Why this will be the most extraordinary season for college admissions in years
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "This fall will be an extraordinary time for students applying to college, not only because of new admission opportunities, but also thanks to higher barriers and tighter bottlenecks.
An unusually large high school senior class this year will mean competing for admission with hundreds of thousands more students. The technical issues that plagued applications for federal Pell Grants last year are set to persist, complicating the hunt for financial aid. Some applicants across the country will face the absence of affirmative action for the first time since the early 1960s. And many must make a nail-biting choice of whether to take the SAT as more schools reinstate it."
2024 Voter Guide
CALMatters: "It’s a presidential election year. And 2024 is already one of the most dramatic and historic ever. President Joe Biden withdrew from the race on July 21 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who has deep California roots. She’s now the Democratic nominee, going up against former President Donald Trump.
Until that bombshell, the focus had been on the U.S. Senate race. The seat was filled by Dianne Feinstein from 1993 until her death last year. Then Sen. Laphonza Butler, the temporary replacement appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, shocked the political world by not trying to keep the job. In the March 5 primary, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and Republican Steve Garvey, a former baseball star, moved on to the Nov. 5 general election. Schiff is the big favorite in a Democratic state."
What Californians have at stake in the Trump-Harris election when it comes to health care
CALMatters's ANA B. IBARRA: "Donald Trump and Kamala Harris stand far apart on most issues, and health care is no exception. The November election carries major implications for Californians’ access to health care and the cost they pay for it.
While neither candidate has put forth a comprehensive health care agenda, both have track records from their respective time in the White House or previous posts that offer a glimpse on where they might stand on key health issues."
How Kamala Harris’ campaign wrestled the ‘family values’ narrative away from the GOP
The Chronicle's SHIRA STEIN, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Democrats’ efforts to argue that they’re the true party of family values will reach a new level this week as Kamala Harris’ reproductive freedom tour makes its way into battleground states — and even red states.
Democrats have used Harris’ candidacy as an opportunity to hammer what they see as a weakness for former President Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance: They often express support for families but push proposals that could limit fertility treatments, ban abortions and offer fewer benefits to families with children. They particularly see Vance’s many writings and interviews expressing extremely conservative views about what makes a family legitimate as an opening to exploit."
Kamala Harris is a former California state worker boss. How would she treat federal employees?
Sacramento Bee's WILLIAM MELHADO: "Before her time as Joe Biden’s vice president, before her tenure as the Golden State’s junior senator, Kamala Harris was California’s “top cop.”
As attorney general, Harris oversaw more than 5,000 Department of Justice attorneys, investigators, peace officers and other staffers. Former employees told The State Worker Bee that Harris was a tough boss with high expectations. They also said she was an ally to state workers and their interests."
Mike Garcia campaign runs misleading ad on the House Republican’s role in Violence Against Women Act
LAT's HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "In its first advertisement for the general election season, the campaign for Rep. Mike Garcia, a politically vulnerable Santa Clarita Republican, offers a misleading description of the congressman’s role in passing the Violence Against Women Act, which provides aid for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
The 30-second advertisement, titled “Voices,” was released Tuesday. It features an unnamed female constituent who says: “Mike co-sponsored the Violence Against Women Act to protect us against domestic violence. That’s why we need Mike Garcia in Congress.”"
Takin’ it to the Streets: Sideshows and Traffic Policy (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly's STAFF: "Last year, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors passed a law that criminalized spectating at the sideshows — the wildly dangerous illegal stunt driving exhibitions that have plagued Oakland and other cities for decades. The move comes as local jurisdictions attempt to curtail the outlaw events that have real costs: damage to infrastructure, injuries to participants and spectators, and increasingly, violence. A sideshow following a Juneteenth celebration near Oakland’s Lake Merritt erupted into a mass shooting that wounded 14.
But will arresting those just there to watch the spectacle help?"
California companies wrote their own gig worker law. Now no one is enforcing it
CALMatters's LEVI SUMAGAYSAY: "Nearly four years after California voters approved better wages and health benefits for ride-hailing drivers and delivery workers, no one is actually ensuring they are provided, according to state agencies, interviews with workers and a review of wage claims filed with the state.
Voters mandated the benefits in November 2020 when they approved Proposition 22. The ballot initiative was backed by gig-work companies that wanted to keep their workers classified as independent contractors and were resisting a 2019 state law that would have considered them employees. Prop. 22 stipulated that gig workers would remain independent contractors but be treated better."
