‘Brutal’ storm hitting Northern California on Wednesday could be worse than New Year’s Eve deluge
The Chronicle, JILL TUCKER/JOAQUIN PALOMINO: "Propelled by a bomb cyclone, the storm expected to barrel into the California coast Wednesday is expected to drop several inches of rain on top of already saturated soil and will probably cause another round of widespread flooding across the northern part of the state.
But this storm is projected to bring even more powerful, tree-toppling winds — 50 mph gusts — than seen during the New Year’s Eve deluge.
Forecasters warned residents around the Bay Area to be ready."
Another major storm expected to hit waterlogged Northern California and the Southland, raising fears
LA Times, BRITTNY MEJIA: "After a powerful New Year’s Eve storm slammed the state, forecasters are warning Californians to prepare for another “brutal” weather system that could bring widespread flooding starting midweek.
After a weaker storm that moved in Monday, forecasters are focused on an atmospheric river that’s expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds Wednesday and Thursday.
In the Sacramento Valley and northern San Joaquin Valley, forecasters are expecting at least 2 inches of rain, with upward of 3 inches in some places. The foothills could get anywhere from 2 to 5 inches of rain, said Scott Rowe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento."
More showers coming Monday to Bay Area, powerful storm later this week
The Chronicle, MICHELLE APON: "After a weekend deluge that saw San Francisco taking on 5.46 inches of rainfall in one day — just short of an all-time record and the most rain that’s ever fallen on New Year’s Eve — the Bay Area was left saturated. Flooding remained in lower lying areas across the region as Sunday dawned clear, with afternoon temperatures running a few degrees warmer than average. But the respite is expected to be short-lived.
Another round of wet weather is on tap this week, albeit less intense initially than what walloped the area over the weekend."
Deadly storm pummels Northern California, breaching levees, forcing many water rescues
LA Times, MICHAEL FINNEGAN/JESSICA GARRISON: "After a powerful New Year’s Eve storm triggered landslides, blackouts and road closures across California, residents were left to deal with the aftermath Sunday as forecasters warned of even more rain in the coming days.
The heavy wind and downpours left tens of thousands of homes in Northern California without power for much of Sunday, while record high waters on the Cosumnes River near Sacramento breached three levees and inundated the area.
Flash flooding along Highway 99 and other roads south of Sacramento submerged dozens of cars near Wilton, where the water poured over the levees. Search and rescue crews in boats and helicopters scrambled to pick up trapped motorists. At least one person was found dead in a submerged car near Dillard Road and Highway 99, according to local media reports."
California’s snowpack near decade high. What’s it mean for the drought?
BANG*Mercury News, SCOOTY NICKERSON: "As the new year begins, California’s Sierra is closing in on the second-largest snowpack we’ve seen at this time of year in the last two decades, with more snow expected to pummel the mountain range in the coming days.
But here’s why it’s far too soon to declare an end to the drought: Last year, we started 2022 with a similar bounty — and then ended the snow season way, way, way below normal.
“We’ve come out hot … but at the same time, it’s really early,” said Sean de Guzman, manager of the California Department of Water Resources’ monthly snow surveys."
Power outages drag on two days after Sacramento storm toppled trees, downed SMUD lines
Sac Bee, ALEX MUEGGE: "Several Sacramento neighborhoods are still experiencing electricity outages more than two days after a New Year’s Eve storm topped trees and downed power lines.
More than 5,600 customers served by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District were still without power as of Monday morning, with Land Park having one of the highest concentrations of outages.
Other communities that were greatly affected include North Sacramento, Oak Park and central city areas of Sacramento."
5.4 earthquake hits California area damaged in earlier quake
AP: "A moderate New Year's Day earthquake rattled the region of Northern California where a stronger quake nearly two weeks ago killed two people and left widespread damage, authorities said.
The earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.4 struck at 10:35 a.m. Sunday about 9 miles (14 km) southeast of Rio Dell in Humboldt County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
A dispatcher with the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from Sunday's shaker."
Which wild animal gets spotted more in your city than others? Here’s the list
The Chronicle, SUSIE NEILSON: "In San Francisco, it’s the coyote. In Oakland, the brown rat. And in San Jose, the wild boar.
