California braces for heavy wildfire activity this fall: ‘They’re only going to get worse’
HAYLEY SMITH, LA Times: "Experts are warning Californians to brace for a ‘very active’ wildfire season this fall as two back-to-back wet winters and forecasts for a warmer-than-normal summer are likely to prime the state’s landscape for fire.
Even as recent blazes triggered evacuations in Los Angeles and Sonoma counties, those incidents may prove to be relatively tame compared with what the rest of the year could have in store, said Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist and extreme weather expert."
READ MORE: Post fire marches toward Pyramid Lake as California wildfire season intensifies, LA Times. Sonoma County fire threatens dozens of wineries in historic region, SF Chronicle.
Chevron tax could be heading to Richmond ballot this November
SIERRA LOPEZ, Mercury News: " The Richmond City Council on Tuesday evening is expected to place a tax on oil refining businesses on the November ballot, an initiative that would target the Chevron Refinery.
If placed on the ballot by council and approved by voters, the refining business license tax would charge Chevron $1 per barrel of raw materials refined in Richmond, bringing an estimated $60 million to $90 million a year in revenue to the city. The measure, which environmental groups are calling the Polluters Pay Initiative, would need a simple majority of votes to pass."
California retail theft measure is headed for the ballot box. Here’s what we know so far
VIK JOLLY, SacBee: "One of the tangible effects of a retail theft California November ballot measure that, among other changes to a previously passed proposition, aims to increase penalties, is that it most likely will result in an increase in county jail populations across the state and incarceration costs.
The new measure, among other things, would give prosecutors the ability to charge certain offenses as a felony instead of a misdemeanor. The initiative is another attempt to alter Proposition 47, which was approved by voters in 2014. That measure reduced some theft and drug crimes to misdemeanors and set a loss of $950 threshold for shoplifting."
Three people have died in Sacramento jail since early May. Is the county responsible?
THERESA CLIFT, SacBee: "Three men have died while in custody in the last six weeks at the Sacramento County Main Jail — a facility whose medical team remains so understaffed it violates a federal class action settlement.
Staffing levels were listed in 2023 reports as a factor in inmate deaths. Jail nurses in one report from that year named short staffing as the reason they couldn’t monitor a man who died of an overdose. Since then the number of full-time medical staff working at the jail has remained unchanged, at 251, county spokeswoman Kim Nava said in an email Thursday. Currently the jail has vacancies for one physician, three registered nurses, 10 licensed vocational nurses, two supervising RNs and two medical assistants, Nava said."
¿Cómo Se Dice? California Loops In AI To Translate Health Care Information
PAUL ANDALO, Kaiswre Health News: "Translating “cardiac arrest” into Spanish is also tricky because “arresto” means getting detained by the police. Likewise, “intoxicado” means you have food poisoning, not that you’re drunk.
The examples of how translation could go awry in any language are endless: Words take on new meanings, idioms come and go, and communities adopt slang and dialects for everyday life. Human translators work hard to keep up with the changes, but California plans to soon entrust that responsibility to technology."
S.F. to take first big steps in school closures. Here’s how it might pick which ones to shut
SAM WHITING, Chronicle: "San Francisco education officials just unveiled the first look at how they’ll likely decide which schools to close or merge as the district faces fraught choices ahead.
San Francisco Unified announced earlier this year that it will close or merge an as yet unknown number of its more than 100 schools to save money and boost resources amid declining enrollment and a budget deficit."
Prominent S.F. landlord facing eviction from its Financial District office space
J.K. DINEEN, Chronicle: "Prominent San Francisco residential landlord Mosser Capital is facing eviction from its Financial District office space after failing to pay rent over the last year, according to a lawsuit filed last week in superior court.
The Swig Co., which owns the 440,000-square-foot landmark Mills Building at 220 Montgomery St., claims that, as of May 1, Mosser owes $181,034 in back rent on the 6,000-square-foot suite on the 20th floor. The lawsuit also seeks damages of $1,221 a day “for as long as the defendant remains on the property.”
Secret Service agent robbed at gunpoint on night of glitzy L.A. fundraiser for Biden
KAREN GARCIA, LA Times: "Tustin police are investigating the alleged robbery of a member of the U.S. Secret Service whose possessions were taken at gunpoint. On Saturday at 9:36 p.m., officers responded to a call of a possible robbery at the Tustin Field 1 residential community at Tustin Legacy — a former military base turned residential development.
Upon arriving, the officers discovered the victim was a member of the U.S. Secret Service whose bag was stolen at gunpoint, according to a police report. During the incident, officials state, a shooting occurred between the alleged robber and the agent.
S.F. officials push for homeless housing with a novel rule: No drug use
MAGGIE ANGST, Chronicle: "It’s been nearly three years since Danica Gutierrez had a sip of alcohol, but maintaining her sobriety and caring for her three children while living among others struggling with drug and alcohol addiction isn’t easy.
Gutierrez, 29, lives with her three children in one of San Francisco’s permanent supportive housing sites for formerly homeless people in the South of Market district. Everyday she says she shares an elevator with neighbors visibly under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The smell of drugs from people smoking inside the building wafts into her apartment."
A Day in the Life of a California Fast-Food Manager Who Makes Up to $174,000
HEATHER HADDON, Wall Street Journal: "Monique Pizano has spent three years as a general manager and her six-figure earnings have helped her save for a house down payment, take a honeymoon to Japan and support her mom.
The 27-year-old from Ontario, Calif., feels lucky—many of her fellow University of California, Riverside, graduates haven’t been able to find jobs or are earning low hourly wages.
Pizano is one of about 850 general managers for Raising Cane’s, where her pay can reach $174,000 annually including bonuses based on her location’s sales and profit. The fast-growing chicken chain views its managers as critical partners, and the company, based in Baton Rouge, La., pays them to be perfectionists."
