California

Bonta said anti-Black crimes were once again the most prevalent, with 513 reported incidents last year. The 240 anti-Asian hate crimes reported in 2021 represented a “skyrocketing” 177% increase from the previous year, he added, when Bonta blamed “the bigoted words of our former president” for turning “a trickle” of racial animosity into “a flood.”

Bonta said that the state also recorded 303 gender-based hate crimes, 197 anti-Latino hate crimes and 152 anti-Jewish crimes last year. He said the new figures reflect “a grim reality” that California’s diverse communities already know too well.

Bonta reminded that the numbers are likely an undercount.

“Still today too many are too afraid to come forward,” he said.

The 2021 increases come after Bonta revealed last year that the 2020 numbers showed double-digit increases against Black and Asian residents.

“The pandemic gave way to an epidemic of hate,” he said.

Joshua Sharpe is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter @joshuawsharpe

The home was built in 1929 as a family home for George Pollock, a famed contractor credited with building Sacramento’s iconic Tower Bridge.

Since then, only five families — including the Reagans — have lived in the home, said real estate agent Kim Pacini-Hauch, who is listing it with Re/MAX Gold Sierra Oaks.

“When you drive by, your heart pounds,” she said. “It’s the most beautiful house on the street.”

Pacini-Hauch said she has already given several showings of the property, which has only been on the market since Friday. Though no offer date is set, they expect the property to sell quickly.

Measured at just under 7,000 square feet, the home was designed by Dean & Dean Architects to faciliate hosting and entertainment. The property has multiple formal rooms, seven fireplaces, a dramatic staircase, a large chef’s kitchen and a basement converted to include a wine cellar and media center.

Many of these features were created in 2001, when the current sellers underwent a complete remodel of the home — though many of its original architectural features are still intact, Pacini-Hauch said.

Another highlight, she added, is the backyard. Elegantly manicured English gardens with multiple lounge spaces encircle the home.

Annie Vainshtein (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] . Twitter: @annievain

“Air resources are asking for additional support including an additional tanker,” Cal Fire said.

The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office issued mandatory evacuations for several areas. You can find those on ZoneHaven .

The sheriff’s office set up a temporary evacuation point at the Madelyn Helling Library in Nevada City.

Wildfire photographer Michael Steinberg was almost at the scene of the blaze when he posted on Twitter, “It’s ripping.”

Re routed. Now 40 minutes out. On hwy 20 pic.twitter.com/aa1xojHDl5

— Michael Steinberg (@MichaelWX18) June 28, 2022

Steinberg posted an image showing a large smoke cloud rising from mountains in the distance in another tweet.

The Feather River Air Quality Management District said winds were blowing in a southwesterly direction on Tuesday afternoon and blowing the smoke farther into Nevada County.

“Winds are forecasted to shift to east overnight. Wildfire smoke impacts could be possible in Yuba County tonight,” the management district said.

UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain wrote on Twitter: “It’s hot and breezy in the fire zone, and large-diameter fuels (i.e., dead and down trees as well as heavier brush) are extremely dry right now.”

Live footage from @kcranews depicting fast-moving & aggressively spotting #RicesFire . It’s making major runs amid hot & breezy conditions, with veg moisture at/near record dry levels. There are quite a few homes intermingled w/vegetation in area. #CAfire https://t.co/Z91dpHALzG

— Daniel Swain (@Weather_West) June 28, 2022

Get updates on the fire from Cal Fire’s Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit .

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Sonoma County scaling back COVID response team

Sonoma County is trimming its coronavirus task force this week, reducing a temporary workforce of about 60 staff within the county health department by a third. County health officials told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that the shift aligns with the evolving nature of the pandemic. It comes just ahead of a June 30 deadline when millions of dollars in government pandemic funding is set to run out. They said everyone knew the pandemic response would scale back at this time, with some workers notified last week and others sooner. “Many had already resigned weeks ago, and a month ago, because they knew that come June 30, the COVID response was being demobilized,” Health Services Director Tina Rivera told the newspaper. But many temporary workers were in the dark on details, and some providers operating clinics and COVID-19 services said they didn’t know until last week whether they would continue to be part of the county’s vaccination program after June 30, the newspaper reported.

