Newsletter: Essential California: California’s dilemma on single-payer healthcare

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Friday, Sept. 22, and here’s what’s happening across California:

TOP STORIES

Healthcare politics

The push for single-payer healthcare, in which the government pays for residents’ medical care, has already rattled California’s political landscape. Now, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ measure in Congress has brought an additional jolt, elevating the issue to a national debate that has implications for the future direction of the Democratic Party and early jockeying in the 2020 presidential race. Sanders is in San Francisco hawking the legislation. Los Angeles Times

Plus: The future of healthcare may be one of the biggest issues in the 2018 race for California governor as candidates debate single-payer and claim they have the cure for the embattled healthcare system’s ills. Los Angeles Times

A massive tragedy in Mexico

Scenes of desolation and rejoicing played out Thursday at the sites of buildings crumbled by central Mexico’s deadly earthquake, which killed at least 274 people and galvanized heroic efforts to reach those trapped. Exactly 32 years before this week’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake, a more devastating temblor leveled a much larger stretch of Mexico City. Many Mexicans remember the 1985 earthquake not only for its destruction but also for the government’s lackluster response. That partially explains why so many private citizens were so proactive in offering their help to dig out people who had been trapped under collapsed buildings in the country’s capital. Los Angeles Times

Plus: Meet Frida, the valiant Labrador who’s saved dozens of lives in Mexico in various natural disasters. Los Angeles Times

Facebook fesses up

Responding to mounting pressure to reveal details about Russian-paid propaganda on its platform, Facebook said it would share more than 3,000 ads linked to Russia with congressional panels investigating foreign meddling in the 2016 election. The move announced Thursday is a reversal for Facebook, which previously showed staffers on Capitol Hill only snippets of the ads before taking them back, citing user privacy. Facebook had given the ads and other information to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is also looking into possible Trump campaign ties to Russia. Los Angeles Times

L.A. STORIES

Odd incident: A woman barged into the Kardashians’ clothing boutique in West Hollywood on Thursday, pulling out a revolver and pointing it at the sales staff while knocking over merchandise. She returned later with a machete. Los Angeles Times

So close: After a tough slog against a last-place team, the Dodgers won Thursday and reduced their magic number to clinch the NL West to one. The team had expected to celebrate the division title on this trip, but a spate of ineptitude ended that hope. Los Angeles Times

Big explosion: Authorities on Thursday continued to investigate the cause of a West Hills explosion that destroyed a garage and damaged five homes. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Money to be spent: The University of California will chip in at least $300,000 to help UC Berkeley pay security costs for controversial speakers, an unprecedented step as criticism mounts over the financial toll the events are taking on the campus. Los Angeles Times

Drip, drip: The Los Angeles teachers union on Wednesday called for school board member Ref Rodriguez, who is facing felony charges, to resign from the L.A. Board of Education. Los Angeles Times

There’s always an election: “All month long, the better part of Los Angeles’ tri-hipster area has been inundated with campaign mailers of all shapes and sizes coming from candidates vying to replace Jimmy Gomez in the state Assembly.” LA Weekly

Where not to live: Here are the Bay Area’s riskiest neighborhoods if another major earthquake strikes near the city. San Francisco Chronicle

CRIME AND COURTS

Arrest in Bakersfield: FBI agents arrested an accused drug dealer Thursday for conspiring with two corrupt Bakersfield police officers to distribute methamphetamine and marijuana that the officers had seized while on patrol. Los Angeles Times

See you in court: The union representing the Los Angeles Police Department’s rank and file is suing the police chief and the city, demanding that the LAPD warn people that filing knowingly false complaints against officers violates state law. Los Angeles Times

Tiger, tiger burning bright: “A Tijuana tiger cub’s tale continues as a second person has been indicted on suspicion of trying to help a friend smuggle the endangered species into the country from Mexico.” The Mercury News

THE ENVIRONMENT

Snow in the summer: Snow fell in Sierra Nevada on the last day of summer, giving the towering mountain range shared by California and Nevada a wintry look in September and making travel hazardous. Associated Press

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

New building alert: Beckoned by the lingering allure of Old Hollywood, a Chinese developer is building a $300-million condominium skyscraper on a long-moribund corner in the historic Broadway Theater District. The intersection, at Broadway and 4th Street, is part of a six-block stretch of downtown that is home to 12 movie theaters erected between 1910 and 1931, when the district had the highest concentration of cinemas in the world and movie premieres were a regular occurrence. Los Angeles Times

A dive bar’s tale: Here’s why the iconic bar the Mermaid suddenly closed in Hermosa Beach. The Beach Reporter

Back in the phone game: “Despite reverses over the years, Google is taking another big swing at building its own smartphones in a bid to better compete with Apple in the mobile market.” San Francisco Chronicle

Check it out: The L.A. Times and many others throughout the art world have been covering the big, multi-venue art extravaganza “Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA.” Here is the New York Times’ take. New York Times

Bel-Air dust-up: Times columnist Michael Hiltzik looks at the obscene rant directed by KB Home Chief Executive Jeffrey Mezger at his Bel-Air neighbors, comedian Kathy Griffin and her boyfriend, Randy Bick. His conclusion: It’s good to be CEO. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles area: sunny, 77, Friday and Saturday. San Diego: partly cloudy, 72, Friday and Saturday. San Francisco area: sunny, 67, Friday; sunny, 72, Saturday. Sacramento: sunny, 76, Friday; sunny, 81, Saturday. More weather is here.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California memory comes from Tom Flinn:

“When I was 7 years old, my family visited San Francisco. The Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, Blum’s, Union Square, Tommy’s Joint and Chinatown. We were walking through the Arch and a blond woman was driving a Volkswagen Beetle. I like to think it was Suzanne Summers; it was the 1960s. She tried and tried unsuccessfully to park. Four sailors walked up, picked up her car and placed it in the space. I remember thinking I want to live here. This would never happen in my hometown of Pittsburgh! And 20 years ago I moved here and in 2008, I married my husband here.”

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad.