The cruelest summer yet? California is facing drought, heat, power outages and fires — all at once
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: “Summer officially begins next week — and in California, it may be a cruel one.
Even with the upheaval of the pandemic mostly behind us, the menace of drought and rising temperatures is threatening to derail the return to normal.
This year’s extraordinarily dry, warm weather, which is expected to continue in the coming months, is stoking fears of a multitude of problems: increasing water restrictions, extreme heat, power outages, wildfire and smoke — potentially all of the above in one vicious swoop.”
Did California learn anything from the last drought? ‘Gambling’ with water continues
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: “The governor of California stood in a patch of dry brown grass as he made his proclamation:
“We’re in a new era. The idea of your nice little green grass getting lots of water every day — that’s going to be a thing of the past,” he said. “We’re in a historic drought, and that demands unprecedented action.”
But it wasn’t Gavin Newsom speaking — it was the state’s previous governor, Jerry Brown, and the year was 2015.”
Tiny budget piece could have huge impact on $12B stem cell agency
Capitol Weekly, DAVID JENSEN: “A crack opened last week for the first time in 17 years in the firewall between state politicians and the $12 billion California stem cell agency.
It involves only $600,000 — at least for now — and is buried deep in the 1,069-page state budget bill that was introduced June 8. But its implications are far-reaching. They range from opening the agency to major changes — wanted and unwanted — to creating a basis for the agency’s currently dubious, long-term financial sustainability.
The crack is the product of Proposition 14 of 2020, the $5.5 billion ballot initiative that saved the agency from financial extinction. The measure also added 7,000 words to the already 10,000-word law that created and regulates the Calfornia Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the agency is legally known.”
Bass has pulled ahead of Caruso. She can thank those last-minute mail-in voters
DAKOTA SMITH, LA Times: "Rep. Karen Bass pulled ahead of rival Rick Caruso in the primary election for Los Angeles mayor on Tuesday after a surge of vote-by-mail ballots boosted the congresswoman and several other progressive candidates.
Over the last week, a flood of late-arriving mail ballots propelled left-of-center candidates in races for mayor, city attorney and multiple council seats.
The June 7 election was the first at City Hall since a new law went into effect ensuring that every voter receives a ballot, a process designed to bring in more voters and focus less on a single day of in-person voting."
California legislators want to help you buy a house with down payment, ‘shared equity’
CALMatters, ALEJANDRO LAZO: “First-time buyers often rely on family gifts to afford the down payments on their homes. Now California Legislators want the government to fill the role of generous relative.
Lawmakers are proposing creating a billion-dollar fund in this year’s state budget that would provide California’s first-time buyers either all of the money they need for a down payment, or very close to it, in exchange for partial ownership stakes in those residences.
The proposal, put forward by state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, comes as skyrocketing property prices broaden the divide between those who own their homes and those who rent in California. In the past year, Golden State homeowners gained $141,000 in home equity, on average, the housing research firm CoreLogic reported last week, more than in any other state.”
DA clears officers who killed fire evacuee at one of California’s largest marijuana grows
RYAN SABALOW and JASON POHL, SacBee: "The four officers who shot and killed a man at a wildfire evacuation checkpoint last summer outside a massive marijuana cultivation site in rural Northern California won’t face charges, the county’s district attorney said Tuesday.
Officers killed Soobleej Kaub Hawj, 35, of Kansas City at a checkpoint outside the small community of Big Springs in Siskiyou County, not far from the California-Oregon border.
On the night of June 24, authorities had been evacuating the region as the lightning-sparked Lava Fire burned toward the thousands of illegal cannabis farms in the area. That’s when Hawj — who was high on methamphetamine, had a cache of illegal firearms and an out-of-state warrant for his arrest — pointed a loaded handgun at officers, rammed his truck toward them and died in a hail of gunfire, according to Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus."
