Newsletter: World Series, here we come

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Monday, Oct. 19, and here’s a quick look at the week ahead:

Monday is the deadline to register to vote in California. You can register here and check your voter status here. (If you miss the deadline to register or update your voter registration, you can still register to vote through election day at your county elections office, neighborhood polling place or community vote center and cast a provisional ballot.)

[See also: “Your guide to the 2020 election in California” from the Los Angeles Times]

The World Series begins Tuesday, with the Los Angeles Dodgers facing off against the Tampa Bay Rays. All games begin at 5 p.m. Pacific and will be on Fox. (More about that below.)

Also Tuesday: The National Transportation Safety Board will meet virtually to consider the agency’s investigation of the 2019 Conception boat fire that killed 34 in the deadliest maritime disaster in modern California history.

Game 2 of the World Series will be held Wednesday.

The second televised 2020 presidential candidate debate will take place Thursday.

Also Thursday: The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

Games 3 and 4 of the World Series will be held Friday and Saturday, with Game 5 on Sunday if needed.

And now, here’s what’s happening across California:

Dodgers headed to the World Series: The Dodgers defeated the Atlanta Braves during Game 7 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday night, bringing them their third National League pennant in four years and a ticket in the World Series. (Fun fact: The Dodgers are only the second team since 1969 to win the National League pennant three times in four years.) Los Angeles Times

California police got hundreds of calls about abuse in private ICE detention centers. Cases were rarely prosecuted. A Times investigation found that since 2017, at least 265 calls have reported violence and abuse inside California’s four privately run immigrant detention centers. Half of them alleged sex crimes against detainees. Los Angeles Times

Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing.

L.A. STORIES

Eight hundred Compton residents will get guaranteed income in a two-year pilot program. The program will aim to include a representative sample of the 68% of Latino and 30% of Black residents in Compton, as well as those often excluded from federal and state aid programs, including undocumented immigrants and formerly incarcerated residents. Los Angeles Times

At USC, two determined women spoke out. Ugly attacks over racism, anti-Semitism and Zionism took over. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Thousands of Trump supporters descended on Newport Beach on Sunday as the president arrived for a fundraiser to bolster his reelection bid. Los Angeles Times

President Trump greets supporters Sunday as he arrives at John Wayne Airport on Air Force One.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

“Inside the fall of the CDC.” A lengthy look at how the world’s greatest public health organization was brought to its knees by a virus, the president and the capitulation of its own leaders, causing damage that could last much longer than the pandemic. ProPublica

Top Sacramento County officials held a meeting where few wore masks. Now one has COVID-19. Sacramento Bee

Who wins and who loses with California property tax measure Proposition 19? Older homeowners would get a larger incentive to move into new homes, and the so-called “Lebowski loophole” would go away. Los Angeles Times

Can Proposition 16 boost California’s Latino-, Black-, Asian- and women-owned companies? The ballot initiative would repeal a 1996 ballot measure that barred affirmative action. Los Angeles Times

[See also: “Black students at UC Berkeley spearheaded a statewide initiative to restore affirmative action” from Berkeleyside]

LAW ENFORCEMENT, CRIME AND COURTS

A spy plane was sent to monitor protests in an affluent suburb where the head of the California National Guard lives. Local and state authorities have not explained in detail how and why the normally sleepy neighborhood of El Dorado Hills was chosen for the mission when other cities that had experienced property destruction and street clashes amid large protests — such as Los Angeles, Oakland and Long Beach — were not. Los Angeles Times

HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Santa Cruz mountain towns prepare for winter mudslides after the CZU Lightning Complex fire: Experts say it’s not a matter of if but when intense rainfall triggers mudslides that could threaten thousands of homes and lives in the area. San Francisco Chronicle

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

The archbishop of San Francisco performed a short exorcism Saturday outside a Catholic church where protesters had earlier toppled a statue of Father Junipero Serra, saying the ceremony was intended to drive out evil and defend the image of Serra. Associated Press

About 110,000 Californians have bought a gun since the coronavirus arrived, according to a new study. Los Angeles Times

New neighbors knock on the door to say hello, “like they do on TV.” A rush of émigrés from larger California cities find housing bargains and friendly neighbors in Bakersfield. Bakersfield Californian

A poem to start your week: “Of Course She Looked Back” by Natalie Diaz. On Being

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles: sunny, 82. San Diego: partly sunny, 75. San Francisco: partly sunny, 69. San Jose: partly sunny, 84. Fresno: sunny, 89. Sacramento: sunny, 89. More weather is here.

AND FINALLY

This week’s birthdays for those who made a mark in California:

State Controller Betty Yee (Oct. 19, 1957), L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis (Oct. 20, 1957), rapper and activist Snoop Dogg (Oct. 20, 1971), Sen. Kamala Harris (Oct. 20, 1964) and the late actress Carrie Fisher (Oct. 21, 1956).

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. (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, ideas and unrelated book recommendations to Julia Wick. Follow her on Twitter @Sherlyholmes.