How back-to-back California storms are erasing fears about state’s water supply
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "Even before the major storm forecast for this weekend, a wet February has eased fears that California would end the rainy season with too little water. In fact, many parts of the state are now likely to wrap up with average or above-average rain and snow totals.
The state’s March snow survey, taking place Thursday, will show that snowpack in California’s mountains is around 80% of average for the date, a substantial leap from the end of January when it hovered around 50%. Rainfall, meanwhile, stood at 103% of average statewide Wednesday, up from about 80% last month."
Newsom wants to build a $16-billion water tunnel. Will it destroy California’s delta?
LAT's HAYLEY SMITH and IAN JAMES: "In the heart of California, at the place where two great rivers converge beneath the Tule fog, lies the linchpin of one of the largest water supply systems in the world.
Here in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, birds soar the Pacific Flyway, cows graze beside sodden rice fields and red reeds poke from still depths. In winter and spring, when the snow melts and the rain pours, water rushes through its sloughs and streams, winding around more than 200 small islands on a path to the Golden Gate and, eventually, the Pacific Ocean."
California’s urban runoff flows down the drain. Can the drought-plagued state capture more of it?
CALMatters's RACHEL BECKER: "California fails to capture massive amounts of stormwater rushing off city streets and surfaces that could help supply millions of people a year, according to a new analysis released today.
The nationwide report, by researchers with the Pacific Institute, ranks California ninth nationwide among states with the most estimated urban runoff. Rainwater flows off streets and yards into storm drains that eventually empty into waterways and the ocean — carrying pollutants picked up along the way."
Cold front to bring gusty winds, periods of heavy rain to Bay Area today
The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "Northern California is bracing for a powerful low-pressure system that could result in historic snowfall in the Sierra Nevada. While the Bay Area isn’t likely to set any weather records with this storm, periods of inclement weather are expected.
The cold nature of the arctic system is different from other storms that have swept through the Bay Area this winter. Temperatures will be much lower than earlier this week, with highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s and 40s Friday through Saturday. Unusual precipitation types are also possible in San Francisco and Oakland. Thunderstorms Friday afternoon through Sunday could include hail near the bay shoreline, and a mix of rain and snow as low as 1,500 feet."
Top Republican calls for investigation into Newsom over Panera’s exemption from wage law"
The Chronicle's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "The top Republican in the California Assembly on Wednesday called for an investigation after Bloomberg reported Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed for an exemption to the state’s new fast food minimum wage law to benefit a donor.
The law requires fast-food chains to increase their workers’ minimum wages to $20 an hour on April 1. It replaced an earlier law Newsom signed in 2022 that would have raised the minimum wage to $22. Newsom and lawmakers negotiated the scaled-back law with restaurants and labor unions last year after restaurant owners qualified a referendum of the 2022 law that would have prompted a costly ballot measure fight."
Smoking weed daily linked to significantly higher risk of heart attack, stroke
The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO: "Smoking cannabis frequently could lead to significantly higher risk of heart attack and stroke, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association on Wednesday.
Daily cannabis use, primarily by smoking, is associated with a 25% increased risk of heart attack and 42% increased risk of stroke when compared with not using the drug, the study found. Smoking weekly is associated with a 3% higher risk of heart attack and a 5% higher risk of stroke, according to the analysis, one of the largest studies to examine the relationship between cannabis and cardiovascular events."
COVID boosters strongly recommended for older adults this spring, CDC says
The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI: "Older adults should consider getting another COVID-19 shot this spring, even if they already received the latest vaccine in the fall, advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.
The advisory panel voted 11-1 to recommend an additional dose of the existing 2023-era vaccine available since September for Americans aged 65 and older. The suggestion is for them to wait at least four months after their last shot."
California gives new moms extra Medi-Cal benefits. It can’t say who’s using them
CALMatters's KRISTEN HWANG: "California offers extensive pregnancy benefits to low-income mothers, but the state’s top health agencies have no way of knowing how many people are getting help or whether the program improves the health of moms and babies, a new report from the California State Auditor asserts.
The audit’s findings come at a time when California is grappling with increasing rates of maternal mortality, persistent disparities for Black women and growing maternity care deserts. In 2020, the state reported the highest rate of maternal mortality in a decade, and Black women were three to four times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than others."
California effort to crack down on legacy and donor admissions could hit USC, Stanford
LAT's TERESA WATANABE: "As scrutiny over fairness in college admissions intensifies, a California lawmaker renewed efforts Wednesday to ban state financial aid to private campuses — including USC and Stanford University — that give admissions preferences to children of alumni and donors.
Those preferences, known as legacy admissions, have come under growing attack following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last June striking down race-based affirmative action in cases involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Critics say legacy admissions disproportionately favor affluent applicants — most of whom are white — and should be eliminated, just as race was banned in deciding who gets access to the nation’s most selective colleges and universities."
How mega-spending and alleged scandals could influence LAUSD school board elections
LAT's HOWARD BLUME: "As two leading Los Angeles school board candidates grapple with blows to their campaigns — antisemitic tweets for one and an investigation that temporarily removed another from her counseling job — outside groups continue to flood races with spending to win influence over the nation’s second-largest school system.
Four seats, a majority of the seven-member Board of Education — are on the ballot for the election that ends March 5. The top two finishers in each contest will be on the ballot in November."
Federal complaint alleges Berkeley public schools allowed discrimination against Jewish children
LAT's JENNY JARVIE: "The week after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Ilana Pearlman asked her 14-year-old son, Ezra, a ninth-grader at Berkeley High School who is Black and Jewish, if he felt safe.
“Oh, yeah, I’ll be fine,” he told her. “I’m Black.”"
Macy’s Union Square was born of a chance encounter. Here’s how it became a S.F. icon
The Chronicle's PETER HARTLAUB: "Macy’s arrived in San Francisco in 1947 with the marketing blitz of a summer movie blockbuster, political campaign kickoff and new product launch rolled into one.
“M … S … F … is coming!” full-page ads in the Chronicle teased months before opening."
Two Bay Area video game giants collectively laying off around 1,600
The Chronicle's ROLAND LI: "Two Silicon Valley video game heavyweights are both cutting jobs as the industry continues to shrink after booming during the pandemic.
Electronic Arts — maker of best-selling franchises “Madden NFL,” “Battlefield” and “The Sims” — said Wednesday it would cut 5% of its workforce, or around 700 workers. The Redwood City company previously cut 6% of its jobs, about a year ago."
Tech boom has slowed, but there are still more Silicon Valley jobs than before the pandemic
CALMatters's LEVI SUMAGAYSAY: "Silicon Valley continues to deal with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic: A tech boom of hiring and investment has now slowed, and an exodus from the region has now reversed.
Last year, the valley’s 20 biggest tech companies laid off 7% of their workforces, or about 18,800 employees, in the Bay Area, but the region actually had a net gain in jobs, according to a new report. The valley — defined as Santa Clara and San Mateo counties — added 2,700 jobs from June 2022 to June 2023, the Silicon Valley Index shows. Last year’s layoffs still leave those companies with 37,000 more tech jobs in the area than at the end of 2019, before the pandemic."
It’s now significantly more deadly to be homeless. Why are so many people dying?
CALMatters's MARISA KENDALL: "For many people, living on the streets of California is a death sentence.
That’s according to a recent study that took the first deep look into mortality rates in homeless communities throughout the country. It found the death rate more than tripled between 2011 and 2020. The findings make it clear that at the same time the number of homeless Californians is soaring, it’s also becoming more dangerous to be homeless. And it means the stakes are sky-high when it comes to state and local efforts to combat the crisis: People’s lives are on the line."
