New evacuations for Glass Fire; weather expected to improve
Sac Bee's MOLLY BURKE/VINCENT MOLESKI: "With well over 4 million acres burned in California this year, more than 16,500 fire personnel continue to battle 23 major wildfires across the state.
Red flag warnings subsided Friday, but they were brought back with urgency Saturday as officials warned residents of hot and dry weather. The National Weather Service issued an immediate red flag warning for the North Bay, as gusty northwesterly winds could spread existing fires rapidly or cause rapid growth of a new flame.
The rapid alert emphasized the concerns facing firefighting efforts, with high temperatures and low humidity allowing for rapid spread of flames. The weather contributed to 27 new wildfires beginning Saturday, including one near Sloughhouse in Sacramento County, though Cal Fire has assured that it has been fully contained."
READ MORE related to Wildfire Season: California can fix its wildfire crisis -- if politics don't get in the way -- The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS; An idyllic country road in Napa, Sonoma counties seared by Glass Fire -- The Chronicle's CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO; Glass Fire has now damaged 17 Napa Valley wineries as world-famous region remains under grave threat -- The Chronicle's ESTHER MOBLEY; Calistoga avoids disaster as Glass Fire shifts; California hits stunning milestone on acres burned -- The Chronicle's TATIANA SANCHEZ/SAM WHITING/NANETTE ASIMOV
UCLA-led study suggests COVID-19 may have been in Los Angeles earlier than previously thought
Daily Bruin's PRISCILLA GUERRERO: "COVID-19 may have been in the Los Angeles area before the first identified cases in the United States, according to a UCLA-led study.
The researchers analyzed electronic health records from more than 2.5 million annual patient visits across three hospitals and 180 clinics in the LA area between July 2014 and February, according to the study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
The study investigated whether there were more visits with the symptom “cough” in the months from December to February compared to the previous five years."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: California one of few states without top school nurse during pandemic -- CALMatters' ANA B IBARRA
New laws: California at forefront of health policy innovation
CHL's SAMANTHA YOUNG/ANGELA HART in Capitol Weekly: "Though COVID-19 forced California leaders to scale back their ambitious health care agenda, they still managed to enact significant new laws intended to lower consumer health care spending and expand access to health coverage.
When Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom concluded the chaotic legislative year Wednesday — his deadline to sign or veto bills — what emerged wasn’t the sweeping platform he and state lawmakers had outlined at the beginning of the year. But the dozens of health care measures they approved included first-in-the-nation policies to require more comprehensive coverage of mental health and addiction, and thrusting the state into the generic drug-making business.
“We had less time, less money and less focus, but COVID makes the causes of expanding coverage and trying to control health care costs that much more important,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a Sacramento-based consumer advocacy group."
READ MORE related to New Laws: Newsom signs bills banning 24 chemicals from cosmetics -- Daily Californian's DAVID VILLANI/CLAIRE DALY
A free and fair election? One poll says some California voters aren't betting on it
The Chronicle's PHIL MATIER: "Veteran pollster Mark DiCamillo is predicting record voter turnout in November, but that heightened interest also comes with a high degree of skepticism on both sides of the political spectrum about how fair the election will be.
Especially among voters younger than 30.
“This will be the highest turnout in history. Every organization you can name — even professional sports teams — have programs encouraging people to vote,” said DiCamillo, who is director of polling at the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies."
Democrats push Biden to restart negative ads, despite Trump's COVID hospitalization
Sac Bee's ALEX ROARTY/DAVID CATANESE: "An increasing number of Democrats are vocally urging Joe Biden’s campaign to resume running negative ads against Donald Trump, arguing that their party’s nominee should not relent even as the president remains hospitalized after contracting the coronavirus.
With Election Day less than a month away and early voting already in progress in key battleground states, some Democratic operatives said Biden must push forward with the messaging that has helped provide him with a stable lead in the presidential race, especially as the Trump campaign has continued to air attack ads.
“At this point, Biden must share truth and facts even if they paint Trump negatively,” said Amanda Renteria, who was the political director for Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016. “There is simply too much the public needs to know in the most important election in our lifetime. It is critical that Biden also vigorously proceeds."