These are just a few of the most “unusually common” mammals spotted across different Bay Area cities, according to the Chronicle’s analysis of data from iNaturalist, a social network that allows naturalists and amateur “citizen scientists” to identify and map species across the world.
To come up with the most unusually common animals observed in each city, The Chronicle downloaded more than 500,000 individual iNaturalist sightings made in the Bay Area over the past three years."
Here are 13 new laws Californians must start following in 2023
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER/SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Hundreds of new laws passed by the California Legislature will take effect in the new year, from legalizing jaywalking in many scenarios to a higher minimum wage for more workers. Most of them take effect on Jan. 1. Here are 13 laws coming to California in 2023:
Jaywalking: Pedestrians will no longer be cited for crossing the street outside of a crosswalk, unless they are in immediate danger of being hit. AB2147, by Assembly Member Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, prohibits police officers from stopping or citing people for jaywalking “unless a reasonably careful person would realize there is an immediate danger” of a collision with a vehicle or bicyclist.
Minimum wage: California’s $15 minimum wage will expand to nearly all employees, including those working for small businesses. The hourly wage increase applies to employees of businesses with 25 or fewer workers. It’s the final step in a seven-year plan to phase in a statewide $15 minimum wage, which extended to employees of larger businesses in 2022. The minimum wage will rise an additional 50 cents, to $15.50, across the board, including an inflationary adjustment the state added this year. Legislators approved the wage increases with SB3 in 2016, by then-Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. Many cities in the Bay Area have ordinances that require a higher base wage."
UC strike energizes unprecedented national surge of union organizing by academic workers
LA Times, TERESA WATANABE: "Piril Nergis is a doctoral student at USC but joined picket lines at UCLA to support the recent strike of University of California academic workers. Solidarity trumped crosstown rivalry in what Nergis said was an electrifying experience that helped fire up union organizing efforts among USC’s own graduate students.
Sam Ponnada, a doctoral candidate helping organize a union at Caltech, was surprised by an unexpected campus decision last month to increase graduate student stipends by 17% — a major raise the university said was an independent decision, but “several of us can’t help but notice ... happened right after the big UC strike,” he said.
And at the Rand Corp.'s graduate school in Santa Monica, David DeSmet said he and fellow doctoral students were inspired to organize with the United Auto Workers after reading about UC graduate student researchers forming their first union and winning “really dang good” wage gains."
EdSource's Best of 2022: CSU's Title IX Reckoning
EdSource, STAFF: "Earlier this year, the resignation of Joseph I. Castro as CSU chancellor over his mishandling of a Title IX sexual harassment case involving an administrator when he was president of Fresno State put a spotlight on how the 23-campus system handles sexual and gender misconduct complaints from students and staff.
The board of trustees launched a review of Title IX practices across the system.
Over the past year, EdSource’s reporting on the country’s largest public university system has examined the outcomes when faculty and administrators are found in violation of Title IX."
Internet goes berserk over Stanford ‘language guide’ that discourages use of ‘American’ and ‘survivor’
BANG*Mercury News, ALDO TOLEDO: "From the Internet to the national media to the holiday dinner table, much of the country has seemed to be up in arms in recent weeks over a newly discovered Stanford University “language guide” that discourages the use of words like “American,” “survivor” and “freshman” — steps too far for many jaded by the culture wars.
At a time when politicians and the media continue their ongoing debate over critical race theory, LGBTQ discussions in schools and other cultural issues, liberals and conservatives appear to be on the same page about one thing: This Stanford “language guide” goes too far.
Written by the Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative at Stanford in partnership with People of Color in Technology and the Stanford CIO Council, the “language guide” is part of a multiphase, multiyear project that addresses harmful language — in information technology (IT) uses only — at the university. Its goal is to “eliminate many forms of harmful language, including racist, violent and biased language … in Stanford websites and code.”"
Rose Parade kicks off with enthusiastic crowd despite rise in COVID, RSV and flu cases
LA Times, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS/ASTRID KAYEMBE/HELEN LI/HANNAH FRY: "The pandemic has delivered a tough few years, so when Jennifer Veera and her husband, Andy, got the chance to take their four kids to the Rose Parade for the first time, they knew they had to do it.
Jennifer, an emergency room nurse, usually works New Year’s Eve. But with the parade on Jan. 2 this year, she and Andy, an EMT, decided at the “drop of a hat” to pack their 8-year-old triplets, David, Daniel and Lily, and daughter, Leilani, who turns 10 on Tuesday, into the car and head for Pasadena.
