“The fires are coming for you!” - These Californians found Oregon no longer an escape
The Chronicle’s ANNIE VAINSHTEIN: “Brinkley Capriola was looking forward to Oregon’s fresh air.
The 26-year-old photographer was in Sonoma keeping a wary eye on encroaching wildfire threats and smoky skies when she decided to make the move to Portland, where many of her friends and former University of Oregon classmates still lived. Sonoma had always held a special place in her heart, but six months into pandemic living, she was longing for what she’d left behind in the Pacific Northwest — the lush greenery, the crisp air, her community.
On the morning of Sept. 7, she packed up her Subaru with everything she owned and set out for Oregon alone.”
Californians divided along racial, income lines on coronavirus fears and public restrictions
The Chronicle’s JOHN WILDERMUTH: “Worries about the coronavirus and support for continuing and even increasing state and local restrictions are highest among the state’s poor and communities of color, while concerns are far lower among white residents and the better-off, according to a new poll.
“It’s a tale of two different Californias,” said Mark Baldassare, CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California and the poll’s director.
From the earliest days of the pandemic, the coronavirus has struck the Black and Latino communities hard, in the Bay Area, the state and the country. With people of color and low-income residents more likely to work in jobs that require personal contact, concerns about the disease and the chance of infection are close to the surface.”
Californians supported pandemic restrictions and are still worried about outbreak, survey shows
Sac Bee's LARA KORTE: "Californians still support efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak through restrictions on public spaces and their worries about COVID-19 have not diminished since the spring, a new poll shows.
The survey by the Public Policy Institute of California showed 74% of respondents favor restrictions on public activity to mange the pandemic, or want more aggressive limitations.
Just 26% of respondents want looser restrictions on public activity during the pandemic."
North Complex is now fifth-deadliest, sixth-largest wildfire in state history
Sac Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "The deadly North Complex wildfire continues to burn in Northern California amid improved fire weather conditions, but rugged terrain has challenged fire crews, and the continued presence of smoke has reduced the effectiveness of air support.
The complex is now estimated at 273,335 acres, burning mainly in Butte and Plumas counties, and is reportedly 36% contained, the U.S. Forest Service and Cal Fire said in Wednesday morning incident updates.
That size, equal to about 427 square miles, makes the North Complex the sixth-largest wildfire in modern California history, according to Cal Fire records dating back to 1932. It had been in the No. 8 spot on Tuesday."
NTSB records show dramatic moments as flames swept Conception dive boat
LA Times’s KIM CHRISTENSEN: “Late on the eve of Labor Day 2019, as the crew of the Conception buttoned up the 75-foot dive boat, galley hand Ryan Sims plugged in his cellphone and saw sparks fly from the socket, just before he headed to bed.
He later told investigators that “while still in a sleep-like state, he had heard a pop and then a crackle downstairs,” followed by a crew member yelling, “Fire! Fire!” according to National Transportation Safety Board records released Wednesday.
Sims and four other crew members who’d been jolted awake tried to make their way down from the wheelhouse atop the three-deck boat, but it was too late.”
Are this year’s wildfires too big for Washington to ignore?
LA Times’s ANNA M PHILLIPS/JENNIFER HABERKORN: “With massive wildfires across the West burning more than 5 million acres and displacing tens of thousands of people, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon says this is the moment for Congress to reform the nation’s fire management policies, or brace for more Septembers like this one.
“I want to be able to call this the day the Senate got serious about fire prevention,” the Democratic senator said Monday in a floor speech.
Residents in California, Oregon and Washington — many still under evacuation orders or living under a layer of smoke and ash — will probably have to wait longer to see that day.“
Water company withdraws desalination proposal as battle over environmental justice heats up
LA Times’s ROSANNA XIA: “Amid mounting controversy and concerns over environmental justice, California American Water on Wednesday withdrew its application for a desalination project in the small Monterey Bay town of Marina.
The proposal had become one of the most fraught issues to come before the California Coastal Commission, which was set to vote Thursday. The decision would have been the first major test of the commission’s new power to review not only harm to the environment when making decisions but also harm to underrepresented communities.
At stake was the contentious future of water on the Monterey Peninsula as well as the role government should play in addressing issues of environmental inequity.”
Report: Feds considered using ‘heat ray,' sound-based 'acoustic cannon’ riot control weapons on DC protesters
AP: “A military whistleblower says federal officials sought some unusual crowd control devices — including one that’s been called a “heat ray” — to deal with protesters outside the White House on the June day that law enforcement forcibly cleared Lafayette Square.
In written responses to questions from a House committee, National Guard Maj. Adam DeMarco said the Defense Department’s lead military police officer for the National Capital Region sent an email asking if the D.C. National Guard possessed a long-range acoustic device — used to transmit loud noises — or an Active Denial System, the so-called heat ray.
DeMarco said he responded that the Guard was not in possession of either device. National Public Radio and The Washington Post first reported DeMarco’s testimony.”
READ MORE related to Police/Prisons/Protests/Public Safety: Sheriff’s combative response to shocking deputy attack sparks new alarms, criticism – LA Times’s ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN; She had to flee a fire while trying to free her daughtger – a trafficking victim – from prison – LA Times’s ANITA CHABRIA
SF offiicials say they’ll work to reduce frivolous appeals of needed transit projects
The Chronicle’s HEATHER KNIGHT: “Sometimes it takes an emergency to get anything done in San Francisco. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has developed the popular Slow Streets program, created emergency bus-only lanes and found street space for coronavirus test sites and pop-up food pantries.
