Hilary leaves massive flooding, mudslides, upheaval across Southern California
LA Times, ALEXANDRA E. PETRI, GRACE TOOHEY, DAVID ZAHNISER: "Record rainfall. Inaccessible highways. Widespread power outages. Residents stranded. Streets buried or washed out.
In the wake of Hilary’s lashing of Southern California, the region awoke Monday to lingering damage from the historic storm, with debris flows and flash floods leaving paths of destruction from San Bernardino’s mountain towns to Riverside’s desert communities and along Hollywood streets."
California rain totals: Map shows how much rain Tropical Storm Hilary brought
The Chronicle, JACK LEE: "Tropical Storm Hilary brought torrential weather to California this weekend, crossing into the state on Sunday after making landfall in Baja California.
Record-shattering rains that came with the storm wreaked havoc in parts of Southern California, producing catastrophic flash floods and torrential debris flows in places like Cathedral City (Riverside County) and Wrightwood (San Bernardino County)."
Hilary left California desert roads covered in water and mud. Now it’s threatening Oregon and Idaho
AP: "Hilary, the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, flooded roads, toppled trees and forced a rescue by bulldozer of more than a dozen older residents trapped by mud in a care home Monday as it marched northward, prompting flood watches and warnings in half a dozen states.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Hilary had lost much of its steam and only vestiges of the storm were heading over the Rocky Mountains, but it warned that “continued life-threatening and locally catastrophic flooding” was expected over portions of the Southwestern U.S., following record-breaking rainfall. Forecasters said the threat for flooding in states farther north on Monday was highest across much of southeastern Oregon into the west-central mountains of Idaho, with potential thunderstorms and localized torrential rains on Tuesday."
No, Dodger Stadium didn’t flood. That’s just a reflection
LA Times, DAVID WHARTON, ROBERT GAUTHIER: "Contrary to popular belief, this weekend’s tropical storm did not transform Dodger Stadium into a forlorn island surrounded by floodwaters.
A tidal wave of social media posts drew attention on Sunday, appearing to show the stadium parking lots submerged beneath Hilary’s record-setting rainfall."
A look at the 2023 Top 100 (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly, TIM FOSTER: "Each year, Capitol Weekly’s Top 100 names the most powerful movers and shakers in California politics. We don’t include elected officials. Instead, we look at those who devote their professional lives to fighting for – or against – issues of state politics and policy, including lobbyists, bureaucrats, activists, trade group leaders, Capitol staffers and even journalists.
Last week we published the 15th Edition of the Top 100, which was notable for two firsts: this is editor Rich Ehisen’s first time at the helm of the Top 100; And, this is the first time women have made up a majority of the names on the list."
Adam Schiff is famous for fighting Donald Trump. Why he’s not dominating California Senate race
Sac Bee, LINDSEY HOLDEN, DAVID LIGHTMAN: "U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff received a standing ovation from Sacramento voters at a campaign stop earlier this month — but the aspiring senator spoke to his Northern California audience as if they may not know enough about him.
“Let me just introduce myself,” Schiff said. “Because a lot of you know me as the guy that stood up to Donald Trump.”"
After farmworker’s death in Fresno-area heat, UFW and Sen. Padilla say it’s time for stronger protections at work
CALMatters, NICOLE FOY: "As Fresno-area temperatures sizzled around 100 recently, a 59-year-old tomatillo field worker collapsed and died. The coroner listed the cause of death as cardiovascular disease caused by cholesterol buildup; the farmworkers’ union blamed it on working in such heat.
“Elidio Hernández should not have died,” said United Farm Workers president Teresa Romero at a Friday press conference in Delano. “Elidio had two young daughters who now don’t have a father.”"
SEIU Local 1000 announces tentative contract for California state workers. What’s in the deal?
Sac Bee, MAYA MILLER: "After four months of bargaining, dozens of labor actions and eight arrests, California’s largest state employee union has reached a tentative contract agreement with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration.
The highlight of the deal is a 10% pay raise over the life of the three-year contract, which union leaders are trumpeting as a hard-fought win for members. Workers would receive a 3% increase retroactive to July 1, another 3% increase in July 2024 and then either a 4% or 3% bump in July 2025 depending on the condition of the budget, according to a Local 1000 email update."
