Fish or farmers? Newsom drought declaration would trigger new war over California water
Sac Bee, DALE KASLER/RYAN SABALOW: "When a bipartisan group of state legislators held a press conference last week to demand that Gov. Gavin Newsom declare a statewide drought emergency, they assembled at a withered farm field east of Fresno, complete with piles of dead trees in the background.
The choice was no accident. With California already experiencing drought-like conditions, Central Valley farmers and their elected representatives are the ones putting the most political pressure on Newsom to make it official.
“We need every tool in the tool box we can get,” said Ryan Jacobsen, chief executive of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. “We are staring down the barrel of some very severe drought conditions right now.”"
RALPH VARTABEDIAN, LA Times: "Atop massive viaducts and bridges under construction for the bullet train in the San Joaquin Valley, the state has hung banners proudly proclaiming “5,000 workers and counting.”
The slogan is catchy, but misleading. The state rail authority has never had anywhere near 5,000 construction workers on the high-speed rail project at any one time. A review by The Times also found other transportation programs generally employ more workers for every $1 million in spending.
The banners are an important part of a campaign that the California High-Speed Rail Authority has waged to maintain political support, calling attention to the hourly jobs it has funded in the depressed economy of California’s heartland."
Newsom's COVID emergency powers upheld by California court
Sac Bee, LARA KORTE: "A California appeals court affirmed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s use of emergency powers on Wednesday, shooting down a challenge by Republican lawmakers who said the Democrat acted illegally when he issued an executive order laying out procedures for a mail-in election.
The decision by the 3rd District Court of Appeal on Wednesday overturned an earlier ruling at the Sutter County Superior Court that sided with the Republican lawmakers who brought the suit against the governor.
The appeals court found that Newsom’s order complied with the state’s Emergency Services Act, which gives the governor expanded powers in extreme circumstances."
California’s jobless claim backlog is growing again, sparking opposition to proposal for new agency
PATRICK McGREEVY, LA Times: "State lawmakers on Tuesday rejected a proposal by the governor to create a new state agency to improve working conditions in California, with opponents saying the state should first resolve serious problems that have delayed payment of unemployment benefits to many of those left jobless by the COVID-19 pandemic.
An Assembly panel recommended against creating the new department at a hearing where lawmakers noted that a backlog of delayed claims has grown in the last month. Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) and others said unemployed Californians are still facing frustrating delays in getting benefits.
“This month, my office has been receiving countless calls from desperate constituents, many of whom are in tears, some of whom are on the brink of homelessness and even some who have threatened suicide,” Chiu told leaders of experiences with the state Employment Development Department. “This is just a completely untenable situation for our constituents.”
California reports 3,100 'breakthrough' COVID cases among the vaccinated
Sac Bee, KEN CARLSON: "Between Jan. 1 and April 28, California public health officials recorded 3,084 breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in people who were fully vaccinated. That’s out of 12.9 million people who were fully vaccinated.
“As more time passes and more people are fully vaccinated, it is likely that additional post-vaccination cases will occur,” the California Department of Public Health said in a statement. “The number of post-vaccination cases remains small.”
The California Department of Public Health said it’s trying to find COVID-19 cases among vaccinated people by reviewing case and vaccine records."
The Chronicle, ESTHER MOBLEY: "The ranks of social media influencers promoting wine are growing — and dividing opinions within the California wine industry. To some, the work of these influencers is crucial to the industry’s future. To others, it’s an abomination.
Recently, several critics of these “vinfluencers” have been blunt: They’re “wannabes” practicing a form of “nauseating self-aggrandizement,” according to writer James Lawrence. Many of them are fraudsters and cheats, blogger Jamie Goode asserts. In the Spectator, Lisse Garnett argues it’s hard to take their commentary seriously because of their “overly staged sex appeal.”'
For other industries, like fashion or cosmetics, these sentiments will feel like old news. They’re a few years ahead of wine in terms of reckoning with influencers, those denizens of Instagram who can leverage their large followings to get paid by brands for product placements. For at least the past five years, even the slow-to-adapt wine industry has been engaging with them to some extent."
Solano is the only Bay Area county still stuck in the red tier. Here's what's holding it back
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "In recent months, coronavirus case rates have plummeted in much of the Bay Area. Most of the region’s counties are now in California’s “moderate” orange reopening tier, which allows for loosened restrictions, and San Francisco moved to the least restrictive yellow tier on Tuesday.
But Solano County, which has continued to struggle with higher case rates than the rest of the Bay Area, is still stuck in the red tier — the second-most-restrictive in the four-tier system.
According to the latest data from the state for the week ending April 24, Solano reported 8.8 new daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 people, and an adjusted case rate of 8.3, which takes into account a county’s testing efforts."
State travel officials urge Californians to plan summer vacations
The Chronicle, GREGORY THOMAS: "From a podium in Moscone Center on Tuesday morning, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis urged Californians to start planning their summer vacations. Where does she want them to go? California.
“It’s time. You can safely get out in public again,” Kounalakis said. “I think we all need a little weekend getaway.”
Encouraging pandemic-fatigued Californians to step out of their homes and spend money touring their own state was the message of a news conference hosted by Visit California, the state tourism bureau, ahead of Gov. Gavin Newsroom’s plan to fully reopen the state on June 15."
California blackouts this summer? State offers 'guarded optimism' the lights will stay on
Sac Bee, DALE KASLER: "The managers of California’s electricity system can’t promise they’ll be able to keep the lights on this summer.
Still reeling from two nights of rolling blackouts during last August’s heatwave, state officials say they’ve fortified the power grid against more outages but acknowledge that another extraordinary surge in temperatures could spell trouble.
“We have some guarded optimism that we’re going to get through it,” said Elliot Mainzer, president of the California Independent System Operator, which runs the electric grid."
Cal Expo delays California State Fair, will continue as site of mass COVID-19 vaccinations
Sac Bee, CATHIE ANDERSON: "The California State Fair will be delayed and slimmed down this year as leaders of Cal Expo announced Wednesday that they will continue to dedicate most of its buildings and open spaces to the COVID-19 response.
“While the California State Fair is more than just an event, it is vitally important that Cal Expo continues its efforts to get Californians vaccinated and help our communities recover,” said Jess Durfee, chair of the Cal Expo board.
The fair has been scheduled for July in recent years. The Cal Expo board said in a Wednesday news release that it will discuss presenting a modified “slimmed down” version of the event later this year."
Is SF more conservative than Moscow? Top SF official says yes
The Chronicle, HEATHER KNIGHT: "Jeffrey Tumlin has worked in cities around the world — from Los Angeles to New York, from Vancouver to Wichita, Kan. He’s worked in Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Moscow, too.
And the executive director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency says San Francisco stands out among them all — for being the most conservative.
Wait, what? San Francisco is more conservative than Moscow?"
What's it like to live in the hottest real estate neighborhood in the Bay Area
The Chronicle, SUSIE NEILSON: "The street where Omar Ramos lives looks like many others in East Oakland. A tree-lined corridor, 25th Avenue runs between rows of pastel storybook-style homes. Some are surrounded by iron gates; several front lawns bustle with ornaments; a few multi-unit buildings are sprinkled among the single-family homes.
On a warm Saturday afternoon, Ramos stood outside his home, tinkering with his car. A boating engineer for Marine Express, he was part of the team that first responded to the Grand Princess cruise ship when it docked at the Port of Oakland early last March, carrying some of the first confirmed cases of COVID-19.
“It was like something out of a movie, you know. We were dressed in the all-white suits with the full face masks,” he said."
And in an other news...
Sports legend Willie Mays turns 90 -- The Chronicle, DIGITAL TEAM