California coronavirus hospitalizations hit highest point in months as Delta spreads
LUKE MONEY, LA Times: "A spate of new coronavirus infections is striking California’s healthcare system, pushing COVID-19 hospitalizations to levels not seen since early spring — lending new urgency to efforts to tamp down transmission as a growing number of counties urge residents to wear masks indoors.
Statewide, the number of coronavirus patients in the hospital more than doubled in the last month, and the numbers have accelerated further in the last two weeks.
Even with the recent increase, though, the state’s healthcare system is nowhere near as swamped as it was during the fall-and-winter surge. And many health experts are confident that California will never see numbers on that scale again, given how many residents are vaccinated."
READ MORE CORONAVIRUS/DELTA-VARIANT NEWS --- SF group representing 500 bars considers new initiative requiring vaccine proof for entry -- The Chronicle, TANAY WARERKAR; Pelosi staffer tests positive for coronavirus after Texas Dems meeting -- TAL KOPAN, Chronicle
California voters OK’d billions for water projects. Where are the new dams, reservoirs?
DALE KASLER and RYAN SABALOW: "With the state facing a potentially catastrophic drought, leaders of the Sites Project Authority say the reservoir would dramatically improve California’s water supplies.
“If Sites were open today, we’d have nearly 1 million acre feet of water for farms, the environment, cities,” said the authority’s executive director Jerry Brown (no relation to the former governor).
But here’s the thing: Sites isn’t ready to open today, tomorrow or anytime soon. Mired in red tape and struggling with rising costs, even after the project was downsized, the reservoir isn’t scheduled to begin construction until 2024 and wouldn’t begin filling until 2030."
Newsom recall candidates reveal their tax returns: What's inside
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER: "Challengers hoping to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom in the Sept. 14 recall election were required to disclose five years of their personal tax returns, offering a rare glimpse into their personal finances.
The filings show Newsom’s 42 rivals, per the state’s current official total, have a wide range of income sources, from TV appearances to rental properties to small businesses to a cattle ranch.
This is the first election where candidates have been required to share their tax returns. In 2019, Newsom signed a law to require candidates for president and governor to make the disclosure, an effort meant to target former President Donald Trump."
READ MORE RECALL NEWS --- Larry Elder sues to get onto California recall ballot -- The Chronicle, ALEXEI KOSEFF
Uber and Lyft drivers are on strike today. What riders need to know
LA Times, JESSICA ROY: "Rides through Uber and Lyft that are already hard to secure these days — and sometimes eye-poppingly expensive — because many drivers stopped working in the pandemic may become even more difficult to reserve Wednesday, when some drivers will be on strike.
An organization that represents rideshare drivers has called for the strike and has also planned a rally and demonstration Wednesday afternoon at the LAXit pickup area at the airport. If you’re heading to or from LAX — or were planning to hail a ride somewhere in or around L.A. today — here’s what you need to know.
Rideshare Drivers United, an L.A.-based labor rights group made up of drivers for app-based services such as Lyft and Uber, says drivers will strike and stage rallies in 11 cities around the U.S. on July 21. Organizers say drivers are striking for better pay and legal protections under the PRO Act."
California taps ex-federal prosecutor McGregor Scott for special counsel in EDD fraud cases
SAM STANTON, SacBee: "Former U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott has been named as a special counsel to help coordinate investigations into California’s massive unemployment fraud scandal that began at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scott, who left his post Feb. 28 as U.S. attorney for the Sacramento-based Eastern District of California, will serve as fraud special counsel to help coordinate the prosecution of fraud cases involving phony claims to the state’s Employment Development Program.
Scott is now a partner at the law firm King & Spalding and will work through that position aiding a task force that is investigating and prosecuting EDD fraud."
READ MORE EDD FRAUD NEWS: Newsom administration hires special counsel in probe of California unemployment fraud -- PATRICK McGREEVY, LA Times
California's electric car revolution, designed to save the planet, also unleashes a toll on it
LA Times, EVAN HALPER/CAROLYN COLE/JACKELINE LUNA: "The precious cargo on the ship docked in San Diego Bay was strikingly small for a vessel built to drag oil rigs out to sea. Machines tethered to this hulking ship had plucked rocks the size of a child’s fist from the ocean floor thousands of miles into the Pacific.
The mission was delicate and controversial — with broad implications for the planet.
Investors are betting tens of millions of dollars that these black nodules packed with metals used in electric car batteries are the ticket for the United States to recapture supremacy over the green economy — and to keep up with a global transportation revolution started by California."
UCSF reinstates mask policy for all, regardless of vaccination status, due to delta variant
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "UCSF reinstated its indoor mask mandate Thursday after the medical and biological research center reported rising cases of the contagious delta variant, officials said.
