Updating . .   

With Delta variant 'increasing like gangbusters' in California, positivity rate rises sharply -- He said most of the new cases are being driven by the delta variant that is “increasing like gangbusters in the state,” particularly in unvaccinated individuals in “minority populations who have lower than average vaccination rates in both Sacramento and Los Angeles.” Kellie Hwang in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

Tougher tactics targeting the unvaccinated needed to stop new COVID-19 spike, experts say -- With coronavirus cases rising among the unvaccinated and efforts to get them shots lagging, there is growing belief in some public health circles that more aggressive tactics are needed to get more of the population inoculated. Luke Money, Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

Coronavirus cases climb past 200 per day as Delta variant spreads -- San Diego County logged 355 cases of COVID-19 Monday, the largest single-day increase since April 9, public health officials said Tuesday as they released a survey that shows many county residents continue to resist getting vaccinated. Paul Sisson in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 7/14/21

No time or ‘enormously selfish’? People who haven’t gotten a COVID-19 shot may have many reasons -- With new coronavirus cases rising by more than 1,000 each of the last five days, some Los Angeles County leaders are not mincing words about the need for people to get vaccinated. Luke Money, Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

A quarter of unvaccinated young adults unlikely to get a COVID-19 shot, study finds -- The UC San Francisco study says this reluctance among young adults to get vaccinated threatens the health of older unvaccinated adults and may contribute to the rise of viral variants. The hesitancy also will make it more difficult for the U.S. to achieve herd immunity, which requires about 85% of the population to be vaccinated, the study authors say. Maura Dolan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

Shots and pot: Get free weed at pop-up COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Long Beach -- Before you “puff, puff, pass,” go get the vax. That’s the recommendation from two Long Beach groups encouraging residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Faith E. Pinho in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

Masks  

Sacramento-area county recommends masks for fully vaccinated as COVID Delta variant spreads -- Yolo County issued an advisory Wednesday strongly recommending that residents wear masks in most public indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status, citing a recent increase in COVID-19 activity attributed to the highly transmissible Delta variant. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/14/21

School  

California’s battle over schools and COVID shifts to masks in class this fall -- California parents who clamored to return kids to classrooms largely won that round — public schools will reopen for full-time learning from teachers in classrooms this fall. But with COVID-19 still a threat to the unvaccinated, that doesn’t mean the battle over public education is over. John Woolfolk, Kate Selig and Rachel Oh in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/14/21

Educators grapple with how to enforce California school mask mandate in the fall -- California will embrace one of the nation’s most stringent school mask mandates next fall, but is leaving enforcement to local educators, who are proposing a range of consequences for students who don’t follow the rule — such as issuing warnings or barring them from campus. Some even suggested they may ignore the order because they don’t believe it’s needed. Howard Blume, Melissa Gomez, Laura Newberry in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

Fire  

Dixie Fire explodes to 1,200 acres, prompts evacuation warnings in area of 2018 Camp Fire -- Evacuation warnings were issued Wednesday as firefighters struggle to gain control over a new fire in Butte County, a community hard hit by the deadly 2018 Camp Fire and last summer’s North Complex Fire. Amelia Davidson and Ryan Sabalow in the Sacramento Bee$ Hayley Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ Fiona Kelliher in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/14/21

Fire danger elevated to ‘extreme’ in Angeles National Forest -- As Southern California grapples with worsening drought conditions and record-breaking heat, officials with the U.S. Forest Service have elevated the fire danger level in the Angeles National Forest and San Gabriel Mountains National Monument from “very high” to “extreme.” Hayley Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

Ransom  

Under attack: California schools face ransomware threat -- A ransomware attack — where cybercriminals hold online systems hostage until victims pay a ransom — can have devastating consequences for schools. Experts say the number of attacks against schools in California and across the country are rising as educators try to figure out whether cybersecurity should be a priority. Zayna Syed CalMatters -- 7/14/21

