Bay Area heat wave is here, with some cities bracing for triple-digit temperatures
The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "After a partly to mostly cloudy Monday, the Bay Area will rapidly warm up Tuesday as a high-pressure system moves into Central California. Tuesday will be the hottest day since summer in interior portions of the Bay Area, with highs in the 90s to near 100 degrees under sunny skies. Inland temperatures may climb even higher Wednesday before dropping slightly Thursday.
San Francisco and Oakland are expected to remain cooler this week due to westerly winds blowing in from the relatively chilly Pacific Ocean toward San Francisco Bay. Tuesday’s forecast highs are 77 degrees in downtown San Francisco and 85 degrees at Oakland’s Lake Merritt."
Special Episode: Covering California, Panel 3 – Covering the Capitol
Capitol Weekly's STAFF: "This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s conference COVERING CALIFORNIA: The Future of Journalism in the Golden State, which was held in Sacramento on Thursday, May 30, 2024"
The George Floyd tragedy – four years later: where does California stand on equity? (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly's ELENA SANTAMARIA & MARIA BARAKAT: "
Four years ago, the public murder of George Floyd aired on television and our entire nation and the world were openly subjected to the tragic realities of what Black, Indigenous, People of Color, American Indian and Alaska Native communities already know to be true – current systems of power have churned out a legacy of injustice in their neighborhoods for decade upon decade. After those horrific moments aired for the world to see, we heard government leaders, politicians, philanthropy, and private companies denounce systemic racism as well as make grandiose proclamations and commitments to “do better” and allocate resources to uplift community-driven, equity-based solutions. They hired more diverse staff. They passed resolutions and started anti-racism learning. They promised resources and change.
During this time period, COVID-19 was also killing black, brown, Asian, Pacific Islanders, and native Hawaiians, frontline and working-class community members at vastly higher rates than whiter, more affluent communities, who were not essential workers and could weather the ravages of the pandemic differently. California’s most vulnerable families were in crisis and equity advocates understood the time had come to make meaningful changes that would be lasting and felt by the people most harmed. The California Racial Equity Coalition was formed out of this urgent need. They proposed a realistic first step: a state Office of Racial Equity. The idea was to create and resource an entity within government to lead the states’ anti-racism efforts and address long-standing practices, policies and programs that perpetuate racial harm."
Get your health care through Covered California? Beware of this tax peril
CALMatters's ANA B. IBARRA: "Every tax season hundreds of thousands of Californians are hit with an unexpected bill: They owe hundreds of dollars or more to the IRS because they accepted more money in subsidies for health insurance than they were allowed.
The chargeback can sting. Collectively, 415,000 California households owed the IRS close to $690 million in 2021 in charges related to the health care subsidies, according to agency data from the most recent year available. That is roughly $1,662 per person or family. Many people who end up owing money live in lower-income households."
How shots instead of pills could change California’s homeless crisis
CALMatters's MARISA KENDALL: "As Dr. Rishi Patel’s street medicine van bounces over dirt roads and empty fields in rural Kern County, he’s looking for a particular patient he knows is overdue for her shot.
The woman, who has schizophrenia and has been living outside for five years, has several goals for herself: Start thinking more clearly, stop using meth and get an ID so she can visit her son in jail. Patel hopes the shot — a long-acting antipsychotic — will help her meet all of them."
California releases $470 million to put students on track for college and career
EdSource's EMMA GALLEGOS: "California has made good on a promise in the 2022 budget to invest in programs that simultaneously prepare students for both college and career.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Friday that the state has released $470 million to 302 school districts, charters and county offices of education to fund the Golden State Pathways program."
Oakland’s canceled SAT debacle points to broader testing and equity concerns statewide
BANG*Mercury News's SHOMIK MUKHERJEE: "Wi-Fi troubles led to the cancellation of a planned SAT exam for roughly 1,400 students in Oakland, a debacle that stretched on for hours Saturday and shed light on broader inequities in the city.
