Would an occasional blackout help solve climate change?
The Chronicle, SAMMY ROTH: "What’s more important: Keeping the lights on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, or solving the climate crisis?
That is in many ways a terrible question, for reasons I’ll discuss shortly."
Here’s how California’s electric cars can feed the grid and help avoid brownouts
CALMatters, ALEJANDRO LAZO: "As a historic 10-day heat wave threatened brownouts across California last summer, a small San Diego County school district did its part to help: It captured excess power from its electric school buses and sent it back to the state’s overwhelmed grid.
The seven school buses provided enough power for 452 homes each day of the heat wave, and the buses were recharged only during off hours when the grid was not strained."
Are major changes coming to your electric bill? 5 things to know
CALMatters, WENDY FRY: "California’s electric bills — already some of the highest in the nation — are rising, but regulators are debating a new plan to charge customers based on their income level.
Typically what you pay for electricity depends on how much you use. But the state’s three largest electric utilities — Southern California Edison Company, Pacific Gas and Electric Company and San Diego Gas & Electric Company — have proposed a plan to charge customers not just for how much energy they use, but also based on their household income. Their proposal is one of several state regulators received designed to accommodate a new law to make energy less costly for California’s lowest-income customers."
Air quality: Wildfire smoke rushing toward Bay Area will impact these cities
The Chronicle, GERRY DIAZ: "Smoke from a wildfire in Oregon is rushing toward Northern California, and hot weather could chuck some of the particles toward the Bay Area.
The Flat Fire exploded in size and intensity between Tuesday and Wednesday, covering 12,000 acres large with 0% containment by Wednesday morning according to the U.S. Forest Service. Its smoke, visible on satellite imagery, is likely to stir up air quality concerns over the next couple of days."
Bay Area’s hottest places to be hit with another brief heat wave
BANG*Mercury News, RICK HURD: "Triple-digit temperatures began making their return engagement — albeit, a short one — to the hottest parts of the Bay Area on Thursday, ahead of a steeper heat spike that will cover familiar areas on Friday and Saturday.
However, the high heat also won’t feel quite as intense as it did during a three-day stretch last weekend, according to the National Weather Service."
Visiting Yosemite? Here’s how to avoid traffic and crowds in the park
The Chronicle, KATE GALBRAITH: "The weekend crush at Yosemite National Park may ease slightly on Saturday, when Tioga Road finally reopens — giving visitors additional options for enjoying the park, like Tuolumne Meadows and the vista at Olmsted Point.
But there will still be long lines at the park entrances and potentially significant waits for shuttle buses."
Roseville councilman, House of Oliver owner settle defamation case rooted in 2022 campaign
Sac Bee, MOLLY JARONE: "Two Placer County political figures have settled legal fight that stemmed from comments made in the run-up to the November 2022 election.
Roseville City Councilman Scott Alvord has settled his defamation lawsuit against House of Oliver owner Matthew Oliver, according to court documents filed June 25."
E. coli hammers a California town, sending patients to ER and shutting down restaurants
LA Times, JESSICA GARRISON: "Maria McCloud’s 1-year-old granddaughter got sick first — vomiting and diarrhea and a fever.
A few days later, McCloud began to feel ill, as did several other children in the home."
‘A lifesaving tool’: California’s new mental health crisis line sees a surge in calls
CALMatters, ANABEL SOSA: "California made it easier to call for help a year ago when it launched a simplified mental health crisis hotline: Dial three digits — 988 — and you can get in touch with a counselor immediately.
Since then, crisis centers have received more than 280,000 calls. That’s twice as many as any other state, signaling to mental health advocates that the service was badly needed."
University of California opposes bill aimed at simplifying transfer process
EdSource, MICHAEL BURKE: "The University of California and state lawmakers are at odds over proposed legislation intended to make it easier for community college students to transfer to one of UC’s nine undergraduate campuses.
Assembly Bill 1749 would require UC to automatically admit students who complete an “associate degree for transfer,” something the 23-campus California State University already does. Supporters of the bill say it’s needed to streamline a transfer process that is often criticized as being overly complex and difficult for students to navigate."
