Delta variant dominates California coronavirus cases; rapid spread alarms officials
RONG-GONG LIN II and LUKE MONEY, LA Times: "The rise of the highly contagious Delta variant is causing increases in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in California and prompting concern about new spread of the illness in unvaccinated communities.
While those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are believed to have high levels of protection against the variant, more people who have not been vaccinated are getting sick, data show.
Here is a breakdown of what we know and where the Delta variant might be going in California and beyond."
Rural areas, counties ask for help as California fire season heats up
Capitol Weekly, JESSICA HICE: "Representatives of California’s counties are urging improved measures to cut wildfire risks in the state’s less populated areas, but questioned plans to impose widespread building restrictions.
This action, led by the rural counties, comes within days of Gov. Gavin Newsom retreating on $1 billion of wildfire prevention efforts, cutting the figure by more than half.
The Rural County Representatives of California, the California State Association of Counties, and the Urban Counties of California urged the Board of Forestry and Forest Protection to include rural representatives in significant decisions and update current rules set forth for wildfire rebuilds in fire-prone areas."
California poised to pay compensation to victims of forced sterilization
ADAM BEAM, AP: "California is poised to approve reparations of up to $25,000 to people who decades ago were among the thousands of residents — some as young as 13 — sterilized by the state because officials deemed them unfit to have children.
The payments, part of the $262.6-billion state operating budget that awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, would make California at least the third state after Virginia and North Carolina to pay victims of the pernicious eugenics movement that peaked in the 1930s. Proponents believed that sterilizing people with mental illnesses, physical disabilities and other so-called undesirable traits would improve the human race.
California’s proposal is unique because it would apply to more than just victims of the eugenics law that was repealed in 1979. The state also would pay female prison inmates who were coerced into getting sterilized, a disgrace first exposed by the Center for Investigative Reporting in 2013."
Can 'sniff training' restore COVID survivors' sense of smell?
The Chronicle, NANETTE ASIMOV: "Cat Berner slid a chicken into the oven in November and turned to chopping vegetables. It didn’t take long for her roommate to come running into the kitchen of their San Francisco flat, crying, “What’s burning?”
Berner whirled around. “What are you talking about?”
Berner, 31, an executive assistant for a venture capital firm, remembers that day as a turning point in her continuing effort to regain the sense of smell stolen by the coronavirus. It happened a few days after she and her friends, who had pledged to socialize only with each other, had a Halloween party and gave each other COVID-19."
Here are the current COVID hotspots and how California, Bay Area compare
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "California and the nation continued their march toward pre-pandemic normal over the holiday weekend, as revelers celebrated the Fourth of July with gatherings, fireworks shows and travel.
Air travel for the holiday exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time. The Transportation Security Administration reported it screened 2,147,090 people on Thursday, topping the same day in 2019 by 58,330. And nearly 2.2 million passengers passed through checkpoints on Friday, the highest number since the start of the pandemic.
But the delta coronavirus variant continues to spread, causing concern particularly for the unvaccinated. The highly infectious variant, first identified in India, is surging across the world and leading to new restrictions, and accounts for 25% of new cases in the U.S. In California, it just became the dominant strain, inching past the U.K.-originating alpha variant for the first time in June."
SF Mayor Breed was praised for her pandemic response. Now, she's confronting her city's other issues
The Chronicle, TRISHA THADANI: "Under the vast emergency powers granted to her during the pandemic, Mayor London Breed could swiftly and nimbly create new programs and policies that might have otherwise taken months — or even years — if they were approved at all.
After Breed and the local health officer ordered a state of emergency in February 2020, she did a lot with the stroke of a pen: issuing commercial and residential eviction moratoriums, expediting the hiring of nurses and speeding up permits for outdoor dining and live music, among other directives.
“Had we not had the ability to move quickly, we would still be in the midst of the process even a year later,” Breed said of her various executive orders."
Newsom got an early date for the recall -- and that's not necessarily a good thing for him
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Democratic supporters in the Legislature got what they wanted: an early recall election date of Sept. 14. With much of California returning to pre-pandemic life — and polls showing continued support for Newsom — they wanted to get it over with fast before another disaster struck.
Now they’ve got to confront the problem they’ve created for themselves: Newsom has even less time to tackle a serious enthusiasm gap. Republicans are excited to give Newsom the boot and Democrats are ... uh ... not paying attention.
Ask Steve Smith. He’s a top official with the California Labor Federation, whose 2 million members regularly do the door-to-door campaign grunt work that turns out voters for Democrats. Last week, it held focus groups on the recall for undecided union members in Oakland, Los Angeles and Sacramento."
Newcomer Republican, Kevin Kiley, enters California recall race to replace Newsom
Sac Bee, LARA KORTE: "One of the California Legislature’s more vocal opponents of Gov. Gavin Newsom will run to replace him in the recall election this fall.
Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, officially threw his hat in the ring Tuesday afternoon, saying he wants to “renew the meaning of ‘We the People.’”
“That’s what the Recall has been about from the beginning,” he said in a blog post. “It’s what our campaign will be about until the end. And it’s what the mission of the Governor’s Office will be every day that I serve."
See how NorCal will heat up into the red zone in this video
Sac Bee, DAVID CARACCIO: "Significant heat will be returning to Northern California later this week and through the weekend.
