Two people found dead in path of McKinney Fire; arrests made within evacuated area
JESSICA SKROPANIC, MIKE CHAPMAN, DAVID BENDA and MICHELE CHANDLER, Siskiyou Daily News: "Firefighters are continuing to battle the McKinney Fire near Yreka, as well as several smaller fires in northwestern Siskiyou County.
The fire grew to 55,493 acres overnight with no containment, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Monday.
Communities northwest of Happy Camp to western Yreka remained under evacuation orders. The fire was about 5.5 miles west of Yreka as of Sunday."
August used to be the perfect month for California’s High Sierra. It’s all different with climate change
The Chronicle, KATE GALBRAITH: “August, my grandparents said, was the best month to visit the High Sierra. The 12,000-foot passes were finally free of snow, the mosquitoes had vanished, and the risk of freak fall snowstorms, they reasoned, was still a month or more away.
And so, in August in the 1980s, we often headed to the mountains for pack trips — 10-day journeys to the backcountry with family and friends. Mules lugged our gear to a remote spot. From there, we scrambled up rocky peaks, ate lunch beside remote lakes, dodged afternoon thunderstorms, raced cups down creeks and sang by the campfire at night.
It was wonderful.”
California could paint a clearer picture of English learner achievement if new bill passes
EdSource, ZAIDEE STAVLEY: “California could soon get a deeper understanding of how students at different stages of learning English are doing in school.
A bill currently in the Legislature, Assembly Bill 1868, would require the California Department of Education to report standardized test scores in English language arts, math and science for subgroups of English learners, including long-term English learners, those at risk of becoming long-term English learners, and students who have learned enough English to be reclassified as proficient.
Currently, the department collects and reports test scores for English learners as a whole, but not for specific subgroups.”
How California abortion clinics are responding to the surge of out-of-state patients
The Chronicle, CAMRYN PAK: “For Planned Parenthood Pacific Southwest, which serves San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties, seeing out-of-state patients is the new norm. In the month since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and stripped Americans of the constitutional right to obtain an abortion, out-of-state patients have made up 21% of abortion visits, a 513% increase, a spokesperson said.
Planned Parenthood Northern California hasn’t seen as dramatic a surge, but is also serving more out-of-state patients. It used to see a couple of out-of-state patients per month. Now, its clinics see three to four patients traveling across state lines every week.
Several California clinics providing abortion services told The Chronicle they are adding new staffers, expanding hours and making other changes to accommodate the increased demand.”
Bill Russell, Bay Area legend and NBA icon, dead at 88
The Chronicle, BRUCE JENKINS: “Bill Russell died Sunday, and basketball lost its most important historical figure.
Others were innovators, groundbreakers, winners and socially conscious difference-makers, but none had the complete package of William Felton Russell, who died at age 88.
A social media post said Russell died “peacefully today ... with his wife,
One last trip: Gabriella Walsh’s decision to die — and celebrate life — on her own terms
LAT, MARISA GERBER: “Gabriella Walsh knew she wanted to die on a Saturday.
She’d settled on July 16, dressing that morning in a flower crown and a T-shirt with a picture of a dragonfly, an image that had comforted her in recent weeks. She took a deep inhale from a bottle of lavender oil and listened to a playlist of sea sounds.
Earlier in the morning, friends and family nuzzled up against her in bed. Rest easy, they told her, and keep wandering.”
More people are catching coronavirus a second time, heightening long COVID risk, experts say
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN/LUKE MONEY: “Emerging evidence suggests that catching the coronavirus a second time can heighten long-term health risks, a worrisome development as the circulation of increasingly contagious Omicron subvariants leads to greater numbers of Californians being reinfected.
Earlier in the pandemic, it was assumed that getting infected afforded some degree of lasting protection, for perhaps a few months.
As the coronavirus mutates, though, that’s no longer a given. And each individual infection carries the risk not only for acute illness but the potential to develop long COVID.”
How much late summer rain is in those Bay Area clouds?
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: “Parts of the Bay Area saw some light rain Sunday as “increasing monsoonal moisture” spread across the region, according to the National Weather Service.
The moisture coming from the southeast was why high clouds were visible around the Bay Area, said NWS meteorologist Jeff Lorber.
Just don’t expect those clouds to produce more than a few isolated drizzles and drabs, he cautioned.”
A celebrity chef, a Yosemite mountain peak and the national park’s true Chinese heritage
The Chronicle, CHASITY HALE: “Mount Lyell, Half Dome, Clouds Rest — behind every mountain’s name is a story. For Sing Peak, a 10,000-foot giant that straddles Yosemite National Park and the Sierra National Forest, the story begins with its namesake: Tie Sing, a legendary 19th century backcountry chef.
