14 victims identified from Butte County fire as firefighting efforts continue
Sac Bee's MOLLY BURKE: "As the North Complex Fire continues to burn, officials have released the names of 14 of the 15 fatalities from to the wildfire’s West Zone, with all but one of the victims being positively identified as families have been notified.
The North Complex overall has burned 291,200 acres and is at 62% containment as of Sunday afternoon. The West Zone Fire, which is part of the North Complex and was previously called the Bear Fire, has reached a size of 79,900 acres in Butte County. It is 52% contained.
With cool temperatures and higher humidity, firefighting efforts have been more successful. Calm weather is expected for the next few days, with little wind and continued humidity. On Sunday, warming temperatures and low humidity were predicted to come later this week."
READ MORE related to Wildfires: California fire activity 'slowly picking up again,' air quality worsens -- The Chronicle's SHWANIKA NARAYAN
Ignoring fire evacuation orders is rampant in California. That perilous choice endangers others, officials say
The Chronicle's PETER FIMRITE: "The North Complex Fire had been burning for weeks through Plumas County when heavy winds suddenly drove an 8-mile-wide swath of flames into northeastern Butte County, prompting Cal Fire officials to frantically order evacuations.
But many homeowners in the area stayed behind, even as flames driven by gusts of 35 mph swept across 70,000 acres in 24 hours starting on Sept. 8. Some residents of the remote area may have missed a call announcing the order, but most simply chose not to leave immediately, officials and relatives of victims have said.
Firefighters rescued at least 100 people as the fire blew through communities including Berry Creek, Feather Falls and Brush Creek. Hundreds of homes burned, dozens of residents were injured and at least 15 people were killed."
California recalls N95 masks obtained through $90M contract with Santa Clara-based company
Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG/DALE KASLER: "California is recalling N95 masks obtained through a $90 million contract with Advoque, a company based in Santa Clara, after federal regulators revoked certification for the masks last week.
The California Department of Public Health announced Monday that organizations possessing Advoque N95 masks “immediately cease use and distribution of this product” and notify the state so officials can send replacements.
N95 masks are thought to be most effective in preventing spread of the coronavirus and have been in high demand during the COVID-19 pandemic."
READ MORE related to Economy: Newsom signs law to give more undocumented Californians a tax break worth hundreds of dollars -- Sac Bee's KIM BOJORQUEZ; California unemployment is falling. But economy still in deep hole from pandemic shutdown -- Sac Bee's DALE KASLER
Trump weighs three women for high court; all would push the law to the right
LA Times's DEL QUENTIN WILBER: "Three female appeals court judges, all conservatives recently appointed to the bench, are among President Trump’s leading candidates to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, according to people familiar with the selection process.
Trump over the weekend said he would tap a woman to replace Ginsburg, a liberal lion, whose death Friday threw the final weeks of a divisive presidential campaign into further turmoil as the president and the Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, pledged to fill the seat as soon as possible.
The three likely finalists have impressive legal credentials and compelling personal stories and are also certain to pull the high court to the right, perhaps for years, as the justices tackle some of society’s most contentious issues, including abortion rights, healthcare reform and racial inequality, legal experts said."
Ginsburg's death will drive voter turnout. Will it help Dems or Republicans?
LA Times's MELANIE MASON/MARK Z BARABAK: "A presidential contest that had largely been a referendum on President Trump and, in particular, his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly broadened into something more: a fight over control of the Supreme Court.
Both sides claim their base will be more energized than ever by the vacancy created with the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday. The GOP has historically had more success in using the judiciary to rally its voters and push the courts to the right.
But the Democrats’ angst over losing a progressive luminary and fear of a solidifying conservative majority may be enough to turn this court opening into a political advantage."
READ MORE related to RIP Notorious RBG: Vigils for RBG to bring mourners to California courthouses, state Capitol -- Sac Bee's MOLLY BURKE/ROSALIO AHUMADA
CDC says coronavirus spreads mainly in the air, through respiratory aerosols and droplets
LA Times's RICHARD READ: " inhaled, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says in new guidance.
The smaller particles, known as aerosols, are produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks or breathes and can be inhaled into someone’s nose, mouth, airways or lungs, according to the CDC, which says that, in general, indoor settings without good ventilation increase the risk of contagion.
“This is thought to be the main way the virus spreads,” the CDC has posted on its website. “There is growing evidence that droplets and airborne particles can remain suspended in the air and be breathed in by others and travel distances beyond six feet (for example, during choir practice, in restaurants or in fitness classes)."
SF census workers say they were told the counting was done. But the city tally is not complete
The Chronicle's HEATHER KNIGHT: "Dennis Sides wanted a little extra cash and to do a good deed so he signed up to work for the U.S. census. After months of poor communication and false starts, he finally got trained in early August and hit the streets of the Tenderloin to count people. He used his Spanish to count monolingual immigrants and talked his way into hard-to-access single-room-occupancy hotels.
