughly 140,000 Californians spend the equivalent of a part-time job — 12 to 20 hours a week — in a dialysis clinic, where a machine functioning as a kidney filters waste out of their blood. It’s a tricky procedure — and right now it’s at the center of a heated political battle between labor unions and dialysis companies. Sammy Caiola Capital Public Radio -- 10/13/18

Mega Millions: No winner crowned in Friday’s drawing -- The Mega Millions jackpot is expected to swell to $654 million after no one picked the winning numbers for Friday’s drawing. The life-changing sum is just $2 million short of the largest prize in Mega Millions history. Jason Green in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/13/18

Former Rancho Cucamonga conservative helps others leave state -- Paul Chabot was done running. So he moved. Fresh off his second straight loss as a Republican candidate for an Inland congressional seat, Chabot and his family relocated after the 2016 election from Rancho Cucamonga to McKinney, Texas. Jeff Horseman in the San Bernardino Sun$ -- 10/13/18

Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions  

Lime’s move to squeeze San Francisco scooter rivals pulped by court -- A San Francisco judge on Friday turned down a request by startup Lime to block the city’s e-scooter pilot program, which is scheduled to start Monday with 1,250 scooters from two rival companies, Scoot and Skip. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/13/18

41 striking workers, supporters arrested outside Marriott Marquis in San Francisco -- San Francisco police said they arrested 41 adults Friday for blocking streets and refusing to cooperate with police outside the Marriott Marquis during a union worker rally. Lauren Hernandez in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/13/18

Former Trump advisor Gary Cohn signs on with L.A.-area blockchain start-up -- Spring Labs, a Los Angeles start-up that wants to overhaul the consumer credit industry using blockchain technology, has added Gary Cohn, a former top Goldman Sachs executive and economic aide to President Trump, to its board of advisors. David Pierson in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/13/18

San Francisco proposes relief for desperate taxi drivers. They say it’s too little, too late -- The woes of taxi operators who face mounting pressure from ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft have prompted San Francisco transportation officials to assemble a package of reforms that will come up for a vote next week and represent a bid to reverse, or at least slow, the industry’s free fall. Holly Honderich in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/13/18

Sacramento’s Major League Soccer bid dealt another huge blow -- Sacramento’s bid to land a Major League Soccer expansion franchise was handed a serious setback Friday, when MLS announced it was making progress with an ownership group that would keep the Columbus Crew in Ohio while also remaining committed to launching a franchise in Austin, Texas. Ryan Lillis in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/13/18

Problem Priests Were Moved Around, Including to the Bay Area -- At least three Catholic priests who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors are residing in the Bay Area and Northern California, an investigation by KQED has found. Polly Stryker KQED -- 10/13/18

Lake Forest breaks out the champagne ahead of becoming debt-free -- Anyone with student loans, a mortgage, credit card debt, daydreams of making that final payment and being debt-free. For the city of Lake Forest, the dream is about to come true. Alicia Robinson in the Orange County Register -- 10/13/18

Airport skyway could provide connection to downtown San Diego, study says -- An unconventional mode of urban transit is being floated in front of city leaders and regional agencies as a solution to connect airport travelers to San Diego’s downtown area. Jennifer Van Grove in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 10/13/18

Taxes, Fees, Rates, Tolls, Bonds 

Why are SDG&E's rates higher than other California utilities? -- For more than a few San Diego Gas & Electric customers, a summer of discontent has just wrapped up. Rob Nikolewski in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 10/13/18

Homeless  

Downtown Sacramento benches disappeared overnight. Darrell Steinberg says put them back -- Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg on Friday said he wants benches that were removed from the K Street corridor this week to be reinstalled following outcry from residents who interpreted the move as a way to drive homeless people away from the area. Cynthia Hubert in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/13/18

Transit  

Hundreds of Beverly Hills students demand Trump move or defund Metro's Westside subway -- The bitter, years-long battle between Beverly Hills and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority over the route of the Westside subway has found a fresh new face. Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/13/18

Wildfire  

'A Little Broken' - First Responders Grapple With Unseen Scars of the 2017 Fire Siege -- hortly after Lucas Boek joined his local fire department, he saw a veteran firefighter walk into firehouse and drop all his gear. “’That’s it, I’m done,’” Boek remembers the man saying. “’I can’t do this anymore.’ And he left.” Over the years, the incident stuck with him. Sukey Lewis KQED -- 10/13/18

One Year After Firestorm, Some Scars, Some Hope -- A family of Filipino immigrant caregivers rescued four elderly patients from a tiny assisted living home in Santa Rosa, only to find themselves both homeless and jobless after last year’s firestorm. Sasha Khokha has the story of how one elderly resident’s relatives jumped in to help the Robles family rebuild their lives. Sasha Khokha KQED -- 10/13/18