Workplace   

Safety inspectors keep leaving Cal-OSHA. Now it has a mandate to hire dozens more -- With COVID-19 raging in the state, officials at California’s workplace safety agency in November vowed to fill as many vacancies as quickly as possible so it could carry out more inspections at hospitals, warehouses, factories and offices. Jeong Park in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/14/21

Gompers teachers reach contract agreement amid union dispute -- After fighting more than two years to justify its existence, the teachers union at San Diego’s Gompers charter school has reached its first contract agreement with school leadership. Kristen Taketa in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 7/14/21

Staying Aloat

Eligible Californians missing out on tax credits worth hundreds of dollars, report says -- Hundreds of thousands of lower income Californians in 2017 did not claim a state tax credit designed to provide extra cash for households like theirs, according to a new report by the nonpartisan California Policy Lab at UC Berkeley. Kim Bojórquez in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/14/21

Gov. Newsom calls for more people to join rental relief efforts -- Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday laid out enhanced efforts to speed up rental assistance to reeling landlords and tenants, urging a quicker turnaround for aid requests and encouraging more participation in the $7.2 billion program. Louis Hansen in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/14/21

They paid rent through COVID-19. Now they’re broke and can’t get help from California programs -- Juana Iris Meza and her husband have always lived paycheck to paycheck, struggling to make the $535 rent for the one-bedroom apartment they share with their four kids in central Fresno. But they never missed a payment. Nadia Lopez in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/14/21

Housing  

How many minimum wage jobs does it take to pay Bay Area rent? -- It takes the equivalent of more than four full-time minimum wage jobs for a worker in San Jose or San Francisco to afford a two-bedroom apartment and still have money left over for food, health care and transportation, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Louis Hansen in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/14/21

Here's the hourly pay you need to comfortably afford the rent on a S.F. apartment -- It takes a household income of $68.33 an hour — more than four times the local $16.32 minimum wage — to comfortably afford a two-bedroom apartment in the San Francisco area, the National Low-Income Housing Coalition found in its analysis of federal wage and rent data from 2019 to 2021. Lauren Hepler in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

Street  

Lawsuit alleges Sacramento police used excessive force in shooting at unarmed man over 20 times -- A new federal lawsuit accuses Sacramento police officers of using excessive force in shooting at an unarmed man more than 20 times earlier this year. Theresa Clift in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/14/21

Why are Black children removed from homes at high rate? L.A. County plans ‘blind removal’ pilot -- America’s largest child welfare system will soon test whether race, ethnicity or neighborhood can influence social workers’ decisions to remove children from their homes. Jaclyn Cosgrove in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

Judge won’t stop California’s new rules for good conduct releases for 76,000 inmates -- A judge in Sacramento has refused to halt the state prison system’s use of new good-time credit policies designed to speed up the release of more than 76,000 inmates, ruling that 44 California district attorneys could have sued to stop the new rules before they took effect May 1. Sam Stanton in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/14/21

Climate  

Sacramento ranks among worst cities for ‘heat island’ neighborhoods -- Sacramento is ranked in the top 20 worst cities in the country for “heat island” neighborhoods that are significantly hotter than their surrounding environment, according to a report released Wednesday by Climate Central, a nonprofit news organization. Margo Rosenbaum and Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/14/21

Areas of earth that contributed less to climate change will suffer the most -- A new global map created by scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium shows just how much the impacts of climate change will be felt in large regions of the world not responsible for it. Tara Duggan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

Real ID  

Californians, here’s how to get your Real ID license without a DMV visit -- Now comes comforting news: The DMV and Automobile Club of Southern California have teamed up to offer Auto Club members a chance to avoid DMV visits and instead get Real ID upgrades at 19 club locations. Christopher Reynolds in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

Traffic Gridlock    

Why traffic gridlock is about to hit the Sacramento region — and how it can be avoided -- The pandemic is easing. Life is beginning to return to normal. And that means one element of pre-coronavirus life that none of us missed — freeway gridlock — is coming back. Tony Bizjak in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/14/21

Also . . .   