READ MORE related to Presidential Campaign: How will Trump's coronavirus-positive test reshape the presidential race? -- The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI; Trump's positive virus test a big negative for campaign -- The Chronicle's WILLIE BROWN; Check your mailbox: 21 million California ballots are on their way to voters -- LA Times's JOHN MYERS; Delays in verifying mail-in ballots in some battleground states will slow election tally -- AP; Trump call for poll watchers evokes chilling memories of Orange County, 1988 -- CALMatters' BEN CHRISTOPHER;
California 2020 props explained in 1-minute videos
CALMatters' BYRHONDA LYONS: "Want a quick introduction to the dozen measures on your November ballot? This playlist gives you a 60-second description of each:
The Props-in-a-Minute playlist, produced by CalMatters’ reporting team, covers the array of subjects voters will be asked to decide this fall.
Several of the measures resurrect Golden State Oldies — issues voters have weighed in on in previous state elections. Among them: affirmative action, commercial and residential property tax caps, rent control, stem cell research, kidney dialysis clinic regulations, and criminal justice reform."
New climate for affirmative action? California voters will decide with Proposition 16
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "The death of George Floyd forced a national reckoning over racism in policing, the workplace and nearly every other aspect of public life. Will it also inspire Californians to reverse the state’s ban on affirmative action?
Weeks after Floyd was killed in May when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, the California Legislature placed a measure on the Nov. 3 ballot that would allow public agencies to bring back consideration of race and sex in public university admissions and government employment and contracting.
Proposition 16 would overturn a law that its supporters say has created a colorblind meritocracy in California and critics argue prevented the state from eliminating obstacles that hold back women and people of color."
LA Mayor Garcetti shifts support to Gascon in contentious DA's race
LA Times's JAMES QUEALLY: "Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Sunday he is switching his endorsement in the L.A. County district attorney’s race and supporting George Gascón in his bid to unseat incumbent Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey as the head of the country’s largest prosecutor’s office.
Garcetti was among a number of Southern California politicians who threw their support behind Lacey’s bid for a third term early last year, before Gascón entered the race. But in the wake of nationwide protests calling for criminal justice reforms following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, some began to walk back their endorsements of Lacey, who has spent most of her second term under intense scrutiny for declining to prosecute officers in a number of controversial shootings of unarmed men.
Gascón, who was San Francisco’s district attorney for eight years and served in the Los Angeles Police Department for decades before that, did not prosecute officers in a number of high-profile shootings in the Bay Area either. But Gascón’s record of using restorative justice programs rather than incarceration to deal with nonviolent offenders has made him attractive to progressive leaders, including U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts."
Sacramento city wins court fight on bike trail that would link six neighborhoods
Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK: "The city of Sacramento cleared a key legal hurdle Friday for a planned bike trail that would run through a half-dozen south Sacramento neighborhoods, offering residents a safer off-street passage between Meadowview and William Land Park.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge James P. Arguelles ruled for the city in a lawsuit filed by a group of rail preservationists who had claimed the city’s environmental review of the Del Rio Trail project was inadequate.
The Sacramento Rail Preservation Action Group filed the lawsuit in 2019 in part to stop the city from infringing on the remnant tracks that exist in the rail corridor to be used for the new trail. Rail aficionados say they hope to rehabilitate the tracks at some point for possible excursions trains. The tracks were used until 1978 for trains carrying farm products. The rails have fallen into disrepair, with several sections missing."
As UC campuses reopen, UCSD deploys aggressive strategy to contain COVID-19
EdSource's MICHAEL BURKE: "With several University of California campuses welcoming back students this week for the start of the fall quarter, UC San Diego is rolling out the most aggressive, multi-pronged strategy to reopen.
Seven of the university system’s nine undergraduate campuses are on the quarter system and resumed classes this week. Each campus is taking a different approach to the start of the quarter. Some, including UCLA, are bringing virtually no students back to campus except for those who rely on campus housing for a safe place to live.
