Marines identify 8 servicemen presumed dead after training accident off San Clemente Island
LA Times's LUKE MONEY/CARLOS LOZANO: "The U.S. Marines late Sunday released the names of eight service members — including three from Southern California — who went missing during a training exercise off San Clemente Island last week.
The seven Marines and one sailor are presumed dead, officials said. The search-and-rescue operation ended earlier Sunday.
“It is with a heavy heart that I decided to conclude the search-and-rescue effort,” Col. Christopher Bronzi, commanding officer of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said in a statement. “The steadfast dedication of the Marines, sailors and Coast Guardsmen to the persistent rescue effort was tremendous."
What the pension ruling at the California Supreme Court means for retirees, public employees
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "A major pension decision published by the California Supreme Court on Thursday leaves retirement benefits intact for nearly all public workers in the state.
The case was the second in two years challenging the so-called California rule, the set of legal precedents that has long prevented state and local governments from reducing public pensions without offering new benefits to make up for the losses.
The court’s decision clears from the judicial pipeline any major cases that lawmakers could use to reduce workers’ retirement benefits to try to save money."
What's in a name? Everything, unhappy California initiative backers say as they sue state
The Chronicle's JOHN WILDERMUTH: "Campaigns in four of the 12 initiative measures in California’s November election have sued state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, charging that his office wasn’t fair and neutral when it prepared the titles and summaries that will appear on the ballot.
Becerra has written “an argument in favor” of Proposition 16 rather than the “true and impartial statement” required by state election law, opponents of the measure said in their suit. The measure would repeal Proposition 209, a 1996 initiative banning affirmative action in public university admissions and in government contracting and hiring.
That complaint was echoed in the other suits, which argue that Becerra improperly slanted the language in those ballot titles in favor of positions he supports."
Who should get a COVID-19 vaccine first? 'Controversial' choices ahead, experts say
Sac Bee's DAWSON WHITE: "Experts are trying to determine who should be first to receive a coronavirus vaccine once one becomes available.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, said a vaccine could be ready by the end of the year and distributed to Americans in 2021, NPR reported.
“From everything we’ve seen now — in the animal data, as well as the human data — we feel cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine by the end of this year and as we go into 2021,” Fauci said, according to the outlet. “I don’t think it’s dreaming."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: California struggles to end coronavirus spiral after its worst month for infections -- The Chronicle's LAUREN HERNANDEZ; See which counties are on California's coronavirus watchlist -- Sac Bee's JAYSON CHESLER; Hunt goes on for mom who vanished on pandemic 'road trip' to California national park -- Sac Bee's DON SWEENEY; Imperial County was a warning for California. Will its shutdown be a model? -- The Chronicle's DUSTIN GARDINER; Why we still can't track the spread of COVID-19 across the Bay Area -- The Chronicle's ERIN ALLDAY; Hospitalizations drop in LA, Orange counties -- LA Times's ALEX WIGGLESWORTH
Eviction ban to end in California. And a crisis looms if lawmakers don't act
Sac Bee's MALAIKA KANAANEH TAPPER: "The first of August arrives with a renewed sense of worry for renters in the capital region and California affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Until now, tenants have been protected by a series of overlapping rules on the county, state and federal levels which have put evictions on hold during the coronavirus pandemic. But as the suspensions begin to expire, Sacramento-area tenants are staring over the edge of a cliff.
The Judicial Council of California announced earlier this month it would vote on ending its emergency protections for tenants as early as Aug. 14, shifting the onus to act to legislators. With the deadline looming, Gov. Gavin Newsom has extended local governments’ ability to ban evictions until Sept. 30, but many are counting on the Legislature, which is considering multiple bills to extend that ban and protect tenants and property owners who have lost income."
Empty towers. Quiet streets. Struggling cafes. Will downtown SF ever boom again?
The Chronicle's ROLAND LI/SHWANIKA NARAVAN: "For 20 years, Adam Smith, owner of San Francisco newsstand Fog City News, told employees and customers one thing before they left his store at Market and First streets.
“You’re going on a highway that is Market Street. Be careful or you’ll be trampled by people,” he would say.
No longer. The coronavirus pandemic has turned downtown San Francisco, once bursting with workers and tourists, into a ghost town. A nearly decade-long boom that fueled record low unemployment and the highest average real estate prices in the country has come to an abrupt end. More than 150,000 San Francisco residents have filed unemployment claims this year. Apartment rents have dropped over 10% from last year, according to real estate data firm Zumper."
