New COVID variant BA.2.86 — nicknamed ‘Pirola’ — is here. What do we know so far?
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Scientists are racing to understand a new COVID-19 strain dubbed BA.2.86 and assess its potential for fueling a fresh autumn surge of cases.
The lineage, informally called “Pirola” on social media, has garnered attention due to its substantial genetic deviations from other omicron subvariants that have been the prevailing strains of COVID-19 for the past two years."
Consumer group seeks California attorney general probe of home insurer “collusion” in market pullback
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "A consumer group on Tuesday called on state Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate whether insurance companies coordinated a massive pullback from covering California homes over the past year to pressure state officials into loosening regulations and allowing higher rates in violation of antitrust laws.
Consumer Watchdog, whose founder, Harvey Rosenfield, authored the state’s 1988 Proposition 103 voter revolt that rolled back insurance rates and required state approval for increases, wrote in a letter Tuesday to Bonta that insurers appear to have engaged in illegal collusion to destabilize the insurance market."
Worst Week (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "Since it’s a short holiday week, we’re just doing a quick Worst Week – back to our regular episodes next week!"
Rising Stars: Lucia Saldivar, Chief of Staff for Assemblymember Lisa Calderon
Capitol Weekly, RICH EHISEN: "Growing up in San Ysidro, just this side of the California-Mexico border, Lucia Saldivar never saw herself ending up in politics.
She thought she was going to be a musician, like her father. Saldivar grew up surrounded by music, singing and performing in musical theatre. She plays several instruments and, like her father, she is blessed with the ability to quickly learn how to play almost anything just by ear. So yeah, music seemed like an obvious path."
Legislature will vote on bill to save California goat herders for two more years
Sac Bee, GRACE SCULLION: "“I didn’t have goat herders on my bingo card for this budget year,” said Asm. Vince Fong, R-Kern County, at an Assembly Budget Committee hearing this week. But ever since a 2022 ‘bureaucratic accident,’ goat herders have frequented the Legislature’s agenda — and The Sacramento Bee’s pages.
In the latest effort to save goat herding — a key wildfire mitigation strategy — the Newsom administration proposed a budget trailer bill that extends the monthly minimum wage policy for another two and a half years. In the meantime, the bill would commission a $1 million report from the Department of Industrial Relations and Employment Development Department on the wage and conditions of herders in the state. The Assembly and Senate will vote on the bill next week."
As Colorado River shrinks, California farmers urge ‘one-dam solution’
LA Times, IAN JAMES: "For years, environmentalists have argued that the Colorado River should be allowed to flow freely across the Utah-Arizona border, saying that letting water pass around Glen Canyon Dam — and draining the giant Lake Powell reservoir — would improve the shrinking river’s health.
Now, as climate change increases the strains on the river, this controversial proposal is receiving support from some surprising new allies: influential farmers in California’s Imperial Valley."
California’s wildfire smoke and climate change: 4 things to know
CALMatters, ALEJANDRO LAZO: "Wildfires and climate change are locked in a vicious circle: Fires worsen climate change, and climate change worsens fires.
Scientists, including those at the World Resources Institute, have been increasingly sounding the alarm about this feedback loop, warning that fires don’t burn in isolation — they produce greenhouse gases that, in turn, create warmer and drier conditions that ignite more frequent and intense fires."
California offers $5K for info in killing of a condor
The Chronicle, JILL TUCKER: "State wildlife officials announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to a conviction of those responsible for the shooting death of an endangered California condor.
The condor was found dead on private land off Lone Tree Road in Hollister in July 2022, and a necropsy determined the death to be from a gunshot wound."
California spends $14 billion on people with disabilities. Why do some go without help?
Sac Bee, MAGGIE ANGST, MATHEW MIRANDA: "For years, Ana Soto’s heart sank at the sound of the jingle from their neighborhood ice cream truck. If her son Max heard the chimes, she knew it was moments before he would take off running.
