California's death rate drops to low point not seen in months
Sac Bee's VINCENT MOLESKI: "California’s average daily COVID-19 deaths have hit a low point not seen for several months, despite national infection rates that continue to increase.
As of Sunday, the California Department of Public Health recorded a seven-day average of deaths of 63, a level not seen since mid-summer, near the end of June and into early July. The Mercury News reported that the seven-day death average hit 61 on Friday, which was last reported by state health officials on July 5.
Compared with last week, the state’s average death toll has decreased by 16.7%, according to CDPH data, indicating a downward trajectory as autumn begins. Deaths have been consistently tapering off since the last day of July, which set a record for daily reported deaths with 219 in one day."
LA County reports 971 new coronavirus cases, 3 deaths
LA Times's ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "Los Angeles County public health officials on Sunday reported 971 new coronavirus cases and three related deaths.
The number of new cases and deaths is usually lower on Sundays and Mondays because of laboratory reporting delays.
The county now has logged a total of 282,135 cases of the virus, and 6,771 people have died."
Unofficial ballot drop boxes popping up throughout the state worry elections officials
ALICIA ROBINSON and BROOKE STAGGS, OC Register: 'In a photo posted to social media last week, a young man wearing a mask with Orange County congressional candidate Michelle Steel’s name on it is holding a mail ballot and giving a thumbs up next to a box about the size of a file cabinet labeled “Official ballot drop off box.”
The post, from Jordan Tygh, a regional field director for the California Republican Party, encouraged people to message him for “convenient locations” to drop their own ballots.
The problem is the drop box in the photo is not official – and it could be against the law."
SoCal braces for another heat wave this week
LA Times's PAUL DUGINSKI/ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "After a brief reprieve of cool temperatures over the weekend, Southern California is expected to get hit with another heat wave this week that could bring periods of elevated fire risk, according to forecasters.
Temperatures are likely to stay around the 90-degree mark in the Los Angeles area for most of the week, said John Dumas, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Inland and valley areas are expected to see triple-digit temperatures.
A high-pressure ridge is forecast to build over the area, bringing northerly offshore winds that heat up and dry out the air as they travel downhill and squeeze through mountain passes, Dumas said. The winds will cut off the afternoon sea breeze that usually mitigates the heat from earlier in the day, particularly in coastal areas, he said."
PG&E shut-offs possible in NorCal, including in Bay Area, starting Wednesday
The Chronicle's KATE GALBRAITH: "PG&E said fire-prevention power outages are possible in parts of the Bay Area on Wednesday and Thursday as it anticipated a “potential Diablo wind event.”
Other parts of the utility’s vast service territory may also be affected, with outages potentially extending into Friday.
Areas with the highest probability of shut-offs are the northern Sierra foothills; middle and high elevations generally north of Yosemite; as well as in the North Bay mountains and potentially parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains, PG&E said on its website."
LeBron James and Lakers defeat Heat in NBA Finals to capture record-tying 17th title
LA Times's TANIA GANGULI: "Through the darkness and drama, the questions about whether the Lakers’ luster was gone forever, remained the hope that a day like this would happen again.
A championship. Confetti sprayed all over the court. A superstar puffing a cigar, grinning at what he’d done.
On Sunday evening, the Lakers became champions for the 17th time with a 106-93 win over the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Finals."
When should you mail your ballot? Answers to your California election questions
Sac Bee's KATE IRBY: "The vast majority of California voters are expected to cast ballots by mail in the November general election, a prospect that has inspired questions from voters on how to be sure that their ballots will count.
The Postal Service and California officials say voters should have confidence in the vote-by-mail process. The Postal Sevice has said it has suspended recent cost-cutting changes that seemed to be slowing down mail delivery.
California has recorded rising number of vote-by-mail ballots in every election for more than a decade. The Secretary of State’s office says it’s ready for November."
Strapped for cash, Trump yanks TV ads in key states as Biden spending surges
LA Times's MICHAEL FINNEGAN/JAMES RAINEY: "President Trump stopped all of his television and radio advertising in three states and substantially reduced it in four others in recent weeks after his lackluster fundraising left him unable to match a surge in spending by his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.
