California regulators slap Bay Area refinery with record penalty after ‘egregious’ long-term leak of toxic pollutants
The Chronicle's JULIE JOHNSON: "Regional and state air quality regulators handed Valero Refining Co. a nearly $82 million penalty for “egregious” emissions problems at its Benicia refinery, which for 16 years spewed illegal amounts of cancer-causing gases and chemicals into the air.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District and California Air Resources Board, in an announcement Thursday, said that from 2003 to 2019 Valero’s hydrogen stacks churned out tons of harmful organic chemicals each day in amounts more than 360 times the legal limit. Valero management knew about the emissions problems “but did not report them or take any steps to prevent them,” officials said."
Procrastinator’s guide to California’s 2024 election: What you need to know before you vote
Sacramento Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "Election Day is next week. Have you voted yet?
If you’re reading this, chances are the answer to that is “no.” No worries, The Sacramento Bee is here to help you do your civic duty in fashionably late time."
Poll finds Californians uncertain about Proposition 32, which would boost minimum wage to $18
LAT's MACKENZIE MAYS: "Just under half of California voters support Proposition 32, the measure to increase California’s minimum wage to $18 an hour, a warning sign about its fate in next week’s election, according to new polling results released Friday.
Forty-seven percent of likely voters and those who have already cast ballots backed the measure, according to a survey from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies co-sponsored by The Times. Thirty-nine percent intend to vote “no,” and 14% are undecided."
Prop. 6 supporters ask voters to end slavery in California. Isn’t it already illegal?
LAT's HANNAH WILEY, ANABEL SOSA: "Gathered on a sunny morning in Los Angeles on Wednesday, a coalition of criminal justice reform advocates urged voters to pass Proposition 6 and finally rid California of slavery nearly 175 years after it joined the union — as a free state.
“We’re here to confront the uncomfortable truth that in our beautiful, great state of California, slavery still exists in our Constitution,” Tanisha Cannon, managing director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, told the crowd of supporters."
Kamala Harris rallies Reno in final swing state push: ‘Never been so much at stake’
Sacramento Bee's NICOLE NIXON: "Vice President Kamala Harris is using the final days of the election to pitch herself as a pragmatic alternative to former Republican President Donald Trump, whom she described as “increasingly unstable” and “out for unchecked power” during a rally in Reno Thursday evening..
The rally was part of a campaign tour through western swing states, with only five days until the election. Harris’s Reno event was bookended by rallies in Phoenix and Las Vegas in the push to win two states critical to the presidential race."
Harris, Schiff enjoy big leads in California, but Biden’s victory was bigger in 2020, poll finds
LAT's KEVIN RECTOR: "Vice President Kamala Harris has a commanding lead over former President Trump in California heading into the final days of the election, but it is smaller than the victory margin that President Biden enjoyed in the state in 2020, according to a new poll.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff also enjoys a major advantage in his U.S. Senate race against Republican former Dodger All-Star Steve Garvey."
Two recalls on the Oakland ballot show frustration about crime ‘boiling over’
LAT's JESSICA GARRISON: "When Sheng Thao was sworn in as mayor of Oakland in January of 2023, a raft of feel-good stories followed, often featuring beaming portraits of the mayor in front of sun-drenched civic landmarks.
Oakland’s new mayor was, as the New York Times noted, suddenly the nation’s most prominent Hmong elected official. The Washington Post interviewed Thao about her journey from homeless young mother to the city’s chief executive. Her election, said the Guardian, seemed to represent a progressive victory in a region where tech billionaires were intent on yanking politicians to the right."
Mayor Breed says her tumultuous childhood in S.F. made her ‘tough.’ Will it help her get reelected?
The Chronicle's CONNOR LETOURNEAU: "Standing at the corner of Fillmore and O’Farrell streets, Mayor London Breed reflected on all that has changed in the neighborhood where she grew up: the nightclubs that are now fast food restaurants, the check cashing place that is now a market, the public housing projects that are now high end condos.
“Things are definitely different,” Breed said, “but it still feels like home.”"
Banned rainbows and ‘forced outing.’ Will elections reshape this relentless school board?
LAT's JAWEED KALEEM: "At Senator Ruben S. Ayala Senior High School in Chino Hills, students this semester complained of broken air conditioners and bathroom sinks, faulty Chromebooks and Wi-Fi and, in one classroom, a ceiling leak that dripped into a bucket by a teacher’s desk as rats scurried across the floor.
