Newsom taps climate ‘architect’ to lead California air board as Trump fights heat up
CALMatters, ALEJANDRO LAZO: "The California Air Resources Board is getting a new leader at a pivotal moment, as it battles the Trump administration in court and contends with growing scrutiny from Democrats and voters questioning the price of the state’s climate principles.
Liane Randolph has chaired the board of the state’s top air and climate regulator since 2020. She oversaw a range of policies including landmark clean-car and truck rules, a fuel standard with implications for gas prices and the state’s signature carbon trading program, cap-and-trade. This week, Gov. Gavin Newsom nominated his senior climate advisor, Lauren Sanchez, to replace her."
Gavin Newsom has hundreds of bills on his desk. These ones are a window into his political future (OP-ED)
Chronicle, EMILY HOEVEN: "Now that Gov. Gavin Newsom has finally acknowledged what even those with the faintest political pulse have long been aware of — that he’s considering a presidential run — there’s no question whether his national ambitions are affecting his governance here in California.
The question is: How much?"
ABC affiliates demand Jimmy Kimmel apologize, donate to Charlie Kirk’s family
Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "Sinclair Broadcast Group, the nation’s largest owner of ABC affiliates, said it will not allow “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” back on its stations unless the late-night host apologizes to Charlie Kirk’s family members and makes a “meaningful personal donation” to them and to Turning Point USA, the conservative activist’s nonprofit.
The ultimatum follows Disney’s decision to suspend the show indefinitely after Kimmel’s recent monologue on Kirk, who was shot and killed Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University."
What Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers said about Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension
LAT, YVONNE VILLARREAL/KAITLYN HUAMANI: "While Thursday’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” was preempted by a rerun of “Celebrity Family Feud,” continuing ABC’s indefinite suspension of the talk show, some of Kimmel’s late-night colleagues used their platform to sound off.
On “The Daily Show,” which airs on Paramount-owned Comedy Central and has rotating hosts, Jon Stewart suited up for emceeing duties outside his usual Monday slot. Desi Lydic had been hosting this week, but the comedian had something to say about the issues surrounding his friend Kimmel."
Unions are spending more than ever on CalPERS elections. Here’s why they’re divided
CALMatters, ADAM ASHTON/JEREMIA KIMELMAN: "California’s public employee unions often put up the big money — and the only money — in elections for seats on the board that oversees the state’s largest pension fund.
This summer, they pulled together $660,000 through an independent expenditure committee to support their favored candidates at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System by sending mailers on their behalf."
Who’s donating millions for, against Prop. 50, California’s redistricting fight?
Sac Bee, LIA RUSSELL/NICOLE NIXON: "Less than 50 days from the Nov. 4 special election, the Yes and No camps on Prop. 50 are raising and spending millions to support messaging and turnout operations during the abbreviated campaign.
Department of Finance Chief Deputy Director Erika Li estimated the election will cost counties $251.3 million, and another $31.3 million to the state, according to a letter she sent State Controller Malia Cohen earlier this month. That’s more than the $200 million the 2021 recall election cost."
RFK Jr.’s handpicked committee changed its recommendations for key childhood shots
LAT, CORINNE PURTILL/JENNY GOLD: "A key committee of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Thursday to alter its recommendation on an early childhood vaccine, after a discussion that at times pitted vaccine skeptics against the CDC’s own data.
After an 8-3 vote with one abstention, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will no longer recommend that children under the age of 4 receive a single-shot vaccine for mumps, measles, rubella and varicella (better known as chicken pox)."
With just days of cash left, remote California hospital nears crisis point
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "Inyo County, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada, has two hospitals. In a matter of weeks it may be down to one, local and state officials say.
Southern Inyo Healthcare District, a 37-bed hospital in Lone Pine, had eight days of cash on hand as of Sept.12, chief executive Dr. Kevin Flanigan told CalMatters. Local officials have sent a letter asking Gov. Gavin Newsom for an emergency $3 million to stabilize its finances through the end of the year, but absent state intervention the hospital may have to severely cut services and staff — or close altogether."
Billions of dollars in California research grants now hang in the balance at an obscure federal court
CALMatters, MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN: "Following a complicated Supreme Court ruling in late August, the fate of billions of dollars of science research grants is now at the mercy of an obscure federal law known as the Tucker Act.
“I had never spent more than three minutes in class even mentioning the existence of the Tucker Act, and it would never have occurred to me to do so before this spring,” said David Marcus, a UCLA professor of law who specializes in civil procedure and federal courts."
Federal judge is ‘inclined’ to order Trump to restore $500 million in UCLA research grants
LAT, JAWEED KALEEM/DANIEL MILLER: "A federal judge Thursday said she was “inclined to extend” an earlier ruling and order the Trump administration to restore an additional $500 million in UCLA medical research grants that were frozen in response to the university’s alleged campus antisemitism violations.