Trump’s retreat from Ohio, Iowa and New Hampshire reflects his struggle to change the dynamics of a race that polls suggest he is on track to lose. In the six weeks since his party’s national convention, Trump’s campaign has yanked more than $17 million in ads he’d previously booked in those states.
Two of them, Ohio and Iowa, are must-wins for the Republican president. Polls show him running almost dead even with the former vice president in both. Trump’s withdrawal of advertising in those states — despite the risk — is a sign of his campaign’s poor financial condition."
California tribe offered solution to wildfire management. Was US Forest Service listening?
The Chronicle's PETER FIMRITE: "Leeon Hillman walked slowly, sadly, to a semicircle of piled rocks surrounded by blackened trees. He knelt there, turning away from the heap of ash, which was all the massive Slater Fire had left of his house.
The 53-year-old member of the Karuk Tribe was among dozens of Native Americans who lost their homes in the forested hillsides surrounding Happy Camp, in Siskiyou County. The fire, which is still burning across the border in Oregon, raced through the area in September.
“I used to make arrowheads right here,” said Hillman, who teaches the techniques his ancestors once used to make bows, arrows and other ceremonial regalia. “It’s going to take me forever to come back and try to create what I lost. It’s depressing, especially when you know all this stuff could be managed better.""
Sacramento councilman seeking re-election owes more than $200,000 in unpaid taxes
Sac Bee's THERESA CLIFT/DALE KASLER: "In campaigning for a third term on the Sacramento City Council, Allen Warren often talks about bringing grocery stores to his underserved North Sacramento neighborhood and cites his business acumen as an asset to his council district.
But when it comes to his own business affairs, Warren frequently struggles to pay his bills on time, records show.
A real estate developer, Warren has been issued notices for delinquent federal, state and county taxes totaling at least $472,080 since 2015, according to a Sacramento Bee review of documents filed at the Sacramento County Recorder’s Office. He still owes $203,392. He also is behind on at least $822,926 worth of loans on properties, records show."
Pressure on Kamala Harris, Dianne Feinstein at Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearing
The Chronicle's TAL KOPAN: "When Judge Amy Coney Barrett is seated Monday for a Senate hearing on her nomination for a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court, California’s senators will each be facing one of the biggest moments of their careers along with her.
But the pressures on Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris will be different. Feinstein, 87, is the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and facing criticism from progressives that she is not equipped to deliver the leadership the party needs from that position.
Harris, 55, is the most junior Democrat on the committee and one of its most skilled questioners. But she is also the party’s nominee for vice president, representing a presidential candidate in Joe Biden who aligns ideologically more with Feinstein and being closely watched by swing voters casting ballots in November’s election."
What is the Democrats' strategy for Barrett's confirmation hearing and how will the GOP respond?
LA Times's SARAH D WIRE: "The Senate Judiciary Committee this week begins considering the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Progressive groups fear she will move the high court significantly to the right on abortion, guns and other high-profile issues. Conservative groups hope she will solidify a conservative majority on the nation’s highest court for decades.
Barrett’s confirmation is likely the last maj or thing Congress will accomplish before the election, and Republicans and Democrats are each hoping to use it to draw out their supporters Nov. 3."
Will California's property tax initiative hurt small business? What you need to know
Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Depending on which ad you see, a property tax initiative on the November ballot would either drive small businesses into the ground or actually cut their taxes.
Proposition 15 would roll back part of a 1978 law that sets property taxes based on purchase price. Under the new initiative, commercial property owned by businesses over a certain size would be taxed based on current assessed value.
That would effectively raise their tax bill. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office projects the change would generate billions of dollars for schools and local governments."
Silicon Valley companies are rethinking free speech at the office
The Chronicle's CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO: "Many in Silicon Valley are encouraged to speak their minds at the office. That may be changing.
