Wildfire outside Yosemite grows and moves closer to park
The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "A raging wildfire just outside of Yosemite National Park is evading the efforts of thousands of firefighters as it burns through dry brush and rugged terrain, growing daily and heading toward populated areas."
"The Ferguson Fire has been burning — and growing — in and around the Merced River Canyon since July 13. The fire grew to 32,484 acres by Sunday evening and moved within about 2 miles of the northwestern portion of the national park, fire officials said. Containment continued to be listed at 6 percent."
"The fire has closed Highway 140, one of three main routes into the park, and forced the evacuation of several rural towns, including the Mariposa County communities of El Portal and Yosemite West, home to many park employees and visitors. It has also jumped Highway 140 into the Stanislaus National Forest and is burning north, where rough terrain and heavy brush could make it more difficult to fight."
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Ferguson Fire: Time until full containment still unknown
From the Bee's JESSICA JOHNSON: "Containment remains at 6 percent with 216 structures threatened, according to a news release from the unified agencies fighting the blaze, which includes Cal Fire, U.S. Forest Service and Mariposa County Sheriff’s Department."
"Thus far, four firefighters have been injured fighting the blaze, and Cal Fire firefighter Braden Varney of Mariposa was killed after his tractor overturned. His body was found July 14, and his celebration of life services are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday at The House Modesto, 1601 Coffee Road in Modesto."
Questions swirl over LAPD shootout with gunman that left a Trader Joe's store manager dead
LA Times's JAMES QUEALLY/ANH DO/RICHARD WINTON: " In the span of a few hours, Gene Atkins had shot his grandmother, kidnapped his girlfriend and then led police on a wild chase from Hollywood to Silver Lake while shooting at officers from his car, authorities said."
"Now, the armed 28-year-old was running through a crowded Trader Joe’s parking lot toward a store filled with dozens of shoppers and employees."
Taxpayers foot big bill to keep California's statewide officers safe
The Chronicle's MATIER & ROSS: "Taxpayers spent $297,169 — about $814 a day — to provide a car and driver to state Controller Betty Yee in fiscal 2016-17, state records show."
"The year before, she spent $286,608 — or about $785 a day."
"The California Highway Patrol’s near round-the-clock protection of Yee and the state’s six other statewide constitutional officers was highlighted this month when the unmarked car carrying the state controller and her husband was rear-ended as the couple were on their way to a Democratic Party Executive Committee meeting in Oakland."
Here's a switch: Comic-Con gripe session elicits plenty of praise, applause
From the Union-Tribune's LORI WEISBERG: "As Comic-Con wound to a close Sunday, attendees took time out from the exhibit floor and popular panel sessions to line up in an upstairs meeting room so they could give convention organizers a piece of their mind — as they do every year."
"Except this time, praise, applause and cheers were uncharacteristically in abundance as one Comic-Con-goer after another said they were pleasantly surprised to see how smoothly much of the sold-out convention went this year."
"“This is Comic-Con No. 18 and this really felt like it used to and that’s a good thing,” said Natalie Haspel, addressing John Rogers, president of Comic-Con International’s board of directors. “Things felt a lot more seamless.”
Willie Brown gets the award, but SF Mayor London Breed gets the attention
The Chronicle's MATIER & ROSS: "The NAACP’s ceremony in San Antonio honoring former Mayor Willie L. Brown for his lifetime achievement also turned into a national coming out party for new San Francisco Mayor London Breed."
"Everywhere she went, people were asking to take pictures with her,” said Chinatown activist David Ho, who was among the dozens of San Franciscans — many with ties to City Hall — who joined Breed in making the Texas trek to honor Brown, the city’s first black mayor and former speaker of the California Assembly."
"The only person who overshadowed her was Bill Clinton, and that was just for 10 minutes” while he introduced Brown on stage, Ho said."
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Speaking of Brown, here's his take on why there's no President Hillary Clinton
The Chronicle's WILLIE BROWN: "There was no better proof of how we have failed as voters than the scene at last week’s NAACP convention, where former President Bill Clinton presented me with the group’s award for outstanding achievement."
"As I told 2,000 attendees in San Antonio, if we had all done our job and voted in 2016, it would have been President Hillary Clinton making the presentation."
"It got a laugh, but it is the bitter truth."
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Data privacy rules have big beneficiary: lawyers
The Chronicle's KATE GALBRAITH: "Salesforce is hunting worldwide for lawyers focused on data privacy. So is Google. Newly public Okta, a San Francisco software firm, also wants to hire a privacy-oriented lawyer. Same with cloud service Twilio."
"The list goes on."
"Data privacy, once a second-order subject in Silicon Valley, has rocketed to the fore thanks to a battery of new laws. Europe’s groundbreaking data-privacy rule, the General Data Protection Regulation, took effect in May and requires continuing vigilance. Last month, Sacramento lawmakers piled on with a hastily passed law called the California Consumer Privacy Act directed at companies pulling in at least $25 million in annual revenue."
Trouble for bubble tea shops as SF bans plastic straws
The Chronicle's JONATHAN KAUFFMAN: "As the San Francisco Board of Supervisors prepares to vote on an ordinance banning plastic straws, hundreds of small-business owners could be impacted by one problem: bubble tea."
"You can drink a cocktail without a straw. You can drink a 32-ounce cola without a straw. But ferrying huge tapioca pearls from the bottom of an icy cup of tea to your mouth? Not going to happen with a spoon. As Andrew Chau, co-owner of the San Francisco-based chain Boba Guys, said, “We literally can’t have an operation without straws."
"If the ordinance passes as drafted on July 31, set to take effect in July 2019, local businesses that sell takeaway cups and lids made out of compostable plastic can’t use straws made from the same material. For the hundreds of independent businesses that sell bubble tea, many of them immigrant-owned, finding a supply of the compostable bubble tea straws may be almost impossible."
As LA struggles to reduce traffic deaths, speed limits keep going up
LA Times's LAURA J NELSON: "Sheila Brown was shocked to learn, in the spring of 2009, that the Los Angeles City Council was planning to raise the speed limit on Zelzah Avenue, a few blocks from her home in Granada Hills."
"A few weeks before, a 60-year-old woman had been struck and killed in a crosswalk on Zelzah, Brown told the City Council in an impassioned letter. She said the frequent sounds of screeching tires as drivers narrowly avoided collisions were proof that allowing higher speeds would put residents and students in danger."
“How many more people need to die in order to prove this to you?” Brown asked.
Even Trump's allies warn of pitfalls of a Putin visit to US and pan his Helsinki performance
LA Times's LAURA KING: "Lawmakers from both parties on Sunday expressed opposition to President Trump’s plans to host Vladimir Putin in Washington later this year, with even some of the administration’s Republican allies conceding that last week’s encounter with the Russian president did not go well."
"Trump, for his part, plunged ahead on Twitter with efforts to portray the Helsinki summit as a triumph, and to impugn the motives and methods of U.S. law enforcement agencies looking into links between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russia as it worked to subvert the election in his favor."
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