Can California’s power grid handle a 15-fold increase in electric cars?
The Chronicle, NADIA LOPEZ: "As California rapidly boosts sales of electric cars and trucks over the next decade, the answer to a critical question remains uncertain: Will there be enough electricity to power them?
State officials claim that the 12.5 million electric vehicles expected on California’s roads in 2035 will not strain the grid. But their confidence that the state can avoid brownouts relies on a best-case — some say unrealistic — scenario: massive and rapid construction of offshore wind and solar farms, and drivers charging their cars in off-peak hours."
California rain totals: Charts show dramatic effect of recent storms
The Chronicle, JANIE HASEMAN/ANDREW WILLIAMS/JACK LEE: "Storms fueled by atmospheric rivers have torn across California over the past month, producing historic amounts of rain and snow — with devastating effects.
“We haven’t seen this level of widespread impacts from storms across the state since the early 2000s,” said Chronicle Newsroom Meteorologist Gerry Díaz.
The recent series of storms has brought widespread flooding, destructive landslides, wind damage and coastal deterioration. The storms have caused at least 20 deaths."
After epic rains, California will have time to dry out. But for how long?
LA Times, LUKE MONEY: "A series of atmospheric river storms that dropped record-breaking rain and unleashed chaos across California will end with a whimper this week, as officials work to tabulate the epic rainfall.
Downtown San Francisco received 18.09 inches of rain from Dec. 26 through Monday, the most in a 22-day span since 1862. Oakland and Stockton saw more rain fall from Dec. 26 to Jan. 10 than in any other 16-day period on record.
The experience of the past few weeks does not necessarily indicate how the rest of the winter will play out, though."
Big Bear Lake rises two feet in one week thanks to winter storms
SCNG*OC Register, BROOKE STAGGS: "After an exceptionally dry 2022, Big Bear Lake nearly hit record-low water levels in early December. And with experts predicting a rare third year of La Niña conditions in 2023, some locals started to express real concerns about how the West’s climate change-fueled megadrought might affect recreation opportunities, wildlife and the economy of a mountain town that draws visitors from throughout Southern California.
But after a series of recent storms, which alternated between rain and snow in the mountains, new data shows Big Bear Lake rose nearly two feet in just one week. The water level is up about three feet since early December, with shoreline that had been been visible for months now hidden under ice-fringed water.
“A huge sigh of relief.”"
No Planet B: CARB Chair Liane Randolph guides CA climate plans
Capitol Weekly, LISA RENNER: "As chair of the California Air Resources Board, Liane Randolph helms the state’s lead agency for climate change programs, putting her center stage on one of the hottest issues of the day.
It puts her in a delicate position. “With climate change, you want to move fast,” she said. “But if you want to do it in a way where people have a say and where it is affordable, you need to be more patient and deliberative.”
The biggest challenge of the job is balancing competing interests, she said. While California’s move away from fossil fuels provides a lot of opportunity for new technology and new jobs, caution is still needed. “We have to do it in a way that doesn’t send electricity rates through the roof, doesn’t increase costs for people’s everyday lives too much and allows input from communities, stakeholders and residents who have concerns,” she said."
Sacramento residents can apply for FEMA disaster relief due to winter storms. Here’s how
Sac Bee, HANH TRUONG: "If your home or business was damaged due to the recent string of storms in California, you may be eligible for federal aid.
President Joe Biden approved federal disaster assistance for areas in California affected by the winter storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides beginning from Dec. 27, 2022 and ongoing. With this approval, business owners and residents in Sacramento County, as well as Merced and Santa Cruz, can apply for funding to help assist their recovery efforts.
Some of the aid programs that are offered, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, include grants for temporary housing and repairs, and loans to cover uninsured property losses."
Newsom says 95% of Texans pay more than Californians in taxes. But is he correct?
Sac Bee, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Gov. Gavin Newsom recently proclaimed that “95% of Texans pay higher taxes than Californians.”
But is that true? Some Sacramento Bee sleuthing concludes that, well, Newsom’s statement cannot be independently verified.
Asked to provide a source for the assertion, Newsom’s office cited a 2018 study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal-leaning group."
California storms: President Biden to tour Central Coast damage with Gov. Newsom
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK/PAUL ROGERS: "President Joe Biden will visit California’s storm-wracked Central Coast on Thursday to survey recovery efforts with Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The White House said Biden and Newsom will meet with local officials, residents affected by the storms and public safety responders in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, where storms have caused severe floods and landslides.
