Charts show extremely detailed look into California’s changing population
The Chronicle, NAMI SUMIDA: "California’s 39 million people make up an incredibly ethnically diverse population.
Now, thanks to newly released data from the 2020 Decennial Census, we know exactly how many ethnic groups are represented across the state and how many people identify with each group. The census data includes information on nearly 1,500 detailed race and ethnicity groups, like Irish, Lebanese, Jamaican, Korean, Native Hawaiian and American Indian or Alaska Native tribes like the Navajo Nation — a level of granularity unseen in previous censuses."
They got rid of McCarthy. Can Republicans figure out how to keep the lights on?
LA Times, DAVID LAUTER: "Next Tuesday, one week after they brought the curtain down on the short, largely unsuccessful speakership of Kevin McCarthy, House Republicans will start trying to pick a successor.
Several Republican lawmakers already have begun to campaign. For those watching at home, here are two key things to know:"
Donald Trump announces whom he’s backing for House speaker
AP : "Former President Donald Trump is officially backing Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the pugnacious House Judiciary Committee chairman and longtime Trump defender, to succeed Kevin McCarthy as House speaker.
“Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR long before making his very successful journey to Washington, D.C., representing Ohio’s 4th Congressional District,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site shortly after midnight Friday. “He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!”"
The latest effort to secede from California is happening in Sacramento’s backyard
Sacramento Bee, JENAVIEVE HATCH: "Sharon Durst stood with a small but interested group gathered in the Ace Hardware parking lot on Pleasant Valley Road last month beneath a blue tent, passing out copies of the U.S. Constitution and bumper stickers that read: “Republic for El Dorado State: from Gold to Glory.”
Durst, a lifelong county resident, said her campaign for El Dorado’s statehood is beginning to pick up steam. Secession is certainly a long shot, but there is a larger principle at stake."
‘Flying syringes’ and conspiracies: The far-right battle for a mosquito control board
LA Times, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS, JESSICA GARRISON: "As soon as Jon Knight applied for a seat on the Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District board, the conspiracy theories started flying.
Knight, who owns a hydroponic gardening supply store in Redding, spoke darkly about his suspicion that Bill Gates had helped unleash genetically modified mosquitoes in California. And he warned about “flying syringes that will mass vaccinate the population.”"
Column: A year after the City Hall tape leak, where will Latino political power in L.A. go?
LA Times, GUSTAVO ARELLANO: "On a Tuesday morning in the fall of 1998, I waited in line at a polling precinct at Manzanita Park in Anaheim. I was 19, voting for the first time, and motivated by ethnic pride to do so.
Four years earlier, Californians had overwhelmingly passed Proposition 187, which sought to make life miserable for undocumented immigrants. It spurred my era of Latinos to get involved in local politics and fight for a democracy where people who looked like us would represent “us.”"
As rooftop solar debate flares, builders, landlords and renter advocates are taking sides
CALMatters, BEN CHRISTOPHER: "California isn’t short on lofty goals: Lawmakers have vowed to zero out the state’s carbon emissions by 2045, build 2.5 million new homes by the end of the decade and swap gas-burning appliances with electric ones in 7 million homes over the next 12 years.
Now California’s chief utility regulator is considering a new rooftop solar policy that a chorus of critics say will make it harder for the state to meet any of those ambitious targets."
California drought map shows where stubborn conditions remain after a wet water year
Sacramento Bee, BRIANNA TAYLOR: "There’s no more drought in California, except for a sliver in the most northwestern portion of the state.
California is 99.93% drought-free, according to a Thursday update from the U.S. Drought Monitor. But Del Norte County reentered drought status in August after having been drought-free since January."
Unprecedented discovery seems to defy fundamental astronomical theories
CNN, ASHLEY STRICKLAND: "New images from the James Webb Space Telescope have revealed surprising pairs of planet-like objects in the Orion Nebula that have never been detected before.
The Orion Nebula, a glowing cloud of dust and gas, is one of the brightest nebulae in the night sky and identifiable as the sword in the Orion constellation. Located 1,300 light-years from Earth, the nebula has long presented astronomers with a wealth of celestial objects to study, including planet-forming disks around young stars and brown dwarfs, or objects with a mass between that of planets and stars."
Who is dying from COVID now? This group represented 90% of deaths
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "As the United States emerges from another summer COVID-19 wave, authorities have a clearer picture of who the coronavirus has affected most in the fourth year of the pandemic.
A study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday reveals that older adults — those 65 and above — accounted for 63% of all COVID-related hospitalizations recorded from January to August, even as admissions declined for nearly all other age groups over the same period."
Is California’s COVID-era rent relief program running out of money?
CALMatters, BEN CHRISTOPHER: "Since its inception in 2021, California’s COVID-era $5.2 billion rent relief program has been plagued with delays, criticism and a lawsuit.
