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On July 21 and 22, the state also reported its highest-ever daily tolls for newly confirmed cases: 12,807 on July 21 and 12,040 on July 22. In his Friday coronavirus briefing, California Governor Gavin Newsom said that state hospitals are seeing an 11 percent per day increase in admissions to the intensive care units (ICUs), the wards where patients with severe symptoms are most often treated. He added that COVID-19-related hospitalizations are climbing at a similar rate, with 42,000 of the state’s roughly 70,000 hospital beds being currently occupied....

Calvary Chapel San Jose went forward with an indoor Christmas Eve service despite Santa Clara County’s public health order against such gatherings, NBC Bay Area reported Thursday evening. The northern California church had already racked up fines of more than $1 million for previous violations of state health orders. Meanwhile, Calvary Chapel has benefitted from an April PPP loan of $340,400—about three times as much as other religious organizations in the Bay Area, according to an analysis by KGO-TV....

Keri Barnett-Howell and Will Grosswendt plan to marry in Seattle in August and say the requirement will apply to friends and family, as well as the caterers and other professionals working on the day. The couple say they trust their guests to follow their instructions and get vaccinated in time, but are asking for proof in order to reassure all the people attending that coronavirus won’t be easily spread at the wedding....

“The past three years have been the driest three-year period on record,” Jeff Mount, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California Water Policy Center, told Newsweek. “That just beats the driest three-year period on record from 2013 to 2015. And both of these three-year periods have been the hottest on record. “California has been in dry conditions for much of the last 10 years with only two years of wet....

The blaze, dubbed the Route Fire, began on Wednesday as much of southern California is being baked in a 100-degree temperature heatwave. A mandatory evacuation order was imposed for an area running from Lake Castaic to the western side of the Interstate 5 highway, including more than 100 homes. California Highway Patrol closed all lanes of travel on Interstate 5, after fire spread to both sides of the road....

As of Monday evening containment was at zero per cent. Authorities have ordered mandatory evacuations around the Blue Ridge Fire, which is increasing in size. Orange County Sheriff’s Department estimates that 4,000 properties and some 10,000 people have been evacuated. The Brea Police Department has alerted residents in the areas of Hollydale and Olinda Village in Carbon Canyon and East of Gypsum Canyon, including Bryant Ranch Elementary. At the time of publication, the most recent evacuation orders include the city of Lake Forest east of the 241 toll road between Lake Forest Drive and El Toro Rd/Santiago Canyon Road, plus the Hidden Hills community....

In a statement Sunday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a state of emergency across five counties including San Diego, San Bernardino, Fresno, Madera and Mariposa, following three new fires—El Dorado, Creek and Valley—which broke over the weekend. The latest three fires “have burned tens of thousands of acres, destroyed homes and caused the evacuation of thousands of residents,” the governor’s office confirmed in the statement. On its official Twitter account, the National Weather Service warned Sunday: “#California is being impacted by many big #wildfires....

The new rules come with strict restrictions that aim to help reduce the risk of spreading infection. “Gatherings are defined as social situations that bring together people from different households at the same time in a single space or place. When people from different households mix, this increases the risk of transmission of COVID-19,” the CDPH said in a statement. No more than three households All gatherings must include no more than three households, including hosts and guests, and must be held outdoors, lasting for two hours of less....

Assembly Members Evan Low and Cristina Garcia have co-authored a new bill that would require department stores with 500 or more employees to make sure all items for children are not segregated by gender. The bill, which is currently in the committee stage, would apply to departments that sell children’s clothes, toys and childcare items. The stores would also be barred from using any signs indicating that an item is meant for either boys or girls....

“These are games of skill, skill that rewards knowledge of sports,” Griffin Finan, an attorney for DraftKings, said at a hearing in Sacramento, according to The Associated Press. Finan also mentioned that unlike gambling, the games rely on entry fees rather than wagers. MORE: How daily fantasy ruined one player’s life | No DFS ads during March Madness DraftKings and FanDuel are the two leaders in the daily fantasy industry....