In early August, Yosemite park staff and members of a Los Angeles-based historical society plan to trek to the summit in honor of Sing and as part of the 10th annual Yosemite-Sing Peak Pilgrimage. The event is expected to go as planned, although organizers are closely monitoring the almost fully contained Washburn Fire in southern Yosemite and the nearby Oak Fire west of the park.
Sing, who had a mountain named after him in 1899, worked as the head chef of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) from 1888 until his death in 1918 at age 52. At a time when anti-Chinese sentiment was being fueled by the Chinese Exclusion Act, Sing overcame systemic obstacles to become something of a celebrity chef, preparing inventive and flavorful dishes that heightened the outdoor experience for government officials, business leaders and others who would later take significant steps to safeguard America’s national parks.”
Buckle up for a busy month in Sacramento
EMILY HOEVEN: "Welcome to the final countdown.
Today, state lawmakers will reconvene in Sacramento after a month-long summer recess — during which some traveled abroad on trips funded by special interest groups that lobby them on various issues — for the final, frenzied month of the legislative session.
Legislators face an Aug. 31 deadline to determine the fate of hundreds of bills. Hanging over the high-intensity process is the Nov. 8 general election, which could affect how some lawmakers — especially those vying for contested seats in the state Assembly and Senate — vote on hot-button proposals.”
Here’s why Austin and Seattle are building way more housing than San Francisco
The Chronicle, ADRIANA REZAL: “San Francisco has long struggled to provide enough housing for its residents. Exacerbated by the influx of highly compensated tech workers, housing demand has far outstripped supply, prices have skyrocketed and many who work here have been forced to live elsewhere. Yet even when compared to other fast-growing tech hubs like Austin and Seattle, San Francisco’s housing production lags far behind.
Residential building-permit data from the U.S. census shows that Austin and Seattle have both approved construction for more than three times as many housing units per person as San Francisco since 2015. Experts say the city’s main roadblocks to housing production include opposition from local groups, geographic limitations and complex regulatory processes.
The Chronicle looked at six years worth of building permit data in 15 cities with populations between 600,000 and 1.1 million people and found that San Francisco ranked in the bottom half. At under 2,900 housing units approved per 100,000 residents, San Francisco trailed behind Columbus and just barely surpassed Las Vegas. Whereas San Jose and Detroit approved the least number of residential building permits overall, Austin, Seattle and Denver topped the charts. (The census uses building permit data to measure local housing construction because most permitted housing eventually gets built.)”
S.F.’s North Beach was marked by vacancies. Now, restaurants are fueling a renaissance
The Chronicle, MARIO CORTEZ: “Chris Cheeseman saw the struggles North Beach experienced a few summers ago up close.
“All the businesses were kind of suffering or shuttering. There were no remnants of tourists around and it definitely didn’t resemble the North Beach that I was used to,” said Cheeseman, a managing partner in the newly opened North Beach Cantina, about the summer of 2020.
Today, the historic San Francisco neighborhood is in the middle of a revival, with a steady influx of restaurant openings as one of the strongest signs of life. Pedestrian traffic has returned, tourists have come back and business is up — all of this after the neighborhood posted some of the city’s highest rates of commercial storefront vacancy in 2019.”
Trump’s pick for Arizona governor renounced her media past. The conversion made Kari Lake a front-runner
LAT, MELANIE MASON: “Kari Lake looked directly into the camera with the self-assured gaze befitting an on-screen pro. Like so many times before as a top Phoenix television anchor, she had news to share.
This time, though, she was not appearing on the Fox affiliate that had long employed her — and as her tone shifted from perky to solemn, it was clear why. The industry that propelled her to prominence, she said, had become unbalanced, untruthful, divisive.
“It’s been a serious struggle for me,” she said, “and I no longer want to do this job anymore.””
America’s allies are watching the Jan. 6 hearings. They are worried about U.S. democracy
LAT, NOAH BIERMAN/TRACY WILKINSON: “Three European diplomats opened the door to the ambassador’s residence and offered up a Cognac and a request for anonymity.
Years ago, they might have been happy to talk openly about American democracy, the core of the superpower’s “branding” on the global stage, as one of them put it. Now, it’s a subject of uncertainty and controversy. The brand is tarnished as former President Trump, who tried to overturn the 2020 election, teases a political comeback and President Biden, the man who replaced him, struggles politically.
“It’s not about Trump,” one of them said. “It’s much deeper than that. And that’s much more worrying.”
