Clips

-I’m a reluctant passenger on the Measure M train. That’s the half-cent sales tax increase in Los Angeles County to bankroll transportation improvements. My main reservation, aside from the fact that a 9.5 percent sales tax would be mighty steep, is that spending billions of dollars on expensive rail systems may be largely unnecessary in a few years if autonomous transportations systems (think Uber without drivers) can deliver you door-to-door using small cars that constantly move, except overnight. On the other hand, can we depend on such a futuristic system to fully take hold? Besides, the San Fernando Valley would get a lot of love with Measure M: the Orange Line busway would get converted to rail, a transportation tunnel through the Sepulveda Pass would be slated and a rapid bus system to California State University Northridge would be created. So, OK, yeah, I’d vote for it. Still, I wonder if we will eventually regret Measure M like we regret our approval of the California high-speed rail a few years ago. -- San Fernando Valley Business Journal

Political Science professor Tyler J. Hughes at California State University, Northridge said the race has generated “very little excitement” in part because it’s a contest between two Democrats and because it hasn’t appeared to be close. Hughes says it’s unfortunate it hasn’t gotten more press attention because, whatever happens, California will be electing its first woman of color to the Senate. -- Visalia Times-Delta

“VOTE OR DIE LAUGHING: A Post-Modern Political Vaudeville” Valley Performing Arts Center 18111 Nordhoff St. Northridge, CA 91330 (818) 677-3000 -- CBS Los Angeles

In the valley, video of students from California State University, Northridge recently surfaced that showed a group running away from a reported clown. -- CBS Los Angeles