An issue that gets overlooked in the health care debate in California: The state is facing a major physician shortage.
Capitol Weekly's ALEX MATTHEWS: "California is facing a primary care physician shortage, and one of the only solutions to address it is sitting on the edge of a fiscal cliff. The Teaching Health Center program, which places new resident physicians in underserved communities, will lose federal funding unless Congress acts to reauthorize it by Sept. 30."
"A study released on Aug. 15 by the University of California at San Francisco projected that due to population and insurance coverage expansion, the state will need an additional 4,700 primary care clinicians and providers by 2025."
"Low-income Californians are the most affected by this shortage, which is why Teaching Health Centers have become such an important solution. Research indicates that residents who graduate from these programs are more likely to work in safety-net communities than residents from traditional programs."
Police are expected to enforce a zero-tolerance policy this weekend as the far-right/anti-fascist protests come to the Bay Area.
LA Times' RICHARD WINTON/JAMES QUEALLY/PAIGE ST JOHN: "Back-to-back rallies this weekend that are expected to draw both far-right figures and large groups of counter-protesters to the Bay Area will offer a test of whether police can prevent the violence that plagued similar protests earlier this year."
"Law enforcement has spent weeks planning for the events in San Francisco and Berkeley. At the center of the campaign will be a huge police presence, perhaps more than a thousand officers who intend to crack down at the first sign of trouble."
"The San Francisco Police Department plans to have its entire roster on duty for Saturday afternoon’s “Freedom Rally” at Crissy Field Beach. In Berkeley, the site of Sunday's rally, city officials have expressly banned weapons, sticks, projectiles and even soda cans from gatherings of more than 100 people within the city limits. The National Park Service, which operates the land where Saturday’s protest will take place, has established similar rules."
Déjà vu all over again: UC is ripped yet again in a state audit, and this one finds mismanagement in a payroll computer system upgrade.
Th Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "A state audit released Thursday rips the University of California again — this time for bungling a plan to streamline its payroll systems."
"The payroll overhaul will cost UC nearly $1 billion — triple the expected cost — and will take five years longer than planned, says the audit that is the third deep dive into UC finances this year."
"The audit of the “UCPath” payroll system also faults the UC president’s office for failing to fully inform the governing Board of Regents about problems with the overhaul, which was supposed to save UC $753 million. Those savings — mainly from reduced staff — “will not materialize,” the audit says."
Student group negotiating to bring Bannon, Coulter, Yiannopoulos to UC Berkeley
East Bay Times' GEORGE KELLY: "A UC Berkeley spokesman said the university has been working with a student organization that plans to bring conservative authors and provocateurs Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter, as well as recently resigned White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, to campus next month."
"As part of a “free speech week” gathering Sept. 24-27 at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza, a registered student organization called Berkeley Patriot has been negotiating terms for the trio, two of whose speeches earlier this year were canceled by protests."
"They have been good collaborators and attentive to policy,” UC spokesman Dan Mogulof said late Wednesday of Berkeley Patriot, a registered student organizationlisted as a publication."
READ MORE: Ann Coulter to join Milo Yiannopoulos' 'Free Speech Week,' Steve Bannon unconfirmed -- Daily Californian's CHANTELLE LEE
UC Berkeley tries to reclaim its free speech legacy
East Bay Times' EMILY DERUY: "In recent months, white nationalists and other “alt-right” groups have advanced the argument that UC Berkeley isn’t living up to its distinction as the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement. By canceling events such as a February speech by conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, they contend, the school is stepping on their First Amendment right to express themselves."
"Carol Christ, Cal’s new chancellor, is well aware how that argument has gained steam in recent months. Before her tenure, former Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, who stepped down this summer, was criticized for addressing free speech issues reactively, not cooperatively."
"So now, as a highly publicized, right-wing rally targets the city of Berkeley on Sunday, Christ is looking to regain control of the narrative. She has declared this school term a “year of free speech” in which the university will recount the origins of its free speech legacy and invite both conservative and liberal speakers to campus."
