Unprecedented water restrictions hit Southern California today: What they mean to you
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: “Get ready for short showers and brown lawns: More than 6 million Southern Californians will be placed under new drought rules today in an unprecedented effort to conserve water.
The restrictions are a response to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s urgent call for a 35% reduction in water use following California’s driest-ever start to the year. MWD’s board has never before issued such severe cuts, but said they were left with little recourse after state officials slashed deliveries from the State Water Project to just 5%.
“We have not had the supply to meet the normal demands that we have, and now we need to prioritize between watering our lawns and having water for our children and our grandchildren and livelihood and health,” MWD General Manager Adel Hagekhalil said during the agency’s announcement at the end of April.”
Democrat Robert Rivas is poised to be next Assembly speaker
TARYN LUNA, LA Times: "Robert Rivas, a San Benito County Democrat and an advocate for farmworkers, secured the support Tuesday from his current Democratic colleagues to become the next speaker of the California Assembly.
The announcement was made Tuesday night in a joint statement with Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) at the conclusion of a lengthy closed-door meeting of Assembly Democrats, capping off a tumultuous few days as they each sought control of the lower house.
The two legislators offered no timeline for a transition of power to Rivas, who said the caucus wants to keep Rendon in charge until at least the end of the legislative session in August. The statement was not clear on when Rivas would succeed Rendon or how long he will have to hold his supporters together to officially secure the job."
Ousted Sacramento fire chief files claim seeking $10 million, alleges wrongful termination
THERESA CLIFT, SacBee: "Former Sacramento Fire Chief Gary Loesch on Tuesday filed a claim against the city signaling he’s preparing to sue over his termination and alleging top officials deliberately exposed him to COVID-19 after he appealed a disciplinary pay cut.
Loesch’s attorney, Eric Lindstrom, wrote that he is seeking $10 million in damages.
City Manager Howard Chan last week fired Loesch from his position leading the Fire Department, a post Loesch had held since 2018.
The death of the American lawn?
LA Times, MEL MELCON: “Paul Ramirez cares for his little patch of Americana with the reverence of a master gardener. He had to, or face the wrath of his grandfather from 800 miles away.
Grandpa Eugene planted the Boyle Heights lawn about 60 years ago. He cared so much about the greenery that after he moved to El Paso, Texas, he would call friends to check on it. When told it wasn’t looking good, he immediately would call family into action.
At age 9, Paul was put in charge of keeping the lawn green; he has been in charge ever since. He is now 54 years old.”
On a block full of lawns, she ditched grass for a DIY drought-tolerant oasis
LA Times, LISA BOONE: “Long before the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California declared a water shortage emergency and ordered outdoor watering limited to two days a week, Sarah Lariviere, an avid gardener, was thinking about ways to conserve water.
During the pandemic, the young adult author found inspiration on the long walks that she and her husband took in their Burbank neighborhood. It wasn’t the endless series of lush green lawns that moved her, however, but the occasional drought tolerant landscape that would materialize, sandwiched between the turf.
“I grew up in the Midwest so I was drawn to the non-lawn landscapes,” says the 46-year-old. “I love the wild look of colorful wildflowers.””
California’s new coronavirus wave is disrupting lives, even with less severe illness
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II, LUKE MONEY: “A new surge of coronavirus cases is taking shape, as California slogs into a third pandemic summer with far fewer hospitalizations and deaths but still significant disruptions.
There are fewer cases of serious illness than occurred during other waves, underscoring the protection imparted by vaccinations, therapeutic drugs and, for some, partial natural immunity stemming from a previous infection.
Still, officials are deciding how best to respond now that cases are rapidly rising after plunging in the spring.”
COVID in California: COVID survivors face double the risk of heart, lung conditions
The Chronicle, Rita Beamish/Dominic Fracassa: “Some 20,000 pandemic-related deaths in California may be missing from the states official COVID mortality toll. An Oakland couple’s anniverary trip to Europe shows how COVID still has the power to upend plans and spoil vacations. A large study of more than 60,000 people tested for the coronavirus in San Francisco found intriguing shifts in COVID-19 symptoms over three different surges.
Latest updates:
Deaths still are far below earlier waves in Bay Area
COVID-19 is claiming fewer lives in the Bay Area despite the dramatic surge in cases. The region has reported on average three deaths a day for almost all of May. And while the number of patients with COVID needing intensive care has more than doubled over the past month, ICU capacity is not tapped out. Health experts said people who want to avoid becoming infected should be resuming aggressive COVID precautions by now, if they haven’t already, including wearing masks indoors and avoiding crowded spaces — from busy restaurants and movie theaters to graduation parties. Read more about the coronavirus trends in the Bay Area and California.”
As Bay Area cases swell again, it’s ‘very hard right now to avoid getting COVID’
The Chronicle, ERIN ALLDAY: “Coronavirus cases blew up across the Bay Area in May, as the region became entrenched in a sixth surge that is likely many times larger than what reported infections show and may even be approaching the magnitude of this past winter’s massive omicron wave, health experts say.
COVID hospitalizations are climbing in the Bay Area too — they’ve nearly doubled since the start of the month — though they remain at a relatively low and manageable level compared to prior surges, experts said. The number of patients with COVID needing intensive care in the region has more than doubled over the past month, but ICU capacity is not tapped out.
Deaths also remain far below the levels seen in earlier waves; the Bay Area has reported on average three deaths a day for almost all of May.”
Two years after George Floyd, L.A.’s police union goes big in the city election
LA Times, DAVID ZAHNISER: “Two years ago, some of Los Angeles’ political leaders took a public stand against the clout wielded by the city’s police union, announcing they would reject any campaign donations that were offered by the group.
