Morning Digest: 9 Stories You Should Know Today

…It may be raining this week, but unless near-record rain falls between now and next spring, it’s likely the drought will continue through 2015, experts say. That’s because California has so much catching up to do — from near-empty reservoirs to depleted wells to parched rivers. An analysis of National Weather Service records shows that many of the state’s major cities have received so little rain in the past three years that their “rainfall deficit” heading into this winter is actually larger than the rainfall total they receive in an average — or even record — winter. And in some cases the past three years have been the driest three-year period in recorded history. Full story

Single-family home sales across the nine-county Bay Area remained below a 26-year average in October while prices plateaued, according to a report released Thursday by CoreLogic DataQuick. Contra Costa County was an exception, returning to its quarter-century average and scoring a 14 percent gain in sales from the previous year and a 16.5 percent gain in the median price. Alameda County sales were up 7.3 percent, while San Mateo and Santa Clara counties saw slight drops. Full story

South Korea’s transport ministry decided on Friday to suspend Asiana Airlines’ flights between Incheon, South Korea, and San Francisco for 45 days as a penalty for the crash of one of its jets in the United States last year. Asiana Flight 214 struck a sea wall short of the runway at San Francisco International Airport in July 2013. Three passengers were killed and more than 180 injured in the crash, the first fatal airliner disaster in the United States in more than four years. Full article

To reporters asking why House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi doesn’t step aside to make way for younger leaders after three consecutive disappointing elections, the 74-year-old Democrat hurled back a question of her own Thursday: “What was the day that any of you said to Mitch McConnell, when they lost the Senate three times in a row, lost making progress in taking back the Senate three times in a row, ‘Aren’t you getting a little old, Mitch? Shouldn’t you step aside?’” The reason it didn’t come up, the San Francisco Democrat said, was that McConnell is a man. “It just is interesting as a woman to see how many times that question is asked of a woman and how many times that question is never asked of Mitch McConnell,” Pelosi said. Full story

They’ve arrested the cop who stole racy photos from female arrestees’ cell phones, but prosecutors say there’s not enough evidence to support charges against two California Highway Patrol officers who received photos from former Officer Sean Harrington, even though the officers exchanged texts about the women. The decision to forgo charges against the other officers has shocked some in the legal community, including an attorney representing one of the victims. The key question: Were the two other officers part of a “conspiracy” to commit theft, or unwitting recipients of racy photos? Full story

Sleek new trains should be running up and down a track in Marin next year as they are tested for commuter rail service. “A year from now you will see the trains in Marin and that will build some excitement,” said Farhad Mansourian, SMART’s general manager. The official launch of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit system wouldn’t come until 2016 after federal authorities give a final OK. Full story

BART also promises that the new cars be better for disabled riders. But as we’ve already noted, disability advocates aren’t convinced. The new train cars will be more of a hindrance than a help; the two biggest issues with the new design are floor-to-ceiling poles by the entrance doors and the segregated areas for users of scooters and wheelchairs, says Belo Cipriani, who is blind. “People with disabilities don’t have as many transportation options as able bodied people have,” Cipriani told SF Weekly. “BART needs to stay accessible and not adopt the new car design. Bart isn’t just a convenient way to get around, but also the fastest without a car. People with disabilities have the right to have this service accessible to them.” Full story

The U.S. expects to earn $5 billion to $6 billion from the federal program that funded flops including Solyndra, bolstering President Barack Obama’s decision to back low-carbon technologies. It’s the first time the Energy Department has released an estimate of the potential gains for the loan guarantee program, designed to back clean-energy projects when venture capital or financing from banks and other investors is unavailable. The department expects a loss rate of about 2 percent on $32.4 billion set aside for loans to spur energy innovation, according to a report Thursday. Full story

The only Bay Area-based airline, Virgin America, became a publicly traded company on Friday in the second-largest IPO from California this year, making a strong debut on Wall Street and positioning the scrappy airline to compete for more passengers in big cities. Virgin America began trading at $26.75 on the Nasdaq, 16 percent above the $23-per-share price it set Thursday afternoon, and valuing the company at about $1.2 billion. Shares continued to climb above $29 in early-morning trading, about a 27 percent jump. Full story