Labor Day weekend bring fears of new outbreaks in California
LA Times's COLLEEN SHALBY: "The next big test of whether Californians can slow the spread of the coronavirus will come this holiday weekend, with officials hoping the public will refrain from the large gatherings and risky behavior that contributed to a spike in COVID-19 infections and deaths after a disastrous Memorial Day weekend.
California spent much of the summer paying the price for a rapid reopening of the economy in late May and early June, with a coronavirus surge from mid-June through the weeks after the Fourth of July that led to record deaths and new concerns about the virus spreading among young people and essential workers.
Now, Labor Day weekend — the final big holiday of the summer — poses new risks as it coincides with the easing of additional COVID-19 restrictions."
Retirees group calls for pension fund president to resign
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "The head of a group of a California retired public employees organization says that it’s time for CalPERS Board of Administration President Henry Jones to go, after the abrupt departure of the agency’s chief investment officer last month.
The Retired Public Employees’ Association is calling for Jones resignation, saying its demand is “precipitated by your poor judgment and inappropriately secretive manner” in managing the events that led up to the resignation of former CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Yu Ben Meng.
Meng’s departure from CalPERS followed the revelation that he had investments in a private equity fund controlled by Blackstone Group Inc., the same firm which Meng had approved a $1 billion investment back in March."
California has a new clean air rule: What you need to know about its cost and how it works
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "The California Air Resources Board last week voted to enact a sweeping, complicated series of rules aimed at reducing the pollution output of heavy-duty diesel trucks.
It’s air board’s second rule this year aimed at such vehicles, after the board voted in June to require manufacturers of diesel trucks and vans to transition to all-electric sales by 2045.
While that rule is aimed at reducing greenhouse gasses emitted by heavy-duty vehicles, the new regulation is focuses on the health benefits of cleaner air."
Boulder Creek water problems highlight growing wildfire threat
The Chronicle's JD MORRIS: "Drivers entering town these days pass a sign with an urgent message: Do not drink or boil the tap water in your home. It may not be safe.
This town in the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains is the latest California community to grapple with water problems because of a wildfire. The phenomenon is a recent one, and Boulder Creek’s entry to the group suggests other places may eventually find themselves in a similar position.
For now, local and state officials are still trying to figure out if the CZU Lightning Complex fires contaminated any of the water supply."
US unemployment rate falls to 8.4% even as hiring slows
AP: "The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in August to 8.4% from 10.2% even as hiring slowed, with employers adding the fewest jobs since the pandemic began.
Employers added 1.4 million jobs, the Labor Department said Friday, down from 1.7 million in July. The U.S. economy has recovered about half the 22 million jobs lost to the pandemic.
Friday’s report from the Labor Department added to evidence that nearly six months after the coronavirus paralyzed the country, the economy is mounting only a fitful recovery. From small businesses to hotels, restaurants, airlines and entertainment venues, a wide spectrum of companies are struggling to survive the loss of customers with confirmed viral cases still high."
When firefighters hope to gain full containment of major NorCal wildfires
Sac Bee's ROSALIO AHUMADA: "Authorities expect within the next two weeks to have full containment of three of the four largest wildfires in state history, which continued to burn Thursday in Northern California.
But those are just estimates, as firefighters closely monitor another heat wave over the Labor Day weekend that will bring extreme conditions prefect for starting another blaze.
More than 12,800 firefighters were still busy Thursday battling flames as they try to make progress toward containment of 22 major fires throughout the state, according to Cal Fire. More than 12,400 people remain evacuated, officials said, as more evacuation orders are lifted and reduced to warnings."
Swing voters in battleground states don't care about Nancy Pelosi's hair
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "When the White House press secretary played video on an endless loop Thursday of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walking unmasked through a San Francisco hair salon, it was the latest sign that the Trump campaign was still searching for an attack line to pull itself out of the ditch.
Calling Joe Biden a socialist hasn’t perked up the president’s poll numbers. Nor has questioning Sen. Kamala Harris’ citizenship credentials. Nor has Trump’s race-baiting on how electing Biden will “destroy the suburbs” by bringing in low-income housing.
Next stop: Pelosi’s hair salon visit."
Hair salon owner denies Speaker Pelosi was set up
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN/TAL KOPAN: "The owner of a San Francisco salon where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got her hair done indoors in violation of city coronavirus pandemic rules denied that she had “set up” the Democrat.
