PG&E warns of potential power shut-offs in parts of Bay Area this week as Dixie Fire rages
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "As firefighters battling the Dixie Fire in Northern California brace for gusty winds and dry conditions this week, PG&E said Sunday that it is considering power shut-offs for several counties near the blaze and as far away as the northern reaches of the Bay Area.
PG&E said about 39,000 customers could potentially be impacted by the shut-offs, the majority of them in Butte and Shasta counties. In the Bay Area, far smaller numbers of people in Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties could be affected by the outages if PG&E goes ahead with them.
No outages are officially planned for this week, but PG&E said in an online post Sunday that it is closely monitoring the weather conditions. Among a number of other counties it listed as having “elevated” potential for shut-offs between Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon are Mendocino, Shasta and Lassen."
Recall gives Netflix’s Reed Hastings a chance to mend fences with Newsom
TARYN LUNA, LA Times: "In the jockeying among California political donors to support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s fight against the recall, Netflix co-Chief Executive Reed Hastings is near the top of the leader board — with one expensive mea culpa.
The $3.1 million in contributions Hastings and his wife, Patricia Quillin, have given Newsom come as part of a political reconciliation of sorts with the governor after the Silicon Valley executive supported Newsom’s opponent Antonio Villaraigosa in the 2018 gubernatorial primary.
“If I was advising Reed Hastings, I would have advised him to do the exact same thing,” said Mike Madrid, a political consultant who has advised Villaraigosa. “He’s dealing with a sitting Democratic governor. He played against him in the [2018] primary. I think it’s a wise move and a wise consideration to say, ‘I’m going to be behind you.’”
LA City Council president decries violence that erupted at anti-vax rally over the weekend
LA Times, ALEX WIGGLESWORTH/JAMES QUEALLY: "Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez denounced the violence that erupted at an anti-vaccination rally in front of City Hall over the weekend resulting in one man being stabbed and a journalist being attacked.
“Not wearing a mask and being anti-vax isn’t patriotism — it’s stupidity,” Martinez tweeted late Saturday night. “We have to be able to have differences of opinions without resorting to violence. Attacking counter-protesters and journalists has no place in a democracy and certainly no place in Los Angeles.”
The man who was stabbed at the rally was released from the hospital, police said Sunday."
COVID outbreaks doubled in California workplaces in July. Why masks rules won't change, for now
Sacramento Bee, JEONG PARK: "The number of workplace coronavirus outbreaks in California more than doubled between June and July, according to state data released Friday.
The data, which was shared with a panel exploring how to revise the state’s COVID-19 workplace safety standard, showed that the number of worksite outbreaks in July was the highest since April. Outbreaks are defined as three or more cases at a working area testing positive for COVID-19 within a 14-day period.
With the more transmissible delta variant now the dominant strain in California, as well as the state lifting some of its workplace COVID restrictions, the increase in the number of outbreaks was expected."
Effort to recall six Huntington Beach council members could get messy
SUSAN CHRISTIAN GOULDING, OC Register: "It took two raucous meetings under a tight deadline, but Huntington Beach narrowly dodged a $1 million special election last month when a majority of council members agreed on a replacement for colorful former councilman Tito Ortiz.
As it turns out, the city might be headed for a special election anyway.
During public comments at the start of the Aug. 3 city council meeting, a group of residents operating as “Save Surf City” served “notice of intent” to circulate recall petitions against six of the city’s seven council members.
How Republican recall candidates would govern California
Sacramento Bee, LARA KORTE: "A radio talk show host who promoted COVID-19 conspiracy theories.
A former mayor who trained under former California Republican Gov. Pete Wilson.
A lawmaker who sued Gavin Newsom over the governor’s efforts to make voting accessible during the 2020 election."
READ MORE RECALL NEWS --- Newsom kicks off anti-recall campaign with simple message: "Just vote no' -- The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI
California unions for firefighters, blue collar workers challenge Newsom's vaccine rules
Sac Bee, WES VENTEICHER: "Two more California state worker unions have filed objections to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order requiring all employees to prove they’re vaccinated or to wear a mask and submit to regular COVID-19 testing.
