Gavin Newsom honors fallen California firefighters who ‘gave the ultimate sacrifice’
Sacramento Bee, ANDREW SHEELER: "The California Fire Foundation this weekend came together to honor nearly three dozen firefighters who fell in the line of duty.
The ceremony was held Saturday afternoon at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento. Among those speaking at the memorial was California Gov. Gavin Newsom."
Gov. Newsom signed YIMBY-backed bills into law. Will they deliver more housing in S.F.?
The Chronicle, JK DINEEN: "The flurry of pro-housing, YIMBY-backed bills that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law over the last week represented a historic shift in how residential development is approved in California.
But with tens of thousands of already approved projects stuck in San Francisco’s development pipeline, it’s unlikely that the new laws will bring a major influx of new applications until construction costs and interest rates come down and other regulatory changes are made, according to developers, city planners and advocates affiliated with the YIMBY, or “yes in my backyard” movement."
Newsom managed to be ‘super liberal’ but ‘very cautious’ with bill signings and vetoes
The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Barack Obama famously said, “I am like a Rorschach test. Even if people find me disappointing ultimately, they might gain something.”
So then, is Gov. Gavin Newsom. Just look at what he signed and vetoed this year and an ink blot — with great hair — will come into focus."
With actions on drug laws, mental health and labor, Newsom moves toward center in second term
LA Times, LAUREL ROSENHALL, TARYN LUNA: "When Gov. Gavin Newsom put down his veto pen Friday night, closing the book on his fifth year of making laws for California, what emerged were signs that in his second term leading the state, the liberal Democrat from San Francisco is drifting toward the political center.
He vetoed bills to decriminalize psychedelic drugs and allow Amsterdam-style cafes for smoking pot. He bucked powerful labor unions in rejecting a bill that would have allowed workers to receive unemployment benefits when they strike."
Column: Californians are in a sour mood, which should be good news for Republicans. It’s not
LA Times, GEORGE SKELTON: "Californians don’t like the direction their state and the nation are headed. But they like the Democratic leaders who are in charge: Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Biden. Does that make sense?
Look, if you don’t like the way things are going, wouldn’t you want someone else at the helm? Maybe try out a Republican for a change?"
Recall drive against Alameda County DA Pamela Price intensifies with signature push
The Chronicle, CLARE FONSTEIN: "If you live in Alameda County, you may have someone knocking on your door asking you to sign a petition for the recall of District Attorney Pamela Price in the coming months.
The efforts to oust Price, in the works since July, were in full swing Sunday in Oakland during the first major signature event to get the issue on a ballot."
Palestinian Americans stuck in Gaza as all-out Israeli invasion looms
LA Times, NABIH BULOS, TRACY WILKINSON: "It was Tuesday, three days after Hamas militants launched the deadliest attack on Israel in over 50 years, slaughtering hundreds of civilians and sparking a ferocious Israeli response, that Nabil Al Shurafa realized that helping his mother leave Gaza was going to be a difficult task.
Until that morning, the American-born Al Shurafa, a 39-year-old medical researcher in Chicago, thought his 66-year-old mother, Naela, naturalized in the late 1990s and a 20-year resident of Camarillo, would be able to leave the enclave, despite the relentless Israeli bombing campaign."
How the Israel-Hamas War Is Tilting the Global Power Balance in Favor of Russia, China
WSJ, YAROSLAV TROFIMOV: "The war between Israel and Hamas isn’t just risking a regional conflagration. It is also affecting the global balance of power, stretching American and European resources while relieving pressure on Russia and providing new opportunities to China.
The long-term effect of the Middle East flare-up is hard to predict. It depends, first of all, on whether Israel is ultimately successful in its stated goal of eliminating Hamas as Gaza’s main military and political force. Another critical issue is whether Israel’s diplomatic relationships in the region and the global standing of its Western supporters can survive the rising civilian casualties in Gaza and the looming horrors of urban warfare in the densely populated enclave."