Although she did not issue a formal ruling late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin indicated she is leaning toward reversing — for now — the vast majority of funding freezes that University of California leaders say have endangered the future of the 10-campus, multi-hospital system."
After the trauma of the fires, survivors faced worry over contamination, struggled to find testing
LAT, NOAH HAGGERTY: "After the Eaton and Palisades fires ripped through Los Angeles County, the vast majority of residents in and around the burn scars were concerned about the hazardous compounds from the smoke and ash lingering in their homes, water and soil, according to a new survey published Tuesday. Yet many felt they lacked the support to move back safely.
While more than 8 in 10 residents hoped to test their properties for contamination, only half of them could. And as fire survivors searched for information to protect their health, many distrusted the often conflicting messages from media, public health officials, academics and politicians."
Bay Area weather settles into a familiar September groove. Here’s what to expect
Chronicle, GREG PORTER: "The Bay Area is heading into the final weekend of summer with a quiet pattern on tap. After several days of tropical leftovers, conditions will settle into something more typical for September over the weekend, with morning fog, afternoon sunshine and modestly cool temperatures in the 70s and 80s.
The main feature driving this pattern is a weak low pressure system offshore. It is what meteorologists call a cutoff low, a pool of colder air aloft that has broken away from the jet stream. This system will drift slowly toward the Channel Islands by Sunday. It is not strong enough to bring organized rain or storms to the Bay Area, but it controls how the marine layer behaves from one day to the next."
Yellowstone hiker survives bloody encounter with a bear, possibly a grizzly
LAT, JACK DOLAN: "A hiker who was attacked by a bear — probably a grizzly — in Yellowstone National Park this week has been released from the hospital.
The 29-year old man had been hiking alone on the remote Turbid Lake Trail when he apparently surprised the bear, according to park officials. While trying to use bear spray, he sustained “significant but not life-threatening injuries to his chest and left arm,” according to officials."
Apple Store is offering a bogus EBT app for Californians. Here’s how to avoid it
LAT, KAREN GARCIA: "California officials are warning of a phony electronic benefit transfer mobile application that they allege is posing as a state-sponsored tool and trying to scam financial assistance recipients with unnecessary fees.
The fraudulent app available for download on the Apple App Store is called “Ebt edge - food stamps” which bears a similar name to the real state-sponsored mobile application “ebtEDGE,” officials said."
Videos, texts show how the Sacramento NAACP pressured restaurants in COVID program
Sac Bee, JOE RUBIN: "Betty Williams, the former president of the Sacramento branch of the NAACP, erupted with displeasure in a video call with a half-dozen restaurant owners participating in a COVID food aid program, criticizing them because they had “gone over my head” to complain to county supervisors about money they were owed.
“I don’t need no s--- in the middle of my negotiations,” she said to the stunned owners in the March 2023 Zoom session."
S.F.’s Powell Street makeover approved: Lights, sidewalk cafés and a golden lantern by 2027
Chronicle, J.K. DINEEN: "The forlorn three-block stretch of Powell Street between the cable car turnaround and Union Square may soon become, as the kids say, lit.
Under a $40 million proposal — about half of which has yet to be funded — the stretch of mostly vacant storefronts would be brightened by illuminated milky white metal globes suspended by cables in a zigzag pattern."
Urban Alchemy gave pay bumps to homeless shelter staff in defiance of S.F., analyst says
Chronicle, MICHAEL BARBA: "Urban Alchemy, a prominent San Francisco nonprofit that operates in cities around the nation, “knowingly overspent” hundreds of thousands on pay bumps for its staff and other expenses last fiscal year under a contract it received to run a homeless shelter near the Tenderloin, city analysts say.
The excess spending, which emerged Wednesday at a City Hall hearing, jeopardizes the $22.7 million contract to run the shelter that the nonprofit received from the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. It comes amid mounting scrutiny of Urban Alchemy, which expanded from San Francisco into cities in five other states grappling with homelessness. Urban Alchemy’s model of hiring formerly incarcerated people to patrol the streets as community ambassadors proved popular in San Francisco and elsewhere as city officials looked for ways to calm chaotic neighborhoods coming out of the pandemic."
They met at a festival. He was a sheriff’s deputy — and a stalker, her lawsuit claims
LAT, JAMES QUEALLY: "Briana Ortega had been home for all of three minutes when she heard a fist pounding against her door.
She opened it to find a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy “claiming a black man with dreadlocks had jumped over her backyard fence” and was trying to break into her La Quinta home, according to court records."
