PG&E utility bills are about to soar in California. Here are the details
The Chronicle, JULIE JOHNSON: "Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is poised to hit customers with a major hike to monthly bills in January, an increase that comes amid an unprecedented rise in utility rates for Californians over the last decade.
In the last eight years, average monthly residential bills for electricity and gas combined jumped by $86.51 — from $154.52 in January 2016 to $241.03 in January 2023, according to data from PG&E obtained by the Chronicle."
It’s official: Xi Jinping will meet Biden in San Francisco
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI: "Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit San Francisco in November for a meeting with President Joe Biden, intensifying the global spotlight on the city.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed that Xi will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit that begins Nov. 11, the city’s biggest international event in eight decades."
Are S.F. moderates going to beat progressives in 2024 election? Here’s what experts say
The Chronicle, ALDO TOLEDO: "When Gordon Mar was ousted from the Board of Supervisors in 2022, falling by a few hundred votes, insurgent moderate candidate Joel Engardio made history: No other candidate in over two decades of San Francisco district elections had managed to kick out a previously elected incumbent.
Riding on recall fever after voters kicked out progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin and three members of the school board, Engardio won in a tight race. The moderate Democrats who supported him touted his victory as a sea change in San Francisco politics."
How’s San Jose’s mayor performing? New data show figures on public safety, homelessness
BANG*Mercury News, GABRIEL GRESCHLER: "As San Jose nears one year into Mayor Matt Mahan’s tenure — are his major campaign promises going anywhere?
A new trove of data focused specifically on public safety, blight, homelessness and economic development shows improvements in some areas and setbacks in others as Mahan prepares to run for re-election in 2024 with no opposition thus far."
Experts Expound: Halloween Edition
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "Today is Halloween, and with that in mind we reached out to our esteemed panel of Capitol insiders to see what is scaring them today. Their answers are below. A list of of our experts is located at the end of the piece.
What is the scariest thing for you in the political world right now?
“AI. [artificial intelligence]”"
Unemployment insurance: California’s ‘urgent’ $20 billion problem
CALMatters, LEVI SUMAGAYSAY: "California’s unemployment insurance fund is $20 billion in debt, putting the state in a terrible position in case of a recession.
The deep debt — incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic as millions of people lost their jobs and the state borrowed money from the federal government for unemployment benefits — is on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mind."
Airstrikes flatten blocks of Gaza refugee camp, bringing rage, grief and a perilous new phase of war
LA Times, LAURA KING, NABIH BULOS, TRACY WILKINSON: "Vast bomb craters and rubble-filled moonscapes, buildings turned to concrete skeletons, hoarse shouts of grief and rage: The thunderous Israeli airstrikes that hit the Gaza Strip’s biggest refugee camp on Tuesday, killing or wounding hundreds, signaled a perilous new phase of Israel’s war with Hamas.
The airborne assault on Jabaliya refugee camp appeared to be among the deadliest localized bombardments since the war began Oct. 7 with devastating Hamas attacks inside Israel. Over the last five days, intensifying ground confrontations have taken hold as well, both sides said, spreading into Hamas’ formidable network of subterranean passageways."
Highland fire explodes across Riverside County, destroying homes and terrifying evacuees
LA Times, PRISCELLA VEGA, HAYLEY SMITH, ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "A bright orange hue enveloped Carol Rogers’ neighborhood as she fled from her home in Aguanga on Monday afternoon.
Nearby, the burgeoning Highland fire was chewing through dried grasses as hot Santa Ana winds whipped it into a blaze. Rogers tried to gather her important documents, medicine and laptop but couldn’t think clearly and left with the clothes she was wearing and her slippers."
READ MORE -- Thousands flee Highland Fire in Southern California as hot and dry Santa Ana winds stoke the flames -- CNN, STAFF
Californians who need help paying for round-the-clock home care are stuck on a state waitlist
LA Times, EMILY ALPERT REYES: "Nine months after giving birth, Caitlin Martin is still waiting to bring her son home from the hospital.
Her son Connor uses a feeding tube and relies on a tracheostomy and a ventilator to breathe. He was born with a rare birth defect called an omphalocele, which means some of his organs sit in a sac outside his body. Surgeons will eventually fix it, but only after a few years when he has grown bigger."
Bay Area masking up again as mandates go into effect Nov. 1 in health care settings
BANG*Mercury News, HARRIET BLAIR ROWAN: "As you put away those zombie masks and Halloween decorations, it might be a good time to pull out that box of surgical or KN95 face masks again as respiratory virus season gets underway, especially if you are headed to the doctor’s office soon.
In Santa Clara County, everyone — patients, caregivers and healthcare providers — will be required to wear face masks in public patient care areas in hospitals, clinics, and long term care facilities for the “winter respiratory virus period,” starting Nov. 1 and lasting five months through the end of March."
Every breast cancer patient deserves a fighting chance (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, LEONDRA CLARK HARVEY: "Each breast cancer patient has their own story. For some of us, breast cancer runs in our family and we’ve had family discussions about our risk. For others, the diagnosis comes out of left field and there’s nowhere to turn.
