Bay Area weather: Heat wave worsens, grid operators ask for electricity conservation
PAUL ROGERS and RICK HURD, Mercury News: "The searing heat wave that will cook the Bay Area with temperatures that could reach as high 110 degrees in some areas gained momentum Wednesday, straining the power grid, increasing the risk of wildfires and prompting doctors to urge people to stay hydrated.
“We’re starting to get right into the thick of it,” said Gerry Diaz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “We’re right on track. Best to stay out of it if you can.”
By Wednesday afternoon, the operators of California’s power grid issued the year’s first “Flex Alert” — asking the public to decrease electricity use from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday. The goal was to reduce the risk of blackouts in the early evening when electricity demand soars as people come home from work and crank up air conditioning as solar power output falls. The California Independent System Operator asked residents to turn thermostats up to 78 degrees and delay using appliances such as washers, dryers and dishwashers."
READ MORE aboout HEAT WAVE: California urges power conservation amid heat wave -- CHRISTOPHER WEBER, AP; Blistering heat blankets Southern California as Flex Alert issued for Thursday afternoon -- FAITH PINHO, LA Times; Bay Area heat advisory takes effect today. Here's where it could reach 110 this week -- NORA MISHANEC and VANESSA ARREDONDO
The last thing California needed: Drought adds to electricity woes as hydro power dries up
DALE KASLER, SacBee: "California’s shaky power grid is on a collision course with an epic drought that’s depleting a major source of supply: hydroelectricity.
The Western heatwave that began Wednesday has the manager of the state’s grid, the California Independent System Operator, warning of potential power shortages through the weekend. Although the organization stopped short of predicting another round of rolling blackouts, it appealed to Californians to conserve energy to get the state through a tough week. The National Weather Service said temperatures are expected to reach 110 degrees Thursday.
“Conservation may be needed to stabilize the grid,” Marybel Batjer, the president of the Public Utilities Commission, told a legislative committee Wednesday. The Independent System Operator issued a Flex Alert for Thursday, calling on Californians to save electricity."
Supreme Court upholds Obamacare again, rejecting GOP challenge from Texas
DAVID G. SAVAGE, LA Times: "The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Obamacare for the third time and rejected a sweeping challenge backed by former President Trump and Republican state attorneys.
The 7-2 majority found the plaintiffs lacking legal standing to sue. The decision preserves health insurance subsidies for more than 20 million Americans and protections for tens of millions more whose preexisting medical conditions could otherwise prevent them from obtaining coverage.
The ruling stands as a final thumbs-down verdict against Trump’s promise that he would “repeal and replace” the 2010 Affordable Care Act sponsored by President Obama. Trump never devised a plan to replace the law, and both the Republican-controlled Senate and the high court with a solidly conservative majority rejected his legislative and legal bids to repeal it."
‘I’m Going To Be Here For A While’: One Man’s Journey From The Streets To A New Home
CHRIS NICHOLS, CapRadio: "Curtis Freeman walks the hallways at Auburn Oaks with his cane in one hand and pride all around. He’s the B-section leader at the Citrus Heights residential center where dozens of formerly homeless residents, himself included, now call home.
“All this is my section,” Freeman said on a recent Sunday, wearing a master key around his neck as sunlight illuminated the center. “I’m in charge of all this section. If people have problems, they can come to me.”
The nonprofit Goodwill refurbished the 82-room former convalescent home this spring with the goal of providing transitional housing. It’s one in a patchwork of properties across California that’s housing the wave of formerly homeless residents leaving Project Roomkey, a statewide initiative that sheltered or assisted more than 42,000 unhoused people in motel rooms and trailers during the worst of the pandemic."
City of Sacramento seeks restraining order against a councilwoman’s staff member
THERESA CLIFT: "The city of Sacramento is seeking a temporary restraining order against a councilwoman’s staff member.
Earlier this month, Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela hired Skyler Henry to work in her office editing videos and answering constituent calls. The restraining order would prohibit Henry from coming to City Hall, requiring him to work remotely.
In March, Henry made controversial comments on the progressive podcast Voices: River City, which was covered by national conservative outlet Fox News."
Column: Proposal would give local officials veto power over state housing legislation
MICHAEL SMOLENS, Union-Tribune: "A new wrinkle has surfaced in the Sacramento housing wars.
As momentum continues to build behind legislation to increase housing density across California, a constitutional amendment is being proposed that would allow local governments to essentially override state laws on land use and zoning policies within their jurisdictions.
Prospects for approval are not good, given that the push for the state to have more of a say in local housing matters is backed by powerful figures, including Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, D-San Diego."
California high-speed rail's latest threat: L.A. wants to spend money locally
DUSTIN GARDINER, Chronicle: " Construction on a 220-mph bullet train line through California’s Central Valley has been under way for six years, but state legislators still can’t agree on the most basic question: Should the money be spent somewhere else first?
The high-speed rail project, long a flash point at the state Capitol, is once again at a crossroads as Gov. Gavin Newsom seeks to use $4.2 billion in voter-approved bonds to finish building an initial 171-mile stretch from Merced to Bakersfield. Newsom and rail advocates want to focus on completing that segment ahead of running track to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
But the funding ask has given skeptical legislators new leverage to air their frustrations about the rail project and the attention paid to the Central Valley versus more densely populated urban centers. Assembly members from Southern California have pushed to divert money into local rail projects."
Prosecutors: Suspect in freeway shooting death of boy in Orange later brandished gun in another traffic altercation
CITY NEWS SERVICE, OC Register: "Days after the killing of a 6-year-old boy in a road-rage shooting on the 55 Freeway in Orange, the suspects got into another traffic altercation in which the alleged shooter waved a gun at another motorist, prosecutors said in court papers filed Wednesday.
Marcus Anthony Eriz, 24, and Wynne Lee, 23, are scheduled to be arraigned on Friday when Orange County Superior Court Judge Larry Yellin will consider a request from prosecutors to set bails at higher-than-usual levels.
The victim, Aiden Leos, was fatally shot May 21 as his mother, Joanna Cloonan, was driving him to kindergarten in her Chevrolet Sonic on the freeway."
Decades of sexual abuse, misconduct allegations roil exclusive Ojai boarding school
BRITTNY MEJIA, MATT HAMILTON, MELISSA GOMEZ and HARRIET RYAN, LA Times: "The Thacher School, among California’s most elite private schools, acknowledged Wednesday decades of allegations of student sexual misconduct, harassment and “boundary crossing” by faculty members at the $64,700-a-year Ojai boarding academy.
In an extraordinary public disclosure, the allegations at the exclusive school were compiled in a report posted on its website. In it, attorneys hired by Thacher laid out episodes of alleged rape, groping, unwanted touching and inappropriate comments dating back 40 years in a level of detail surprising for a private institution. The 90-page document identified six alleged perpetrators by name and recounted in lengthy passages the accusations of misconduct — and alleged efforts by former school administrators to cover up complaints and blame teenage victims.
In the most serious episode described, an alumna from the 1980s accused her high school English teacher of repeatedly raping her, starting when she was 16. The school did not call police, but dispatched a male assistant headmaster who reportedly asked the girl if she “enjoyed” the sex, the report said. The counselor later included her “unfortunate involvement with a faculty member” in a letter of recommendation for college."
