It's not just the Dixie Fire. Here are other significant blazes burning in NorCal
The Chronicle, MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "The massive Dixie Fire, the second largest in California history, continues to burn and dominate news coverage, but 14 other wildfires are still active in Northern California, drawing the resources of firefighters, forcing evacuations and threatening homes.
The Dixie Fire has scorched 515,756 acres and was was 31% contained as of Thursday evening, Cal Fire officials said. And as of Thursday evening, the blaze had destroyed 1,109 structures, including more than 500 single-residence homes.
According to Cal Fire, 9,831 firefighters were battling 11 major wildfires and many smaller blazes throughout the state. The fires have cumulatively burned 959,611 acres."
READ MORE WILDFIRE NEWS --- Storms threaten to grow monstrous Dixie fire: 'Everything is ready to burn' -- LA Times, LILA SEIDMAN
Bden urges 'no' vote on recall, may campaign for Newsom
The Chronicle, ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Gov. Gavin Newsom will get a closing assist from President Biden as he tries to beat back a recall over the next month.
Biden issued a statement Thursday calling on Californians to reject the attempt to remove Newsom from office and a source familiar with his planning said both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris would take more active roles in the campaign ahead of the Sept. 14 special election.
“Governor Newsom is leading California through unprecedented crises,” Biden said in a statement. “He is a key partner in fighting the pandemic and delivering economic relief to working families and helping us build our economy back better than ever. He’s taking on the climate crisis and standing up for the rights of women, immigrants, and the LGBTQ community. He knows how to get the job done because he’s been doing it.”"
California ran up a $23B tab for unemployment benefits. Who will pay it off?
Sac Bee, JEONG PARK: "Even with a historic surplus, California lawmakers took their summer break without addressing a looming debt the state owes to the federal government for the unprecedented unemployment benefits it doled out during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked lawmaker to pay off a fraction of the $23 billion California owes. But with much of the payments not due for years, legislators and Newsom are still negotiating on how much money to send back to Washington, said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the Department of Finance.
The standoff worries some business owners because of the way the state funds unemployment benefits. It taxes employers and they’re concerned they’ll be on the hook for years to come for a debt the state in theory could pay off with its budget windfall."
California Senate employee sues Capitol sexual harassment unit, alleges slow response
Sac Bee, HANNAH WILEY: "A former California Senate employee who claims a lawmaker sexually harassed her is suing the independent unit the Legislature created in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement to investigate allegations of discrimination and misconduct in the Capitol.
The Senate employee recently amended her lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against her former boss, Sen. Bob Archuleta, to also sue the Legislature’s so-called Workplace Conduct Unit.
The lawsuit, initially filed on March 18, alleges the unit failed to independently investigate her complaints in a “timely manner,” and instead did “nothing” in response to her complaints."
COVID plague may take years to end, experts tell UCSF forum
The Chronicle, ERIN ALLDAY: "The wildly infectious delta variant that has raged across the world and forced the United States into a fourth — and in some places unprecedented — surge has reshaped the coronavirus pandemic into a plague that may take many more years to come to an end, a panel of experts said Thursday at UCSF.
“Pandemics end. They may last X number of years, but they end. The thing is, it’s not going to end the day we want,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean of the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta. “You don’t decide, the virus or pathogen decides, and the immune system.”
Delta, more than twice as infectious as the original coronavirus and nearly as contagious as chickenpox but far deadlier, is proving more challenging to control than public health experts ever expected, even in populations that are highly vaccinated."
Opinion: Critical broadband access getting attention — finally
BARBARA O'CONNOR and EVAN SCHMIDT, Capitol Weekly: "Gov. Newsom’s words rang true last month when he stated, ‘access to the Internet is as vital as water and electricity.’ Internet access is a human right, and California must treat it as such.
The gaps between the connected and unconnected have never been clearer as California continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. The lack of access to online classes, employment opportunities and telehealth visits became more apparent when COVID-19 shut down our state. But even as the economy opens up again, some things have changed forever, like the significance of ubiquitous broadband access.
