Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick shook up the Democratic presidential field when he announced his candidacy Thursday. He spoke on Saturday to thousands of California Democrats gathered in Long Beach for the party’s convention. Afterward, Patrick, 63, sat down with The Times to talk about why he’s running for president. The interview was edited for clarity and length.

In late 2018, you said you weren’t running for president. What changed?

We were ready to go in 2018, and two weeks, maybe 2 ½ weeks from announcing — we had a plan, a team that was coming together — and my wife was diagnosed with uterine cancer. And that was and should have been my first priority, our first priority. She was diagnosed early, thank God, and is cancer free today.

The Democratic presidential field is huge, with candidates from across the spectrum, from moderate to progressive. What is the void you see that you believe your candidacy can fill?

First of all, I’m not sure that any of the labels, with all due respect, really work anymore. They certainly don’t work for me. I don’t fit in a box. I will say I don’t think that there’s another candidate that has the range of life and professional experiences I have had, and I bring those experiences to the way I make decisions by trying to understand other people’s perspective so I can get on to the goal we’re trying to achieve. And I think we’ve got a moment right now, when the public’s appetite is for ideas as big as the challenges we face. … It means we have to bring some humility alongside the brilliance and creativity in the field. A willingness to acknowledge that we don’t have to agree on everything to work together on anything, which is exactly the politics we’re dealing with today in Washington and the kind of politics that got us here.

Is your candidacy a rebuttal of former Vice President Joe Biden, whom some have described as a shaky front-runner?

My candidacy isn’t about the other candidates. I respect them. I know many of them. I’ve known Joe Biden since he was chair of the Judiciary Committee, and I was a nominee for the civil rights division. He’s always had my back, and I’ve tried wherever I could to have his. I think my focus hasn’t so much been on the other candidates as it has been on the electorate.

You were a major supporter of Elizabeth Warren’s when she first ran for Senate in Massachusetts. Why are you running against her?

She’s a friend. … This isn’t about anyone or any of the other candidates. It’s about a set of skills that is uniquely broad and about a moment that could be lost if we don’t bring a range of skills to it, and if we don’t bring some humility that says, ‘You know, somebody else actually might have a better idea about the means.’ … But I would ask you to remember, and I’d ask your readers to remember, we take just one example like healthcare: Every single Democrat in this field wants healthcare that is of high quality and affordable for every single American, and the other side doesn’t. And that’s the thing to remember.

Healthcare is one of the big debates in the Democratic primary. I know you just announced and haven’t rolled out policy yet, but where do you fall in the debate over “Medicare for all” or a public option?

We will get you more detail as we roll out policy positions; but healthcare is, I think, one area where I have an unusual amount of experience. You know that my predecessor [Gov. Mitt Romney] signed the bill. It took effect the day I took office. Ninety-nine percent of our citizens in Massachusetts have healthcare today. I don’t think there’s another state in America can who can claim that outcome.

Other candidates have effectively been running for years. How do you pull together a team and raise enough money so late?

They’ve been campaigning for years, and in some cases the public is tired. You know, it’s a strange thing: Those of us who follow politics, who cover politics, we think of it as late. Regular people don’t think so. I’ll give you one very encouraging factoid: Within a couple of hours of the website going up, we had volunteers from every one of the 50 states.

You’re obviously close with former President Obama and his team. Did you speak with Obama about running? Did he or his advisors urge you to run?

I won’t get into what he said. But I’ve talked to him at length, year and a half or more ago, when we were kind of gearing up and I was trying to sort it out. …He has seen up close how brutal it is to run, so I wouldn’t exactly say it was about encouraging. But he’s a patriot. And so am I. And I think, at any time but maybe especially at a time like this, patriots need to step up and offer to serve.

During the 2012 presidential campaign, President Obama and Democrats criticized GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s work for Bain Capital, painting him as a heartless corporate raider. I could see one of your rivals using Obama’s words about Bain in an ad against you. (Patrick said he left the private equity firm’s payroll on Wednesday.)

They should use my words because I was asked about it at the time, as you can imagine as co-chair of the [Obama] campaign. And I didn’t buy it then. I don’t buy it now. You know we villainize people and industries, sort of climbing over others to get what you want. It’s not [my] kind of politics.

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BETHESDA, Md. — 

President Trump spent more than two hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Saturday for what the White House said were medical tests as part of his annual physical.

The appointment wasn’t on Trump’s weekend public schedule, and his last physical was in February. Press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the 73-year-old president was “anticipating a very busy 2020” and wanted to take advantage of “a free weekend” in Washington to begin portions of his routine checkup.

She did not specify which tests he’d received or explain why the visit had not been disclosed in advance. Trump’s 2018 and 2019 physicals were both announced ahead of time and appeared on his public schedule.

Grisham said after the visit that the president had had “a quick exam and labs” and remains in good health.

“The president remains healthy and energetic without complaints, as demonstrated by his repeated vigorous rally performances in front of thousands of Americans several times a week,” she said.

