California’s coming gas car ban: What it means
ANTHONY DE LEON, LA Times: "California is combating climate change and air pollution by cutting back on emissions from motor vehicles.
The California Air Resources Board voted Thursday to require all new passenger cars and light trucks sold by 2035 to be what it calls zero-emission vehicles. First proposed in April,
the mandate will force automakers to phase out gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles in favor of cleaner battery or fuel-cell cars. The mission is to "[m]ove the state away from oil,” said Lauren Sanchez, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s climate advisor.
Here’s how it’s designed to work."
California’s historic ban on gas-powered cars includes one major exception
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER: “California regulators approved a plan Thursday to mostly ban the sale of new gas-powered cars starting in 2035, adopting the first statewide clean-car mandate of its kind in the country.
The move formalizes an executive order that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed nearly two years ago, requiring the state to phase out the sale of cars that generate planet-warming emissions. Electric-vehicle experts called the vote historic and said it will reshape the global auto market.
Dan Sperling, a member of the Air Resources Board, which approved the rule, and founding director at the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis, called the vote the most “transformative” that state regulators have ever taken.”
What does California new gas car ban mean for vehicles we own and buy? Here’s the timeline
Sacramento Bee, HANH TRUONG/RANDY DIAMOND: “California is officially the first state to stop the sale of gas-powered vehicles.
On Thursday, the California Air Resources Board passed the ban in an effort to reduce pollution emitted from cars that run on gasoline and diesel.
Here’s what we know so far about the ban:”
S.F. City Hall corruption: Mohammed Nuru gets 7 years in prison
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: “Disgraced former Public Works czar Mohammed Nuru will serve seven years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal fraud charge, a judge ordered Thursday afternoon, closing one chapter in a corruption scandal that ensnared senior officials and business heavyweights, and shattered the public’s trust in city government.
Judge William Orrick read the sentence in a San Francisco courtroom so packed that people stood in the aisles and spilled into the hallway. Some wiped their eyes as the judge announced his decision. In addition to incarceration, Nuru will serve three years of supervised release and 100 hours of community service, and will pay a $35,000 fine.
Nuru stood silently beside his attorney Thursday. Orrick ordered him to surrender to authorities on Jan. 6, potentially to a facility close to his family in San Francisco — an accommodation that his attorney, Miles Ehrlich, requested in light of the former Public Works director’s medical conditions. He suffers from diabetes and recently had a heart attack, Ehrlich said in court.”
Should I get a COVID booster now or wait for the new vaccine that targets omicron?
The Chronicle, ADVICE TEAM: “Dear Advice Team: I am about to turn 70 and have been twice vaccinated and twice boosted (all Pfizer). But my second booster was administered on April 20. With waning immunity and more transmissible variants, is it advisable to get a third booster and, if so, to get it sooner or wait for a new, more omicron-oriented vaccine that may become available later this fall?
And if I did get another booster sooner, would that in any way impede getting the newer vaccine in the fall? Also, is there any problem in getting another COVID booster at the same time as getting the annual flu vaccination?
Dear Advice Team: My kids are 9 and 6 and have not yet had the booster. They completed the two-dose Pfizer series in December 2021. At this point, should I get them boosted with the current shot, or should I wait for the omicron-specific booster to become available? When will kids under 12 be able to get the new formulation? I keep reading that it could be only a few weeks before they ship, but it’s not clear if that will be for adults only or kids as well. If I did get them boosted now, how long would I have to wait to get them the omicron booster?”
New monkeypox cases begin to slow in L.A. County, echoing trends elsewhere
LAT, GRACE TOOHEY/RONG-GONG LIN II/LUKE MONEY: “New monkeypox cases are starting to flatten in Los Angeles County, echoing a trend seen elsewhere as more vaccination doses are distributed and some people are reducing riskier sexual activity.
As of Thursday, L.A. County reported 1,349 cumulative monkeypox cases, up 30% from the prior Thursday’s tally of 1,036 cases.
The percentage increase is much smaller than in past weeks: Between Aug. 5 and Aug. 11, there was a 62% increase in cumulative cases. The prior week-over-week increase went up by 71%.”
Sacramento LGBT Community Center to host monkeypox vaccine clinic. You may be eligible
Sacramento Bee, BRIANNA TAYLOR: “The Sacramento LGBT Community Center is partnering with Pucci’s Pharmacy for another monkeypox vaccination clinic as cases are over 100 in Sacramento County.
The county has a total of 110 monkeypox, also known as the MPX virus, cases, according to the latest update from Sacramento County Department of Health Services.
The Marsha P. Johnson Center will host its vaccination clinic at 75 Quinta Court Suite D from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1. Residents are urged to make an appointment, but walk-ins will be seen while supplies last.”
L.A. County confirms its first human cases of West Nile virus this year
LAT, CHRISTIAN MARTINEZ: “Public health officials on Thursday confirmed Los Angeles County’s first human cases of West Nile virus of the year.
