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Woman killed as Santa Ana winds topple trees, cause power outages across the state -- A woman was killed Monday when strong Santa Ana winds caused part of a large eucalyptus tree to break off and fall onto her car at an apartment complex in Tustin. The death is the first reported casualty in Southern California caused by the powerful winds that whipped into the region Monday morning. Hannah Fry and Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/18

PG&E power shutdown: No coffee, no gas. But Calistoga takes shutdown in stride -- Zak Hoage would normally be at work by now at a diner in downtown Calistoga, but “normally” wasn’t a word you could use around town Monday. There was no power downtown. None at all. Zilch. Lizzie Johnson and Michael Cabanatuan in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/15/18

John Cox wants teachers ‘paid like rock stars and baseball players.’ Why they back his opponent -- Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox has offered up variations of the line throughout his campaign — during interviews, on a debate stage, in a tweet. He said it reflects his appreciation for the “heart, soul and love” his mother poured into teaching in the Chicago public school system. But it often comes with an addendum — “based on merit” — that, if Cox is elected, puts him on a collision course with the teachers unions that dominate education policymaking in Sacramento. Alexei Koseff in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/15/18

60,000 without power as PG&E shuts down lines over wildfire fears -- Tens of thousands of people in 12 counties braced for power failures in the Bay Area and Sierra foothills Sunday night after Pacific Gas and Electric Co. preemptively shut down electricity in anticipation of gusty winds, bone-dry weather and dangerous fire conditions across Northern California. Joaquin Palomino and Peter Fimrite in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/15/18

One year after California's most devastating wildfire, Santa Rosa is a patchwork of loss and renewal -- It was just one year ago when Tricia Woods lost her home in a single, impossible instant. Laura Newberry in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/18

California’s family doctors say Trump’s proposed immigration rule threatens public health -- California’s family physicians are warning federal officials that a proposed change in immigration rules will put public health at risk because it weakens “herd” immunity, especially in the Golden State where one in every two children has a foreign-born parent. Cathie Anderson in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/15/18

When will the flu hit the Bay Area hard? -- The misery of full-on flu season is almost here. Though the avalanche of sniffles and fever hasn’t hit yet, health officials say it’s on its way. Karen D'Souza in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/15/18

L.A. voters will decide whether to eliminate a barrier to a public bank -- Los Angeles voters will decide next month whether to nudge along the budding movement to create a public bank owned by the city. The choice is a seemingly modest one: whether to alter the City Charter to allow L.A. to create a “purely commercial” enterprise. Emily Alpert Reyes and James Rufus Koren in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/18

Robocall relief: New $100 million system may help frustrated consumers -- Finally, the big phone companies plan to do something major for us little people, rolling out a $100 million system that could eventually reduce the flood of unwanted robocalls to a trickle. Tracey Kaplan in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/15/18

 

California Policy & Politics This Morning  

State braces for first extreme winds of the fall season as power companies begin preventive outages -- A Northern California utility began shutting off power to tens of thousands of customers Sunday night and Southern California residents could face similar outages as powerful winds brought wildfire fears to the state after a year that saw record-high temperatures and scant rainfall. Victoria Kim, Rong-Gong Lin Ii and Alene Tchekmedyian in the Los Angeles Times Daniel Hunt in the Sacramento Bee Joaquin Palomino and Peter Fimrite in the San Francisco Chronicle George Kelly in the San Jose Mercury J.D. Morris in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat-- 10/15/18

Fremont Street to reopen Monday after Transbay Transit Center fixes -- San Francisco commuters will get a beginning-of-the-work-week gift Monday when the portion of Fremont Street that passes under the damaged Transbay Transit Center will open to traffic, Transbay officials said Sunday. Peter Fimrite in the San Francisco Chronicle George Kelly in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/15/18

Walters: Brown’s legacy will include a DMV debacle -- During his nearly 16 years as governor, Jerry Brown has displayed many attributes – some positive, some negative and some self-contradictory. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 10/15/18

Skelton: Water bond Proposition 3 has something for everyone — and that's the problem -- Call it -- 10/15/18a Christmas tree or a candy shop, Proposition 3 has a nice gift for almost everyone, especially eastern San Joaquin Valley farmers. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/18

Giffords campaigns for Levin on gun violence issue -- With just over three weeks left before the midterms, former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords stopped by San Diego on Sunday morning to help Mike Levin campaign in the 49th Congressional District. Kate Morrissey in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 10/15/18

Schnur: Time to hit the pause button on high-speed rail, some California leaders say -- Jerry Brown did not invent the idea of a high-speed rail system to connect Northern and Southern California. It was voted on by the state Legislature and ratified by voters years before he returned to the governor’s office in 2011. Dan Schnur in the Sacramento Bee -- 10/15/18

Smolens: Will this election ride on whose voters are the angriest of them all? -- The original “angry mob” in these parts parked itself on Thibodo Road in Vista once a week for more than a year. The Tuesday protests outside Rep. Darrell Issa’s district office began in late 2016 and ended in April of this year, some three months after the longtime Republican incumbent decided to bow out of his re-election race. Michael Smolens in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 10/15/18

Digital predators, teen victims: One girl shares her ordeal to warn others -- “We were just 13 and 15 years old.” With those words, a teenager we will call Jane Doe starts to write her Victim Impact Statement about how a young man she met on the Internet stole “the most precious years of a girl’s life.” David Whiting in the Orange County Register -- 10/15/18