Immigration, Border, Deportation 

Parents Deported Without Their Kids Face Untenable Choice -- A federal judge in San Diego gave provisional approval this week to a settlement agreement that gives hundreds of migrant parents and children separated at the U.S.-Mexico border another chance to apply for asylum — but some immigrant advocates say the agreement unfairly excludes hundreds of already-deported families. Julie Small KQED -- 10/13/18

Education 

Los Angeles teachers are a step closer to a potential strike after mediation with district ends -- The union representing Los Angeles teachers moved one step closer to a possible strike Friday after ending mediation sessions with the L.A. Unified School District. Union officials accused the district of “failing to offer any substantial proposals to reinvest in our schools.” Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/13/18

How are charter schools influencing LAUSD labor negotiations? -- If teachers go on strike this school year, it would be the first amid a backdrop of a growing charter school movement that has not only drawn students from the Los Angeles Unified School District, but has also taken teachers with them. Sarah Favot in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 10/13/18

Also . . . 

Judge: Do not shred documents used in secret report that says prison officials misled court, lawyers -- A federal judge in Sacramento ordered the state corrections department Friday not to destroy any documents used by the state’s chief prison psychologist to produce a secret report in which he alleged prison officials were misleading the court, and lawyers for inmates, over how much psychiatric treatment they are receiving. Sam Stanton in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/13/18

POTUS 45  

Trump praises Robert E. Lee during Ohio rally -- While his praise of Lee, who was not from Ohio, came in his build-up of Grant, who was, Civil War history has been fraught territory for Trump and key members of his administration, particularly in a time when many of the monuments of Lee and other Southern generals are being targeted for removal. Brent D. Griffiths Politico -- 10/13/18

Beltway 

Congress Heads Toward Postelection Fight Over Border Wall -- Congress is heading toward a postelection showdown over President Donald Trump's wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. GOP leaders have signaled they're willing to engage in hardball tactics that could spark a partial government shutdown while the president revs up rally crowds for the wall, which was a 2016 campaign centerpiece. Lisa Mascaro and Matthew Daly Associated Press -- 10/13/18

'We’ve never seen anything like this': GOP overwhelmed by Democratic cash -- A deluge of Democratic spending in the final days of the battle for the House has triggered recriminations among Republicans and forced the party to lean on its biggest patron to salvage their majority. Alex Isenstadt Politico -- 10/13/18

 

-- Friday Updates 

Suit accusing government of violating some immigrants’ abortion rights tossed out -- A federal magistrate in San Francisco has dismissed an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit accusing the government of violating the rights of young, undocumented immigrants to abortion and contraceptive care by placing them in shelters run by Catholic organizations. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/12/18

Prop. 5 offers tax breaks for older home buyers but could shortchange schools and cities -- After Robert Holland’s knee surgery a few years ago, he’s had a harder time climbing the stairs in his trilevel home in the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles. Liam Dillon in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/12/18

Orange County transit workers warn of service and job cuts if Californians vote to repeal gas tax hike -- An initiative to repeal an increase in California’s fuel taxes and vehicle fees may force a reduction of bus service in Orange County and elimination of some transit jobs, officials and union leaders said Friday. Patrick McGreevy in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/12/18

Major projects at risk if voters kill California gas tax hike, officials say -- More than 400 transit infrastructure projects would be jeopardized if California’s gas tax hike gets killed in November, with plans shelved, construction frozen in place and millions of taxpayer dollars vaporized, according to officials with state and local transportation agencies. Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/12/18

Tech execs go head to head on Twitter over ballot measure to help homeless -- Two San Francisco tech moguls got into a heated exchange of tweets Friday over a city ballot measure aimed at ending homelessness. Melia Russell in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/12/18

New Technology, Housekeeping Among Concerns in Hotel Strikes -- Robots delivering room service, check-in kiosks with facial recognition technology and "smart" speakers that serve as an in-room concierge. The hotel of the not-so-distant future sounds like something out of a sci-fi novel, but it's drawing real world anxiety for some of the thousands of Marriott hotel workers on strike across the U.S. this month. Philip Marcelo Associated Press -- 10/12/18

California Lung Cancer Death Rate Less Than National Average -- California has a 28 percent lower lung cancer death rate than the rest of the country thanks to statewide policies against tobacco, a study concluded. As far back as the 1980s the state highlighted the link between smoking and cancer and introduced the nation's first tobacco control program. Associated Press -- 10/12/18

CA120: An ‘OMG’ blue wave in California politics -- California is at the epicenter of what could be a Democratic wave, and that’s amazing. In this election cycle, we are seeing something really astounding, yet many are treating it as if it was normal. Paul Mitchell Capitol Weekly -- 10/12/18