Newsletter: Californians have a lot to lose if Obamacare is repealed

Good morning. It is Monday, Nov. 14. Now might be a good time to get some fresh air. Here’s what else is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

A mysterious death

Tigran Svadjian was a Newport Beach doctor who was facing healthcare fraud charges when he agreed to go undercover for the feds. But first, he told prosecutors, he needed to visit his mother in Russia. The day he was supposed to appear back in court, the prosecutors got word that he had died. Or had he? Los Angeles Times

Failed strategy

The anti-Donald Trump strategy embraced by California Democrats as a way to get more members of their party into the state Legislature didn’t exactly work out. “We rolled with the Trump hit and it obviously didn’t have the impact we were hoping it would,” said Andrew Acosta, a consultant for Democrat Dawn Ortiz-Legg. Los Angeles Times

A lot to lose

Californians have a lot at stake if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. Currently, 4.6 million people here have healthcare because of the law. “California has a long and good tradition of going it alone, but there’s a limit to what California can do without federal framework and funding,” said Anthony Wright, head of the consumer advocacy group Health Access California. Los Angeles Times

L.A. AT LARGE

Come together: Steve Lopez talks with a Trump voter looking for common ground — and finds some. Los Angeles Times

A life remembered: Friends and family gathered at Cal State Long Beach on Sunday to remember Nohemi Gonzalez, the 23-year-old student who was killed last November in a terrorist attack in Paris. “I have no words for the big loss that I have in my life,” her mother, Beatriz Gonzalez, said. “She was my baby, my little girl.” Los Angeles Times

Literary world: Why some fictional L.A. detectives are viewed as truly characters of literature and others remain in the genre category. LA Review of Books

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Bonus pay: Interpreters who joined the California National Guard say they were promised enlistment bonuses of up to $20,000 each when their services were needed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many now say they were only partially paid those sums because the Guard later decided they were unfit for the military service they had already performed. Los Angeles Times

Keeping it green: What will the Trump administration mean for California’s aggressive climate change policies? “Congress can do a lot of things, but I highly doubt this Congress, which has a heavy states-rights focus, will start meddling in the affairs of states on energy policy issues,” said Frank Maisano, a spokesman for Bracewell & Giuliani, a Houston law firm that lobbies on behalf of oil refineries, electric utilities and other industries. Mercury News

On the lookout: Recreational marijuana is now legal in a handful of states, including California, but the election of Trump has the legal weed community on edge. One reason is the possible appointment of Rudy Giuliani as attorney general. The former New York mayor is fervently anti-marijuana. Bloomberg

Anger. Fear: Trump’s election has tempers flaring across California, and sometimes it’s getting ugly. Los Angeles Times

CRIME AND COURTS

Deputy killed: Authorities say a deputy in Stanislaus County was shot and killed Sunday by a 36-year-old suspect who was captured after an extensive manhunt. “We know for a fact that the gun used in this crime was in direct contact with his head when the trigger was pulled — twice. This was an execution,” said Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson. Los Angeles Times

Civil litigation: Attorneys for President-elect Trump want to delay the start of a civil trial involving Trump University until after Inauguration Day. They’ve also asked that Trump be excused from testifying live or in person, opting for a taped deposition instead. Los Angeles Times

In a new light: Twenty years after the O.J. Simpson trial, former prosecutor Marcia Clark is coming out on top. “There’s more of an awareness about what women go through in the workplace. It’s certainly not perfect, but boy, was I pleasantly surprised,” Clark says. Los Angeles Times

EDUCATION

Tuition increase? The University of California and California State University are considering raising tuition for the first time in six years. Some students aren’t happy about the proposal, which would increase tuition by $270 for Cal State and $280 for UC. But officials are looking at it as a way to meet the pressures of doing more with less. Los Angeles Times

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Project in disguise: A controversial new dam will save water for California. But some people who live in the area don’t like what it represents. Sacramento Bee

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

What now? San Diego and Tijuana have worked hard in recent decades to be a team on a variety of policy fronts. Does a Trump presidency threaten that? San Diego Union-Tribune

At the parade: Folks in Petaluma were shocked to see Confederate flags out at a Veterans Day parade. “It was just so out of place that I had to do a double-take,” said San Rafael Rep. Jared Huffman. SF Gate

Bad information: The presidential election has forced Facebook executives to finally confront the company’s role in the spread of misinformation and false news stories. “Inside Facebook, employees have become more aware of the company’s role in media after several incidents involving content the social network displayed in users’ news feeds.” New York Times

Perfect example: On the subject of fake news, a video that went viral this weekend purported to show anti-Trump demonstrators marching down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Though it was shared thousands of times, and protesters did march in L.A., the video was actually of a protest in Caracas, Venezuela, two months ago. Buzzfeed

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Sacramento will be 71 and mostly sunny. In San Francisco, it will be mostly sunny with a high of 67. Los Angeles will be sunny with a high of 86. San Diego will be 83 and sunny. In Riverside, it will be 90 and sunny.

AND FINALLY

This week’s birthdays for notable Californians:

Rep. Eric Swalwell (Nov. 16, 1980), Larry King (Nov. 19, 1933), UCLA football coach Jim Mora (Nov. 19, 1961), director Jodie Foster (Nov. 19, 1962) and Nobel Prize winner Arieh Warshel (Nov. 20, 1940).

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.