How to watch tonight's San Francisco mayoral debate
The Chronicle's DIGITAL TEAM: "Candidates in San Francisco’s hotly contested mayoral race will take the stage for a debate tonight, co-presented by the Chronicle and KQED. With a contentious election already well underway — and both Mayor London Breed and Mark Farrell embroiled in recent controversies —the debate will be an opportunity for voters to cut through the noise and hear directly from the five major candidates.
At 7 p.m., Chronicle senior political writer Joe Garofoli and KQED political reporters Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos will moderate the debate at KQED’s Mission District event space. Breed, Farrell, Daniel Lurie, Aaron Peskin and Ahsha Safai will participate in the debate, which will be broadcast live on both KQED Public Television 9 and KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM and available to livestream with free registration."
The blended, multiracial family behind Harris. It’s not so unusual
LAT's JENNY JARVIE: "As Vice President Kamala Harris has campaigned for president, she has been cheered on by what her husband called their “big, beautiful, blended family.”
And when Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, bounded on stage to join Harris at the Democratic National Convention, he was followed by her Jamaican Indian sister, white Gen Z stepchildren, Black brother-in-law and Indian auntie. Even her husband’s white ex-wife."
6 myths about California crime as voters weigh ballot measure on drugs, retail theft
CALMatters's NIGEL DUARA: "Californians have gone back and forth on crime and punishment for years.
In 1994, they voted for harsher criminal penalties and a three-strikes law."
Sutter Health plots multi-year expansion plan as Sacramento region grows. What will it add?
Sacramento Bee's ANNIKA MERRILEES: "Sutter Health is in a growth cycle, plotting expansions into hundreds of thousands of square feet of new spaces and recruiting doctors to fill them.
Officials this week said population growth in the greater Sacramento region and a post-pandemic increase in illness are pushing the hospital system to build."
The California foster care crisis you know nothing about
Capitol Weekly's BRIAN JOSEPH: "In the frantic final moments of the end of session in August, the legislature pushed through a little-noticed and hopelessly technical bill concerning foster family agencies, private nonprofits that vet and oversee a portion of the foster parents in California.
Despite its low profile, this bill, AB 2496 by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz), could not have had higher stakes. It was intended to literally stave off a potential existential crisis for California’s foster care system – a crisis that appears as though it may have been manufactured by an obscure organization that insures nonprofits."
Looming end of historic student homelessness funding has arrived
EdSource's BETTY MARQUEZ ROSALES: "Less than two months into this school year, three families seeking shelter in Monterey County asked for motel vouchers from their children’s schools and were turned away. The vouchers, along with several other services for students experiencing homelessness, are no more.
The families sought help from the schools because, in the past, that was where the county’s homeless liaison had provided them with vouchers for short stays at local motels, temporarily sheltering their homeless families with the ultimate goal of getting them into permanent housing."
Environmentalists file lawsuit against Port of Stockton over ‘dirty’ hydrogen project
Sacramento Bee's ARI PLACHTA: "California environmental groups are contesting a proposed hydrogen project at the Port of Stockton, citing concerns over potentially harmful environmental impacts in an already heavily polluted area.
Their lawsuit filed Wednesday, which calls for a more thorough environmental review, highlights growing criticism from activists who argue that fossil-fuel based hydrogen projects are in conflict with the state’s climate goals despite receiving government support."
Bay Area set for a significant warmup, just in time for autumn
The Chronice'GREG PORTER: "After a few gloomy days with clouds, cool temperatures and even some light rain, summer weather is about to make a glorious comeback across the Bay Area.
Starting Thursday, temperatures will begin a steady upward trend day by day into the weekend. Triple-digit readings across the interior are likely, and even San Francisco and places closer to the water will make a run at 80 degrees by the weekend, with even warmer temperatures possible at the start of next week."
‘It’s really sad’: River dries up abruptly in Bakersfield, leaving thousands of dead fish
LAT's IAN JAMES: "Over the last three weeks, ecologist Rae McNeish and her students have watched as a flowing river has abruptly dwindled to a dry riverbed.
While conducting biological surveys along the Kern River in Bakersfield, they have seen water retreat into stagnant pools and then vanish, leaving stretches of bare sand and cracked mud."
As Hollywood and streaming go global, U.S. State Department leans on power of film
LAT's SAMANTHA MASUNAGA: "Wherever filmmaker Becky Muikia goes, she brings the stories of her native Kenya with her.
They came with her to the NBA All-Star Weekend, where her media and communications company showed its short film “Jumping for Change” about a Kenyan girls basketball team that fights gender norms."
The Chronicle's BRENT TODERIAN: "Downtowns are complex ecosystems needing sophisticated and creative strategies rather than lazy, quick fixes. But if there’s one thing close to being a silver bullet for better, stronger downtowns, it would be much more downtown housing.
That was true pre-pandemic, and it’s even more true post-pandemic."
A Millennium Tower condo lost 45% value in a decade. Has downtown S.F. real estate bottomed out?
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "When a condominium in San Francisco’s Millennium Tower hit the market a decade ago, it offered a living space — and a lifestyle — that only a well-heeled buyer could hope to attain.
Millennium symbolized luxury and boom time aspirations. A concrete hulk swathed in glass at Mission and Fremont streets, it gleamed over a South of Market neighborhood that had become the spiritual home of tech. Residents of Millennium could walk to work, eat lunch at the nearby Ferry Building, and return home to an Olympic-sized pool and 24-hour concierge services."
The Chronicle's MAGGIE ANGST: "Mayor London Breed has directed city officials to double San Francisco’s shelter expansion goal, the latest big pronouncement about how she’s tackling the homeless crisis as she faces a tough reelection campaign.
Breed’s main challengers have all said they would push for significant expansion of shelter to move the unhoused off the streets."
Stop attacking our heroes (OP-ED)
RUSTY HICKS, JOSH FRYDAY in Capitol Weekly: "Patriotism is front and center in this year’s election and that’s a good thing. How we serve our country and how we seek to make it better should be at the heart of our political debates. But this election has also seen the continuation of a troubling trend: attacking those who serve. It’s deeply unpatriotic and we should call it out.
When we talk about service, we honor the men and women who have served in our Armed Forces – but service to the country is not limited to military veterans. Teachers in the classroom, firefighters on the front lines, nurses in our hospitals, volunteers in soup kitchens and countless others serve our country every day. They deserve our respect. But former President Donald Trump frequently attempts to diminish them."