This left Soto, a San Joaquin County resident, with a difficult decision: chase after Max or stay put to watch over her youngest daughter."
California pharmacies are making millions of mistakes. They’re fighting to keep that secret
LA Times, MELODY PETERSEN: "Sharri Shaw walked out of the CVS on Vermont Avenue in South Los Angeles in 2019 believing she had a prescription for the pain reliever acetaminophen.
Instead the bottle held a medicine to treat high blood pressure, a problem she did not have."
How English learners can benefit from college classes in high school
EdSource, ZAIDEE STAVELY: "High school senior Martha Hernandez was born in Baja California, Mexico, and came to the U.S. when she was 10 years old, in fifth grade. She was still considered an English learner when she entered high school, based on California’s test of English proficiency.
When students are classified as English learners, they must take English language development classes to improve their language skills, in addition to English language arts and all other academic classes."
Can S.F. attract universities to boost its troubled downtown? Here’s how one supervisor wants to do it
The Chronicle, ALDO TOLEDO: "San Francisco Supervisor Ahsha Safaí wants the city to cut red tape and get rid of certain fees to encourage universities to build campuses in languishing downtown neighborhoods.
Safaí is the latest San Francisco leader to suggest college students could be the solution to empty streets, storefronts and office space in the city’s downtown core, arguing that turning hotels into dorms, offices into classrooms, and building urban village campuses will revitalize the struggling Financial District and South of Market neighborhoods."
Tech, biotech, non-tech layoffs jolt Bay Area with 900-plus job cuts
BANG*Mercury News, GEORGE AVALOS: "An array of companies that include tech and biotech firms will chop well over 900 Bay Area jobs, new disclosures show — yet the pace of tech layoffs has slowed in this region.
Three tech companies, several biotech and life science firms, an agricultural company, two restaurants and a transportation firm have all filed official notices of plans to lay off employees in the Bay Area."
L.A. Airbnb hosts are charging higher rates and raking in big payouts amid city crackdown
LA Times, JACK FLEMMING: "Running an Airbnb in L.A. has never been more profitable.
As the city tries to crack down on illegal listings, and advocacy groups complain about the company’s effect on L.A.’s housing crisis, hosts are charging higher rates than ever while raking in bigger and bigger payouts."
New ruling denies S.F.’s request to ease encampment sweep ban — but both sides see a win
The Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS: "The legal battle over San Francisco homeless encampment sweeps remains just as contentious as ever after a new federal appeals court ruling left both sides claiming they got what they wanted.
A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied the city’s request to modify a lower court’s injunction preventing the city from clearing most homeless tent camps."
A California city offered a $75,000 bonus to new cops. These departments are trying to keep up
CALMatters, ANABEL SOSA: "Just five months ago, Alameda Police Chief Nishant Joshi faced a dire staffing crisis. Almost one third of the 88 sworn positions in his department were vacant, giving him 24 jobs to fill as quickly as possible.
He wasn’t alone in that predicament. Many California police departments have reported serious hiring challenges in a persistently tight labor market over the past several years."
The mystery of San Francisco’s car break-in crisis: Why is it so bad here — and not elsewhere?
The Chronicle, SUSIE NEILSON: "One summer evening in San Francisco, a tourist left his stuff in a rental car.
If you live here, you’re probably already envisioning this story’s unhappy ending. The stuff got taken, the car’s window smashed."
Ex-Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio sentenced to 22 years in Jan. 6 attack
AP, MICHAEL KUNZELMAN: "Former Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison Tuesday for a failed plot to keep former President Trump in power after the 2020 presidential election, capping one of the most significant prosecutions in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Tarrio, 39, of Miami, is the final Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy in the attack to receive his punishment. Three fellow Proud Boys members found guilty by a Washington jury of the rarely used sedition charge were sentenced last week to prison terms ranging from 15 to 18 years."
