New storms set to hit a rain-battered California, with Monterey Peninsula at serious risk
SUMMER LIN, GRACE TOOHEY and RONG-GONG LIN II, LA Times: "More storms were expected to hit Northern California and the rest of the state Friday, bringing fears of flooding, mudslides and power outages in communities already battered by a series of atmospheric rivers.
All eyes will be on Monterey County as officials warn that flooding could cut off the Monterey Peninsula from the rest of the state and shut down major roadways, including Highways 1 and 68.
With more storms on the way, the Salinas River region is forecast to receive 1 to 1.5 inches of rain Friday and up to 2 more inches over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service."
Multiple Areas of Monterey County Could Be Cut Off as Salinas River Crests
NBC, BAY AREA: "Monterey County residents were advised to prepare for major roadways to be closed due to flooding between Thursday night and Sunday morning as flood-stage water flows move through the Salinas River to the coast.
Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto said at a press conference Thursday afternoon at the Salinas River crossing at Blanco Road that residents in the areas of Chualar, Spreckels and Las Palmas Ranch could be cut off from essential services as the river crests. She said flooding would likely be a threat for areas from southwest Chualar to Spreckels and from the River Road corridor to the Salinas River Lagoon.
Nieto noted the situation was changing by the hour and urged residents to check the social media pages of the Sheriff's Office and the county for official updates. The most accurate mapping of area flooding can be found at the county's website, she said."
Flooding could transform Monterey County into a 'virtual island'
The Chronicle, ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH/MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "Streaks of sunshine broke through high gray clouds in Monterey County on Thursday while the waters of the Salinas River slowly continued rising, creating a flood threat that officials warned could close highways in and out of the Monterey Peninsula, making the popular tourist destination a virtual island.
County officials and residents Thursday were holding their collective breath.
Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto warned at a news conference Wednesday evening that there’s a possibility that the peninsula — which includes the towns of Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach and Carmel — could become isolated due to flooded roads, including Highway 1 and Highway 68."
In a Drought, California Is Watching Water Wash Out to Sea
RALPH VARTABEDIAN, NY Times: " A century ago, Los Angeles built what is still widely considered one of the most sophisticated urban flood control systems in the world, designed to hold back waters from massive Pacific storms like the ones that have recently slammed the state.
After a series of downpours over the past week dumped up to nine inches of rain on the San Gabriel Mountains, some 8.4 billion gallons were impounded behind 14 large dams, easing floods and building up valuable stores of water for the drier summer months ahead.
But in a state that is weathering a crippling, multiyear drought, much larger streams of water — estimated at tens of billions of gallons — have been rushing in recent days straight into the Pacific Ocean, a devastating conundrum for a state whose future depends on holding on to any drop it can."
How California’s slew of storms stack up to previous drought-busters
RONG-GON LIN II and HAYLEY SMITH, LA Times: "California’s winter storms are shaping up to be some of the most powerful in decades, battering communities with destructive flooding and landslides, forcing evacuations and causing at least 19 deaths across the state.
The storms have wreaked havoc, but they also have helped with California’s extreme drought. The state’s snow water equivalent — the amount of water contained in the snow — was 226% of normal on Wednesday, a high for the date not seen in at least 20 years.
Still, this season’s weather hasn’t stacked up as much as the rains that ended the state’s previous historic drought, six years ago."
Is California’s drought over? Here’s what you need to know about rain, snow, reservoirs and drought
CALMatters, ALASTAIR BLAND: "The year 2023 began with a historic bang — record precipitation and disastrous flooding throughout much of California. Parched watersheds soaked up the first rains, but soon became waterlogged. Runoff accelerated. Sodden hillsides collapsed. Rural levees burst and rivers spilled their banks. Towns went underwater. People died.
Meanwhile, the Pacific Ocean continued to whip up more atmospheric rivers and “bomb cyclones,” and one after another, these intense storms pummeled California. Abruptly, a state emerging from the dust of three painfully dry years was inundated with more water than it knew what to do with.
