Trump indicted over efforts to overturn the 2020 election
LA Times, SARAH D. WIRE: "Former President Trump was indicted Tuesday on four felony counts following a special counsel investigation into efforts to stop the transfer of power after his 2020 election loss and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Trump is charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy against rights, and obstruction of or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding."
Takeaways from the Trump indictment that alleges a campaign of ‘fraud and deceit’
AP: "The federal indictment of Donald Trump on Tuesday marks the first time that the former president has been formally held accountable for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. And it adds new details to what was already known about his actions, and those of his key allies, in the weeks leading up to the violent Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.
The newest charges — Trump’s third criminal indictment this year — include conspiracy to defraud the United States government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, the congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s victory. It describes how Trump repeatedly told supporters and others that he had won the election, despite knowing that was false, and how he tried to persuade state officials, his own vice president and finally Congress to overturn the legitimate results."
Global warming is making big(ger) waves off the California coast, scientists say
LA Times, CORINNE PURTILL: "Ocean waves along the California coastline have long symbolized the best the state has to offer: surf-ready swells at Malibu and Rincon; the misty beauty of breakers crashing along the North Coast; the foamy, playful waves welcoming beachgoers from San Diego to Santa Cruz.
But climate change has left no part of the sea unaltered. As melting glaciers and hotter temperatures force global sea levels ever higher, the height and power of ocean waves are increasing along California’s coast — and elsewhere."
Don’t call it ‘toilet to tap’ — California plans to turn sewage into drinking water
CALMatters, RACHEL BECKER: "Californians could drink highly purified sewage water that is piped directly into drinking water supplies for the first time under proposed rules unveiled by state water officials.
The drought-prone state has turned to recycled water for more than 60 years to bolster its scarce supplies, but the current regulations require it to first make a pit stop in a reservoir or an aquifer before it can flow to taps."
California’s York Fire grows to more than 80,000 acres, torches thousands of Joshua trees
The Chronicle, MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "California’s largest and most active wildfire is consuming thousands of Joshua trees and other desert vegetation as it tears through a remote corner of the Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County.
The fire, which started on Friday just after noon, has grown to 80,437 acres and is burning in the rugged New York Mountains, spanning the state line into Clark County, Nev."
As Joshua trees burn, massive wildfire threatens to forever alter Mojave Desert
LA Times, GRACE TOOHEY: "As firefighters battle a massive wildfire in the eastern Mojave Desert, national park officials and ecologists are preparing for habitat losses that are likely to alter the landscape forever.
“We’ve lost a huge area of native vegetation,” said Debra Hughson, deputy superintendent for the Mojave National Preserve. “A lot of pinyon [pines], junipers gone forever, and a lot of the Joshua trees, likely.”"
Gavin Newsom running for president? His fundraising strategy signals White House aspirations
Sac Bee, MAGGIE ANG ST, DAVID LIGHHTMAN: "Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking fundraising steps often used by potential presidential candidates, setting up multiple committees that in their first three months have raised and spent millions of dollars.
The three Newsom-affiliated committees are a political action committee, which limits contributions to $5,000 a year and can donate to individual candidates; a SuperPAC, which can raise unlimited amounts of cash but is restricted from promoting a specific candidate, and a joint fundraising committee, which functions like a bank, mostly collecting and distributing funds to the other groups."
Congress can’t punish racial hate crimes, Ninth Circuit judge argues
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "A divided federal appeals court upheld a Santa Cruz man’s hate-crime conviction Tuesday for attacking a Black man after shouting racial slurs at him. But the dissenting judge argued that Congress had no constitutional authority to punish racially motivated acts of violence.
The ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Ole Hougen revives a debate over the validity of the 2009 federal law known as the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crime Prevention Act. It was named for two victims of hate-motivated murders in 1998, Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay man who was attacked, tortured and tied to a fence in Laramie, Wyo., where he died five days later, and James Byrd Jr., a Black man picked up by three white men who beat him, then chained him to their pickup truck and dragged him to his death."
