UC President-elect Michael V. Drake knows firsthand about harsh police tactics
LA Times's TERESA WATANABE: "Michael V. Drake is the newly selected University of California president. He’s the former Ohio State University president and UC Irvine chancellor, a distinguished professor, a medical doctor, a Stanford University graduate.
As a Black man, however, he has been subjected to indignities by police that his professional pedigrees could not stop.
Drake, who turns 70 on Thursday, has been stopped and searched by law enforcement officers multiple times. The last time was about six years ago, he said, when he and a friend were pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy when they were driving home from Los Angeles International Airport and detained for 15 minutes for questioning. He was pulled aside so often at airports he used to program in extra time to get through them, he said."
Newsom says reopening of California schoools to be based on safety, not pressure from Trump
LA Times's PATRICK CMGREEVY: "Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that a decision on reopening California schools this fall will be made by local education and health officials weighing the state of the COVID-19 pandemic, and emphasized that he won’t be swayed by statements from President Trump urging campuses to bring back students quickly.
The governor’s comments came as he warned that the number of coronavirus hospitalizations in California is continuing to surge, rising 44% in the last two weeks, and that another 111 Californians died from the virus in the last 24 hours.
In recent days, Trump has called on the country’s public schools to reopen “quickly and beautifully,” but Los Angeles County’s top health official said earlier this week that the surge in new cases may require continued distance learning in the county."
California's pollution regulators go toe-to-toe with Trump. Watchdog says they come up short
Sac Bee's MACKENZIE HAWKINS: "A California environmental advocacy group urged the state’s air pollution regulator and agriculture department to do more for minority communities in an annual report card it published last week.
That report card, compiled by the California Environmental Justice Alliance, issued environmental justice grades to eight agencies, with a statewide C average.
Six agencies received what could be considered a passing grade, A- to C-. Three of those six — the Geologic Energy Management Division and Departments of Pesticide Regulation and Toxic Substances Control — went from failing grades in 2018 to passing grades last year."
Biden's $700B American manufacturing plan
LA Times's MELANIE MASON: "Joe Biden is set to lay out a $700-billion proposal on Thursday aimed at reinvigorating American manufacturing, the first of four planks in his recovery plan to address the current financial instability as well as the economic woes that predate the coronavirus pandemic.
The initiative, dubbed “Build Back Better,” will be presented at a speech in Dunmore, Pa., where the presumptive Democratic nominee is scheduled to tour a metal works facility. Senior campaign officials gave a preview to reporters on Wednesday evening.
The manufacturing proposal includes spending $300 billion on research and development projects in clean energy, telecommunications, artificial intelligence and other fields. He would also commit to $400 billion in his first term for federal procurement of American-made products ranging from clean vehicles to construction materials. The promise of government purchases, the campaign said, will give businesses confidence to hire additional workers."
Trump's campaign rally 'likely' source of coronavirus surge, health official says
AP: "President Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa in late June that drew thousands of participants and large protests “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases, Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said Wednesday.
Tulsa County reported 261 confirmed new cases on Monday, a one-day record high, and an additional 206 cases on Tuesday. By comparison, during the week before the June 20 Trump rally, there were 76 cases on Monday and 96 on Tuesday.
Although the Health Department’s policy is to not publicly identify individual settings where people may have contracted the virus, Dart said those large gatherings “more than likely” contributed to the spike."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: Why men get sicker: Male hormones may help virus infiltrate human cells -- The Chronicle's PETER FIMRITE; SF Mayor London Breed awaiting test rules aftger being exposed to coronavirus -- The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA; Single-day new record: 149 deaths -- LA Times's STAFF; Why the timing couldn't be worse for this new virus test shortage -- Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK; Sheriff exempts deputies from mask order, citing risk to officers -- Sac Bee's MATT KRISTOFFERSEN
As voting rolls plunge amid pandemic, progressives try to reinvent the registration drive
LA Times's EVAN HALPER: "While some progressives are bullish about the outlook for the November election, Tatenda Musapatike surveys the political landscape and sees masses of unregistered voters who were supposed to be on the rolls by now, but for the pandemic.
It is making her increasingly anxious, and she is not alone.
“It is hard to overstate just how underwater voter registration is,” said Musapatike, senior director of campaigns at Acronym, a progressive group focused on digital strategy."
Coronavirus spike jeopardizes opening of schools, LA County's top health official warns
LA Times's HOWARD BLUME/ELI STOKOLS: "The pending reopening of K-12 campuses is suddenly at risk because of the ongoing surge of coronavirus cases, and all public and private schools must prepare for students to continue learning entirely from home, Los Angeles County’s top public health official has told local education leaders.
This sobering message was delivered by county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, in what she termed an “off the record” phone call Tuesday afternoon with district superintendents and others that was not intended for the media or the public. The Times obtained a recording of the call.
“Every single school district at this point needs to have plans in place to continue distance learning for 100% of the time,” Ferrer told school officials. “Given where our numbers are,” she said, referring to infections and hospitalizations, “we would be irresponsible if we didn’t say to you that you have to have the backup plan ready."
Police footage shows Vallejo officer fatally shot SF man from truck's back seat
The Chronicle's MEDGAN CASSIDY/ANNA BAUMAN: " Body camera footage released Wednesday shows that the Vallejo police officer who killed a San Francisco man in front of a Walgreens last month was in the back seat of an unmarked pickup truck that had just pulled up to the scene when he fired a high-powered rifle through the windshield.
Sean Monterrosa, 22, died after the 12:30 a.m. shooting on June 2, following a day of rallies and protests against police violence on people of color. The footage released Wednesday shows multiple views from inside the pickup truck, which officers used to respond to reports of looting at the store.
But it does not show Monterrosa as he was shot or at any point before he was struck due to the camera angles, and police said that a store security camera that might have captured the shooting had been disabled by looters."
And finally, from our Always Check Your Pockets file, comes the tale of a lost lottery ticket.
“ A Canadian man who won a lottery jackpot of nearly $75,000 said the winning ticket sat forgotten for months in the pocket of a jacket he had loaned to a friend.
Jose Lima, 69, told Ontario Lottery officials he got his jacket back after loaning it out to a friend and discovered the pocket contained a forgotten ticket for the Sept. 28, 2019, Lotto 6/49 drawing.
Lima took the ticket to a store to see if it was a winner and he initially thought he had scored a much smaller prize until the validation slip revealed he had won $74,045.50."
Don't spend it all in one place....