California’s incoming senator, Laphonza Butler, describes her whirlwind trip into history
LA Times, TARYN LUNA/HANNAH WILEY: "Laphonza Butler was in Colorado for a work trip late Saturday when she spoke with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s team for the first time about filling the U.S. Senate vacancy left by the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
“I had not talked to anyone: Not the governor, nssot the governor’s team,” Butler said in an interview with The Times. “I was unaware that my name was even seriously being considered."
How Laphonza Butler could reshape California’s U.S. Senate race
CALMatters, YUE STELLA YU: "Laphonza Butler — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pick to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein — will be sworn in today, making history as the first openly LGBTQ person and the second Black woman to represent California in the Senate.
But how long does she want to keep the job?"
Newsom’s handling of Feinstein’s replacement was a highlight reel of his political flaws
The Chronicle, EMILY HOEVEN: "Despite his many years in politics, Gov. Gavin Newsom still has an uncanny ability to shoot himself in the foot.
Newsom’s knack for backing himself into corners of his own making, issuing bold statements that crumble under the slightest pressure, and pursuing grand visions without much regard to details, has defined his response to his second U.S. Senate appointment."
With Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s death, will the lawsuits over her late husband’s estate continue?
The Chronicle, CAROLYN SAID: "With the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, what will happen to the bitter legal dispute over the vast estate of her late husband, financier Richard Blum?
The senator’s daughter, Katherine Feinstein, 66, acting with her mother’s power of attorney, filed three lawsuits against the co-trustees of Blum’s estate in June, July and August, alleging that they owed her mother millions of dollars, and were improperly enriching Blum’s three daughters from a previous marriage at Sen. Feinstein’s expense."
Here’s when members of the public can pay their respects to Sen. Dianne Feinstein
The Chronicle, JOAQUIN PALAMINO: " The body of Sen. Dianne Feinstein will lie in state at San Francisco City Hall on Wednesday, allowing people from her hometown to honor and remember the politician who helped shape the city.
Members of the public are invited to pay their respects and sign a condolence book at City Hall from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m."
California lawmakers have a plan to plug old, vapor-spewing oil wells. Could it backfire?
LA Times, TONY BRISCOE: "As flammable gases and toxic fumes seep from thousands of abandoned oil wells across California, state legislators passed a bill last month that would require owners to set aside more funding to properly seal wells once their use has ended.
But the measure attracted a surprising adversary: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Department of Finance. The state agency, in a July analysis, has contended the bill could backfire and wind up exacerbating the very problem it intends to so lve."
Katherine Miller: Guiding Chefs – or Anyone – to Advocacy (PODCAST)
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "It wasn’t long ago that the idea of chefs moonlighting as political advocates – and finding a willing audience of elected officials – might have seemed ludicrous. Now, celebrity chefs and a fascination with food culture has changed all that. Many chefs are dedicated activists for causes like hunger relief efforts, supporting local farmers, fighting food waste, confronting racism and sexism in the industry, and more. And, politicians listen.
Katherine Miller has a background in organizing activists throughout the world: she trained thousands of community activists how to work toward change in business practices, social systems, and public policy. Training programs she developed and led are in use around the world including China, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Mali, and Nigeria. When she was first approached about helping chefs find their political voice she scoffed, but seeing them in action made her a believer. Inspired by activist chefs like Sacramento’s own Patrick Mulvaney, she developed a series of impact-focused programs for the James Beard Foundation, served as the founding executive director for the Chef Action Network, and developed the Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change."
A fight over precious groundwater in a rural California town is rooted in carrots
AP, AMY TAXIN: "In the hills of a dry, remote patch of California farm country, Lee Harrington carefully monitors the drips moistening his pistachio trees to ensure they’re not wasting any of the groundwater at the heart of a vicious fight.
He is one of scores of farmers, ranchers and others living near the tiny town of New Cuyama who have been hauled into court by a lawsuit filed by two of the nation’s biggest carrot growers, Grimmway Farms"
California could soon ban 4 food additives in common sweets. What to know
CALMatters, SHREYA AGRAWAL: "It’s no longer the “Skittles ban,” but legislation on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk still could force food manufacturers to change their recipes for a variety of sweets and baked goods.
The California Food Safety Act would prohibit the sale of food products containing several additives that are outlawed in the European Union and are thought to be harmful to the health of people who eat them."
Practical tips for working with Finance
Capitol Weekly, CHRIS MICHELIN: "MICHELI FILES: In talking with former staff from the Department of Finance (DOF) the past few weeks, the following are the key practical tips that were shared with me for those working with the staff members of the Governor’s Finance Department. While some of these recommendations may seem obvious, many of them bear repeating.
The following are some of the suggestions shared with me these past few weeks:"
S.F. City Hall corruption: Building inspector gets 2 years in prison for state crimes
The Chronicle, MEGAN CASSIDY: "A former San Francisco building inspector was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to state crimes involving concealing monetary payments and violating conflict of interest laws, local prosecutors announced Monday.
Bernard Curran’s sentence represents the latest development in a sprawling investigation into corruption in San Francisco city government. The state conviction comes less than three months after the disgraced former civil servant was sentenced to a year and a day in prison in a related federal case."
After drizzles, temperatures will move toward triple digits in Southern California
LA Times, NOAH GOLDBERG: "Temperatures will rise this week in Southern California, bringing summer weather back after brief drizzles over the weekend.
