Elder denies brandishing gun at ex-fiancee, says allegations ‘beneath me’
CARLA MARINUCCI, Politico: "Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder denied brandishing a gun against his former fiancee and former producer Alexandra Datig after POLITICO detailed Datig's allegations of abuse earlier Thursday.
"I have never brandished a gun at anyone. I grew up in South Central," Elder said in a series of three tweets Thursday. "I know exactly how destructive this type of behavior is. It’s not me, and everyone who knows me knows it’s not me. These are salacious allegations."
Elder, 69, has quickly become the GOP frontrunner in the race to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in the California recall election. The talk show host entered the contest just over a month ago and has quickly gathered support from conservatives across the state, along with a growing number of endorsements and campaign contributions. Polls show Newsom clinging to a narrow lead to defeat the recall, a shocking turnabout in one of the most Democratic states in the nation."
Are Dems taking Newsom's recall seriously? Prominent party members sound alarm
Sac Bee, SOPHIA BOLLAG/DAVID LIGHTMAN: "As polls tighten and California political leaders sound the alarm, Democrats in Washington are swooping in to help Gov. Gavin Newsom, giving his anti-recall campaign a big push.
National Democratic stars like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker have all lent their voices to Newsom’s anti-recall campaign. President Joe Biden released a statement last week urging Californians to vote no on the recall, and Newsom says he anticipates both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the state to campaign in the coming weeks.
Less than a month after he told the editorial boards of McClatchy’s California papers he didn’t think the party’s national leaders fully appreciated what would happen if he lost, Newsom says he’s now satisfied with the support he’s getting from the party nationally."
READ MORE RECALL NEWS --- How will wildfire evacuees vote in Newsom recall election? Counties have back-up plans -- Sac Bee, ANDREW SHEELER; Larry Elder catches a break at recall debate: No rival criticizes him at a vulnerable time -- The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI
LA County school district mandates COVID vaccines for K12 kids — others soon may follow
JOHN WOOLFOLK, Mercury News: "Amid worsening COVID-19 outbreaks and a rash of new vaccine requirements, a Los Angeles County school district is believed to be the first in the state to announce it will require eligible students to prove they’ve had the shots.
They may soon have company.
“Other districts are thinking about it,” said Quoc Tran, superintendent of the Culver City Unified School District, which announced the policy this week ahead of Thursday’s first day of school."
California not likely to update workplace pandemic standards until December
The Chronicle, CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO: "With on-the-job outbreaks of the coronavirus on the rise across California, state workplace safety regulators once again find themselves racing to update rules on vaccines, masking and a host of other virus prevention measures.
During a meeting of the Cal/OSHA Standards Board Thursday, members said the soonest they are likely to vote on new rules potentially designed to tamp down outbreaks is December, after the surge in cases driven by the highly infectious delta variant are expected to spike.
That means, under current statewide rules, vaccinated people do not have to wear masks while unvaccinated people do, although workers can self-attest that they have been vaccinated without showing proof. Social distancing and capacity restrictions are also not in force."
‘We are concerned.’ Sacramento COVID hospitalizations near record high due to delta
MICHAEL McGOUGH, SacBee: "Sacramento’s current surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations might soon surpass the worst of last winter’s surge due to the highly contagious delta variant, the county’s top health official said Thursday.
Hospitals in the capital region are growing increasingly crowded with COVID-19 patients, approaching or surpassing records set in late 2020 or early 2021 — even as more than half of residents in the four-county region are now fully vaccinated. A vast majority of COVID-19 hospital admissions aren’t fully vaccinated.
Sacramento County hospitals as of Wednesday were treating 428 patients with confirmed coronavirus cases, according to county health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye, including 100 in intensive care units."
Gavin Newsom quietly sells Bay Area home for $5.9 million
JACK FLEMING, LA Times: "As his recall election approaches, Gov. Gavin Newsom took care of some business back in the Bay Area, selling his Midcentury home of a decade for $5.9 million. The deal quietly closed off-market in May.
Newsom, who grew up in San Francisco and served as the city’s 42nd mayor, paid $2.225 million for the property in 2011 — the same year he started his tenure as lieutenant governor. When he was elected governor and moved to Sacramento in 2019, he put it on the market for $6 million and has been shopping it around in the two years since.
Newsom and his wife, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, renovated the hillside home during their stay. It spans 1.5 acres in Kentfield, a small community in affluent Marin County."
Killer algae? California officials retesting river water after family found dead in Sierra
Sac Bee, CARMEN KOHLRUSS: "Toxic algae in Sierra National Forest, now being considered in the mysterious deaths of a family this week, was being retested on Thursday by the California State Water Resources Control Board and Mariposa County.
The state agency said it received the report of fatalities near the south fork of the Merced River, about 2.6 miles above the main stem, on Wednesday. Mariposa residents John Gerrish, Ellen Chung, their daughter, Miju, and family dog, Oski, were found dead in this area on Tuesday after not returning from a day hike in the Hites Cove area of Devil’s Gulch, between Mariposa and Yosemite National Park.
The family may have been exposed to cyanobacterial toxins, the water board said, which can form in algal blooms."