The new mandate will take effect immediately and applies to the school’s staff and 6,000 medical trainees.
“Despite overall progress, UCSF has seen an uptick in COVID-19 cases as the delta variant spreads, posing a growing threat especially to the unvaccinated,” Dr. Josh Adler, UCSF’s chief clinical officer, said in an email to the school community Thursday night."
READ MORE EDUCATION NEWS --- OC to explore tense issues over ethnic studies and race -- EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD
Big year for CalPERS means higher pension costs for some public employees
WES VENTEICHER, SacBee: "Some local government employees in California likely will have to pay more toward their pensions as an indirect result of CalPERS’ good year on investment returns.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System reported a 21.3% preliminary return on its investments for the fiscal year that ended in June. The big return — triple a 7% target — improves the retirement system’s long-term outlook and shields local governments from new debt payments.
But the earnings triggered a 2015 policy that forces CalPERS to impose additional fiscal prudence on itself, with consequences for local governments and employees."
US life expectancy fell 1.5 years in 2020 -- largest drop since WW2
LA Times, MIKE STOBBE: "U.S. life expectancy fell by a year and a half in 2020, the largest one-year decline since World War II, according to report released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The decrease for both Black Americans and Latino Americans was even greater: three years.
Close to 74% of the overall life expectancy decline was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 3.3 million Americans died last year, far more than any other year in U.S. history, with COVID-19 accounting for about 11% of those deaths."
Get a vaccine at McDonald’s? How California is shifting outreach as Delta variant spreads
KIM BOJÓRQUEZ, SacBee: "Right before a San Jose soccer tournament this month at PayPal Park Stadium, a pre-game event offered sports fanatics food, music, family activities — and COVID-19 vaccines.
The event, organized by the California Department of Public Health and Santa Clara County, is an example of the state’s target outreach efforts to convince unvaccinated Californians to roll up their sleeves.
Since the first round of COVID-19 doses began to be distributed to California’s medical professionals in December of last year, over 21 million residents have become fully vaccinated."
SF small businesses shut because of pandemic could get out of paying rent
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH: "San Francisco supervisors unanimously passed a controversial ordinance Tuesday that will give businesses forced to shut down during the pandemic an excuse to not pay back rent — and an upper hand over landlords who opposed the measure.
The legislation is based on a state law excusing a party from a contract because fulfilling it becomes impossible. The ordinance creates a presumption, that could be challenged in court, that the law applies to rent for small San Francisco businesses during the time they were completely shut down during the pandemic, unless the lease specifically states otherwise. Businesses nationwide have used a similar legal defense during the pandemic, to varying success.
For businesses such as gyms, bars and movie theaters, it could cancel rent for most of the pandemic. For retailers, it could apply to months when the city ordered them closed. The ordinance doesn’t apply to properties leased from the city or most office spaces."
Oakland City Council moves against A's wishes regarding Howard Terminal ballpark
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: "The Oakland City Council approved a proposed term sheet Tuesday for the A’s $12 billion plan to build a waterfront ballpark and development against the team’s wishes, leaving the A’s undecided on whether to continue negotiating or walk away from the project.
Six council members voted in favor of the proposed term sheet for the Howard Terminal project, with amendments requiring affordable housing, tenant and anti-displacement protections and environmental protection measures. The term sheet also includes a 25-year non-relocation agreement with the A’s that would start when the team plays its first home game at the new stadium.
Councilmember Carroll Fife, who represents the district that the proposed project would be in, abstained and Councilmember Noel Gallo voted against the project. Fife did not respond to a request for comment on why she abstained."
Summer of disaster: Extreme weather wreaks havoc worldwide as climate change bears down
LA Times, DAVID PIERSON/ALICE SU/MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE: "Torrents of murky brown water gushed past the train window, flowing fast through the subway tunnel. Inside, passengers stood on top of seats, clutching their phones overhead as the muddy tide rose past their chests. Some gasped for air. Others sent desperate last messages to family members, telling them their bank card passcodes and saying goodbye.
“The water outside has already come this high,” one frightened woman said, reaching out to the subway car door in a video that spread quickly online. “My phone is almost dead. I don’t know if this is my last WeChat message.”
The woman, one of some 500 people trapped on a subway amid catastrophic flooding Tuesday night in Zhengzhou, in China’s Henan province, reportedly survived. A dozen people did not."
READ MORE FIRE NEWS --- Dixie Fire's huge pyro-cloud generated its own weather: lightning bolts, and even rain -- The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC; Couple whose gender-reveal party sparked 2020 fire charged with involuntary manslaughter -- LA Times, JULIA WICK