Shortchanged California firefighters to be paid $4.8M in back wages
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "California is paying $4.8 million to a group of state firefighters to make up for miscalculating an insurance-related benefit.
The state offers $155 per month to workers who get health and dental insurance from a spouse or another source instead of through the state.
About 1,900 Cal Fire firefighters elected to receive the cash payments for some period of time between May 2015 and June 2018. The state determined in 2018 that it should have been counting the cash payments toward firefighters’ base salaries for the purpose of determining their overtime pay, but hadn’t been, said Tim Edwards, president of union Cal Fire Local 2881."
READ MORE related to Wildfire Season: In this year's atypical California fire season, politicians find the blame game won't work -- LA Times's GEORGE SKELTON; How climate change connects extreme events on the West Coast -- The Chronicled's KELLIE HWANG; Dolan Fire near Big Sur is 25% contained -- but hot, dry weather is on its way -- Sac Bee's MACKENZIE SHUMAN; See a map of homes that burned in LNU Lightning Complex fire -- Sac Bee's JAYSON CHESLER; Here are California's biggest fires burning right now, and where the air quality is worst -- Sac Bee's STAFF; Steinbeck Country suffers wrath of pandemic, climate change -- The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS; Burn scars from two Bay Area megafires captured by NASA satellite -- The Chronicle's ANNA BUCHMANN
More undocumented Californians would get state tax credit under proposed law
Sac Bee's KIM BOJORQUEZ: "A new California budget bill would allow more undocumented immigrants to receive a state tax credit worth hundreds of dollars, loosening restrictions on a program that Gov. Gavin Newsom in June opened for the first time to some residents regardless of immigration status.
Advocates for undocumented immigrants have sought the tax benefit, known as the Earned Income Tax Credit, for years. They argue undocumented immigrants pay a number of taxes and should benefit from services meant to help people in financial straits.
Newsom in June signed legislation that allowed undocumented residents to qualify for the California Earned Income Tax Credit if they have children under age 6. Expanding it to all undocumented households would cost the state about $65 million a year, according to the Franchise Tax Board."
California change to bullet-tracing mandate is sent to Newsom
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Gov. Gavin Newsom will decide whether to escalate a longstanding battle between California and the gun industry over bullet-tracing technology.
The Legislature sent a bill to Newsom on Sunday that aims to compel firearms manufacturers to embrace the technology known as microstamping, which they have long rejected as unworkable, by scaling back standards the state adopted more than a decade ago.
Newsom now has a month to decide whether to sign AB2847, which would would require that semiautomatic pistols sold in the state leave a single unique imprint on bullets that are fired rather than two, as currently required. The marking, which reveals a gun’s make, model and serial number, are meant to help law enforcement investigations."
Bay Area may be turning corner on coronavirus as cases stabilize, drop in most counties
The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO: "After a deadly summer surge during which hundreds of Bay Area residents died from COVID-19, some parts of the Bay Area are finally seeing a slowdown in the spread of the coronavirus.
New coronavirus cases are stabilizing or declining in eight of the nine Bay Area counties, according to cases reported by county health departments and compiled by The Chronicle.
The Bay Area as a whole saw a 4.8% decline in new cases for the week that ended Aug. 23, compared with the week that ended July 26, according to Chronicle data."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: To survive the pandemic SF Chinatown has to adapt -- again -- The Chronicle's MELISSA HUNG; The $1B bet that people will return to downtown LA after the pandemic -- LA Times's ROGER VINCENT
The pandemic is speeding DMV's road to modernization. For visitors, it's still no day at the beach
LA Times's BRITTNY MEJIA: "For generations, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has been a crucible of nerves for teens anxious to complete the rite of passage that is a first driver’s license, older residents hoping to keep theirs and most everyone in between.
Never a day at the beach, with sometimes cartoonishly long lines, a visit to one of its offices has nevertheless been essential.
Now, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency is rethinking the way it operates."
800 video feeds. 64 set designs. How the DNC pulled off a ratings win in a pandemic
LA Times's MEREDITH BLAKE/SEEMA MEHTA: "Glenn Weiss has been a part of many unprecedented moments of live TV. He was directing the Oscars when “La La Land” was mistakenly named best picture over the real winner, “Moonlight.” The next year, he proposed to his girlfriend on stage at the Emmys.
But never in the course of his accomplished career has the 14-time Emmy winner had the opportunity to steer the course of American democracy while barefoot in his living room.
That is, until the Democratic National Convention this month."
Kamala Harris was a prosecutor. Can Donald Trump paint her as soft on crime?