Trump also spent time at the hospital meeting with the family of a special forces soldier injured in Afghanistan. And he visited with medical staff “to share his thanks for all the outstanding care they provide to our wounded warriors, and wish them an early happy Thanksgiving,” Grisham said.

It was the president’s ninth visit to the hospital since taking office.

Walter Reed spokeswoman Sandy Dean said the hospital does not comment on patients who receive care at the facility and referred questions to the White House.

Trump’s last checkup, in February, showed he had gained seven pounds while in office. At 243 pounds and 6 feet, 3 inches tall, he passed the official threshold for being considered obese, with a Body Mass Index of 30.4.

A Body Mass Index rating of 30 is the level at which doctors consider someone obese under the commonly used formula. About 40% of Americans are obese, raising the risk for heart disease, diabetes, stroke and some forms of cancer.

That checkup, which was supervised by Dr. Sean P. Conley, his physician, took more than four hours and involved a panel of 11 specialists.

“I am happy to announce the President of the United States is in very good health and I anticipate he will remain so for the duration of his Presidency, and beyond,” Conley wrote afterward.

Test results were released six days later.

Trump doesn’t drink alcohol or smoke, but is known to enjoy fast food, steaks and desserts. His primary form of exercise is golf.

Saturday’s test came as House investigators on Capitol Hill were interviewing a White House budget official as part of the impeachment inquiry. Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong.

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WASHINGTON  — 

Democrats this week enter a do-or-die phase of their impeachment inquiry following a week of public testimony, as they summon a flurry of witnesses they hope will convince the public that President Trump should be impeached for pressing a foreign government to launch criminal investigations for his political benefit.

The hearings follow a rare weekend in which a key White House official was deposed and the transcripts were released from two additional closed-door depositions of administration officials.

Earlier in the week three veteran diplomats testified in public, soberly describing the ramifications of the president’s pressure campaign — undermining Ukraine, a stalwart U.S. ally at war with Russia, and eroding U.S. stature across the globe, they said.

Constitutional scholars say Democrats have succeeded in laying important groundwork. Now the hard part begins: proving that Trump abused his power and that his actions are serious enough to justify his impeachment.

“Democrats have done well so far,” said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, noting that the public hearings have produced some damaging moments for the White House. “The next week will prove key. They will have to show this is big enough to justify the impeachment and removal of a president.”

Turley and other constitutional scholars said Republicans struggled to find a coherent narrative in defending Trump, though they scored points by arguing that no witnesses have provided direct evidence linking the president to nefarious activity.

This week, Republican House members are likely to continue pounding a point that some GOP senators have raised: that even if true, the allegations don’t rise to the level of impeachable conduct.

“When we’re talking about impeachment, we are talking about impeachable offenses,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who has emerged as a leading GOP voice in the inquiry. “The Democrats want to continue making this a political food fight. They are going about this in a partisan way.”

Democrats hope to wrap up the inquiry by the end of the year. If Trump becomes the third president to be impeached, he will face trial in the Senate to determine whether he should be removed from office.

The accelerated schedule is responsible for the onslaught of witnesses expected to testify publicly this week. Eight current and former administration officials are scheduled to testify over three days.

On Saturday, Mark Sandy, a career official at the Office of Management and Budget, testified behind closed doors about his work on Ukraine matters. Sandy’s decision to testify was significant because the OMB froze funds headed to Ukraine’s military as allies of the president pushed Kyiv to launch investigations of Trump political opponents, and because appointees at the OMB have declined to comply with subpoenas for testimony and records. Other White House officials have also declined to cooperate.

Democrats have held weeks of similar closed-door depositions and only started making their case public on Wednesday, when two longtime diplomats testified before the House Intelligence Committee that they saw evidence Trump was hijacking U.S. foreign policy for domestic political gain.

They chronicled a scheme in which administration officials and Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, prodded Ukraine’s leaders to launch investigations of political opponents to help Trump win reelection in 2020.

In particular, Trump and his associates were pressuring Ukrainian officials to announce inquiries that they hoped would ensnare former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. From 2014 through April, Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma, a large energy company that had once been targeted by Ukrainian investigators.

As they pushed for such probes, Trump associates and administration officials dangled the possibility of an Oval Office meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump. The White House also froze delivery of nearly $400 million in sorely needed aid to Ukraine’s military. A top U.S. diplomat testified to House investigators that he told a Ukranian official such aid would not be unlocked “until Ukraine provided the public anti-corruption statement that we had been discussing.”

William B. Taylor Jr., the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, testified publicly last week that he was astonished by the administration’s decision to delay the funds until Kyiv agreed to announce it was launching what he considered politically motivated investigations. In a contemporaneous text message to another diplomat, he called it “crazy.”

On Friday, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testified publicly about being ousted from her post amid a “smear” campaign led by Giuliani and his associates after standing in their way. Yovanovitch was ordered to return to the U.S. in May amid a flurry of unfounded rumors that she was anti-Trump.

