How global companies drive the home insurance crisis in California wildfire zones
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER: "California enjoyed a comparatively mild wildfire season in 2019, but it wasn’t enough to save Bobbi Pimentel’s homeowners’ insurance policy."
"Pimentel and her husband, who live in a rural area 30 miles east of Redding, got the dreaded notice in late November: Horace Mann Educators Corp., which has insured their property for 13 years, wouldn’t renew their policy. Pimentel, who’s still looking for new coverage, fears her premiums could triple, costing her thousands of dollars."
"I just don’t understand how they can do that,” said Pimentel, 77. “They don’t mind taking our money but they’re not covering anything.” A company spokeswoman wouldn’t discuss Pimentel’s case but said Horace Mann has paid out $157 million in California wildfire claims since 2017."
Feds investigating norovirus outbreak at Yosemite
LA Times's LOUIS SAHAGUN: "Eric Reynolds was sleeping after a day supervising middle schoolers in Yosemite Valley when he was startled awake by the sound of someone pounding on his cabin door."
"Mr. Reynolds!” one student said. “My roommate just threw up all over the place!"
"At first, he assumed it was food poisoning from chicken nuggets. But by the next morning, the young man was running a fever. Then nine additional students fell sick with stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, fever — the characteristic signs of a norovirus infection."
ICE, judges deny protections for disabled immigrants in custody
The Chronicle's TATIANA SANCHEZ: "Lawyers representing undocumented immigrants detained by ICE allege that courts and government authorities under the Trump administration are not complying with a federal court order that protects mentally disabled immigrants in California, Arizona and Washington."
"The order, established in 2013 after a class-action lawsuit known as Franco-Gonzalez, applies to detained immigrants who suffer from serious mental illnesses or disabilities — such as bipolar disorder and autism — by providing them free access to counsel. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is required to flag individuals who show symptoms, and those immigrants then go before a judge for a competency hearing to determine if they qualify for protections."
"But immigration judges are granting these protections to fewer people, and ICE is referring fewer of them to the courts, attorneys say. That is forcing perhaps hundreds of disabled and mentally ill immigrants to represent themselves in court even though they are unfit to do so, putting them at risk of being deported without due process."
Ski patrol member dies in Tahoe area
From the LAT's HOWARD BLUME: "A member of a ski resort patrol has died in the Mott Canyon area of Heavenly Mountain Resort near Lake Tahoe."
"Christopher John Nicholson, 36, of South Lake Tahoe was a member of the Heavenly Ski Patrol and had been working Saturday when he was found unconscious on an expert trail."
"Nicholson was flown to the Carson Valley Medical Center in Gardnerville, Nev., where he was pronounced dead."
Annual MLK Day march in San Francisco brings out festive, determined crowd
From the Chronicle's ALEJANDRO SERRANO: "Tyree Leslie had lived just half of his 50 years when he took part in the Million Man March nearly a quarter-century ago at the National Mall in Washington, D.C."
"The San Francisco resident, flanked by men as far as the eye could see, was in awe of the momentous gathering, which inspired Leslie to advocate for social justice and education."
"That passion was on full display Monday, as Leslie joined a sea of people to march through San Francisco in the city’s annual remembrance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights champion who would have celebrated his 91st birthday last week. The event was among numerous others across the Bay Area and nation meant to observe and recognize King’s quest for equality through nonviolent protest almost 52 years after his assassination."
READ MORE on MLK Day: 12th annual MLK Day of Interfaith Service draws hundreds to Balboa Park for cleanup, celebration event -- JOSHUA EMERSON SMITH, U-T; Thousands take to the streets of Sacramento for annual MLK Day March for the Dream -- VINCENT MOLESKI, SacBee.
Controlled burns prevent wildfires, study says. So why aren't there more in California?
Sac Bee's JARED GILMOUR: "Experts from Stanford University are calling for more prescribed burns to prevent devastating wildfires in California, pointing to new research that asks why the approach hasn’t been pursued more aggressively in the fire-plagued state."
