Nestled against a hillside, it is a somber reminder of the atrocities that once occurred there.
“Those of us who grew up on Indian reservations, we heard about St. Boniface. My grandmother was sent to Boniface. They were forbidden to speak their language and practice their culture. It’s a dark part of history,” said James Ramos, a state assemblyman, historian, and former chairman and member of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians."
This architect is trying to save cougars from becoming roadkill on California freeways
LOUIS SAHAGUN and CAROLYN COLE, LA Times: "Architect Robert Rock is facing a Herculean task: Design a bridge that will allow mountain lions to cross safely over a stretch of the 101 Freeway that roars with the traffic of 300,000 vehicles each day.
On a recent morning, he stood on a hilltop and gazed at a vista of steep fire-stripped slopes, rocky arroyos, weedy humps and 125-degree grade shifts on both sides of the freeway at Liberty Canyon in the city of Agoura Hills.
The terrain was as challenging as could be. But Rock could see the future — cougars who would otherwise become roadkill crossing a proposed $87-million bridge so that they could roam, find prey and mate."
Thousands of Californians could get an extra $100 a week in unemployment pay. Here’s why
DAVID LIGHTMAN, SacBee: "An estimated 350,000 Californians who are self-employed but also work salaried jobs part-time can now potentially qualify for an extra $100 a week in unemployment payments – and get them retroactively.
The payments are retroactive to December 27, and those eligible can eventually get up to 36 weeks of the extra $100.
Once the California Employment Development Department, which manages the program, determines a person’s eligibility, any retroactive payment will be provided in one lump sum."
Where are wildfires burning in Northern California? Here are updates on 5 area fires
AMELIA DAVIDSON, ZAEEM SHAKH and VINCENT MOLESKI, SacBee: "Five large wildfires are burning in Northern California, including the Salt Fire, the Lava Fire and the Tennant Fire, which have each destroyed structures amid high temperatures and bone-dry conditions.
Together they have collectively burned more than 45,000 acres, prompting mandatory evacuations and road closures across the northern part of the state.
On Friday night, a fire broke out north of Lake Tahoe, but it remains small and away from populated areas. Several other wildfires in the state’s northern reaches threaten to displace thousands and destroy homes in the area. Many homes have already been burned in Shasta County, and other communities are still at risk."
'Eliminate this bird': Feral peacock found dead after angry California resident's Craigslist ad
AMANDA BARTLETT, SF Gate: "A group of residents in McKinleyville’s Azalea Heights neighborhood are up in arms over the killing of one of the most polarizing members of their community: a peacock known by most as Mr. P, or Azul, or Peony, depending on who you ask.
The multi-monikered animal was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound on Wednesday after one resident, who was irate by the bird’s frequent 5 a.m. wake-up calls, decided to put a hit out for it on Humboldt County’s Craigslist page, the Lost Coast Outpost reported.
“The job is simple… get rid of a wild peacock that is disrupting our lives,” read the since-deleted ad posted in the “Wanted” section on June 13, followed by instructions on where and when to find the bird. “If you’ve ever heard a peacock’s call, you know it’s as loud as a car horn [...] Please contact me so we can form a strategy to eliminate this bird, and also to agree on how much you will be compensated.”
S.F.'s controversial federal tower is getting a new plaza - and a tall protective fence
JOHN KING, Chronicle: "Fourteen years after it opened, the plaza below San Francisco’s ever-controversial federal tower at Seventh and Mission streets is now a construction site. But one element of the planned makeover already is in place.
An 8-foot-tall fence of galvanized steel rods that can lock up tight on evenings and weekends.
“It was part of the scope of work for security,” said Meghen Quinn of Hargreaves Jones, the landscape architecture firm working with Ironwood Commercial Builders on the 1-acre site. “A lot of the project is about striking a balance between the setting and the aspirations.”