Highs will return to the triple digits for much of the area by Friday, July 9, 2021, according to the National Weather Service.
A video graphic posted by NWS Sacramento illustrates just how hot things will get (see above)."
This university desires the Cal Poly title, but there are some pre-reqs that need to be met first.
Sac Bee, ANDREW SHEELER: "Humboldt State University is on track to become the state’s third polytechnic school, thanks to an infusion of $433 million in California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget. But when, and how, will the university officially gain that designation?
The university is in the process of compiling a self-study to determine just that.
“The self-study we’re currently compiling to submit essentially acts as an argument for the designation,” said Humboldt State spokesman Grant Scott-Goforth."
California directs districts to offer remote independent study this fall
EdSource, SYDNEY JOHNSON: "With the pandemic still reverberating across California, districts must offer students an independent study option this fall, but with improvements to what was offered during the shutdown and pre-pandemic.
After a year of cumbersome screen time, Gov. Gavin Newsom and other lawmakers have said that schools are expected to fully reopen for in-person instruction this fall. But some parents and students, especially those who are medically vulnerable, aren’t ready to return to “normal.”
For the 2021-22 school year only, school districts would be required to offer students a distance learning option for the upcoming school year through independent study, a remote educational model that was voluntary for districts to offer pre-pandemic."
These Latino-owned businesses survived the pandemic. Here's how they adapted
Sac Bee, KIM BOJORQUEZ: "The week California ordered the closures of businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic in March of 2020, Maria Palacio, co-founder of Progeny Coffee, lost 97% of her revenue.
Prior to the pandemic, her biggest moneymaker was selling Colombian coffee beans to the offices of Google and Facebook. For months she lay awake at night worrying about the fate of her coffee company and how closing her business would impact the farmers in Colombia who grew her beans.
But after more than a year of facing dipping sales and uncertainty spurred by the COVID-19 health crisis, her Palo Alto business perservered."
SF office vacancy rises to 20%, highest level since 2003, despite more leasing activity
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI: "San Francisco’s office vacancy rate rose to 20.1% in the second quarter, the highest level since 2003, despite an increase in leasing activity.
The amount of empty office space more than doubled from the 9.9% vacancy rate in the second quarter of 2020, the onset of the pandemic. Leasing activity totaled 974,067 square feet, the highest level in a year, according to real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.
“Activity seems to be picking up. It’s not like it was yet,” said Robert Sammons, Cushman & Wakefield’s senior director of Bay Area research. “The recovery really won’t begin fully until 2022.”"
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: "The Oakland City Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday to enter into nonexclusive negotiations with possible bidders for the city’s share of the Coliseum site — a key step in determining the future of the ballpark.
Tuesday’s vote authorizes the city administration to negotiate with groups that have expressed interest in purchasing the site. At stake is the ability to attract future sports teams to a city that has lost two and is at risk of losing another, as well as the potential development of the site for other uses and the creation of jobs and economic activity.
The groups that have expressed interest in the site include the Oakland A’s, African American Sports and Entertainment Group, Tripp Development, Dave Stewart and Lonnie Murray, and The Renaissance Companies. Two of those groups, however — Tripp and Renaissance — told The Chronicle on Tuesday they are waiting to see what the A’s do before proceeding."
CHP arrests nearly 1,000 for suspected Freedom Weekend drunk-driving
Sac Bee, ZAEEM SHAIKH: "California Highway Patrol officers made nearly 1,000 suspected DUI arrests on state roadways during a maximum enforcement period, the agency said Tuesday.
From 6:01 p.m. Friday to 11:59 p.m. Monday, the CHP observed an enforcement period where officers watched for motorists who were speeding, looked to be distracted or possibly driving under the influence.
During the Independence Day MEP, the CHP said in a social media post that officers made 997 arrests, which “translates to an average of an arrest nearly every five minutes.”"
The Chronicle, JOHN KING: "Fireworks returned to San Francisco’s waterfront Sunday evening, the boisterous cap to a Fourth of July that found Bay Area communities moving back to more typical celebrations of the holiday, but with events still tempered by concerns about COVID-19 and California’s drought.
The colorful fusillade, accompanied by upbeat music, began promptly at 9:30 p.m. from a platform on the bay near Pier 39. Illuminating the sky, the multi-hued fireworks drew appreciative whoops from the crowds lining the water along Fisherman’s Wharf and Aquatic Park.
Thousands of celebrants flocked to the area, eager to see the city’s traditional July 4 display after last summer’s pandemic-forced cancellation of the holiday offered few options except to stay at home."
When it comes to whistle-blowers like Assange, Biden's actions mirror Trump's
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "Unlike his predecessor, President Biden hasn’t called the press “the enemy of the people” or disparaged accurate but unflattering media accounts as “fake news.” He hasn’t cheered when reporters were body-slammed by a politician or shot with a rubber bullet by police.
Biden has promised to end the practice of seizing reporters’ phone records during investigations of unauthorized disclosures of government records. His administration has resumed daily press briefings, and neither Biden nor his press secretary has accused reporters of asking “stupid questions.”
But when it comes to whistle-blowers — in particular, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose role in exposing government secrets is comparable to the work of everyday journalists — Biden’s actions, so far, are similar to those of President Donald Trump. And of the presidents who preceded him."