California orders state GOP to shut down ballot collection boxes at gun stores and churches
Sac Bee's LARA KORTE/KATE IRBY: "California’s top election official has filed cease and desist orders against Republican Party officials after the party began collecting mail ballots for the November election with drop boxes at churches, gas stations and gun stores.
Secretary of State Alex Padilla said such ballot boxes are not permitted under the state elections code, and the only legal drop boxes are those deployed and maintained by elections officials.
In a press conference with California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Monday, Padilla said the state had filed a cease and desist order with the CA GOP and local Republican parties in Fresno, Orange and Los Angeles Counties."
California wildfires get hotter and faster as state gets older and less mobile
CHL's RACHEL SCHEIER: "Late on the night of Sept. 27, a bumper-to-bumper caravan of fleeing cars, horse trailers, RVs and overstuffed pickup trucks snaked east on Highway 12, the flames of the Glass Fire glowing orange in their rearview mirrors.
With her cat, Bodhi, in his carrier in the back seat, 80-year-old Diana Dimas, who doesn’t see well at night, kept her eyes glued to the rear lights of her neighbor’s Toyota. She and Magdalena Mulay had met a few years before at a bingo night in their sprawling retirement community on the outskirts of Santa Rosa. Both Libras, each with two marriages behind her, the two women soon became the sort of friends who finish each other’s sentences.
Now, for the second time in three years, they heard the alarms and fled together as fire consumed the golden hills of Northern California’s wine country."
READ MORE related to Wildfires/Climate Change: Glass Fire 95% contained after burning nearly 800 homes in Napa, Sonoma counties -- Sac Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH; SF firefighter died after water blast pushed him off fire escape during training, report says -- The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN
About 50K PG&E NorCal customers may lose power in safety shutoffs
Sac Bee's ROSALIO AHUMADA: "About 50,000 Pacific Gas and Electric customers in portions of 21 Northern California counties could lose their electricity as early as Wednesday afternoon in the latest series of the utility’s public safety power shutoffs to prevent new wildfires.
PG&E Corp. on Monday notified customers of the potential electricity shutdown as hot and dry conditions, along with wind gusts, are developing in the region. These conditions present an increased risk of damage to the utility’s electrical system, which has the potential to ignite fires in areas of dry vegetation, PG&E officials said in a news release.
The targeted areas for shutoffs include Placer, El Dorado, Yuba, Nevada, Solano, Sonoma, Butte and Calaveras counties. The other counties are Alameda, Amador, Contra Costa, Lake, Monterey, Napa, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra and Tehama."
READ MORE related to Power Grid/Blackouts: PG&E Outage Map -- The Chronicle; PG&E power shut-offs likely in Bay Area: What you need to know -- The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN/JD MORRIS/JOAQUIN PALOMINO; PG&E outages starting Wednesday could impact most Bay Area counties, including thousands in Oakland -- The Chronicle's ROLAND LI/JD MORRIS; Here's which Bay Area cities are likely to see PG&E power shut-offs starting Wednesday -- The Chronicle's STAFF
Johnson & Johnson suspends trial of potential coronavirus vaccine after participant becomes ill
The Chronicle's MICHAEL WILLIAMS/CATHERINE HO: "Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson is temporarily pausing its advanced clinical trial of a potential coronavirus vaccine after a study participant experienced “an unexplained illness.”
The announcement on Monday came as two Bay Area health-care providers, Stanford Health Care and the San Francisco VA Health Care System, were preparing to enroll local participants for the trial, named ENSEMBLE — and as the race for a coronavirus vaccine has become politicized, less than a month before the election.
In its announcement, Johnson & Johnson did not specify what type of adverse reaction the participant experienced after taking the vaccine candidate, JNJ-78436735."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: Californians hospitalized with COVID-19 at lowest levels in 6 months -- LA Times's SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA; California hoping to contain coronavirus spread as national cases surge -- The Chronicle's ERIN ALLDAY; A Nevada man got COVID-19 twice. His case shows why we need a vaccine -- LA Times's KAREN KAPLAN
California's vote-by-mail campaign could affect election results, taxpayer group's lawsuit says
Sac Bee's LARA KORTE: "A Sacramento-based group that represents taxpayer interests is suing California Secretary of State Alex Padilla in order to stop his office from carrying out a $35 million voter outreach contract the group says unfairly targets certain voters.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association filed the suit in Sacramento on Friday alleging that Padilla violated the law in executing the contract for a voter outreach campaign. The contract for the campaign, dubbed “Vote Safe California” went to the political consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker.
The firm, which touts itself as on “Team Biden,” has a history of working with powerful Democrats in state and national races. Anita Dunn, managing director at SKDKnickerbocker, worked in the Obama White House was named a top adviser to the Biden campaign in February. Heather Wilson, head of SKDKnickerbocker’s California office, said the firm could not comment on the pending litigation."