Cal Fire Local 2881, which represents about 6,000 state firefighters, filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Public Employment Relations Board this week, becoming at least the third state union to file an official objection.
The International Union of Operating Engineers, which represents about 11,000 state maintenance workers, also filed a grievance with CalHR July 28."
Scientists say a 'doomsday' variant after Delta isn't likely. But here's what's possible
The Chronicle, ERIN ALLDAY: "At the very end of a Stanford panel about coronavirus variants last week, someone finally posed the question that seems to haunt everyone now: Just how much worse than the highly infectious delta variant can this virus get?
The answers were both cautiously reassuring and disconcertingly unsatisfying. The “doomsday scenario,” in which a variant is completely resistant to antibodies and remains highly transmissible, is unlikely, said Arjun Rustagi, an infectious disease fellow at Stanford. But beyond that, many experts were wary about guessing.
“This virus has a massive genome. There’s still room for it to play, and it’s really hard to make predictions on where it’s going to go,” Dr. Catherine Blish, an infectious disease expert and Rustagi’s mentor, said Wednesday during Stanford grand rounds, an educational panel for medical students and physicians."
READ MORE COVID NEWS --- COVID surges in hospitals, jails spur new health order in Contra Costa County -- The Chronicle, RAHEEM HOSSEINI
Is it true Oakland PD is as underfunded as it claims?
The Chronicle, NOAH BAUSTIN: "In June, the Oakland City Council passed a new budget that increased police funding. The council gave the department more money, but less than the mayor had proposed, instead investing more in policing alternatives such as the Department of Violence Prevention. After the vote, Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong blasted the council’s decision.
During a late June news conference, Armstrong said crime was out of control in Oakland and that the department needed more officers on the ground to address an increase in violent crime during the pandemic. He said the department is stretched thin, and that the city’s decision to keep personnel levels flat as the city’s population grows has functionally defunded the police force for several years.
The Chronicle examined personnel and budget data to assess Armstrong’s contention. Is the Oakland Police Department underfunded?"
Afghans in Bay Area react with horror, fear for fate of families in Afghanistan
The Chronicle, SHWANIKA NARAYAN/TRISHA THADANI: "The stunning fall of the capital of Afghanistan to the Taliban left a large Bay Area community that has close ties to the country reeling Sunday with horror and helplessness.
Afghan immigrants and family members in the Bay Area, many concentrated in the East Bay, grieved for their home country, describing panic on the other side of the world as the alarming reality of a return to Taliban rule set in.
“I still have family in Afghanistan and I’ve been speaking to them over the last few days,” said Sonia Azizi, a former Fremont resident who now lives in Tracy. “There is absolute panic and people are scared to leave their homes.”"
Endurance, emotions mark the return of grueling Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon
The Chronicle, MEGAN CASSIDY: "Ernesto Sotelo was about midway through his 11-year sentence when he happened to catch a clip of an Ironman Triathlon on his TV at Corcoran State Prison in Kings County.
Sunday saw the culmination of a dream that began at that moment back in 2005, when the former Fresno gang member convicted of armed robbery began to envision his reinvention. He had always loved swimming, biking and running, and here were all three sports wrapped into a single feat of endurance.
“For me, I saw something that just grabbed my heart,” he said, recalling how the race fueled him to enroll in programs that would help secure his release. “I got out of gangs in prison, got out and the rest is history.”"
In a rare turn, Rep. Barbara Lee gives a glimpse of her personal life in new documentary
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee has never been shy about taking bold stands during her more than two decades in Congress, even when they were initially unpopular.
But the Oakland Democrat is decidedly old-school when it comes to talking about her personal life. She rarely goes there. Unlike some legislators, you’re not going to find Lee documenting her every waking thought on Instagram just to build her brand.
“I am a very private person, and as a public official, 98% of your life is public. But that (other) 2% — I really guard that. That zone of privacy is very important to me,” Lee, 75, said on my “It’s All Political” podcast this week. “Otherwise, I don’t know how I could do my public work without having that private part and personal part of my life.”"