Updating . .   

‘They can’t silence us.’ Instagram accounts recount racism at L.A.’s elite private schools -- Black at Harvard-Westlake. Dear Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy. Black at Oakwood School. Oaks Christian Stories. Dear Polytechnic School. These are among the Instagram accounts linked to some of L.A.'s most elite private schools — but created by students and alumni who are going public with personal stories of racism that have otherwise gone unheard. Jill R. Shah in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/2/20

Manhattan Beach was once home to Black beachgoers, but the city ran them out. Now it faces a reckoning -- Anthony Bruce could barely talk about the beach that bears his family’s name without feeling a sharp pain, a tug at the heart. Rosanna Xia in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/2/20

George Floyd protests: Black police officers see fight for racial justice through personal lens -- After days of protests over police brutality in Los Angeles County, a young sheriff’s deputy on the front lines reached out to her commander, reeling. Alene Tchekmedyian, Nicole Santa Cruz in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/2/20

In the wake of George Floyd, a question looms: Who should be a police officer? -- Few job applications probe so deeply. Have you ever called in sick when you were well? Have you ever cheated on your taxes? Have you ever sexted at work? The application process for becoming a law enforcement officer – including a background check and psychological evaluation – is one of the most grueling, psyche-scrubbing examinations you’ll ever find. Tony Saavedra in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/2/20

Virus   

Coronavirus updates: California infections slowing down, but deaths continue to mount -- Coronavirus cases in California are still rising, but the rate at which infections are spreading is dropping despite a sharp rise in deaths across the state. Vincent Moleski in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/2/20

‘We’re missing huge amounts of data’: Why we still can’t track the spread of COVID-19 across the Bay Area -- A week ago, when Alameda became the first county in the Bay Area to surge past 10,000 cases of the coronavirus, a swarm of political and public health leaders staged a news conference at the edge of Lake Merritt and pleaded with residents to stop gathering there. Erin Allday in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/2/20

‘Catastrophe’: How California’s worst coronavirus outbreak burst from San Quentin into their home in San Jose -- After every grueling workday, often double shifts guarding prisoners at San Quentin, 55-year-old Sgt. Gilbert Polanco would drive the hour-and-a-half home to San Jose, strip off his khaki uniform in the foyer and head straight to the shower. He was desperately trying not to bring the killer coronavirus home from California’s Death Row. Julia Prodis Sulek, John Woolfolk in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 8/2/20

Empty towers. Quiet streets. Struggling cafes. Will downtown San Francisco ever boom again? -- For 20 years, Adam Smith, owner of San Francisco newsstand Fog City News, told employees and customers one thing before they left his store at Market and First streets. “You’re going on a highway that is Market Street. Be careful or you’ll be trampled by people,” he would say. No longer. Roland Li and Shwanika Narayan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/2/20

L.A.-area parking spots have become dining areas during the pandemic. Will it last? -- On a balmy evening in Atwater Village, diners at candlelit tables shared plates of Cuban food and flights of beer, serenaded by an accordion player down the block. Laura J. Nelson in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/2/20

What can cool San Diego County’s COVID-19 hot spots? -- For the past three months, the novel coronavirus has hit the people living in a handful of San Diego County ZIP codes the hardest, a trend that has generated increasingly forceful cries for help. Paul Sisson in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 8/2/20

Also . . .   

Who is Berkshire Hathaway Energy? -- Less well known to casual observers is that Berkshire’s list of subsidiaries, which range from GEICO insurance to BNSF railroads to Dairy Queen, also includes a holdings company involved in the power and utilities business — Berkshire Hathaway Energy, or BHE for short. Rob Nikolewski in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 8/2/20

 

California Policy & Politics Sunday Morning  

California struggles to end coronavirus spiral after its worst month for infections -- July was a coronavirus disaster in California. The state recorded 8,669 new cases per day on average in July, more than twice the figure for June (previously the worst month with 4,006 daily new cases), according to state data analyzed by The Chronicle. Daily death counts also rose dramatically, from 64 in June to 101 in July. Lauren Hernández in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/1/20