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Kamala Harris says she wants to “reimagine” policing, not abolish it.
She’s been talking and writing about strategies for making law enforcement more efficient and responsive for years.
She’s also got a reputation as a tough California prosecutor, an image that became so ingrained that many Black and liberal groups were cool to her before she became the Democrats’ candidate for vice president."
Newsom has a deal on California eviction ban. Here's what you need to know
Sac Bee's HANNAH WILEY: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday said his administration struck a deal to protect renters from eviction during the coronavirus outbreak, but it’s leaving some tenant advocates disappointed.
The agreement is urgent because the state’s coronavirus eviction ban expires Sept. 1, and eviction proceedings could begin as early as Wednesday if the pact isn’t signed. As many as 4 million Californians are believed to be at risk of eviction because of unpaid rent.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 3088, would allow any renters experiencing COVID-19-related financial distress some relief, including:"
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN/SARAH RAVANI/RON KROICHICK/JOE GAROFOLI/SAM WHITING: "During another week of American life that jangled nerves and tested spirits, a president laid out an apocalyptic vision of what will happen if he is defeated at the polls. A still-untamed pandemic crept closer to claiming its 200,000th victim. Hurricanes surged as wildfires burned.
And a historic racial justice movement spilled into the streets as well as the sports world after being inflamed again, not only by the police shooting of a Black man in Kenosha, Wis., but by a teenager’s alleged vigilante killing of two people who showed up to protest that shooting.
If the images felt even more overwhelming for people here in the Bay Area, perhaps that was because fires forced evacuations and choked the air with smoke, as children, teachers and parents settled in for an indefinite stint of remote school, and many thousands of people wondered how they would pay their bills now that their jobs are gone."
California corporations would be required to diversify their boards under bill sent to Newsom
LA Times's PATRICK MCGREEVY: "California lawmakers on Sunday sent the governor a bill that would require greater diversity on corporate boards in the state, saying the shortage of people of color on the panels is a hurdle to racial justice.
The Assembly approved a measure that would require publicly held corporations headquartered in California to have at least one director from an underrepresented community by the close of 2021.
Assemblyman Chris Holden (D- Pasadena) modeled his bill on a 2018 law that requires a minimum number of women on corporate boards. He said the lack of Black professionals in the governance of the companies sends a discouraging message."
California issues new guidance to reopen schools. What does this mean for your child?
Sac Bee's SAWSAN MORRAR/TONY BIZJAK: "Momentum is growing to reopen schools amid the coronavirus pandemic in Sacramento and around the state, but in a limited way that Gov. Gavin Newsom and health officials say will be safe and controllable.
Newsom relaxed state rules on how schools can bring back some students to campus by grouping them into cohorts or small groups, and by prioritizing the return of students with disabilities, at-risk kids and others that could benefit from the in-class structure.
That move, part of a larger reopening plan by Gov. Gavin Newsom, is complicated and is requiring school officials and parents to sort out what it means."
READ MORE related to Education: Sacramento, Elk Grove school districts say workers have tested positive for COVID-19 -- Sac Bee's VINCENT MOLESKI
As grievances over racial injustice mount, so does mistrust of police reports
LA Times's ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN: "Six Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies reported hearing a single gunshot during a foot chase outside Golden Bird Chicken in Willowbrook. One said he saw a revolver on the man they were after, then a bright muzzle flash.
Lyle Spruill was arrested that December night last year and charged with one of the most incendiary of felonies — attempted murder of a police officer — even though no gun was found. He spent the next six months in jail.
Then, just before Spruill’s scheduled preliminary hearing in June, prosecutors dropped the case. The evidence, including surveillance footage of him running away and the absence of gunshot residue, didn’t support the charges, the district attorney’s office said."
Trump supporters march and float at Golden Gate, call on Democrats to leave party
The Chronicle's RUSTY SIMMONS: "Hundreds of President Trump’s supporters marched across the Golden Gate Bridge on Sunday in what appeared to be a largely peaceful demonstration.
“America is in great peril. We are in great distress,” conservative activist Brandon Straka told the crowd gathered Sunday morning for the “Rescue America” rally and flotilla.
“America is a damsel in distress tied to the railroad tracks as a freight train from the radical left is charging at her and waiting to obliterate her,” he added. “She is waiting for a hero to untie her and set her free, and that is what every one of you are today. You’re the heroes that America needs.”
READ MORE related to POTUS45: Trump and allies seek to turn violence at protests to his advantage -- LA Times's LAURA KING