Why we’re still living with ‘wily’ COVID a year after California’s reopening
The Chronicle, ERIN ALLDAY: “June 15, 2021, dawned cool and carefree across the Bay Area, where for the first time in well over a year, it finally looked like there might be a way out of the COVID-19 pandemic — and it might not be too far off.
California officially “reopened” that day last year, dropping almost all public health restrictions that had been keeping people mostly at home and preventing the economy from humming back to life. Coronavirus cases were at their lowest levels since the pandemic’s earliest weeks. Hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID had plummeted. Nearly half of all Californians were considered “fully” vaccinated — a remarkable achievement just six months after the vaccines had been authorized.
“This is not mission accomplished,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom on the eve of reopening. But the message was clear in the Bay Area and across the state: The pandemic wasn’t quite over, but with vaccines widely available, California was on a path back to normal. The end was in sight.”
People mover, new bike paths and bus lanes: 2028 Olympics could fuel a transit boom in L.A.
LA Times, RACHEL URANGA: “A new $1.4-billion electric people mover above the streets of Inglewood would whisk spectators past the Forum to the 2028 Summer Olympics opening ceremony at SoFi Stadium. Across the region, miles of new bike paths, more bus lanes and new bike shares would emerge.
If planners and political leaders can pull it off, spectators of the 2028 Olympics would experience a very different Los Angeles from the one traffic-weary commuters know today, one that would endure long past the Games.
Organizers want the more than a million spectators expected to come to the region for the 17-day Olympiad to eschew cars and arrive at venues by public transit, on foot or by bike. That’s a tall order for a sprawling city famous for its freeways, smog and congestion. And it’s likely to require billions of dollars to fill gaps in the public transportation system.”
State to pay $51 million to settle lawsuits related to 2018 Yountville killings
The Chronicle, MICHAEL CABANATUAN: “The state has agreed to pay $51 million to settle four lawsuits stemming from the 2018 shooting that killed three female staffers at the California Veterans Home in Yountville.
The settlement was mentioned in a state budget document released Monday and approved by the Legislature.
It says the state “authorizes $51 million one-time to pay for settlement costs at the Veterans Home of California, Yountville related to the 2018 shooting.””
California bill would give $1,000 a month in short-term guaranteed income to homeless high school seniors
LA Times, JONAH VALDEZ: “Joining a growing tide of guaranteed-income programs across California, a state bill making its way through the Legislature would give $1,000 a month to unhoused high school seniors.
Introduced by state Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), Senate Bill 1341 proposes a monthly, no-strings-attached check to eligible students for five months, from April of a student’s senior year until August.
“It’s essentially this transitional support to try to disrupt the cycle of homelessness at this age group,” Cortese said.”
High school graduates eager to move ahead to college and jobs, leaving Covid behind
EdSource, DIANA LAMBERT: “High school is over for most in California’s Class of 2022, and it couldn’t be soon enough for some graduates. After more than a year of distance learning and another year of Covid restrictions on campuses, many are looking for more independence.
“I’m mentally prepared to move out,” said Kayla Merkel, a recent Elk Grove High School graduate. “I’m ready. I’m the oldest sibling. I have four little siblings and I think it is time for some quiet.”
But will the newly minted adults, many who fell behind academically and socially, be ready for college and careers after a pandemic dramatically shortened their high school experience? Of the 12 students EdSource is following this year, 5 are going to community colleges, six to universities and one is deciding whether to start a job.”
Will California make up for UC Riverside being less popular with out-of-state students?
CALMatters, MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN: “Despite enrolling more low-income undergraduate students than any other University of California campus last year, UC Riverside is also the least-funded UC campus.
UC Riverside gets $8,600 in state support for instruction of each student, well below the systemwide average of around $10,000.
Fewer out-of-state students — who pay about three times more in tuition than in-state students — choosing to attend the Inland Empire campus is a key reason for the disparity. All told, UC Riverside generates about $6,000 less in revenue per student than the other UC campuses when factoring in the two main revenue sources — state support and tuition revenue.”
