Dianne Feinstein’s bombshell new lawsuit alleges financial abuse over husband’s estate
The Chronicle, SHIRA STEIN: "Sen. Dianne Feinstein has sued to remove the trustees of her late husband’s estate, alleging they committed financial elder abuse, refused to respond to any requests for disbursements and improperly financially enriched his daughters.
The lawsuit, filed Aug. 8, also provides additional insight into Feinstein’s power of attorney arrangement with her daughter, Katherine Feinstein. The California Democrat, 90, executed a limited durable power of attorney July 23 to allow her daughter to act as her representative in litigation matters, according to the suit."
Column: What makes the Georgia indictment of Donald Trump so different from all the others
LA Times, HARRY LITMAN: "The indictment that Fulton County Dist. Atty. Fani Willis unveiled Monday night offers a panoramic recapitulation of the misdeeds that former President Trump and his confederates allegedly perpetrated to unlawfully retain power in the months after the 2020 election. Its core charge against Trump and 18 other defendants is a violation of Georgia’s version of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, traditionally used to prosecute organized crime.
About half the indictment consists of a recitation of 161 overt acts in furtherance of the RICO violation, 40 of which are crimes in themselves. It covers much of what we learned from the House Jan. 6 committee and Trump’s federal indictment on charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election, adding details such as those concerning a plot to infiltrate voting systems in rural Coffee County."
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "When I took over as editor of Capitol Weekly back in January, the first thing most people wanted to know was what kind of changes I was going to make.
My very honest response was that I wasn’t planning any major changes at all. To quote the old colloquialism, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”"
S.F. corruption scandal: Commissioner resigns amid questions about loan to building inspector
The Chronicle, ST. JOHN BARNED-SMITH: "A commissioner on the Assessment Appeals Board resigned this week after the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors called on him to step down, following a report that he helped arrange a loan to a building inspector who was later convicted in a citywide corruption scandal.
The appeals board official, Yosef Tahbazof, is an attorney and real estate developer who has been on the civic body since 2013. Tahbazof tendered his resignation via email the day after Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin called on him to step down. That followed a story in the San Francisco Standard detailing Tahbazof’s role in furnishing the loan."
Frustration and criticism as L.A.’s D.A. struggles to reform sentencing
LA Times, JAMES QUEALLY: "Barry Hawes cuts a fierce figure, all lean muscle and sharp angles built off the frame he developed as a wide receiver on his high school football team. But when Hawes was sent to prison at age 16 for his connection to a fatal shooting, he was still a boy among men.
Over the next 17 years of his 25-year sentence, he said, he was stabbed and suffered multiple broken bones while fighting for survival behind bars."
Group seeking to recall Alameda DA Pamela Price just took a key step
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "Proponents of the campaign to recall Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price filed a notice of intent Tuesday, a key step to put their initiative before voters.
The campaign still has a lengthy and potentially costly process ahead, with more than 93,000 signatures to gather — or 10% of registered voters in the county — before the measure would qualify for the ballot. But Price’s opponents appear energized."
With 106 dead and 1,300 unaccounted for, Maui braces for more heartbreaking news
LA Times, ALEXANDRA E. PETRI, FAITH E. PINHO: "With 106 people confirmed dead and about 1,300 still unaccounted for, Maui braced for more heartbreaking losses as officials continued to search for fire victims.
Tons of equipment and supplies arrived in Hawaii on Tuesday to facilitate efforts to process and identify victims, including a portable morgue unit deployed when a disaster spurs more fatalities than can be handled locally."
Maui fires: What we know about the fate of people in senior housing
The Chronicle, CLARE FONSTEIN: "As stunned residents and responders sort through the aftermath of the horrific wildfire last week that destroyed the town of Lahaina in west Maui, one of the many unanswered questions remains the fate of people living in senior housing.
Seniors in such complexes often need extra time to evacuate compared to the general population — but that may have not been possible in a chaotic scene where many people abandoned cars and went into the water to avoid flames."
Southern California’s natural gas plants to stay open through 2026
CALMatters, RACHEL BECKER: "California officials agreed today to extend operations at three natural gas plants on the Southern California coast in an effort to shore up California’s straining power grid and avoid rolling blackouts.
The controversial and unanimous vote that keeps the plants open came from the State Water Resources Control Board, which oversees the phaseout of natural gas facilities that suck in seawater and kill marine life."
Fast-growing Head Fire in far Northern California generates huge cloud with own lightning
The Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS, KATE GALBRAITH: "A fast-moving fire prompted evacuations in Siskiyou County on Tuesday night, as numerous lightning-sparked blazes erupted around Northern California.
No official information was immediately available on the size of the Siskiyou County blaze, called the Head Fire, but fire crews on the scanner estimated it at roughly 2,000 acres."
