Fires explode across Bay Area, burning homes and sparking mass evacuations
LA Times's RONG-GONG LIN II/LEILA MILLER/COLLEEN SHALBY: "A series of fast-moving fires in the Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California — many caused by intense lightning storms — exploded overnight, burning homes and causing thousands to flee.
The fires stretched from wine country to the Santa Cruz Mountains, moving with ferocious speed amid an intense heat wave that also has brought rolling blackouts. Smoke from the fires has caused terrible air quality across the region.
Many of the fires were believed to have been caused by lightning strikes. Northern and Central California began experiencing an unusually active sequence of largely dry lightning strikes Sunday morning, likely the most widespread and violent in recent memory in the Bay Area on one of the hottest nights in years, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UCLA and the National Center for Atmospheric Research."
Solar energy feeling the heat as Bay Area faces blackouts
The Chronicle's DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "As a heat wave blisters California, demand soars for power to cool the millions sheltering at home. But the air conditioners go on just as the sun starts to drop in the sky — and solar power, one of California’s largest renewable energy sources, starts to wane.
How much that dependence on renewable energy has to do with the present blackouts is up for debate.
Steven Sexton, a fellow in the Energy Initiative at Duke University, explained that when demand for power spikes, the state needs an energy source that is “dispatchable” — something that can be turned on to meet that demand. Without storage, renewable energy lacks that capacity."
California delegates deliver votes from a beach as Biden officially wins nomination
The Chronicle's JOHN WILDERMUTH/JOE GAROFOLI: "Six months after Joe Biden’s third run for the presidency was on the verge of oblivion, Democratic delegates to the party’s virtual convention nominated him Tuesday to challenge President Trump in November.
In what Democratic Party Chairman Tom Perez accurately described as a “definitely unconventional roll call,” delegates gave the vote breakdowns for Biden and Bernie Sanders not from a convention floor, but from their home-state settings.
Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland and Hilda Solis, a Los Angeles County supervisor, stood on Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro (Los Angeles County), reminded viewers that California is home to Biden running mate Kamala Harris, and delivered the state’s vote of 263 votes for Biden and 231 for Sanders. The Vermont senator won the state’s March 3 primary, but unpledged delegates helped tip the vote to Biden."
Dems want young voters, but showcase old faces
LA Times's JANET HOOK: "When Bill Clinton gave his convention acceptance speech in 1992, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a toddler.
Clinton, whose presidency steered the party to the center a generation ago, returned to the convention podium Tuesday night as a gray-haired party elder; Ocasio-Cortez, a rising insurgent pushing the party to the left, got a snippet of speaking time.
The two personify a yawning gap within the Democratic Party between baby boomers who have dominated party leadership for decades and a rising generation of more progressive, diverse younger people."
Capitol Weekly Podcast: Overriding vetoes with Aaron Read
CW STAFF: "Lobbyist Aaron Read is the definiton of “venerable” in Sacramento’s Capitol Community: he began his lobbying career advocating for California state employees while Reagan was governor and Willie Brown was still just the Assemblyman from the 13th District. Read formed Aaron Read and Associates in 1978 and has been a major force in Sacramento ever since. He has a bevy of clients, many of whom have been with him for decades. He joined John Howard and Tim Foster this week to talk about his long career, and about the issues he’s working as the legislative session heats up this month.
And, find out what he has in common with Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger!"
How many people really wear masks? We counted. It wasn't pretty
LA Times's CASEY MILLER/JENNIFER LU: "To reduce the spread of the coronavirus, all Californians are required to wear a mask in crowded outdoor spaces. Failure to do so is a misdemeanor under an order issued in June by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Enforcement has been lax, and many people have resisted. It’s unknown how widely the public adheres to the rule, so The Times decided to find out.
Last month, over the course of a week, our reporters observed passersby in three locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Each person’s compliance with the mask order was classified into one of these three categories:"
Newsom declares state of emergency amid over 30 blazes
Sac Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH/ROSALIO AHUMADA/DANIEL HUNT: "Dozens of wildfires continue to burn across California, from the Los Angeles area to the Central Valley to the Bay Area, after erupting in the past few days amid a record-breaking heat wave, gusty winds and intense thunderstorms that fire officials have blamed for igniting at least some of them via lightning strikes.
