California's rain year just ended -- and the data shows we're in trouble
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "California’s rain year officially ended Wednesday, and the data reflects what the dry landscape in much of the Bay Area already shows: It wasn’t pretty.
Data shows that for many of the major regions of California, the July 2020-June 2021 rain year was one of the top 10 driest ever.
Even more troubling is that the extreme dry spells are starting to stack up, especially in the Sierra Nevada watersheds that supply so much of the state’s water."
Evacuations being ordered for new wildfire burning in NorCal north of Redding
Sac Bee, ZAEEM SHAIKH: "Evacuations are being ordered Wednesday as a new wildfire is burning in Northern California.
The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post evacuations are taking place in the Lakehead area. Forest Service officials said an evacuation warning is in place for that area east of Interstate 5 to Riverview Drive.
Shasta County deputies said the evacuation center is Central Valley High School on La Mesa Avenue in Shasta Lake."
Hate crimes against Asian Americans in California spiked by 107% in 2020, new data shows
Sac Bee, KATHERINE SWARTZ: "Reports of hate crimes across California — particularly involving the Asian American and Pacific Islander community — rose exponentially from 2019 to 2020, according to the state attorney general’s office.
Attorney General Rob Bonda described the year as an “epidemic of hate” against the AAPI community as reports of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans increased 107%.
The wave peaked in March and April, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from his office."
California fire season: Will my COVID mask work for wildfire smoke?
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "Since California’s recent pandemic reopening, many vaccinated residents have been shedding their masks. But in addition to rising concerns about the delta variant, there may be another good reason to hang onto them: wildfire smoke.
Last season’s record-breaking wildfire season severely impacted Bay Area air quality, triggering a record number of Spare the Air days. And with extreme heat waves already descending and the state’s severe drought providing an abundance of parched fuel, experts say California is poised to see more catastrophic wildfires this year.
Masks became part of our daily apparel during the pandemic, but will the face coverings we bought to help protect us from the coronavirus also shield us from the harmful effects of wildfire smoke?"
California Republican votes 'no' on Capitol riot committee after supporting earlier proposal
Sac Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Rep. David Valadao voted Wednesday against creating a special Democratic-controlled committee to investigate the January 6 Capitol insurrection — after supporting an independent commission last month.
The proposal for the commission he supported would have been split between Democrats and Republicans and had an end of year deadline. The new panel, though, will be dominated by Democratic appointees and, Valadao said, “will only divide us further.”
Democrats can “draw out their witch hunt as long as it suits them. The American people deserve to know the truth about what happened that day, and now they will be stuck with soundbites and theatrics,” he said."
California lawmakers push feds to allow a therapy that pays meth users to abstain
The Chronicle, MARK KREIDLER: "In his multiple attempts to overcome a methamphetamine addiction that ground through two decades of his life, Tyrone Clifford Jr. remembers well the closest he came.
“The most success I had,” he said, “is when my dealer was in jail.”
Then Clifford walked into a rehab clinic in San Francisco called PROP, the Positive Reinforcement Opportunity Project. There, he encountered an approach so simple he sounds slightly bemused explaining it. The secret? The program paid him to show up and stay clean."
State launches audit of sexual harassment policies at powerful SoCal water agency
LA Times, ADAM ELMAHREK: "State authorities approved an audit of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California over its handling of sexual harassment complaints, following allegations that leaders at the powerful water agency tolerated bullying and abuse of women in the workforce.
The audit was adopted during a hearing Wednesday afternoon of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and comes after a Times investigation earlier this year found a pattern of complaints from women enrolled in the district’s trades apprenticeship program.
Only 18 women worked in trades positions for the district between 2005 and 2019, according to district records. Six filed equal employment opportunity complaints with the district, records show."
How California started the NIL revolution and helped NCAA athletes get paid today
LA Times, J BRADY MCCOLLOUGH: "In the days leading up to the 2015 “Big Game,” a Cal alum invited a Stanford grad to lead a discussion on college sports that would go far beyond their football rivalry.
Nancy Skinner did not know that Andy Schwarz agreeing to speak at this Oakland Rotary Club luncheon would spark a national insurrection against the NCAA, but she did know that Schwarz, an economist specializing in antitrust, was on her side.
“I am clear that college athletes should be compensated,” Skinner wrote to Schwarz."
The next potential driver of Bay Area restaurant cosures? Hefty pandemic debt
The Chronicle, ELENA KADVANY: "You You Xue, the owner of Wonderful in Millbrae and Foster City, owes close to $200,000 in back rent at his two Hunan restaurants.
