Thousands join California farmworkers as UFW completes its 335-mile march to the Capitol
MATHEW MIRANDA, SacBee: "Thousands of people joined United Farm Workers in Sacramento on Friday to pressure Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill that would make it easier for farmworkers to vote in union elections.
The demonstration at the Capitol capped a 24-day, 335-mile march for the storied farmworker union.
“Their feet have become cut, bruised, and swollen but their spirits remain strong and their energy remains,” said Eriberto Fernandez, march coordinator for UFW. “They know that their sí, se puede attitude will carry them through the day.”
Mojave Desert tribes aim to turn a sacred mountain into a national monument
LAT, LOUIS SAHAGUN: “The remote mountain from which Mojave Desert tribes believe the universe unfolds rises above a corner of southwestern Nevada defined by Joshua trees, outcroppings, and fortress-like gorges that change color by the minute.
For centuries, Native Americans have made pilgrimages to the 5,600-foot-high monolith they call Avi Kwa Ame, or Spirit Mountain, to seek religious visions and give thanks for Earth’s bounty.
On a recent morning, Linda Otero, a Fort Mojave Indian Tribe leader, reached out as if to embrace the rugged wilderness just a four-hour drive from Los Angeles and said, “This is our church, given to us by our creator.””
Omicron COVID-19 booster shots are coming: Will they be a game-changer?
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN II/LUKE MONEY: “The next generation of COVID-19 booster shots — tailored specifically to combat the super-infectious family of Omicron subvariants — could roll out early next month.
The long-in-the-works offering would mark an ambitious new phase in the nation’s vaccination campaign and, officials say, give residents another option to protect themselves ahead of a possible coronavirus resurgence in the fall and winter.
But who will be able to roll up their sleeves this time? And do those who have already received a booster, or two, really need to get another one? Here’s what we know.”
Dual-immersion programs show promise in fighting enrollment declines
EdSource, ZAIDEE STAVELY: “When 6-year-old Mia Truong started reading and writing in Vietnamese in addition to English, her parents knew they had made the right decision for kindergarten.
Mia’s family lives in San Jose, within the Mt. Pleasant Elementary School District. But her parents decided to send her to a different school district, Franklin-McKinley, so that she could attend a Vietnamese dual-immersion program.
“I’ve done my research. Especially us being Vietnamese parents, I wanted my daughter to learn Vietnamese,” said Mia’s father, Chuong Truong. “My daughter will have knowledge of two languages for the future. Just the creativity in her mind to think in both languages, it enhances her ability if she takes a trip to Vietnam and sees her second cousins, but also in English.””
‘Our greatest challenge.’ Inside the Sacramento region’s $30 billion affordable housing crisis
RYAN LILLIS, SacBee: "The walls of Robin Watkins’ apartment are painted with decorative phrases about love, peace and her faith in God. There’s one word that seems to be repeated in every room.
Home.
After four years of searching for a home within her budget, Watkins, 65, moved into the Lavender Courtyard senior affordable housing apartments in midtown Sacramento in June. She had left an apartment where the rent was steadily climbing and was living with her 90-year-old mother in North Sacramento."
Algae bloom in San Francisco Bay, Lake Merritt is killing fish, threatening swimmers
The Chronicle, SAM WHITING: “Alarmingly large numbers of fish have been sighted floating belly up all around San Francisco Bay and Lake Merritt, prompting environmental groups to suggest that people and their pets stay out of the water to avoid a rare and hazardous algae bloom known as a red tide.
“We are seeing dead fish all around the bay,” said Jon Rosenfield, senior scientist with San Francisco Baykeeper. “These are very large fish including sharks, sturgeon and large striped bass, and masses of smaller fish.”
Baykeeper, a nonprofit environmental watchdog, advises swimmers, windsurfers and kayakers to avoid long contact with the water because of the contamination of the bloom. This particular species of algae is not known to be acutely toxic to humans, but given its size and intensity, the bloom can cause skin irritation and respiratory problems, Rosenfield said.”
Heat wave forecast to hit Southern California just in time for Labor Day weekend
LAT, LAURA NEWBERRY: “Temperatures are expected to hit triple digits in some areas of Southern California this week as a heat wave envelops the region — just in time for Labor Day weekend.
Temperatures are forecast to be an oppressive 10 to 15 degrees above average starting Wednesday and lasting through Sept. 5, according to Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
The mercury is expected to hit the mid-90s in downtown L.A., and range from 100 to 110 degrees in the San Fernando and Antelope valleys during this period. At the same time, humidity levels are expected to drop significantly, increasing the risk of fire danger.”
Just days before end of session, California lawmakers resurrect, amend bail reform bill
ANDREW SHEELER, SacBee: "California lawmakers resurrected a bill that originally would have required judges to consider a person’s ability to pay when setting cash bail.
However, Senate Bill 262 has been amended so that now it does just two things: It prohibits defendants out on bail or their own recognizance from being charged for things like ankle monitors or other conditions of release. And it requires courts to return bail premiums — paid by defendants to bail agencies in lieu of paying the entire bail amount — to defendants in the event that charges are dismissed or no charges are filed within 60 days of arrest.
Bail agents would be permitted to collect a 10% surcharge from the defendant.