Biden is expected to arrive around noon at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, where he will speak with reporters before taking a helicopter to view storm damage from the air on his way to Watsonville Municipal Airport. From there, the president will travel to Capitola to meet with merchants and residents affected by the storms, which damaged the Capitola Wharf and nearby businesses. Biden will also travel to Seacliff State Park, where another pier was damaged by tidal surges."
The sad plight of elephant seal pups born on Bay Area beaches amid storms
The Chronicle, JULIE JOHNSON: "Ocean surges from early January storms flooded Bay Area beaches at a vulnerable time for elephant seals: the start of pupping season.
Storm waves overtook entire beaches, including critical birthing areas on the Point Reyes National Seashore and at Año Nuevo State Park in San Mateo County. Elephant seals spend most of the year at sea, but pregnant females have begun returning to shore to give birth to pups, who cannot swim for the first month."
COVID in California: Hybrid immunity protects better than infection alone
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI/RITA BEAMISH: "The highly infectious XBB.1.5 subvariant of the coronavirus is picking up steam in the West on the heels of sweeping across the Northeast, CDC data show. The CDC is also tracking virus hospitalizations, with its new combined dashboard showing COVID, flu and RSV admissions remain on a downward trend since the recent peak in December.
Hybrid immunity protects better than infection alone, large study finds
Hybrid immunity — the response when a person has been both infected and vaccinated — offers a substantially higher and sustained level of protection against hospitalization or severe disease due to the omicron coronavirus variant compared to a previous COVID-19 infection alone, according to a new study published in The Lancet. World Health Organization researchers analyzed data from 26 other studies on the subject and found that individuals with hybrid immunity had a 95% lower chance of the worst outcomes of the disease up to one year after their initial infection, while those who were previously infected but unvaccinated had a 75% lower risk over the same period. Similarly, hybrid immunity lowered the odds of reinfection by 42% after two shots for up to a year, and by 47% for six months after receiving a booster dose. For unvaccinated individuals, that protection fell to 25% one year after infection. The authors wrote that the results demonstrate “the advantages of vaccination even after people have had COVID-19.”"
Bay Area regulators look to impose sweeping ban on new natural gas water heaters, furnaces
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER: "The environmental push to stop the use of natural gas in homes may have become the latest splinter in America’s culture wars, but that hasn’t stopped Bay Area officials from aiming to be at the forefront of the movement.
Air-quality regulators for the region are considering adopting a pair of rules that would effectively ban the sale of new water heaters and furnaces that run on natural gas in less than a decade. The rules would apply to Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, along with the southern portions of Solano and Sonoma counties."
‘Everyone’s worst nightmare’: What we know about the California massacre that killed 6
LA Times, GRACE TOOHEY/RUBEN VIVES: "Six people were killed Monday in what local officials have called a targeted attack in the small Tulare County town of Goshen, leaving family members including a 10-month-old baby and a 72-year-old grandmother dead.
The massacre has been described as particularly brutal for the execution-style killings of the baby, his teen mother and her grandmother, but much is still unknown about the attack. No one has been arrested."
Gun talk in Washington, gun bills in Sacramento
CALMatters, BEN CHRISTOPHER: "After twice spurning the Trump White House following NBA titles, the Bay Area’s Golden State Warriors paid a visit Tuesday to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for a celebration of the team’s 2022 NBA championship.
And prior to a few backslapping speeches by President Joe Biden and Warriors superstar Steph Curry, White House staffers gathered with Warriors coach Steve Kerr and players Klay Thompson and Moses Moody to talk gun safety and violence.
While details of the discussion weren’t made public, Kerr, who has become a persistent voice on gun violence, spoke to the press after the hour-long meeting."
Councilmember Kate Harrison, Sam Kaplan-Pettus continue push for ECC youth members
Daily Californian, ELLA CARTER-KLAUSCHIE: "The city of Berkeley’s Agenda and Rules Policy Committee discussed a project organized by former Youth Commission Chair Samuel Kaplan-Pettus and Councilmember Kate Harrison to appoint two youth members to the city’s Environment and Climate Commission, or ECC, on Tuesday.
Following a brief public comment, the members decided to postpone the discussion of the proposal until Mayor Jesse Arreguín was present.
The project has been under consideration for the past six months, according to Kaplan-Pettus, since the Environment Commission and the Energy Commission were united to form the ECC."
Oakland’s ex-Mayor Libby Schaaf finally lays out her next moves
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: "Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, who left office at the end of 2022, has been named the interim executive director for Emerge California, an organization that trains women to run for elected office.
Schaaf, who led the city for eight years, also will teach a class at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy on public and private partnerships. Her first class is on Wednesday evening.