On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for the fires, which total more than 30 as of Tuesday afternoon. This declaration gives California access to mutual aid from out of state and allows faster requests for federal funds.
“We are deploying every resource available to keep communities safe as California battles fires across the state during these extreme conditions,” Newsom said."
California power prices have skyrocketed. Is this normal -- or more Enron-style 'manipulation'?
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER: "The epic heat wave that’s produced rolling blackouts in California comes with a high price tag.
Wholesale power prices have occasionally shot up past $1,000 per megawatt hour — mirroring prices from the devastating 2001 energy crisis — as the California Independent System Operator has frantically worked to keep the juice flowing to the grid.
These prices eventually could find their way into rates paid by customers of the ISO’s member utilities, such as PG&E Corp., although it’s far too early to tell."
Rape victims address GSK in emotionally charged courtroom
The Chronicle's MATTHIAS GAFNI: "Peggy Frink was 15 when the Golden State Killer tied her up and repeatedly raped her in her parents’ Sacramento house. He also bound her 16-year-old sister Sue. He tied them up so tightly that their hands remained numb for weeks after the attack. Peggy couldn’t brush her hair because her head was so sore from his beating.
“My God, we were just high school kids going to school,” Peggy said Tuesday in court. “Now, finally, the end of this trauma is here. He’s a horrible man and none of us need to worry about him any more.”
Decades after he broke into dozens of homes across California to rape and kill, his victims got their first chance to fight back Tuesday as the sentencing of Joseph DeAngelo began."
What Californians should know about the plague after a new case in El Dorado County
Sac Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON: "A South Lake Tahoe resident is recovering at home from a case of bubonic plague, public health officials announced late Monday — that is the same Black Death that killed millions of people across Europe in the 1300s.
Fortunately, the modern world has something that didn’t exist back then: antibiotics, said Dr. Stuart Cohen of UC Davis Health, and these medicines can cure the illness if it’s diagnosed in time.
Public health officials in El Dorado County said the resident likely got the disease as a result of a flea bite while out for a walk with their dog along the Truckee River Corridor north of Highway 50 or the Tahoe Keys area in South Lake Tahoe. They described the individual as an avid walker."
Coronavirus takes a toll on Latinos and funeral homes
LA Times's RUBEN VIVES: "Under a large canopy in the parking lot of the Continental Funeral Home in East Los Angeles, more than two dozen folding chairs carefully placed several feet apart faced the cherry wood casket of 59-year-old Felipe Juarez.
Juarez died of COVID-19 last month, four days after the same disease killed his younger brother. And a month after it took the life of his sister in Mexico.
After such an unspeakable series of losses, the family felt forced to settle for a funeral that was nothing if not surreal. Family members had gathered to say their goodbyes amid the melodic chime of a passing ice cream truck and the noise of rush hour traffic on Beverly Boulevard."
Late pension checks, delayed medications: Bay Area residents decry postal service problems
The Chronicle's KEVIN FAGAN/RACHEL SWAN: "The U.S. postmaster general’s retreat Tuesday from plans to drastically slash mail service throughout the country came just as complaints began mounting from people who hadn’t received medications or pension checks on time — and state attorneys general announced a nationwide lawsuit over the proposed changes.
Yet the reversal did little to quell anxiety and irritation in the Bay Area. Since Postmaster General Louis DeJoy took over the agency in June, he’s restricted overtime, removed collection boxes and mail processing machines, and limited workers’ ability to deliver late-arriving mail.
Although representatives of the Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union insisted in interviews that postal business is proceeding as usual in the Bay Area, residents and politicians say the mail has slowed to a glacial pace."
USPS suspending cuts -- but will it help Californians?
Sac Bee's KATE IRBY/MARIA HEETER: "Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said Tuesday he plans to suspend cost-cutting changes to the U.S. Postal Service, but Californians experiencing mail delays and Democrats in Congress say they remain worried about the system’s preparedness for November’s election.
