‘A fire year’: California wildfires have burned more than 20 times as much land as last year
LAT's KERI BLAKINGER: "After a wet winter and hot summer, this year’s fire season is off to a fierce start. Here’s the latest to date, including the largest fires burning in California.
So far, more than 3,500 wildfires have eaten up at least 219,247 acres across the state, according to California fire officials. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated, dozens of structures have been damaged or destroyed, and officials say at least one person has died."
Heat waves are growing hotter and more prolonged. What’s driving extreme temperatures?
LAT's NED KLEINER: "If you looked at a temperature map this week — it doesn’t much matter which day it was — you would have seen bright red stretching from Baja California all the way to Canada’s Northwest Territories.
Sweltering heat enveloped the West Coast for an entire week in places more than a thousand miles apart, and set an all-time temperature record of 124 degrees in Palm Springs. Death Valley, home of the world’s hottest recorded temperature, was flirting with its own record as thermometers recorded a temperature of 128 degrees for multiple days in a row."
California to see dry lightning this weekend, bringing extreme fire risk to mountains
The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "A historic early July heat wave has left California’s landscape parched, contributing to a fast start to the fire season. But fire conditions are likely to deteriorate even further this weekend with dry lightning in the forecast, especially across the Sierra Nevada, including Lake Tahoe and Yosemite Valley.
Thunderstorm chances increase in the higher elevations of Central and Southern California on Friday as a surge of monsoon moisture pushes into the state. Saturday will likely feature the most widespread thunder and lightning across the Sierra. The threat is expected to continue Sunday before waning Monday."
Danger signs were present before Palos Verdes landslide destroyed homes, new study finds
LAT's GRACE TOOHEY: "Residents on Peartree Lane in Rolling Hills Estates had just minutes to evacuate last summer before the canyon wall on which their homes sat collapsed.
The world soon watched as the red-roofed houses slid quickly down the hillside, cracking, splitting, crumbling."
As Kamala Harris rises, Gavin Newsom’s presidential prospects fall — but only in the short term
LAT's TARYN LUNA: "As rising stars in the California Democratic Party, Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom dodged a potentially bruising campaign battle in 2015 when she chose to run for U.S. Senate and he announced his candidacy for governor.
This week, Newsom said he would avoid an even bigger potential head-to-head fight with Harris over the White House."
The law protecting legislative proceedings
Capitol Weekly's CHRIS MICHELI: "On both January 3 and July 3 of the 2024 California Legislative Session, the State Assembly Floor Sessions were disrupted and temporarily recessed by protesters in the Gallery. This has raised the question whether there are any laws available to preclude this disruptive behavior.
While we all enjoy the rights of freedom of speech, assembly, and petitioning our government under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, those rights are not absolute. For example, as many of us learned in law school, “you cannot yell ‘fire!’ in a crowded movie theater.”"
He reported a possible H5N1 outbreak in dairy cows. It took officials weeks to respond
LAT's SUSANNE RUST: "The virus has — so far — caused only minimal illness among humans, yet has spread rapidly among birds, sea mammals and other species with devastating effect.
Although U.S. health officers have repeatedly assured Americans that H5N1 bird flu poses little risk to their well-being, some experts have become increasingly critical of what they see as the government’s failure to aggressively monitor the spread of virus among cattle and other farm animals. The virus has been reported in 145 dairy herds across 12 states, but critics say this is likely an underestimate."
Cal Poly Humboldt president to step down months after campus crackdowns
LAT's ANDREW J. CAMPA: "Cal Poly Humboldt University President Tom Jackson Jr. announced Thursday that he is leaving his post at the rural Northern California institution next month, less than four months after the campus drew national attention for its crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests.
In a statement, the university’s first Black president called the Arcata-based school “an amazing place with special people.”"
READ MORE -- Cal Poly Humboldt president steps down months after bitter campus confrontation -- The Chronicle's ELIZABETH WILSON
LAUSD superintendent Carvalho doubles down on AI venture
EdSource's ZAIDEE STAVELY: "The superintendent of Los Angeles Unified, Alberto Carvalho, said in an interview with the L.A. Times that the district will move forward with artificial intelligence, despite controversy over leaked data and the collapse of the company that designed its chatbot.
The district stopped working with the company AllHere in June, and deactivated the chatbot it had designed, after finding out that the company had laid off most of its workers because of financial collapse. The district had already spent $3 million for completed work in a contract for up to $6 million over five years."
Students, community groups fight to save Arabic classes in Orange County
EdSource's ZAIDEE STAVELY: "An Arabic language program at Western High School in Anaheim Union High School District is slated to be cut, sparking community protest, according to the Voice of OC.
The Arabic program began in 2017-18, but the district says there is not enough enrollment to keep it alive. District officials said they have 50-75 students enrolled in the program, when normal class loads for teachers are 190 students. So the district plans to cut Arabic 1 this coming school year, and gradually phase out the other classes. Students currently enrolled in Arabic classes could continue, but no new students could begin the program."
First female leader of Fresno schools vows to know every student by name
EdSource's LASHERICA THORNTON: "Since assuming the role of interim superintendent of California’s third-largest school district, Misty Her has been doing two things that she hopes will shape her tenure: listening and learning.
Despite being in the school district for over three decades, she’s conducting what she calls “listening” sessions with those in the Fresno Unified school community. In the two months since taking over, she’s held 16 sessions with students, district leaders, principals, retired teachers, graduates, parents, city officials and other community members, with more scheduled for next week and in the new school year."
