Newsom signs new mail-in elections bill
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER and ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Elections officials will mail every active registered voter in California a ballot for all future elections, after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Monday to permanently adopt a pandemic-era safety measure.
AB37, by Assembly Member Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, extends the requirement to send ballots to all registered voters and other rules that allow county elections officials to start counting mail-in ballots ahead of election day. Voters who have been moved to inactive status, such as those whose mail is returned undeliverable without a forwarding address, would not receive a ballot.
The measure also extends the period that elections officials can count mail-in ballots that arrive after election day, to seven days, provided the ballot was postmarked before polls closed."
Two fires? Palo Alto scientist linked to earlier Shasta County blaze
LISA M. KRIEGER, Mercury News: "The night before the furious Fawn Fire erupted outside the city of Shasta Lake, claiming dozens of homes, a smaller blaze ignited, then was extinguished, in the darkness on the edge of town.
Separated by five miles, the two Shasta County fires are now linked: Palo Alto’s Alexandra Souverneva, 30, is a suspect in both.
Additional charges have not yet been filed, but “It is my opinion there is a high possibility she is responsible for the vegetation fire in Shasta Lake City the previous evening,” said Cal Fire’s Matt Alexander, who interviewed and then arrested Souverneva, in a report to Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett. “It is my experience that arsonists are responsible for multiple fires and will light multiple fires in a short timeframe.”
SoCalGas agreesd to pay up to $1.8B in settlement for 2015 Aliso Canyon gas leak
LA Times, GREGORY YEE/TONY BARBOZA/LEILA MILLER: "It’s been nearly six years since noxious fumes spewed from a failing well in the hills above the San Fernando Valley, spilling into the homes of Porter Ranch and sickening thousands with headaches, nosebleeds and nausea.
After years of lawsuits, mounting anger from homeowners and lingering uncertainty over the site’s safety, Southern California Gas Co., which operates the storage facility, and its parent company announced agreements Monday to pay up to $1.8 billion to settle years of legal action.
In a statement, SoCalGas said the agreements were expected to resolve “substantially all material civil litigation” against the company, which would record an after-tax charge of about $1.1 billion this month."
A bitter dispute ends as California water agencies pledge cooperation on Colorado River
LA Times, IAN JAMES: "Two years ago, a pact to safeguard the West’s shrinking water supplies took effect at a ceremony high above the Colorado River.
On a terrace overlooking Hoover Dam, water officials from seven states that rely on the river had gathered to sign a deal in hopes of preventing reservoirs from falling to critically low levels.
The audience that broke into applause included officials from major water districts across the West that supply water to Denver, Phoenix and Los Angeles. But notably absent from the May 2019 ceremony were representatives of California’s Imperial Irrigation District, the single largest user of Colorado River water."
How much are the increasing costs of battling wildfires affecting taxpayers?
Sacramento Bee, BRIANNA TAYLOR: "As large wildfires continue to blaze and threaten Northern California, the price to put them out continues to skyrocket. New data shows California is spending more and more each year from an emergency fund set aside for large fires.
According to H.D. Palmer, the state Department of Finance’s deputy director, Cal Fire estimates the current emergency fund expenditures are nearly $200 million over its budgeted amount for this fiscal year (July 2021 to July 2022).
The emergency fund budget, which was approved in July of this fiscal year, includes $604.2 million to support Cal Fire’s emergency fire suppression activities. But Palmer said as of Sept. 17, Cal Fire estimated it had already spent $849.1 million."
California companies can keep work[place COVID outbreaks secret. Here's what happened
Sacramento Bee, MELISSA MONTALVO: "Supporters of a push to require companies to report workplace coronavirus outbreaks publicly say they plan to keep fighting despite recent setbacks that they say allow big businesses to keep outbreaks secret.
In February, Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-San Bernardino, proposed the law requiring the California Department of Public Health to report COVID-19 outbreaks by workplace location, meaning outbreaks at specific businesses would be disclosed to the public.
But that requirement was dropped from the bill’s final version, allowing companies — and public health officials — to withhold coronavirus outbreak information from the public. Instead, health officials will report infections by industry."
State treasurer sued for harassment often shared overnight lodging with staffers
Sacramento Bee, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Treasurer Fiona Ma has frequently shared hotel rooms with her chief of staff during her tenure as California’s top banking official, a practice she said she engaged in “to save money,” according to expense reports.
A Sacramento Bee review of travel documents found that sharing lodging with staff was a common practice for Ma, who is facing a lawsuit filed by a different employee, who no longer works in the office. The worker accused her of sexual harassment when the two women shared hotel rooms.
Ma has called the allegations in the lawsuit “baseless.”"
The Chronicle, DEEPA FERNANDES/TAL KOPAN: "When Sumier Phalake left India at age 21 to attend Georgia Tech, his parents gave their blessings. When he landed a good job out of college, and stayed in the United States, they were supportive. None of them anticipated the heartbreak, 18 years later, when Phalake’s father was diagnosed with cancer and died within months, his son unable to be with him as he breathed his last because he was trapped in U.S. immigration limbo waiting more than a decade in this country’s interminable green card queue.
Instead, on an ordinary August evening, just back from a walk in Golden Gate Park, Phalake sat alone in his San Francisco apartment and said goodbye over video chat, staring at his phone as his father’s last rites were administered 8,000 miles away.
Distraught, he took to social media to express his grief. “The legal immigration system in this country is a cruel and unfeeling beast,” Phalake tweeted on Aug. 15. “It’s (sic) cruelty only magnified the longer you are trapped in it’s (sic) clutches.”"