Hardly anyone owns a hydrogen car. California may pay up to $300 million for fuel stations anyway
CALMatters, ALEJANDRO LAZO: "Electric cars are rolling off production lines, and one in five new cars sold in California this year is battery-powered. “California is showing the world what’s possible,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose plan to phase out fossil fuels and gasoline-powered cars is key to his ambitions of tackling climate change.
But as California steers away from the internal combustion engine, the rapid transition is fueling a fight in the Capitol over how large a role hydrogen fuel cells will play in powering the clean cars of the future."
PG&E monthly bills might hop higher due to power line burials
BANG*Mercury News, GEORGE AVALOS: "PG&E bills may hop higher if the utility lands state approval for a rate proposal that includes wide-ranging plans to bury power lines to help ward off catastrophic wildfires.
A hearing officer with the state Public Utilities Commission is expected to issue a proposed decision in the coming days on PG&E’s general rate request that could trigger an array of impacts on monthly customer bills. Among the proposals is a plan that could oblige its customers to foot the bill to bury PG&E power lines."
USC hires Washington’s Jennifer Cohen to be its new athletic director
LA Times, THUC NHI NGUYEN, J. BRADY MCCOLLOUGH: "Only one job could convince Jennifer Cohen to leave the school that made her fall in love with college athletics. USC was it.
After eight years as Washington’s athletic director, Cohen was announced as USC’s 10th athletic director on Monday, making the 54-year-old the first woman to hold the position at the school. Cohen will take over an unstable USC athletic department that has been without a leader for three months since former athletic director Mike Bohn abruptly stepped down amid criticisms over mismanagement and misconduct allegations."
LGBTQ students are returning to hostile school environments — even in California
The Chronicle, ERIN ALLDAY: "Starting seventh grade last week came with the usual nervous excitement of a new school year for Juniper Loveday-Brown, a student at Willowside Middle School in Santa Rosa.
Juniper, 12, was looking forward to seeing friends, especially classmates in the school’s Gay Straight Alliance club. And Juniper, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, knew that most of their teachers would display Pride flags in the classrooms, signaling these were safe and welcoming spaces for LGBTQ students."
'Powerful' child abuse expo could come to Merced County schools
EdSource, LASHERICA THORNTON: "Six rooms, each a different story, holding the secrets of a different child and a distinct type of abuse.
“Some secrets should be told,” is inked on posters and flyers."
Press rights groups back journalist being sued by L.A. to claw back public records
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "When a freelance journalist asked Los Angeles to send him names and photos of all of its police officers, city officials said they accidentally included pictures of officers who work undercover. Now a judge says the city can sue to recover the records, and the journalist, supported by a national press-freedom group, is appealing.
“You can’t use a lawsuit to censor the press and forbid a member of the press from publishing records the government gave him,” Susan Seager, a UC Irvine law professor representing journalist Ben Camacho, said Monday. “The information is already public, and you can’t try to take it back if it’s a matter of public concern.”"
Oakland’s lead negotiator for A’s Howard Terminal ballpark plan steps down
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: "Oakland’s lead negotiator on the A’s Howard Terminal ballpark project has left her job to join a real estate developer, according to a spokesperson for the city.
Molly Maybrun was hired about four years ago to negotiate on behalf of Oakland with the A’s over their proposed multibillion-dollar waterfront stadium and surrounding development in a disused section of the port."
Alameda County DA investigating fire at Oakland metal recycling plant
The Chronicle, MEGAN FAN MUNCE: "An East Bay metal recycling facility is now being investigated by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office after at least three fires in six years.
On Aug. 9, a fire burned through a debris pile containing aluminum, tin, iron and steel at Schnitzer Steel in Oakland. The blaze sent dark plumes of smoke into the air, triggering an air quality advisory for most of the Bay Area before the fire was put out nearly 24 hours later."
Richmond spa likely source of Legionnaires’ disease that killed 2, infected 4
The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO: "Lab testing has confirmed that the Richmond spa that was being investigated as the source of Legionnaires’ disease that killed two people earlier this month did in fact have high levels of legionella bacteria in its hot tub — making it the likely origin of the disease among several people, Contra Costa County officials said Monday.