Vision for a new neighborhood at SF's Pier 70 gets a key approval
The Chronicle's JK DINEEN: "Pier 70, a long-closed shipbuilding facility that most San Franciscans have never set foot on, moved closer to being transformed into a bustling neighborhood of housing, parks, shops, workplaces and art studios under a proposal the Planning Commission unanimously approved Thursday."
"The plan calls for 1,100 to 2,150 units of housing and 1.1 million to 2 million square feet of office space on the 28-acre site. There will be 9 acres of new parks, including a waterfront green space that will extend the Bay Trail along the area’s 1,300 feet of shoreline. Thirty percent of the housing will be affordable, in three stand-alone affordable buildings, with more below-market units spread throughout the market-rate buildings."
"The $765 million in public benefits includes $177 million in affordable housing, $442 million in parks and infrastructure spending and $62 million in transportation improvements."
Speaking of protests, Berkeley denies permit for anti-Marxism rally
The Chronicle's MICHAEL BODLEY: "The organizers of the latest rally in Berkeley, billed by right-wing activists as a demonstration against Marxism, have been denied a permit by the city."
"In a letter, Deputy City Manager Jovan Grogan told organizers of the event planned for Sunday in Civic Center Park — the home in recent months to a growing number of such demonstrations — that the “totality of circumstances” prevented Berkeley from being able to safely host the event."
"Organizers did not immediately return requests for comment."
A founder of BLM answers a question on many minds: Where did it go?
LA Times' ANN M SIMMONS/JAWEED KALEEM: "To supporters, it is a respectable civil rights movement. To critics, it’s an anti-police organization that deserves to be banned."
"Black Lives Matter came into existence following the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin, an African American teen, by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla. The group became known nationally amid protests in Ferguson, Mo., after a white police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man."
"Since then, the organization founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi has been on the front lines of protests against what it calls “the sustained and increasingly visible violence against black communities.”
City, state officials address housing crisis in light of rising 'super commuters'
Daily Californian's SYDNEY FIX: "As the housing crisis has grown across California, the state has seen a rise in the number of “super commuters,” residents who commute longer hours to cities starved of affordable housing, including those in the Bay Area."
"While the number of jobs brought into the Bay Area has grown in recent years, the availability of housing has not matched this increase, according to State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley. People working in service-type jobs are not being paid wages that would allow them to afford housing in the cities where they are employed, forcing many to make long commutes to and from work each day, Skinner said."
"Those are essential services, but then they’re driven out to living further and further away just to be able to afford somewhere to live,” Skinner said."
Trump foes, questioning his mental fitness, are citing the 25th Amendment. So how does that work?
LA Times' MARK Z. BARABAK: "Is President Trump crazy?"
"Not can-you-believe-he-really-said-that? crazy. Certifiably-mentally-unfit-to-serve-as-president crazy."
"It’s an outlandish assertion — insulting, really — and a measure of the antipathy of Trump’s critics that some, including members of Congress, have seriously raised the subject. Which brings us to the 25th Amendment."
READ MORE related to Beltway: Mnuchin's wife isn't the only one defining herself through the brands she promotes -- LA Times' DAVID LAZARUS
Finally, from our Here Comes the Sun file, comes the tale of the guy who watched the eclipse without -- you guessed it -- special glasses.
"New York rapper Joey Bada$$ recently announced that he had to cancel several of his upcoming shows due to “unforseen circumstances”. Seeing as he had previously boasted on Twitter that he was staring at Monday’s eclipse without eye protection, it wasn’t hard for his fans to figure out what had happened."
“Am I crazy for watching the eclipse today w no glasses? I’ve sungazed before and afterwards saw colors for a whole day. I didn’t die tho,” Joey Bada$$ tweeted on August 21. “This ain’t the first solar eclipse and I’m pretty sure our ancestors ain’t have no fancy eyewear. Also pretty sure they ain’t all go blind....”
"On Wednesday, Joey tweeted, “Seeing double, stacking triple”, using hip-hop slang for cashing in, which only fueled the rumors that he had canceled the shows due to eye problems caused by staring at the eclipse. Finally, Joey Bada$$ confirmed what everyone already suspected, by posting a photo of himself wearing a pair of special glasses, on Instagram, with the caption “Doc said I gotta keep these on in the daytime now…. a lil annoying but they’re pretty fire”."
