Newsletter: Loretta Sanchez faces Kamala Harris, apathy in U.S. Senate race

Good morning. It is Tuesday, Sept. 13. This Southern California hike will take you straight to a haunted house (allegedly). Here’s what else is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

New overtime protections

A bill that will provide overtime pay to California’s farmworkers after eight hours in a workday was signed by the governor Monday. AB 1066 will also phase in a standard 40-hour workweek. “I’m crying tears of joy after so many years that farmworkers have worked so hard to win a significant victory like this that will dramatically change their lives,” said Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers union. Los Angeles Times

None of the above

How much support does Rep. Loretta Sanchez have in her campaign for the U.S. Senate? A new poll finds support for Sanchez is at 16% — the same as the number of registered voters who plan to sit out the November race. “This is the first open U.S. Senate seat in a quarter of a century in California and no one seems to care,” said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC. Los Angeles Times

L.A. AT LARGE

Lion of the left: Liberal icon Stanley Sheinbaum died Monday at the age of 96. Sheinbaum was credited with raising money for Daniel Ellsberg’s defense in the Pentagon Papers trial and persuading Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat to accept Israel as a state. He also served on the Los Angeles Police Commission after the Rodney King beating. Los Angeles Times

End of an era: Longtime L.A. County Supervisor Ed Edelman, who focused much of his work on child welfare, the environment and health services, died Monday at the age of 85. During his 20 years on the Board of Supervisors, the liberal Edelman was known as a behind-the-scenes consensus builder. “I’ve never been a grandstander. Getting the votes is what counts,” he told The Times in 1993. Los Angeles Times

Mobility plan: Cyclists won’t be getting bike lanes on Westwood Boulevard or Central Avenue any time soon. The City Council rejected the proposal in favor of adding bike lanes to parallel and less-congested streets. Bike activists say the original plan provided more direct, and in some cases safer, routes. 89.3 KPCC

Major construction: Work is underway on the Los Angeles Rams’ new stadium in Inglewood. The $2.66-billion stadium complex will be the most expensive in NFL history. Curbed LA

C’est la vie: Speaking of the Rams, the team lost its first game of the season by a score of 28-0 to the San Francisco 49ers. The Rams’ home opener at the Coliseum will be Sunday. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Time for the understudy: Former President Bill Clinton will appear at two L.A. fundraisers today on his wife’s behalf. He’ll also appear at campaign and donor events in Las Vegas tomorrow. Hillary Clinton is home in New York as she recovers from pneumonia. Los Angeles Times

Joke’s on you: On the subject of Hillary Clinton’s illness … a Palm Desert-based impersonator had a little fun at the expense of Twitter users who were convinced that Clinton used a body double after falling ill Sunday. Desert Sun

Birthing plan: Is it bad policy not to allow more midwives in California? CAL Matters

Marital stats: Thanks to federal tax records, some demographic information is now available for married same-sex couples. Among the findings: male same-sex couples have a higher household income than female same-sex couples or heterosexual couples. San Francisco has the highest rate of same-sex marriage among men, and Oakland has the highest rate of same-sex female marriages. New York Times

CRIME AND COURTS

Commission nomination: L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti nominated Shane Murphy Goldsmith to the civilian Police Commission Monday. If she’s approved by the Los Angeles City Council, Goldsmith would be the third new commissioner to join the panel in a year. Los Angeles Times

Political dynasty: Former Assemblyman Tom Calderon was sentenced to a year in federal custody for laundering bribes to his brother. Because of health problems, Calderon will spend the first half of his sentence in prison and the second half under house arrest. Former state Sen. Ron Calderon, who pleaded guilty to taking bribes from an undercover FBI agent and a corrupt hospital executive, is scheduled to be sentenced next week. Los Angeles Times

On the Internet: A 32-year-old man is accused of filming a sexual encounter and then uploading the video to the Internet after the woman on the tape cut off communication with him. Sergio Ortiz faces a charge under California’s “revenge porn” law. Los Angeles police say their investigation also turned up videos of other unidentified women. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA IDEAS

What it all means: Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates reflects on what the murder trial of O.J. Simpson meant to him and the African American community. “Simpson’s great accomplishment was to be indicted for a crime and then receive the kind of treatment typically reserved for rich white guys. His acquittal, achieved as incarceration rates skyrocketed, represented something grand and inconceivable for blacks.” The Atlantic

CALIFORNIA FOOD

Animal rights: The story behind the vegan protest at Berkeley’s legendary Chez Panisse restaurant. “Commenters quickly noted that my protest was like a scene from Portlandia.” Berkeleyside

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Water for food: A new public art installation in West Hollywood attempts to show how much water is used to produce some of California’s most popular foods. Curbed LA

Tree mystery: The mystery of the “albino redwoods” in California might have been solved. Mercury News

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Matter of taste: In the Bay Area, owners of tidy, midcentury Eichler homes are battling newcomers who want to build mini mansions. Mercury News

Living history: Young Japanese Americans are visiting the internment camp at Manzanar to learn where their family members spent World War II. Buzzfeed

Tweet tweet: Social media is big business for celebrities. But is your favorite actress really writing her own posts? Vanity Fair

Diversity in comedy: “Saturday Night Live” has hired its first Latina cast member. It’s Melissa Villaseñor of Whittier. LA Weekly

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles is expected to have light rain in the morning followed by a high of 71 degrees. San Diego will have morning mist and a high of 72. In Riverside, there will be clouds and a high of 74 degrees. It will be 66 degrees in San Francisco. Sacramento will be partly cloudy and 76.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California Memory comes from Channing Hillway:

“I was a member of the San Francisco State a cappella choir. Someone said they were looking for young people to sing for a rally for Richard Nixon. Suffice it to say that my political affiliation was somewhat uncertain, at that time, and singing at the event was a strong attraction. We did our part, singing in some bleachers in Union Square. Jimmy Stewart was a major speaker for Nixon. The event ended and my friend and I looked for a shortcut to avoid the crowds leaving the area. We headed straight over a retaining wall, onto the sidewalk, and then around a corner so we were opposite the entrance to the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. We heard someone yell, ‘There he is!’ Suddenly a form squished between two of the bushes above a retaining wall, dropping about four feet directly in front of us, possibly turning an ankle, and running across the street, toward the hotel, with impressive speed. It was Jimmy Stewart. He was inside the entrance to the hotel before any of the autograph seekers could get close to him.”

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 Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.