CDC: Paxlovid prevented 99% of hospitalizations in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID

Fewer than 1% of COVID-19 patients required hospital admissions and emergency department encounters 5-15 days after completing Paxlovid treatment, a CDC study found using data from Kaiser Permanente Southern California. “The rarity of these outcomes is consistent with evidence from recent case reports and large observational studies, which found that symptoms experienced by patients with COVID-19 rebound after treatment with Paxlovid are milder than those experienced during the primary infection” and are unlikely to lead to hospitalization, the authors wrote. However, they indicated that further research is needed to determine the cause of rare rebound infections that can occur after taking Paxlovid: “The recurrence of COVID-19 symptoms after Paxlovid treatment might also be related to other factors, including viral reinfection or the emergence of treatment-resistant mutations.”

UCSF opens new psychiatry building aiming to “redefine mental health services”

UCSF is welcoming its first patients to one of the few buildings in the nation that combines outpatient mental health care for all ages with top programs in psychiatry and psychology training, the Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building. UCSF said the timing of the opening coincides with the mental health crisis tied to the COVID pandemic, and the building aims to “redefine mental health services and make a bold statement against stigma.” The five-story,150,000-square-foot building is seen as a departure from traditional psychiatry facilities, with its “central location and proximity to transportation hubs, together with its light-filled atrium and interior transparency” that “signal openness to the community outside, as well as within the building itself.” Matthew W. State, chair and Oberndorf Family Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, emphasized the building’s features of light and nature aiming to integrate physical and mental health services and “healing in a low-stress environment.”

California COVID death rates for Latinos have declined, but advocates say more help is needed

The success of vaccination campaigns has narrowed disparities in COVID death rates in California , especially for the Latino community, which has been disproportionately affected with coronavirus infection during the pandemic. Since the state began tracking deaths in April 2020, more than 91,000 Californians have died from COVID-19 — approximately 230 deaths per 100,000 people — according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Will the Bay Area’s massive outdoor parades and protests spur any outbreaks?

A spate of massive outdoor crowd events swept through the Bay Area over the past week, with the region still beset by fast-spreading offshoots of the omicron coronavirus variant. Risk of transmission is less outside than indoors, and the region is comparatively highly vaccinated, so it’s not known to if outbreaks might occur such as those tied to some crowded festivals and events elsewhere, San Francisco’s Pride parade on Sunday was estimated at 500,000 celebrants who marched and mingled along Market Street for four hours and ended up at a pulsating party at the Civic Center. That followed numerous protest gatherings with people converging in the streets after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling on abortion rights. And the week kicked off with throngs also crowding Market to celebrate the NBA championship of the Golden State Warriors. All involved people in close proximity for extended periods.

Everyone gets less water during a drought. But the breakdowns of the state and federal projects’ water allocations show some groups — particularly farmers who have longtime rights to divert water — faring better than others.

They also reflect the overwhelming thirst of Southern California towns and cities — some of the most arid, and populous, parts of the state. The Chronicle analyzed this year’s expected water allocations from the California State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project , and how they break down and compare to previous years.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways of who got more from where:

State Water Project

The State Water Project, which includes the 444-mile long California Aqueduct and the Oroville Dam, supplies water to some 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland , according to the state water department, its operator. It also generates power and provides for recreational areas in the state.

The project has 29 long-term contractors — smaller, regional water providers, including cities, towns and irrigation districts, that sell the water to customers. For the past two decades, about a third of State Water Project water was for agricultural use and two-thirds for municipal, industrial or residential uses, state officials said.