L.A. County’s tracing team repeatedly failed to detect coronavirus outbreaks at workplaces -- One by one workers at the Farmer John pork processing plant began getting sick with the coronavirus in March. Melody Petersen in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/20

Coronavirus deaths rise in L.A., Orange County -- Southern California counties continue to report high death tolls from the coronavirus. Orange County reported 31 new deaths Saturday. Los Angeles County tallied 50, which officials contrasted with last week, when an average of 38 people were dying each day. Alex Wigglesworth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/20

San Mateo County indoor businesses ordered to close after efforts to negotiate reprieve fail -- Some of the last indoor haircuts and tennis games for a while took place Saturday in San Mateo County as health officials tried to decide whether and when to reimpose the same pandemic restrictions that the rest of the Bay Area has been living with. Steve Rubenstein and Michael Cabanatuan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/1/20

Lopez: In Orange County, heart of the mask resistance, a doctor tries to restore faith in science -- The day was fading fast in Laguna Beach, where people often gather at the water’s edge to celebrate gauzy, pink-toned sunsets. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/20

In California’s ‘Bible Belt,’ churches find ways around state’s coronavirus lockdown orders -- Jennifer Trujillo made a 30-minute trip from her home in San Diego County to the country roads of Wildomar in Riverside County for the first time in weeks. Stephanie Lai in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/20

How scientists revived an old-school treatment for a 21st century pandemic -- A few weeks after the new coronavirus arrived on U.S. shores, Dr. Arturo Casadevall hatched a plan to beat back the outbreak with a medical advance so powerful it had earned a Nobel Prize. In 1901. Melissa Healy in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/20

Wildfire  

Apple fire grows to 12,000 acres, prompts more evacuations in Cherry Valley -- An afternoon flare-up of the Apple fire in Cherry Valley on Saturday, Aug. 1, spread the acreage burned to 12,000 acres and prompted new evacuations as firefighters attacked the sweeping blaze on a blistering hot day. The 12,000-acre figure reported at 8 p.m. was up from 4,125 acres reported just after 3 p.m. Brian Rokos in the Riverside Press Enterprise$ -- 8/1/20

Policy & Politics 

Black Lives Matter co-creator: Biden must choose a Black woman for VP -- Joe Biden will soon choose his running mate, and Black Lives Matter co-creator Alicia Garza says it had better be a Black woman. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/1/20

Willie Brown: Why Democrats own the GOP in mail voting -- President Trump is right when he says Democrats have an advantage in a vote-by-mail election. Willie Brown in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/1/20

Walters: California economy faces tough slog -- It now seems like ancient history, but only a few months ago, California’s economy was roaring. Dan Walters CalMatters -- 8/2/20

No Longer Needed  

Marathon Petroleum will ‘indefinitely idle’ Martinez refinery -- Marathon said in a statement on its website that the company told employees at the East Bay refinery and another one in New Mexico on Friday that it would “indefinitely idle” both facilities “with no plans to restart normal operations.” Most employees’ jobs will no longer be needed and the company said it plans to start a “phased reduction of staffing levels” in two months. J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/1/20

Street   

Amid tight security and vocal opposition, La Mesa anti-police protest is noisy but peaceful -- Hours before a Black Lives Matter protest was scheduled to start in downtown La Mesa on Saturday, members of a group called Defend East County gathered nearby in front of the local American Legion building. They displayed American flags, hung “Trump 2020” banners and collected signatures for a “recall Gavin Newsom” petition. Few people there wore face coverings. Gustavo Solis in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 8/1/20

Capitol, downtown Sacramento continue to see protests amid heat and virus orders -- The Rescue America Rally, led by the #WalkAway Campaign, gathered about 400 men and women to the north lawn, where they listened to speakers and chanted in opposition to stay-at-home orders. Molly Burke in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/1/20