Walls and Bridges: Zip Codes and Health -- The impact of that number can also reach far beyond geographic location; it can reveal inequality and the likelihood of upward mobility in different locations. Medical professionals have begun to consider zip code as an indicator of health, well-being and even life expectancy. Jeremy Siegel KQED -- 10/15/18

Economy, Employers, Jobs, Unions, Pensions  

Uber, Lyft drivers fear getting booted from work -- All were “deactivated” — Uber’s and Lyft’s parlance for fired. In the easy-come, easy-go gig world, workers can be deactivated with the click of a button or, more often, the soulless calculations of an algorithm. Because drivers aren’t employees, they don’t get unemployment coverage. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/15/18

LA Works pension cuts reduced, ex-CEO charged -- A record CalPERS pension cut caused by the failure of an employer to pay pension debt was reduced last month, increasing the October checks of 74 retirees of a disbanded job-training agency, LA Works, by amounts ranging from under $25 to more than $400. Ed Mendel Calpensions.com -- 10/15/18

Suit against Sutter spawns fight with Bay Area hospitals over trade secrets -- In Silicon Valley, trade secrets are often thought of as a coveted technology or a patent for a lucrative device. But for hospitals, it is their confidential contracts with health insurance companies, which determine how they get paid, that they guard with their life. Catherine Ho in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/15/18

Sears files for bankruptcy, will further shrink operations -- What seemed inevitable is now official: Sears is bankrupt. Once the most dominant retailer in America, Sears Holdings Corp. — which also owns the Kmart department-store chain — filed for Chapter 11 reorganization under the U.S. bankruptcy laws late Sunday night. James F. Peltz and Victoria Kim in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/18

Taxes, Fees, Rates, Tolls, Bonds 

Meant to help with mental illness, money from tax on millionaires piles up -- While the hepatitis A virus ran unchecked through the streets and homeless camps of San Diego last year, claiming 20 lives and sickening hundreds of others before it was corralled, $170 million in special funding for mentally ill people sat in a county bank account. So much Mental Health Services Act revenue piled up, San Diego County collected more than $12 million in interest from the unspent cash. Jeff McDonald in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 10/15/18

Homeless  

Taylor: Berkeley’s homeless may have to scale back under plan to curb accumulation -- Think about it: If you were suddenly forced to live on the streets for an extended period of time, what would you take with you to make homelessness bearable and less extreme? Otis R. Taylor Jr. in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 10/15/18

Transit  

Golden Gate Ferry strained by high demand -- Has riding the ferry from Larkspur become too popular for its own good? Hindered by regulations that cap traffic, a shortage of ferries and an influx of new riders — and more expected to come bearing down with the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit extension — Golden Gate Ferry operators are struggling to meet the demand. Adrian Rodriguez in the Marin Independent Journal -- 10/15/18

Cannabis 

As Bordeaux is to wine, California’s cannabis seeks its own identity -- Only France can claim Champagne. Only Italy can raise Parma pigs. Only Brits can make Stilton cheese. And soon Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Humboldt and California’s other weed-welcoming regions will be granted their own protected symbols of horticultural identity, as California drafts its version of Europe’s prestigious “Appellation d’Origine Controlee” – establishing rules that guarantee cannabis carrying that region’s name was grown in a specific place, using specific methods. Lisa M. Krieger in the San Jose Mercury -- 10/15/18

Marijuana is emerging among California’s vineyards, offering promise and concern -- It is the fall harvest here in this fertile stretch of oaks and hills that produces some of the country’s best wine. This season, though, workers also are plucking the sticky, fragrant flowers of a new crop. Scott Wilson in the Washington Post -- 10/15/18

Education 

New warnings about California students juggling college and jobs -- At the start of this semester, Brittney Mendez, a junior at the University of California at Merced, was working about 30 hours a week as a nighttime server at a sushi restaurant. Even though she receives financial aid to cover tuition, the political science major said she needed the job to pay off-campus rent, food and other expenses at the Central Valley campus. Larry Gordon EdSource -- 10/15/18

Also . . . 

McIntyre: Reagan’s back, in 3D, at Simi Valley presidential library -- Heeeeeeeee’s back! Just in time for Halloween, guaranteed to frighten any Democrat, it’s Hologram Reagan! Thanks to 3D technology, America’s 40th president has climbed out of his crypt and is ready to quip again! The Great Communicator has been digitally remastered and ready to master the great issues of our day. Doug McIntyre in the Orange County Register -- 10/15/18

Sainthood of slain Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero hailed by thousands at L.A. Mass -- Los Angeles nurse Lina Sandoval was 10 years old when Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated in 1980. Michael Finnegan in the Los Angeles Times -- 10/15/18

POTUS 45  

Trump, defiant, unloads on '60 Minutes' -- The president portrayed himself as an isolated but eminently empowered commander in chief. Quint Forgey Politico -- 10/15/18

Beltway 

In Trump country, Republican candidates this year fall flat -- A number of Republicans running for governor or senator in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, including several who hitched their wagon to Trump’s political movement, are behind in polls by double digits, a remarkable turnabout in swing states that were key to the president’s 2016 victory. Michael Scherer and Robert Costa in the Washington Post -- 10/15/18