As Newsom urges refinery controls, California regulators consider hike in gas prices
LAT's RUSS MITCHELL: "As Gov. Gavin Newsom wages a high-profile campaign to prevent sudden spikes in gasoline prices, California air regulators are quietly pushing through a policy change of their own that could raise pump prices by almost a half-dollar a gallon or more.
Newsom recently called a special legislative session to consider controversial new controls on state oil refineries, and the California Air Resources Board — the state agency tasked with regulating planet-warming emissions — soon will consider stricter limits on the carbon intensity of fuels."
Mask mandates are coming back to the Bay Area. Here’s where
The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO: "Masks are coming back to the Bay Area — for a limited time.
As the annual cold and flu season gears up, several Bay Area counties have recently issued local health orders requiring face masks to be worn in hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and other health care facilities starting Nov. 1 until either March 31 or April 30, 2025."
CA 120: Salas would be the first Latino Congressman from the Central Valley
Capitol Weekly's PAUL MITCHELL: "According to recent USC polling, and the election buzz among national prognosticators, voters could be on the verge of electing the first Latino in the House of Representatives from the state’s Central Valley.
Yes, you read that right."
LAT's NOAH BIERMAN: "Vice President Kamala Harris maintains a commanding lead over former President Trump in California, but Trump’s gains among the state’s Latino voters highlight a troubling sign for Democrats at the national level, according to a new poll.
Harris’ 57%-35% overall lead in California over Trump is little changed from her August margin of 59% to 34%, according to the survey by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times."
California pledged $500 million to help tenants preserve affordable housing. They didn’t get a dime.
FELICIA MELLO, CalMatters: "Luke Johnson and his neighbors thought they had found the perfect solution to avoid being displaced from their Silver Lake, Los Angeles fourplex: A state program was offering $500 million to help tenants, community land trusts and other affordable housing developers buy buildings at risk of foreclosure.
With their longtime landlords set on selling the building, Johnson and his neighbors persuaded them to sell to a community land trust that pledged to keep rents low."
Gov. Newsom’s intoxicating hemp executive order sets precedent in kratom regulation fight (OP-ED)
DAVID BREGGER in Capitol Weekly: "Last week, the California Office of Administrative Law signed California Governor Gavin Newsom’s emergency order banning hemp products containing intoxicating cannabinoids.
The new regulations target manufacturers who have exploited legal loopholes to sell hemp products with psychoactive effects such as THC, without distinguishing them from natural, non-intoxicating hemp."
Does proposed tax threaten Tahoe way of life? A controversial measure roils South Lake
STEPHEN HOBBS, SacBee: "Steve Weil’s family has owned a cabin in South Lake Tahoe since 1957.
First, it was a vacation home for his grandparents, who lived in the Bay Area, then a getaway place for his parents, when they lived in Long Beach. Weil’s mother later moved there and took her final breaths in the home, surrounded by family. Some of her ashes were spread on the property."
Why getting into UCLA is now an ‘extreme crapshoot’
The Chronicle's JESS MARMOR SHAW, JESSICA FLORES: "These days, it’s so difficult to get into many top colleges in the U.S. that college counselors are referring to the most selective schools not just as “reaches” but as “super reaches.”
“I try to be very clear around the terminology,” said Irena Smith, former independent college counselor and author of “The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essays.” “Even for highly competitive applicants, once-target schools like Michigan, USC and NYU have gotten tougher. Schools like Stanford, Harvard, CMU, University of Chicago, Caltech and MIT are extreme crapshoots even for students at the very top of their class. Hence, ‘super reach.’ ”"
Newsom: California’s economy depends on the presidential race
LYNN LA, CalMatters: "Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a mostly upbeat message at an economic summit in Sacramento on Wednesday, especially when he was talking about California’s “resilient” economy.
Despite what many headlines say about California’s supposed decline, “the good news is we’re still the fifth-largest economy in the world,” he told several hundred people at the event held annually by California Forward, a nonprofit that focuses on state policy. (Coincidentally, we have a story that looks into what really happens when companies move their headquarters out of state.)"
SFUSD is closing schools as enrollment declines. Other California districts could follow
The Chronicle's CHRISTIAN LEONARD: "As the San Francisco Unified School District deliberates over a tentative list of school closures, it will have to account for the fact that the district’s enrollment has declined for several years — and could fall much further.
But San Francisco’s public school district isn’t alone in staring down a stark drop in students. Enrollment in districts across California has trended downward for the past 10 years as migration and lower birth rates have left the state with a smaller school-age population. And over the next decade, California’s public schools could lose more than 700,000 students, projections from the state Department of Finance show."
Chances for La Niña have shifted. Here’s what it means for California
The Chronicle's JACK LEE: "The odds of La Niña emerging have gone down, according to a monthly update by the Climate Prediction Center on Thursday. The latest discussion calls for a 60% chance that La Niña emerges during the fall, a drop from the 71% probability reported last month.
“Now there’s a 2 in 5 chance that La Niña won’t develop during the (September-November) season,” said Michelle L’Heureux, a climate scientist with the Climate Prediction Center.
Northern lights possible this week in Northern California, including Bay Area, NOAA says
The Chronicle's DOMIONIC FRACASSA: "An explosion of plasma from the sun hurtling toward Earth at nearly 3 million mph could allow some California residents a chance to glimpse the northern lights this week.
The coronal mass ejection erupted from the sun on Tuesday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is expected to arrive at Earth on Thursday. Northern lights — also known as the aurora borealis — occur when bursts of plasma reach Earth and mingle with its magnetic field, producing dazzling natural light shows."
L.A.’s quake mystery: 2024 brings the most seismic activity in decades. Why now?
LAT's RONG-GONG LIN II: "It’s not your imagination: The ground beneath Southern California has been particularly unsteady as of late, with the region experiencing more moderate-sized earthquakes this year than it has in decades.
What precisely is fueling the sequence of shakers is not entirely clear, and officials warn that prior seismic activity does not necessarily mean more powerful temblors are imminent. But the series of modest shakers have many wondering what is going on."
Whistleblowers: Alameda County DA missed deadlines to charge 1,000 misdemeanor cases
The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY: "Hundreds of people arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor crimes in Alameda County will avoid potential punishment after prosecutors failed to review their cases before the deadline for charging, the Chronicle has learned.
The allegations made in the cases that can no longer go to court are wide-ranging. Among them: A woman was found in a stolen car, carrying brass knuckles. A driver who slammed into three parked vehicles tested at a 0.22% blood-alcohol level, nearly three times the legal limit. A man tried to use a fake receipt to return nearly $800 worth of Home Depot merchandise he hadn’t purchased."