Atmospheric river creates havoc around Bay Area
SAM WHITING and JULIE JOHNSON, SF Chronicle: "Driving rain and fierce winds battered Northern California on Sunday, filling the sky with a dense, dark curtain as rivers climbed their banks, downed trees and new mini-lakes snarled Bay Area traffic, and the threat of massive debris flows caused evacuations in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.
Danger from potential cascades of debris and sodden earth in the burn scars from last year’s devastating wildfires led to evacuation orders in parts of San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties where the CZU Lightning Complex burned through last year.
READ MORE BOMB CYCLONE / ATMOSPHERIC RIVER NEWS --- Here's how much rain fell so far Sunday from the 'bomb cyclone' storm in Sacramento Region -- Sacramento Bee, MICHAEL MCGOUGH/DANIEL HUNT; NorCal rainstorm will help but not end water woes -- Sacramento Bee, DALE KASLER; Category 5 atmospheric river brings flooding, evac orders and outages -- The Chronicle, STAFF; How the 'bomb cyclone' over NorCal is impacting Bay Area weather -- The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES; Sunday was a record-setting day in Sacramento region -- SacBee Staff; Heavy rain, unleashes mud, debris flow in NorCal areas burned by wildfire -- LA Times, ROSANNA XIA
Search warrant reveals grim details of 'Rust' shooting and Halyna Hutchins' final moments
LA Times, WENDY LEE: "Actor Alec Baldwin was practicing removing a revolver from its holster and aiming toward the camera during rehearsal for the movie “Rust” when director Joel Souza heard “what sounded like a whip and then a loud pop,” according to a search warrant obtained by the Los Angeles Times on Sunday night that also provided grim new details about the final minutes of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ life.
In the newly released document Souza said someone identified the weapon as a “cold gun,” meaning it did not have any live rounds. But instead the gun discharged, striking Hutchins in her chest and Souza in his right shoulder, according to a Santa Fe County, N.M., sheriff’s detective’s affidavit used to obtain a search warrant. Hutchins was pronounced dead at an Albuquerque hospital.
Souza’s statement to the detective offered a new window into the on-set shooting Thursday that has left Hollywood reeling and calling for safer working conditions on sets."
READ MORE 'RUST' / FIREARMS NEWS --- Experts predict the legal fallout from the Alec Baldwin prop gun shooting -- LA Times, RYAN FAUGHNDER
For months, California private schools have been waiting for 'emergency' Covid aid.
JOHN FENSTERWALD, EdSource: "Recognizing that all schools were struggling with Covid, Congress offered help this year for private along with public schools. The $5.5 billion for non-public schools was small compared with the $230 billion in pandemic relief for public schools since March 2020, but nonetheless an unprecedented amount.
Congress titled it “Emergency Assistance for Non-Public Schools” to stress that the money should go out the door quickly, especially to schools serving low-income families. A big beneficiary was to be California’s urban parochial schools, surviving financially for years on the margins and on their wits. Still, they wondered if the state’s share — $368 million split over two rounds of funding —was too good to be true.
For the seven months since Gov. Gavin Newsom applied for and received the money, it has been. Some schools fronted tens of thousands of dollars for Chromebooks, air filtration systems and PPE assuming they’d be quickly reimbursed. They weren’t. The first checks went out last week, and most won’t be paid until sometime next month."
Man is arrested after driving into vaccine mandate protesters in Palmdale, authorities say
KIM CHRISTIANSEN, LA Times: "A 64-year-old man was arrested Saturday after he drove his Jeep Wrangler into a crowd of people protesting vaccine mandates in Palmdale, injuring one woman, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said.
“A witness stated a man disagreed with the protest, entered his vehicle and intentionally drove toward the protesters,” Deputy Trina Schrader said in a statement Sunday. “The suspect then drove away westbound and out of view.”
William Aslaksen was arrested about 90 minutes after the incident, which occurred about 3:25 p.m. at the intersection of 10th Street West and Rancho Vista Boulevard, officials said."
