Until recently, the tech industry has mostly steered clear of Bay Area housing politics. That started to change a year ago as upstart groups like the Bay Area Renter’s Federation and GrowSF started recruiting rank-and-file tech workers, and won donations from executives like Mr. Stoppleman. While rents have recently softened, over the past few years they have soared so fast that even well-paid tech workers have found themselves struggling with rising costs.  Laura Clark, the founder of GrowSF, a nonprofit that promotes affordable housing costs in Bay Area communities, is trying to turn the hundreds of thousands of engineers and product managers into a voting bloc. Ms. Clark, who worked for a tech company before becoming a full-time housing advocate, is leading an effort to enlist tech workers to participate in phone banking and distributing pamphlets to guide tech workers on how to vote for various propositions and candidates.  Her group plans to hand out material at the various tech shuttle stops around San Francisco.  “Tech is starting to recognize that this is purely a political problem and that they have to solve this by getting involved,” she said. “I think they thought they could like hack their way out of this somehow, but you have to do the old-fashioned work of organizing and going door-to-door canvassing.”  On Nov. 8, San Francisco, Oakland and Albany will each vote on a penny-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages, including soda. In an opinion column, The Times’s David Leonhardt writes that “Big Soda” is resorting to dishonesty to fight the measures.  See reporting in The New York Times on some of the statewide initiatives: Proposition 51 (a new school bond) | Proposition 56 (cigarette tax) | Proposition 60 (condoms in adult film) | Propositions 62 and 66 (death penalty questions) | Propositions 65 and 67 (on banning plastic bags).  And dig into analyses of all 17 statewide measures by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, CALmatters, KQED and Ballotpedia.  • A Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant was shot and killed in Lancaster while responding to a burglary call. A suspect was captured. [Los Angeles Times]  • Researchers discovered a new fault line in Southern California that could force seismologists to reassess earthquake risks. [KPBS]  • In their only debate, the U.S. Senate candidates Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez clashed over who would work harder. [Los Angeles Times]  • Yahoo aided government email surveillance by adapting a spam filter. [The New York Times]  • Marc Benioff of Salesforce is trying to assuage Wall Street concerns about his plan to buy Twitter. [The New York Times]  • A home run by Conor Gillaspie lifted the San Francisco Giants over the New York Mets in the win-or-go-home National League wild-card game. [The New York Times]  • Sometimes a selfie is good enough. When it’s not, there’s always the Headshot Truck, a Los Angeles company that does on-the-go portraits. [The New York Times]  • Explore the Art Deco side of downtown Los Angeles. You’ll be surprised. [The New York Times]  • New York’s High Line was one inspiration for a writer who created a garden from scratch at her home in Mill Valley. [The New York Times]  Once a setting for the injured, the expectant and the mentally ill, a deserted hospital in Los Angeles has been converted into a gallery show that encourages visitors to ponder what it means to be human.  The Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, in the West Adams neighborhood, was shuttered in 2013 in the wake of a fraud scandal. According to a Los Angeles Times report, the owner was accused of paying recruiters to lure homeless people in as patients, then billing insurers for unnecessary treatments.  Workers were laid off, patients were transferred and the hospital was abandoned.  Now, the space is being revived with a temporary exhibit curated by John Wolf, an art adviser and dealer based in Los Angeles, who was intrigued by the site’s themes of life and death.  “The building itself houses so much human emotion,” Mr. Wolf said. “So many people passed through there in very traumatic times in their life, very painful times, and very exciting times, because there’s a maternity ward there.”  The exhibit, “Human Condition,” includes works by more than 80 artists spread throughout the building’s first, second and fourth floors. Sculptures sit atop pedestals under surgical lights in rooms once used for operations. A maternity room features photographs of men dressed as infants, part of Polly Borland’s “Babies” series.  Catherine Womack, a critic with L.A. Weekly who took a tour, called the hospital “fascinatingly creepy.”  Artworks are tucked in unexpected nooks — inside closets, offices and bathrooms, Ms. Womack wrote. “And it’s worth taking the time to look closely, because in this gallery, the art isn’t the only thing worth seeing.”  “Human Condition” runs through Nov. 30 at the former Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, 2231 South Western Avenue, Los Angeles.  California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.  The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter.  California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U.C. Berkeley.
Thursday: Tech companies join the political efforts surrounding Bay Area housing issues, a county sheriff’s department sergeant is killed, and an abandoned hospital comes alive with art.