The free exchange of ideas has been a touchstone of many Bay Area tech companies, part of a counterculture vibe that has accompanied a belief in the liberating power of technology. An Apple advertising campaign once exhorted customers to “think different,” and employees heard the message, too.
But rowdy beer busts where software engineers challenged managers with questions about company policies — typified by Google’s “TGIF” meetings — have given way to tightly moderated virtual Q&A sessions in the pandemic. And in a tumultuous election year that has also seen some of the largest protests in U.S. history over policing and inequality, some are growing fatigued with political talk."
Kamala Harris faces sexism and racism as online commenters label her 'Black Hillary'
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN/LARA KORTE: "Despite all the fury on social media about the fly on Mike Pence’s head and Kamala Harris’ demeanor, analysts say the vice presidential debate is unlikely to alter the state of the presidential race.
Yet the attacks on Harris afterward were particularly harsh.
The comments during and after Wednesday’s debate were full of complaints that the Democratic vice presidential candidate was too snarky, catty, and had an annoying voice. Many took issue with her facial expressions."
Why Bay Area's outdoor gyms could last beyond the pandemic
The Chronicle's RUSTY SIMMONS: "Yotam Israeli tugs a wagon filled with 500 pounds of kettlebells, resistance bands and sanitizing solution over every bump in the sidewalk from his Hayes Valley apartment to a nearby park or outdoor basketball court.
The walk home can easily double from five to 10 minutes as he makes the same trek — uphill.
No matter."
Asteroid nearing Earth may be old NASA rocket
AP: "The jig may be up for an “asteroid” that’s expected to get nabbed by Earth’s gravity and become a mini-moon next month.
Instead of a cosmic rock, the newly discovered object appears to be an old rocket from a failed moon-landing mission 54 years ago that’s finally making its way back home, according to NASA’s leading asteroid expert. Observations should help nail its identity.
“I’m pretty jazzed about this,” Paul Chodas told the Associated Press. “It’s been a hobby of mine to find one of these and draw such a link, and I’ve been doing it for decades now.”
Two Stanford professors win Nobel Prize in economics for their work on auction theory
AP: "The 2020 Nobel Prize in economics was awarded Monday to two Stanford professors “for improvements to auction theory and invention of new auction formats.”
The winners, Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson, were announced at a time when much of the world is experiencing the worst recession since World War II because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Auctions are tremendously important,” said Peter Fredriksson, the chair of the Nobel economics committee. “Every day they allocate astronomical values between buyers and sellers. They affect all of us, perhaps more than we think,” including through the setting of house values and electricity prices."
Tens of thousands protest outside LA's Turkish Consulate in solidarity with Armenia
LA Times's LILA SEIDMAN: "Tens of thousands of demonstrators protested outside the Turkish Consulate in Beverly Hills on Sunday afternoon in a show of solidarity with Armenia in its battle with neighboring Azerbaijan over a tiny separatist region on the border of the former Soviet republics.
The crowd was estimated at 35,000 people, at its height stretching down Wilshire Boulevard from Fairfax Avenue to La Cienega Boulevard, Beverly Hills Police Lt. Todd Withers said. The Los Angeles Police Department’s Wilshire Station later tweeted that the crowd had reached 100,000.
Since fighting broke out in the region Sept. 27, thousands of Armenian Americans and supporters have taken to the streets of Los Angeles to protest the hostilities more than 7,000 miles away, blocking major freeways and demanding that politicians back their cause. Some have left to fight on the front for their homeland or aid in the humanitarian side of the war effort."
2 Marine veterans among those charged in alleged plot to kidnap Michigan governor
Tribune News Service: "Two Marine Corps veterans were among the men charged this week in connection with the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Daniel Harris, a rifleman who served in the Marines from 2015 to 2019, was one of six men who were federally charged in the headline-grabbing case. Harris, 23, and five other men were accused of hatching a plot to abduct the Democratic governor.
Seven other men were separately charged by the Michigan attorney general, including Joseph Morrison, a Marine from 2015 to 2020. Morrison, 26, faces state charges including providing material support for terrorist acts."