But the wet and wild weather over the past dozen days won’t end the drought, at least not yet, and it won’t undo the driest period in the West in the past 1,200 years."
California’s COVID-19 numbers begin to improve following latest winter surge
MICHAEL McGOUGH, SacBee: "Coronavirus activity in California has declined in recent days, with significant drops recorded in key transmission and hospital metrics.
The statewide case rate for COVID-19 fell to 14.3 per 100,000 residents, the California Department of Public Health reported in a weekly update Thursday, down 10% from one week earlier.
California’s positivity rate declined more rapidly, down to 8.7% from 12.3% in last week’s update, according to CDPH.
UC Davis investigating prominent professor accused of raping high school student
The Chronicle, KATHLEEN QUINN/JEREMIAH O. RHODES: "UC Davis is investigating a prominent professor accused of raping an 18-year-old high school student he mentored in his laboratory, The Chronicle has learned.
Ting Guo, a chemistry professor at the university for more than two decades and former department chair, was placed on paid leave in January 2021 after the alleged victim filed a lawsuit — which was later dismissed — against Guo and UC Davis, university officials said Thursday in response to questions from this newspaper.
The accuser, who in her December 2020 lawsuit said Guo raped her on three occasions in 2010, also filed a police report in 2018."
University of California behind schedule in growing enrollment of in-state students
EdSource, MICHAEL BURKE: "Facing pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers to add thousands of California resident undergraduates over the next several years, the University of California is off to a slow start in making that happen.
In fact, UC estimates that enrollment of in-state students will be down slightly in the current 2022-23 academic year compared with last year. By UC’s own admission, that makes it unlikely that it will meet the expectation set last year by Newsom and lawmakers to add more than 7,600 of those students between 2022 and 2024.
Officials pointed to a variety of reasons for UC not enrolling its targeted number of in-state students, including drops in community college enrollment resulting in fewer transfer students; a student housing shortage that limits capacity at many campuses; and different enrollment strategies across the campuses, some of which deliberately limited their enrollment this past fall."
California governor caught in eye of storm over climate budget cuts
MAANVI SINGH, Guardian: "Facing a budget shortfall, California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed billions of dollars in cuts to climate spending – slashing subsidies for electric vehicles, funding for clean energy, wildfire prevention and programs to help low income residents cope with extreme weather.
The Democratic governor’s announcement, which came amid a week of torrential rains, deadly winds and flooding, drew sharp criticism from environmentalists. Facing a potential $22.5bn budget deficit, Newsom has suggested pulling back $3bn to address inflation and $750m to pay down unemployment insurance debt. But the bulk of his spending cuts slash programs to address the climate crisis and transportation.
Overall, Newsom has proposed cutting $6bn from a $54bn multi-year climate spending package that he had touted as “the most aggressive action on climate our nation has ever seen”.
CHRIS NICHOLS, CapRadio: "Thousands of homeless Sacramentans experienced the recent series of powerful winter storms outdoors, staying at their own encampments instead of at emergency shelters even as conditions turned deadly.
CapRadio interviewed seven unhoused residents and three shelter providers over the past week. Most of the unhoused people said it’s too difficult to access the region’s scattered shelters. Others said they fear losing their possessions if they leave their familiar camps.
Yet for others, it’s an issue of trust."
The Chronicle, JILL TUCKER: "A year after voting to close several schools to address overspending and empty classrooms, a new majority on the Oakland school board reversed the decision this week, arguing that shuttering the sites wasn’t financially necessary and was opposed by much of the community.
The new board president, Mike Hutchinson, wasted no time in calling for the vote, with district staff and the public given 24 hours notice of a special meeting on Wednesday to rescind the February 2022 decision. The meeting came just days after newly elected members took their seats — giving Hutchinson the four votes he needed to keep the schools open after this academic year.
It’s unclear how much it will cost the district to keep these schools open."