California county under investigation for possibly violating state voting rights laws
Sacramento Bee, ANDREW SHEELER: "The California Department of Justice announced an investigation Tuesday into redistricting in Butte County, and whether its board of supervisors violated state voting rights law when it redrew district boundaries after the 2020 census.
In 2021, the conservative majority on the Butte County Board of Supervisors voted, 3-2, to enact boundaries that created two agricultural districts rather than grouping them together as one “community of interest,” as determined by the state’s FAIR MAPS ACT, according to a report from TV station KRCR."
By several measures, the FPPC is outnumbered
Capitol Weekly, BRIAN JOSEPH: "It’s easy to see that the Nevada Gaming Control Board is overmatched.
The agency, in charge of regulating gambling in the Silver State, employs around 400 people – and oversees more than 100,000 slot machines at 330 locations, to say nothing of the untold hundreds upon hundreds of table games and licensed gaming workers its staff also must monitor."
Rising Stars: Allison Lim, office of Assemblymember Alex Lee
Capitol Weekly, MOLLY JACOB: "At the age of 20, she studied politics in England. At 23, she taught English in Colombia. By 25, she was studying Chinese in Taiwan. And at 27, she became Chief of Staff to Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-Milpitas. This is the story of Allison Lim, Capitol Weekly’s newest Rising Star.
As the daughter of first-generation immigrants from Singapore, Lim was not raised with influences from the political sphere. In fact, she did not even know that this career was an option growing up."
Doctors sue California medical board to halt implicit bias training mandate
The Chronicle, NANETTE ASIMOV: "A pair of doctors and a group that says it is determined to protect health care from “radical, divisive ideology” sued the Medical Board of California on Tuesday to stop it from enforcing a state law that requires doctors to study the role of implicit bias in treatment.
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The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco targets a 2019 state law that describes implicit bias in health care as unconscious “attitudes or internalized stereotypes” that can lead to disparities in care among ethnic groups and by gender or sexuality even when medical complaints are similar."
Medical cannabis paved the way for legalization in California. Now patients feel left behind
CALMatters, ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Turn off Highway 99 in rural Elverta, drive five miles down the road and you’ll find a dusty lot crammed with cars on this scorching Friday evening. Behind the wooden fence, for a $10 entry fee, awaits a gathering akin to a block party crossed with a high-potency farmers market.
Alongside shirtless young men displaying jars of weed and decorative bongs, there are tacos and smoothies for sale. A woman in cannabis leaf-patterned shorts peruses the merchandise, while another with a severe black bob offers dab hits near the front. The DJ occasionally interrupts his mix of throwback hip-hop tunes (do you enjoy Coolio’s “Fantastic Voyage”?) to sell tickets for a raffle raising money for one vendor’s comatose employee."
L.A. County gave up on a mental health program — and is handing back millions in grants
LA Times, LILA SEIDMAN: "It seemed like any other night. Silverio Lujan’s teenage daughter was distant and listless. Then, before he knew it, she had a fistful of pills and a knife in her hand and threatened to end her life.
Panic-stricken, he dialed 911."
Supervisor Matt Dorsey compares S.F. fentanyl crisis to AIDS epidemic, argues for jail intervention
The Chronicle, ALDO TOLEDO: "Supervisor Matt Dorsey likened San Francisco’s fentanyl crisis to the 1980s AIDS epidemic during a televised town hall Monday and pledged to work on “jail health” and intervention strategies to combat the deadly emergency that has already claimed more than 300 lives this year.
Hosted by former CNN host Chris Cuomo, the News Nation town hall brought together leaders from across the country to talk with live studio audiences in New York, Illinois and Texas about the worsening perceptions on crime in American cities."
San Francisco’s summer COVID surge: How bad is it?
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "San Francisco’s COVID-19 indicators may be on the rise, but experts say this summer it’s more of a swell than a full-blown wave.
“It’s definitely spiking in the last month or so, compared to earlier in the summer or late spring,” said Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert with UCSF. “There seems to be a lot of COVID going around now — but less so than we have seen in the past three years.”"
‘No one is coming to our rescue’: Inside rural California’s alarming teacher shortage
LA Times, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "The new kindergarten teacher resigned via email on a Sunday night in February.