"We need a colossal expansion of fuel treatments,” said Stanford doctoral student Rebecca Miller, the lead author of the paper published Monday in “Nature Sustainability,” in a statement."
"Those “fuel treatments” Miller is referring to include prescribed burns (fires intentionally lit in a controlled setting to clear kindling that could fuel future fires) and vegetation thinning (trimming plant growth that lets wildfires climb into the tree canopy), according to the study. Researchers said those treatments are needed on 20 percent of the state’s land area to slow future wildfires."
Injuries at Fresno's Amazon double California's industry average
Sac Bee's MANUELA TOBIAS: "Amanda Caballero wishes she could go back to work at Amazon."
"She made $15 an hour at the Fresno fulfillment center — several dollars more than the state’s minimum wage — and received more than three months of paid maternity leave. Her generous health insurance package covered her husband and five children, and she liked her managers."
"But a wrist injury left the 31-year-old Fresno woman unable to work."
Related California uses public service to create SF real estate juggernaut
The Chronicle's ROLAND LI: "A half mile south of San Francisco City Hall, developer Related California’s latest project charges up the sky."
"The nearly 400-foot tower at 1500 Mission St. is the first in a new district of planned high-rises, with dizzying views of Sutro Tower and most of downtown. It has 550 apartments, 20% of them affordable, and leasing will start this spring."
"At ground level is a massive seal of the city and county of San Francisco. That’s because Related is also building new offices for the city’s Department of Building Inspection and Planning Department — the very agencies that sign off on its projects."
READ MORE related to Housing & Development: Where 13 major Bay Area developments currently stand -- The Chronicle's JK DINEEN
Rain and snow return, but won't be enough to sate NorCal's thirst
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER: "More rain and snow area headed to Northern California on Tuesday, although the storm won’t be nearly enough to make up for what’s been a relatively dry January."
"The National Weather Service said rain is expected to start falling at around 7 a.m. Tuesday, just in time for the morning commute. Light snow should hit the Sierra Nevada a couple of hours later, said NWS forecaster Craig Shoemaker."
"It’s a fairly weak storm,” Shoemaker said."
DB on public's interactions with police seeks to cut use of force
The Chronicle's OTIS R TAYLOR JR: "This is Linda Grant’s side of the story: She was hog-tied by Oakland police officers in 1996 for simply walking down the street in East Oakland."
"She tried to defend herself after officers tackled her and before they placed her in a controversial restraint that fastens a person’s hands and feet together while they’re on their stomach."
"That was the most embarrassing, insulting thing that ever happened to me,” Grant, 51, said. “Where was I going? They were already on top of me."
Will Trump stay on message in Davos?
LA Times's CHRIS MEGERIAN: "President Trump is expected to embrace one of his favorite roles at the annual economic forum here Tuesday, pitchman-in-chief for a robust American economy while he runs for reelection."
"Trump’s aides hope his visit to this tony Swiss Alps ski resort will project an image of the president cutting deals for the country, rather than obsessing about his Senate impeachment trial — as his tweets seem to suggest — or hitting the golf course in Florida, his usual retreat from Washington troubles."
"Whether he can stay on message during his two days at the World Economic Forum remains to be seen, however."
McConnell moves to speed up impeachment trial
LA Times's SARAH D WIRE/ELI STOKOLS: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed Monday to significantly speed up President Trump’s impeachment trial, offering rules that would shoehorn opening arguments into a grueling four-day period of 12-hour days, meaning a major part of the nation’s third-ever presidential impeachment trial could wrap up by the weekend."
"A day before the trial starts in earnest, McConnell proposed rules that would give House prosecutors and the president’s lawyers up to 24 hours each — but a maximum of two days each — to present their arguments as to whether Trump should be removed from office."
"Lawyers for the president, who initially sought a lengthy impeachment trial so he could mount a robust public defense, also signaled they were hoping to end the trial quickly, urging the Senate to “swiftly reject” the charges, calling them “deficient on their face” and an “affront to the Constitution."