A recent survey sponsored by the California Emerging Technology Fund and conducted independently by the University of Southern California found that nearly 10 percent of the state’s households—more than 3.5 million people—are not connected at home to the Internet and another 6 percent—more than 2.3 million people—are connected only with a smartphone."
Extra COVID vaccine OK'd for those with weak, immune systems
AP, LAUREN NEERGARD/MATTHEW PERRONE:: "U.S. regulators say transplant recipients and others with severely weakened immune systems can get an extra dose of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to better protect them as the delta variant continues to surge.
The late-night announcement Thursday by the Food and Drug Administration applies to several million Americans who are especially vulnerable because of organ transplants, certain cancers or other disorders. Several other countries, including France and Israel, have similar recommendations.
It’s harder for vaccines to rev up an immune system suppressed by certain medications and diseases, so those patients don’t always get the same protection as otherwise healthy people — and small studies suggest for at least some, an extra dose may be the solution."
READ MORE VACCINE NEWS --- Vaccine mandates require trust in an era of easy, but illegal, document forgery -- The Chronicle, NANETTE ASIMOV
Delta variant leaves Angelenos reassessing how to live their lives
LA Times, ROBIN ESTRIN: "After getting his second dose of the Pfizer vaccine in April, Jim Savas resumed working out at his Santa Monica gym.
Now, as the Delta variant surges, Savas is still going to the gym — the Peloton bike at home doesn’t quite cut it.
He is also planning to fly to Greece soon with his wife, Amy."
Tribes, National Park Service agree to co-mgmt plan for Point Reyes seashore
Sac Bee, MARGO ROSENBAUM: "The National Park Service and a federation of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo tribes have signed a new management agreement for Point Reyes National Seashore, allowing the Native Americans greater authority in decision making at the seashore.
The new government-to-government relationship, announced Tuesday, involves land at the national seashore and sections of Marin County also managed by the superintendent of Point Reyes National Seashore. Superintendent Craig Kenkel said in a statement that the new agreement establishes the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria as “solid partners” with the park service in the “overall stewardship of Park lands and places.”
The federally recognized tribe will focus their management efforts on cultural resource protection and stewardship, including designating eligible cultural sites for the National Register of Historic Places."
READ MORE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS --- Lake Tahoe-area towns at risk of future flooding, UCD scientists warn in annual report -- Sac Bee, CHRISTINE DELIANNE
Is SF the most childless city in the country? Here's a look at the data on kids
The Chronicle, SUSIE NEILSON: "San Francisco is not an easy place to raise kids. The city’s soaring cost of living and large share of professionally oriented adults have contributed to making it the most childless city in the U.S. for years, behind other expensive urban hubs like New York and Seattle.
The most recent U.S. Census Bureau data from the 2020 decennial census show that kids continue to make up less and less of San Francisco’s inhabitants. The city remains dead last in its share of youths under 18 among the top 100 most populous cities in the U.S. Kids made up 13.4% of San Francisco’s population in 2010, and now they make up just 13%."
LAPD officers are supposed to wear masks. They keep getting caught without them
LA Times, KEVIN RECTOR: "With coronavirus cases once again rising across Los Angeles and within the ranks of the city’s police, LAPD officers have been ordered to wear face masks “whenever in public or in the workplace.”
More than a few cops, however, are ignoring the directive — and getting caught.
At crime scenes and traffic stops, on patrol and even inside police stations, officers have been seen and filmed without face coverings. At times, they have been recorded scoffing at the notion they should wear a mask or offering vague reasons why the rule doesn’t apply to them."
Latino and Black victims account for nearly all of LA's surge in homicides
LA Times, KEVIN RECTOR: "The surge in homicides in Los Angeles since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has played out almost entirely among Latino and Black victims, according to a Times analysis of Los Angeles Police Department data.
The figures reflect wide disparities in public safety across the city, experts say, as well as compounding trauma for communities of color hit hard by past gang violence and devastated at disproportionate rates by the economic and social upheaval of the last 18 months.
Police attribute much of the latest violence to gangs, but the impact has been felt by victims old and young, homeless and housed, sitting in their cars and working a shift."