Botched surgeries and death: How the California Medical Board keeps negligent doctors in business -- Lenora Lewis hoped spinal surgery would relieve her chronic back pain. But when the mother of three from Lancaster awoke from the operation in 2013, she was paralyzed from the waist down, her feet numb but for the horrifying sensation of “a billion ants running through them.” Jack Dolan, Kim Christensen, Carolyn Cole in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

Recology is refunding S.F. customers $94.5 million in overpaid fees. Here's how to get yours -- As part of its settlement with the city over years worth of improper rate hikes, Recology will pay back San Franciscans around $94.5 million in overpaid trash-collection fees. Anyone with a Recology account in San Francisco between July 1, 2017, and March 31, 2021 is eligible to receive a payment. Danielle Echeverria in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

California Policy and Politics Wednesday Morning  

COVID-19 cases surge in L.A. County, fueled by ‘enormously selfish’ unvaccinated -- For the fifth consecutive day, Los Angeles County has recorded more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases. Health officials say the upward trajectory is almost entirely driven by transmission among those who have yet to be vaccinated for COVID-19, as well as increased circulation of the easily spread Delta variant of the virus. Luke Money in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

Sacramento County COVID rates now among highest in California. Here’s who’s getting sick -- Sacramento County as of Tuesday had recorded more COVID-19 cases per capita in the past week than any other county statewide with at least 100,000 residents, according to numbers updated Tuesday by the California Department of Public Health. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/14/21

Delta variant's spread among unvaccinated Californians threatens new surge of COVID cases, officials warn -- With nearly half of California residents still not fully immunized against COVID-19 and the highly infectious delta variant in wide circulation, the state could be facing a surge up to two-thirds the size of last summer’s wave of infection despite generally high vaccination rates, health officials said Tuesday. Erin Allday in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

School   

California changes course on schools enforcing mask mandate -- The reversal marked a bumpy rollout of the state’s new coronavirus rules for California’s schools, which are required to resume in-person instruction for the upcoming school year. Adam Beam Associated Press -- 7/14/21

Policy & Politics 

Longtime Contra Costa politician sentenced to jail for misusing campaign funds -- Joe Canciamilla, a former county clerk-recorder, county supervisor and state legislator from Pittsburg, pled guilty Monday to nine counts of perjury and grand theft, according to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

Election depicts two Californias: Rising star or catastrophe -- Gov. Gavin Newsom and two leading Republican rivals in the California recall election painted disparate pictures of the nation’s most populous state, with the first-term Democrat describing it Tuesday as an economic powerhouse leading the country’s pandemic recovery and his opponents saying it’s a mismanaged state with an incompetent leader. Michael R. Blood and Kathleen Ronayne Associated Press -- 7/14/21

Walters: Will bullet train survive budget wrangle? -- Using a singular noun “budget” no longer describes the tortuous process by which the governor and state legislators decide how to spend the state’s money. Dan Walters CalMatters -- 7/14/21

Ed Buck is cast as deadly predator as overdose trial opens -- Joyce Jackson still struggles with the pain of losing her brother Timothy Dean to a fatal drug overdose in the West Hollywood apartment of Ed Buck. Michael Finnegan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

CalPers  

CalPERS agrees to pay $2.7 billion to settle suit over long-term care insurance premiums -- California’s retirement system for state and local government employees has agreed to pay $2.7 billion to nearly 80,000 workers and their families to settle a suit over increases in premiums since 2015 to cover long-term care in nursing homes and other facilities. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

Staying Aloat

How much could the cost of living go up in California? Keep an eye on housing and oil prices -- Californians pay the highest gasoline prices in the nation. Housing prices in the state are soaring. Nationally, the cost of living has been rising at its steepest levels in 13 years. And it could get worse. David Lightman in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 7/14/21

