Here's your daily briefing...
First storm of the season: This weekend Northern Californians saw the first glimpse of rain and hail they’ve seen in a quite a while. According to the Associated Press, the Northern Sacramento Valley saw nearly a half of inch of rain and the Sierra Nevada was dusted with snow. The National Weather Service reports up to 3 inches of snow could fall until midnight tonight. Light showers are expected to continue today. Dry and mild weather is expected to return tomorrow.
Governor Brown clears his desk: The governor worked through his last round of bills Friday before a midnight deadline. Those passed included a bill to change the definition of rape to include any form of sexual penetration and a bill disallowing judges from sentencing those convicted of sexual assault to probation. Not passed included a bill that would have given job-protected new parent leave to employees who work at businesses with 20 or more employees. Read more about the details of all three bills here. According to Capital Public Radio, Governor Brown has acted on more than a thousand bills this year with California ranking fifth in the nation in number of bills passed over the course of its latest two-year session.
A Butte County deputy was arrested … and charged on a felony count of having consensual sexual conduct with an inmate. According to the Associated Press, 32-year-old Ryan Woolery resigned after being arrested Friday. Authorities said that while the sexual contact was consensual it was still inappropriate and illegal. Woolery was released from jail after posting $45,000 bail.
CA bag ban not that environmentally friendly? That’s according to opponents of Proposition 67 – a measure on November’s ballot that if not passed would overturn previous legislation that banned plastic bags in the state. Looking into the argument further, Capital Public Radio’s Politifact reporter, Chris Nichols, found that the claim that the bag ban does not help the environment is only half true. Nichols said while the 10-cent fee currently charged for single-use bags doesn’t currently go to environmental causes (it goes to the stores themselves), the act of using fewer single-use bags and not using plastic bags reduces waste and is an environmentally friendly practice.
Did you catch … today’s California Report? It took a look at why backers of Proposition 66 think it’s time to end California’s death penalty. According to the report only 13 people have been executed in California out of 875 sentenced to the death since 1978. Be aware: there will be two measures related to the death penalty on November’s ballot — Proposition 62, which seeks to end the death penalty and Proposition 66, which seeks to speed it up.