California becomes first state to allow college athletes to be paid
Sacramento Bee 's BRYAN ANDERSON: "Rejecting opposition from the NCAA, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday announced he signed a law allowing college athletes to be paid starting in 2023."
"The law will allow players to be compensated for their name, image and likeness. Senate Bill 206, dubbed the “Fair Pay to Play Act,” would also prohibit universities across the state from revoking scholarships from students who choose to pursue endorsement deals and other opportunities."
"The system has been perverted and this is fundamentally about rebalancing things,” Newsom said during a media conference call on Monday. “It’s about fairness, equity, and it’s about time."
SF tour guide led secret life as Chinese spy, prosecutors say
Sacramento Bee's JARED GILMOUR: "By day, the 56-year-old Northern California man is believed to have worked as a tour guide and sight-seeing operator in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to federal prosecutors."
"But that wasn’t his only job, prosecutors said: Xuehua Peng, a naturalized U.S. citizen who is also known as Edward, has been arrested and charged with spying for the Chinese government in his adopted country."
"A criminal complaint filed Sept. 24 and unsealed Monday revealed that Peng is accused of “acting as an illegal foreign agent in delivering classified United States national security information to officials of the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of State Security,” or MSS."
READ MORE related to Spy Games: Hayward man charged with ferrying classified US security information to China -- The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO
Sacramento gas prices up 25 cents in past week. California costs soar, bucking US trend
Sacramento Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "Gas prices skyrocketed in Sacramento and throughout California last week, despite a nationwide trend in the opposite direction."
"Prices at the pump in Sacramento are up more than 25 cents in the past seven days and nearly 35 cents over the past month, according to fuel trend analysis website GasBuddy. Gas is currently averaging $3.85 a gallon, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 720 stations in the capital city."
"As of Monday morning, Sacramento’s cheapest gas could be found at the Fastrip at Florin and Power Inn roads, or the Quik Stop at Auburn Boulevard and Annadale Lane, both $3.35 per gallon. The Sam’s Club at Power Inn Road and East Stockton Boulevard and the Valero at 2600 Rio Lind Boulevard were next cheapest at $3.39, according to GasBuddy."
Californians strongly back vaccine law in new statewide poll
LA Times's MELODY GUTIERREZ: "Californians strongly support a state law creating new oversight of vaccine medical exemptions for schoolchildren in a statewide poll released Monday, with backing across a spectrum of political affiliations, income and education levels, and geography."
"The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, conducted for the Los Angeles Times, found that 90% of Democrats, 82% of those with no party preference and 73% of Republicans supported the effort to increase immunization rates at schools and day-care facilities by allowing the California Department of Public Health to review and possibly reject a doctor’s determination that a child should skip all or some of their shots."
"Overall, 8 out of 10 voters surveyed said they supported the new law, with 61% saying they favored it strongly. Just 16% said they opposed it. The strongest dissent came from participants in the poll who described themselves as very politically conservative — 1 out of 3 of those voters said they opposed it."
California Supreme Court likely to decide when juveniles may be tried as adults
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "A new state law that bars the prosecution of 14- and 15-year-olds as adults violates a constitutional amendment approved by the voters in 2016, a state appeals court ruled Monday, disagreeing with other appellate decisions and handing the issue to the California Supreme Court."
"At issue is whether youths under 16 must be tried in juvenile court, where the maximum sentence is until age 25, or can be sent to adult court and face lengthy prison sentences, including life terms for murder."
"A 2000 ballot measure allowed California prosecutors on their own to charge 14-year-olds as adults for serious crimes. Proposition 57, a state constitutional amendment passed by the voters in November 2016, required prosecutors to request such transfers from a juvenile court judge, who would consider the youth’s history and potential for rehabilitation and the nature of the charges before deciding whether to send the case to adult court."