READ MORE related to Election Day: Here's where you can drop off your 2002 ballot, legally, in California's capital region -- Sac Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH
Trump border wall funding plan illegal and construction must stop, court rules
The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "President Trump’s pledge to build a southern border wall suffered another defeat when a federal appellate court in San Francisco ruled Friday night that the president could not use his emergency powers to divert $3.6 billion in military construction funding to build the wall.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-to-1 decision, upheld a December ruling in a case filed by the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition challenging the funding plan. California joined the case last October, along with 19 other states, seeking to halt the funding.
Chief Judge Sidney Thomas wrote in the court’s opinion that the court’s role was to decide whether construction of 11 pieces of the border wall appropriately used military construction funding."
Before letting California theme parks reopen, Newsom is looking out of state
LA Times's LORI WEISBERG/HUGO MARTIN: "Gov. Gavin Newsom, aiming for an eventual safe reopening of California theme parks, said Monday that he was sending a team of people to parks open in other states to learn what precautions they are taking to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
Although the governor has yet to offer a timeline for when he will allow large theme parks such as Disneyland and SeaWorld to resume operations, he made clear Monday that he remains concerned about the potential for virus transmission from out-of-state visitors. At the same time, he said he wants to continue working with California parks on a plan for letting them reopen. They have been shut since mid-March.
Although there have been news reports that parks outside California have not experienced outbreaks among workers or guests after reopening, Newsom said he wants an assessment from his own staff."
Gusty winds, warming temps this week renew fire risk for Bay Area
The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA: "Powerful winds and rising temperatures are expected across the Bay Area this week, a combination that could bring renewed fire risk to a region that’s already suffered through a historic fire season.
A still-building high pressure system is poised to bring wind gusts of up to 50 mph in areas of high elevation, like the northern Sierra foothills.
The winds are expected to be at their strongest between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, according to National Weather Service meteorologists."
READ MORE related to Air/Climate/Environment:
Kamala Harris avoids confirmation hearing room as Senate panel takes up Amy Coney Barrett
The Chronicle's TAL KOPAN: "As the Senate opened confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett, there was just as much focus on who was in the room — and who was not — as there was to what was being said.
California’s two senators both serve on the Judiciary Committee, but only one was present at Monday’s hearing. Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, opted to participate virtually from her office, saying the hearing room in the Hart Senate Office Building was not safe because two Republicans on the committee tested positive 10 days earlier.
One of the two, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, was in the hearing room, after saying his doctor had cleared him to return to Capitol Hill."
READ MORE related to SCOTUS: Not since Bork has a SCOTUS pick had such a public record on issues. Will it matter for Barrett? -- LA Times's DAVID G SAVAGE; Democrats avoid talk of religion, keep focus on healthcare on day one of Barrett hearing -- LA Times's JENNIFER HABERKORN
More cuts to California prisons: Eight inmate fire camps to close this year
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER/RYAN SABALOW: "California’s corrections department is following through on a plan to close eight inmate firefighting camps, reflecting a steep decline in the state’s inmate population since the coronavirus outbreak.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told employees Friday it plans to close four camps in the northern part of the state and four in the south by Dec. 31. The change will reduce the number of the camps to 35. The closures, outlined in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May budget proposal, are projected to save $7.4 million this fiscal year and $14.7 million per year moving forward.
The closure reflects a massive decline in inmate numbers over the decade, and raises questions about how the state plans to fight fires without as many inmates that who for decades been a key source of labor to fight California’s wildfires."
Oakland City Council candidates grapple with surging homelessness
The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI: "Raymond Joseph glanced briefly at vehicles speeding past him on Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Oakland before returning to sweeping away the trash and debris that accumulated outside the front door of his home.
Joseph, 56, has been homeless for nearly six years and lives in an encampment with his pregnant fiancee. He said he is frustrated by the lack of help from public officials.
“The problem is people have been priced out of their homes,” he said. “Homeless lives matter too.”"
Oakland Zoo gets two more orphaned mountain lion cubs rescued from Zogg Fire
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "Captain Cal, the badly burned mountain lion cub being nursed back to health at the Oakland Zoo, now has two female companions.
Firefighters battling the Zogg Fire in Shasta County found two more orphaned cubs — likely sisters — near Redding this week. A zoo official drove north to pick them up from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife facility on Friday.
Though untouched by the flames, the two as-yet-unnamed female cubs still need careful handling from zoo veterinarians. Roughly a month old and deprived of a mother, they can no longer survive in the wild, said zoo spokeswoman Isabella Linares."
5 men in Michigan governor kidnapping plot to face hearing
AP: "Five men accused in a shocking plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are to appear in federal court Tuesday for a hearing on whether they should be detained before trial.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Berens will oversee the bail and detention proceeding in Grand Rapids for Adam Fox, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, all of whom are Michigan residents. A sixth man, Barry Croft, is being held in Delaware.
The FBI made arrests last week after using confidential sources, undercover agents and clandestine recordings to foil the alleged kidnapping conspiracy. Some of the suspects had conducted coordinated surveillance of the Democratic governor’s vacation home in northern Michigan in August and September, according to a criminal complaint."