Erica Kious, who owns eSalon in the Cow Hollow neighborhood, wept during a Zoom news conference Thursday as she responded to Pelosi’s charge that she had tricked her into receiving hair care that San Francisco salons are prohibited from offering.
“For the Speaker Pelosi to frame herself as a victim — (a) total false narrative -- while small businesses and workers all over California, the state she represents in Congress, suffer and struggle just to survive, is beyond shameful,” Kious said."
Bay Area temps could hit 113 over Labor Day weekend amid 'dangerous' heat wave
The Chronicle's ANNA BUCHMANN/KELLIE HWANG: "Labor Day weekend, already shaping up as a scorcher in the Bay Area, is looking even hotter, as the National Weather Service on Thursday upgraded its excessive heat advisory to an excessive heat warning for inland areas.
From 11 a.m. Saturday through 9 p.m. Monday, dangerous heat is expected from record or near-record temperatures, the weather service said. Highs are forecast to range from 95-105 degrees in the North and East Bay valleys and mountains, South Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains, Salinas Valley, interior Monterey County and San Benito County.
Temperatures on Sunday could hit 113 in Napa and Livermore, 112 in Gilroy and Brentwood, and 111 in Sonoma and Vacaville, the weather service said."
Rectal exams for California COs were unnecessary and invasive, lawsuit says
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "The young men and women who had been selected to become correctional officers at California’s state prisons were ready to do whatever it took to get the coveted jobs.
So they put aside their objections when medical workers at a group of Sacramento clinics told them they needed rectal exams before they could start training, several told The Sacramento Bee.
About 190 current and former correctional officers who say they were subjected to the exams filed a lawsuit Thursday against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. They allege the exams, performed from around 2006 to 2016, were unnecessary and constituted sexual assault."
Sacramento City Council to debate defunding millions from police and fire budgets
Sac Bee's THERESA CLIFT: "An active citizen committee is about to revive the “defund the police” debate at Sacramento City Hall.
The Sacramento City Council will Tuesday discuss whether to remove $15 million in funding budgeted for several uses, including the police and fire departments - a recommendation from the city’s Measure U Community Advisory Committee. That committee is tasked with helping the council decide how to spend sales tax revenue voters approved in 2018.
The discussion takes place at a time when the “defund movement” - sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis - is causing cities across the country to reduce police funding and reallocate it toward youth, mental health and other services to uplift under served communities. But the city is also struggling with reduced revenue, including Measure U revenue, due to the coronavirus pandemic."
Three SF supes, environmental groupes seek ouster of health official after Chronicle investigation
The Chronicle's CYNTHIA DIZIKES/JASON FAGONE: "Three San Francisco supervisors and a group of environmental activists are calling for a city public health official to be reassigned or fired, saying she misled the public about a helicopter survey of radioactive waste at two former naval bases in the city that were contaminated during the Cold War and are now being cleaned and turned into housing.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health defended the official, Amy Brownell, saying she did nothing wrong in relying on the helicopter scan, which found no radioactive anomalies, to assure people the sites were safe.
Brownell, an environmental engineer with the health department, has for years monitored the cleanups of the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and Treasure Island. The demands for her removal follow a Chronicle investigation, published last week, that showed the aerial survey had limited value — and that Brownell knew this from the beginning."
How Stan Kroenke and the NFL turned SoFi Stadium into a $5B reality
LA Times's NATHAN FENNO/SAM FARMER: "The low-slung stadium in Inglewood shimmers amid palm trees and parking lots and a six-acre artificial lake, an artist’s rendering finally brought to life.
Rams owner Stan Kroenke poured six years and at least $5 billion into the 3.1-million-square-foot building that looks as if it arrived from another world.
SoFi Stadium’s swooping lines are an homage to the curves of California’s coast. Much of the asymmetrical roof is transparent, using ETFE panels that are as clear as a windshield and strong enough to support an auto."
Trump denies calling US war dead 'losers,' 'suckers'
AP's JAMES LAPORTA: "President Donald Trump is angrily denying a report that he made disparaging remarks about U.S. service members who have been captured or killed, including that he described American war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France in 2018 as “losers” and “suckers.”
“This is more made up Fake News given by disgusting & jealous failures in a disgraceful attempt to influence the 2020 Election!” Trump tweeted late Thursday.
The allegations were reported in The Atlantic. A senior Defense Department official with firsthand knowledge of events and a senior U.S. Marine Corps officer who was told about Trump’s comments confirmed some of the remarks to The Associated Press, including the 2018 cemetery comments."