Salmonella outbreak causes 50-state onion recall
Sac Bee's DAVID J NEAL: "Onions sold under various brands have been recalled in all 50 states and the District of Columbia after being linked to a salmonella outbreak that’s sickened 359 people in 34 states, according to the CDC.
This includes red onions, yellow onions, white onions and sweet yellow onions. This includes onions sold at nation’s two largest grocery sellers, Walmart and Kroger. Walmart has put out a list of affected stores. Kroger sold the onions under their house brand.
The onions come from California-based onion producer Thomson International and were exported to Canada, which had 114 onion-connected salmonella cases the Public Health Agency of Canada said Thursday. Sysco Canada issued an onion recall up there on Thursday."
READ MORE related to Economy: Microsoft wants to buy TikTok as WH puts CN apps on warning -- LA Times's WENDY LEE; How OC hair salons work through the coronavirus -- LA Times's ANDREW TURNER
SF's Tenderloin to receive wider pedestrian areas, play spaces amid pandemic
The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY: "A four-block stretch of San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood will be remodeled to make room for pedestrians, a temporary project intended to allow for more physical distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.
The new “pedestrian spaces” were announced by Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Matt Haney on Friday as a way to support residents and businesses in the neighborhood, which has been hard-hit by the virus.
The Jones Street project will extend from O’Farrell Street to Golden Gate Avenue. It will include an additional five to eight feet of walking space, adjacent to the sidewalk borrowed from the streets and protected from traffic with concrete barriers or parked cars."
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "Frustrated Bay Area families already know classes will be online when school starts in the coming weeks, but many still have no idea when their K-12 students will have to log on for lessons or how many hours of live instruction they would get.
That’s because districts are still hammering out those details with teachers unions and, in many cases, those negotiations are tense if not near an impasse, even though school starts for some in 10 days.
These agreements will dictate what teachers are expected to do when it comes to distance learning, how many hours they will be expected to work each day and how much time will be spent on live instructions, among many other working conditions."
READ MORE related to Education:
Sun-baked SoCal expected to cool off by Wednesday, according to weather service
LA Times's ADAM ELMAHREK: "A heatwave that has baked Southern California in recent days is expected to begin easing on Monday, with relief and a noticeable drop in temperatures by the middle of the week, meteorologists said.
The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory this weekend, with Van Nuys hitting 94 degrees on Sunday, Riverside 96 and Palm Springs 108. Other mountain, inland and foothill areas were also expected to see triple-digit temperatures before the end of the day, the weather service said.
“We’re expecting that today should be the end of the peak,” said Kathy Hoxsie, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “We still have forecast of some hundreds across some of the interior valleys. Tomorrow we see just a few degrees cooler, but then by Tuesday and Wednesday, specifically Wednesday, we see a pretty good drop."
READ MORE related to Climate/Environment: Manhattan Beach was once home to Black beachgoers, but the city ran them out. Now it faces a reckoning -- LA Times's ROSANNA XIA
Evacuations ordered for 1,000-acre fire in Colusa County, smaller blaze on Nevada state line
Sac Bee's DANIEL HUNT: "Evacuations were ordered for several homes Sunday afternoon for a wildfire in Colusa County quickly spread to 1,000 acres.
The Sites Fire started just after 4 p.m. near Sites Lodoga and Campground roads, southeast of Stonyford, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Sonoma-Lake-Napa unit.
The fire, which incident commanders reported to be at about 1,000 acres by 7 p.m., prompted the mandatory evacuation of several ranch properties along Sites Lodoga and Squaw Creek roads. A spokesman for Cal Fire said at least 12 structures were threatened."
READ MORE related to Fire Season: Firefighters struggle to control Apple fire in Riverside County as winds pick up -- LA Times's ALEX WIGGLESWORTH/LAURA NEWBERRY
Oakland victim's family: Slain 'Lil' Jeff' mattered
The Chronicle's PHIL MATIER: "There were no marchers, no chanting, no raised fists on the quiet West Oakland street. Just the sound of a mother’s voice on the verge of tears.
“When one of our young Black men or Black women are killed, it should affect the community. This continues to happen in our community over and over. Black lives matter. All lives matter. Jeffery Chambers’ life mattered,” his mother, Dorothy Grant, told the few assembled reporters.
The gathering was small. A news conference of family members organized with the help of Oakland police in an effort to solve the stabbing death of “Lil Jeff,” a 25-year-old with a history of schizophrenia, described by his family as loving and funny."