As a psychologist, patient advocate and survivor of an early-stage breast cancer diagnosis I know firsthand that breast cancer doesn’t discriminate. It impacts every generation – from young women who are just starting their careers to grandmothers who are enjoying retired life. It strikes women while they’re raising children, climbing the corporate ladder, training for marathons, traveling the world, and everywhere in between."
Tuition-free access expanding across California community college campuses
EdSource, JOSHUA PICAZO: "As enrollment rates across California’s community college system took heavy losses following the Covid-19 pandemic, colleges have focused on advertising their tuition-free access in recent months.
Tuition-free community college has been a reality for many students for several decades under the California College Promise Grant, which waives tuition fees for California resident students and non-residents under the California Dream Act who meet the needs-based criteria spelled out in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, better known as FAFSA."
The need for student services at community colleges has changed dramatically since the 1960s. Has state law kept up?
CALMatters, ADAM ECHELMAN: "On the shelf of an office in Coalinga sits a time capsule of sorts, transporting readers to the old days of community college. The book commemorates the 75th anniversary of the founding of West Hills College in Coalinga, featuring black and white photos from the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s. Young men and women, most of them white, hold books as they walk across campus. They pose together at the college dance or smile during football practice.
“It’s like ‘Friday Night Lights’,” said West Hills Community College District Chancellor Kristin Clark, comparing the images to the popular TV show and movie about small-town America as she leafs through the book."
Strike averted for students: Fresno Unified, teachers reach ‘historic’ contract
EdSource, LASHERICA THORNTON: "Less than 24 hours before a strike by thousands of educators was scheduled to start, Fresno Unified School District and its teachers union agreed on a tentative contract, the two announced during a joint press conference Tuesday morning.
The “historic” agreement, which was still being revised as late as this morning, brings more than a year of negotiating to an end and prevents a divisive strike that would’ve undoubtedly harmed the Fresno community and the district’s over 74,000 students."
Cal State faculty set to strike if demands not met
CALMatters, LYNN LA: "The faculty union of California State University overwhelmingly approved a strike authorization, giving its leadership the green light to pull as many as 29,000 instructors from educating the more than 400,000 students in the nation’s largest public four-year university system.
The California Faculty Association said Monday that 95% of its members who voted approved of the strike plans. The union refused to reveal how many of its members actually cast ballots."
READ MORE -- CSU faculty authorizes strike — a move that eventually could affect more than 400,000 students -- BANG*Mercury News, ELISSA MIOLENE
Oakland teachers union sparks outrage with social media posts on Israel-Hamas conflict
The Chronicle, JILL TUCKER: "Top leaders of the Oakland teachers union were facing significant backlash and calls for resignations this week after they posted a declaration associating Israel with genocide and apartheid while urging district educators to teach a pro-Palestinian curriculum.
Outraged teachers, parents and elected officials criticized the Instagram post put up on Friday and since deleted, as well as an amended statement still available on Facebook that continues to espouse the position that “the Israeli government created an apartheid state and the Israeli government leaders have espoused genocidal rhetoric and policies against the people of Palestine.”"
Hidden costs for remote workers moving out of California
LA Times, DON LEE: "Like many Californians, insurance broker Jennifer Balek took advantage of pandemic-induced opportunities to work from home by moving to another state.
The 38-year-old Camarillo native settled in a small community outside Dallas, where she and her husband bought a house big enough for their family of eight that they could never afford in Southern California. She also knew Texas has no state income tax. Gas for their vehicles is a lot cheaper."
‘No notice was given at all’: Why banks are closing in record numbers across S.F.
The Chronicle, RAHEEM HOSSEINI, DAPHNE YOUNG: "As can happen in a global economy, the dominoes tipped across coasts and oceans.
First, it was the March 10 failure of Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, where depositors pulled their funds from what they feared was a sinking ship. Two days later, federal regulators shut down Signature Bank in New York over concerns that a panic-run was heading there next. Then Switzerland’s second largest bank, Credit Suisse, needed a government-arranged sale to avoid a similar insolvency crisis. And in May, the crisis boomeranged home: First Republic Bank in San Francisco imploded from its inability to prepare for rising interest rates."
Exclusive: Crackdown on S.F. drug markets brings surging arrests, deportations
The Chronicle, MEGAN CASSIDY: "Five months after local and national law enforcement officials launched crackdowns on San Francisco’s open-air drug markets, one longtime dealer said he won’t risk venturing into the Tenderloin much anymore.
“I’m scared,” he said in a recent interview, noting that he’s lately preferred to work construction shifts. The source, who has dealt drugs in San Francisco on and off for nearly two decades, said what was once a full-time job has been pared down to about an hour a week, and most of the other dealers he knows are avoiding the area as well."
Man angry over Trump mugshot warns Georgia sheriff he’ll ‘get hurt real bad,’ feds say
Sacramento Bee, JULIA MARNIN: "More than two weeks before former President Donald Trump’s mugshot was taken at a Georgia jail, a man threatened the Fulton County sheriff — warning he may “get hurt” if the photo was taken, federal prosecutors said.
Arthur Ray Hanson II, of Alabama, is accused of threatening to hurt both Sheriff Patrick Labat and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in voicemails left over the county’s customer services line on Aug. 6, according to an Oct. 30 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia."
