1. A near-supermajority of Californians — 66 percent — say they support affirmative action programs that would help women and minorities get better job and education opportunities, the SacBee$ reports, citing a new Field Poll. Only 25 percent of state residents say they oppose affirmative action, a stark turnaround from the 1990s, when Californians voted to ban affirmative action at public universities and in government jobs. The poll results indicate that state residents may be ready to reinstate affirmative action. Earlier this year, Asian-American groups blocked a Democratic bill that would have placed affirmative action on the ballot, because they feared it would impact the admission of Asian students at the University of California. But the new poll shows that Asian-American voters actually support affirmative action in greater numbers — 69 percent — than the state as a whole.
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2. Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that requires railroad companies to alert California emergency officials about oil-by-rail shipments, the SacBee$ reports. The new law coincides with an increase in train shipments of highly explosive crude oil that is fracked from the ground.
3. Numerous steel rods on the new Bay Bridge have been sitting in water for an extended period of time, raising concerns about corrosion and the longterm stability of the new eastern span, the Chron reports.
4. The district attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles are cracking down on ride share services Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar, contending that the companies are violating several state laws, the Chron reports. The mostly unregulated companies have devastated the state’s highly regulated taxicab industry.
5. And state Attorney General Kamala Harris said she’s staying put and is not interested in replacing US Attorney General Eric Holder, who is resigning from office, the Chron reports.