The appointments come amid speculation on whether Schaaf might seek another elected office, as East Bay Rep. Barbara Lee eyes a possible U.S. Senate seat and State Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) terms out next year."
San Mateo County could soon expand direct cash payments to some of its poorest residents
BANG*Mercury News, ALDO TOLEDO: "As inflation and the blow back from the coronavirus pandemic continue to put pressure on low-income people in one of the wealthiest regions in the country, San Mateo County is exploring expanded guaranteed income programs to help more families in need.
The idea of giving cash to low-income folks to help make ends meet has been gaining momentum in the U.S. in recent years. Less than a decade ago, there weren’t many programs handing out money with no strings attached, let alone anyone studying their effectiveness, according to Stanford’s Basic Income Lab.
But now this once-fanciful strategy is one of the new ways cities and counties across the country are combatting poverty after decades of failed anti-poverty policies. From St. Paul, Minnesota, to Compton, Stockton and South San Francisco, guaranteed income programs have given relief to low-income families facing high food prices, medical expenses, rising housing costs and more."
San Clemente hires new city manager with beach town experience
OC Register, ERIKA I. RITCHIE: "Already familiar with running another California coastal town surrounded by military bases, Andy Hall will take the helm as San Clemente’s city manager in February.
The City Council on Tuesday, Jan. 17, unanimously selected Hall for San Clemente’s top post; he’ll be leaving the helm of Imperial Beach in San Diego County. The town of 30,000 is the southernmost along the California coast, bordering Mexico. Hall, 56, has been its city manager for a decade.
Before Imperial City, he was the city manager of Cathedral City in Riverside County, and before that was assistant city manager of Draper City, Utah. He has been the planning manager of Henderson, Nevada, and for nine years was the city manager of Payson City Corporation, Utah. He has more than 30 years of local government experience and 20 years as a city manager, according to the city’s announcement."
Column: In naming field after Allyson Felix, USC chooses character over cash
LA Times, HELENE ELLIOTT: "Allyson Felix didn’t have to give USC a pile of money for the field at the Trojans’ track stadium to be named for her.
Her alma mater will honor Felix, a Los Angeles native and the most decorated American track and field athlete in Olympics history, for giving of herself — for being a shining example of the power of one person and of the great resonance of a voice that might once have trembled but found the strength to bring about change for those whose voices often aren’t heard.
USC announced Wednesday that Allyson Felix Field will be dedicated at Katherine B. Loker Stadium this spring. The field previously carried the name of Dean Cromwell, a former USC track coach who was criticized for anti-Black views and antisemitic actions."
Microsoft trims Bay Area jobs as tech titan launches huge layoffs
BANG*Mercury News, GEORGE AVALOS: "Microsoft has launched a wrenching round of job cuts that include the loss of dozens of Silicon Valley positions in the early stages of the tech titan’s huge staffing reductions, a state filing shows.
The Windows creator has decided to eliminate 46 jobs at locations in Mountain View and Santa Clara, according to a WARN letter sent to the state Employment Development Department. Microsoft operates a big Silicon Valley campus in Mountain View.
“Microsoft has decided to reorganize and restructure operations … at Microsoft facilities in the Silicon Valley region,” DeLee Shoemaker, Microsoft’s general manager for U.S. state and local government affairs, wrote in the WARN letter, which was dated Jan. 18."
What are the Top 10 Instagram-worthy tourist attractions in California?
Sac Bee, DAVID CARACCIO: "A website that reviews hotels, resorts and destinations for families has come up with the most Instagram-worthy tourist attractions in California by analyzing hashtag data.
Yosemite National Park — famous for its waterfalls, mountains and hiking — took the top spot with 4.8 million Yosemite-related hashtags on the social media site, according to Family Destinations Guide. Yosemite is visited by about 4 million people each year.
Southern California holds the second-most “Instagrammable” tourist destination in California: Venice Beach, the study found. The Los Angeles coastal hotspot has 4.4 million posts under the hashtag. Nearly 30,000 people visit Venice Beach each day, Family Destinations Guide said."
A new California housing law has done little to encourage building, report says
LA Times, HANNAH WILEY: "Once seen as the death knell for single-family-home neighborhoods in California, a new law meant to create more duplexes has instead done little to encourage construction in some of the largest cities in the state, according to a new report published Wednesday.
Senate Bill 9 was introduced two years ago as a way to help solve California’s severe housing crunch by allowing homeowners to convert their homes into duplexes on a single-family lot or divide the parcel in half to build another duplex for a total of four units. The law went into effect at the start of 2022.
