Back to masks: California urges indoor face coverings as Delta variant continues to spread
Sac Bee, LARA KORTE/HANNAH WILEY: "After weeks of rising COVID-19 cases, California public health officials on Wednesday recommended all residents wear face coverings in indoor public settings regardless of their vaccination status.
The announcement follows new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which on Tuesday called for most people to wear masks indoors to slow the spread of the highly transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant.
“The Delta variant has caused a sharp increase in hospitalizations and case rates across the state. We are recommending masking in indoor public places to slow the spread while we continue efforts to get more Californians vaccinated,” Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer, said in a statement."
READ MORE related to COVID-19: What to know as mask mandates, recommendations return amid California's COVID surge -- Sac Bee, MICHAEL MCGOUGH; What Bay Area young adults lag in COVID vaccination, and why things might be changing -- The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO; California sees small boost in vaccinations but needs much more -- LA Times, LUKE MONEY
Cannabis magnate admits bribing SLO County supe
LA Times, MATTHEW ORMSETH: "A high-profile figure in the Central Coast’s marijuana industry has agreed to plead guilty to bribing a San Luis Obispo County supervisor, the first charges to be made public in what a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office in Los Angeles called “an ongoing public corruption investigation.”
Helios “Bobby” Dayspring, 35, who owns marijuana farms and dispensaries up and down the Central Coast, will plead guilty to one count each of federal programs bribery and filing a false tax return, according to a plea agreement filed in federal court and unsealed Wednesday.
Dayspring also agreed to pay $3.4 million in restitution — the amount he kept from the Internal Revenue Service by underreporting his income — and to cooperate with prosecutors and agents from the IRS and FBI who are said to be probing corruption in San Luis Obispo County."
As violent crimes surge, Californians' faith in gun control slips in new poll
LA Times, PATRICK MCGREEVY: "Amid a surge in shootings this year, a majority of California voters say that they believe gun control laws are effective in reducing violent crime, but confidence in them has slipped, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.
The poll released Thursday found that 56% of the state’s voters surveyed believe stronger laws restricting the sale and possession of guns help make their communities safer, but the number is down from 60% who felt that way three years ago.
The poll also found that 57% of California voters say it is more important to place greater controls on gun ownership than it is to protect Americans’ rights to own guns under the 2nd Amendment, but that number is down from 64% who felt that way in 2018."
East Bay city to look at allowing undocumented residents to vote in local elections
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: "The city of Richmond is moving ahead to explore whether it can allow undocumented residents to vote in local elections, such as school board contests.
On Tuesday, the Richmond City Council voted unanimously to direct the city attorney to conduct a sweeping review of the city’s charter along with legal research to determine whether it can allow noncitizens to participate in local elections. Councilman Nathaniel Bates was absent.
Councilmembers Claudia Jimenez and Eduardo Martinez and Vice Mayor Demnlus Johnson III introduced the proposal earlier this month, saying undocumented immigrants “are denied public voice via voting rights” despite the “significant contributions” they make to the community and the economy."
Elizabeth Warren calls on Californians to 'vote no' on Newsom recall in new ad
Sac Bee, LARA KORTE: "Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is featured in a new ad warning Californians to vote “no” in the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Warren, a former Democratic presidential candidate and a leading progressive in Congress, will be rotated into the Newsom campaign’s multi-million dollar, week-to-week TV and digital ad buy starting Wednesday evening, and will be the main TV and digital ad content for the time being, said campaign spokesman Nathan Click.
AdImpact reported Tuesday that Newsom has launched new broadcast, cable, and radio flights from Aug. 2 to Sep. 13, totaling $8.64 million."
READ MORE related to Recall Effort: Republican recall candidate Kevin Faulconer visits Fresno, offers plan for Valley water -- Sac Bee, THADDEUS MILLER
California's biggest state worker union challenges Newsom's vaccine order
Sac Bee, ANDREW SHEELER: "The head of the largest union in California state government signaled on Wednesday that he intends to fight Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate that all state employees either provide proof of vaccination or else wear masks and submit to regular COVID-19 testing.
“Local 1000 Listens to You! Cease & Desist against GAVIN! Finally a REAL LABOR UNION fighting for ALL of its represented employees!” SEIU Local 1000 President Richard Louis Brown wrote on Twitter Wednesday morning.
Brown’s tweet included a copy of a letter his union sent to the California Department of Human Resources, also known as CalHR."
