Mosquito Fire: More than 11,000 evacuated as smoke creates hazardous air quality
ANNA BUCHMANN and JESSICA FLORES, Chronicle: "Firefighters made progress early Sunday against the Mosquito Fire in the Sierra foothills, aided by lower temperatures and increased humidity — though the pall of smoke also helping to reduce fire activity pushed air quality to hazardous levels north and east of the fire past the Nevada border.
The blaze, which sparked Tuesday near Foresthill and is burning in Tahoe and El Dorado national forests between Sacramento and Tahoe, had consumed 46,587 acres and was 10% contained Sunday morning, Cal Fire said in an online update.
Officials said Sunday that at least 11,260 were under evacuation orders as a result of the fire."
Monster clouds towering 40,000 feet over Mosquito Fire in California stun scientists
DON SWEENEY, SacBee: "Fire clouds that reached altitudes of up to 40,000 feet over the Mosquito Fire in Northern California over the past week have left scientists in awe.
“It really hit everybody in the plane pretty hard just how massive and destructive the fire was,” Alan Brewer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told SFGate after flying past the smoke plume.
“It was like flying right alongside the wall of the Grand Canyon,” Brewer said, according to the outlet."
Want to know why your California community loses or gains residents? Check the home prices
PHILLIP REESE, SacBee: "“California’s population decreased. Again. But the overall population decline does not tell the whole story.
Also true: Cities where homes remain relatively affordable – most of them in the inland parts of the state – saw, on the whole, population increases, according to a Bee review of real estate and state government data. Housing prices correlate with overall cost of living. The fact that many affordable places in California continue to grow is the latest illustration that people are fleeing the most expensive parts of the state – or choosing not to move there or start families there.
It’s also a warning: As inland California becomes more expensive, it sits on the cusp of a shrinking population, much like the coast.
USC scandals assume starring role in L.A. mayor’s race, with Bass, Caruso pointing fingers
LAT, MATT HAMILTON/JULIA WICK/BENJAMIN ORESKES: “At USC’s commencement ceremony in 2019, Rep. Karen Bass and Rick Caruso marched across campus in crimson gowns, beaming at the thousands of soon-to-be graduates and their families.
Both alums of the private university, the congresswoman and the developer sat side by side onstage, laughing and flashing the two-finger salute known to USC’s legion of proud fans.
“We raise our two fingers whenever and wherever we see another Trojan,” Bass told the audience after receiving an honorary degree while Caruso, chair of the university’s board of trustees, looked on. “USC Trojans fight on until we change the world.””
Tropical Storm Kay breaks heat and rain records across Southern California
LAT, ALEXANDRA E PETRI/LIBOR JANY/EMILY ALPERT REYES: “Rain and heat records in parts of Southern California were broken Friday as Tropical Storm Kay helped firefighters battling a huge fire near Hemet.
According to the National Weather Service, 5 inches of rain fell in Mt. Laguna in San Diego County. Other mountain areas in San Diego including Julian got 4 inches of rain, with less than in inch falling along the coast.
Several spots in Los Angeles County, including Los Angeles International Airport, Long Beach Airport and downtown L.A., saw new daily rain records, but the amounts were fairly small. Long Beach, for example, recorded 0.20 inch, breaking the old daily record of 0.02. LAX also set a new daily heat record (102 degrees) along with several other locations such as Oxnard and Santa Barbara Airport.”
When’s the best time to get the new COVID booster shot? Here’s what experts say
The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO: “Millions of Americans became eligible late last week to get a reformulated COVID booster shot that targets both the ancestral and omicron strains of the virus — a step that health officials hope will help mitigate a potential fall or winter surge.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone 12 and older get a booster at least two months after their last COVID shot or three months after recovering from a COVID infection.
But some studies and experts in immunology and infectious diseases are coalescing around the idea that waiting longer — roughly three to six months — may be more optimal to obtain the biggest benefit from the additional booster.”
Fresno Unified invests in partnerships with HBCUs
EdSource, ASHLEIGH PANOO: “A first-of-its-kind dual enrollment program in California’s third-largest school district will guarantee admission to a historically Black college, giving students in the Central Valley a pathway to experience an HBCU.
