San Francisco declares state of emergency over monkeypox
RACHEL SWAN, Chronicle: "San Francisco officials declared a public health state of emergency Thursday in response to the growing spread of monkeypox cases across the city.
The declaration allows Mayor London Breed and other city officials to marshal resources and personnel to confront the intensifying monkeypox outbreak. As of Thursday, the mayor said, the city has seen 281 people with monkeypox infections. Health officials said they anticipate that figure will only grow in the coming days and weeks.
The rapid monkeypox surge in San Francisco has collided with a scarcity of available vaccines. To date, city officials said they’ve received about 8,200 doses of the Jynneos vaccine, which is intended to prevent monkeypox and smallpox in adults."
California exodus continues, with L.A., San Francisco leading the way: ‘Why are we here?’
SUMMER LIN, LA Times: "After living in the Bay Area for nearly seven years, Hari Raghavan and his wife decided to leave for the East Coast late last year.
They were both working remotely and wanted to leave California because of the high cost of living and urban crime. So they made a list of potential relocation cities before choosing Miami for its sunny weather and what they perceived was a better sense of safety.
Raghavan said that their Oakland house had been broken into four times and that prior to the pandemic, his wife called him every day during her seven-minute walk home from the BART station because she felt safer with someone on the phone. After moving to Miami, Raghavan said they accidentally left their garage door open one day and were floored when they returned home and found nothing had been stolen."
Water woes are biggest worry for Californians as drought drags on
MARISA KENDALL, Mercury News: "As the drought punishing California drags on, water is a top — and growing — worry for residents of our parched state, outpacing wildfires and climate change, according to a new poll about environmental issues.
With reservoirs and snowpack shrinking, Californians listed the state’s water supply as their number one environmental worry, with 68% of adults saying it’s a big problem — up from 63% a year ago.
But while most have water on their minds, fewer than half said they have done a lot to reduce their water use, and 16% say they have done nothing. At the same time, people are pointing fingers at their neighbors — 69% of Californians said people in their area are not doing enough to conserve."
California state custodian didn’t work for 4 years, collected $185,000 in pay and benefits
WES VENTEICHER, SacBee: "A California Department of General Services custodian did almost no work for four years but collected $185,000 in pay and benefits through a fraudulent scheme with his supervisor, according to a California State Auditor investigative report published Thursday.
The custodian and his boss, neither of whom are identified in the report, coordinated from 2016 through 2020 to collect the custodian’s unearned paycheck and then to split the money, according to the report.
The pair “very likely engaged in a criminal conspiracy” and “also appear to have violated sections of the Penal Code that prohibit the embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds and the falsification of accounts by a public employee,” the report states."
‘Empire’ state? San Bernardino County developer pushes idea of seceding from California
CHRISTIAN MARTINEZ, LA Times: "Citing disproportionate allocation of resources and “unfunded mandates,” a San Bernardino County developer proposed this week that the Board of Supervisors explore seceding from California to form a new state that would be called “Empire.”
“Our Sheriff’s Department, our judges, are constantly taxed with too much with not enough resources,” Jeff Burum, chairman of development firm National Community Renaissance, said Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting.
“The state of California continues to allocate resources to the high-cost areas to our detriment and other inland valley communities,” he said. “It’s time to stop it.”
L.A. City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas sues City Hall, seeking to restore his pay
DAVID ZAHNISER, LATimes: "Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to have a judge strike down the city’s decision to cut off his pay while he fights federal corruption charges.
In his filing, Ridley-Thomas called the decision by City Controller Ron Galperin to terminate his pay and health benefits “unauthorized, unlawful and politicized.” Galperin announced a bid for state controller three months after cutting off Ridley-Thomas’ salary, the lawsuit says.
Galperin “acted unilaterally to terminate Councilmember Ridley-Thomas’ compensation in order to further his own political ambitions,” the councilman said in his lawsuit."
California Officials Revisit Airbnb Rules Amid Pandemic Tourism Boom
SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA, NY Times: "San Bernardino County officials temporarily stopped issuing permits last month for new Airbnbs and other vacation rentals over concerns that a tourism boom is pricing out locals in trendy desert getaways such as Joshua Tree.
Officials in Marin County instated a two-year moratorium this year on new short-term rentals in its western coastal communities. San Diego also approved a cap that is expected to cut vacation rentals in the city by nearly half.
Restrictions on home-sharing services in California are nothing new. Santa Monica, Sausalito and San Francisco, where Airbnb is based, have had such regulations for years."
Californians support wealth tax to fund electric vehicles that Newsom opposes, poll shows
LINDSAY HOLDEN, SacBee: "Californians show initial support for a ballot measure that would tax wealthy residents to fund clean air initiatives, and they support state environmental policy-making over national efforts, a new poll shows.
The Public Policy Institute of California and Ipsos polled more than 1,600 residents throughout the state in mid-July about a broad range of environmental issues and policymaking. The results show most Californians back state efforts to combat climate change but are concerned about the ongoing drought, wildfires and fuel costs.
“Eight in ten Californians say that climate change is a very or somewhat serious threat to California’s future economy and quality of life,” PPIC reported. “A strong majority favors the state government making its own policies, separate from the federal government, to address climate change. Support for the state’s climate change policies is deeply divided along party lines.”
Mandatory masks are back on BART, in fourth policy change since April
ELIYAHU KAMISHER, Mercury News: "After a two-week lapse of its mandatory mask policy, BART riders are required to mask up once again, effective immediately, after the transit agency’s board of directors voted Thursday to reinstate a face covering requirement through September.
The six to two BART board vote, which impacts the system’s 50 stations, puts BART at odds with county health officials who have largely rescinded their mask mandates months ago even as the entire Bay Area is within the CDC’s highest tier for COVID-19 transmission risk.
Only one other Bay Area transit agency — East Bay’s AC Transit — still requires masks. Los Angeles County was expected to renew its indoor mask mandate this week, but officials ended up going back on that plan, citing a downward trend in COVID cases and hospitalizations."
Here’s how much money you need to make to rent an apartment in S.F.
LAUREN HEPLER, Chronicle: "It now takes a full-time income of more than $61 an hour to comfortably afford the rent for an average two-bedroom apartment in the San Francisco metro area.
That’s far more than other expensive U.S. cities like New York, where it takes $45 an hour on a standard 40-hour-per-week schedule, and more than triple San Francisco’s $16.99 minimum wage, according to a new report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
The San Francisco metro area, which also includes affluent Marin and San Mateo counties, tops the national list for the highest “housing wage,” or hourly earnings needed to spend no more than the federally recommended 30% of income on rent. No. 2 is Santa Cruz, where residents must earn more than $60 to rent an average two-bedroom. In the No. 3 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area, the figure is around $55 an hour."