Guaranteed basic income programs proliferate across California
CALMatters's LYNN LA: "Beginning Monday, 150 households in Fresno County are expected to receive a $500 prepaid card to spend on anything they’d like — no strings attached. It will be the first of 12 monthly recurring payments those Southwest Fresno and Huron residents will receive as part of a guaranteed basic income program for low-income families.
For Andy Levine, an advisor at the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission that is handling the financial disbursements, it marks a big milestone. In 2022, the state launched its own $25 million guaranteed income pilot program, but no region in the Central Valley, including Fresno County, was selected to participate. That’s despite 20% of the county living below the federal poverty line — almost double the percentage for California overall."
Alcatraz to get $48M makeover by contractor who built S.F.’s Central Subway
The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI: "The Rock is getting a major makeover.
Tutor Perini, the construction firm responsible for building San Francisco’s Central Subway, announced this week that its subsidiary, Perini Management Services, has secured a $48.6 million contract to renovate the storied main prison building on Alcatraz Island National Park."
Exclusive: Elon Musk’s X to sublease entire S.F. headquarters, tech company’s future in city unclear
The Chronicle's LAURA WAXMANN: "When X Corp., once known as Twitter, leased a converted furniture mart covering the length of a city block on Market Street in 2011, the deal ushered in a new era for a long undervalued San Francisco neighborhood.
Mid Market, a notoriously blighted stretch between downtown and Civic Center, became flush with office workers, added gourmet eateries and grew a crop of shiny new apartment towers — its surging values were fueled in part by a tax break given to the social media giant and other companies moving in. But, more than a decade later, the neighborhood’s resilience is being put to the test as the anchor tenant that helped it transform now plans its exit."
A surprising restaurant renaissance is underway at one of S.F.’s biggest tourist traps
The Chronicle's MARIO CORTEZ: "Last Saturday, inside the new 4,000-square-foot Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria location above Pier 39’s shiny carousel, a swarm of diners devoured white clam pies and Italian sausage pizzas. Co-owner Peter Cooperstein had hoped to capitalize on the holiday weekend when he opened the restaurant on July 2. Still, he was blown away by the reception.
“Every time you open a new restaurant, you’re a little nervous,” he said. “But when there’s a waitlist and everyone inside is having fun, it just feels like a rush.”"
L.A. officials continue to stall homeless housing project in Venice, new lawsuit claims
LAT's LIAM DILLON: "Advocates for low-income housing sued the city of Los Angeles this week, accusing City Councilmember Traci Park, City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto and other officials of violating fair housing laws by blocking a proposed affordable housing development in Venice.
The project, known as the Venice Dell, includes 140 units of housing for low-income and formerly homeless residents on what’s now a city-owned parking lot along the neighborhood’s famed canals. Plans for the housing began in 2016 and the city approved an agreement with nonprofit developers Venice Community Housing and Hollywood Community Housing Corp. to move forward in the summer of 2022."
How did San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood get its name? The story starts with a murder
The Chronicle's PETER HARTLAUB: "Every time someone writes an article or personal essay declaring San Francisco dead and over, I think of my own barometer:
As long as Red’s Java House is still serving cheeseburgers along the Embarcadero, and the Hells Angels remain headquartered in Dogpatch, this city’s soul is probably intact."
‘It’s OK to hate hippies?’: Rainbow Family irked by California reception
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "It’s not easy being a hippie in California these days.
Slipping into the woods to spend time with nature and friends, maybe beat a drum, pray for peace, or smoke a little something, can come with all sorts of obstacles: environmental restrictions, rural residents wary of outsiders, high fire danger, tribes protective of sacred land, misinformed critics on Facebook."
California should focus EV incentives on low-income drivers (OP-ED)
ROMAN PARTIDA-LOPEZ/JANELLE LONDON: "New research shows that California’s existing electric vehicle (EV) tax credits mostly benefit high-income individuals, while largely failing to reach other Californians. This is a problem for both our climate and people’s pocketbooks. Targeting EVs to low-income, high-mileage households would not only save low-to-middle-income Californians hundreds of dollars a year on fuel costs but also help cut emissions faster and more efficiently.
Coltura’s analysis found that the nearly 2 million California drivers in the top 10% nationally for gasoline use—known as “Gasoline Superusers”—consume on average five times more gasoline than other drivers and have the greatest potential to make a significant impact by transitioning to EVs. Many of these drivers live where transit options are few, and commutes are long because affordable housing is far from big cities where most jobs are. They face a significant financial burden from gasoline expenses. The study found that 38.4% of California Superuser households earn below the state median income of $85,300 and spend more than a quarter of their monthly income on gasoline."
What happens when S.F.’s streetcars break down? Muni calls this team to re-create the past
The Chronicle's RICARDO CANO: "Nothing lasts forever, but San Francisco’s iconic cable cars and streetcars are putting that theory to the test.
Every day, the city’s treasured historic artifacts shuttle thousands of tourists and riders up steep hills and down Market Street, just as they did when they debuted more than a century ago. Despite their ubiquitousness in parts of the city, they’re not indestructible."
And lastly, a headline from the Friday funny bin: A special holiday that Mulder and Scully can get behind..
Flying objects and shrunken heads: World UFO Day feted amid surge in sightings, government denials
AP: "For those of you who don’t celebrate World UFO Day, consider this:
A former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer told Congress last summer about a government program that retrieves and reverse engineers unidentified flying objects."