Now, it might be at risk of running out of money."
Kaiser health care strike: Driven by and likely to boost a labor-action surge
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN BARON: "A massive strike by Kaiser Permanente workers, including 23,000 in the Bay Area, is part of a surge in union activity this year from Detroit to Hollywood and likely will bring greater bargaining power to workers in health care and other industries, experts say.
Kaiser’s strike followed the Sept. 30 expiration of the union contract for tens of thousands of workers. Other high-profile strikes, including a successful labor action by Hollywood writers and an ongoing strike among auto workers — and even a threatened strike by UPS employees that was a key tactic in negotiating a favorable contract — likely gave confidence to Kaiser workers, said John Logan, chair of the Labor and Employment Studies department at San Francisco State University."
What you need to know about student loan debt and repayments
EdSource, ASHLEY A. SMITH: "This month, payments on student loan debt for millions of borrowers across the country restarted after the three-year pandemic pause. California has some of the lowest tuition rates in the nation, but the state’s residents carry higher than average student debt balances, risky graduate school debt, and have a unique reliance on parent-held debt, according to a recently released report from The Century Foundation.
The pandemic-era pause on federal student loan payments has ended. Repayment for most borrowers resumed Oct. 1. Interest has already restarted accruing, as of September. However, if you’re currently enrolled in school or recently graduated, then for most federal student loan types, you have a six- to nine-month grace period from the moment you graduate, leave school or drop below half-time enrollment. And for most loans, interest accrues during your grace period."
Parents furious as Bay Area schools disrupt classrooms, swap teachers
The Chronicle, JILL TUCKER: "Parent Amanda Stevenson is livid.
This week — two months into the school year — she was told that her daughter’s kindergarten class would be split in half and parceled out to two different teachers, a district decision based largely on the budget as well as staffing needs at other schools."
A dozen migrants were bused from Texas to San Jose. But who sent them?
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "A dozen South American migrants, including five children, were bused from El Paso, Texas, to San Jose last weekend, according to county authorities who are working with community groups to care of the families while attempting to sort out who sent them here.
“We’re still learning the full details of their arrival and journey here,” said Aundraya Martinez, manager of the Santa Clara County Office of Immigrant Relations. “The goal now with the Rapid Response Network is to make sure the families are stabilized.”"
Why higher-income workers in California may get surprised by this tax hike in 2024
The Chronicle, KATHLEEN PENDER: "A payroll tax increase that has gone largely unnoticed will hit high-earning employees in California starting Jan. 1.
The tax hike will pay for an increase in benefits under California’s State Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave programs starting Jan. 1, 2025. At that point, the wage-replacement rate – how much of their weekly pay participating workers get in benefits – will rise to up to 70% to 90% depending on income. That’s up from 60% to 70% today."
Tupac Shakur’s killing brought ‘10 days of hell’ to Compton. The bloodshed helped crack the case
LA Times, MATTHEW ORMSETH, RICHARD WINTON: "Tupac Shakur was killed in Las Vegas, but it was in Compton — home to both the rapper’s allies and his accused killers — where the aftershocks erupted.
They started two days after Shakur was fatally shot the night of Sept. 7, 1996, when someone opened fired from a gray sedan with tinted windows and chrome rims on Alondra Boulevard, hitting a leader of a local Crip gang — as well as a 10-year-old girl."
Oakland extends application deadline for police chief in blow to commission chair
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: "As Oakland officials face increased pressure to address violent crime, the city will extend the application deadline for its next police chief by about two weeks at the request of the search firm conducting the process, according to the city administrator’s office.
A statement released late Thursday by City Administrator Jestin Johnson announced that “based on best practices in the industry” and to be able to find a quality candidate, the application deadline would be extended until Oct. 13. It was previously Sept. 30."
A troubling trend in California: More violent crimes are being committed with guns even as restrictions tighten
LA Times, TERRY CASTLEMAN: "Though overall crime in California is down from historic peaks, data from the state Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Statistics Center suggest violent crime has been on the rise since 2014.
And experts are now noting another troubling trend: the increased use of firearms in homicides and aggravated assaults."
State levies $11,000 fine, suspends license of San Jose residential day care where two toddlers drowned
BANG*Mercury News, RICK HURD, JAKOB RODGERS: "A residential day care facility in San Jose’s Almaden neighborhood where two toddlers drowned earlier this week has had its operating license suspended and will face a sizable fine, according to authorities.
In a statement, state Department of Social Services spokesperson Jason Montiel said the agency notified Happy Happy Home Daycare that its license went under suspension at 5 p.m. Wednesday, pending a request by the facility’s owners — listed in state records as Nina Fathizadeh and Shahin Shenas — for a hearing."