As Yovanovitch described her plight on Friday, Trump disparaged the diplomat on Twitter, claiming without evidence “that everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad.” She called the tweet “intimidating.”

This week, Democrats are seeking to apply direct pressure on the White House when they summon Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman of the National Security Council and Fiona Hill, who recently left the NSC, to recount to lawmakers their concerns about Giuliani’s efforts. They, among others, will also be asked about what role Mick Mulvaney, the president’s acting chief of staff, played in halting the flow of funding to Ukraine. Vindman is scheduled to testify on Tuesday and Hill on Thursday.

Democrats are trying to draw “straight lines from the president to his agents,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin), adding, “We’re just trying to establish the timeline, and then on the shakedown scheme who has a straight line to the president and who doesn’t.”

The most significant — yet unpredictable — witness will be Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, who is scheduled to testify on Wednesday. A wealthy hotelier and Trump campaign donor, Sondland was a key intermediary between Trump and the shadow Ukraine effort.

Sondland originally told lawmakers that he couldn’t remember key conversations with the president about Ukraine. He later told lawmakers in a written follow-up that he did indeed remember telling the Ukrainians that the military aid would not be released without an announced investigation.

Sondland’s proximity to the president became more clear on Wednesday, when Taylor described a phone call between Trump and Sondland that he said took place in July.

Taylor testified that Sondland called Trump from a busy Ukrainian restaurant to provide him with an update on his work in the country, according to David Holmes, a State Department employee based in Kyiv who overheard the conversation.

Testifying Friday behind closed doors before the House Intelligence Committee, Holmes told lawmakers in his opening statement that he recognized Trump’s distinct voice on the phone — the president spoke so loudly that Sondland had to pull the receiver from his ear.

Sondland told Trump that Zelensky will do “anything you ask him to,” according to Holmes’ opening statement, first obtained by CNN and confirmed by The Times. The EU ambassador later told Holmes that Trump only cares about the “big stuff” with respect to Ukraine, meaning items that benefit the president, such as the “Biden investigation.”

The ambassador did not mention the July 26 phone call during his deposition, and Democrats are likely to zero in on that discrepancy among others.

“Sondland is important,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee. “As you can tell, he talked to the president very frequently — he could even call him up on a cellphone, apparently from a bar or restaurant in the middle of Kyiv.”

Sondland’s tight relationship with Trump was evident in testimony released Saturday of Tim Morrison, who was still a top White House national security official when he spoke to House investigators in October. He testified Sondland often claimed to be acting on Trump’s orders and was frequently in touch with the president, according to a transcript of his closed-door interview.

Morrison said he checked whether Sondland was really speaking to Trump, and “every time he told me he had a conversation … I was able to confirm a call happened,” according to a transcript released Saturday of a deposition he gave to House investigators last month.

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Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — 

Democratic lawmakers on Sunday laid out their road map heading into the second week of public impeachment hearings against President Trump: continue to bolster an abuse-of-power case against him by tying Trump directly to demands that a vulnerable ally carry out criminal investigations for the president’s personal political benefit.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi added a stern warning aimed specifically at Trump after weeks of furious presidential denunciation of the whistleblower whose complaint triggered the historic impeachment process.

“I will make sure he does not intimidate the whistleblower,” the San Francisco Democrat said in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Online and in remarks to reporters, the president has repeatedly urged that the confidential complainant be unmasked, coupling that with demands that he be allowed to “confront” his accuser.

In a seeming retort to that, Pelosi said Trump, who has ordered senior aides not to testify in the proceedings, “could come right before the committee and talk, speak all the truth that he wants.”

Republicans, for their part, fanned out on the main Sunday news-talk shows with their own sometimes-mixed message, insisting that Trump was innocent of any wrongdoing, or at least had not engaged in impeachable behavior.

They also reprised the argument that Ukraine, while imperiled by Russia, suffered no real harm because it ultimately received nearly $400 million in military aid that the White House withheld for weeks while Ukrainian officials were under pressure to submit to Trump’s demands.

“The bottom line is he got the money,” Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House minority whip, said on “Fox News Sunday,” referring to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. Democrats say it was still wrong for the president to try to trade the aid for “a favor,” and that the effort was only foiled when Congress learned of the aid being blocked and launched a bipartisan effort to free it up.

Other GOP defenders of the president struck an upbeat tone about the proceedings so far, despite damaging testimony suggesting that military aid to Ukraine was used by the White House to try to force Ukraine to dig up dirt on Trump’s potential 2020 rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

“I don’t think the evidence is building at all,” Rep. Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on ABC’s “This Week.” Prefacing his assertion with “I’m being sincere on this,” he declared: “I think the evidence is crumbling.”

But Democrats expressed confidence that they were methodically establishing a pattern of wrongdoing on the part of those close to Trump, one that is leading closer to the president himself.

