Los Angeles Times: As California Clears Backlog Of COVID-19 Cases, Deaths Hit A Low For The Month 
California received a batch of mostly positive pandemic-related developments on Monday with data showing that the number of people dying of COVID-19 is beginning to decline and hospitalization rates continue to fall steadily. Gov. Gavin Newsom also announced that San Diego County, the state’s second largest, has made enough progress against the novel coronavirus that it could be removed from the watch list as early as this week. (Nelson, 8/17)

Politico: Newsom Nears Pivotal Decision: Should California Reopen More Sectors Again?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says California is "turning a corner" on the pandemic weeks after locking down various sectors in a desperate bid to thwart a summer surge. But that puts the Democratic leader at a crossroads. Should California reopen gyms, churches and malls again? (Colliver, 8/17)

Bay Area News Group: Salons, Barbershops, Tattoo Shops Reopen In Protest Of Statewide Health Orders
Hundreds of hair salons, barbershops and tattoo shops across the state are reportedly reopening in defiance of statewide health orders, exactly five months after they were forced to close on March 17. The businesses planned to reopen for indoor services Monday, and stay open for as long as they can, according to an attorney for salon owners and an owner who is organizing the reopenings. (Woo, 8/17)

LA Daily News: Some Southern California Barbers, Salon Owners Defy State Health Orders And Open Indoors
Hair salons and barbershops throughout Southern California — including in Gardena, Claremont and south Orange County — joined potentially hundreds of others throughout the state in defying coronavirus health orders on Monday, Aug. 17, by welcoming customers inside. Salon owners ... faced stiff fines or other consequences on Monday when they decided to open their doors to customers, despite bans on doing so in counties on the state’s COVID-19 watch list, which health officials have said are meant to help prevent the coronavirus from spreading. (Hixon, Whitehead, Ritchie, 8/17)

San Jose Mercury News: Santa Clara County Starts Enforcing Coronavirus Health Orders
Mask and social distancing scofflaws beware: Santa Clara County has started enforcing its coronavirus health orders, and violators could face steep fines. Since the Board of Supervisors voted to authorize enforcement last week, the county has sent notices of violation to three businesses, according to a county news release. Two of the three non-compliant businesses corrected the issues and will not be penalized. The third business still has time to fix the violation and avoid a fine. (Kendall, 8/17)

KPBS: San Diego Officials Remain Hesitant To Punish Public Health Order Violators 
For months, officials in San Diego County have had the authority to cite people and businesses who flout the county's COVID-19 public health order by not wearing masks and social distancing. But go to a county park or beach and you'll almost certainly see people acting like a pandemic never happened. Yet, local law enforcement agencies remain reluctant to crack down on violators. The San Diego Police Department, for example, issued no citations in July. (Bowen, 8/17)

CalMatters: Mask Fines Vary Widely Throughout California
California’s governor may have issued a statewide mask order in June to protect against COVID-19, but whether you could be fined for not wearing a face covering depends a lot on where you live. Taking a stroll down Rodeo Drive in affluent Beverly Hills? A code enforcement officer could slap you with a $100 fine. In Compton, you’ll get a warning first, then a fine of $500 for a second offense. Los Angeles County, home to more than 10 million people, plans to start fining noncompliant businesses at the end of August; the county has shuttered 95 businesses for failing to obey the county’s mask and social distancing orders. (Feder Ostrov, 8/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco Restaurant Ordered To Take Down Controversial Domes
The San Francisco restaurant that made headlines for launching $200-per-person meals inside geodesic domes received a visit last week from a Department of Public Health officer, who ordered the restaurant to take the domes down. The restaurant, Japanese fine dining spot Hashiri, first erected the domes because serving outdoors didn’t seem feasible given its location in Mint Plaza, located near 5th and Mission streets where homeless folks often hang out. During the coronavirus pandemic, many San Francisco restaurants are turning to outdoor dining because they can’t operate indoors and many have had a tough time attracting enough takeout business to be financially solvent. (Bitker, 8/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Schools Open Virtually, Amid Hopes After A Shaky Spring 
San Francisco schools threw open their virtual doors Monday, starting a new academic year with a distance learning game plan officials hope will offer more live instruction than the spring. Until the district’s 53,000 students can return to class, they will have to log on for an education with their 3,600 teachers. (Tucker, 8/17)