Commentary: Needed now: safe drinking water for all Californians
SOPHIE JAMES, Capitol Weekly: "While nobody disputes that everyone should have safe, clean drinking water, not every Californian does.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, more than 250 water systems serving 900,000 Californians were out of compliance with drinking water standards in 2020. Even more alarming, this is a chronic issue for some systems; more than 170 have been out of compliance for three or more years, and small rural, low-income communities of color are more likely to be among those with chronic water quality issues.
This is why the action California’s state environmental health officials took recently on so-called “forever chemicals” is so important. The state’s proposed Public Health Goals for two of the most prominent within the family of contaminants – perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate acid (PFOS), broadly known as PFAS – is a major step forward."
Former Newsom aide sentenced to probation in domestic violence case
The Chronicle, STEVE RUBENSTEIN: "A former top aide to Gavin Newsom was ordered on Thursday to stay away from his ex-wife and two children for six years in connection with a drunken marital dispute in which he was accused of lying on top of his 4-year-old daughter while holding a pillow over her head.
Nathan Ballard, 52, who served as Newsom’s communications director while Newsom was mayor of San Francisco, was also placed on probation for four years by Napa County Superior Court Judge Scott Young during a sentencing hearing.
In addition, Ballard was ordered to attend classes in parenting and in batterers’ intervention and pay $1,300 in fines, according to assistant Napa County district attorney Paul Gero."
California slaps ban on homeowners insurance cancellations in two more wildfire areas
Sac Bee, DALE KASLER: "California regulators Thursday temporarily banned insurers from canceling homeowners living in and around the burn zones of two of the biggest wildfires to erupt this year.
Amid an insurance crisis in wildfire-prone areas, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara slapped a one-year moratorium on insurance non-renewals in areas hit by the Lava and Beckwourth Complex fires. The fires have burned a combined 131,000 acres but are largely contained.
The decision affects almost 26,000 policyholders in Plumas, Lassen and Siskiyou counties. Many of the policyholders were already protected by a moratorium issued after last year’s fires, and now will be given another reprieve from non-renewals."
READ MORE WILDFIRE NEWS --- Firefighters try to subdue Dixie, Caldor blazes as smoke pollutes Bay Area skies -- The Chronicle, MICHAEL J CABANATUAN and J.D. MORRIS; Staggering video shows Caldor Fire ripping through Grizzly Flats -- Sac Bee, DAVID CARACCIO
About half of Covered California enrollees pay $1 monthly premium for health care coverage
Sac Bee, CATHIE ANDERSON: "Close to half the people who bought health insurance through Covered California this year — 46.7%, to be exact — are paying $1 a month for coverage as a result of new subsidies from the American Rescue Plan, the agency announced Thursday.
Peter V. Lee, the executive director of Covered California, said: “We are seeing clear evidence that the law is helping families by lowering premiums, increasing enrollment and addressing health disparities.”
A record 1.6 million California residents have signed up for a health care policy through the state-based insurance exchange as it has opened special enrollment periods, according to Covered California. The agency has enrolled 257,350 people since it started promoting the new benefits of the American Rescue Pan on April 12, Lee said, and that’s 164% higher than in 2019 when the state last held a special enrollment."
How Sacramento mayor wants to spend $112M in federal aid
Sac Bee, THERESA CLIFT: "Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg Thursday unveiled how he wants the city to spend $112 million coming to Sacramento from the federal American Rescue Plan.
Steinberg wants to spend the money on most of the same main categories the city spent the $89 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act — small business support, homeless and housing initiatives, youth, workforce training, gang violence prevention and the arts.
“This overall approach will once again make Sacramento a shining example of what community investment should look like,” Steinberg wrote in a letter to the City Council Thursday. “We will grow our economy faster, we will get members of our community off the streets and into housing more rapidly, and we will again invest boldly in ALL of our communities and neighborhoods.”"
Bay Area home prices dropped in July. Is this the end of the COVID buying spree?
The Chronicle, LAUREN HEPLER: "Last month, the median sale price for a Bay Area house was $1.3 million. It took about eight days for most homes to be snatched up in Santa Clara County. And just last week, a Walnut Creek four-bedroom still badly charred by a fire sold for $850,000 after attracting 13 offers.
Despite it all, a new report by the California Association of Realtors suggests that the region’s housing market may be leveling off after months of record-breaking prices, bidding wars and ever-increasing anxiety about unaffordability.
“The market is kind of normalizing after having been just so imbalanced for such a long time,” said Jordan Levine, the association’s vice president and chief economist. “We do expect that the pace of home sales and the price of home sales will moderate.”"
SF moves to suspend police, fire and sheriff's employees who refuse to report vaccination status
The Chronicle, TRISHA THADANI: "San Francisco is moving to suspend 20 employees in the police, fire and sheriff’s departments who refused to disclose whether they are vaccinated against the coronavirus, demonstrating how seriously officials are taking the city’s vaccine mandate for its employees.
The employees will receive a letter from their department heads Thursday that outlines the consequences for failing to report their vaccination status by the Aug. 12 deadline. According to the Department of Human Resources, the city is recommending a 10-day unpaid suspension for the 11 employees in the Police Department, seven in the Fire Department and two employees in the Sheriff’s Department.
Hundreds of employees in other departments — including Department of Public Health and the Municipal Transportation Agency — who have not reported their status could receive similar letters next week. The city is still working on finalizing who will receive those letters."