The bill received bipartisan support and ignited fierce debate between its backers, who said SB 9 was a much-needed tool to add housing options for middle-income Californians, and critics, who blasted it as a radical one-size-fits-all policy that undermined local government control."
‘Nine months to a year’: Cupertino lags behind on housing plans for coming years
BANG*Mercury News, VANDANA RAVIKUMAR: "It could take several more months, or even up to another year, for Cupertino to submit its compliant housing plan to the state.
During a status update on its state-mandated housing plan, acting Community Development Director Luke Connolly said the city aims to submit only a draft of the plan by the Jan. 31 deadline. He noted that would still allow the city to receive feedback from the state Department of Housing and Community Development by April and incorporate it into Cupertino’s housing element in the following months.
As a result, the city is not likely to have a plan in compliance with the agency’s requirements for quite a while, Connolly said at Tuesday night’s Cupertino City Council meeting."
Arrested: S.F. gallery owner captured on video hosing homeless woman taken into custody
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "San Francisco police on Wednesday arrested Collier Gwin, the gallery owner who was captured on video spraying a homeless woman with a garden hose after he said she refused to move from a sidewalk he was cleaning.
Gwin will be charged with misdemeanor battery “for the alleged intentional and unlawful spraying of water on and around a woman experiencing homelessness” on Jan. 9, District Attorney Jenkins said in a statement released after she had reviewed evidence from the San Francisco Police Department."
High-speed rail to downtown S.F. is back on track — but the price tag keeps going up
The Chronicle, JOHN KING: "Five years after the debut of San Francisco’s grandiose transit center that features only buses and a rooftop park, regional transit agencies are gearing up to try to win the federal funding necessary to add rail service to the mix.
That new effort includes a new price tag for the long-promised expansion — $6.7 billion, up from $5 billion in 2016.
This is the estimated cost to bring commuter trains and a route for high-speed rail service from Mission Bay to First and Mission streets by 2033. Besides the inflation that comes with the passage of seven years, transit planners say the revised budget accounts for extra costs that could arise in the decade that it would take to complete the 2-mile extension."
Caltrain marks its first fatality of 2023
BANG*Mercury News, JASON GREEN: "A Caltrain hit and killed a person Wednesday afternoon in San Francisco, marking the commuter rail line’s first fatality of the year, an agency spokesperson said.
Around 1:25 p.m., southbound train No. 512 fatally struck the person between Tunnel 1 and Tunnel 2 in the city, Caltrain spokesperson Dan Lieberman said in a statement. The tunnels are near the 22nd Street station.
The San Francisco Medical Examiner will release the person’s identity once it is confirmed and their next of kin is identified."
LAPD tased Keenan Anderson 6 times in 42 seconds, bringing scrutiny to Taser policies
LA Times, RICHARD WINTON: "For a disturbing 42 seconds, a Los Angeles police officer repeatedly stunned a teacher with a Taser gun this month as other officers tried to pin and handcuff the man in the middle of a busy Venice street.
The gaps between pulses were so brief that Keenan Anderson, 31, could get out only a few words — including “Help me, please” — as he repeatedly cried out in agony.
Anderson died several hours later, though his cause of death has not yet been established."
Prosecutors to reveal if Alec Baldwin will be charged in ‘Rust’ shooting tomorrow
LA Times, MEG JAMES: "New Mexico prosecutors will soon reveal whether they will bring criminal charges in the accidental deadly shooting by Alec Baldwin of a cinematographer on the set of “Rust,” a low-budget western movie.
First Judicial Dist. Atty. Mary Carmack-Altwies, along with special prosecutor Andrea Reeb, plan to issue a written statement Thursday morning, according to the district attorney’s office. A spokesperson for Carmack-Altwies declined to say who, if anyone, will be charged.
“Regardless of the District Attorney’s decision, the announcement will be a solemn occasion, made in a manner keeping with the office’s commitment to upholding the integrity of the judicial process and respecting the victim’s family,” Heather Brewer, spokesperson for the office of the First Judicial District Attorney, said in a statement."
Actor Julian Sands identified as one of two missing hikers in San Gabriel Mountains
LA Times, CHRISTI CARRAS/JONAH VALDEZ: "British actor Julian Sands has been identified as one of two hikers who recently went missing in Southern California’s San Gabriel Mountains.
Search-and-rescue teams have been looking for Sands since he was reported missing in the Mt. Baldy area on Friday, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
Sands, 65, is known for his work in “A Room With a View” (1985), “Naked Lunch” (1991), “Warlock” (1989), “Snakehead” (2003) and dozens of other films and TV series. Born in the United Kingdom, Sands lives in North Hollywood."
