Election surprises, an L.A. detective mystery and more don't-miss stories

Newsletter: Election surprises, an L.A. detective mystery and more don’t-miss stories

Nov. 8, 2014 12 AM PT

Jerry Brown won. California remained blue along the coast and red farther inland. And voter turnout continued to be dismal.

But there are some more surprising narratives from election night in California. Welcome to the latest edition of the Essential California newsletter. I’m Shelby Grad, The Times’ California Editor.

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Republicans Live to Fight Another Day

GOP candidates again failed to win any statewide elected offices. But the news for the party was not all bad. Republicans prevented Democrats from gaining a “supermajority” in the state Legislature. And in a number of tight races from the Central Valley to Orange County, GOP candidates were victorious.

There’s still has a long way to go before they reach the glory days of Pete Wilson, George Deukmejian and Ronald Reagan. But the GOP in California survived 2014 to fight another day.

Not so Tough on Crime

More results

Jerry Brown’s fourth term was not the only history-making moment of election night. With the passage of Prop. 47, California becomes the first state in the nation to downgrade penalties for drug possession and other nonviolent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Thousands of offenders could be eligible. It’s no surprise the measure did well in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, where there has been much debate about whether sentencing laws are unfair. But Prop. 47 also passed in some unlikely --- and more conservative -- places including Orange County, San Diego County and Riverside County. Clearly, views are evolving. Prop. 47 won with 58% of vote statewide. Twenty years ago, California’s “three strikes” law that brought much longer prison sentences passed with 72% of the vote.

Wage Freeze

Efforts to significantly boost minimum wages are all the rage in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles and San Diego. But the push hit a roadblock in the small and economically troubled town of Eureka, where voters rejected a plan to boost the minimum wage to $12. There had been concerns that, unlike booming San Francisco, Eureka’s economy was simply too weak for it to work.

This Week’s Don’t-Miss Reads

Walking in L.A.

Los Angeles has been slowly squeezing cars for the sake of pedestrians and cycles. The city has added miles of bike lanes and converted traffic lanes -- most recently along Broadway in downtown L.A. -- into social spaces. Now, the city is talking about expanding use of diagonal crosswalks, which require all vehicles to stop so that walkers can move freely corner to corner. Motorist might grumble, pedestrians will likely rejoice. But does the move make sense? There is debate about whether the crosswalks work any better than traditional ones.

Unsolved Mysteries

Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe are two of California’s most enduring fictional private eyes. But reporter Daniel Miller discovered a tantalizing mystery about the origins of these detectives. And Miller channels their creators, Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, in this noir tale.

There were also twists in two California’s murder mysteries this week. A long-missing former Fox movie executive was found buried in the desert, and a suspected killer was arrested the case of the McStays, a family of four who vanished and were later found in shallow graves.

Quake Debate

Here’s how designers of what will be L.A.’s tallest building are dealing with quake risk.

L.A. officials have a tough choice ahead after state geologists concluded that a proposed skyscraper development -- the largest in Hollywood history -- sit atop an earthquake fault.

A finalized state map places the estimated path of the Hollywood fault underneath the proposed Millennium Hollywood skyscraper project. An earlier draft had placed the estimated path underneath the Capitol Records tower.

Downtown, Now and Then

They discovered an old speak-easy from the 1920s in an old hotel in downtown L.A. Now, there is talk of turning it into yet another trendy bar. Down in the sparkling new downtown, a political chess game is underway involving NFL football, L.A. Live, the Convention Center and new hotel rooms. City Hall reporter David Zahniser masterfully breaks it down.