Officials plead with Californians to reduce energy use or face blackouts
LA Times, HARRIET RYAN/JAIMIE DING: “With California moving into the worst phase of a historic heat wave, authorities Monday amplified their urgent call for residents to reduce energy use voluntarily or face the prospect of rolling blackouts.
“We need two to three times as much conservation as we’ve been experiencing to keep the power on with these historically high temperatures and demand,” warned Elliot Mainzer, chief executive of the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s power grid, at a morning news conference.
The already-scorching temperatures are forecast to climb as high as 115 degrees Monday in many parts of the state, including inland areas of Los Angeles. Records in Fresno, Merced and other parts of the Central Valley are expected to be broken Monday afternoon, only to be topped Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
‘Like living in an oven’: Relief days away as record heat strains Bay Area
The Chronicle, JK DINEEN/JULIE JOHNSON: “A record heat wave continued scalding much of California on Labor Day and kept the inland areas of the Bay Area smothered in unusually high temperatures that sent those without air conditioning searching for respite outdoors and in official cooling centers.
Livermore’s preliminary high of 116 on Monday appeared to break the Bay Area’s all-time record high, according to readings from the National Weather Service, though the numbers had not yet been verified. Daily high temperature records for Sept. 5 fell across the Bay Area, according to the weather service.
A preliminary temperature reading from Fairfield hit 116 on Monday. The city’s previous record high was 108 degrees, set in 1950. Downtown Oakland measured a preliminary mark of 100 degrees, also unverified by the weather service, potentially breaking its daily record high of 95 degrees set in 2008.”
Why this underappreciated rodent is one of California’s best chances to fight climate change
The Chronicle, EMMA TALLEY:“They’re stocky, furry and usually a bit damp, and they’ve been underappreciated for decades. But not anymore. Meet one of California’s best climate-change fighting tools: the beaver.
Lauded as some of nature’s most effective engineers, a motivated group of beavers can divert rivers and streams with their dams of sticks and mud and, in doing so, keep the land they occupy moist, helping fight the ongoing drought. That moisture can also play a key role in slowing the state’s virulent wildfire season — flames can’t burn wet sticks. Smokey Bear? Think Smokey Beaver instead.
This year, the state has begun harnessing the beaver’s potential, pumping over a million dollars into restoring these industrious rodents in each of the next two years.
Newsom signs bill to regulate wages for fast food workers
CALMatters, JEANNE KUANG: “On Labor Day, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he’s signing a first-in-the-nation bill creating a council to regulate wages and working conditions in fast food restaurants.
The new law will give labor advocates a long-elusive bargaining foothold in a low-wage industry that employs more than half a million non-unionized workers statewide.
“California is committed to ensuring that the men and women who have helped build our world-class economy are able to share in the state’s prosperity,” Newsom said in a statement. “Today’s action gives hardworking fast-food workers a stronger voice and seat at the table to set fair wages and critical health and safety standards across the industry. I’m proud to sign this legislation on Labor Day when we pay tribute to the workers who keep our state running as we build a stronger, more inclusive economy for all Californians.””
A state program that provides children’s hearing aids may be expanded to include more families
CALMatters, ELIZABETH AGUILERA: “A proposal to expand a year-old California program that provides hearing aids to children was approved by the state Legislature in the final days of the session that ended Wednesday.
If Gov. Gavin Newsom signs the bills, the expansion will add about 2,000 additional deaf or hard of hearing children who have partial insurance coverage and up to age 21who are not currently eligible for the income-based Hearing Aid Coverage for Children Program. If approved, it will go into effect Jan. 1, 2023.
“For the families that weren’t eligible before this is relief they have been waiting for a long time. Young adults who are aging out of the program will be able to stay on,” said Mike Odeh, senior director at Children Now, an advocacy organization focused on children. “We know hearing aids are not just a nice-to-have medical device. It’s truly important for all sorts of communication, socialization, and development that are important for kids and youth thriving.””
Lawmakers approve groundbreaking internet privacy law for kids
CALMatters, GRACE GEDYE: “When does a kid become an adult? It’s an elusive question that developmental psychologists, philosophers and parents might answer differently.
But lawmakers can’t work with ambiguity. So in the late 1990s, Congress decided that — at least when it comes to surfing the web — kids are people under 13.
Last week, California legislators said: Nope. Kids are people under 18. And if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill they just passed, kids under 18 in California will get many more privacy rights online.”
Franklin Fire in Contra Costa County now 75% contained
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH: “Firefighters quickly tackled a fire with a “dangerous rate of spread” in northwest Contra Costa County Monday evening, getting the blaze to 75% containment in around an hour and a half.
The fire ignited off Franklin Canyon Road and Highway 4 in Rodeo just before 6:30 p.m. and within an hour had grown to 125 acres.
CalFire tweeted around 7 p.m. that structures were threatened, the fire was zero percent contained and requested additional firefighters.”
Two dead, multiple structures burn as fast-moving fire near Hemet explodes
The Chronicle, JAIMIE DING/JESSICA GARRISON: “Two people were killed and one person was injured Monday in a rapidly expanding fire near Hemet that burned at least seven structures, according to fire officials, while another fast-moving blaze in the San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear Lake also prompted evacuation orders.
The Fairview fire east of Hemet ignited around 3 p.m. and quickly exploded to more than 2,000 acres, according to the Riverside County Fire Department. It was 5% contained as of 10 p.m. Monday, fire officials said. They did not give further details on the deaths. A third person was taken to the hospital with burns. No firefighters were injured, officials said.