“There is ample evidence that there was a corrupt deal being cooked up,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), also a member of the committee, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Trump, who has lashed out at several witnesses in the probe, did so again Sunday, this time targeting a foreign policy advisor to Vice President Mike Pence. The aide, Jennifer Williams, said earlier in a closed-door deposition that she had put a readout of Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s president in a briefing book for Pence, and also called the effort to pressure Ukraine “inappropriate.”

On Twitter, Trump said Williams, “whoever that is,” should meet with “other Never Trumpers” and sardonically advised her to read transcripts of calls between him and Ukraine’s leader. Williams was among those who listened in on the July 25 call taking notes; that conversation later became central to the whistleblower’s complaint.

Many Republicans have refrained from echoing Trump’s direct attacks on the whistleblower, mindful of federal legal protections accorded such individuals. But GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin employed a new approach Sunday, saying the complaint had “exposed things that didn’t need to be exposed.”

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Johnson blamed that individual, not the White House, for damaging ties with an ally. “If the whistleblower’s goal is to improve our relationship with Ukraine, he utterly – or she – utterly failed,” the senator said.

Senior GOP lawmakers also excoriated the Democratic-led impeachment process as partisan and unfair, as they have from the start of the proceedings. They also derided as secondhand the public testimony offered last week by a trio of career foreign-policy professionals who have described an irregular foreign policy back channel run by the president’s lawyer-fixer, Rudolph W. Giuliani.

But a crucial firsthand account could come – albeit reluctantly — from a key participant in that channel, Gordon Sondland, the hotelier who became Trump’s ambassador to the European Union. His high-profile public appearance before the committee, scheduled Wednesday, is likely to center on questions stemming from explosive closed-door testimony from another diplomat, David Holmes.

In a deposition leaked to the news media, Holmes said he overheard Sondland assure Trump, in a phone call from a Kyiv restaurant, that Ukraine would accede to the president’s wishes for an investigation. And according to another deposition transcript, released Saturday, a senior aide at the National Security Council, Tim Morrison, testified last month that Sondland had acted at Trump’s behest in pushing Ukraine to launch investigations meant to aid the president politically.

Morrison also told investigators that Sondland relayed word to the Ukrainian government that the release of military aid hinged on doing the president’s bidding. Sondland has already had to revise his closed-door testimony once, and Democrats suggested that if the ambassador is not truthful in his public appearance Wednesday, he could be flirting with perjury charges.

Sen. Christopher S. Murphy (D-Conn.), appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said Sondland, who was given his ambassadorial post after making a $1-million contribution to Trump’s inaugural, “has to decide whether his primary loyalty is to America, or if his primary loyalty is to the president.”

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Giuliani, whose unconstrained utterances have helped drive the impeachment investigation forward, tweeted early Sunday that the hearings so far have been a “travesty” and insisted that no incriminating evidence had yet emerged.

Trump weighed in as well on Sunday, with a tweet praising Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the sole woman on the GOP side of the committee, who in televised hearings sought to defy procedural rules and repeatedly declared that Trump’s behavior did not meet the standard for impeachment. The president called her a “Republican Star.”

But even Stefanik offered reluctant criticism Friday of Trump’s tweet attacking Marie Yovanovitch, the veteran diplomat who was fired by the president as ambassador to Ukraine, saying it shouldn’t have been sent.

In the midst of Yovanovitch’s testimony on Friday, in which she said that she was the target of a “smear” campaign orchestrated by Trump’s allies, the president suggested on Twitter that she bore responsibility for turmoil in countries where she previously had diplomatic postings, including Somalia.

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In assessing the near-term future of the California economy and how it affects the state budget, Gov. Gavin Newsom has recently taken to comparing his role to that of an airline pilot.

And it even comes with an impersonation of that voice on the loudspeaker toward the end of a flight.

“We’re about to begin our descent,” Newsom joked with reporters last month after an event in Sacramento. “We’re still at 36,000 feet, but we’re about to begin our descent.”

The governor isn’t the only one who is preparing for a landing. But none of those watching the horizon know when or how fast it will happen. Nor do they know how it will affect myriad vital state services when the high-flying economy of most of the last decade runs out of gas.

SEAT BELTS, EVERYONE: BUDGET BUMPS LIKELY ON THE WAY

Last week’s report by state officials of (another) record low measurement of unemployment in California included a reminder that national economic data are nearing uncharted territory.

The longest U.S. economic expansion in data dating to 1854 lasted for 120 months — achieved during the decade of technology industry growth in the 1990s. State researchers noted in employment data released last week that the current streak stands at 116 months, which bears a moment of reflection: Even the strong economies in the years after World War II, as well as those of the 1960s and 1980s, were shorter than the current streak that began in July 2009.

California has been a major part of the national story. The state has added almost 3.4 million jobs since February 2010, reported the state Employment Development Department, accounting for more than 15% of all the new jobs created in the country during that time period. As of October, California’s jobless rate stood at a historically low 3.9%.