He also owes more than $20,000 to PG&E, the water bill to the city of Millbrae and deferred sales tax payments. His dining rooms are starting to fill again, but sales are still down 25%. These pandemic-related debts continue to hang over his business.
“As much as landlords are entitled to receive a return on their property, we (shouldn’t) forget that there are a lot of people who are struggling,” Xue said."
Rob Bonta calls himself 'the people's attorney,' not the 'top cop' -- and that's a big change
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Kamala Harris used to refer to herself as California’s “top cop” when she was the state’s attorney general. The current, more progressive Attorney General Rob Bonta prefers a different framing: He calls himself “the people’s attorney.”
He looks at his job as being the protector of the little person — or as Bonta describes it in his rapid patter, “our most vulnerable, voiceless, hurt, harmed, abused, mistreated, cast aside, forgotten.”
But some of that framing — and the issues Bonta supports, such as tougher oversight of the police — will be fodder for his conservative opponents. Bonta was appointed to the job by Gov. Gavin Newsom in March after President Biden tapped previous Attorney General Xavier Becerra to join the administration as head of Health and Human Services. He faces an election in November 2022 to win the office in his own right."
California prison guards get COVID bonuses. Other unions still hope for hazard pay
Sac Bee, JEONG PARK/WES VENTEICHER: "Correctional officers and maintenance staff work in the same prisons and spent more than a year exposed to a high risk of COVID-19 at their jobs.
The officers are getting nearly $5,000 in pandemic bonuses through a new bargaining agreement with the state.
The maintenance staff is not getting the special pay, even though they too have struck a deal with the state."
Zodiac killer code cracked? The SF Chronicle gets tips like this almost every day
The Chronicle, KEVIN FAGAN: "Zodiac Killer tips roll in like the tide, month after month, in emails, phone calls, texts, books, Twitter messages, snail mail. I’ve been getting them for 25 years. From all over the world. And just like the tide, each wave is urgent and utterly different.
I’ve got piles of letters saying the Zodiac is the creepy neighbor upstairs or down the street. Others say it’s their father — that’s a particularly popular theory. Or one of the cops who investigated the case. And the spooky ciphers Zodiac mailed to The Chronicle as he was stabbing and shooting five people to death in the Bay Area in 1968-69? Those have been decoded in hundreds of ways, naming hundreds of suspects far beyond the only one the cops ever took seriously enough to name — Arthur Leigh Allen, a convicted child molester in Vallejo who died in 1992 without being charged.
The latest of these tips made a splash when a French engineer said he’d solved the last two uncracked ciphers, known as Z32 and Z13, after just two weeks of trying. The New York Times ran a story on it last week, and the perpetually astonished world of crime buffs got all excited for a few days. Then, like with virtually all the other tips that roll in, the fever faded."
17 hurt in huge blast during LAPD detonation of explosive devices
LA Times, LEILA MILLER/RUBEN VIVES/KEVIN RECTOR: "A major explosion in South Los Angeles on Wednesday evening damaged homes and injured 17 people, including police officers, as a bomb squad attempted to safely detonate improvised explosive devices that had been seized from a home along with about 5,000 pounds of illegal fireworks.
The blast damaged cars in a residential neighborhood and left debris on the streets, video on social media showed. A truck that was being used to collect the explosives also appeared to be severely damaged.
At a news conference, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said officials responding to a home on the 700 block of East 27th Street had found several thousand pounds of illegal fireworks as well as improvised explosive devices that were “more unstable.”"
Millions granted to SFD to increase diversity, amid allegations of racism
Sac Bee, ANGELA PEREZ AGUILAR: "Earlier this month, Sacramento City Council unanimously approved an Audit Plan for the 2021-2022 fiscal year that will assess diversity, equity and inclusion among city employees across various departments, including the fire department.
Sacramento City Council recently followed that action by signing off on a $2.2 million budget allocation towards the fire department’s goal of diversifying their ranks.
Co-chair of the department’s Diversity Advisory Board Committee, Captain Jaymes Butler and First Chief Gary Loesch both expressed their hope to diversify their ranks and implement previous recommendations made by the committee prior to the new funding."
AP Sources: Trump company, executive indicted in tax probe
AP, MICHAEL R SISAK: "Donald Trump’s company and his longtime finance chief have been indicted on charges stemming from a New York investigation into the former president’s business dealings, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
The charges against the Trump Organization and the company’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, remained sealed Wednesday night, but were expected to involve alleged tax violations related to benefits the company gave to top executives, possibly including use of apartments, cars and school tuition, people familiar with the case said.
The people were not authorized to speak about an ongoing investigation and did so on condition of anonymity. The Wall Street Journal was first to report that charges were expected Thursday."