The wildfires burning in Northern California: Updates on containment, evacuations
VINCENT MEDINA, SacBee: "More evacuations have been relaxed Thursday as firefighters continued to battle flames and extreme heat at the Thompson Fire burning near Lake Oroville in Butte County.
The wildfire, which started Tuesday morning on Cherokee Road, has charred 3,747 acres (5.85 square miles) and was 7% contained in the latest update from Cal Fire’s Butte County unit. That’s only 200 acres more than Wednesday night’s progress as fire conditions moderated overnight with cooler temperatures and higher humidity. Firefighters were also aided by weaker winds that had plagued the area, under a red flag warning since Monday.
French Fire poses ‘imminent threat’ to Yosemite gateway town of Mariposa; hospital shelters in place
SF Chronicle's MEGAN FAN MUNCE: "A fast-moving wildfire forced residents of the historic Gold Rush town of Mariposa to flee Thursday evening.
The French Fire started around 6:30 p.m. Thursday north of town. By the small hours of Friday morning, it had grown to around 842 acres, Cal Fire said. The fire “will likely pose an imminent threat to town itself overnight,” UCLA-affiliated climate and weather expert Daniel Swain wrote on social media Thursday night. “Evacuation are expanding, and conditions will remain very warm/dry though the night.”
READ MORE about wildfires: Firefighters make major progress against Thompson Fire in Oroville amid punishing heat, Chronicle's SUSIE NEILSON; Thompson fire conjures traumatic memories for Camp fire survivor who lost everything but her life, LA Times' ALEX WIGGLESWORTH; Map: Where are California’s big wildfires, and how contained are they?, Bay Arrea News Group
Former U.S. Rep Jackie Speier announces she has breast cancer
Mercury News' JIM HARRINGTON: "Jackie Speier — the former U.S. Congresswoman who represented California’s 14th district from 2008 to 2013 — has breast cancer.
The San Francisco native, who in March was elected to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, made the news public via social media.
“I have personal news that I want to share with you because we can all learn from it. I just became one of the 300,000 women per year who are diagnosed with breast cancer,” she posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) on July 4. “The good news is that it was discovered early and I had a successful lumpectomy on Tuesday.”
Newsom Urges Michigan Democrats to Stay Calm and Support Biden
New York Times' MITCH SMITH: "Gov. Gavin Newsom of California told angsty Michigan Democrats on Thursday that President Biden had been engaged and all in on his re-election campaign during a White House meeting a day before. And Mr. Newsom suggested, gently, that party activists take a deep breath and rally behind the incumbent.
“What I need to convince you of is not to be fatalistic, not to fall prey to all this negativity,” Mr. Newsom told more than 300 fellow Democrats who had gathered on the Fourth of July holiday in South Haven, Mich."
ABC News to Air Full Biden Interview in Prime Time on Friday
ISOBELLA SIMONETTI and JOE FLINT, Wall Street Journal: "ABC News plans to air its much-anticipated interview with President Biden in its entirety on Friday evening, a sign of the growing importance of the event.
The decision to accelerate the release of George Stephanopoulos’s interview with Biden—set to be taped earlier Friday, but originally slated to be released Sunday—comes as the president is under pressure to show he is fit to stay in the race after a disastrous debate performance last week."
Biden Stumbles Over His Words as He Tries to Steady Re-Election Campaign
NY Times' MICHAEL D. SHEAR: "President Biden sought to steady his re-election campaign by talking with two Black radio hosts for interviews broadcast on Thursday, but he spoke haltingly at points during one interview and struggled to find the right phrase in the other, saying that he was proud to have been “the first Black woman to serve with a Black president.”
He also stumbled over his words during a four-minute Fourth of July speech to military families at the White House, beginning a story about former President Donald J. Trump, calling him “one of our colleagues, the former president” and then adding, “probably shouldn’t say, at any rate” before abruptly ending the story and moving on."
How will this end? It’s all up to Biden, allies say
Washington Post's ASHLEY PARKER and TYLER PAGER: "President Biden’s guiding principle for jumping into the 2020 presidential race was that he was the only person who could beat then-President Donald Trump. Now, if Biden is to jump out of the race, he — and he alone — will have to decide he is no longer that person, according to allies and aides.
Following a faltering, confused debate performance facing off against Trump last week, Democrats inside and outside the administration are privately grappling with what would need to happen for Biden to exit the presidential contest just six weeks before the party convention and four months before the election."
In deep-blue L.A., Democrats feel worried, betrayed, stoic about Biden’s future
LA Times' FAITH E.PINHO and VANESSA MARTINEZ: "Even in the heart of the most Biden-loving parts of Los Angeles County, the president is facing grumbles after his resounding failure of a performance at last week’s debate.
“Biden needs to go sit down, have his medication and take a nap. His time is up,” said Daisy Williams, who voted for Biden in 2020 but said she wouldn’t participate in November’s election after watching last week’s debate. “I’ve never seen something so crazy in my life. We in trouble … That debate was a joke.”
OPINION: 248 years after America’s independence, is Biden vs. Trump the best we can do?
DAN WALTERS, CalMatters: "Business mogul Mark Cuban conducted an interesting experiment during last week’s debate between President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump.
He fed a transcript of the debate into ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot, and asked it to rate the two political rivals as if they were applying for a job, based on their “communication skills, clarity, problem-solving abilities and overall professionalism.”
California adopts sweeping statewide water conservation framework
HAYLEY SMITH, LA Times: "After years of deliberation, California water officials have adopted landmark rules that will guide future water use and conservation in the state.
According to officials, the Making Conservation a California Way of Life framework will help save 500,000 acre-feet of water annually by 2040 — enough to supply more than 1.4 million households for a year — and apply to the state’s largest water utilities, not individuals or households.
Allegations against S.F. politico surface as Democratic Party grapples with internal culture
SF Chronicle's ALDO TOLEDO: "A woman has told San Francisco police that she was sexually assaulted on two occasions in 2021 by Kevin Ortiz, the co-president of the Latinx Democratic Club and a former staffer for Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
The Chronicle obtained the April police report from the woman, Zahra Hajee, a former aide to city Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla. The newspaper does not generally name alleged victims of sexual assault, but Hajee, who now lives in Los Angeles, agreed to be identified for this story."
