HSFC_2017_01_11

Doug Mills / NewYorkTimes

TOP OF THE NEWS

1 Iran:Former leader’s
funeral draws huge
crowds.A

1 South Carolina:Dy-
lann Roof sentenced to
death for killing nine in
black church.A

World/Nation

1 Raiders:

After reaching

the playoffs,

Oakland is

looking for-

ward to contin-

ue improving

in the 2017

season. Some

observers are

even predicting

a Super Bowl

appearance.B

Sporting

Green

1 Law enforcement:SuzyLoftus re-

signs as police commission president to

join sheriff’s department.D

1 Stat e regulation:Oil field near Alta-

montPass becomesflash point in politics

of oil andwater.C

1 Theater:Bill Irwin’s solo show is built

aroundIrish playwright Samuel Beck-

ett’s words.E

Bay Area

BusinessReport

Datebook

Trump given

unusual

intelligence

reportA

Emotional

Obama bids

fare well to

presidencyA

SFChronicle.com|Wednesday,January 11, 2017|Printed on recycledpaper|$1.50 xxxxx•

Comics.....E4-E

Editorials......A 13

Legal notices.C

Lottery..........A

MarketReport.C

Movies..........E

Obituaries.D6-D

Television......E

Index

Weather

Mostly cloudy,

chance of showers.

Highs: 49 -58.

Lows: 32-46. C

Despitestrong lobbyingby
San Francisco, billionaire film-
maker George Lucas hasde-
cided to build amuseum to
house hishuge art collection in
Los Angeles.

The board of directors of the

Lucas Museum ofNarrati ve

Art on Tuesday afternoon

announcedit chose a site in

Los Angeles’ ExpositionPark,

where it is to join several other

culturalfacilities and theLos

AngelesMemorial Coliseum.

The SanFrancisco proposal

was for a site onTreasure

Islandfacing the city’swater-

front.

The museum is conceived as

a celebration ofstorytelling,

with examples ranging from

vinta ge works by Norman

Rockwell to film props and

sketches fromsuchmovies as

“Raiders of theLost Ark.”

Museum officials estimate the

price tagat $1.1 billion, in-

cluding a $400 million endow-

ment — all ofwhich would be

paid by Lucas.

“I am disappointed, of

course, butmustrespect the

L.A. gets Lucas museum

FilmmakerdecidesagainstS.F. site at Treasure Island,chooses ExpositionPark

By John King

Lucas continues on A

There was no letup for thewater-saturated Bay

Area as the heavens openedagain Tuesday, un-

loading heavy rains, powerful winds and thunder-

storms that turned somestreets intostreams and

made other roadways impassable.

Among the hardest hitwas the Sonoma County

town ofGuerneville,where theRussian River

gushedover its banks and covered neighborhoods

in waist-high water, causing residents toabandon

cars andget aroundby canoe.Parts ofMarin

“It’s something you’ve got to take as it comes and just battle throughit.”

Mike Collins, Guerneville

Lea Suzuki /The Chronicle

Workers remove

a treethat fell

onto two cars and

a housing project

on Blythdale

Avenue in a

southern

neighborhood of

San Francisco.

Drenching rain belts area

anew, for better or worse

Flooding:In Guerneville,

troubles grow as river rises

By Peter Fimrite, Evan Sernoffsky

and Steve Rubenstein

Storm continues on A

WASHINGTON — Califor-
nia Sen. DianneFeinstein led
her party’s resistance Tuesday
to the nomination of Alabama
Sen. Jeff Sessions asattorney
general in theTrumpadmin-
istration, a fight that appears
futile, but could serve as a
test for the looming battle
over a pivotal Supreme Court
nomination that could arrive
withinweeks.
Debuting in her new role
as the top Democrat on the
SenateJudiciary Committee,
Feinsteindeployed the earnest
fact-marshaling that is her
trademark, while ensuring
public testimony from the
furious opposition to Sessions
from a broad collection of
civil rights lea ders, including
Amos C. Brown, pastor of
San Francisco’s Third Baptist
Church.
As the nation’s top law
enforcement officer, theat-
torneygeneral is among the
most sensitive jobs in any
administration, incharge of
enforcing the nation’s laws,
including theirapplication to
the president and the rest of
the executive branch.
“This job requires service
to the people and the law —
not to the president,”Fein-
stein told Sessions.She ex-
pressed her“deep concern”
that, “there is somuchfear in
this country. I seeit. I hearit.
Particularly in the African
American community, from
preachers, from politicians,
fromeveryday Americans.”
Civil rights groups are
deeply worried that Sessions’
hard-core conservatism, espe-
cially his narrow interpreta-

Senator

girding

for high

court

battle

By CarolynLochhead

Feinstei ncontinues on A

SACRAMENTO —Lagging
revenues ha ve put thestate’s
financial outlook onshaky
ground, and Gov. Jerry Brown
warned Tuesday that California
couldface a $1.6 billiondeficit —
the firstshortfall since 2012 — if
spending is not tempered.
The governor issued the
warningat the State Capitol as

he unveiled his$122.5 billion

general fund spending plan for

the fiscalyear that beginsJuly 1.

The plan isslightly less than the

current budget of$122.8 billion.

He also proposed solutions to

eliminate the projecteddeficit

that made some members of the

Democrat-controlledLegislature

cringe.

“We are invery uncertain

times,” Brown said. “We are

subject to a lot of unpredict-

ability. ... I thinkit is time for

precaution.”

The state’ s general fund

pays for basicstate services

suchas education, prisons and

social service programs.

Among Brown’s budget-cut-

ting proposals:

1 Eliminating lastyear’s one-

time allocation of $400 million

for affordable housing that

was ne ver spent after law-

makers could not reach a deal

with Brown.The governor said

he wanted to remove red tape

for developers to build afford-

able housing, not just increase

state subsidies.

1 Eliminating lastyear’s one-

time allocation of $300 million

Brown says state ris ks 1st deficit since 2012

By Melody Gutierrez

State budget continues on A

The storms barreling into California aren’t only

flooding towns, ripping trees from the earth and

igniting roadway chao s.

They’ve had the extraordinary effect of filling

reservoirs that haven’t breached their brims in

years and, formuchof the northstate, intensifying

a rainy season that is finally, mercifully, driving an

end to the historic drought.

“In thevery northern part of California,yes, the

drought is over,” saidMarty Ralph, director of the

Center forWestern Weather andWater Extremes

‘Drought is over’:At least

in far northern part ofstate

By Kurtis Alexander

Drough tcontinues on A

1 European

freeze:Coldsnap

haltstraffic on the

Danube and other

key rivers and kills

more than 60

across theconti-

nent. A

1 Matier &Ross:Mayor EdLee

put up a heck of a fightto land

GeorgeLucas’ museum. D