“This fire … was spreading very quickly before firefighters even got on scene,” a spokesman for the Riverside County Fire Department and the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said on a Twitter livestream. Hemet hit a high of 110 degrees on Monday as searing heat enveloped the state.”
A hyperpolarized, deeply fragile 2022 election: Democrats’ energy over Roe blunts GOP advantage
LA Times, MELANIE MASON: “At the start of 2022, the political consensus was Democrats were toast. Inflation was at record highs, President Biden’s approval numbers were slumping and precedent pointed to odds heavily stacked against the party that held the White House in the November midterms.
Nine months later, inflation is still high, Biden’s ratings remain subpar and the history books are unchanged. Yet the chatter among pundits and party strategists now centers on whether the Democrats’ might avoid a rout this fall — or even, improbably, keep their hold of Congress.
The narrative may flip once, or a few times, more during this nine-week sprint to the general election that customarily begins in earnest after Labor Day. While conventional wisdom often churns during the campaign season, the state of play is particularly enigmatic in this unsettled political moment.”
What to know about California’s midterm election ballot
LA Times, SEEMA MEHTA: “With Labor Day in the rear-view mirror, Californians will soon be asked to weigh in on electoral contests that will shape the future of Los Angeles, the state and the nation.
Voters — concerned about homelessness, gas prices, crime and the economy — will be inundated with TV ads, mail flyers, texts and robocalls as candidates press their cases. Heavily funded campaigns are also pushing seven ballot measures on issues as varied as abortion, gaming and dialysis.
While the most prominent statewide races are not likely to be competitive because of California’s sapphire tilt, voters will decide congressional races that could determine control of the House of Representatives as well as highly competitive contests in Los Angeles that will install the next generation of leadership in the nation’s second-largest city.”
Poop and pee fueled the huge algae bloom in San Francisco Bay. Fixing the problem could cost $14 billion
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: “After an unprecedented harmful algae bloom first turned San Francisco Bay a murky brown color and then littered its shores with dead fish, many people assumed it was yet another climate disaster to add to the list, along with extreme drought, wildfires and heat waves.
While scientists suspect climate change played a role in triggering the bloom, what fueled it is not a mystery. Algae blooms need food to grow, and this one had plenty: nutrients originating in wastewater that the region’s 37 sewage plants pump into the bay.
In other words — we wouldn’t have this problem without the poop and pee of the Bay Area’s 8 million residents.”
Here are 3 things S.F. can learn from Amsterdam as Dutch queen visits California
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH: “San Francisco gets its first official visit from any European royalty in 17 years when Queen Máxima of the Netherlands tours the city Tuesday.
The queen will meet Mayor London Breed for a ceremonial flag raising and exchange of gifts in the morning at City Hall, tour the Castro, then head to a seminar at Salesforce Tower focused on climate, transportation and other urban challenges. In the afternoon, the queen will attend a seminar on innovative medical technologies at UCSF Mission Bay.
The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001, so Dutch royalty prioritized seeing the LGBTQ mecca. The group will visit the GLBT Historical Society Museum, Castro Theater and Twin Peaks Tavern.”
Cyberattack takes down L.A. Unified operations. Schools will open on Tuesday
LA Times, HOWARD BLUME: “A cyberattack brought down the computer systems of the Los Angeles Unified School District over the weekend, but officials said late Monday night that schools would open as scheduled Tuesday morning.
The attack took the district’s website offline, eliminated access to email and reportedly affected systems that teachers use to post lessons and take attendance.
“Since the identification of the incident, which is likely criminal in nature, we continue to assess the situation with law enforcement agencies,” the district stated in a release. “While the investigation continues, Los Angeles Unified has swiftly implemented a response protocol to mitigate districtwide disruptions, including access to email, computer systems and applications.””
Dozens of community colleges offer remedial classes; bill to ban them awaits Newsom’s signature
EdSource, MICHAEL BURKE: “Remedial education at California’s community colleges is facing a death blow.
Awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature is a bill that would mostly ban remedial math and English classes, which can’t transfer with credit to four-year universities. If he signs the bill, it will affect more than 40 colleges that continue to offer those classes five years after the state told them to allow students to bypass the courses.
Assembly Bill 1705 soared through the state’s Legislature, winning the approval of lawmakers who are frustrated that some students are still being funneled into remedial classes. Lawmakers contend that many of the colleges offering remedial courses are violating the spirit of a 2017 law, Assembly Bill 705, which said colleges can’t place students in remedial classes unless they are highly unlikely to succeed in transfer-level coursework.”
S.F. Giants just made a surprising hire: a master sommelier
The Chronicle, JESS LANDER: “The San Francisco Giants’ latest hire won’t miraculously get the team into the postseason. But it could help ease the pain of this year’s losing record.
The Giants are the first U.S. professional sports team to hire a master sommelier to oversee and expand its wine programming. The organization chose Evan Goldstein, a lifelong Giants fan who passed the prestigious master sommelier exam at 26, the youngest to do so at the time. He’s one of 269 master sommeliers worldwide.
While the particulars of the new role, which Goldstein said is still in its “nascent” stage, are not fully ironed out, he’ll influence the wine consumed by both Giants players and fans.”
Raley’s executive, company pilot die in Sacramento area plane crash
The Chronicle, MATTHIAS GAFNI: “A Raley’s supermarket executive and a company pilot died when the twin-engine plane they were flying in crashed into an orchard near Galt in Sacramento County.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office received a call about the downed aircraft shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday from the 12000 block of Christensen Road, about 4 miles north of Galt and just west of Highway 99.
“The caller advised that they saw a small plane go down and heard a loud sound,” according to a statement from the Sheriff’s Office.”