California Democrats defer proposal to ban contributions from law enforcement, fossil fuel groups
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "The California Democratic Party deferred deciding Sunday on a proposal from racial justice and environmental activists to reject future campaign contributions from law enforcement organizations and fossil fuel companies.
Instead, the party’s executive committee voted to create a new committee to examine all of its campaign contributors and report back for another vote in February. The new panel will consider those bans as well as suggest ways to back fill the potential loss of millions of dollars in contributions from banned industries and individuals. The party will not accept contributions from law enforcement or fossil fuel companies until next year’s vote.
The original proposal was pitched as a way for the state Democratic Party — the nation’s largest — to align its rhetoric on racial justice and the environment with its financing sources."
Why a progressive prosecutor just left DA Chesa Boudin's office and joined the recall effort
The Chronicle, HEATHER KNIGHT: "Sitting on a bench in Golden Gate Park on a recent afternoon, Brooke Jenkins made clear the city’s raging debate over crime and how District Attorney Chesa Boudin responds to it is more complicated than left versus right.
Jenkins, a former homicide prosecutor, just quit. Her last day was Oct. 15. She’s now one of about 50 attorneys — roughly a third of the office — to leave since January 2020, when Boudin took charge.
But Jenkins’ decision to speak out about what she views as chaotic management, high turnover and ideologically driven decisions at the D.A.’s office sets her apart in the normally tight-lipped criminal justice community. And so does her new role: volunteering for the campaign to recall her former boss."
'This is it' is consensus among some COVID experts. So how should you assess risk for the long term?
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "Last week, Dr. Bob Wachter — one of the Bay Area’s leading experts on COVID-19, who is known to be cautious — did something potentially surprising: He hosted a 300-person medical conference in downtown San Francisco, with people traveling in from different places, despite the ongoing pandemic.
Of course, those who attended the conference all had their vaccine cards checked and wore masks indoors, and there was a virtual option for those not quite ready to attend something in person. But for many, going to the conference was a big step — and one of their first forays back into regular life, said Wachter, the chair of UCSF’s Department of Medicine.
That slow shift back, with pandemic calculus still running in the background, is how Bay Area public health and infectious disease experts see the upcoming months and years of the coronavirus crisis, as cases remain relatively low but risk persists."
No school festivals. Fewer class fundraisers. Lost memories. How COVID changed parenting
Sacramento Bee, SAWSAN MORRAR: "When Jenn Leon began volunteering with her Parent Teacher Association, she was doing it all.
Delegating homeroom parents to photocopy worksheets for their teacher. Organizing holiday festivities. Planning father-daughter dances. The Florence Markofer Elementary School PTA would meet in the school library, assigning tasks for fundraising events that would earn them thousands of dollars — money they would reinvest into future projects and events for students and staff.
But after the COVID-19 pandemic caused school campuses around California to close, only to later reopen with new protocols and restrictions, many of those tasks disappeared."
READ MORE EDUCATION NEWS --- Lowell High School admissions change opponents seek injunction to reverse policy -- The Chronicle, ROLAND LI
Ersie Joyner was one of Oakland's top crime fighters. How did he become a crime victim?
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "Two impulses seemed to tug at Ersie Joyner across the trajectory of his career in the Oakland Police Department: a determination to hunt down perpetrators, and an altruistic quest to help his community.
The retired police captain, 52, was critically injured in a shootout with three assailants who robbed him Thursday, in the heart of a city where he grew up wary of the police, only to become a decorated law enforcement officer who would steer youth away from violence.
He remained hospitalized at Highland Hospital on Saturday as police continued investigating the incident at a Chevron Station just off Interstate 980 near downtown Oakland. Surveillance video captured a harrowing scene: Three assailants ambushed and robbed Joyner as he pumped gas into his Porsche; Joyner pulled out a gun and shot two of the attackers — one fatally — before he was shot as the two jumped in their car and fled."