Six cases have been confirmed in the Antelope, San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, with most patients hospitalized for the illness in late July and early August, the L.A. County Department of Public Health said in a release. All of the patients are recovering.
L.A. County does not report cases in Long Beach or Pasadena, which operate their own public health agencies; neither city has publicly reported any confirmed cases as of Thursday.”
L.A. Councilman Herb Wesson resigns as temporary fill-in for indicted Mark Ridley-Thomas
LAT, DAVID ZAHNISER: “Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson resigned from his position as an interim replacement for indicted Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas on Thursday, days after a judge barred him from carrying out his duties at City Hall.
Wesson, in a letter to the City Council, said he was grateful to have been appointed to represent the 10th District, which stretches from Koreatown to Leimert Park in South Los Angeles. He also argued that district residents deserve “a voting voice.”
“They have been put into this situation through no fault of their own,” he said. “The community needs representation and it is my hope that there will be little to no delay in providing that to them.””
The Breed administration offered them homes. Then it spent millions to kick them out
The Chronicle, JOAQUIN PALOMINO/TRISHA THADANI/STEPHEN LAM: “Robert Bowman scanned the aisles of a downtown Target. It was May, and the 49-year-old man with congestive heart failure was about to become homeless. He needed to buy a tent he could pitch on concrete, with fabric strong enough to withstand San Francisco’s summer winds.
He had lived on the streets before, in a life waylaid by trauma, loss and illness. But four years ago, he moved inside when the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing offered him a room at the Elm Hotel in the Tenderloin.
Bowman, though, repeatedly violated the Elm’s visitor policy and owed more than $2,000 in back rent. Now he faced eviction and an uncertain future. Standing in the Target, he spied a red Coleman tent locked in a glass case. The package showed it set up in a woodsy clearing, sun trickling through the trees.”
LAT, GEORGE SKELTON: “The dust-up at the state Capitol over nuclear power is the direct result of politicians either setting unrealistic goals or failing to plan — or both.
Most of the blame falls on Gov. Gavin Newsom and his predecessor, Jerry Brown, although the Legislature certainly shares in it. Brown issued an executive order in 2018 setting an ambitious goal of California becoming carbon neutral by 2045.
Now, Newsom is asking the Legislature to make that goal legally binding.”
Beyond gender-neutral bathrooms: A guide to rights and protections for LGBTQ+ students
EdSource, CAROLYN JONES: “In many parts of the U.S., students returning to school will encounter a rash of new laws and regulations aimed at students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. At least six states have recently passed laws restricting rights and protections for LGBTQ+ students, including Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law that limits discussions of sexuality and gender in the classroom.
LGBTQ+ students have far more protections in California, which has one of the highest percentages of gay people in the country at 9.1%, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. But amid the national debate, confusion persists about what laws protect LGBTQ+ students in California. Here are some common questions and answers about how schools can support LGBTQ+ students:
Who is considered LGBTQ+?”
Can more density get S.F.’s stuck housing projects moving again? This developer thinks so
The Chronicle, JK DINEEN: “Tishman Speyer is the latest developer hoping that adding more units will help jump-start stalled housing projects.
The developer of a massive, approved development near the San Francisco Caltrain station at Fourth and Townsend streets is seeking to increase the number of units — a move the builder says would make the project economically feasible.
Tishman Speyer, which owns the property at 655 Fourth St. — the former site of the Creamery, a popular tech hangout in the 2010s — is looking to increase its unit count by 17%, from 960 to 1,148 apartments.”
NFL punter Matt Araiza and two San Diego State football players accused in gang-rape lawsuit
LAT, COLLEEN SHALBY/ROBERT J LOPEZ: “A civil lawsuit filed Thursday in state court accuses three past and present San Diego State University football players — including a top punter now in the NFL — of gang raping a 17-year-old girl last year at an off-campus party.
Matt Araiza, 22, whose powerful and precision kicking in college earned him the moniker “Punt God,” was accused of having sex with the minor outside the home and then bringing her inside to a room where she was repeatedly raped.
The lawsuit, filed in San Diego County Superior Court, alleges that the then-high school senior went in and out of consciousness but remembers moments as the men took turns assaulting her.”
At Burbank protest, former Nickelodeon star says network’s child actors ‘were not safe’
LAT, ALEXANDRA DEL ROSARIO: “Not long after former child actor Jennette McCurdy ignited new allegations against Nickelodeon, the children’s television network is feeling the heat again.
On Thursday, protesters gathered outside Nickelodeon’s animation studio in Burbank to make more allegations, specifically against “iCarly” series creator Dan Schneider.
Former “Zoey 101" actor Alexa Nikolas — who leads the organization Eat Predators, which advocates for survivors of sexual abuse — organized the protest. She alleged that she and fellow child actors “were not safe” during her time working on the show.”