Occupy San Francisco plans to completely shut down city's financial district on Friday, in a daylong protest timed to coincide with the opening of the stock market. Organizers of "Occupy Wall St. West" say this will be the largest street protest the city has seen since the demonstrations against the Iraq war in 2003...
Thanks to a typo, Governor Jerry Brown was forced to re-file a ballot initiative to raise taxes. Re-filing can delay the attorney general's preparation of its title and summary, potentially condensing the time available to gather signatures, not to mention making that effort more expensive. But Brown adviser Steve Glazer has said that he does not expect the mistake to affect Brown's timing ahead of the November election...
Speaking of political initiatives, Governor Brown is joining California Democrats in calling on President Obama to appoint a new federal housing regulator. The politicians say acting director Edward DeMarco is "hindering California's economic recovery and harming state efforts to promote clean energy..."
California's "Medicare for All" bill goes before a key Senate committee today. Senate Bill 810, introduced by San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno, would establish a California Healthcare Agency to run a single-payer health care system that would pool employer and employee payments. It would also administer the money and negotiate rates with doctors, hospitals and other medical providers.