But recently, school administrators dealt with a different in-classroom issue: the appearance of 4-by-6-inch rainbow-pattern note cards imprinted with the phrase “safe space.” Some teachers saw the cards as a way to show support to LGBTQ+ students. But school leaders said they went against a district ban on non-American flags, including rainbow ones, a symbol of LGBTQ+ pride. The cards are now gone."
Undocumented migrants have no safety net for retirement. Many have no choice but to keep toiling
LAT's KATE LINTHICUM: "If Maria del Carmen Díaz, 69, and Jose Carlos Silva, 67, had the retirement of their dreams, they’d own a house somewhere in the California desert. They would have a backyard where their eight grandchildren could play. Afternoons would be spent relaxing, Díaz knitting while her husband strummed guitar.
Instead, the couple rents a cramped back house in Pasadena, with little prospect that they will ever be able to stop working. Díaz cleans homes. Silva paints houses and landscapes yards. They get by on donations from a local food bank and help from their kids."
Turning out California student voters with quizzes, coffee sleeves and door-knocking
EdSource's AMY DIPIERRO: "Every Monday for the past few weeks, Cal Poly Pomona student Melvyn Hernandez has been manning a table outside the Bronco Student Center to register fellow students to vote. He comes prepared with snacks, prizes and a quiz testing students’ election year know-how.
“When it comes to things like Super Tuesday, or what a swing state is, or even who the major candidates are for the elections, a lot of students don’t really have the time to be aware of that,” said Hernandez, an architecture major. “A lot of students — even with how publicized the different debates and everything are– they’re too busy to be following it.”"\
Many middle school students struggle to read well, study shows
EdSource's KAREN D'SOUZA: "New research reveals that many middle school students hit a “decoding threshold,” the 74 reported.
More than 20% of students in fifth through seventh-grade trip over words they don’t recognize and can’t sound out. This obstacle keeps them from grasping the main idea of school reading assignments, according to a study released Wednesday from the Educational Testing Service and the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund."
‘Immediate threat’: Mussel invades California’s Delta, first time in North America
CALMatters' ALASTAIR BLAND: "From the glittery bling of its name, the golden mussel sounds like it could be California’s state bivalve.
Unfortunately, the creature’s only connection to the Golden State is the fact that it is California’s most recently identified invasive species — and it’s a bad one, with the capacity to clog major water supply pipes."
Bay Area set for sudden shift in weather, with rain on way
The Chronicle's GREG PORTER: "Change is in the air across the Bay Area on Saturday night. Sunshine became a bit faded Saturday afternoon as moisture-laden clouds extending out from Tropical Storm Kristy spread across much of the region, and rain showers are in the forecast for Sunday morning.
The wispy clouds weren’t thick enough to completely obscure the sun, but they provided a good environment for a colorful red and orange sunset. The mix of water droplets and ice crystals inside the clouds acts as a nice reflection surface for rays of sunshine, especially around sunset."
A crowd of 100,000 is expected at Dodgers parade — and security will be tight
LAT's RICHARD WINTON, NATHAN SOLIS: "After scattered instances of burglary and vandalism Wednesday in the hours after the Dodgers won the World Series, police are hoping the Friday championship parade and related festivities go off without problems.
“The expectations are a safe, family-friendly event to celebrate our Dodgers,” LAPD Cmdr. Steve Lurie said. “I do expect large crowds, but we believe they will be completely peaceful, and we will be there together with the Fire Department and the Sheriff’s Department to help keep everybody safe.”"
Lawsuit: Alameda County DA Price’s firing of top inspector was racially motivated
The Chronicle's DAVID HERNANDEZ: "A former top Alameda County law enforcement official sued District Attorney Pamela Price on Thursday, saying she wrongfully terminated him in January 2023 based in large part on his race as an Asian American.
Former Chief Inspector Craig Chew’s employment discrimination lawsuit also raises questions about the propriety of Price’s hiring of his successor."
Stevie Nicks makes a surprising confession about her voting history
The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI: "Stevie Nicks has recently become increasingly outspoken about her political views. But she has just shared a confession regarding one of her greatest regrets: her late start in voting.
“I never voted until I was 70,” Nicks, now 76, revealed in a candid interview with MSNBC. “I regret that, and I don’t have very many regrets. There’s so many reasons. You can say, ‘Well, I didn’t have time, I was this and that.’ In the long run ... you didn’t have an hour? You didn’t have an hour of your time that you could have gone and voted?”"
