California had to shell out $1.7 billion for overtime, but not because all its workers wanted it
WES VENTEICHER and PHILLIP REESE, SacBee: "In an ideal world, Cal Fire Captain Jordan Motta said, he would volunteer for one or two days of overtime per month.
The reality, said Motta, a union representative with Cal Fire Local 2881, the state union representing about 5,600 permanent firefighters, he is regularly ordered to work double or triple that, and many times more in the height of fire season.
Last year, he said, he earned an average of about $4,000 per month in overtime pay on top of his regular $5,800 monthly salary. But with a girlfriend and a dog at home in Sacramento, he said the weeks away weren’t worth the money."
California’s plan for ‘miraculous’ cures — at $49,000 per hour
Capitol Weekly, DAVID JENSEN: “California is planning on spending $49,000 an hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the next year to help scientists develop what some describe as “miraculous” cures and treatments for currently deadly afflictions.
The spending plan was approved with no fuss last month while state lawmakers and the governor wrestled more noisily with a $308 billion state budget that included such intractable problems as homelessness and affordable housing and lesser matters such as traffic fines and cannabis business tax credits.
The state’s effort to find cures and treatments is led by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), commonly known as the state stem cell agency. It is a 17-year-old enterprise that funds both stem cell and gene therapy research.”
Gavin Newsom says California has ‘universal access to health coverage.’ Can that be right?
CATHIE ANDERSON, SacBee: "Is California Gov. Gavin Newsom exaggerating when he says Golden State residents now will have “universal access to health coverage” as a result of a budget deal that will open Medi-Cal to 700,000 undocumented immigrants ages 26 to 49?
The governor’s boast is accurate, according to health policy experts, although it falls short of his 2018 campaign promise to implement a government-run, single payer health care system for Californians.
Nonetheless, experts said the latest Medi-Cal expansion represents a “a big, bold step” that ensures anyone in the state will be able to sign up for a medical plan when this last remaining group of undocumented immigrants gets Medi-Cal access in January 2024."
California cities ban new gas stations in battle to combat climate change
LATimes, GRACE TOOHEY: “Without realizing they were starting a movement in green energy policy, leaders of a small Sonoma Valley city seem to have done just that when they questioned the approval process for a new gas station — eventually halting its development and others in the future.
“We didn’t know what we were doing, actually,” said Petaluma Councilwoman D’Lynda Fischer, who led the charge last year to prohibit new gas stations in the city of 60,000. “We didn’t know we were the first in the world when we banned gas stations.”
Since Petaluma’s decision, four other cities in the Bay Area have followed suit, and now, leaders in California’s most car-centric metropolis are hoping to bring the climate-conscious policy to Southern California.”
There’s a simple way to cut your water use — but many Californians don’t even know about it
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: “As the latest California drought drags on, residents increasingly are facing local outdoor watering restrictions and urgent calls from state officials to reduce water use, while suppliers face cuts due to dwindling supply.
For many, this may bring up images of dead plants and brown shrubs in addition to shorter showers. But for those loath to let their landscapes shrivel, water conservation advocates are pointing to a different option: greywater systems, a relatively inexpensive solution that they say is gaining interest but is still relatively little known.
Greywater systems take water drained off from laundry machines, sinks or showers and repurpose it to irrigate parts of their landscapes. The simplest systems can be installed for a few hundred dollars as a do-it-yourself project — an investment, experts say, quickly recouped in water bill savings.”
Some seniors and disabled people will miss out on new California state payments
CALMatters, GRACE GEDYE: “Some 23 million Californians’ bank accounts will get a boost of $200 to $1,050, thanks to a new round of payments approved by state lawmakers.
But the payments, aimed at mitigating higher prices for gas and other goods, will leave out lots of low-income Californians. Among those passed over are some seniors, many living on disability benefits, and some of the lowest-income adults.
That’s because the direct deposits and debit cards — expected to begin arriving in late October and conclude in January 2023 — will be sent out based on tax returns.”
She won a local election in a landslide. A conservative activist launched a recount anyway
LAT, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: “The election wasn’t even close.
Last month, Natalie Adona won her race to become the clerk-recorder and registrar of voters in rural Nevada County with 68% of the vote — nearly 15,000 votes ahead of the man who came in second place.
But despite Adona’s landslide victory, the race will be the subject of a potentially lengthy hand recount.”
Despite uproar, few seek to use California’s new housing-density law. What’s stopping them?
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER: “The roadblock that prevented Christian Yang from using SB9, California’s new law that aims to increase housing density in residential neighborhoods, was one very, very big fee.
Yang, a software engineer from Sunnyvale, said he and his wife planned to build a second home in their backyard after they heard about the law. The couple was excited about the idea because she was pregnant with their second child and his parents, who live in Chicago, wanted to move to be closer to the grandkids.
Under SB9, homeowners with large enough lots are supposed to have an expedited path to build more units on their property by either splitting their lot and building another home or converting their home into a duplex — or both.”
Post-Roe, many autoimmune patients lose access to ‘gold standard’ drug
LAT, SONJA SHARP: “Six days after the Supreme Court struck down the right to abortion, lupus patient Becky Schwarz got an unexpected message from her rheumatologist.
“This is a notice to let you know that we are pausing all prescriptions and subsequent refills of methotrexate,” the message read. “This decision has been made in response to the reversal of Roe vs. Wade.”
Schwarz was stunned. Methotrexate is a cheap, common drug prescribed to millions of Americans. Like her, many have rheumatic illnesses. Others take it to treat inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis or cancer.”