For the second year in a row, the State Water Project is expected to deliver only 5% of the amount requested from contractors. The last time allocation was that low was in 2014 — the third year in that drought spell.

“We’re not going to expect much additional precipitation on the horizon,” said Molly White, the project’s water operations manager.

The 2022 cuts were deep across the board among the 29 contractors , but some cuts were less harsh than others. Most were approved for just 5% of their requested amounts, but the state awarded larger percentages to communities with critical health and safety needs .

“Folks at the Department of Water Resources have been very clear that they’re not going to reduce allocation to 5% if that supplier’s going to have to turn off water to residences,” White said.

Napa and Solano counties’ water districts were approved for 15% of their requested amounts, compared with the 5% contractors in the Central Valley and Southern California received. But these Bay Area communities requested far smaller amounts to begin with.

The allocation amounts are based on a variety of factors, including river flows, water storage conditions, environmental requirements and how much rain and snow there has been, the water operations manager said.

In terms of the total amount of water, Southern California water agencies still take the bulk — nearly half — of State Water Project water, with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California expected to get the most, at almost 96,000 acre-feet.

The Metropolitan Water District is a public regional wholesaler cooperative supplying water to roughly 19 million people in California through its numerous member agencies. This year, for the first time, it required significant cutbacks from its users, who must limit lawn-watering to one day a week.

Small water suppliers, especially those who rely entirely on one source and don’t have alternatives to fall back on, tend to be much more vulnerable to water shortage , according to the water department. Most water suppliers don’t rely solely on one source of water, however. Many, like the East Bay Municipal Utility District, have several sources, including access to reservoirs, groundwater pumping and purchasing water from other providers.

Annually, the State Water Project delivers 2 million to 4 million acre-feet of water. An acre-foot — about 326,000 gallons — generally provides enough water for one to two households for a year. By comparison, the Colorado River — another huge water source for the state, especially farmers in Southern California — is supposed to deliver 4.4 million acre-feet annually to California, though cutbacks are on the horizon due to the drought.

Central Valley Project

California’s Central Valley Project, run by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, is much bigger than the State Water Project and is geared more toward agriculture. It counts more than 270 contractors , including the big irrigation districts in the San Joaquin Valley. It has historically supplied water for 3 million acres of farmland.

The federal waterworks also serves communities in the Bay Area and wildlife refuges.

The project, which captures water from the southern Cascades to the southern Sierra Nevada, consists of 20 dams and reservoirs – including the state’s largest, Shasta Lake — and operates more than 500 miles of canals and pipelines to deliver water. It also operates 11 power plants.

This year, because of the drought, federal water managers announced that no project water would be sent to many of its contractors, effectively a 0% allocation. Those who receive water are doing so because of contractual obligations that date back decades or because of health and safety issues.

Faring best are senior water rights holders, typically farmers and irrigation districts.

This is not because the project allocates water based on water rights but because the federal government, in order to operate its project, committed to providing water to senior users who were drawing water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin river watersheds before the project began drawing water. Senior users are those with water rights dating back the longest.

But even those users are falling far short of what they normally get: This year, because of low flows, federal water managers made a deal with senior users in the Sacramento River watershed to take less than what they’re due — just 18% of what they requested.

While the project’s municipal and industrial contractors were officially allocated no water, the federal government is providing these customers enough to meet minimum health and safety needs. The Contra Costa Water District in the East Bay, for example, is getting 34% of its requested allocation.

Agricultural contractors who don’t have senior water rights in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river watersheds are not getting any project water.

In the Friant (Fresno County) area, some contractors are receiving limited deliveries because the source of water there is different than in the rest of the project area, and federal managers say water is available.

The Central Valley Project has historically delivered about 7 million acre feet of water annually. By comparison, the Colorado River is supposed to deliver 4.4 million acre-feet annually to California, though cutbacks are on the horizon due to the drought.

Yoohyun Jung and Kurtis Alexander are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: [email protected] , [email protected]