Warmer ocean temperatures near S.F. Bay Area bring unusual marine life
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "Ocean temperatures have steadily climbed from the low to mid-50s to a relatively balmy 60 degrees along much of the San Francisco Bay Area and central coasts after a large marine heat wave arrived from the Pacific Northwest.
As a result, seabirds, fish and dolphins that normally stay in warmer waters either farther offshore or to the south have begun showing up nearby, and there may be more sightings of whales and sharks to come."
California State Parks expands for first time in years with major addition
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "The California state park system got a bit bigger this week with the addition of six properties at one of its flagship sites in the Santa Cruz Mountains — Castle Rock State Park, known for dramatic sandstone outcroppings, old redwood groves and sweeping mountain views.
The newly acquired 222 acres, purchased for $4.21 million from the nonprofit Sempervirens Fund, not only includes adjacent forest lands and ridgetops but also a recently built entranceway and main hub for the park. This center of operations provides a base for visitors to easily reach trails, picnic areas, climbing rocks, campsites and other popular park destinations."
Castle Rock State Park to expand in size due to rare state land purchase
BANG*Mercury News, PAUL ROGERS: "Breaking a long-running trend where it has blocked the acquisition of new land for years, California’s state parks department announced Tuesday that it will spend $4.2 million to purchase 222 acres at Castle Rock State Park, a scenic location popular with rock climbers and hikers along the Santa Clara-Santa Cruz county line.
The purchase is the first time that the department has expanded any state park in California since 2021, and the first time that it has expanded a park in its Santa Cruz District, which includes San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, since 2011."
COVID hospitalizations in U.S. rise for fourth straight week as deaths inch up
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "The U.S. is grappling with an upswing in COVID-19 hospitalizations, marking the fourth consecutive week of escalating admissions.
There were 10,320 new COVID-19 hospitalizations nationwide for the week ending Aug. 5, according to data released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This figure reflects a worrisome 14.3% rise compared to the preceding week, contributing to an overall increase of 64% since late June."
EdSource, EMMA GALLEGOS: "The Sacramento-based James B. McClatchy Foundation decided to spend all its funds by 2030, a process known as “sunsetting” in the nonprofit sector. A major beneficiary of this strategy, already in motion, are advocacy efforts that support the education of the many Central Valley students who speak a language other than English at home.
The foundation, named after the late Valley newspaperman and publisher who established it in 1994, recently laid out its spend-down strategy in a report that casts its effort as a “sunrise” for the Central Valley."
San Jose approves pay bumps for 4,500 city workers, avoiding major strike
BANG*Mercury News, GABRIEL GRESCHLER: "What may have become the largest San Jose city employee strike in decades fizzled on Tuesday after councilmembers approved a significant pay bump for about 4,500 of its workers, a major win for South Bay labor organizers who claimed their members were being short-changed in one of America’s most expensive metropolitan areas.
The two unions negotiating with the city — MEF-AFSCME Local 101 and IFPTE Local 21 — secured 14.5 to 15% wage increases over the next three years, about 3% more than what the city’s final offer was in June before talks broke down."
Why Detroit, America’s poorest city, doesn’t have an L.A.-sized homeless problem
LA Times, NOAH BIERMAN: "The brick walk-up in Detroit’s North End was Chiniestka McFarland’s last choice. Someone shot a gun in the building soon after she moved in last fall. Her 2006 Ford Fusion was just stolen from the parking lot. Her kids don’t have decent playgrounds within walking distance.
But she’s so grateful not to be sleeping in a sedan, on a couch or in a shelter anymore that she often puts on her pajamas at dinnertime — as soon as she finishes work and picks up her kids."
Hack of critical real estate tool upends Bay Area house showings
The Chronicle, SAM WHITING, MEGAN FAN MUNCE: "A cyberattack on a software service used by real estate agents to track property listing data is in its second week, upending open house tours in San Francisco.
“It is wreaking havoc everywhere,” said David Bellings, an agent for 37 years. “It is disrupting and frustrating. Clients are asking for information and we just have to tell them we don’t have access.”"
North Korea says Travis King confessed he defected because of ‘inhuman’ treatment in U.S. Army
UPI, ADAM SCHRADER: "North Korea said Tuesday that Travis King, the private who bolted across the military demarcation line with South Korea in July, had confessed to defecting because of "inhuman" treatment in the U.S. Army.
King, 23, had accompanied tourists to the joint security area of Panmunjom on July 18 before he "illegally intruded" into North Korea, according to the Korean Central News Agency -- one of the propaganda arms of the isolated regime.
Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/newxs/nation-world/national/article278291718.html#storylink=cpy"