Hundreds of fires + Wiener vs Trump + Mayors for Uber and Lyft + Clash over tobacco ban
Good morning! As this busy news week draws to a close, and another one promises to begin next week, let’s dive right into the news, shall we?
CALIFORNIA ON FIRE
And now we have wildfires. What a year.
California’s ability to fight wildfires, already compromised by the COVID-19 pandemic, is being severely strained by a rash of lightning strikes and a stupefying array of new fires.
As major fires burned from Lake County to the South Bay, Cal Fire officials said Wednesday they’re struggling to keep up with 367 new fires that have broken out over the past three days, the result of nearly 11,000 lightning strikes.
“Firefighting resources are depleted as new fires continue to ignite,” said Jeremy Rahn, a Cal Fire spokesman, at a press briefing in Calistoga on the fires burning in the North Bay. He said Cal Fire is asking out-of-state agencies to rush 375 fire engines to the state, and share “hand crews” and other resources.
About 7,000 firefighters are deployed across the state, and their effort saw its first fatal casualty Wednesday after when a pilot supporting Cal Fire crews crashed to his death in Fresno County.
Be careful out there, and check out our story on the strain the fires are putting on the state’s resources.
WIENER VS TRUMP
It started with a Sunday Wall Street Journal editorial from President Donald Trump and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, titled “We’ll protect America’s suburbs.”
“For the past three years, the state senator who represents Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco has led a push to abolish single-family zoning in California,” they wrote in part.
They would be speaking of Sen. Scott Wiener, who has championed affordable housing bills in the State Senate.
Wiener responded in tweet, calling the op-ed racist.
“’Protecting America’s suburbs’ = dog whistle for race segregation,” Wiener wrote, adding, “Damn right I’m doing this work. I won’t give up.”
MAYORS SPEAK OUT ON RIDESHARE RULING
With Uber and Lyft vowing to shut down operations in California this Friday, the Republican mayor of San Diego and the Democratic mayor of San Jose are both calling for a stay on the recent San Francisco Superior Court ruling that they comply with AB 5 and re-classify their drivers as employees.
“As the Republican and Democratic mayors of two of California’s three largest cities, we have serious concerns that this Friday, most of California’s nearly one million gig workers will lose their rideshare income when Uber and Lyft shut down their operations in the Golden State,” San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said in a joint statement. “A court’s decision to not exempt ridesharing companies from the dictates of Assembly Bill 5, which forces many businesses to treat independent workers as employees, has caused Uber and Lyft to prepare to exit their largest domestic market. This sudden disappearance of jobs and transportation options will only deepen the economic pain felt in our communities during this historic pandemic and recession.”
AB 5’s author, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, responded to Liccardo’s tweet on the subject.
“What a shame, Mayor. You prefer to stand with billionaires over workers. Instead, let’s push these companies to employ their workers w/ their huge cash reserves, don’t you think? And provide UI. Also, curious to get where you got the 1 million drivers in CA number?” Gonzalez wrote.
SB 793 SHOWDOWN
With the clock counting down for the Assembly Appropriations Committee to issue a decision on SB 793, the bill that would ban the sale of (most) flavored tobacco products in the state, both supporters and opponents are pushing hard in the final hours.
First, the opponents.
Look for a rally today at noon on the Capitol steps (with a second one in Los Angeles), where a coalition of groups opposed to the bill, including community activists, church groups, retired law enforcement and others, will speak out against it.
They point out that the bill carves out exemptions for hookah, pricey cigars and pipe tobacco (“Those preferred by whites,” the coalition says), while the bill carries no such exemption for menthol cigarettes, often used by African American smokers.
“The Black community and faith-based organizations are concerned about the unintended consequences of the proposed ban, such as negative interactions with police, harassment, fines, arrests, and an underground market of illegal, unregulated cigarettes in communities of color,” according to a statement put out by the group Neighborhood Forward, part of the coalition.
Now, the supporters.
Supporters of SB 793 have blasted the rhetoric that the bill would result in Black people being targeted by law enforcement. They argue that the bill goes after retailers, not consumers, and possession is not criminalized.
“Big Tobacco is snatching up ad space on TV and online, spending millions, all in an effort to deceive legislators,” said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, in a statement. “They market flavors that gets kids hooked on tobacco from an early age and have no place in California Health Care policy. This is why we need SB 793 to protect our children.”
Supporters point out that the bill has backing from several prominent African American leaders, including the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Rep. Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, who penned an op-ed in The Sacramento Bee in favor of SB 793.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Just got my first survey results back... It’s been a lousy year for so many reasons, but it’s looking like 2020 is a great year to be an Independent!”
- Assemblyman Chad Mayes, I-Yucca Valley, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
Two California corrections officers should have been fired for beating a mentally ill inmate and then lying about it later, according to a new report released by a state watchdog, via Andrew Sheeler.
Did L.A. County wrongly promote a tax hike? It’ll pay hefty $1.35 million to settle claims, via Kim Bojórquez