10 years of California blackouts? Newsom says 'this is not the new normal'
Sacramento Bee's HANNAH WILEY/DALE KASLER: "As California’s largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, battled bankruptcy and prepared for another round of mass power outages across the state, the company’s executive said Californians should expect to see fire-preventing blackouts for the next 10 years."
"I think this is probably a 10-year timeline to get to a point where it’s really ratcheted down significantly,” Chief Executive Bill Johnson told the California Public Utilities Commission during an emergency meeting earlier this month."
"In a series of press conferences in recent days, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state won’t bow to the utility’s timeline, calling it “an absurd period of time."
READ MORE related to PG&E and the Blackout Crisis: Wildfires, outages cause unprecedented healthcare disruption in California -- Sacramento Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON; Spoiled food and missing medicine: How PG&E shutoffs hit a California mobile home park -- Sacramento Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG; Power restoration begins; 64,000 customer accounts still dark -- The Chronicle's SHWANIKA NARAYAN/CAROLYN SAID; In Mendocino County, they see the light -- after five days without -- The Chronicle's PETER FIMRITE; Cell service improving, but frustration mounts -- The Chronicle's MALLORY MOENCH; Days of terrifying darkness, cold and hunger amid PG&E's sweeps -- LA Times's ANITA CHABRIA
Cal Fire's beatdown of Kincade intensifies, reaches 45% containment
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER/EVAN SERNOFFSKY/ERIN ALLDAY: "Sonoma County’s weeklong battle with the Kincade Fire appeared all but over Wednesday, after an army of firefighters held their hard-won perimeters overnight and evacuated residents began returning to their homes, many of which had been saved by brute force and luck."
"By Wednesday evening, all but 5,800 of the 185,000 people who had been ordered evacuated were allowed to repopulate their neighborhoods in Windsor, Healdsburg, Santa Rosa and remote parts of the county. City officials in Windsor greeted the returning residents with waves and shouts of “welcome home” as the cars rolled through town."
"These firefighters worked so hard. The fact they saved every home in town is amazing,” said Mayor Dominic Foppoli. “I can’t think of anything else in the history of the city that has been this worthy of a cause to celebrate."
READ MORE related to Wildfire Epidemic: More homes turned to cinders as new wildfires burn hundreds of acres San Bernardino and Jurupa Valley -- LA Times's HANNAH FRY/ALEX WIGGLESWORTH; PG&E equipment may have started fifth Bay Area fire Sunday, utility tells state regs -- The Chronicle's MATTHIAS GAFNI; Extreme winds fueled fires and toppled big rigs. But firefighters came prepared for battle -- LA Times's JACLYN COSGROVE/RICHARD WINTON; Extremely critical fire weather will continue Thursday in SoCal -- LA Times's PAUL DUGINSKI"
Students of color to UC: Drop the SAT or we'll see you in court
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "Lawyers representing low-income students of color demanded Tuesday that the University of California drop the SAT and ACT exams in student admissions on grounds that they illegally discriminate against applicants who can’t afford test prep classes and pose other unfair obstacles that prevent qualified students from being accepted to UC."
"The letter sent to the UC regents suggested that if the university leaders don’t agree to stop using the tests, the lawyers would sue on behalf of three students, student advocacy groups and the Compton Unified School District near Los Angeles."
"One of the students, Kawika Smith, 17, a high school senior in Los Angeles, said in a statement that he grew up in poverty, often homeless and with family violence that left him with emotional stress. But he was also a bright student with enviable achievements whose SAT scores were too low to compete with others hoping to get into UC Berkeley."
Adam Schiff: From obscurity to the center stage
Capitol Weekly's CHUCK MCFADDEN: "Throughout most of his political career, Adam Schiff has been low-key, laboring mostly in the background in the California Senate and then in Congress. Now, at age 59, he finds himself in the national spotlight as a major Donald Trump target amid the hot glare of impeachment furor."
"Schiff was elected to the California Senate in 1996, representing a district that included parts of Hollywood, Los Angeles and Pasadena. He won his Senate race after running for the Assembly twice and losing twice."