On the other end of the spectrum is UC San Diego. About 11,000 students, including about 7,500 undergraduates, are expected to live on campus — more than any other campus in the system. Before the coronavirus pandemic, up to 16,000 students would live on campus. UC San Diego’s strategy to mitigate the spread of coronavirus includes mass Covid-19 testing, contact tracing, wastewater testing and Bluetooth technology that will alert students if they have been exposed to the virus."
READ MORE related to Education: UC Berkeley ranks 1st among public schools to produce entrepreneuirs raising venture capital -- Daily Californian's KATIA POKOTYLO/KALEO MARK
Amazon workers march to Bezos' mansion, calling for higher wages and protections
LA Times's ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN/GENARO MOLINA: "Demonstrators on Sunday marched to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Beverly Hills mansion, protesting company working conditions during the COVID-19 crisis and calling for higher wages, free healthcare and child care for employees.
Protesters rallied at Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills, then marched to the gates of Bezos’ home, carrying signs and chanting “Tax Bezos.”
The demonstration was sponsored by the Congress of Essential Workers, a collective of servers, teachers and warehouse employees, and led by the group’s founder, Chris Smalls, a former Amazon warehouse manager who said he was fired in March after organizing a work stoppage over the company’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic."
Long Beach city flag replaced with Trump political flag at police headquarters
LA Times's MONTE MORIN: "A City of Long Beach flag was reportedly stolen from a secure construction area outside police headquarters and replaced with a campaign flag for President Trump.
Someone gained access to a secured construction area of the Long Beach Police Department, removed a city flag from a flagpole, hoisted aloft a “political flag” and then padlocked the pole so the flag was difficult to remove, police said in a tweet. The flag was noticed on Sunday morning,
Video taken by a bystander and local media reports revealed that a flag supporting Trump was atop one of the flagpoles at the site."
Trump could be discharged from hospital Monday if improvement continues, doctor says
Sac Bee's BAILEY ALDRIDGE/DON SWEENEY: "President Donald Trump could be discharged from the hospital as early as Monday if his condition continues to improve, his medical team said Sunday.
The president was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center with COVID-19 on Friday.
Doctors said Sunday that Trump continues to improve, but the Monday discharge appeared to be a best-case scenario."
READ MORE related to POTUS45: Trump is a high-risk coronavirus patient. Here's his medical outlook -- The Chronicle's ERIN ALLDAY; Trump's illness highlights his biggest political weakness: Downplaying coronavirus danger -- The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI; What medical facilities does the White House have once Trump leaves the hospital? -- Sac Bee's DON SWEENEY; Trump waves to supporters outside hospital as he rides past in motorcade, video shows -- Sac Bee's DON SWEENEY; Trump's doctor's comments on symptoms, care spark confusion -- AP's LAURAN NEERGAARD; Top UCSF doctor slams Trump's motorcade trip near hospital as 'massively irresponsible' -- The Chronicle's SAM WHITING
The civil war for Nevada City
The Chronicle's RACHEL HOWARD: "Deer Creek here is a gentle stream that flows to the Yuba River throughout the year, a place where locals take quiet walks along the Deer Creek Tribute Trail and visitors drawn to the gold mining-era quaintness of the nearby town join them — if they can find it. Two months ago, I was walking near the creek, down a winding, pine-shaded road just above, when I heard an engine gunning hot and loud behind me. My friend and I, 6 feet apart, pulled our dogs to opposite shoulders as a boxy green vehicle raced toward us, horn blaring, then slowed. A small man wearing a hat adorned with two black X’s rolled down his window, pale face tight like a shaking fist. “This used to be a highway! You should be single file! I’ve lived here since 1953 and this used to be a highway and I have a right to drive down it!”
The two X’s on his hat — the insignia of State of Jefferson separatists who argue that this region of Northern California should secede from the state — glared. Was that why I felt a sudden resolution to stand my ground? I’m a mother, a writer, a forthright yet fairly acquiescing person, one of those drivers who pull up to a four-way stop and annoyingly wave at everyone else to go first. But on this day a decision pulsed through my mind: I will not say I’m sorry. I introduced myself, asked the stranger his name, then asked, “What is it you want out of this interaction?”
“I want you to walk single file down this road!” The man I’ll call Charlie was shouting, but what fascinated me, beyond his voice, were his eyes. They were small, pale and twitching."