Capitol Weekly Podcast: The Master of Disasters, Mark Ghilarducci
Capitol Weekly Staff: "We are joined this episode by California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services chief Mark Ghilarducci.
Ghilarducci leads the state response to disasters of all kinds. Ghilarducci has extensive experience: he has served California governors since the Deukmejian administration and was the incident commander on the Oklahoma City bombing recovery effort. We asked him for his thoughts on the recent building collapse in Surfside, Florida as well as on California’s 2021 fire season.
Plus: Who had the #WorstWeekCA? Reporter Natalie Hanson joins us to explain what is happening on the Chico city council, which lost two councillors in the course of six days."
Here’s how California homeowners are trying to save their fire insurance
KATE SELIG, Mercury News: "Susan Hassett did everything she could to convince the insurance companies her Yolo County ranch could survive a wildfire.
After Allstate told the retired firefighter in 2017 that the devastating blazes across the state meant her home was too risky to insure, she spent three years calling every competitor and begging them to come out and look at how she had hardened the ranch.
If they had, they would have seen the brush she had cleared, all felled toyon, manzanita and wild lilacs, and the grass that her horses had eaten down to the dirt. They would have noticed the 1,000-foot strip she had hacked clear across the north side of her property. She trusted the west side would be sheltered by the Blue Ridge Mountains; fires aren’t supposed to burn downhill."
Hemp farmers get the hint that they’re not welcome in Contra Costa
SHOMIK MUKHERJEE, Mercury News: "Not too long ago, five companies were growing industrial hemp in the eastern farmlands of Contra Costa County.
But then some of their neighbors began complaining about marijuana-like odors wafting into their backyards and the late-night humming of generators working to keep glowing greenhouses warm.
So last November, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors ordered the hemp growers to cease their operations while the county drafts an ordinance spelling out where it’s OK to grow hemp and under what conditions."
Koch brothers win legal duel with California
DAN WALTERS, CalMatters: "This is an apt topic for Independence Day — whether the U.S. Supreme Court struck a blow for privacy and free speech last week or undermined California’s justifiable effort to require a controversial (and conservative) political organization to reveal its donors.
After numerous battles in lower courts, the Supreme Court, by a 6-3 margin that reflected its ideological division, sided with Americans for Prosperity, a non-profit organization founded by industrialists David and Charles Koch, and other non-profit organizations.
Federal law requires such organizations to file income tax returns and list their major donors, but California law requires only that they provide copies of their tax returns to the state Department of Justice, which oversees charitable groups."
San Francisco fireworks, back after skipping a year, draw throngs to waterfront
JOHN KING, Chronicle: "Fireworks returned to San Francisco’s waterfront Sunday evening, the boisterous cap to a Fourth of July that found Bay Area communities moving back to more typical celebrations of the holiday, but with events still tempered by concerns about COVID-19 and California’s drought.
The colorful fusillade, accompanied by upbeat music, began promptly at 9:30 p.m. from a platform on the bay near Pier 39. Illuminating the sky, the multi-hued fireworks drew appreciative whoops from the crowds lining the water along Fisherman’s Wharf and Aquatic Park.
Thousands of celebrants flocked to the area, eager to see the city’s traditional July 4 display after last summer’s pandemic-forced cancellation of the holiday offered few options except to stay at home."
Florida Search Resumes After Remainder of Condo Is Demolished
New York Times: "Rescue crews resumed their search for victims at the site of a collapsed condominium building in Surfside, Fla., on Monday, after the remainder of the building was demolished in a controlled explosion.
Officials had been concerned that the structure might not withstand the powerful winds of an approaching tropical storm and that rescue workers could be endangered.
The demolition of Champlain Towers South, at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, came as anguished families continued to await news in the search for 121 people missing since the building collapsed 11 days ago. Rescue efforts were halted for much of the weekend amid growing worries about the building’s stability, and officials warned Surfside residents to stay inside their homes in case dust and other particles polluted the air."