California latest to sue drug companies over insulin prices
ADAM BEAM, AP: "California on Thursday announced it will sue the companies that make and promote most of the nation’s insulin, accusing them of scheming to illegally increase the price of the drug and demanding they return millions of dollars to some diabetics who state officials say were overcharged for the medicine they must have to survive.
The lawsuit, to be filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Attorney General Rob Bonta, is the latest in a parade of legal actions against these companies from states across the political spectrum — all who have accused the corporate giants of abusing their power to quash competition and boost their profits by keeping the price of insulin high.
A 2021 study by the RAND Corporation comparing the insulin prices of nearly three dozen countries found prices in the United States were about 10 times higher than everywhere else. The average price of a vial of insulin in the United States was $98, while in nearby Canada it was $12.
San Francisco’s LendingClub to cut 225 jobs
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI: "LendingClub will lay off 225 employees or 14% of its workforce, the company said Thursday.
The San Francisco financial services company cited rising interest rates for the restructuring and expects $5.7 million in charges. Payroll and benefits expenses will drop by $25 million to $30 million per year after the job cuts.
“We remain committed to championing the financial success of our customers while generating long-term profitable growth amid an increasingly challenging economic environment,” said CEO Scott Sanborn in a statement. “These measures enable us to more closely align our expense structure to loan volume and revenue, while ensuring effective execution against our strategic priorities and long-term vision.”"
The Chronicle, J.K. DINEEN: "Veritas, San Francisco’s largest and most controversial landlord, is scrambling to raise capital after defaulting on a $448 million loan.
Last week, the Fitch Ratings reported that the property owner was in default on a $448 million loan, which is secured by a portfolio of 1,734 rent-controlled units in 62 building across San Francisco.
The default shows the challenges that San Francisco real estate owners will grapple with as loans become due. Many properties — office buildings, hotels and apartments — were financed with 10-year loans in 2013, which means that debt needs to be paid back this year, according to John Manning, a veteran real estate financing executive with Marcus & Millichap."
Gimme Shelter: Mayor Karen Bass on homelessness and the California housing crisis
CALMatters, RICHARD PROCTER: "The housing crisis in California is inseparable from the number of unhoused people in the state. California has the largest homeless population in the United States, and Los Angeles County has the most homeless folks within California.
None of that is lost on Karen Bass, the newly elected mayor of Los Angeles. She spoke with L.A. Times reporters Liam Dillon and Ben Oreskes about the California housing crisis, the homeless population in Los Angeles and the state, and gave her opinion on related topics like gentrification and Proposition 13.
Here’s a snippet of the interview which has been edited for clarity and length."
What makes a city ‘happiest’? Here’s why Bay Area cities keep ranking No. 1
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "Apparently living in California - and especially in the Bay Area - makes people happier than most, according to a recent report from financial technology company SmartAsset.
In the 2022 “ Where Americans are Happiest ” study, six California cities made the top 10. Four are in Northern California, with the Bay Area city of Sunnyvale topping the list as the “happiest city” in the country.
SmartAsset researchers looked at 164 of the 200 largest cities in the U.S., which had available data, and considered 13 metrics across three categories: personal finance, well-being and quality of life. The metrics were analyzed to determine a score from 0 to 100 for each category, and an overall ranking index score."
Driving to Tahoe for holiday weekend skiing? Read this first
The Chronicle, GREGORY THOMAS: "One of Lake Tahoe’s most popular skiing weekends is due to bring such heavy snow that traveling to and from the mountains is expected to be difficult, if not impossible.
Thursday offered a short break in steadily falling rain and snow across Northern California this week, but incoming storms are expected to unload 3-5 feet of snow in the Tahoe area beginning Friday and continuing through the Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend. The heaviest of these is expected to peak on Saturday and “looks to pose a great threat of widespread travel impacts across the Sierra,” according to a Special Weather Statement from the National Weather Service.
“Mountain travel is highly discouraged this weekend!” reads a statement from NWS Sacramento posted to Twitter."