“I really felt like this was important,” said the 76-year-old retired book editor. “And then, boom, one day it just stopped.”
After just five days of counting, his supervisor told him on Aug. 11 there was no available work. He showed text messages spanning the next week and a half from his supervisor indicating there was nothing for her San Francisco team to do. Even though the tallying in this large, crowded, hard-to-count city had just begun."
Large Catholic demonstration in SF demands reopening
The Chronicle's RUSTY SIMMONS: "More than 1,000 people gathered at Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco on Sunday, converging from Catholic parishes throughout the city and then marching to the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption on Gough Street in a protest that demanded the immediate reopening of indoor services.
Places of worship were closed in the city for almost six months after the mid-March shelter-in-place order. Even though the state has said San Francisco can reopen churches at 25% capacity, Mayor London Breed announced last week that one person would be allowed inside churches at a time for prayer.
“Does that make sense to you: one person indoors at a time in a church? ... Is there a rational basis? Nobody has given me a rational basis for that,” said Archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore J. Cordileone before leading a Eucharistic procession to City Hall and uphill to the cathedral. “We can worship safely inside of church. We want to do it responsibly. We don’t want to be reckless. We’ll follow safety protocols that work and are effective. We shouldn’t be shut out of church. It’s a natural right protected by the First Amendment."
California correctional officers union criticized for ad with crosshairs on Black lawmaker
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "A Black California lawmaker has requested an investigation over a California Correctional Peace Officers Association ad that showed crosshairs over his photo.
The political ad represented a threat to him and his family and constitutes “potentially criminal conduct” under a law protecting elected officials, Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, said in a letter to Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
The ad, which was posted online and then taken down Wednesday, featured a narrator saying the union would “demand that the increased violence and assault on peace officers are addressed and the perpetrators are held accountable to the highest degree.”"
SF's Embarcadero could be devastated by earthquakes and rising seas, study warns
The Chronicle's JOHN KING: "The Embarcadero faces severe threats, with regionwide repercussions from both earthquakes that could undermine the city’s seawall and a rise in bay waters that could flood downtown streets and inundate BART and Muni tunnels, according to an exhaustive new study from the Port of San Francisco.
A temblor on the scale of 1989’s Loma Prieta earthquake could dislodge the seawall beneath the Embarcadero and liquefy portions of the soil that it holds in place, says the 82-page report. That would not only damage the waterfront’s crowded sidewalks and historic buildings but utility and transit lines affecting the entire city. The danger is particularly severe in the area around the Ferry Building, but portions of Fisherman’s Wharf are also at risk.
The impact of sea level rise would also be extensive, though not in the immediate future. An increase in the average daily tides of as little as 2 feet, which some scientific forecasts anticipate as soon as 2050, would send water spilling onto downtown blocks and make the subway tunnel beneath Market Street susceptible to flooding in a major storm, the study released Friday warns."
New US Space Force deploys to vast new frontier: the Arabian Desert
AP: "The newly formed U.S. Space Force is deploying troops to a vast new frontier: the Arabian Peninsula.
The Space Force now has a squadron of 20 airmen stationed at Qatar’s Al-Udeid Air Base, the service’s first foreign deployment. The force, pushed by President Trump, represents the sixth branch of the U.S. military and the first new military service since the creation of the Air Force in 1947.
It has provoked skepticism in Congress, a satire on Netflix and, with its uncannily similar logo, “Star Trek” jokes about intergalactic battles."
Ginsburg's death sets up titanic battle over abortion rights
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "In a political year dominated by a deadly pandemic and a fight for racial equality, the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg may rocket the abortion question back to the center of American consciousness, with the future of that constitutional right hanging in the balance in the selection of her successor.
“I think there is hope,” Alexandra Snyder, executive director of Life Legal Defense Foundation, an anti-abortion law firm based in Napa, said Saturday.
Lisa Matsubara, general counsel with Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, countered that what is now at stake “is really the fate of our freedoms. Human rights.”
Emmy Awards break new ground with virtual ceremony
The Chronicle's LYNN ELBER: "“Schitt’s Creek,” the little Canadian show about a fish-out-of-water family, made history on Sunday, Sept. 20, at this year’s virtual Emmy Awards, with a comedy awards sweep, something even TV greats including “Frasier” and “Modern Family” failed to achieve.
The awards for Pop TV’s “Schitt’s Creek” included best comedy series and trophies for its stars, including Catherine O’Hara and Eugene and Daniel Levy, the first father-son pair to win Emmys in the same year.
“It is absolutely incredible. I think my dad said it best earlier this evening: It’s a dream you don’t want to wake up from, to be honest,” Daniel Levy said backstage. “What an absolutely unbelievable way to end our series.”