It didn’t matter that 18 children would show up in her classroom the next morning. She said she was done. Effective immediately."
College attendance: How family income impacts who goes to Stanford vs. UCLA and UC Berkeley
The Chronicle, NAMI SUMIDA: "Students from wealthy families have long been overrepresented at elite colleges. At Stanford University, for instance, more than half of its undergraduates come from families in the top 10% of the U.S.’ income distribution.
But new research finds that the reason wealthier students are more likely to attend elite universities is not just because they have better academic credentials, like higher GPAs or better test scores. Even among students with the same academic credentials, the study found gaps in attendance rates between wealthy and lower-income students at elite institutions like Stanford and the Ivy League schools."
S.F. judge orders Nima Momeni to stand trial for murder in Bob Lee case
The Chronicle, KEVIN FAGAN: "Saying he found the evidence from prosecutors “very strong,” a San Francisco Superior Court judge on Tuesday ordered Nima Momeni to stand trial for murder in the stabbing death in April of tech innovator Bob Lee.
“Did a homicide occur and was Mr. Momeni responsible? ... There is more than ample evidence,” Judge Harry Dorfman said at the conclusion of a two-day preliminary hearing to determine if Momeni should stand trial."
Elon Musk, self-described ‘free speech absolutist,’ sues nonprofit over its speech
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN BARON: "Elon Musk, owner of the company formerly called Twitter and an avowed crusader for free speech, this week followed through on a threat and sued a nonprofit over its statements criticizing his firm, now called X.
The lawsuit targets allegations by the Center for Countering Digital Hate that hate speech spiked at X in the week after Musk bought it in October, with users tweeting tens of thousands of anti-Black, anti-trans, anti-gay and antisemitic slurs, increases of 23% to 300% over 2022 averages. The lawsuit accused the nonprofit of “a scare campaign to drive away advertisers from the X platform.”"
Writers Guild and studios agree to talks three months after strike began
LA Times, WENDY LEE: "Representatives of the Writers Guild of America and the major studios have agreed to meet for the first time since the Hollywood writers’ strike began three months ago.
In a statement sent to its members Tuesday night, the Writers Guild’s negotiating committee said that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains on behalf of Walt Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix and other streaming services and studios, reached out to request a meeting on Friday to discuss negotiations."
Tech firms ax hundreds of East Bay, Peninsula jobs, layoff pace eases
BANG*Mercury News, GEORGE AVALOS: "Tech companies have chopped hundreds more jobs in the Bay Area, affecting East Bay and Peninsula workers, but some hopeful signs suggest the pace of the cutbacks has eased.
Thermo Fisher Scientific and Jabil have revealed plans to each chop more than 100 jobs, according to filings with state officials."
‘System of wealth-based detention’: Santa Clara sued for jailing people who can’t afford bail
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "People who receive a warrant for their arrest must appear in court — and, in Santa Clara County, they’re ordered to post bail or be jailed if they can’t afford it. That policy amounts to illegal discrimination based on wealth, the American Civil Liberties Union contends in a lawsuit.
“Equal access to the courts shouldn’t depend on your ability to pay,” said ACLU attorney Emi Young, who filed the suit along with attorneys from the Criminal Defense Clinic at Stanford Law School. It was filed Monday in Santa Clara County Superior Court, the same court that ordered the bail policy last year."
New California Airport Ban Will Completely Change How You Travel
The Street, VERONIKA BONDARENKO: "Along with having to take off one's shoes and the rise of body scanners, stringent liquid rules are one of the biggest changes to come out of post-9/11 airport travel.
In 2006, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) changed its onboard liquid regulations to less than 3.4 ounces and packed in a clear bag. Travelers have been forced to quickly chug or chuck their water bottle before passing through security and purchase any hydration they may need on the flight post-security at overpriced airport prices."
Major Bay Area highway to close this weekend
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "Caltrans is alerting motorists who plan to drive along Interstate 80 in Contra Costa and Solano counties to be aware of upcoming freeway closures that will cause heavy traffic delays this month and on Labor Day weekend.
Eastbound Interstate 80 will close for construction from Hercules to Crockett for two weekends this month:"