The Camp Fire started on federal land. This rule would make PG&E clean up its power lines
McClatchy's EMILY CADEI: "The U.S. Forest Service is seeking to make it easier for utility companies to remove dry brush and other vegetation near power lines running through forests, such as the PG&E lines on federal land that sparked the deadly 2018 Camp Fire."
"The agency, which is part of the Department of Agriculture, announced a proposed regulation last week that would require utilities to specify their plans for clearing brush and other vegetation around power lines that run through national forests. The regulation also would demand that utilities provide a timeline for brush-clearing projects."
"The regulation would cut some of the bureaucratic red tape that can slow utilities’ ability to do that kind of forest management, experts say. The federal government manages almost 60 percent of forestland in California"
California child care workers gain new union reights to bargain with the state for higher pay
Sacramento Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Tens of thousands of California child care providers gained new rights to bargain for better wages and health benefits under a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Monday, the labor unions sponsoring the bill announced."
"The new law will apply to more than 40,000 workers who care for families that receive child care cost assistance from the state. It will allow them to negotiate with the California Human Resources department over wages and health care benefits."
"The legislation, authored by Assemblywoman Monique Limon, D-Goleta, also gives unions rights to attend orientation meetings for child care workers and promote their union. It also requires the state to give unions contact information for child care providers."
Student vaping epidemic has California schools frantically mobilizing
LA Times's HOWARD BLUME/SONALI KOHLI/NINA AGRAWAL: "Students at Crescenta Valley High School have created an anti-vaping app. At nearby Rosemont Middle School, 55 students have joined an anti-vaping club. Santa Monica schools have booked 20 anti-vaping and drug awareness student assemblies and parent meetings. Staffers at various Southern California campuses are stepping up patrols of hidden nooks, installing costly detection devices, bringing in addiction counselors and modifying health curricula."
"The recent surge of lung illnesses and deaths linked to vaping, an increasingly entrenched habit among many youths, largely caught school authorities flat-footed, and educators are urgently mobilizing anti-vaping efforts against what they see as a dangerous teen epidemic."
"We’ve seen this develop very quickly,” said Crescenta Valley Principal Linda Junge. “We’re seeing a public health crisis that has come onto campus."
Juul ends support for Prop. C, SF measure to overturn e-cigarette sales ban
The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO: "Juul will end its support for Proposition C, the San Francisco ballot measure that the vaping company has spent millions of dollars promoting through political ads, election mailers and canvassers."
"Prop. C will still appear on the Nov. 5 ballot. If approved, it would overturn a San Francisco ordinance suspending the sale of e-cigarettes in the city, and replace it with regulations supported by Juul, which is headquartered in San Francisco."
Spike in fentanyl deaths spurs overdose prevention program in SF residential hotels
The Chronicle's KEVIN FAGAN: "Friends have dragged Nic Atamaniuk back from the edge of death from drug overdoses at least 30 times in the past few years. Each time, they gave him a shot of Narcan, the OD reversal drug. Each time, the culprit was too much fentanyl in his hit of heroin, Atamaniuk said."
"He hasn’t needed that shot of Narcan since moving into the Minna Lee single-room-occupancy hotel a year ago, ending years of homelessness and stabilizing on methadone to combat his craving. But everywhere he looks — in his and other SROs, in the streets — he sees fentanyl overdoses. He sees danger. Death."
"I’ve always known people who died from overdoses, but in the past year alone it’s just shot through the roof,” Atamaniuk said. “I’ve had seven friends, people I was close to, die of fentanyl overdoses this last year. It’s horrible. We need help."
READ MORE related to Health: Despite known health risks, researchers question the need to cut back on red meat -- AP
Yolo County says deputies acted 'in good faith' when they dumped homeless man in Sacramento
Sacramento Bee's MOLLY SULLIVAN: "After a video surfaced last week of two Yolo County deputies appearing to drop off a homeless man north of downtown Sacramento, the county Monday said the Yolo Sheriff’s Office is “reviewing the incident."