Proposal would invest $118 million in S.F.’s Asian and Pacific Islander communities
The Chronicle, SHWANIKA NARAYAN: “More than four months after San Francisco formally apologized for decades of sanctioned discrimination against early Chinese residents, three city supervisors are proposing to invest $118 million in the Asian and Pacific Islander communities that live here today.
Supervisor Connie Chan and her co-sponsors, Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Gordon Mar, unveiled the legislation — which has support from the API Council, a 57-member coalition of local nonprofit organizations — in front of City Hall on Tuesday.
“We strongly demand community investments and the inclusion of the Vietnamese, Filipino, Samoan and many other API groups in this,” Chan said at the Tuesday news conference.”
U.S. abortion rate rises, reversing three decades of declines
LA Times, JENNIFER HABERKORN/EMILY ALPERT REYES: “Ahead of a historic Supreme Court decision on the fate of Roe vs. Wade, the nation recorded its first significant increase in the abortion rate in more than three decades, according to new statistics.
The rate rose 7%, from 13.5 abortions per 1,000 women and girls of child-bearing age in 2017 to 14.4 in 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights.
Overall, there were 930,160 abortions in the United States in 2020, up 8% from 862,320 in 2017.”
S.F. supes OK $1.25 million lifeline to financially distressed provider of mental health, addiction care
The Chronicle, JD MORRIS: “A leading San Francisco provider of treatment programs for substance abuse and mental health disorders that is in financial distress received a temporary lifeline from city supervisors to maintain services for more than 200 people and keep dozens of nonprofit workers employed.
PRC and Baker Places, two nonprofits in the process of merging, begged the Board of Supervisors to bail them out of a combined $3.2 million shortfall so they could continue running 215 treatment beds to provide detoxification, psychiatric care and other urgently needed help to some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Without the infusion of cash, the nonprofits said their programs might have had to shut their doors and more than 250 employees would have lost their jobs.”
No deportation protection. No work permit. On DACA’s 10th anniversary, thousands left behind
LA Times, CINDY CARCAMO/ANDREA CASTILLO/JEONG PARK: “At 13, Reyna received her first planner. Since then, she’s rigorously scheduled nearly every day of her life: showers, meals, study time, university applications. If she planned carefully, she believed, she’d go to college and someday become a civil rights attorney.
But Reyna, who was 2 when her mother carried her across the border from Mexico for the United States in 2006, is in the country without legal status. Perhaps most importantly, she was cut off from Deferred Action for Childhood arrivals — better known as DACA — an Obama-era policy that gave certain immigrant youths a work permit and protection from deportation.
There are 611,470 DACA recipients, according to USCIS data from Dec. 31, 2021, and more than 800,000 people have been enrolled since its inception. To qualify, so-called Dreamers had to have been in the U.S. since 2007, have arrived before turning 16, and be under age 31 as of 2012. They also needed to meet certain educational and criminal history requirements.”
Yosemite’s rare, stunning ‘moonbows’ on display in new short film
The Chronicle, GWENDOLYN WU: “What happens when the moon meets a Yosemite waterfall?
As a newly released video shows, the result is a stunning phenomenon called a moonbow or lunar rainbow - which can still be viewed at Yosemite National Park, but only for a few more days this year.
And there’s another catch: Moonbows are not easy to see, especially in color, with the naked eye. It really takes a camera to witness their full glory.”
Farewell, Internet Explorer: The old Microsoft browser retires at 27
AP, RICHARD JACOBSEN: “Internet Explorer is finally headed out to pasture.
As of Wednesday, Microsoft will no longer support the once-dominant browser that legions of web surfers loved to hate — and a few still claim to adore. The 27-year-old application now joins BlackBerry phones, dial-up modems and Palm Pilots in the dustbin of tech history.
Internet Explorer’s demise was not a surprise. A year ago, Microsoft said that it was putting an end to IE on June 15, 2022, pushing users to its Edge browser, which was launched in 2015.”