No one expects the streak to go on indefinitely, but there’s no exact science to figuring out when things will change. The state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office reported this month that its “state fiscal health index” has declined for six consecutive months — a potential sign that the anticipated descent is at hand.

“Declines of this duration and magnitude have not been observed since the last recession,” the analysts wrote.

Researchers at the Public Policy Institute of California crunched their own numbers this year, estimating that even a mild recession could shrink state tax revenues by as much as $36 billion over three years. That could blow a pretty big hole in the historically large $19-billion cash reserves called for in the budget Newsom signed in June.

The governor is already hashing out the contours of his 2020 budget proposal behind closed doors, a plan he’s required to send to the Legislature no later than Jan. 10. And it feels as though we’re already getting a few previews. Newsom has said he expects to ask legislators to spend significant money on some kind of effort to mitigate either wildfire threats or the effects of preventive electricity shutoffs — or spending that helps address both issues.

State government assistance could also be needed on the local level in the coming year. Last month, State Auditor Elaine Howle released a new analysis of cities across the state at risk of a fiscal crisis. Some of those problems are at least partly due to local officials’ having to set aside more money than ever to cover pension promises made to government employees.

Newsom seems to be subtly reminding everyone, the public and interest groups alike, that the days of multibillion-dollar surpluses are over. A key estimate of the near-term horizon is due this week, when the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office releases its annual fiscal outlook. We’ll be watching for not only the analysts’ take on the relative temperature of the economy but also whether growth in state government expenditures — the analysts have already estimated general fund expenses in the current fiscal year will be $23 billion above what was spent in 2017-18 — is sustainable in the event of a mild recession.

One final footnote: Only a handful of incumbent legislators were serving in Sacramento during the last cycle of severe state budget deficits. As much as an economic slowdown would challenge Newsom, it would also challenge the skills of his legislative partners. And almost no one likes to be the one deciding which important program ends up on the chopping block.

THE DEMANDS OF DEMOCRATS: LONG BEACH WRAP-UP

California Democrats met over the weekend in Long Beach to weigh party endorsements in legislative and congressional races. But the main event was the race for the White House, as reporters gauged the reactions of the party faithful to the presidential candidates who showed up.

As Seema Mehta wrote, the 12 White House hopefuls participated in a Saturday forum held by Univision. But much of the action took place elsewhere at the sprawling Long Beach convention center or at nearby restaurants and bars.

The race’s newest entrant, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, wasted no time in soaking up the scene. Mehta caught up with Patrick for an extended interview.

And Sen. Kamala Harris, the state’s best-known hopeful, hoped to boost her fortunes with the endorsement of the high-profile United Farm Workers union.

NATIONAL POLITICS LIGHTNING ROUND

— President Trump spent more than two hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Saturday for what the White House said were medical tests as part of his annual physical. Unlike previous visits, this one wasn’t on his weekend public schedule.

— Democratic lawmakers on Sunday laid out their road map heading into the second week of public impeachment hearings against Trump. Some see it as a do-or-die phase of their impeachment inquiry after a week of detailed public testimony.

— Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards narrowly won a second term Saturday as the Deep South’s only Democratic governor, handing the president another gubernatorial loss this month.

— Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders held a rally in Los Angeles over the weekend as part of his presidential campaign’s outreach to young Latino voters.

— Former President Obama on Friday warned the Democratic field of White House hopefuls not to veer too far to the left, a move he said would alienate many who would otherwise be open to voting for the party’s nominee next year.

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NO STATEWIDE STINGS OF MINORS BUYING POT

California state agencies send minors into thousands of liquor stores and bars each year to attempt to buy alcohol or cigarettes. The stings catch hundreds of clerks and bartenders selling to underage customers.

But two years after the state began licensing marijuana shops, the agency tasked with enforcing cannabis laws in California has not conducted similar stings targeting the state’s multibillion-dollar pot industry, the largest in the country.

“Teen access, use and harms related to marijuana are skyrocketing,” said Scott Chipman, vice president of Americans Against Legalizing Marijuana, a leading opponent of 2016’s Proposition 64. “Minor decoy programs are one of many enforcement strategies that could be useful, especially if there is sufficient media regarding the outcomes.”

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

— Add another big proposed ballot measure to the possible mix for California’s election next November: legalized betting on sports, an idea being pushed by a coalition of influential Native American tribes.

— A new poll shows that a broad majority of Los Angeles voters think that the city and county have been ineffective in spending money earmarked to combat homelessness and that new policies are needed to address a crisis they equate with a natural disaster.

— Newsom has called a March 3 special election to pick a successor to former Santa Clarita Rep. Katie Hill, the Democrat who stepped down amid accusations that she’d had affairs with congressional and campaign staff members.

— A proposal to divert high-speed rail money from the Central Valley to California’s big cities has split the state’s political leadership.

— California remains the top U.S. destination for international students, who primarily come from China and India to attend USC and UC campuses, but enrollment dipped slightly for the first time in at least a decade.

