As his presidential campaign falters, Ron DeSantis agrees to debate Gavin Newsom
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has finally agreed to debate Gavin Newsom, months after the California governor first challenged his East Coast counterpart.
“I’m game. Let’s get it done. Just tell me when and where,” DeSantis told Fox News host Sean Hannity in a video clip DeSantis tweeted Wednesday."
Trump, DeSantis will rally California Republicans after party changed primary rules
LA Times, SEEMA MEHTA: "Republican presidential candidates will descend upon California in late September, with the state GOP announcing Wednesday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will address their convention, one day after former President Trump’s campaign confirmed he would speak at the gathering.
Trump’s announcement came shortly after his advisors successfully convinced California Republicans to change the rules of the state’s GOP primary in a manner expected to help him in the state’s March 5 primary."
What’s going on behind all those blanketed gates at the California Capitol? We peeked inside
Sac Bee, HANH TRUONG: "For months now, blanketed gates block views of parts of the Capitol from passersby and drivers cruising on L and N streets.
And peaking through the green barriers, a demolition machine can be seen on the east side of the state Capitol, crushing the white building into gray dust and debris."
Climate change-attributed heat touched 81% of the world’s population in July, study finds
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: "Four out of every five humans alive experienced at least one day of abnormally hot temperatures in July — a global onslaught of extreme heat that would not have been possible without climate change, according to new research.
The sweltering month appears to have been the hottest ever recorded on the planet, although official verification from federal meteorological agencies is pending."
Valley fever could hit California hard. The drought-to-downpour cycle is to blame
LA Times, SUMMER LIN: "After California’s record-breaking winter rains, public health officials are warning about an increased risk for valley fever this summer.
“California’s dry conditions, combined with recent heavy winter rains could result in increasing valley fever cases in the coming months,” California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Tomás Aragón said in a news release."
Months before massive S.F. fire, Hayes Valley group warned leaders of ‘dangerous’ blazes
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "Months before a massive fire ravaged a Hayes Valley building with flames hot enough to crack windows on nearby structures, a San Francisco neighborhood group implored city leaders to act after a string of smaller blazes cropped up near the site of Tuesday’s vicious conflagration.
“Hayes Valley has suffered a series of dangerous fires along Octavia Boulevard that started around tent encampments,” wrote Jennifer Laska, president of the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association, in a May 30 letter to Mayor London Breed, Supervisor Dean Preston, Police Chief Bill Scott and other city officials."
New COVID booster will arrive later than expected. Should you wait to get it?
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "The anticipated release of the next round of COVID-19 booster shots has been pushed back, with updated vaccines targeting the XBB.1.5 omicron variant now expected to arrive later than expected.
Health officials initially had projected the doses would be delivered by September, aligning with this year’s flu shot rollout."
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK, HARRIET BLAIR ROWAN: "While much of the world has moved on from the COVID-19 pandemic, Santa Clara County Public Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody and her colleagues still wear protective masks to work and in other crowded indoor settings. And if you’ve noticed a lot of people you know coming down with COVID lately, you’ll understand why.
Thrust into the national spotlight three years ago as an early voice of caution and protective orders as the then-deadly COVID pandemic took hold, Cody admits she and her public health colleagues stand out now among the mostly unmasked masses. But with cases rising again, and her own recent bout with the disease still in mind, she urges others to consider masking indoors."
EdSource, MICHAEL BURKE: "California State University is not on pace to meet its own goals for increasing graduation rates by 2025 and continues to be challenged by racial achievement gaps, according to a report released Thursday.
Across the system’s 23 campuses, CSU’s four-year graduation rate nearly doubled since 2015 to 35% as of 2022, an impressive mark of progress. But, according to the report by the California nonprofit Campaign for College Opportunity, CSU is also likely to fall short of self-imposed targets in other areas, including its goals to graduate 70% of incoming first-time students within six years and 85% of transfer students within four years."
As actors and writers push back on automation, Hollywood is in the midst of an AI hiring boom
LA Times, BRIAN CONTRERAS, WENDY LEE: "Getting paid $900,000 a year to manage artificial intelligence projects for Netflix would’ve been an eye-popping sum even before two of Hollywood’s major unions went on strike.
But now that the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA are both picketing outside Netflix’s headquarters in protest of low streaming pay and ascendant automation, such a job listing seems acutely emblematic of where the entertainment industry currently stands — and where it’s going."
Wells Fargo accused of new fake-accounts scam in lawsuit alleging racketeering, identity-fraud
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN BARON: "Bernard “Jay” Patterson had never done business with Wells Fargo, so when he received a statement for a checking account in his name, he had questions. And as a forensic accountant and certified fraud examiner who has applied his expertise in numerous lawsuits — including several involving the San Francisco-based bank — he knew where to look for answers.
A lawsuit Patterson filed Tuesday in California accuses Wells Fargo of creating fraudulent accounts for thousands of people, including many non-customers. Regulators fined the bank $3 billion in 2020 for creating millions of fake accounts to generate millions of dollars in fees and interest."
Steadier Silicon Valley helps drum up tenants for new San Jose offices
BANG*Mercury News, GEORGE AVALOS: "A steadier Silicon Valley job market and economy have helped to attract tenants to a new but empty office building next to Santana Row in San Jose, a top real estate CEO says.
The interest is significant enough that a tenant could soon lease space in the new San Jose office building, which is known as One Santana West, according to executives with Federal Realty Investment Trust, the principal owner and developer of Santana Row and the office building."
How a madam at Chinese massage parlors outside L.A. took on federal law enforcement
LA Times, MICHAEL FINNEGAN: "Mei Xing’s sex trafficking trial laid bare many secrets of the San Gabriel Valley’s massage parlors.
Each time a masseuse had sex with a customer, Xing collected $40. The masseuse typically made at least twice that much in tips."
City of Sacramento to buy K Street building to settle lawsuits. Will it be used for homeless?
Sac Bee, THERESA CLIFT: "A costly eight-year legal saga between the city of Sacramento and developer Paul Petrovich is finally complete.
As part of a new settlement agreement signed last week, the city has agreed to purchase a K Street building from Petrovich for $18.5 million, and then pay him an additional $7.5 million."
The way TV news covers Trump’s legal problems could make or break democracy (COMMENTARY)
LA Times, LORRAINE ALI: "Another week, another Donald Trump arraignment
Never mind that the third and most recent indictment of the former president portends the highest-profile criminal trial in U.S. history, and, should it result in a conviction, a crime that would make Watergate look like a parking ticket. Tuesday’s announcement of four felony counts accusing the former president of scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 election should have stopped the country in its tracks. Traffic frozen atop freeways. Coffee dropped on office desks. Ice cream cones melting in the clenched hands of shocked citizens."
Could Trump's criminal cases keep him off the ballot? Here's what experts say
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "The Constitution’s 14th Amendment permanently bars any government official from public office who has taken part in, or given “aid and comfort to,” any “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States. Could this be applied to former President Donald Trump, whose indictment this week accused him of obstructing an official proceeding — the certification of the 2020 election — by encouraging the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol?
There’s no consensus, in part because the situation is unprecedented, and the constitutional language is less than explicit. While the federal grand jury charged Trump with trying to interfere with the vote tally, it did not expressly accuse him of inciting an insurrection. Even if he is convicted, his appeals may still be pending on Election Day. And the divided Congress may have a role to play."