The incident hits home in a region where a surprising lack of available SAT testing sites has forced students to commute long distances from their home cities. Students affected in Saturday’s Wi-FI breakdown now await a rescheduled date — and a full refund."
Tension, distrust, anxiety pervade UCLA : ‘Everywhere you turn there’s a security guard’
LA Times's GRACE TOOHEY, HANNAH FRY, CAROLINE PETROW-COHEN: "Weeks of protests, violence, massive police actions and now a strike have taken a toll on the UCLA campus community, leaving many students overwhelmed, anxious and still struggling to make sense of the events.
The unrelenting whirl of police and news helicopter rotors continued for days in early May as the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus was violently attacked and then dismantled. Tense and boisterous campus protests have taken over gathering areas. Last week, academic workers began to picket on campus, disrupting some classes and office hours as students prepared for finals."
He solved a math problem that stumped Stanford profs. Here’s what became of a Bay Area prodigy
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "Even among the most gifted of child prodigies, Evan O’Dorney stood out.
At 13, he won the Scripps National Spelling Bee and, four years later, garnered the top prize in the Intel Science Talent search — each a mind-boggling feat, but combined, a singular achievement."
Can money conquer death? How wealthy people are trying to live forever
LA Times's ANDREA CHANG: "Peter Diamandis, a week away from turning 63, bounds out of a Starbucks on a recent morning with a cup of decaf, his daily medley of 70 supplement capsules in his pocket and, tucked under his left arm, a box of freshly deposited poop.
The serial entrepreneur is in the standard uniform of serial entrepreneurs: jeans, sneakers, fitted black T-shirt, Apple Watch, Oura Ring and puffer vest, the back of which says, “Life is short … until you extend it.”"
‘It’s like saying a Ouija board or an astrological chart is an investigative tool’: Law enforcement's unreliable tech
The Chronicle's SUSIE NEILSON, MATTHIAS GAFNI: "Raymond Whitall figured the technology could help him. It was September 2017, and the 58-year-old prisoner at Salinas Valley State Prison in MontBird flu detected in San Francisco, first city in California to report in wastewatererey County had accused guards of beating him without justification months earlier as he lay on the floor of the prison’s gym.
The guards said Whitall — who suffered from a chronic disease that affected his hearing balance — had swung his cane, hitting one of their hands, and that three of them had to physically subdue him. But a prison investigator determined that Whitall’s injuries could not be explained by the guards’ account."
Homeless man joined law enforcement program. Sacramento deputies arrested him at graduation
Sacramento Bee's ISHANI DESAI: "It was like the night before Christmas for Kenneth Crump. He could hardly sleep the night before graduating from a program he hoped would help set his life back on track. Called Links to Law Enforcement, the five-week course run by a Sacramento nonprofit enrolled at least a dozen participants this year.
Crump, 45, hoped classes taught by Sacramento County public safety agencies could foster a career in law enforcement while also building trust between authorities and his community."
In this suburb near Sacramento, more than half of young adults live with their parents. Why?
Sacramento Bee's MARCUS D. SMITH: "Alexis Farrow is thrilled to finally move into her studio apartment in Elk Grove this month. She recently went for a walkthrough and has already imagined what decorations she will have on the walls.
Farrow, 31, has lived at home with her parents all her life and will experience for the first time what it’s like to live alone. She’s spent years living with her mom and dad in Elk Grove, saving up to help afford her own rent and other bills."
Did Home Depot staff bolt planters to an L.A. street to deter RV parking? The city is investigating
LA Times's NATHAN SOLIS: "Parking in Los Angeles can be notoriously difficult, usually because of a crush of traffic or confusing signs filled with byzantine restrictions on days and hours.
But for those experiencing homelessness and living in their vehicles, the challenges are compounded with overnight parking bans that can lead to tickets or locals taking matters into their own hands."
Column: What Mexico’s historic presidential election can teach the U.S.
LAT's GUSTAVO ARELLANO: "Of the many terrible things that have been said about Mexico’s supposed inferiority to its northern neighbor, the most damning wasn’t even uttered by a gringo.
“Poor Mexico: So far from God, so close to the United States.”"
