State plans $30M wall to stop saltwater intrusion into delta -- drought fallout
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "In the latest chapter of California’s unfolding drought, state officials are planning to build a giant rock wall across a river in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to save the vital freshwater estuary from San Francisco Bay’s saltwater.
The emergency measure is a page from last decade’s drought when the delta, a maze of sloughs and man-made channels east of the Bay Area, was at risk of becoming too salty to provide water to the nearly 30 million Californians who depend on it.
As in 2015, the freshwater rivers that feed the 1,100-square-mile delta have gotten so low that they no longer counter the brackish flows that push in from the bay. The state Department of Water Resources expects a temporary barrier, similar to last decade’s 750-foot-wide wall in the West False River, to slow the tides that carry in saltwater and keep the delta fresh."
READ MORE DROUGHT/ENVIRONMENT NEWS --- Marin County declares local emergency over drought conditions: 'Grim and deteriorating' -- The Chronicle, DOMINIC FRACASSA
CA GOP settles lawsuit for $11M after man left quadriplegic in 2016 crash
Sac Bee, ANDREW SHEELER: "The California Republican Party this week agreed to an $11 million settlement with a man left quadriplegic after being struck on the freeway by a GOP campaign worker.
The law firm representing the victim said that the settlement, the maximum amount available under the California GOP’s insurance policy, “helps expose the ongoing dangers of political campaigns which have become big business, with goals far beyond a single election.
“Politicians have responsibilities just like any other employer, and this settlement ensures that political campaigns will not escape accountability or receive special treatment,” Chris Aitken of Aitken Aitken Cohn said in a statement."
Why are cruise ships back in San Diego? Efforts to return to sea ramp up
LORI WEISBERG, Union-Tribune: "One by one, more than 120 crew members from Holland America’s Koningsdam filed into the B Street terminal Wednesday morning to get long-awaited COVID-19 vaccines administered by Sharp Healthcare personnel.
While there’s no word yet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on when cruising out of U.S. ports like San Diego can restart, cruise lines like Holland American are gearing up by making sure all its crew members are fully vaccinated.
The 126 individuals who got their first Pfizer shots on Wednesday will return June 18 for their second doses. Between now and then, the ship will be remain off the Baja California coast near La Paz."
A California militia fuels civic revolt in a red county
LA Times, ANITA CHABRIA/HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "It was a slow night in the trendy Market Street Blade and Barrel restaurant when line cook Nathan Pinkney, a budding comic and Black Lives Matter activist, spotted Carlos Zapata at the bar. He knew it meant trouble.
For weeks, he had been making political parody videos of Zapata, a high-profile militia member and a leader in a movement to recall a trio of Republican Shasta County supervisors who supported Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pandemic health orders.
Soon after the two saw each other, Zapata threw a drink at Pinkney, according to police. It escalated from there. That night, the BLM activist ended up with a black eye after two associates of Zapata allegedly assaulted him at the rear entrance of the restaurant while Zapata was present, according to police and interviews with people involved."
Getting a REAL ID in CA will be easier due to a federal rule change. Here's how
Sac Bee, ROSALIO AHUMADA: "A federal rule change means California residents applying for a REAL ID no longer have to provide a Social Security card or W-2, making the process easier for applicants, the Department of Motor Vehicles announced Wednesday.
U.S. residents will be required to present a copy of their REAL ID, a passport or other federally approved documents before being allowed to board a plane for domestic flights, enter a federal building, or military base when the program is fully implemented.
“We continue to streamline the REAL ID process so that customers can upload required documents, avoid long lines and get a REAL ID well in advance of the federal enforcement date,” California DMV Director Steve Gordon said in a news release."
Fellow Asian Americans laud Kamala Harris' rise, but want more clout for their communities
LA Times, NOAH BIERMAN: "Americans of Asian and Pacific Island heritage voted in unprecedented numbers to help Vice President Kamala Harris become the first Indian American in national office, and to push Democrats over the top in decisive races in Georgia and elsewhere that gave the party control of the Senate.