Three protesters arrested outside Mayor Garcetti’s home after alleged assault on police -- Three people were taken into custody and two were cited Saturday afternoon outside the Windsor Square home of Mayor Eric Garcetti, where hundreds of protesters converged to demand the mayor cancel rents, according to an LAPD spokesman. Emily Alpert Reyes in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/20

O.C. police review groups want officers to give shooting-related testimony immediately. Chief disagrees -- Anaheim Police Chief Jorge Cisneros is declining to implement recommendations from two police review groups that could affect the accuracy of officers’ testimonies following shootings. Ben Brazil in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/20

Video purports to show sheriff’s personnel at Hollywood bar party; department denies report -- Questions have arisen about a private party that may have been thrown for Los Angeles County sheriff’s personnel Friday night at a Hollywood bar, even as the number of people sickened and killed by the coronavirus in the county continues to surge. James Queally in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/20

ACLU sues Pomona Police Department over its deadly force policy -- The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the Pomona Police Department, alleging that it has been using public funds under the influence of a lobbying group to adopt policies and training that undermine state law on police use of deadly force. Leila Miller in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/20

How a rural US sheriff’s department was able to obtain a military-grade vehicle -- A sheriff’s department in a remote rural California county with only 18,000 people, no incorporated cities, few sworn officers and almost no crime, was able to obtain a second military-grade MRAP armored vehicle in 2017 by giving brief answers to a simple questionnaire, according to documents obtained under freedom of information requests. Jason Wilson The Guardian -- 8/2/20

Landlords & Tenants  

Eviction ban to end in California. And a crisis looms if lawmakers don’t act -- The first of the August arrives with a renewed sense of worry for renters in the capital region and California affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Malaika Kanaaneh Tapper in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/1/20

Education 

New draft ethnic studies curriculum for California students issued after a year of study -- The California Department of Education released a more readable and tempered draft of an “ethnic studies model curriculum” on Friday, 11 months after intense criticism of the first draft forced state officials to order a rewrite. John Fensterwald EdSource Nina Agrawal, Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ John Fensterwald EdSource -- 8/1/20

Environment   

Great white sharks swim among us at San Diego County beaches -- On a cloudy morning Wednesday, shark researchers from Cal State Long Beach followed a young white shark as it wound its way along the shore off Del Mar. Using a drone to spot the animal and an inflatable boat to follow it, they traced the shark’s path across the rocky reef as it darted past surfers waiting in the lineup. Deborah Sullivan Brennan in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 8/1/20

Amid Pine Mountain’s ancient trees, a forest ‘thinning’ project triggers protests -- It rises 7,000 feet from the rugged foothills north of Ojai, in Ventura County. Known as Pine Mountain, it is home to rare California chaparral, hundreds of species of native plants and wildlife, and an old-growth pine forest the U.S. Forest Service wants to thin out with chain saws. Hayley Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/1/20

POTUS 45  

'Wrong!': Trump slams Fauci over testimony on Covid-19 surge -- President Donald Trump publicly rebuked Dr. Anthony Fauci on Saturday, forcefully rejecting the nation’s top infectious disease expert's testimony on why the U.S. has experienced a renewed surge in coronavirus cases. Evan Semones Politico -- 8/1/20

GOP: Renomination of Trump to be held in private -- The vote to renominate President Donald Trump is set to be conducted in private later this month, without members of the press present, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Convention, citing the coronavirus. Kevin Freking Associated Press -- 8/1/20

Trump’s campaign in crisis as aides attempt August reset before time runs out -- Signs that President Trump’s reelection bid is in crisis grew steadily this past week, one of the most tumultuous moments of a presidency increasingly operating with an air of desperation as it tries to avoid political disaster in November. Toluse Olorunnipa, Josh Dawsey and Annie Linskey in the Washington Post$ -- 8/1/20

Beltway   

Bass addresses past remarks praising Scientology -- Video emerged on Friday of the California Democrat speaking at a ceremony for a renovated Scientology church in Los Angeles when she served as speaker of the California State Assembly. The Daily Caller first reported the video’s existence. Evan Semones Politico -- 8/1/20

 

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