Parts of California to see brief relief as heat dome shifts
The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "Dangerously hot conditions will continue throughout the Central Valley on Monday, with temperatures as high as 112 degrees expected around Redding. However, the heat dome will begin to weaken slightly, allowing cooler marine air to spread into the interior Bay Area.
Highs in Santa Rosa, Fairfield, Walnut Creek, Livermore and San Jose will reach the mid-80s to mid-90s, Despite the several-degree cooldown, these temperatures are still about 3 to 7 degrees above normal. San Francisco and Oakland will remain near average, in the 60s to low 70s, respectively."
CALMatters's LEVI SUMAGAYSAY: "A blistering California heat wave over the past week and through the Fourth of July holiday could be topped off by the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth. That kind of extreme heat has led to more deaths than wildfires and cost billions of dollars over a decade, according to the state insurance department.
Following through on a mandate from 2022, a new report from the department looked at seven extreme heat events in the state from 2013 to 2022 and found they took the lives of several hundred Californians."
California heat wave sets records in Sacramento. Here’s when the hot temperatures may subside
Sacramento Bee's ELISE FISHER: "The hot spell that’s baked Northern California in triple-digit temperatures for nearly a week has broken several records in Sacramento — though forecasters say it’s starting to wind down.
Record high temperatures were recorded Friday and Saturday in downtown Sacramento, during a week that went well beyond the averages for this time of year. Sunday set another milestone with the sixth consecutive day of high temperatures topping out at 105 degrees or above, according to the National Weather Service."
Angry Biden: ‘Go ahead. Challenge me at the convention’
LAT's NOAH BIERMAN: "As angry Democrats pile onto President Biden, he has a message: He’s angry too.
“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites ... the elites in the party who — they know so much more,” Biden said sarcastically, calling in to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” his favorite cable news show. “Any of these guys don’t think I should, run against me: Go ahead. Challenge me at the convention.”"
The Micheli Minute for July 8, 2024
Capitol Weekly's STAFF: "Lobbyist and McGeorge law professor Chris Micheli offers a quick look at what’s coming up this week under the Capitol Dome."
‘Oakland is in a crisis’: Residents say it’s worst they’ve ever seen — and want change
The Chronicle's ELI ROSENBERG: "JJ Jenkins, who owns three bars in Oakland, got the text message in the early hours of the morning.
The bartender at Smitty’s, the popular watering hole Jenkins owns near Lake Merritt, wrote to say the place had closed early that night, Juneteenth, after a shooting."
‘Playing COVID roulette’: Some infected by FLiRT variants report most unpleasant symptoms yet
LAT's MELODY PETERSEN, DOUG SMITH: "A wildfire in the mountains above Santa Barbara County’s Santa Ynez Valley has exploded to nearly 19,000 acres, prompting evacuations near vineyards and Neverland Ranch.
The Lake fire was sparked near Zaca Lake on Friday afternoon just before 4 p.m. and quickly spread through dry grass, brush and timber, officials said."
A UC Merced medical program is slowly taking shape. Why California wants more doctors there
CALMatters's ANA B. IBARRA: "A hospital closure in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley a year and a half ago underscored something that people in the region have long known: They don’t have enough doctors or access to medical care.
Madera County’s lone acute care hospital is expected to reopen later this year. But the issues around medical access that patients in this county and neighbor-ing ones experience will likely continue long after Madera Community Hospital reopens."
Conservatives stormed their way onto California school boards — but are facing backlash
The Chronicle's ERIN ALLDAY, JOE GAROFOLI: "Two years into a conservative push to take over school boards across the state — an effort that saw some initial success — the strategy is facing significant backlash.
Many conservative candidates have made “parental rights” their primary agenda, which they’ve pitched as a way to give parents control over what happens in their children’s classrooms but is often a cover for anti-LGBTQ policies."
It was their dream home until the hoarder next door turned it into a pricey prison
LAT's HARRIET RYAN: "For a pair of schoolteachers crammed into a rental with their children, the house for sale in Sun Valley was a dream come true: a modern hacienda with three bedrooms, fireplaces, exposed beams and an open kitchen on half an acre of lush landscaping, with fountains, an orchard and views of the Verdugo Mountains.
“It was so beautiful,” recalled Elena Malone, a history teacher at the private Campbell Hall School, of visiting the property in the northeast San Fernando Valley in 2021. She and her husband, a math teacher at the Buckley School, could barely afford the $1.2-million price. But when she imagined her son and daughter growing up with plenty of space and abundant natural beauty, it seemed worth it."
6 myths about homelessness in California
CALMatters's MARISA KENDALL: "Homelessness is one of the most prominent, hardest to solve — and most polarizing — problems California faces today. It’s an intensely emotional issue, as images of squalid encampments are enough to bring many to tears. But it’s also an intensely political one, with state and local leaders squabbling over how best to address the crisis, all while facing acute pressure from their constituents to act.
So it’s no wonder that when it comes to the homelessness crisis, there’s a lot of talk out there — and not everything you hear is true. Here are some of the most common myths surrounding homelessness. Let us help you separate fact from fiction, using data."
LAT's LIBOR JANY: "Los Angeles police officials have been trying for years to curb officer shootings of people in crisis who are holding a knife, machete or other “edged weapon.”
Despite rolling out policies to prevent gunfire in such encounters, a Times analysis of LAPD data shows that there have been more shootings this year than in all of 2022. The department is on pace to eclipse last year’s total of 11."
Muddy riverbank hid ruins of 1,700-year-old settlement — until now. See the finds
Sacramento Bee's ASPEN PFLUGHOEFT: "In a small town of southeastern France sat an average-looking plot of land near a river. But hidden in the muddy ground were the ruins of an ancient settlement, forgotten — until now.
Archaeologists began excavating a site in Thyez ahead of residential construction, the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research said in a July 2 news release."