LOGISTICS

Essential Politics is written by Sacramento bureau chief John Myers on Mondays and Washington bureau chief David Lauter on Fridays.

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It’s been an unusual season for Force India driver Sergio Perez, who had to navigate some tricky conditions both inside and outside the cockpit in 2018.

Perez found himself at the centre of a crisis at the team when it fell into administration over the summer. As one of the creditors owed money by Force India, he had been required to help initiate the winding-up order.

It opened the doors to allow other interest parties to make takeover bids for the squad, with a consortium led by billionaire businessman Lawrence Stroll ultimately successful in buying the business.

It meant that after a fraught few weeks in August, Perez was able to get back to racing after the shutdown. He’s since extended his contract with the team for another season in 2019 where he’ll likely be paired with Lance Stroll.

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• Points a priority for Force India in Abu Dhabi

“Abu Dhabi will be the closing chapter of a very unusual year for both me and the team,” the Mexican admitted this week.

“It was probably the most complicated season of my career, having to deal with so many things happening inside and outside the cockpit.

“The final race of the year is the opportunity to look back at the work we have done in the last twelve months,” he continued. “I am proud and grateful to everyone working back at the factory, in the garage, and in the hospitality.

“This team never stops fighting; we never stop working and now we are looking at a very promising future. I am really happy to be part of this family and I am already looking forward to 2019.”

With one race to go, Force India has to focus on maintaining seventh place in the constructors championship in a tight battle with Sauber and Toro Rosso after the points the team won in the first half the season were deducted following the takeover.

But they also have half an eye on catching McLaren ahead of them for sixth, while Perez himself would love to finish ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the drivers standings.

“I would love to end the season with a strong result,” Perez said. “I am still aiming for seventh place in the drivers’ championship.

“I know it is going to be hard, but on Sunday anything can happen and I want to be ready if the chance is there.

“The team is also aiming for sixth place in the constructors’ so we need to deliver a perfect weekend.

“[Yas Marina] is a track where we have been competitive for the last few years,” he noted. “You drive into the sunset and when all the lights come on it looks really cool.

“It’s a track that is very hard on the brakes, with a lot of emphasis on traction out of some slow corners. You need a very stable car at the rear to make the most of those braking areas.

“There are some unusual corner combinations that are interesting in the car and there are overtaking chances at the end of both long straights, so you often find yourself either attacking or defending, especially towards the end of the race.”

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Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. We’re going to change gears in this newsletter a little bit for today only. Yes, the Rams played and won Sunday. As did the Lakers. You can read all about that, and more, by clicking here. But there are two stories that may have slipped under your radar in the last few busy sports days. Stories that got lost amid all the Rams, UCLA, USC, Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Ducks results.

HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS

I wish I could take credit for this first story, but it was written by a person I consider the pre-eminent high school sports reporter in the nation, Eric Sondheimer.

Down by 21 points twice in the Division 7 playoff game Friday night, junior quarterback Walker Eget of West Ranch looked up into the filled bleachers and felt additional motivation.

In the wake of Thursday’s shooting at Saugus High, students from around the Santa Clarita Valley came together at West Ranch to support each other. They hugged, they shook hands, they cheered for West Ranch. Members of the Saugus football team were there too. Everyone was trying to fulfill the #SaugusStrong spirt.

“On the last few drives, it was, ‘Do it for the people,’ ” Eget said.

Eget finished with seven touchdown passes to help West Ranch pull out a 57-56 win over Long Beach Wilson to advance to the Southern Section Division 7 semifinals.

“It was surreal,” West Ranch coach Chris Varner said. “I was exhausted from the emotions of everything.”

Two students were killed and three wounded in Thursday’s shooting. No classes were held Friday at any of the high schools in the Hart Unified School District. The football game gave an opportunity for the community to come together and offer emotional support to those who needed a positive experience.

“Going to a football game can’t help what happened, but we’re trying to lighten up the mood and say prayers to the community,” Eget said. “Our idea was Saugus Strong. Saugus needed this.”

It was the first time Eget has passed for seven touchdowns since a game earlier this season — against Saugus. This time, Saugus fans and all fans in the Santa Clarita Valley were rooting for Eget.

VERA CLEMENTE

Vera Clemente, the widow of Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente and a goodwill ambassador for Major League Baseball, died Saturday. She was 78. She died in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Vera and Roberto Clemente got married in November 1964, according to the Roberto Clemente Foundation. Roberto Clemente was a 15-time All-Star with the Pirates. He was killed in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972 while attempting to deliver supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says Vera Clemente “impacted countless children and extended her family’s humanitarian legacy of helping those in need.”

Vera Clemente served as the chairwoman for the foundation, which works “to promote positive change and community engagement through the example and inspiration of Roberto.” Vera and Roberto had three sons: Roberto Jr., Luis and Enrique.