COVID Economy  

San Francisco's parklets are here to stay, but supes say they can close overnight -- Outdoor parklets for restaurants and businesses are here to stay as part of San Francisco’s post-pandemic cityscape. J.K. Dineen, Mallory Moench in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

Street  

L.A. city attorneys took part in ‘sham lawsuit’ over DWP billing errors, report says -- A court-appointed investigator on Tuesday released a sweeping report on the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the city attorney’s office, finding that attorneys participated in a scheme to settle litigation sparked by a faulty billing system and turn around the DWP’s battered image. Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

Half of people released from S.F. jail before trial were accused of a new crime while free, according to four-year study -- Roughly half of people charged with crimes and released from jail before their trials in San Francisco in recent years failed to show up for court, and a similar share were accused of committing a new crime while free, a new study found. Mallory Moench in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

12 arrested after customers used ‘taco,’ ‘enchilada’ to order heroin in Orange County, authorities say -- Twelve people were arrested Tuesday, July 13, in Orange and Riverside counties on suspicion of being involved in a ring that distributed at least $2 million in heroin, authorities said, with customers using code words to place orders to employees, often in Santa Ana, on cell phones. Nathaniel Percy in the Orange County Register -- 7/14/21

Santa Rosa police: Suspect in botched vandalism against Derek Chauvin trial witness bought 5 gallons of pig's blood -- After loading 5 gallons of pig’s blood into the back of her hatchback and driving away, a Santa Rosa woman sent text messages to a friend strategizing where they could dump it, court records acquired by The Chronicle show. Julie Johnson, Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

Fire  

California fires: Firefighters gain ground against biggest Northern California blaze -- But after surging in size over the weekend and crossing Highway 395, the 2,745 firefighters assigned to the fire stopped the blaze from growing Tuesday and extended containment lines to 66%. Michael Cabanatuan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

California spent over $1 billion on emergency wildfire suppression last year -- The total emergency fire suppression cost for fiscal year 2021, which ran from July 2020 to June 2021, will likely surpass $1 billion for the first time. Yoohyun Jung in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

Guns  

California attorney general praises San Diego’s use of red-flag laws to thwart gun violence -- State Attorney General Rob Bonta met with San Diego’s city attorney and police chief Tuesday for a short roundtable discussion about the effectiveness of gun violence restraining orders, which allow police to seize guns from people who pose a credible threat of violence. Teri Figueroa in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 7/14/21

Develop  

Contra Costa County trades some sprawl for a lot of open space, allowing 125 new homes -- To allow a 125-home development on 30 acres in Tassajara Valley, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 4-1 to stretch the urban limit line east of Danville and San Ramon that voters set in 1990. Shomik Mukherjee in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 7/14/21

A's  

'The Oakland process is at the end': Rob Manfred on A's ballpark plight -- Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, in his first comments about the A’s stadium plight since the team and Major League Baseball announced they’d begin exploring relocation, expressed his support for A’s ownership and the need for the city of Oakland to agree to the team’s terms. John Shea in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

Environment  

Long delay in alerting public to massive beach sewage spill raises alarm -- After 17 million gallons of raw sewage were discharged into the ocean off Los Angeles beaches early Monday, county officials waited hours before notifying the public to avoid swimming in areas potentially affected by high levels of bacteria. Robert J. Lopez, Chris Kuo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21

Also . . .   

Laguna Honda hospital patient abuse: S.F. settles first of three lawsuits -- A Laguna Honda hospital patient alleged to have suffered abuse at the hands of staff will get $800,000 in a settlement stemming from a scandal that rocked one of the nation’s largest skilled nursing facilities. The Board of Supervisors approved the settlement Tuesday. Mallory Moench in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 7/14/21

Parachutist plunges through home’s roof in Atascadero and survives: ‘It was a miracle’ -- A parachutist training with a group at a California National Guard post plunged through the roof of an Atascadero home last week and miraculously survived, authorities said. Rachel Schnalzer in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 7/14/21