‘I was so desperate that I didn’t care if it killed me’: Long-COVID sufferers turn to expensive, unproven treatments
The Chronicle, NANETTE ASIMOV: “After feeling deep, aching pain in her right lung for two years following COVID-19, Lily Godsoe of Half Moon Bay is grateful to the woman who made the anguish go away.
Her savior wasn’t the doctor who peered at her X-rays and prescribed inhalers that didn’t help. It was the Costco vendor who sold her an elixir of turmeric, extra-strength, on sale for $20.
Godsoe never got her name. But in April the vendor prescribed three daily teaspoons of the orange liquid — always chilled. In a week, Godsoe was a believer.”
Who are the Bay Area’s future social justice leaders? The search is under way
The Chronicle, JUSTIN PHILLIPS: “Marlene Sanchez has spent more than 30 years fighting for the rights of marginalized youth and formerly incarcerated people. And the executive director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, an Oakland nonprofit focused on race and criminal justice issues, has been thinking lately about the importance of developing a new generation of leaders to continue the work.
“A lot of us that have been doing this for a long time feel a responsibility to create sustainable paths to leadership for the next generation,” Sanchez told me. With a laugh, she added, “For the older leaders, we’re as passionate as ever, but we’re also tired.”
This isn’t a theoretical pursuit for Sanchez, who participated in a roundtable about mentorship that the Ella Baker Center organized on Tuesday night. During the virtual discussion, which featured four leaders with more than 120 years of experience between them, Sanchez announced a new initiative called “We Mentor Us.” Among its many goals is to teach the center’s young leaders how to establish relationships with local and national justice-focused organizations.”
This emerging micro-community could become S.F.’s most versatile development
The Chronicle, J.K. DINEEN: “Nearly a decade ago Michael Cohen was at the old City Ballet San Francisco building on Otis Street, waiting for his daughter to finish dance class, when he stepped out the back door into the alleyway for some fresh air.
Once outside the developer looked around and realized that he was standing in a hidden pocket of the city he was not familiar with — a mid-block oasis of quiet alleyways and empty surface parking lots tucked between Mission Street to the south, Market Street to the north, 12th Street to the east and Brady Street to the west.
“I thought I knew the city pretty well,” said Cohen, who previously headed up the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development under former mayor Gavin Newsom. “But here was a place I didn’t realize existed.””
I tracked thieves stealing my car in S.F. Then I saw firsthand what police can — and can’t — do next
The Chronicle, MEGAN CASSIDY: “As a crime reporter in San Francisco, I should have known better than to park my car under an overpass near the Hall of Justice, a nice stroller visible in the back seat.
And it couldn’t have hurt to check that I didn’t drop my keys onto the ground next to the vehicle as I scrambled to pay the meter and run to a court hearing.
Alas, the predictable outcome: As I sat in court taking notes, my phone vibrated with a text from my partner, Miguel, from our Oakland home. His phone was in communication with our Subaru Outback, which was moving.”
Welcome to the ‘Hotel California’ saga: Missing lyric sheets, rare book dealers and a relentless Don Henley
LAT, NATE ROGERS: “In the late 1970s, Ed Sanders had a choice to make.
The writer and musician had earned a central place at the counterculture table in the 1960s, releasing influential work as a poet and publisher, as well as through his underground rock band the Fugs, but his book about the Manson murders, 1971’s “The Family,” brought him out of the underground and into the grisly mainstream.
The increased attention led to offers for more deep-dive nonfiction work, and Sanders had narrowed the search for his next major project to be either an investigation of the 1978 Jonestown massacre or a band-commissioned biography of future Rock & Roll Hall of Famers the Eagles. He picked the latter. “I didn’t want to go down and smell those rotting bodies in the jungle,” he explained in a 1994 interview. “I did my spell in mass murders.”
This conservative multimillionaire could become the first nonwhite prime minister of Britain
LAT, JAWEED KALEEM: “Since Britain’s first prime minister took office in 1721, a total of 55 people have held the job. They’ve come from a variety of backgrounds and political persuasions, but they’ve all had at least one thing in common: They were white.
The next prime minister may not be.
Rishi Sunak, a 42-year-old multimillionaire of Indian heritage and former Treasury chief, is one of two finalists for the job, which will be filled early next month with a vote by rank-and-file members of the Conservative Party.”
Hollywood puts ‘no face’ on the Palestinian experience. Mo Amer plans to change that
LAT. LORRAINE ALI: “When Mo Amer decided that he wanted to become a comedian, there was never a question about where he might find the best material. After all, he grew up in Texas with the name Mohammed.
Stories about his family’s assimilation pains, America’s warped view of Muslims and how chocolate hummus is “a hate crime” have been spun into Amer’s packed live shows, televised specials such as Netflix‘s “Mo Amer: The Vagabond” and his sets with the Allah Made Me Funny troupe. Now the Palestinian American performer has poured his life into the semiautobiographical Netflix series “Mo,” a new eight-part comedy he co-created with Ramy Youssef.
The show follows a Muslim immigrant named Mo (played by Amer, of course) who was born in Kuwait and raised in working-class Houston, where he still lives with his mother and brother. Mo has been awaiting asylum since they all arrived in the U.S. when he was 9. The fear of being caught by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the pride he has in his misunderstood Palestinian heritage and the universal longing to fit in are the springboard for a bittersweet comedy that dares to venture into dark emotional territory.”