California's indoor workers face dangers from increasing heat waves
Sac Bee, JEONG PARK/KIM BOJORQUEZ: "Cooks working next to a fryer without air conditioners in a 115-degree room. Workers pleading to use portable fans to cool down in a warehouse where the temperature can reach 120 degrees.
Those are examples of California workers who labored through the several major heatwaves that have engulfed much of the state this summer.
As heatwaves set records again and again in much of California, workers say they often find themselves not protected, putting them at the risk of heat stroke and exhaustion."
SF DA Boudin recall: As a key deadline approaches, here's how much money both sides have raised
The Chronicle, MEGAN CASSIDY/SUSIE NEILSON: "One of the two recall efforts seeking to oust San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin reported nearly $650,000 in donations in recent months, thanks largely to a single, deep-pocketed political action committee, according to recent campaign finance filings.
The money likely will provide a boost to the San Franciscans for Public Safety Supporting the Recall of Chesa Boudin campaign ahead of its Oct. 25 deadline to submit signatures to city elections officials.
The group’s fundraising efforts have dwarfed those of a rival recall campaign, the Committee Supporting the Recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin, which reported a total of $273,000 brought since it began collecting signatures in March."
Smoke tilts Sacramento air quality to unhealthy range -- which wildfire is responsible?
Sac Bee, AMELIA DAVIDSON: "Smoke coming from the massive Dixie Fire, burning about 100 miles north of the city, has pushed air quality in Sacramento into the unhealthy range Wednesday.
Air quality monitors from the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Pollution Control District registered an AQI reading of 172, or “unhealthy,” downtown just after noon, and a reading of 205, or “very unhealthy,” in Arden Arcade around 3 p.m.
At that level, residents with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly and children are most at risk from the poor air quality and all residents should limit their outdoor exposure."
The drought might be bad, but California river rafting is the best in decades
The Chronicle, TOM STIENSTRA: "During another terrible drought year, it may come as a shock to hear that rafting prospects are spectacular for the rest of summer on Northern California’s top rafting rivers, the Tuolumne and American.
In fact, those two rivers have attracted an unusually high number of rafters with a thirst for cool, clean water on hot days.
“This is the best season ever, even better than ’86,” said Marty McDonnell, long-time owner of Sierra Mac River Trips in Tuolumne County."
US economic growth rose at 6.5% pace in second quarter; GDP returns to pre-pandemic levels
LA Times, DON LEE: "U.S. economic growth in the second quarter wasn’t the rip-roaring spring as many had projected earlier, but the continuing recovery from the pandemic was still very strong and more than enough to lift the nation’s total output above where it was before COVID-19 hit, according to government data released Thursday.
With new pandemic worries and widespread product and labor shortages constraining economic activity, the nation’s gross domestic product rose at a 6.5% annual rate in the last three months.
That was up from a 6.3% pace in the first quarter, but well shy of about 8% that analysts were expecting, which itself was down from double-digit GDP growth forecast earlier in the spring. Higher inflation also curtailed real GDP."
Justice Dept. filing gives boost to Swalwell's Jan. 6 insurrection lawsuit
The Chronicle, TAL KOPAN: "Government officials who spoke to the crowd before the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol were not shielded by their job title, the Justice Department argued in a new filing in a lawsuit brought by East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell.
That position was also supported by a letter from Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a fellow Bay Area Democrat who chairs the House Administration Committee.
Swalwell has sued former President Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., his attorney Rudy Giuliani and Republican Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, seeking to declare them responsible for the riot that Swalwell says “terrorized lawmakers,” including himself."
NorCal man charged w/ assaulting police at Capitol Riot pleads not guilty
Sac Bee, SAM STANTON: "One day after Washington, D.C., police testified about the intense, hand-to-hand combat with protesters during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a Northern California man accused of using bear spray against police pleaded not guilty Wednesday during a video hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C.
Sean Michael McHugh, 34, of Auburn was indicted July 7 on 10 counts stemming from the riot that led to the breach of the Capitol building by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
McHugh, a construction worker who court records say traveled to Washington with two others whose names have not been released, is charged with assaulting or resisting officers, assaulting or resisting officers with a dangerous weapon, obstruction of an official proceeding, remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct and physical violence in a restricted building or grounds."
Twitter closes SF/NY offices as Delta variant propogates
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI: "Twitter has closed its San Francisco and New York offices just two weeks after reopening them as virus cases surge.
“After careful consideration of the CDC’s updated guidelines, and in light of current conditions, Twitter has made the decision to close our opened offices in New York and San Francisco as well as pause future office reopenings, effective immediately,” the company said.