What could have taken months or even years took weeks.
And sometimes it takes an emergency to realize the usual way of doing things — or, more often, failing to do them — just doesn’t work. San Francisco’s timeworn tradition of letting one cranky person hold up a project even if thousands benefit from it may finally, deservedly get overhauled. Mayor London Breed and several supervisors say they’re committed to ending the practice.”
Coronavirus will change offices and schools. It’s already transformed our homes
LA Times’s JESSICA ROY: “In West Hollywood, Flora Garamvolgyi is reconsidering her couch.
When she and her husband moved here from Budapest a year ago, they wanted to take their time carefully selecting each piece of new furniture. She wanted to see everything in person before making a purchase. After all, why rush?
The couch they picked turns into a pullout bed. And “as a bed, it’s perfect and cute and comfortable,” she said. “As a couch, it’s horrible. We bought it because we thought we’d have guests all the time, but we don’t have any.”
Trump rebukes CDC chief for his cautions on a coronavirus vaccine and masks
LA Times’s EVAN HALPER/NOAH BIERMAN/JANET HOOK: “President Trump contradicted one of his administration’s top scientists and announced Wednesday that widespread distribution of a coronavirus vaccine would begin as early as next month, further rattling the scientific and public health communities and stoking rival Joe Biden’s claim that Trump can’t be trusted to oversee development of a safe vaccine.
The president’s announcement came hours after the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, testified to Congress under oath that large-scale vaccine distribution would not begin until late spring, at the earliest. Trump told reporters he called Redfield, and said the director had misspoken.
The inconsistencies threatened to further feed many voters’ worries that a rushed coronavirus vaccine could be unsafe. Biden seized on that anxiety Wednesday, warning that the president was putting Americans at risk by spreading misinformation about the virus and pressuring federal agencies to quickly deliver a breakthroug
Reeps investigate California mail-vote contract that went to 'Team Biden' firm
Sac Bee's LARA KORTE: "Congressional Republicans say they are launching an investigation into a $35 million contract that the California Secretary of State’s Office awarded to a firm with ties to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
As reported in The Sacramento Bee last month, Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s office awarded the contract for a voter education and outreach campaign to the firm SKD Knickerbocker, which touts itself as being proud to be a part of “Team Biden” on its website.
According to the state agency, SKD Knickerbocker, whose clients have included many high-ranking Democrats, was chosen from a pool of three finalists through an expedited emergency bid process. The firm is now tasked with running “Vote Safe California,” a state information campaign to encourage voting by mail and inform Californians about changes to Election Day due to the coronavirus."
Improving indoor air doesn't have to knock the wind out of you
Sac Bee's DARRELL SMITH: "Smoke-choked skies above a California on fire have rendered air quality unhealthy for weeks. In the Sacramento region, the sun has managed to peek out from the heavy haze of wildfires burning across the state, but maintaining and improving air quality indoors during this year’s destructive fire season remains a challenge.
But air quality experts and officials here in Northern California have tips and advice to keep the bad air out and indoor air as fresh as possible — everything from finding the right air filter to choosing which appliances to use to designating a clean air room in your home.
“The bottom line: Give yourself as many hours of clean air as possible,” said Brett Singer, leader of the Indoor Environment Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and an international expert on indoor air quality."
Bringing back affirmative action has little support among Californian voters, poll shows
Sac Bee's KIM BOJORQUEZ: "A November ballot initiative that would reinstate affirmative action policies long banned in California has slim support among likely voters, according to a new Public Policy Institute of California poll.
The initiative, Proposition 16, would repeal a 1996 ban on affirmative action in public education, hiring and contracting decisions. The California Legislature, led by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, in June voted to put the initiative on the fall ballot with supporters arguing that restoring affirmative action would ensure that different people have a fair shot at success.
The poll of over 1,700 likely California voters found 47% of respondents would vote no on Proposition 16, while 31% would vote yes and 22% said they were undecided."
READ MORE related to Down-Ballot Polling Data: Slim majority of state denizens support raising property tax on large businesses, poll says -- Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG
Surging California unemployment claims suggest widespread fraud, state says
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Claims for money from a new federal unemployment benefit program jumped suddenly and dramatically last month in California and state investigators are concerned that the surge is evidence of an increase in fraudulent activity.
The red flags center on claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the program created by Congress in March so that people who historically do not qualify for jobless benefits, such as business owners, independent contractors and gig workers, can receive help.
“We certainly have legitimate PUA claims in California but we do suspect that a big part of the unusual recent rise in PUA claims is linked to fraud,” said Loree Levy, spokeswoman for the state’s Employment Development Department, which is investigating allegations of fraud in the unemployment system."
3 indicted by grand jury in shooting of El Dorado sheriff's deputy as case moves towards trial
Sac Bee's ROSALIO AHUMADA: "An El Dorado County criminal grand jury has indicted three men, two of them charged with murder in the shooting death of Deputy Brian Ishmael while responding to a reported marijuana theft last year.
The grand jury, which has been in session the past two weeks, indicted Juan Carlos Vasquez-Orozco on charges of first-degree murder, assault with a gun causing great bodily injury and assault with a gun, the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday afternoon.
Also indicted in connection with Ishmael’s death was Christopher Garry Ross, who now faces a charge of second-degree murder of a peace officer, prosecutors said. Ramiro Morales was indicted on a charge of accessory to murder."
READ MORE related to Police, Prisons, Protests & Public Safety: CHP helps detectives find suspected gunman days after shooting, Placer sheriff says -- Sac Bee's ROSALIO AHUMADA