Stanford diversity dean disciplined for confronting Trump appointee quits job
The Chronicle, NANETTE ASIMOV: "A Stanford Law School diversity official resigned Thursday after being suspended in March for aligning with student hecklers who shouted down a former President Donald Trump-appointed judge trying to give a talk.
Tirien Steinbach, the law school’s associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, made national news when she was recorded on video March 9 telling federal appeals court Judge Stuart Duncan that his work had “caused harm” to students. Duncan opposes same-sex marriage and has acted to suppress transgender rights."
On the edge of Skid Row, someone just won $1-billion Powerball jackpot
LA Times, NATHAN SOLIS: "Flanked by fabric shops and stores displaying elaborate quinceañera dresses, a tiendita on the humble corner of 12th and Wall streets was engulfed by a joyous — and curious — frenzy Thursday morning.
Here in the heart of downtown Los Angeles — in the shadow of poverty and despair of Skid Row — someone had just won $1 billion."
S.F. is the epicenter of the AI boom. Will it always be?
The Chronicle, CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO: "Plenty has been written about the AI boom being centered in San Francisco. But a new paper titled “Building AI cities: How to spread AI across more of America” asks if it, and should it, stay rooted there as the technology is suffused into everyday life.
Written by Mark Muro and Julian Jacobs of the nonprofit Brookings Institution, it looks at the heavy concentration of AI companies and jobs in parts of the the Bay Area and the East Coast, and some governmental efforts to fund AI research centers across the country."
Forget Tesla. Mercedes is betting $45 billion it can become the king of luxury EVs
LA Times, RUSS MITCHELL: "Ola Källenius is betting $45 billion that Mercedes-Benz will own the future of luxury electric cars.
That’s how much he’s investing to shift all of the brand’s powertrains to electric by 2030."
Netflix’s Los Gatos headquarters swarmed with protesters amid film and TV strikes
BANG*Mercury News, HANNAH KANIK: "Hollywood’s strike came to Los Gatos Thursday afternoon as a group of more than a hundred actors, writers and allies picketed in front of Netflix headquarters.
The Northern California chapter of SAG-AFTRA, which organized the strike, is protesting the streaming model’s impact on actors’ income and uncertainty around artificial intelligence’s role in TV and films."
You can earn $100,000 a year in these Bay Area counties and still be ‘low-income’
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN VARIAN, TARINI MEHTA: "In the exorbitantly expensive Bay Area, you can earn a six-figure salary and still be considered low-income.
According to the latest state eligibility requirements for affordable housing, a resident of San Francisco or San Mateo County making up to $104,400 a year has a low income. In Santa Clara County, the cut-off is $96,000. And in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, it’s $78,550."
Sacramento council to consider opening hundreds more tents at sanctioned campsites Aug. 1
Sac Bee, THERESA CLIFT: "The Sacramento City Council plans on Aug. 1 to consider opening hundreds more tents at sanctioned homeless campsites, in order to clear more encampments.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg wants to duplicate across the city the Wednesday sweep of a longstanding homeless encampment in the area of 28th and C streets, he said in a statement Thursday. During that sweep, unlike previous ones, the city offered every person a tent at the Miller Park Safe Ground. Fourteen people accepted, but it will soon be full."
Can driverless cars solve S.F.’s parking problems? Here’s what a new study suggests
The Chronicle, RICARDO CANO: "Autonomous vehicle advocates have long claimed that the technology will have a transformative effect on American cities: for instance, how these driverless cars could affect parking.
The proliferation and use of such vehicles, supporters argue, would greatly reduce parking demand, lessen the need to build more parking lots and free up more land for housing development."
Sen. Grassley releases full FBI memo about Hunter Biden
AP: "Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley released an unclassified document Thursday that Republicans claim is significant in their investigation of Hunter Biden as they delve into the financial affairs of the president and his son, and revive previously debunked claims of wrongdoing.
Grassley of Iowa has been working alongside House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., as Republicans deepen their probe of President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, ahead of the 2024 election. Comer had issued a subpoena for the document from the FBI."
