Fires, smoke ravage Golden State from LA to Oregon Border
Sacramento Bee's RYAN SABALOW/JIM MILLER: "Trinity County Supervisor Judy Morris’ voice was raspy Monday, like a smoker’s."
"She doesn’t smoke."
"She was hoarse from days of breathing smoky air from the Helena Fire. The 8,940-acre fire erupted Wednesday west of Weaverville in isolated, forested northwestern California."
READ MORE related to Wildfires: Sending in the troops: California National Guard sent to the fire line -- Sacramento Bee's JIM MILLER; Wind-whipped wildfires bear down on Glacier, Yosemite parks -- The Chronicle; Gilroy fire: 10 percent containment on 100-acre wildfire near golf course -- Mercury News' ROWENA COETSEE
Brown hits San Diego, Faulconer hits Sacramento
Voice of San Diego's SARA LIBBY in Capitol Weekly: "In the nearly seven years he’s been governor, Jerry Brown’s been frank about why he’s supported bold criminal justice reform, like Prop. 57, the 2016 ballot measure that, among other things, offers sentence credits to inmates who take advantage of rehabilitative programming."
"I helped screw things up, but I helped unscrew things,” he said Friday at a forum put on by the California Prison Industry Authority, the state agency that provides work assignments and job training for state prisoners. The goal of the forum, held at the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation was to encourage San Diego employers to hire ex-offenders."
"The screw-up Brown referred to was a 1976 bill he signed during his first stint as governor that ended indeterminate sentencing in California. Prior to that, people were released when the parole board decided they were ready. At the time, Brown said, he thought determinate sentencing — a set prison term — would provide inmates and victims more certainty. Instead, California saw its prison population skyrocket from 25,000 when the bill took effect to 174,000 at its peak in 2006."
Trump may leave DACA in place for six months to allow Congress to act
LA Times' BRIAN BENNETT: "President Trump has tentatively decided to leave the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program intact for six months to give Congresstime to find a legislative solution, aides said Monday, a delaying tactic likely to please neither side in the bitter debate over immigration."
"Aides cautioned that Trump could change his mind before Tuesday, when the White House says he will announce whether he will keep the Obama-era program going, or expose to deportation about 800,000 immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children."
"As of Monday, it was unclear whether Trump will firmly commit to ending the DACA program after six months, begin allowing existing work permits to expire or simply revisit the matter at that time."
READ MORE related to DACA/Immigration: 'Dreamer' dies trying to rescue Harvey flood victims -- LA Times' MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE; Regardless of what President Trump does on DACA, these Dreamers are defiant, optimistic and aren't going anywhere -- LA Times' ROBIN ABCARIAN; Trump to Congress: 'Get ready to do your job' on immigration -- AP's JILL COLVIN
As robots edge into work place, free money idea takes hold
AP's CATHY BUSSEWITZ: "Driverless trucks. Factory robots. Delivery drones. Virtual personal assistants."
"As technological innovations increasingly edge into the workplace, many people fear that robots and machines are destined to take jobs that human beings have held for decades. For many affected workers, retraining might be out of reach — unavailable, unaffordable or inadequate."
Congress returns to a bruising agenda of must-do items and deepening discord
LA Times' LISA MASCARO: "Congress returns Tuesday to a bruising September agenda of must-do items and deepening discord with the White House, leaving the Republican majority’s hopes for advancing its once-ambitious legislative priorities all but out of reach."
"Rather than emerging from the monthlong summer break with renewed legislative purpose, Republicans are approaching the weeks ahead, and its rolling crisis deadlines, with unease."
"In a matter of days, Congress must approve disaster funding for Hurricane Harvey, raise the debt limit to avoid a devastating federal default and appropriate money to keep the federal government from shutting down after Sept. 30 — even as the FBI widens its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and the White House faces off with North Korea."