How Jewish-Palestinian couples cope with a war that hits too close to home
LA Times, BRITTNY MEJIA: "The children sat in the back seat of the car as their parents spoke in code.
Mya Guarnieri Jaradat and her ex-husband, Mohamed Jaradat, spoke in snippets of English and Arabic. Sensing something was amiss as they headed to the beach, their 7-year-old daughter asked what was wrong."
Gaza hospitals are overwhelmed with patients and desperately low on supplies as invasion looms
AP: "Medics in Gaza warned Sunday that thousands could die as hospitals packed with wounded people ran desperately low on fuel and basic supplies. Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave struggled to find food, water and safety ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive in the war sparked by Hamas’ deadly attack.
Israeli forces, supported by a growing deployment of U.S. warships in the region, positioned themselves along Gaza’s border and drilled for what Israel said would be a broad campaign to dismantle the militant group. A week of blistering airstrikes have demolished entire neighborhoods but failed to stem militant rocket fire into Israel."
A conversation with Martin Blank, national community schools leader, about California's big bet
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: "EdSource asked Martin Blank for his perspective on California’s massive investment in community schools in the context of the community schools movement that he was instrumental in creating.
For 20 years after he co-founded it in 1997, Blank directed the Coalition for Community Schools, a national organization that advocates for policies that support the implementation of quality community schools. He also served as president of the Institute for Educational Leadership, the coalition’s home."
Graduates of these Bay Area universities rank near the top for pay nationwide
The Chronicle, STAFF: "Two Bay Area universities cracked the top 10 on a new ranking of schools with the highest-paid graduates.
Stanford University came in at No. 5 on the College Salary Report by Payscale, a software company that tracks compensation data across industries."
Six years, a trial, and a firing. But no end to a professor’s sexual harassment fight
LA Times, DEBBIE TRUONG: "Sabrena Turner-Odom had settled comfortably into the rhythms of campus life at Los Angeles Southwest College. The English professor and tutoring director found it rewarding to guide students who reminded her of friends from her younger years — some who didn’t see college as a fit, others who were lost to street violence.
“What I tell my students is: Education is the fight of your life, because it will change your life,” she said."
Disney at 100: Seven ways Walt’s company forever changed entertainment
LA Times, MEG JAMES: "Walt Disney once said he hoped “we never lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse.”
One hundred years ago, the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio opened for business in the back half of a real estate office in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. Walt Disney had come to Hollywood that summer after the bankruptcy of his first venture, Laugh-O-gram Films, in Kansas City, Mo. He joined his older brother, Roy O. Disney, who was already living in California and willing to risk $250 on his sibling’s dreams."
Vallejo police officer punches woman in face during arrest in viral video
The Chronicle, CLARE FONSTEIN: "A video of a Vallejo police officer hitting a woman during an arrest Friday has gone viral.
The bystander video, which had more than 783,000 views on TikTok as of Sunday night, shows the officer striking the woman’s face while she is on the ground."
Will Sacramento’s planned tiny home village be ‘model for the rest of the state’?
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "As Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a flurry of pro-housing bills fast-tracking residential development across California last week, plans for a new village of tiny homes in a vacant Sacramento park were already underway.
Sacramento is one of nine locations where state housing officials are placing tiny homes as part of a program to boost free housing for homeless Californians by the end of the year, the governor’s office announced in a statement."
Suzanne Somers, of ‘Three’s Company,’ dies at 76
AP, LINDSEY BAHR: "Suzanne Somers, the effervescent blonde actor known for playing Chrissy Snow on the television show “Three’s Company” and who became an entrepreneur and New York Times best-selling author, has died. She was 76.
Somers had breast cancer for over 23 years and died Sunday morning, her family said in a statement provided by her longtime publicist, R. Couri Hay. Her husband Alan Hamel, her son Bruce and other immediate family were with her in Palm Springs, California."
