Press reaction to Trump campaign email leak starkly different from 2016, when Clinton was hacked
LAT's LORRAINE ALI: "When emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign were leaked just before the 2016 election, the news media breathlessly covered the October surprise as if they’d opened Al Capone’s vault and there was actually something in it.
The WikiLeaks dump provided journalists with a treasure trove of correspondence, from Clinton’s backroom thoughts on Syria and China to staffer complaints about the candidate’s “terrible instincts” to campaign chairman John Podesta’s risotto recipe."
Bass vows not to bus homeless people out for 2028 Olympics. But what will L.A. do?
LAT's LIAM DILLON, DAVID ZAHNISER, DOUG SMITH: "In Paris, the French government packed homeless people and migrants onto buses and sent them out of the city as the Summer Olympics approached. In 2016, more than 70,000 were displaced from Rio de Janeiro’s favelas to make way for the event. And ahead of the Games in 1984, the Los Angeles Police Department saddled nearly three dozen mounted horse patrols to scatter homeless people into less visible areas downtown.
Now, in advance of the 2028 Olympics, Mayor Karen Bass is pledging that the city will not resort to such severe tactics to remove the tens of thousands living here without shelter."
California legislators debate giving oil companies until 2031 to monitor wells for leaks
CALMatters's JULIE CART: "The California Legislature is debating a last-minute proposal that would delay by more than four years new rules that require oil companies to monitor oil and gas wells for leaks near homes and schools.
More than 2.5 million Californians live within 3,200 feet of an oil or gas well, predominantly in low-income communities of color. Research has linked an array of health effects, including a higher incidence of premature and low birthweight babies, to proximity of wells."
New poll shows most California voters want to see tougher punishment for theft, fentanyl crimes
LAT's MACKENZIE MAYS: "A majority of likely California voters support stiffer penalties for crimes involving theft and fentanyl, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by The Times.
The results of the poll released Friday showed that 56% of Californians would support Proposition 36, an initiative on the November ballot that would impose stricter sentences for repetitive theft and offenses involving the deadly drug fentanyl."
California lawmakers kill crime bills, keep reparations proposals alive
CALMatters's SAMEEA KAMAL, JEANNE KUANG: "California lawmakers today weeded out hundreds of pricey proposals, including notable ones on crime and technology.
As they culled about one-third of 830 bills, legislative committees killed one that aimed to prohibit broadband providers from charging more or offering slower Internet service in low-income areas, and another to bar law enforcement agencies from relying solely on facial recognition to arrest or search suspects."
What’s California on the verge of banning now? Octopus farming
CALMatters's JENNA PETERSON: "Amid the sea of bills that California lawmakers waded through Thursday, one they rescued marks a key step forward to ban commercial octopus farming in California.
If Assembly Bill 3162 passes the full Senate before the end of this month and Gov. Gavin Newsom signs it, California could be the first state to ban both the practice of octopus farming and the sale of the farmed creature — even though it hasn’t started."
You can soon add a digital California driver’s license to your Apple or Google wallet
The Chronicle's JESSICA FLORES, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "After rolling out digital driver’s licenses and state ID cards last year, California will soon make it easier for people to use them by adding them to their Apple and Google smartphone wallets, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.
Around 500,000 Californians so far have taken advantage of the Department of Motor Vehicles’ pilot program offering 1.5 million free sign-ups for the state’s first digital driver’s license. But users have to download the California DMV Wallet app to store and access it."?
FDA rejects MDMA for treatment, a ‘major setback’ for focus of Bay Area research
The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO: "In a setback to the movement to mainstream psychedelics for medical use, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has declined to approve what would have been the first federally regulated psychedelic drug for medical treatment.
The therapy in question uses psychotherapy and MDMA, more commonly known as ecstasy or molly, to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, which affects millions of Americans and is difficult to manage with antidepressants and conventional therapy."
About 200,000 Bay Area residents are at the ages when they might undergo massive molecular changes
The Chronicle's JACK LEE: "Aging doesn’t occur steadily, according to a new study led by Stanford researchers. Instead the human body ages dramatically in two bursts, around age 44 and then again around age 60, based on analyses of thousands of biological molecules.
In the Bay Area, there are around 200,000 residents in those two phases, according to projections by the California Department of Finance."
S.F.’s overdose death rate spiked, but it’s not the highest in the U.S. How other counties compare
The Chronicle's CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "San Francisco is on track to reduce its number of fatal overdoses this year, a promising shift in the city’s drug epidemic. But it’s unlikely that progress alone will be enough to shake its status as an epicenter of the United States’ overdose crisis, which was cemented by a major jump last year.