The couple, who live in Orange, woke the kids at 3:30 a.m., “which was evil,” Leilani said with a grin. “It was a very short ride because there were no cars on the freeway.” They got a front-row spot on Colorado Boulevard."
This Bay Area county to be the latest to ban criminal background checks for renters
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN VARIAN: "Alameda County is moving to prevent landlords from screening prospective tenants based on their criminal histories, the latest in a growing number of actions by local governments nationwide to make it easier for formerly incarcerated people to find housing.
In January, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors is poised to formally adopt the rule, set to cover most apartment buildings in unincorporated parts of the county, such as Castro Valley and Sunol. It would take effect only after the county chooses to end its ongoing pandemic eviction moratorium.
The new law is meant to help renters like Lee “Taqwaa” Bonner, who was turned away by multiple East Bay apartment complexes after getting out of prison in 2016. Bonner couldn’t move in with family members because their leases wouldn’t allow tenants with felony convictions. So like many other parolees, he moved into his car."
Here’s the day when San Franciscans start to complain about neighbors’ Christmas trees
The Chronicle, ADRIANA REZAL: "San Francisco’s 311 hotline receives hundreds of thousands of calls every year from residents requesting services and complaining about issues in the city. Around the holidays, a few particular complaints become far more common.
For example, in a typical year the city’s 311 hotline receives over 3,000 complaints about Christmas trees. Not surprisingly, 90% of those complaints happen between Dec. 26 and Feb. 7. People truly get fed up around mid-January. The most common day for Christmas tree complaints since 2015 was Jan. 18, with an average of 183 complaints each year.
This year the San Francisco Environment department is encouraging residents to place trees on the curb starting Jan. 3. After Jan. 13, however, cleanup requests should be made by calling 311."
House Republican calls McCarthy ‘part of the swamp cartel’
The Hill, JARED GANS: "Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) on Monday called House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) "part of the swamp cartel" and vowed to not support McCarthy's bid to become Speaker ahead of the vote tomorrow.
Good told Fox News' Griff Jenkins on "Fox & Friends" that he plans to follow the will of his constituents, hundreds of whom he said have told him over the years to not support McCarthy. Good is one of the at least five Republicans who have directly said or indicated that they would not support McCarthy for the Speakership.
Good said he is judging McCarthy by what he has done as House minority leader, and he has done "nothing" to earn his vote."
Donald Trump Reveals Hit List of Political Enemies He Has Taken Out
Newsweek, EWAN PALMER: "Donald Trump has posted a list of Republican lawmakers who he "strongly opposed and fought against" and who have since retired or are due to leave office.
Included in the former president's hit list of critics are House Republicans and Senators who voted to impeach Trump for allegedly inciting the January 6 insurrection and who later announced they would not be running for re-election in the 2022 midterms.
The list, which Trump posted on Truth Social, also includes House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump who went on to lose their midterm or GOP primary races against candidates endorsed by the former president, such as Wyoming's Liz Cheney, Michigan's Peter Meijer and South Carolina's Tom Rice."
Actor Jeremy Renner in critical condition after snow-plow accident
LA Times, JESSICA GARRISON: "Actor Jeremy Renner was in “critical but stable condition” Sunday after a snow-plowing accident, according to a report from Deadline.
The site reported that Renner, who starred in Marvel’s “Hawkeye” series, “The Hurt Locker” and numerous other films, had been airlifted to a hospital and, according to his spokesperson, was with his family.
The spokesperson did not say where the accident occurred, but Deadline wrote that the Reno Gazette-Journal has reported that Renner has a home near Lake Tahoe’s Mt. Rose ski area."
Video of Giant Octopus Being Reeled In by Fishing Boat Terrifies Viewers
Newsweek Life, JACK BERESFORD: "Footage of a giant octopus being dragged up from the ocean by a fishing boat has left viewers stunned.
Photographer Brooke Sattar shared the dramatic video to TikTok under the handle brookesirah where it has already been viewed over 41 million times.
It was filmed during a fishing expedition off the coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Writing alongside the clip, Sattar said: "Today's catch caught us!" adding that the octopus was among the "coolest" natural sights she has ever come across."
