‘Unprecedented times’ threaten to bring down historic California industry
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "On summer days in Half Moon Bay’s Pillar Point Harbor, people usually line up to buy king salmon direct from the source. But with the California salmon fishing season closed for the first time since 2009, the only kind for sale on Thursday was frozen, from Alaska.
“Once you eat the wild salmon, you stop buying them from the supermarket because the taste is totally different,” said customer Valeria Fedotova of Pacifica, who is a regular during the salmon season but comes only occasionally now that nothing local is available."
Gov. Newsom says he’ll sign Sen. Scott Wiener’s greenhouse gas emissions disclosure bill
Sac Bee, JENAVIEVE HATCH: "Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday announced that he will sign the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, Sen. Scott Wiener’s greenhouse gas emissions disclosure requirement bill.
Newsom made the announcement at Climate Week NYC’s opening ceremony in an interview with New York Times climate reporter David Gelles, in which the governor called himself a leader on climate."
I traveled to Kevin McCarthy’s congressional district. Here’s what voters say about impeaching Biden (COLUMN)
LA Times, MARK Z. BARABAK: "Julian Perea doesn’t hate Joe Biden. If anything, he feels bad for him, given his age and what Perea regards as the president’s severe mental and physical impairment.
“The guy is out of it,” Perea said."
BANG*Mercury News, JAKOB RODGERS: "Newly obtained records show Alameda District Attorney Pamela Price’s boyfriend got a job within her office that was never publicly advertised, and despite potential red flags about his tenure at a company that he then claimed to help run.
Records show that Price’s romantic partner, Antwon Cloird, oversaw a Richmond-based company that ran afoul of state tax officials. What that company does remains a mystery to the person listed as its business agent, who said he’s never heard of it."
California sues major oil firms over the impact of fossil fuels on climate change
The Chronicle, SHIRA STEIN: "The state of California sued five major oil companies late Friday for allegedly denying or downplaying the effect of fossil fuels on the Earth’s climate, which the state says caused tens of billions of dollars in damage.
California is asking the San Francisco Superior Court to prohibit Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP and an industry trade association from further pollution and pay the state for the costs of their impacts and lying to the public."
Time to panic? The home insurance market in California is collapsing because of climate change
LA Times, ANITA CHABRIA, ERIKA D. SMITH: "As another legislative session draws to a close in Sacramento, the problem lawmakers failed to fix is one of the most urgent facing Californians: the slow-moving collapse of the property insurance market as costs from climate disasters mount.
It “is not even a yellow flag issue. This is a waving red flag issue,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday night when asked about the failure of the Legislature to act."
NASA detects molecule on another planet that can only be produced by life
FOX News, MICHAEL LEE: "NASA scientists have detected evidence of possible life on a planet over 100 light years away.
The space agency's James Webb Space Telescope discovered a molecule called dimethyl sulphide, or DMS, on the distant planet, which on Earth can only be produced by life, according to a report from the BBC."
California's remote wilderness is getting polluted by balloons. Here's how bad it is
The Chronicle, CLARE FONSTEIN: "Avid hiker Alyssa Johnston was exploring a trail in the High Sierra when something in the distance caught her eye. She approached the bright colors and realized they were Mylar balloons — and did not belong in the wilderness.
Mylar balloons, which have a metallic coating and are filled with helium, have become a concern for biologists and nature lovers, disrupting the enjoyment of outdoor spaces and posing harm to wildlife. Their ability to travel long distances in the air means they are polluting extremely remote areas, although responsible balloon shops are working to educate customers on safe disposal."
The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO: "In what could bring the United States one step closer to approving the first psychedelic drug to help treat a mental health disorder, researchers led by a UCSF neuroscientist published a study Thursday confirming that MDMA-assisted therapy can be safe and effective for people with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The study, published in Nature Medicine, found that people with moderate or severe PTSD who received MDMA-assisted therapy in a clinical trial were more likely to show improvements in their symptoms than people who received a placebo and therapy."
How these bills before Gov. Gavin Newsom could change education in California
EdSource, STAFF: "Within the past week, the Legislature dispatched hundreds of bills, including several dozen affecting TK-12 and higher education. Important education bills heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom include extending the ban on suspending students for willful defiance in high schools, creating more training for bilingual teachers, requiring gender-neutral student bathrooms by 2026, and enticing retired teachers to return to the classroom for the next few years. We include one bill dealing with the Local Control Funding Formula that was withdrawn at the last minute but could find its way into next year’s budget. Newsom has through Oct. 14 to sign or veto bills he received by Sept. 14.