The beginning of the Santa Ana wind season will push into the area this week, bringing a high of 94 on Thursday to downtown L.A., said Rich Thompson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Thompson also said that temperatures could hit 100 in the San Fernando Valley."
California sees decline in COVID hospitalizations. Will it last?
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "New COVID-19 hospital admissions have decreased for a second consecutive week in California, signaling a modest but reassuring trend as the state emerges from a late-summer swell of infections.
The daily average of patients admitted for COVID-19 fell approximately 13% over the past two weeks, dropping from an average of 395 to 343 daily, according to health department data published Friday."
Another strike looms at Kaiser’s California hospitals as workers push for better pay
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente health care workers are prepared to walk out on a three-day strike Wednesday that would affect patients across California.
The contract between the health care giant and a coalition of eight unions representing 75,000 workers nationwide expired Saturday. Workers in the union span a wide variety of professions, including pharmacists, phlebotomists, licensed vocational nurses and support staff. Although the walkout would also affect facilities in Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C., more than 90% of coalition workers are in California."
Advocates for English learners and the 'science of reading' sign on to joint statement
EdSource, ZAIDEE STAVELY: "English learners need foundational skills like phonics and vocabulary in addition to instruction in speaking and understanding English and connections to their home languages.
Those are two agreements laid out in a new joint statement Tuesday authored by two organizations, one that advocates for English learners and the other for the “science of reading.” The organizations, the National Committee for Effective Literacy and The Reading League, had previously appeared to have deep differences about how to teach reading."
Beyond crayons and circle time: What California transitional kindergarten needs to succeed
CALMatters, CAROLYN JONES: "Thanks to TikTok videos, billboards and other creative marketing techniques, enrollment in transitional kindergarten in California appears to be climbing. But advocates are keeping an eye on how those 4-year-olds are spending their class time — which they say will be a key factor in whether the $2.7 billion program is a success.
“Quality is top of mind for us. Some districts are treating it like a second year of kindergarten, which we know doesn’t work,” said Benjamin Cottingham, with Policy Analysis for California Education, an independent, nonpartisan research center. “To be effective, TK needs to be a play-based, developmentally appropriate course of study.”"
SAG-AFTRA and studios to meet for a second day in talks to resolve actors’ strike
LA Times, MEG JAMES: "Representatives of SAG-AFTRA and the major Hollywood studios returned to the bargaining table Monday for the first time in 2½ months to resolve thorny issues that prompted the actors’ walkout in mid-July.
The session marked the first time that top media executives — Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger, Netflix Co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos, Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav and NBCUniversal Studio Group Chairman Donna Langley — sat down with the leaders of the 160,000-member performers union, which has been on strike against the entertainment companies since July 13."
Saving Mt. Wilson Observatory: Inside the long battle to maintain the spot where we found our place in the universe
LA Times, CORINNE PURTILL: "Los Angeles was once the best place in the world to see the universe.
The most important things we know about the cosmos were discovered in the early 20th century at Mt. Wilson Observatory. It was here, 100 years ago, that Edwin Hubble noted a light in the distance that would lead to one of science’s greatest discoveries."
S.F. system for housing homeless is broken, service providers say
The Chronicle, AUDREY BROWN: "For four months last year, Jessica Hassen-Whitson, 45, was a prisoner in her home, a permanent supportive housing unit in a hotel on Turk Street in San Francisco assigned by the city’s homelessness department. The elevator and doorways were too narrow for her plus-size wheelchair and she couldn’t get over the unit’s front steps. Her partner, Jason Davis, 33, had broken his leg and could no longer carry her.
During that time, she left the apartment only twice, for doctor’s appointments. Since she couldn’t step into the bathtub, she took sponge baths. As the weeks dragged on, Hassen-Whitson grew increasingly depressed."
Can San Jose speed up quick-build homeless sites? Mayor says emergency declaration will do the trick
BANG*Mercury News, GABRIEL GRESCHLER: "Standing just yards away from one of San Jose’s numerous homeless encampments on the edge of Willow Glen under a Highway 87 overpass, Mayor Matt Mahan on Monday announced plans to reduce the time it takes to get an interim shelter up and running by cutting through the city’s bureaucratic red tape.
The strategy will require the city to declare a shelter crisis emergency declaration, allowing certain land use provisions, building codes and procurement decisions to be bypassed — laws that elected officials say drag out the development of tiny home sites and safe parking locations to nearly two years. The mayor hopes to slash that time frame to less than a year."
Fallen from the middle class: 60, living in an RV and fighting to be housed
LA Times, PALOMA ESQUIVEL/RACHEL URANGA: "At first, when she became homeless at 59 last year, Laura Garciaros felt lucky to have her motor home, a 1989 Mallard Sprinter she bought with the help of friends.
It ran and the A/C worked. She found a spot that felt somewhat safe, just off a street lined with RVs near Hollywood Burbank Airport and parked next to a shady tree near a business where the owners let her fill her water jugs from a spout and plug her coffee maker into an outdoor outlet."
Bay Area poll finds tepid support for public transit — a far cry from the days when voters eagerly threw money at it
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "In the Bay Area, where highway traffic often moves slower than cold molasses, voters have a long history of generously paying to support public transportation, even though most don’t use it much themselves.
But as public officials once again weigh asking Bay Area voters to pay more and prop up the flagging finances of commuter rail systems, a new poll sponsored by the Bay Area News Group and Joint Venture Silicon Valley finds little enthusiasm for the subsidies, and much less for the usual means — tax, toll and fare hikes."