Poland’s near-total abortion ban offers a grim glimpse of a possible U.S. future
LAT, LAURA KING: “Reproductive-rights activists in Poland, where abortion laws are among Europe’s strictest, have a stark message for their American counterparts: It’s going to be a long struggle. And some people are going to die unnecessarily.
In this predominantly Roman Catholic country on Europe’s eastern edge, where a hard-right ruling party holds sway, legal prohibitions on abortion are strikingly similar to those in U.S. states that have embraced the Supreme Court’s dramatic unraveling of half a century of American abortion rights.
That hasn’t always been the case in Poland. Decades ago, especially in the 1970s, when much of Europe had stricter abortion laws, the procedure’s availability made this nation a destination for those seeking to end unwanted pregnancies.”
Bay Area babies and toddlers vaccinated at faster clip than state, nation
The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO: “In late June, when pediatrician Dr. Nelson Branco opened up COVID vaccine appointments for his youngest patients — babies and toddlers under 5 years old — parents raced to book some 250 slots within the first 48 hours.
By late last week, nearly 20% of Branco’s roughly 1,500 patients in this age group had gotten their first shot. The doctor, who practices in Larkspur and Novato, anticipates that over the next few weeks, it will double to 40%.
The brisk pace of vaccination at Tamalpais Pediatrics offers a glimpse into a now-familiar pattern since COVID vaccines first became available in the United States last year. Vaccine uptake among babies and toddlers in the Bay Area appears to be far outpacing statewide and national rates, according to early figures provided by several local health departments.”
California runners are facing an air quality wake-up call. Can they adapt as climate change and fires get worse?
The Chronicle, CHASITY HALE: “In summer 2020, the California sky became a warning light. As fires raged across northern parts of the state, smoke particles blanketed the atmosphere, coloring the skies red-orange and shades of yellow. That year, the state set a grim record: its worst five days of air pollution to date.
Jasmine Sanchez, a Morgan Hill-based runner, still remembers the smell of burning wood from the nearby Santa Clara Unit Lightning Complex fires.
“I don’t think I will ever forget that week in 2020,” Sanchez said. “My mom and I made it out to a local trail one day, and I still ran, but I was a little concerned, like, ‘Oh, I don’t even know if this is safe or healthy.’ After that, the fire conditions got even worse, so I just decided I had to stay in.””
How much student housing does $1.4 billion buy?
CALMatters, MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN: “What a difference $1 billion makes.
An estimated 3,800 more college students will soon have affordable campus housing after state lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed to pump a portion of California’s $300 billion budget into a student program to ease a residential crisis gripping the state’s public universities and community colleges.
All told, $1.4 billion is heading to 26 public campuses this year to build or expand dorms, a tripling of the original plan to send $470 million to just nine campuses.
Once the structures are complete — some of which are scheduled to open in two years — about 7,300 students will have access to beds at ultra-low rents.”
How one district used Covid funds to send kids to camp — on a college campus
EdSource, CAROLYN JONES: “Summer can be pretty slow in Lodi if you’re a teenager. There’s the pool, there’s pizza night at the teen center, and there’s TV.
But 240 high school students from Lodi Unified escaped boredom this summer when they spent two weeks at University of the Pacific, living in the dorms, socializing and taking classes on topics like music production, filmmaking, business investing and 3-D animation — all paid for with Covid relief funds from Lodi Unified.
The Central Valley district spent almost $800,000 of its federal Covid funds to send students to Pacific’s Summer High School Institute, a program that introduces high school students to the rigors and rewards of college life. The cost was $3,300 per student, which included housing, food, activities and classes taught by Pacific professors.”
Grand jury: Mental health failures are making Alameda County’s homeless crisis worse
The Chronicle, LAUREN HEPLER: “A “fragmented and unresponsive” Alameda County mental health system is fueling the area’s worsening homeless crisis, according to a grand jury report. Among the symptoms:
• Sick East Bay residents sent to jail instead of psychiatric treatment.
• Crisis phone lines “not staffed by a live person” during nighttime and weekend hours when mental health crises are more likely to occur.”
Fairfield gun buyback, latest in Bay Area, nets nearly 100 firearms
The Chronicle, LAUREN HEPLER: “A “no questions asked” gun buyback event in Fairfield spurred the owners of 92 firearms to relinquish the weapons in memory of a well-known local victim of gun violence.
The drive-up event to collect unloaded guns and ammunition was held Saturday at Mount Calvary Baptist Church and offered gift cards in exchange for the weapons, according to a Fairfield Police statement.
A catalyst for the buyback was the Matt Garcia Foundation, a Solano County nonprofit formed in memory of its namesake — a 22-year-old former Fairfield city councilman who had become one of the nation’s youngest elected officials before he was gunned down in a 2008 Labor Day shooting.”
How to manage your 401(k) in a market downturn — for investors at every stage of retirement
The Chronicle, CAROLYN SAID: “With Wall Street tanking, John and Paulette Savage have the 401(k) blues.
The retired San Mateo couple are both well past 72, the age when the IRS requires people with 401(k) accounts to take annual minimum distributions. So they have to dip into their accounts, even though the values have dropped due to the stock market’s plunge, meaning they will lock in their losses by selling.
“It’s a worrisome amount” that they must withdraw, said John Savage, 83, a retired banker. Paulette, 77, is a retired teacher. “You don’t have a choice.””