Pirates owner Bob Nutting called Clemente “a cherished member of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Major League Baseball family.” He says she “epitomized grace, dignity and strength in the wake of heartbreaking tragedy and loss.”

Former Pirate Steve Blass remembered Vera: “It couldn’t have been easy for her, losing her husband and raising three young boys by herself,” Blass said. “I never sensed any bitterness, though, on her part. She never wanted anyone to feel sorry for her. She went on to raise three great sons and doing so much good with her charity work with the Roberto Clemente Foundation both in Puerto Rico and Pittsburgh.

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“She was always gracious with her time to always come back to Pittsburgh and be there anytime the Pirates marked any anniversaries or paid any tributes to Roberto. She never lost that connection to the city.”

Former Pirates catcher Manny Sanguillen wrote on Twitter: “Doña Vera is in heaven, reunited with Roberto. Vera and Roberto dedicated their lives to helping others, now we must do as they taught us. Encircle their family with love, prayers, support and guidance. God blessed us with Roberto & Vera, we will follow their lead & bless others.”

So here’s a woman whose husband died tragically while trying to help others. Instead of becoming bitter, she raised their three kids and ran a charitable foundation in the name of her husband, a foundation that helped the underprivileged in two countries. Her passing deserves mention, and her memory deserves to be honored. So, if you can and are willing, take a moment today and reflect on her memory, and thank anyone you know who is serving others, in whatever capacity.

That concludes the newsletter for today. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, please email me at [email protected]. If you want to subscribe, click here.

Two of the NFL’s best — and highest-paid — defensive players had a chance to affect the Rams’ game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday night at the Coliseum.

The Rams’ Aaron Donald produced more than the Bears’ Khalil Mack.

Donald, the two-time NFL defensive player of the year, recorded two sacks and four quarterback hits during the Rams’ 17-7 victory.

Mack, the 2016 defensive player of the year, did not make a tackle.

Donald has eight sacks for a Rams team that improved its record to 6-4 heading into Monday night’s home game against the Baltimore Ravens.

“We just played good as a defense, everybody flying around and, you know, played solid,” Donald said.

The Rams’ injury-depleted offensive line featured 14^th-year pro Andrew Whitworth at left tackle and four players with little or no NFL game experience at their positions. Austin Blythe moved from guard to center. Second-year pro Austin Corbett, acquired in a trade with the Cleveland Browns last month, started at left guard, rookie David Edwards at right guard.

Rookie Bobby Evans started for the first time at right tackle and helped neutralize Mack.

“You think about Bobby Evans making his first start against Khalil Mack, who’s arguably the best rush-end in the league and it was a non-factor,” Rams quarterback Jared Goff said. “He did his thing. He stepped up, he did his thing.

“We were doing different things to help them out, but not that much, to the point where he was just playing well.”

Evans said he was not nervous.

“You have a job to execute,” he said.

Blythe helped, Evans said.

“He was calling out everything,” Evans said. “For him to be able to handle that means a lot to somebody like me still learning.”

Robert Woods inactive

Receiver Robert Woods was not at the game because of what the Rams described as a personal issue. Coach Sean McVay said he learned a few hours before the game that Woods would not be available.

“It was a personal matter — that’s all we are going to say about that,” McVay said. “We love him, respect him, we are with him and his family all the way and that’s really where we will leave that at.”

McVay did not offer a timetable for Woods’ return.

“I don’t want to give a finite answer on that,” McVay said. “I most importantly want to be able to talk to him…. I talked to him before the game, but want to be able to check with him and out of respect for his family, that’s why we’re just kind of leaving it at what it is.”

Josh Reynolds had three catches for 55 yards. Cooper Kupp, who did not catch a pass in the Rams’ 17-12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, had three catches for 53 yards, including one for 50 yards.

“We learned before the game what was going on [with Woods] and needed those guys to step up and they didn’t flinch,” Goff said. “I can’t stress enough of how proud I am of my teammates — specifically the guys that had to step up today.”

Tight ends contribute

Tyler Higbee was limited in practice last week because of a left knee injury. Gerald Everett was limited because of a wrist injury and Johnny Mundt was slowed by a groin problem. But the three tight ends played against the Bears and contributed in the running and passing attacks.

Mundt and Higbee were key blockers in the backfield and along the line of scrimmage in a game in which running back Todd Gurley had a season-high 25 carries and tied his season-high by rushing for 97 yards and a touchdown. (He also had 97 against Carolina.)

Everett caught a 20-yard pass during the fourth quarter to set up Malcolm Brown’s victory-clinching touchdown run.

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Troy Hill kept the football tucked in his left hand as long as possible.

Following his second-quarter interception Sunday, the Rams’ cornerback was patted on the back and pounded on the head. He was wrapped in enthusiastic embraces and warmly wrangled back to the bench. He returned to the sideline with a right hand free for high fives and handshakes.

His left arm, however, remained occupied by his keepsake all along.