Job killer or neighborhood protector? Proposed warehouse rules divide Inland Empire
CALMatters's DEBORAH BRENNAN: "California is poised to set new rules for warehouse locations and truck routes with a last-minute bill to curtail air pollution and traffic from distribution centers.
But local government groups oppose the legislation, and business groups warn that it would place onerous requirements on warehouse developments and cities, threatening trade and jobs. Gov. Gavin Newsom has until the end of the month to sign or veto the bill."
California declares state of emergency over Rancho Palos Verdes landslide
LAT's KAREN GARCIA: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for the city of Rancho Palos Verdes Tuesday after the risk of ongoing landslides recently forced authorities to shut off power for more than 200 homes in two of the city’s neighborhoods, with some facing indefinite power outages.
In the declaration, Newsom said land movement under the city that sits atop the bluffs of the Palos Verdes Peninsula has accelerated significantly following severe storms in 2023 and 2024 and “is now sliding at an average of 9 to 12 inches per week.”"
Health care in California: How the state made almost everyone eligible for coverage
CALMatters's SHAANTH NANGUNERI, ARFA MOMIN: "Almost everyone in California has health insurance.
That trend reflects about a decade and a half of policymaking designed to expand access to health care. The state’s average uninsured rate has dropped from nearly one in four Californians in 2009 to less than one in ten today."
Potentially deadly Valley fever infections quadruple after California music festival
The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI: "The number of festivalgoers who developed a potentially deadly fungal infection after attending Lightning in a Bottle near Bakersfield has quadrupled, according to the California Department of Public Health.
As of Aug. 21, there were at least 19 confirmed cases of Valley fever among attendees and workers at the festival, eight of whom were hospitalized. Initially, only five cases were reported in late July, with three requiring hospitalization."
UC, CSU wary over legislation allowing them to hire undocumented students. Newsom to decide
LAT's TERESA WATANABE: "Jeffry Umaña Muñoz, a Cal State L.A. graduate student, is at the precipice of a life-changing moment: the potential ability to get a campus job at one of California’s public higher education systems, even though he was brought to the country illegally from El Salvador at age 2 and has no legal work permit.
But the passage last week of Assembly Bill 2586, which would allow the state’s higher education systems to hire him and nearly 55,000 other undocumented college students in similar straits, has raised concerns at the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges. In letters sent to state officials, UC and CSU have expressed fear that the bill could cause them to run afoul of a federal law that bars employers from hiring undocumented people — putting at risk their students, their employees who would hire them and billions of dollars in federal funding."
San Francisco could see hottest day of the year amid intense heat wave
The Chronicle's GREG PORTER: "Tuesday brought San Francisco’s warmest day of the year, with temperatures reaching the mid-70s along the coast and climbing to the mid- to upper 80s downtown. The city’s official weather station recorded a high of 85 degrees.
The heat is expected to continue and intensify slightly on Wednesday, leading the National Weather Service to issue a heat advisory for the city for the second consecutive day and setting up the chance for Wednesday to beat out Tuesday's high for the hottest day of the year so far in San Francisco."
We must help California’s largest minority: renters (OP-ED)
MICHAEL WEINSTEIN in Capitol Weekly: "The largest minority in California is not an ethnic group or an age range: It is renters. Renters make up 45 percent of the population of California, and are arguably the most underrepresented.
The California legislature only has five renters in its ranks. They are far outnumbered by the 25 percent of lawmakers who are landlords.
However, these numbers only tell a small part of the story. While having so few renters in the halls of power who understand the burdens and hardships that tenants experience is a problem, the much larger issue is that billionaire corporate landlords have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into squashing renter-friendly legislation."
California poised to become first state where cars must warn drivers when they’re speeding
The Chronicle's RICARDO CANO: "California could become the first state to require new cars to alert motorists if they are driving more than 10 miles over the speed limit.
The speed governor proposal, SB961, by San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener was one of the last bills passed by the California Legislature before lawmakers adjourned for the session. The proposal now awaits a decision by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has until the end of the month to either sign or veto the bill."
Ricky Pearsall shooting: S.F. DA charges 17-year-old suspect with attempted murder
The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY: "The 17-year-old boy suspected of shooting 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall in San Francisco’s Union Square over the weekend has been charged with attempted murder, robbery and other offenses, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced Tuesday.
The teen, whose identity has not been released because he is a minor, will be arraigned Wednesday afternoon in juvenile court."