Fresno Unified kicked off its Step Up Pathways program this school year with 60 students who will take college courses through Benedict College, a historically Black liberal arts college in South Carolina.
Students can take up to 12 units virtually and will earn credit that can be used at Benedict or a California community college. Perks also include in-state tuition and access to scholarships at Benedict College. District leaders believe it’s the first partnership of its kind in the state.”
A rural California town sued to keep a prison open. Judge rules Newsom can close it
LAT, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: “The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation may immediately resume shutting down a prison in Northern California, a judge ruled this week, dismissing a lawsuit by a rural town that sought to stop the closure.
The state was supposed to close the California Correctional Center in Susanville by this June.
But it has remained open because the town — where local officials say they face economic devastation if they lose more than 1,000 prison jobs — sued the state last year, and a Lassen County judge issued a preliminary injunction halting the closure while the case moved through the court.”
‘Day of reverence:’ First responders, veterans and more remember 9/11 at Cal Expo event
SAWSAN MORRAR, SacBee: "More than 100 Sacramento-area residents gathered Sunday morning at Cal Expo to remember the lives lost in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Sacramento police and firefighters, veterans, and dozens of active military attended the event commemorating the day that saw more than 3,000 people killed 21 years ago.
The memorial has been in the making since 2002. Former Cal Expo board member Larry Davis donated 125,000 pounds of wreckage, which included a horizontal I-beam, from the World Trade Center’s North Tower that visitors can view annually on Sept. 11 and during the California State Fair."
Here’s the alarming amount of ice California’s longest glacier just lost in the heat wave
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: “Mount Shasta, the widely recognizable face of California’s far north, has lost almost all its defining snow cover for a second straight year.
Another summer of scorching temperatures, punctuated by the recent heat wave, has melted most of the mountain’s lofty white crown, typically a year-round symbol of the north state’s enduring wilds.
The lack of snow not only means unfamiliar views of the bare 14,000-foot-plus giant, it is hastening the demise of the mountain’s glaciers. While the seven named ice sheets have been retreating for years, if not decades, the diminishing snow, which helps insulate the glaciers and keep them from thawing, has caused an unprecedented melt-off: About 20% of the glaciers’ ice, and possibly more, is expected to have vanished over the past two summers.”
A Bay Area town was erased. Nearly 60 years later, its neighbor is atoning
The Chronicle, JUSTIN PHILLIPS: “A search for “Russell City” on Google Maps brings up a street within the city of Hayward. That’s because the East Bay town no longer exists.
It’s been almost 60 years since Russell City, a largely Black and Latino farming community, was annexed into Hayward so city leaders could turn it into an industrial park. Roughly 1,400 residents were displaced in the process. Today, what was once the town is buried under paved parking lots, office spaces and distribution centers.
It remains an ugly chapter in Alameda County’s history.”
Why Wine Country is no longer ‘for regular people,’ according to some Bay Area residents
The Chronicle, JESS LANDER: “Priced out. Astronomical tasting fees. Rip-off.
These were some of the sentiments shared by Bay Area residents after The Chronicle reported last week that it has been an unusually slow summer in Wine Country. Would-be Wine Country travelers took to social media — and emails and comments to The Chronicle — over their frustrations and hesitation to visit the Bay Area’s most popular wine destinations: Napa and Sonoma.
Many reminisced about “the good old days” when tastings were free or $20 and suggested alternative wine regions that are more affordable, such as Livermore and Amador County.”
‘A chance to speak for myself.’ Disney CEO Bob Chapek steps out at D23 Expo
LAT, RYAN FAUGHNDER: “Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Chapek has been leading the Burbank entertainment giant since February 2020, taking the role just before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered its businesses.
Since then the narratives around Chapek’s tenure have largely been defined by people other than Chapek.
The Indiana native and three-decade Disney veteran was judged less by what he was than what he was not (e.g., he was not his revered, charismatic predecessor, Bob Iger). He took the heat for a high-profile legal battle with “Black Widow” star Scarlett Johansson over box office bonuses. And most glaringly, he let himself get caught between employees who wanted him to speak out forcefully against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill (dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” legislation by advocates) and conservative politicians and media figures who attacked him when he belatedly did so.”
