First sighting of salmon in 100 years marks key milestone for California dam removal
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "In an early victory for the nation’s largest dam-removal project, the first salmon in more than a century is believed to have pushed up the Klamath River this past week into waters formerly blocked by dams.
Scientists with the nonprofit California Trout told the Chronicle that their sonar camera captured what was almost certainly a chinook salmon migrating upstream Thursday past the site where Iron Gate Dam once stood, just south of the California-Oregon border."
California’s massive dam removal has been lauded. But residents miss the lakes
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "The first thing you notice at Copco Lake is that there’s no lake here.
Yet, in this woodsy Northern California community just miles from the Oregon border, wooden docks sit oddly in grassy backyards. Boats lie idle in dirt lots or on parked trailers. The occasional fishing pole or life vest is strewn about on a side lawn."\
Chances for La Niña have shifted. Here’s what it means for California
The Chronicle's JACK LEE: "The odds of La Niña emerging have gone down, according to a monthly update by the Climate Prediction Center on Thursday. The latest discussion calls for a 60% chance that La Niña emerges during the fall, a drop from the 71% probability reported last month.
“Now there’s a 2 in 5 chance that La Niña won’t develop during the (September-November) season,” said Michelle L’Heureux, a climate scientist with the Climate Prediction Center."
Some drafting observations on 2024 California bills
Capitol Weekly's CHRIS MICHELI: "In looking over the 1,200 bills that reached Governor Newsom’s Desk during the 2024 Session, I found several with interesting provisions. They are in random order as I came across them in my review of the bill language."
California gas price bill on track, despite oil industry objections
CALMatters's LYNN LA: "A bill pushed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to curb gas price spikes is likely to get one step closer to his desk today.
After clearing two state Senate committees this week, the measure to require oil refineries to keep a minimum supply of fuel is up for a floor vote. Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire of Santa Rosa, who begrudgingly agreed to consider the bill during this special session called by Newsom, has assured that his caucus has the votes to pass it, since the Senate was poised to adopt it during the regular session in August."
Time to pump the brakes on California’s zero-emission diesel truck regulations
IRAN CHIMA, BRANDON NEAL in Capitol Weekly: "In 2023, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved what was characterized as a world-leading regulation to phase out the sales of medium and heavy-duty combustion engines. At the time, California Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed, “The future happens here first, and California is once again showing the world what real climate action looks like.” And so began a national movement to transition the trucking industry to Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs).
That was then, not now. Truck manufacturers are not mass producing heavy-duty commercial electric trucks, a sign that the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) regulations hailed revolutionary, are not working as intended. Like a caution sign on the road, other states considering California’s lead should slow down and pay close attention."
Trump downsized national monuments. Biden restored them. Project 2025 calls for reductions again
LAT's JAMES RAINEY: "They are sprawling lands of seemingly endless vistas and soaring plateaus. The red canyons are sprinkled with ancient rock art and historic Indigenous settlements. Normally nonconfrontational paleontologists were so wowed by their fossils that they sued to try to protect the land.
Two Democratic presidents moved to preserve this rugged terrain by creating a pair of national monuments in southern Utah — Bears Ears and Grand Staircase- Escalante."
Poll: If Trump wins the White House, Californians want their next senator to fight back
LAT's LAURA J. NELSON: "If President Trump is elected in November, California voters have a clear message for the Golden State’s next senator: Protect us.
If Kamala Harris is elected, however, Californians want to see their next senator focus on legislation that helps the state as much as possible."
Oakland City Council races: What this election means for the city’s direction
The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI: "On Nov. 5, Oakland voters will decide whether to recall Mayor Sheng Thao less than two years into her term — the first such vote in a century. But equally consequential, they will cast votes for a majority of the seats on the City Council, potentially reshaping Oakland’s legislative branch at a moment of daunting challenges.
Residents will vote on five of the eight City Council seats — two of which have no incumbent running in the race — including the at-large seat that represents the entire city and seats representing Fruitvale, North, East and West Oakland."
London Breed touts progressive support as ranked choice wrangling ramps up
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "Mayor London Breed may not be forming a ranked choice alliance as part of her reelection bid any time soon, but she’s trying the next best thing: She’s landed the endorsement as a No. 2 pick in ranked choice voting of some of San Francisco’s leading progressives, including her 2018 mayoral rival, former Supervisor Jane Kim, Supervisor Hillary Ronen and Public Defender Mano Raju.
Her strategy is two-fold: First, she wants to attract progressive support without forming a public alliance with her rival, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, in the hopes of getting his voters’ second-place votes."
Kamala Harris Is Winning Over Republicans From Trump, Polls Suggest
Newsweek's MARTHA MCHARDY in Sacramento Bee: "Vice President Kamala Harris is making unexpected gains among Republican voters, according to recent polls.