But even with one of their own at the pinnacle of power, many of the activists who helped turn out that vote say their diverse communities are still not getting the attention they deserve from either party, especially given the heightened fears of pandemic-driven discrimination and violence that drove many to the polls to oust former President Trump.
“National progressives and national Democrats haven’t really fully reconciled with what we saw in this election,” Varun Nikore, executive director of the progressive AAPI Victory Alliance, said in advance of a unity conference Wednesday evening featuring Harris."
EPA to review Roundup killer weed to assess potential 'ecological risks'
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Biden administration environmental officials say they will consider restrictions on the world’s most widely used herbicide because of concerns about potential harm to monarch butterflies and other species.
But the Environmental Protection Agency told a federal appeals court Tuesday it has not identified any risks to humans from the main ingredient in the weed killer Roundup, whose manufacturer, Monsanto, has been hit with multimillion-dollar jury verdicts in suits by cancer victims. The EPA is not proposing to limit the use of Roundup or add label warnings, at least until after it reviews the chemical’s environmental effects.
If Roundup were taken off the market, “vast sectors of the agricultural economy, including the most commonly grown crops in America, would be affected,” and farmers would use herbicides that were more environmentally damaging, lawyers for the agency told the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco."
Prom will be different this year. SF rules will ban dancing 'in the traditional sense'
The Chronicle, MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "Bay Area high school seniors, who already have endured a most unusual year, face another strange twist: a San Francisco prom night on which there will be “no dancing in the traditional sense,” according to city health officials still battling with COVID-19.
After a year of mostly staying at home, taking classes via Zoom and wishing for things to return to normal, seniors at some high schools are being allowed a taste of tradition with some typical end-of-the-school-year events — like prom and graduation.
But there are rules that will make the 2021 prom unique in San Francisco, according to the city health department’s current guidelines for school events."
Force mental health patients into treatment? Sacramento County OKs use of Laura's Law
Sac Bee, MICHAEL FINCH II: "Sacramento County will join a statewide program that gives judges the power to order people to participate in mental health treatment, adding the county more than a dozen others that already offer “assisted outpatient treatment.”
Faced with a looming deadline, the Board of Supervisors this week unanimously agreed to add the program to its list of mental health initiatives and services. The topic sharply divided community members between those who praised the effort as a cost-saver and others who said it was coercive and limits liberty.
“I think we have an opportunity here to do something in Sacramento County,” said Supervisor Rich Desmond. “Obviously it’s not a panacea but it’s one more tool ... that will allow us to save some people out of the hopelessness and desperation that they’re experiencing.”"
In major reversal, LA County sheriff will name deputies 30 days after they shoot a civilian
LA Times, ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN: "Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Wednesday that the names of deputies who shoot civilians will be released 30 days after the incident, reversing a longtime practice.
As recently as last month, Villanueva had said that the names would come out only after the district attorney’s office finishes its review of each shooting, which can take months or years.
Villanueva’s change of course comes after The Times found that his department was an outlier among some of California’s largest law enforcement agencies, which readily identify officers involved in shootings."
House backs commission on Jan. 6 riot over GOP objections
AP, MARY CLARE JALONICK: "The House voted Wednesday to create an independent commission on the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, sending the legislation to an uncertain future in the Senate as Republican leaders work to stop a bipartisan investigation that is opposed by former President Donald Trump.
Democrats say an independent investigation is crucial to reckoning what happened that day, when a violent mob of Trump's supporters smashed into the Capitol to try and overturn President Joe Biden's victory. Modeled after the investigation into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the legislation would establish an independent, 10-member commission that would make recommendations by the end of the year for securing the Capitol and preventing another insurrection.
The bill passed the House 252-175, with 35 Republicans voting with Democrats in support of the commission, defying Trump and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. Trump issued a statement urging Republicans to vote against it, calling the legislation a “Democrat trap.”"