Data from the California Department of Education (CDE) shows that the number of students at K-12 schools dropped by more than 160,000 this academic year to a total of 6 million. Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest in the state, experienced an enrollment decline of almost 22,000, or 4 percent, to 575,000, the CDE said. “The annual snapshot of fall enrollment shows a sharp one-year decline as the state and nation grappled with a deadly pandemic that disrupted all aspects of public education,” the education department said in a statement....

After a certain amount of rain, the soil becomes saturated and cannot absorb any more water. As a result, the rainwater runs off into nearby waterways, often taking some of the surface soil with it. This can be seen in satellite imagery from the NASA Earth Observatory, which shows caramel-colored sediment swirling around San Pablo Bay, fed by a light-brown Sacramento River. Sediment can also be seen billowing off the West Coast like snot-colored smoke, showing the soil-laden rainwater spreading into the ocean....

With over two-thirds of ballots counted, Newsom enjoys a comfortable 30-point+ lead with most voters choosing “no” on the ballot paper, which asks whether or not to remove him from his position. The Democrats have framed the election as part of a national battle for the party’s values and continued threats from “Trumpism.” Newsom cast the vote as a win for science, women’s rights, and other liberal issues, and it ensures the nation’s most populous state will remain in Democratic control for at least the next few years....

On Friday, state health officials reported 14,402 new cases in one day. The number is nearly 1,800 cases higher than the previous all-time highest daily toll of 12,614 new cases reported on August 14, 2020. The recent rise in new cases has coincided with a rise in testing across the state. Over 250,000 tests were conducted on Friday, compared with just 30,000 a day near the start of the month, Deadline reported....

But now, Niver says his paradise is “drying up and dwindling away.” Increasing salinity, thanks to evaporation, salty agricultural runoff and lack of an outlet, has made the water 25 percent saltier than the Pacific, killing off marine fish introduced in the 1940s. “Now we have nothing but wall-to-wall tilapia,” Niver complains—and even those salt-loving fish lie rotting on the shoreline thank to stepped-up salinity and giant algae blooms that rob the water of oxygen....

The $6.6 billion deal Newsom signed on Friday includes nearly $4.6 billion to assist with supplemental instruction for schools throughout California and $2 billion to be distributed to schools that reopen for in-person instruction. The Democratic governor praised the “overwhelming” bipartisan support for the bill during a virtual signing ceremony on Friday and said he is optimistic the legislation “is going to really accelerate openings all across this state.”...

The new law enabling officer decertification makes California the 47th state to adopt such a process, according to State Senator Steven Bradford, a Democrat who introduced the legislation earlier this year alongside Toni Atkins, the state Senate’s president pro tempore. “California has one of the most progressive criminal justice systems in the nation. But for too long, problematic officers that commit heinous acts in one department are either not held accountable and continue to be a problem for that community, or are punished, but able to find employment in another department,” Bradford said in a news release issued by Newsom’s office....

Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the lawsuit Thursday in state court following a years-long investigation that found the companies continued producing the chemicals despite the threat they posed to the environment and human health. The lawsuit is the latest action in response to regulators and environmental groups raising alarms about the ubiquitous chemicals. The 79-page lawsuit targets companies that manufactured, distributed, marketed or sold per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The wide range of chemicals have been used in products including food packaging, sports gear, rugs, non-stick frying pans and other consumer goods....

In the new documentary Fire in Paradise, now streaming on Netflix, survivors recount their escapes from the deadly inferno, which is most likely a sign of deadlier fires to come rather than a freak event. “It just seemed like a normal fire at first,” Beth Bowersox, who was working as 911 fire dispatcher that night, says in the film. “It got bad real quick.” The high winds spread flaming debris, which sprouted fires that blocked roadways and trapped people in houses in the foothills....