Tim Walz to kick off solo campaign tour in L.A.
LAT's FAITH E. PINHO: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is kicking off his first solo campaign stop as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate Tuesday with a speech to a labor group in Los Angeles.
Walz will speak at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees convention. This year’s annual gathering for the union is themed around a “fearless” agenda."
JD Vance and the politics of vegetarianism in a red-meat Republican Party
LAT's DANIEL MILLER: "The ebullient audience at the Republican National Convention was ready to be served up some red meat, but Usha Chilukuri Vance, onstage to introduce her husband, vice presidential candidate JD Vance, delivered the exact opposite.
“Although he’s a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food from my mother — Indian food,” she said."
After a glitchy start, Trump encounters a sympathetic interviewer in Elon Musk
LAT's JENNY JARVIE: "Donald Trump’s return to the social media platform X, more than three years after he was banned following his supporters’ Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, got off to an awkward start Monday as his scheduled live X conversation with tech billionaire Elon Musk was beset by technical glitches.
The former president’s return to his once-favored online soapbox — where he has a following of more than 88 million — should have offered him the opportunity to pitch his message directly to a vast swath of voters as he faces a tight race against the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris."
Mayor Breed’s approval rating among Asian American voters improves as S.F. crime remains top issue
The Chronicle's KO LYN CHEANG: "Mayor London Breed is gaining ground among San Francisco’s Asian American voters, according to a new Chronicle poll.
The poll found that a larger portion approve of Breed than they did in February, when Asian American respondents gave Breed the worst approval ratings of all ethnic groups."
California farmworkers say they were fired for leaving jobs in heat. Could a bill prevent that?
Sacramento Bee's MATHEW MIRANDA: "Earlier this summer, Erika Deluque began to feel weak while working in a Dixon tomato field in triple-digit heat. Her headache grew stronger, her body involuntarily shivered and she felt like vomiting.
“I felt so suffocated, so desperate,” recalled Deluque, 32."
The U.S. could soon declare alcohol unsafe. The wine industry says the process is rigged
The Chronicle's ESTHER MOBLEY: "Alcohol, in many circles in America, has suddenly transformed from a hero to a villain.
For decades, the idea of moderate drinking as a healthy habit was enshrined in American life. A glass of red wine with dinner reduced the risk of heart disease, the thinking went. The U.S. government has long reinforced this notion: For more than 40 years, its official dietary guidelines have held that one drink a day is safe for women, and two drinks a day for men."
California is giving schools more homework: Build housing for teachers
CALMatters's CAROLYN JONES: "In a flurry of recent legislation and initiatives, California officials are pushing school districts to convert their surplus property into housing for teachers, school staff and even students and families. Some districts have already started; now the state wants every district to become a landlord.
“I believe that California has enough resources and ingenuity to solve (the housing shortage), and the data shows that California’s schools have the land to make this happen,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said at a press conference in July. “As school leaders, we can get this done for our communities and restore the California Dream.”"
Waiting for financial aid offers creates problems for California students
EdSource's ASHLEY BOLTER: "This summer was filled with stress for Leslie Valdovinos as she awaited her financial aid offer letter for her fourth year at California State University, Dominguez Hills.
“I don’t have a backup plan in case I can’t rely on financial aid,” Valdovinos said. “Financial aid is the only plan that I have.”"
4.4 earthquake was centered on notorious L.A. fault system
LAT's RONG-GONG LIN II, NATHAN SOLIS, HOWARD BLUME, KAREN GARCIA: "The magnitude 4.4 earthquake that rattled Los Angeles on Monday was centered within one of the region’s most potentially destructive fault systems, one capable of producing a magnitude 7.5 earthquake under the heart of the region.
Seismologist Lucy Jones, a Caltech research associate, said the earthquake, centered in the Eastside neighborhood of El Sereno, occurred on the Puente Hills thrust fault system. It’s the same overall fault network that produced the 1987 Whittier Narrows magnitude 5.9 earthquake — which killed eight people and caused some $358 million in damage."
This California farm supplied rice to chefs and home cooks for 97 years. Now, it’s shutting down
The Chronicle's ELENA KADVANY: "Koda Farms, whose heirloom rice has been prized by chefs and home cooks alike for almost a century, is shutting down.
The closure of the family-owned farm in Merced County, which Keisaburo Koda started 97 years ago, was first reported by the New York Times. His grandchildren, third-generation farmers Robin and Ross Koda, run the farm today. The rising costs of farming in California, from fertilizer to insurance and labor, have put undue pressure on the small operation."
Trash, traffic, tempers, tourists: Laguna Beach’s summer of discontent
LAT's HANNAH FRY: "The summer sun was just beginning to peek over the stately bluff-top homes that overlook Aliso Beach, but Greg Viviani had already embarked on a most unpleasant scavenger hunt.
He moved quickly, scanning the white sandy shore — a terrain he’s known since childhood. “A straw,” he called out, snapping up the tiny yellow plastic piece with his trash picker. “Look at this.”"
Californians: Your rent may go up because of rising insurance rates
CALMatters's LEVI SUMAGAYSAY: "Like single-family homeowners in California, landlords are facing higher insurance premiums, too. And they’re passing along some of those costs to their tenants.
Many insurance companies have stopped writing policies in the state because of increased wildfire risks, but that’s not the only reason. They say in the case of any catastrophe, the potential costs of replacing any residential or commercial property, from labor to material costs, is just plain more expensive now. So even owners of properties in areas that are not at high risk for wildfires have had their policies canceled because their buildings may need repairs or improvements. Landlords are having to find other insurers, or having to turn to the ever-growing and more expensive FAIR Plan, the insurance industry-run plan that is mandated under California law to be the insurer of last resort."
This S.F. developer is building housing everywhere, except in the city: ‘Here it is not welcome’
The Chronicle's JK DINEEN: "San Francisco developer Bora Ozturk is building loads of housing right now, with projects rising in Houston and Salt Lake City, Austin and Boise, Idaho.
Everywhere, it would seem, but the company’s hometown of San Francisco."
‘We gotta be somewhere’: Homeless Californians react to Newsom’s crackdown
CALMatters's MARISA KENDALL: "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s message on homelessness in recent weeks has been clear: The state will no longer tolerate encampments, and cities shouldn’t either.
Californians who live on the streets, as well as the outreach workers who support them, say they’re already feeling the difference. Places where someone used to be able to pitch a tent and sleep in peace have suddenly become inhospitable. Police seem to be clearing camps more often and more aggressively, and are less likely to give advance notice before they come in with bulldozers and trash compactors, according to anecdotal reports in some cities. Even in cities where officials said publicly nothing would change, unhoused people and activists say it’s become harder to be homeless."
S.F. RV dwellers face displacement again amid new parking restrictions near zoo
The Chronicle's ALDO TOLEDO: "About two dozen families living in their RVs could be displaced for the second time in two weeks after city officials announced new parking restrictions on the street near the San Francisco Zoo where they now live.
The families moved to Zoo Road, a narrow, one-way street, late last month after the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency ordered RVs and vehicles to vacate Winston Drive near Stonestown Galleria, where many had been parked for months or years."
6 California police officers paid someone to take college courses for them. Now they face prison
LAT's TERRY CASTLEMAN: "The troubled Antioch Police Department faces another blow, as a second police officer was convicted last week in a scheme to fraudulently obtain college degrees for higher pay.
Morteza Amiri, 33, and five others from the Antioch and Pittsburg police departments falsely claimed they had obtained bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice in a ploy to qualify for higher pay, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California said in a statement Friday."