“I was about to just keep on going,” Hill said, smiling widely in the wake of the Rams’ 17-7 win over the Chicago Bears. “I was about to take it back home, go give it to my mom.”

Eventually, Hill relinquished the pigskin to a team ball boy. His diving snag of Mitch Trubisky’s tipped pass, after all, wasn’t his first career interception or impact play. Rather, it was the latest validation of Hill’s potentially permanent starting status.

A perennial backup before this season, Hill now tops the depth chart in the Rams secondary. The team’s mid-season shake-up — which saw starting cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib depart as Jalen Ramsey arrived — has thrust the former spot-starter into a first-string role for the foreseeable future.

“In my head,” Hill, 29, said earlier this month, “I was like, ‘This is an opportunity I’ve got to take advantage of.’ ”

Quietly, Hill has become one of the Rams’ longest-tenured players. Since being claimed by the club late in 2015, he has appeared in 50 games while bouncing in and out of the starting lineup. He made four starts early in 2016, three more in relief of an injured Kayvon Webster late in 2017, and seven after Talib got hurt in the middle of last season.

Hill has never had an opportunity such as this though. After signing a two-year contract extension in the offseason, the starting job is now his to lose.

After struggling in Pittsburgh last week, his fourth start of the season, he shined against the Bears on Sunday. He recorded six tackles, knocked away three passes, and had a sack. Three plays after Hill’s interception — part of Trubisky’s injury-shortened 24-for-43, 190-yard passing display — the Rams scored a touchdown to go ahead by two scores.

“I know I get a lot of recognition or whatever it may be,” said Ramsey, the Rams’ high-profile acquisition who plays the other corner in the new-look defensive backfield. “But Troy’s been balling. Seriously.”

That Hill is in the league is a mini-miracle. Brought up in the backstreets of Youngstown, Ohio, he was sent by his mother to live with an uncle in Ventura for his high school years. After starring at St. Bonaventure High, he played collegiately at Oregon but didn’t get drafted. He found free-agent opportunities, but was released by the Cincinnati Bengals and New England Patriots in 2015.

Away from the field, he’s had issues three times — once with the Ducks and twice with the Rams, most recently a two-week suspension to start the 2017 season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.

A wake-up call came as he served that last punishment. On Sept. 11, 2017, his daughter was born. Suddenly, “She’s looking at me like I can do no wrong,” Hill said. “When you’ve got a responsibility like that, it becomes even deeper.”

So, when Hill — who coaches say was never a distraction in the locker room — returned to the team, he reset his focus. He embraced a special teams role while biding his time for a bigger opportunity.

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“You can tell, he’s one of those guys that was built to want to do whatever it took to make a team and carve out a role for himself,” Rams special teams coach John Fassel said. “He’s persevered. It’s been awesome to see him just hang in there, and then get rewarded for having a pretty important role.”

On a team that has seen mid-season personnel changes along the offensive line, at receiver and in the secondary, the Rams are hoping Hill can handle his new duties on defense and deliver the kind of under-the-radar production the Rams will need to climb back into the playoff picture.

“The more you play, the more you learn,” Hill said. “The more you get the feel for the game, you understand, ‘I did that wrong with my technique,’ or, ‘I need to stay tapped in longer.’ ”

Though his game Sunday wasn’t perfect — Hill was beaten for a completion on the Bears’ only scoring drive, and committed a third-down penalty that extended one of Chicago’s fourth-quarter possessions — his interception proved to be the pivotal play in the team’s defensive masterpiece.

“When you’ve got Jalen on the other side of you, you’re going to get a lot of opportunities to make a lot of plays,” Hill said. “You’ve got to go one game at a time, one play at a time, and keep focusing. Let it come to me.”

Years of experience ringing in his head, he repeated for emphasis: “That’s my thing. I’ve got to let it come to me.”

Corona Centennial football coach Matt Logan stunned the high school world in 2014 when the Huskies won the Southern Section Division 1 championship by alternating quarterbacks Anthony Catalano and Nate Kettingham every new series.

Now he’s taken his mad scientist ways to an even stranger level — he’s playing three quarterbacks. The Huskies are set to face St. John Bosco at home on Friday night in a Division 1 semifinal.

“When you sit back, it seems so crazy,” Logan said. “But when you do it, it’s not.”

It’s Carter Freedland’s turn to start. Then, in the next series, it’s Jake Retzlaff’s turn to play. Then, in the next series, Ala Mikaele gets his chance. It wouldn’t work if the quarterbacks weren’t willing to sacrifice individual stats for the good of the team. But they are.

“Their stats are evenly dispersed,” Logan said. “They’re equal in the way they’ve performed. They each have their days and are each playing at a high level. It’s been good competition for themselves and raised their level of play.”

Centennial is 10-2. St. John Bosco is 11-1. The big question is has Centennial improved enough since opening the season with a 42-12 loss to Mater Dei.

Logan thinks his team has improved, and using three quarterbacks has made a difference.

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