In the days after the killing of George Floyd, Councilman Mike Bonin — elected twice with the union’s support — said he would disavow any additional outside spending made by the union on his behalf. Councilman David Ryu, then seeking reelection, returned one of the union’s donations. Nithya Raman, who defeated Ryu, decried the union’s influence throughout her campaign.
Those pronouncements have not kept the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents more than 9,000 rank-and-file officers, from making another major push at City Hall. With the election less than a week away, the union is financially involved in five of the city’s 11 contests, committing more money than any other organization.”
An infant’s death prompts accusations in Riverside County district attorney’s race
LA Times, CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD: “Jawhon Burts appeared in a Riverside County courtroom in late September, charged with a felony for a strangulation attack on the mother of his child.
The prosecutor wanted him to serve a six-month jail term. But under a plea deal Burts struck with a Superior Court judge, the charge would be reduced to a misdemeanor if Burts completed a 52-week program for batterers.
The agreement would have escaped public notice if not for what happened next.”
Do bumblebees count as fish? Here’s why a California court just said yes, actually
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: “Dwindling species of bumblebees can be classified as endangered in California — even if that requires defining “fish,” a category of protected creatures under state law, to include bees, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.
California’s endangered species law, one of the nation’s first when it was signed by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1970, granted protections to any “bird, mammal, fish, amphibia or reptile” whose existence in the state was threatened, and included “invertebrates” in the definition of fish. When the law was updated in 1984 under Gov. George Deukmejian, the reference to invertebrates was removed, but the new law protected the Trinity bristle snail, an invertebrate mollusk that lives on land.
Environmental groups asked the state Fish and Game Commission in 2018 to classify four bumblebee species as endangered, and the commission agreed in 2019 to consider them as candidates, a decision that immediately barred any actions that would kill the bees or destroy their habitat.”
S.F. Bay Area weather to heat up significantly starting second week of June
The Chronicle, JESSICA FLORES: “Another wave of hot weather was expected to descend on the Bay Area in the second week of June, the National Weather Service said.
Long-range forecasts showed a stagnant pattern of high pressure setting up over the West Coast that could bring above-normal temperatures to parts of the Bay Area from June 7 to 13, said National Weather Service meteorologist Sean Miller.
“It’s going to be more of an inland-type thing,” Miller said of the expected heat wave. “The Central Valley and places like that are going to get the hottest.””
Debate turns hot over UC proposal to set criteria for high school ethnic studies
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: “n influential University of California faculty committee has shelved a draft policy to require criteria for high school ethnic studies courses that critics characterized as narrow, ideological and activist.
The professors who wrote the draft are vowing to fight for it, in what could become a combative and very public battle over who gets to decide what California high school students will learn about the heritage, history, culture and struggles of the state’s historically underrepresented groups.
The proposal had gone through several iterations and had appeared to be on track to go before the UC Board of Regents for approval. Instead, the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools or BOARS, which initiated the effort, has backpedaled amid continued questions and debate within and outside of UC.”
Oakland limits rent increases to 3% for rent-controlled apartments
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: “Oakland officials on Tuesday evening capped rent increases at 3% for rent-controlled apartments, effectively preventing landlords from raising rents by 6.7% starting in July, which had been on track to be one of the highest one-year rent increases in the city’s history.
The City Council voted 6-1 for an ordinance to restrain the rent increase, with Noel Gallo voting against the proposal and Loren Taylor abstaining.
The move came amid strong support from tenants rights advocates who said a massive rent increase could have a catastrophic impact on a city grappling with a rising homelessness crisis as many residents try to emerge from the pandemic downturn.”
This Berkeley historic theater will keep its facade, but 15 stories of housing could rise behind it
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: “The historic California Theatre in downtown Berkeley could be turned into a 15-story, high-rise apartment building.
Gilbane Development Co., a Rhode Island developer, is finalizing plans for city approval that would keep the theater’s landmark marquee and facade while building housing and potentially a 300-seat performance arts center on the ground floor.
If approved, the project, specifically the multipurpose performance arts center, could inject some life to a commercial district that has seen businesses shutter since the pandemic. On the residential side, Berkeley’s downtown is going through major change with a boom in housing construction. Nearly 10 apartment buildings, from 5 to 14 stories, are under construction in the downtown area.”
The Chronicle, DEEPA FERNANDES: “In the hotel room that became her family’s home for four months, Firoza winced at the sharp pain in her abdomen and held her crying son as her 2-year-old daughter bounced on the only play structure available — the bed.
“I am suffering a lot,” she said in Pashto, translated by another Afghan refugee. “But at the same time, I have to also take care of my kids.”
Leaving behind a construction business and their lives in Kabul, a pregnant Firoza; her husband, Ahmad; and their daughter were among the roughly 76,000 Afghan nationals evacuated from their country last August, as the Taliban reclaimed power during the final days of the U.S. government’s 20-year occupation. The Chronicle is withholding the couple’s last name due to security concerns for relatives still in Afghanistan. A former interpreter for the U.S. military, Ahmad believed coming to America meant his family could start over in safety.”
The Chronicle, HEATHER KNIGHT: “The morning began like most in the Saleh family’s tiny studio six floors above Turk and Hyde streets in the Tenderloin. The four children rose from their mats on the floor as their parents emerged from the closet where they shared a small mattress.
Abu Bakr Saleh, the father and sole earner in the family of refugees who fled the war in Yemen, rushed to begin a 16-hour double shift at a grocery store and a KFC. His wife, Sumaya Albadani, began an isolating day of cooking, cleaning and waiting for the others to return.
The kids — Ahmed, 16, Asma, 15, Raghad, 12, and 10-year-old Maya — rode a rickety elevator downstairs, down to one of the city’s most distressed blocks, before fanning out to their four schools.”