Six customers are believed to have been infected after visiting Zen Day Spa in Richmond. Two people died, two fell ill shortly after visiting the spa and are suspected to have had Legionnaires’ disease, and two more were later found to have lab-confirmed Legionnaires’ disease."
Tracking U.S. drug overdose deaths
The Chronicle, STAFF: "Drug overdoses have killed more than a million people in the U.S. since 1999, with the majority of the fatalities driven by opioids, including the supremely powerful synthetic painkiller fentanyl.
But while the accelerating casualties are vast — so much so that they are driving down the nation’s life expectancy — the suffering is not evenly spread, with some cities and counties recording death tolls three to five times higher than the national average, according to a first-of-its-kind tracker of the epidemic."
Bay Area home prices fall as mortgage rates spike. Could it last?
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN VARIAN: "Bay Area home prices are falling as mortgage rates climb to their highest levels in more than two decades, squeezing many house-hunters out of the market and keeping would-be sellers on the fence.
The median price of existing single-family homes dropped 5.2% to $1.26 million across the region from June to July, according to the California Association of Realtors. The decline followed steady price gains most of the year as sales picked up during the traditionally busier spring and early summer home-buying seasons."
Trapped in Death Valley, hundreds wait for roads to be cleared
LA Times, CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS: "Sunday’s tropical storm didn’t just close Death Valley National Park — it also isolated hundreds of residents, visitors and workers when floodwaters shut down California 190 and other park roads.
By 12:10 p.m. Monday, park management analyst Abigail Wines said, “We are optimistic we will have an exit route by this evening. Caltrans is amazing.”"
Bill seeking to bail out BART with bridge-toll hikes is put on pause
BANG*Mercury News, WILL MCCARTHY: "Efforts to pass a controversial bill to fund the Bay Area’s financially strapped transit system–including BART, Muni and other agencies–by raising Bay Area bridge tolls by $1.50 are being put on pause amid weak legislative support, State Sen. Scott Wiener announced Monday.
The San Francisco Democrat introduced the bill late in the legislative session after efforts to obtain sustainable transit funding in the state budget fell through. In an interview, Wiener said he knew from the beginning that the toll hike would be a difficult political lift. SB352 would have required a two-thirds majority to pass both houses of the Legislature."
OK to exceed speed limit to stay with traffic in California? DMV answers this, misconceptions
Sac Bee, DOMINIQUE WILLIAMS: "As a child, did your parents ever tell you they could get in trouble if you turned the dome light on while they were driving?
Do you keep up with traffic while driving on the freeway, or do you follow the posted speed limit?"
Breed announces changes to S.F. intersection where young girl was killed. Will it be enough?
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "Mayor London Breed on Monday called for immediate safety improvements to the San Francisco intersection where a driver struck and killed a 4-year-old girl last week.
Following a preliminary review of the intersection, located at Fourth and King streets near the Caltrain station in the South of Market neighborhood, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency officials will remove one turning lane and adjust traffic signals to better ensure that drivers yield to pedestrians, Breed announced in a statement Monday afternoon."
Biden says federal government will help Maui ‘for as long as it takes’ to recover from wildfire
AP, SEUNG MIN KIM: "President Joe Biden on Monday told survivors of Hawaii’s wildfires that the nation “grieves with you” and promised that the federal government will help “for as long as it takes” Maui to recover from damage caused by the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.
Biden arrived in Maui 13 days after fire ravaged the western part of the island, killing at least 115 people. Standing near a severely burned 150-year-old banyan tree, the president acknowledged the “overwhelming” devastation but said that Maui would persevere through the tragedy."
Trump says he will surrender Thursday on Georgia charges tied to efforts to overturn 2020 election
AP, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, JILL COLVIN: "Former President Donald Trump says he will surrender to authorities in Georgia on Thursday to face charges in the case accusing him of illegally scheming to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
“Can you believe it? I’ll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED,” Trump wrote on his social media network Monday night, hours after his bond was set at $200,000."