Retired teachers: Senate Bill 765 would temporarily increase the amount teachers can earn post-retirement so that they can return to the classroom to take teaching positions that districts otherwise can’t fill. If the governor signs the bill, retired teachers will be able to earn 70% of the median final compensation of all California State Teachers Retirement members who retired the previous year, instead of the current 50%. The legislation would also waive the 180-day mandatory waiting period school districts must observe before hiring recently retired teachers."
The hidden pricetag of California’s public schools
BANG*Mercury News, ELISSA MIOLENE: "At Scotts Valley High, a school eight miles north of Santa Cruz, the track is made of dirt.
Todd Hoffman, the volunteer coach, calls it the ’70s retro track. And despite years of trying, it’s something he hasn’t been able to upgrade. Hoffman heads up a fundraising group, one which, through parent and community donations, pays for 90% of the school’s athletic budget, he says — from the kids’ uniforms to the coaches’ salaries to the transportation to and from games. Every year, parents are asked to give $200 per child, per sports team to the club, a sum that Hoffman says wouldn’t fully cover the costs even if everyone paid them."
In an increasingly pessimistic era, immigrants espouse a hallmark American trait — optimism
LA Times, BRITTNY MEJIA, JEONG PARK, JACK HERRERA: "Two sisters. Two American dreams. Two very different results.
Maria Del Pilar Barradas-Medel and her older sister Maria Del Consuelo emigrated from Mexico nearly three decades ago. They wanted, more or less, a better life for themselves and the families they hoped for. They wanted schools and jobs — where they could make more than $5 a day — and an end to daily struggles in their home on the outskirts of Mexico City."
Self-storage prices are soaring to unexpected highs — even for the Bay Area
The Chronicle, CAROLYN SAID: "Christi Foist was giving up her writing job and her apartment to travel and research an upcoming book. She put all her possessions in a self-storage unit in Richmond, and drove to Alaska with what she could fit in her 1992 Toyota Corolla.
Her initial storage rent of $197 a month, starting in May 2018, was manageable."
San Francisco exodus: New data shows one demographic keeps leaving city
The Chronicle, NAMI SUMIDA: "San Francisco continues to lose residents who haven’t attended college, according to newly released census data.
Between 2021 and 2022, the number of San Franciscans ages 25 or older with a high school degree or less fell from 144,000 to 142,000, contributing to a 14% decline during the past three years. That’s far higher than the city’s estimated 8% overall loss of 25 and older adults during that period."
Mystery surrounds ambush killing of L.A. County sheriff’s deputy: ‘Somebody knows something’
LA Times, KERI BLAKINGER, RICHARD WINTON, DORANY PINEDA, MATT HAMILTON: "The sun was about to set Saturday in the Antelope Valley when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer steered his patrol cruiser onto Sierra Highway and stopped at a red light outside the Palmdale sheriff’s station.
Clinkunbroomer was dressed in his sheriff’s uniform and on duty patrolling the high desert community of Palmdale, just north of Los Angeles."
Former SFMTA director to run for supervisor seat held by Peskin
The Chronicle, MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "Former Municipal Transportation Agency board member Sharon Lai is expected to announce her candidacy Friday for the Board of Supervisors’ seat held by Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who is termed out. Lai plans to share her plans at a rally in Chinatown, where she’s supported by a number of community leaders. In addition to Chinatown, District 3 also includes North Beach, Telegraph Hill, Fisherman’s Wharf, the Financial District, Union Square and Nob Hill.
Lai, an immigrant from Hong Kong and a mother of two, said addressing public safety will be at the heart of her campaign for the November 2024 election. As a SFMTA director, Lai pressed for more collaboration between Muni and the San Francisco Police Department, which she said led to a tripling of the transit system’s public safety budget. A victim of gender-based assault, she said those experiences shaped her agenda and how she’ll approach San Francisco politics."
‘There are no people here’: S.F.’s $2.2 billion transit center remains an empty cavern
The Chronicle, CAROLYN SAID: "Two distinct realities — vibrant activity and eerie emptiness — are juxtaposed at Transbay transit center, the three-block-long behemoth cloaked in curvaceous white steel located south of Mission Street, running from Beale Street to just shy of Second Street.
The first is evident on the rooftop at Salesforce Park, a lush 5.4-acre urban oasis that hosts scores of visitors throughout the day. Tourists ascend from the street via a one-way gondola to wander through the lush plantings, while others take escalators or elevators. At midmorning, a storytime draws toddlers and adults to hear a librarian read “Feathers for Lunch” and lead them in singing “Old MacDonald.” The children disperse to small chairs as their caregivers borrow free art supplies from a nearby cart."