READ MORE related to Beltway/POTUS45: Trump OKs more military sales to SKorea, Japan -- The Chronicle; US options on NKorea narrow further after test -- AP's JOSH LEDERMAN
Sutter County bucks trend of higher vaccination rates
Sacramento Bee's DIANA LAMBERT: "More California seventh-grade students received their required immunizations last school year than ever before, with one exception -- those living in Sutter County, according to the California Department of Public Health."
"The county, one hour north of Sacramento, is the only one in the state to see its Tdap vaccination rates fall, despite a recent state law that eliminated personal exemptions."
"Last school year 85.3 percent of Sutter County’s seventh-graders had the tetnus, diphtheria and pertussis, or Tdap, booster -- an 8 percent dip from 2015-16."
For Sen. Robert Menendez, will free plane trips and hotel stays add up to bribery?
LA Times' JOSEPH TANFANI: "When Sen. Robert Menendez stands in a New Jersey courtroom Wednesday to face bribery charges, a lot more than his political future will be riding on the outcome."
"For federal prosecutors, the case will be a test of whether they can still make corruption charges stick in the wake of a Supreme Court decision last year that tightly restricted the reach of the federal bribery law."
"The case, the first against a sitting U.S. senator in nearly a decade, also might affect the delicate balance of power in the Senate, where a thin Republican majority has made it difficult for the party to pass legislation."
Hurricane Irma: This is what it's like to fly into the eye of the intensifying storm (Note: Hurricane Irma has now intensified to Category 5[effectively a Category 6, but no such rank exists] with sustained windspeeds of almost 180MPH as it heads for landfall[Harvey was Category 4 at landfall with sustained winds of 130MPH])
McClatchy DC's JARED GILMOUR: "Hurricane Irma is still strengthening over the Atlantic, as forecasters work around the clock to predict how strong it will get and where it might make landfall."
"Right now it’s a Category 4 storm, with 130 mile per hour winds and the potential for catastrophic damage. But it’s still not yet clear where it’s headed."
"To figure that out and deliver the best possible predictions to worried coastal communities, forecasters need to know as much as they can about the storm—and that means someone’s got to fly right into it. Enter the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) “Hurricane Hunters,” who made their very first flight into Hurricane Irma on Sunday, according to AL.com."
READ MORE related to Environment: Why eye-popping whale shows off the California coast are the new normal -- The Chronicle's PETER FIMRITE; Bay Area gets a touch of scattered rain fading from tropical storm -- The Chronicle's CYNTHIA DIZIKES
Caltrans wants to spend $28 million fixing this highway, but locals call it overkill.
Sacramento Bee's TONY BIZJAK: "A sinewy stretch of mountain highway in Nevada County has become the site this summer of a $28 million tug-of-war between the state and local residents."
"The crux: How far should the state go in altering a scenic byway to make it safer?"
"Caltrans wants to straighten and widen a 2-mile section of Highway 174, the two-lane, thin-shouldered connector between Grass Valley and Colfax. That includes leveling some hills, changing the angle of the road in some places, adding an 8-foot-wide shoulder and adding as much as a dozen more feet of open space to serve as a recovery area for drivers who drift beyond the shoulder."
READ MORE related to Transportation: Car navigation tech brings new twists and turns to driving -- AP's MICHAEL LIEDTKE
'Free college' is a new rallying cry in California
Sacramento Bee's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "When State University of New York and City University of New York students return to campus this fall, tens of thousands of low-income undergraduates will pay no tuition under a new scholarship program."
"Rhode Island will also begin to cover tuition for nearly all recent high school graduates entering the state’s community college."
"And San Francisco will, for the first time, waive enrollment fees at City College of San Francisco for any resident."
READ MORE related to Education: Tensions high as UC Berkeley awaits Trump's DACA announcement -- Daily Cal's SAKURA CANNESTRA; California colleges undaunted by Trump's thread to end DACA -- EdSource's CAROLYN JONES; UC Berkeley delays release of tickets for Ben Shapiro's speaking event -- Daily Cal's AZWAR SHAKEEL; Lawmaker to request state audit of district's compliance with funding formula -- EdSource's JOHN FENSTERWALD