Despite the announcement, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra joined a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the Postal Services cutbacks, calling them a “de facto attack on a free and fair election.”
And, California Democrats said they’d continue to press for more Postal Service funding when the House of Representatives meets in a special session next week."
Frantic evacuations and rescues as fast-moving fire destroys homes overnight on march toward Vacaville
The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA: "Flames swallowed dozens of homes and other structures early Wednesday as the fast-moving LNU Lightning Complex fire raced toward Vacaville from the northwest, prompting frantic evacuations and rescues and ensuring that California's latest wildfire season will be another catastrophic one.
Fire officials in Vacaville ordered evacuations for all residents of Pleasants Valley Road and all connecting streets and English Hills Road as walls of fire surged across roadways. The Solano County Sheriff’s Department ordered evacuations for residents west of Blue Ridge Road to I-505 in Vacaville and north of Cherry Glen Road to Highway 128.
The Vacaville Fire District said at 5:41 a.m. that the fire had entered Gibson Canyon, and that all of Solar Hills and Gibson Canyon Road area are under evacuation."
Sacramento removes city law requiring people to stand and salute for national anthem
Sac Bee's THERESA CLIFT: "The city of Sacramento will no longer require people to stand and salute when the national anthem is played.
A Las Vegas man sued the city last month alleging the city code language was unconstitutional and could cause him to be arrested if he refused to stand while the song is played at Kings games.
Days after Jack Lipeles filed the federal lawsuit, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said he wanted the council to remove the law."
A tiny school in NorCal opens for in-person teaching with six of its 14 students
EdSource's BETTY MÁRQUEZ ROSALES: "Six students walked into their Indian Diggings Elementary School classroom on Monday for the first time since March when Covid-19 shut down all classes statewide.
One of the smallest districts in the state in a county with comparatively low infection rates, Indian Diggings Elementary School District has still had to cope with the challenges of fighting the coronavirus — demonstrating that even the smallest of schools are feeling the invasive impact of Covid-19 in the classroom.
The K-8 school is located in rural El Dorado County, along a narrow road in Somerset which is about 50 miles east of Sacramento. When children graduate eighth grade, they typically move on to one of the high schools in the El Dorado Union High School District in the southern region of the county."
Strict Sacramento rent control measure is back on the November ballot -- for now
Sac Bee's THERESA CLIFT: "A more strict version of Sacramento rent control is back on the November ballot — for now. The California 3rd District Court of Appeal directed the city last week to place the measure on the Nov. 3 ballot.
But there’s a catch.
A judge could still side with the city and decide the measure is unconstitutional, meaning it would not be implemented even if voters approve it. It’s also still possible the measure won’t go on the ballot at all, said city spokesman Tim Swanson."
SF tenants seeing one benefit of lockdown -- landlords willing to reduce rent
The Chronicle's JK DINEEN: "The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged San Francisco’s neighborhoods, leaving boarded-up storefronts and empty apartments as thousands of workers vacate pricey apartments for less expensive cities with more spacious housing options from which to work from home.
But the news isn’t all bad for people willing and able to stick in out in the beleaguered city. Thousands of tenants across the city are using the deteriorating rental market as an opportunity to negotiate double-digit rent reductions.
A new San Francisco Apartment Association survey found that while 14.3% percent of tenants have broken their leases since the start of the pandemic in March, 42.7% of landlords had received requests for rent reductions; 34.7% granted a request for either a permanent or temporary reduction. The association represents property owners."
Trump says 'toll' on Mexico border crossings may finance his wall
BLOOMBERG: "President Trump said his administration may impose a “toll” on cars crossing into the U.S. from Mexico to finance construction of his promised wall on the southern border.
“They’re going to pay at the border, at the gate, cars going through, we’re going to do a toll — or we may do a toll,” Trump said during an event in Yuma, Ariz., where he touted construction of the wall.
During the event, the president also said that he called off last weekend’s trade talks with China and called Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus “unthinkable."
