Sacramento DA Anne Marie Schubert says she’s running for state attorney general
Sac Bee, MARCOS BRETON: "Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert will announce Monday that she is running for attorney general of California.
Schubert will challenge incumbent Rob Bonta, who was just sworn in on Friday to succeed Xavier Becerra. Becerra departed to become U.S. Health and Human Services secretary under President Joe Biden.
“I’ve done nothing else in my life other than being a public safety advocate,” Schubert said in an exclusive interview with The Bee. “I’m running because I believe the system deserves balance. I believe that the attorney general job should not be political. I’ve learned over the last 30 years that no matter what your walk of life is, everyone wants the same thing: They want their community to be safe.”
Wells dry up, crops imperiled, workers in limbo as California drought grips San Joaquin Valley
LOUIS SAHAGUN, LA Times: "As yet another season of drought returns to California, the mood has grown increasingly grim across the vast and fertile San Joaquin Valley.
Renowned for its bounty of dairies, row crops, grapes, almonds, pistachios and fruit trees, this agricultural heartland is still reeling from the effects of the last punishing drought, which left the region geologically depressed and mentally traumatized.
Now, as the valley braces for another dry spell of undetermined duration, some are openly questioning the future of farming here, even as legislative representatives call on Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a drought emergency. Many small, predominantly Latino communities also face the risk of having their wells run dry."
UCSF reports a Bay Area man got blood clot after receiving Johnson & Johnson vaccination
The Chronicle, JK DINEEN: "Two days after federal regulators lifted the temporary nationwide pause on administering Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, UCSF on Sunday reported the first known case of a male in the United States developing a clot after receiving the shot.
All 15 similar cases the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had learned about and examined — after they emerged from about 7 million Johnson & Johnson shots administered — involved women who developed rare blood clots after their vaccinations.
The UCSF case was a Bay Area resident in his early 30s who got a clot in his leg and was hospitalized, officials said.
Newsom bans new California fracking permits starting in 2024
PHIL WILLON and TARYN LUNA, LA Times: "Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday took action to ban new permits for hydraulic fracturing starting in 2024, halting the controversial oil extraction method reviled by environmental activists, and called on regulators to evaluate phasing out all oil production in the state by 2045.
Newsom’s announcement comes as a recall campaign against him appears close to qualifying for the ballot and is a reversal from the governor’s previous statements that he lacked the executive authority to ban hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking. Newsom recently decided to use the state’s environmental regulatory authority after efforts to pass the ban legislatively failed, an administration spokesperson said.
The statewide ban on new fracking permits will be imposed administratively in 2024 by the state Department of Conservation, which regulates California’s oil and gas industry, giving the agency time to draft the new mandate."
‘We’re coming for you’: Public health officials endure a year of extremist threats
ANNA MARIA BARRY-JESTER, LA Times: "Dr. Gail Newel looks back on the past year and struggles to articulate exactly when the public bellows of frustration around her pandemic-related health orders morphed into something darker and more menacing.
Certainly, there was that Sunday afternoon in May, when protesters broke through the gates to her private hillside neighborhood, took up positions around her home, and sang “Gail to Jail,” a ritual they would repeat every Sunday for weeks.
Or the county Board of Supervisors meeting not long after, where a visibly agitated man waiting for his turn at the microphone suddenly lunged at her over a small partition, staring her down even as sheriff’s deputies flanked him and authorities cleared the room."
McDonald’s workers want more say over California labor conditions. This plan would help them
Sac Bee, JEONG PARK: "Lizzet Aguilar knew to speak up when she couldn’t hug her son.
As the pandemic raged, she said she had worked for weeks at McDonald’s in Los Angeles without getting masks. She saw her co-workers being sent to clean other stores where people were getting ill.
Aguilar went on a strike, then filed a complaint to the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, commonly called Cal-OSHA. The blowback was immediate and fierce, she said.
Burn it first. That deprives wildfires of the fuel they need to grow big and dangerous
The Chronicle, JULIE JOHNSON: "Dripping small flames from handheld fuel canisters, two dozen trained volunteers began setting fire to 35 acres of dense brush near homes atop a ridgeline rising out of Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County the other day.
They were part of a major push in California’s forested communities to burn overgrown thickets around homes and roads before the state runs headlong into another fire season — one with the potential to surpass last year’s record devastation.
Even with the rain that fell Sunday, a dry winter season and worsening drought conditions are narrowing the window to safely light prescribed fires, one of the most efficient methods of creating defensible space in forested areas."
California correctional officer placed on leave amid investigation related to guard’s death
Remote workers are being paid $20,000 to relocate to America's small towns
The Chronicle, CAROLYN SAID: "Small towns across America have a message for the new crop of remote workers: We’ll pay you to move here.
From Maine to Michigan, communities are dangling incentives ranging up to $20,000 in cash and perks for out-of-state folks who relocate and stay at least a year, while continuing their existing jobs from a distance. Besides the money, the main lures are lifestyle amenities — a slower pace, affordable housing, less traffic, access to nature, close-knit communities.
For towns and counties, it’s well worth forking out money to diversify their populations and boost their economies. New residents patronize local restaurants and stores, pay taxes, enroll their kids in schools and may volunteer or immerse themselves in civic activities."
The pandemic is making it even harder to be young and homeless
The Chronicle, SHWANIKA NARAYAN: "From the ages of 23 to 26, Greg Ritzinger mostly lived out of his car in San Francisco.
Struggling with substance abuse and estranged from his family, Ritzinger tried to save up enough money to stay at a motel once a week. Most days he wasn’t so lucky. He remembers jotting down the name of shops that let him use the bathroom — after buying something.
“I’d generally go around a week without showering, just washing up in bathrooms or using wipes and mouthwash,” he recalled. “I tried to keep my face clean; if I didn’t look too disheveled then it was way more likely I’d be allowed to use the bathroom.”