PAUL MITCHELL, Redistricting Partners: "For this week’s Redistricting Report we want to take a moment to recognize a friend, and supporter of Redistricting Partners, without whom we wouldn’t be doing any of this work.
I met Scott Lay in a speech class at Orange Coast College in 1991. He was in hospital scrubs, I was barefoot with long hair and ripped-up jeans and a T-Shirt. We bonded over our liberal leanings in conservative Orange County. For his assignment he gave a speech about participating in patient escorts at the local planned parenthood, I gave a speech about the first amendment and flag-burning. We sat together at the back of the class and bonded.
A couple months later Scott and I met on the quad, crossing diagonally from the student services office – he was on his way to get paperwork to start a Democratic Club, I had just gone and done the same thing, so we did it together. When we found that, as he put it, the “Kremlin-like student government” wouldn’t approve our posters, we decided to run for student trustee positions, and won."
Newsom got rid of one Junipero Serran statue. But another reps the state in DC
Sacramento Bee, GILLIAN BRASSIL: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Friday to replace a statue of Father Junipero Serra with a monument for Native American tribes after protestors and members of the state Legislature lobbied against the Catholic missionary’s controversial past.
Cities and protestors across California have toppled other statues of Serra in recent years, including the one in Sacramento’s Capitol Park last year.
But one stands strong: the figure of Junipero Serra that represents the state in the United States Capitol."
LA Unified enrollment drops by more than 27,000 students, steepest decline in years
LA Times, HOWARD BLUME: "Enrollment in the Los Angeles Unified School District has dropped by more than 27,000 students since last year, a decline of close to 6% — a much steeper slide than in any recent year.
The comparison is based on an annual count referred to as “norm day,” the fifth Friday of every new school year, Sept. 17 this year. Last year’s enrollment total for pre-school through 12th grade was 466,229. This year’s figure for that same date is 439,013, according to data provided by L.A. Unified that will be presented to the school board Tuesday.
Other data released by L.A. Unified indicates other potential concerns. The district estimates that between 70% and 80% of the school staff are on target to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the district’s deadline of Oct. 15, indicating that thousands of employees face termination, which would exacerbate another problem: more than 2,000 unfilled jobs."
SF could foot the bill for school board recall to help cash-strapped district
The Chronicle, JILL TUCKER: "With San Francisco’s school district already facing a massive $112 million budget shortfall, the likely recall election of three school board members would add up to $8 million to that tab, an unanticipated financial hit that could increase cuts to classrooms — unless the city steps in to cover the costs.
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman hopes to make that happen, saying he will announce legislation Tuesday that would pull money from city coffers to pay for the expected recall election of President Gabriela López, Vice President Faauuga Moliga and board member Alison Collins.
Signatures have been submitted to put the recall on the ballot, and it is widely expected to qualify."
SF is investing millions in overdose response, but the deaths are relentless.
The Chronicle, TRISHA THADANI/YOOHYUN JUNG: "Joshua Weens was walking toward his mother’s home in the Tenderloin on a warm August afternoon when he saw a man splayed out on the ground. His skin was slightly purple and drool dripped down his cheek.
A group of people hanging around the man near Golden Gate Avenue and Jones Street said he was just sleeping. But Weens was skeptical.
He called 911, and the dispatcher suggested Narcan. A woman nearby had the overdose antidote on her and sprayed it up the man’s nose, but it didn’t help. The paramedics arrived a few minutes later, tried Narcan again, and then declared the man dead."
Fed case over alleged racist abuse at Tesla plant starts Monday
The Chronicle, CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO: "A federal discrimination lawsuit against electric car maker Tesla kicks off in a San Francisco courtroom Monday.
The case is being brought on behalf of Owen Diaz, who is Black, over claims he faced frequent racial epithets and was subjected to racist cartoons from other employees while working at the company’s Fremont plant. The suit says management did little to nothing to stop the alleged abuse.
The Palo Alto company has denied in court filings that it knew of the alleged behavior at its factory, and denied that it failed to protect African American employees. The company also denied that it “Ratified and supported racially harassing behavior” and said in court papers that it did not hesitate to address racial abuse at the Fremont factory when it arose."
LA Times, RICHARD WINTON: "California’s 31% jump in homicides in 2020 reflected a national trend that saw the largest one-year increase since the FBI began collecting numbers in the 1960s, the bureau said Monday.
The national increase was 29.4%, according to FBI statistics.
The numbers also showed an increase in fatal gun violence. Nationwide, guns accounted for 76% of the weapons used in slayings last year, up from 73% in 2019, according to the FBI report."
General Mark A. Milley faces Congress as military controversies mount
LA Times, CHRIS MEGERIAN: "Top military leaders are scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill on Tuesday as they face a cascade of controversies over the withdrawal from Afghanistan and behind-the-scenes maneuvering in the final months of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Lloyd J. Austin III, the Defense secretary; Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., who oversaw operations in Afghanistan, are slated to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee at 6:30 a.m. PST.
Milley’s testimony will probably be the most closely watched, given his central role in several dramas during the presidential transition period."
Obamas finally to break ground on presidential center after years of controversy
AP, SOPHIA TAREEN: "After five years of legal battles, gentrification concerns and a federal review, former President Obama and his wife, Michelle, are expected to attend a celebratory groundbreaking Tuesday on their legacy project in a lakefront Chicago park.
Construction on the site along Lake Michigan, near the Obama family home and where the former president started his political career on Chicago’s South Side, officially began last month. Work on the Obama Presidential Center is expected to take about five years.
On Tuesday, the Obamas are scheduled to host a ceremony that will be livestreamed to limit crowds amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker in attendance."