9 Stories You Should Know About Monday

After more than a century in California’s political spotlight, the state’s initiative process will be getting a major revise next year. Even more surprising, both Democrats and Republicans in the famously partisan Legislature are happy to see it happen. The measure opens the way for increased collaboration between lawmakers and backers of initiatives by requiring the Legislature to hold a joint public hearing on a proposed initiative as soon as 25 percent of the required signatures are collected. It also calls for the attorney general to open a 30-day public review before approving an initiative for circulation and lets supporters amend the initiative during that time. Full story

Jim Harbaugh stood in the 49ers’ palatial locker room — one he helped get built — soaking up his final minutes as the team’s head coach, making goodbyes with reporters and hugging players. General manager Trent Baalke — the victor in a lengthy power struggle — sat in a chair in a glassed-in office on the opposite side of the locker room, talking to the 49ers’ media-relations director. Jed York? No sign of the team CEO and acting owner. Except on TV monitors, where his smiling face was pasted alongside a quote explaining that the 49ers had “mutually agreed to part ways” with the best head coach the team has had in two decades. Full story

The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for the coming week for coastal areas of the Bay Area. After temperatures on Sunday were in the 50s with lows reaching in the 40s, a cold weather system from Canada is expected to bring cold air into the region on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. The system could bring the coldest temperatures of the season by Wednesday night. Full story

Faculty and students at a private high school were in mourning for their assistant principal on Monday after his death in a weekend bike crash in unincorporated Contra Costa County. Authorities confirmed that Herman Shum, 40, assistant principal at Saint Mary's High School, died when he veered into the opposite lane of traffic while trying to avoid another bike crash on Highland Road near Carneal Road around 9:15 a.m. Saturday morning. Shum fell off his bike in front of an oncoming truck. Full story

Glancing at the 458 candidates who recently showed up for the California Highway Patrol’s applicant screening on a recent blustery morning, one wouldn’t think the department has a diversity problem. The group that had gathered in the gym at the CHP’s West Sacramento academy came from the Sacramento region and mirrored its multi-hued ethnic palette. Brown and black. Yellow and white. No color stood out. Yet if the history holds true, the tiny fraction of hopefuls who pass that physical fitness testing, survive a background check and manage to graduate from the CHP’s academy a year or so from now will swear an oath to take a job that pays $6,225 to $7,720 per month to start. Most of the graduates will be white. Full story

A flotilla of giant container ships is anchored in San Francisco Bay waiting to unload cargo at the Port of Oakland, the result of a disruption that has clogged the West Coast's major commercial arteries. The traffic jam in the bay, from ships bringing in imported goods, is only part of the problem. Exports are also threatened, including perishables from the Central Valley that are stuck in limbo. Full story

The family of a window washer who fell 11 stories from the top of a San Francisco building has raised more than $70,000 in just 17 days, nearly four times what they had hoped. "I just wanted to thank everyone from the bottom of our hears on behalf of my father," 19-year-old Monica Perez wrote on the family's fundraising page for her father, Pedro Perez, 58, of San Leandro. "It means a lot to us to know that we're not alone and that people are willing to give us what little they may have just to help us in this time of need." Full story

San Francisco this month has seen a spike in cases of shigella, an intestinal bacterial disease, including among The City’s homeless population, health department officials said. There are typically five to 10 shigella cases reported in San Francisco each month. As of Tuesday, The City had seen 65 confirmed cases in December alone, according to the health department. Full story

Planned track work set to start this week near Civic Center Drive in San Rafael as part of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit commuter train project has been postponed because of recent storms that have raised issues for train officials. With more than 23 inches of rain in Marin this month, the San Rafael site has become waterlogged and can't be worked on. The "stormageddon" deluge of Dec. 11 alone flooded the site and others along the SMART corridor, giving rail officials a real-life look at what storms can do to the rail system. Full story