Sacramento Bee: El Dorado County School Opens Classrooms For First Day 
Rescue Elementary opened its doors on Monday, inviting about 400 students back into the classroom for the fall, and bringing some scenes of normalcy to a new school year. Parents and their children arrived on campus with new shoes, new backpacks, and a new look: colorful masks to start off the school year. Orange dots were spray painted on the floor to encourage families to socially distance as they waited for classroom doors to open. (Morrar, 8/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘It All Depends On Where The Lightning Strikes’: Fires In Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa Counties Prompt Evacuations 
Residents in multiple Bay Area counties fled their homes under mandatory evacuation orders Monday as inland temperatures soared above 100 degrees and firefighters battled a series of rapidly spreading wildfires sparked by lightning storms — with a threat of more on the way. The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings across Northern California through Monday evening, as extreme weather conditions ramped up the risk of wildfire activity across the region. An excessive heat warning was expected to remain in effect until Wednesday. (Vaziri, Ravani and Cassidy, 8/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: Tips For Coping With California’s Rolling Blackouts: How To Prepare And Stay Safe
The recent rolling blackouts in California so far have differed from the preemptive shutoffs that PG&E began last year during fire season, but experts recommend some common safety measures for any type of power outage. The statewide rolling blackouts on Friday and Saturday evening resulted when the energy supply managed by the California Independent System Operator — about 80% of the state’s total — ran too low to meet increased demand during the heat wave. (Vainshtein, 8/17)

Los Angeles Times: Who's To Blame For California's Rotating Blackouts?
California’s power grid operator delivered a blistering rebuke Monday to the state’s Public Utilities Commission, blaming the agency for rotating power outages — the first since the 2001 energy crisis — and warning of bigger blackouts to come. In their first public comments since the blackouts began Friday evening, officials at the California Independent System Operator described a “perfect storm” of conditions that caused demand to exceed available supply: scorching temperatures in California and across the western United States, diminished output from renewable sources and fossil-fueled power plants affected by the weather, and in some cases plants going offline unexpectedly when electricity was needed most. (Roth, 8/17)

Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus: California Court Caps Nursing Homes Penalties 
As COVID-19 continues to ravage nursing homes, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday that a state law allowing residents to sue facilities limits compensation to $500. The ambiguous 1982 statute was aimed at allowing nursing home residents to sue on the grounds their rights had been violated, but in a 5-2 decision, the state’s highest court interpreted the law to mean that residents may collect no more than $500 for violations, regardless of how many. The two dissenting justices argued the law actually intended to set a $500 cap for each violation of a patient’s rights, not for the entire suit. (Dolan, 8/17)

Fresno Bee: California Farming Country Buckles Under COVID-19. Will Pandemic Make Or Break The Valley?
She was afraid of catching the coronavirus – so fearful, in fact, that she switched jobs to pack tomatoes for an employer who seemed to be taking the right precautions. But Maria Claudia Garcia got sick anyway. Garcia is one of nearly 19,000 residents who’ve been sickened in Fresno County, taking ill in mid-July – about the time when the pandemic began seriously hammering the Valley. Within weeks of Garcia being stricken, the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, called the Valley one of the worst hot spots in America for COVID-19. (Klaser, Tobias and Bizjak, 8/18)

Los Angeles Times: California's First Plague Case In 5 Years Is Confirmed In South Lake Tahoe 
Health officials have confirmed a case of plague at South Lake Tahoe — the first in California in five years. El Dorado County officials said Monday that the California Department of Public Health had notified them of the positive test of a resident who is under medical care while recovering at home. (8/17)