San Francisco’s overdose rate rose to 88 deaths per 100,000 people in 2023, up from 73 the previous year. That made the city’s overdose rate the fifth highest of any large county in the U.S. last year, according to newly available full-year data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."
UC Berkeley to offer an AI-focused law degree. Here’s why, and what it means
The Chronicle's CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO: "UC Berkeley School of Law has become, possibly, the first law school to offer a degree focused on artificial intelligence literacy for lawyers, as the emerging technology begins to alter the legal profession and the practice of law.
“We’ve always had a strong focus on law and technology, and if you think about what is top of mind for regulators and policy makers, it’s AI,” said Adam Sterling, the law school’s assistant dean. He said the need for a degree focused in the area has increased, as more companies use AI and the technology becomes something attorneys must be familiar with."
Stefan Bean’s remarkable journey: Q&A with Orange County’s new superintendent
EdSource's JOHN FENSTERWALD: "Families of English learners and students with disabilities in Orange County can find inspiration and an ally in Stefan Bean. Supporters of school choice can find an advocate. In June, the five-member Orange County school board unanimously decided Bean has the perspective and skills they were looking for in a superintendent of the Orange County Department of Education.
Two years from now, voters will decide if the board made the right choice."
As La Niña strengthens, forecasters warn of a potential return to drought
LAT's HAYLEY SMITH, GRACE TOOHEY: "As La Niña gathers strength in the tropical Pacific, forecasters are warning that the climate pattern could plunge California back into drought conditions in the months ahead.
La Niña is the drier component of the El Niño Southern Oscillation system, or ENSO, which is a main driver of climate and weather patterns across the globe. Its warm, moist counterpart, El Niño, was last in place from July 2023 until this spring, and was linked to record-warm global temperatures and California’s extraordinarily wet winter."
LAT's SANDHYA KAMBHAMPADI: "For nearly a decade, Los Angeles has touted its sweeping earthquake safety ordinance — the nation’s toughest, which requires thousands of buildings to be evaluated and strengthened if necessary.
But city officials never made it easy for Angelenos to look up retrofit information about their building."
California faces weekend of weather hazards, from increased fire risks to coastal rain
The Chronicle's GREG PORTER: "A developing storm system is set to bring a bevy of hazards to California this weekend, from rain showers along the Northern California coast to increased fire weather risk across the Sierra.
On Saturday morning, an unusually strong low-pressure system for this time of year will move onshore and bring a period of light rain showers and maybe even a few rumbles of thunder from Crescent City down through Ukiah."
Real estate agent commission rules change Saturday. Here’s what you need to know
LAT's ANDREWA KHOURI: "On Saturday, industry rules governing real estate agent commissions will change — a shift some experts say could ultimately lower costs for consumers buying and selling a home.
However, the changes are complicated and creating uncertainty among agents, buyers and sellers who must all adjust to the new system effective Aug. 17."
This Orange County city has the hottest housing market in the country
LAT's LIAM DILLON, CINDY CHANG, BRIAN VAN DER BRUG: "After only a few months in her new one-bedroom condominium in Irvine’s booming Great Park community, Kim Pohas started paying attention to real estate prices again.
She loved her condo, which she bought in May 2023 for $643,000 within days of touring a model unit and deciding to splurge for upgrades to the floors and kitchen backsplash. But her Zillow alerts were telling her that values in her neighborhood were soaring."
This Bay Area city converted a hotel into housing for almost 700 students — in just nine months
The Chronicle's ROLAND LI: "San Jose State University has completed the Bay Area’s biggest housing conversion since the pandemic, creating beds for almost 700 students in just nine months.
The 13-story Spartan Village on the Paseo project at 170 South Market St. opened Thursday. That’s less than a year after the city approved the hotel-to-housing conversion last October."
New speed limits on 14 Sacramento streets will slow drivers down, city says. Here’s why
Sacramento Bee's HANH TRUONG: "Slow down, Sacramento, several streets are getting lowered speed limits.
The Sacramento City Council approved updates to its speed limits in parts of the city, according to a news release on Wednesday."
And since it's Friday... a file from the weird pile
Beach bar used a 1,700-year-old Roman sarcophagus as table — until a tourist noticed
Sacramento Bee's ASPEN PFLUGHOEFT: "An attentive tourist at a beach bar in Bulgaria noticed an old-looking table. Archaeologists later identified the item as an ancient Roman sarcophagus, but a mystery lingers.
A former law enforcement officer was on vacation in Varna when they noticed an antique-looking stone coffin at the beach, Bulgaria’s Ministry of Interior said in a July 24 news release. The tourist reported it to officials."