"But on Nov. 7, 2000, Schiff won his congressional race against Republican James Rogan, a respected House member who was selected to be one of the 13 house managers in the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton. The backlash over the impeachment doomed Rogan, although it is also true his district had been trending Democratic. The Schiff-Rogan contest was the most expensive House race in history at the time, topping $10 million. (Rogan is now a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.)"
California's cannabis market will soon have 'thousands of retail stores,' report says
Sacramento Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "Despite a series of obstacles and setbacks, California’s legal marijuana market is on track to continue growing in the coming years, according to a new report."
"By 2024, cannabis sales growth in the Golden State will account for nearly a quarter of all sales growth in the United States, according to a report, “From Dispensaries to Superstores: Opportunities in U.S. Cannabis Retail,” issued by BDS Analytics and ArcView Market Research."
"California voters legalized recreational use of marijuana in 2016, with sales becoming legal on Jan. 1, 2018."
Spare the Air alert for smoke extended to Thursday
The Chronicle's ALEJANDRO SERRANO/MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "Morning temperatures Wednesday morning were below freezing in the North Bay, but winds were dying down all over the Bay Area and air quality away from the Kincade Fire was expected to be relatively clear, according to the National Weather Service."
"Officials issued a frost advisory early Wednesday for several areas, including valleys in the North Bay, where temperatures hovered around or below freezing as authorities monitored strong winds and dry conditions that could spark wildfires. With temperatures in some areas below 32 degrees, and many people without power or heat, Sonoma County officials opened four warming centers in Santa Rosa, Cloverdale and Guerneville."
Nazi flag at Sacramento office prompts investigation at California corrections department
Sacramento Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation employee who hung a Nazi flag in a state office in downtown Sacramento showed a serious lack of judgment but isn’t a white supremacist, according to the department."
"The department has been fielding media inquiries related to the flag since Michael Johnson talked with CBS 13 for a story Monday."
"Johnson filmed the flag in the window, which was hung near other hate symbols."
Veterans want answers as new data shows rise in cancers over two decades of war
Sacramento Bee's TARA COPP/SHIRSHO DASGUPTA/BEN WEIDER: "Veterans saw a spike in urinary, prostate, liver and blood cancers during nearly two decades of war, and some military families now question whether their exposure to toxic environments is to blame, according to a McClatchy investigation."
"McClatchy found that the rate of cancer treatments for veterans at Department of Veterans Affairs health care centers increased 61 percent for urinary cancers — which include bladder, kidney and ureter cancers — from fiscal year 2000 to 2018."
"The rate of blood cancer treatments — lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia — rose 18 percent in the same period. Liver and pancreatic cancer treatment rates increased 96 percent and prostate cancer treatment rates increased 23 percent."
READ MORE to Health: Four commanding officers of California Navy base die in unusual string of cancers -- Sacramento Bee's TARA COPP/SHIRSHO DASGUPTA/BEN WEIDER
NTSB report: Both light-rail trains had approval to be on track before august crash
Sacramento Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "Federal investigators have released their initial findings regarding a Sacramento light-rail crash that sent more than a dozen people to the hospital in August, but the investigation remains ongoing as officials work to determine what caused the rare incident."
"The collision involved a two-car Sacramento Regional Transit passenger train, carrying 24 people, striking a one-car RT maintenance train, with three occupants, at about 9:38 p.m. on Aug. 22. The crash occurred on the N line, on a remote stretch of track near north Sacramento’s Hagginwood neighborhood."
"Thirteen people were hospitalized with minor to moderate injuries, as reported by RT."
Democrats hoped they'd win over Republicans on impeachment, but they continue to be met with resistance
LA Times's JENNIFER HABERKORN: "As the House prepares to hold its first vote related to the impeachment inquiry of President Trump, senior House Democrats appear to have all but given up on getting much Republican support for their effort, and are resigned to the reality that the process will probably continue along largely partisan lines."
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) had previously argued that trying to remove the president from office would only succeed with bipartisan support. Backing from lawmakers in both parties will mean the difference between an impeachment effort seen as a credible, constitutional check on presidential power, and one dismissed as a political, vindictive exercise."
"But in their first test — Thursday’s procedural vote on establishing impeachment rules — Democrats are unlikely to receive more than a few, if any, GOP votes."