"At this point, it appears the deputies were acting in good faith to assist the individual by providing transportation late at night consistent with the individual’s desires,” Jenny Tan, spokeswoman for Yolo County, said in a prepared statement."
"A video published by Public Safety News shows the deputies dropping the man off Sept. 25 next to the McDonald’s on Richards Boulevard in Sacramento’s River District, an industrial neighborhood along Interstate 5 north of the downtown railyard."
Mexican asylum seekers at multiple border crossings grow frustrated with waiting
LA Times's MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE/WENDY FRY: "Thousands of Mexican migrants seeking asylum in the United States are waiting at border crossings as a result of the Trump administration’s recent crackdown despite concerns for their safety in their home country, migrants and advocates say."
"At Ciudad Juarez’s Bridge of the Americas, also known as Puente Libre, dozens of frustrated migrants — some holding newborns — confronted Mexican soldiers last week, challenging a waiting list they worried was keeping them out of the U.S. unfairly."
"We have been here eight days — how much longer?” a woman shouted."
Some LA officials want a state of emergency declared as homelessness crisis worsens
LA Times's GALE HOLLAND: "Facing a deepening quagmire over homeless encampments, Los Angeles elected officials are increasingly looking to sweeping statewide initiatives to shake loose solutions. The latest proposal from Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and City Councilman Joe Buscaino would have the governor declare a state of emergency on homelessness in California."
"Supporters view such a declaration as a novel strategy to free up state and federal funding typically reserved for natural disasters, such as earthquakes or wildfires, and to suspend or streamline the regulatory hurdles that often slow down shelter and housing development. It also could block NIMBY opponents from using environmental reviews to sue and delay or block homeless facilities from opening."
"But some question whether an emergency declaration would be merely symbolic, given President Trump’s rejections of more federal funding and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s commitment of $1 billion for local homeless programs and support for more regulatory relief.
California prison agency withholds director's retirement party records
Sacramento Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "The California state agency that trains prison inmates for work after release is withholding spending records related to its former general manager’s retirement party."
"The Sacramento Bee in July requested financial records and emails related to a January party for former California Prison Industry Authority manager Charles Pattillo."
"After reviewing records the agency gathered to respond to the request, its current manager, Scott Walker, referred the records to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Office of Internal Affairs for investigation, CalPIA attorney Jeff Sly told The Bee in August."
Poll: Momentum grows for Donald Trump to be impeached and removed from office
Sacramento Bee's BRYAN ANDERSON: "Support across the country is building for President Donald Trump to be impeached and removed from office, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University."
"The national survey of self-identified registered voters released Monday shows Americans are hotly divided on the issue, with an even split of 47 percent. Despite the division, the poll revealed surging support for impeachment, with a 20-point gap in support closed since Quinnipiac asked voters the same question last week."
"Last week, 57 percent of respondents said they opposed impeaching and removing Trump, while 37 percent supported it."
READ MORE related to POTUS: Watergate star witness John Dean knows what's needed to impeach Trump -- The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI; Giuliani subpoenaed as impeachment inquiry accelerates -- AP's JONATHAN LEMIRE/MATTHEW V LEE/MARY CLARE JALONICK/EMILY SWANSON; Trump sought Australia's help on the origins of the Russia investigation -- AP; Ousted US diplomat could be crucial to impeachment inquiry -- LA Times's LAURA KING/SABRA AYRES
With cannon blasts in Tiananmen Square, communist China kicks off the 70th anniversary of its founding
AP's ROBYN DIXON: "Fifty-six cannons fired 70 times shattered the silence in Tiananmen Square on Tuesday as a formation of soldiers goose-stepped forward to raise the national flag."
"Beijing’s sky was smoggy as President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders took their places on the podium at precisely 10 a.m. The hour had come to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China."
"As thousands of people rapturously waved Chinese flags, Xi opened his speech by telling the crowd that Chinese people all over the world were filled with joy, happiness and pride at the communist nation’s founding."