As the 2024 presidential race intensifies, multiple polls suggest a growing number of Republicans are shifting their support from former President Donald Trump to Harris. This surprising trend could reshape the election dynamics, giving Harris a potential edge in key battleground states as both candidates fight for the presidency."
Obama blasts men for finding ‘all kinds of excuses’ to avoid voting for a female president
LAT's NOAH BIERMAN: "Former President Obama joined the campaign trail for the final stretch Thursday with some “truths” for men, especially Black men, who he said were not delivering the enthusiasm for Vice President Kamala Harris that they did when he was running for president.
He told a group of campaign volunteers in Pittsburgh they have “a choice that is clear” between someone who “grew up like you, knows you,” understands the same struggles and triumphs and has concrete proposals to make life better, and “someone who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person.”"
Kaiser mental health workers prepare to strike, this time in Southern California
CALMatters' JOCELYN WIENER: "California mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente are preparing to strike for the second time in a little more than two years, citing stressful working conditions, lack of pensions and inadequate pay —with resultant impacts on patient care.
The National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents nearly 2,400 Kaiser Permanente behavioral health workers in Southern California, on Thursday officially advised the health care giant that its members will begin an open-ended strike on Oct. 21."
The brutal story behind California’s new Native American genocide education law
CALMatters's CAROLYN JONES: "In the 1860s, an armed militia swept into the historic land of the Serrano people in the San Bernardino mountains and went on a killing spree, attempting to slaughter the entire tribe. A tribal leader named Santos Manuel led the surviving 30 members to safety in a nearby valley.
Now, Manuel’s great-great grandson has ensured that every K-12 student in California will learn the story of the Serrano people and other California native tribes who endured atrocities during the Spanish colonial and Gold Rush eras in California history."
A downtown Sacramento revival? Here’s how mayoral hopefuls want to transform the grid
Sacramento Bee's ANNIKA MERRILEES: "Sacramento’s next mayor will be tasked with seeing the city through a budget deficit, fielding the frustrations of residents calling for more affordable housing and managing the needs of business owners challenged by post-COVID economic shifts.
Those issues all converge downtown — California’s center of government and Sacramento’s urban core — which today faces elevated commercial vacancies and calls for revitalization."
Dems are split over California rent control measure — but YIMBYs are firmly on one side
The Chronicle's MOLLY BURKE: "That California is in the throes of a crippling housing crisis is not in dispute – but whether a rent control measure on the November ballot would help or hurt the crisis has become a matter of fierce debate among Democrats.
Affordable housing advocates say the measure will help financially strapped renters; YIMBYs say it will hamper development in California cities."
California pledged $500 million to help tenants preserve affordable housing. They didn’t get a dime.
CALMatters's FELICIA MELLO: "Luke Johnson and his neighbors thought they had found the perfect solution to avoid being displaced from their Silver Lake, Los Angeles fourplex: A state program was offering $500 million to help tenants, community land trusts and other affordable housing developers buy buildings at risk of foreclosure.
With their longtime landlords set on selling the building, Johnson and his neighbors persuaded them to sell to a community land trust that pledged to keep rents low."
Intense UCLA policing draws scrutiny as security chief speaks out on handling protests
LAT's TERESA WATANABE: "On the one-year anniversary of Oct. 7, UCLA braced for potentially explosive protests as hundreds of people gathered on campus to mourn and rage over lives lost, hostages held, families destroyed and neighborhoods ravaged in the year since Hamas attacked southern Israel and Israel retaliated with a massive military assault on Gaza.
A tense moment came when pro-Palestinian supporters marched into a campus area off-limits to protest activities and initially refused to leave after student affairs staff told them they were violating campus rules."
Whistleblowers: Alameda County DA missed deadlines to charge 1,000 misdemeanor cases
The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY: "Hundreds of people arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor crimes in Alameda County will avoid potential punishment after prosecutors failed to review their cases before the deadline for charging, the Chronicle has learned.
The allegations made in the cases that can no longer go to court are wide-ranging. Among them: A woman was found in a stolen car, carrying brass knuckles. A driver who slammed into three parked vehicles tested at a 0.22% blood-alcohol level, nearly three times the legal limit. A man tried to use a fake receipt to return nearly $800 worth of Home Depot merchandise he hadn’t purchased."
LAPD rookie cops face hazing by shaved heads and other ‘rites of passage,’ report says
LAT's LIBOR JANY: "The LAPD does not adequately monitor officers who train new hires in the field, leading to a culture in which hazing is encouraged and rookies are routinely told to “forget everything you learned in the academy,” according to a new study by the department’s inspector general.
The report, released Tuesday by Interim Inspector General Florence Yu, focused on the treatment of graduates fresh out of the police academy, who are required to do three eight-week rotations learning from more senior officers in the field."
