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30 people shot, 2 dead in shooting at block party The Washington Post
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A Cal Fire firefighter lights a backfire while battling the Oak Fire near Mariposa, July 23, 2022.
State’s firefighter union poised to get a rare perk:
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California wildfire firefighters could be in for a big pay raise soon through a rare legislative move that would require the state to boost their salaries automatically, effectively cutting the governor’s office out of negotiations over their wages For years, the California Department of Forestry and Protection – or Cal Fire – has been unable to compete with local departments that offer better salaries and in turn has been losing its members at an escalating pace, union leaders say. “We now have a world where you can work at Target and In-N-Out and make $22 an hour and our
Sandy Huffaker/The San Diego Union-Tribune file (2022)
Cal Fire HandCrews prepare to battle a wildfire along Barrett Junction Road in San Diego, Aug. 31, 2022. starting firefighter makes $15.56 an hour,” said Cal Fire Local 2881 president Tim Edwards. “Who’s gonna want to put their life on the line in a time where the state really needs firefighters when they can go work somewhere else and make more money?”
Now, after several years of devastating wildfires, state lawmakers are advancing a bill that would lock in automatic pay increases for them. It would compel the state human resources department to calculate wage increases for the 8,000 or so state firefight-
ers every year based on what other 20 local fire departments pay. The bill would boost the salary for Cal Fire employees to within a 15% range of the top 20 highest-paying fire departments in California. If the bill becomes law, the firefighter union would become just the second group of California public employees to gain automatic pay raises instead of having to bargain over wage increases with the governor’s office. The other is the union that represents California Highway Patrol officers. The CHP contract sets officers’ pay on a formula that accounts for wages at other large California See Perk, Page A7
Thirty people were shot, two fatally, during an overnight shooting at a block party in southern Baltimore, police said Sunday, marking yet another deadly night in a city struggling with violent crime. The shooting – the city’s largest in recent memory – drew swift condemnation from Baltimore leaders and a plea from the city’s police union for increased staffing to address endemic gun violence amid a homicide rate that eclipses many other major cities’. “This morning, all of Baltimore is grieving for the lives that we lost here,” Mayor Brandon Scott (D) said during a news conference, saying the bloodshed “shows why we must continue to focus on the amount of illegal guns on our streets that make it into the hands of individuals who should not have them and continuously carry out violent acts in our city.” Officers received calls about a shooting around
12:35 a.m. at 800 Gretna Ct. in the city’s Brooklyn neighborhood and arrived to find multiple victims with gunshot wounds, acting Baltimore police commissioner Richard Worley said. An 18-year-old woman died at the scene, and a 20-year-old man was pronounced dead at a hospital “a short time later,” according to the Baltimore Police Department. The names of the victims were not immediately available. The victims ranged in age from 13 to 32 years old, Worley said, and included 14 minors. At least two suspects fired shots, he said. Twenty-eight other victims were taken to or walked into hospitals, police said, adding that three victims were in critical condition early Sunday. University of Maryland Medical System spokesman Michael Schwartzberg said in an email Sunday afternoon that seven patients remained at See Party, Page A7
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Authorities search for evidence at the scene of a deadly shooting early Sunday in Baltimore.
We’re older than we used to be, especially in these states Stateline.org The median age rose in almost every state last year, census estimates show, continuing a longterm trend that is pushing states to prepare for aging populations. Seventeen states had median ages over 40 in 2022, according to new U.S.
Census Bureau estimates of the age at which half of residents are older and half are younger. That’s up from 12 states in 2020 and just seven in 2010. Nationwide, the median age was below 30 until 1980, but it rose to 38.9 as of 2022, according to the bureau estimates. That leaves more states
planning for future health and housing challenges for older residents. Some states have issued or are considering executive orders, agency plans and legislation to assist state residents who need more help with health crises, housing and long-term care as they live longer. Millennials started
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turning 40 last year, and the youngest baby boomers are quickly approaching 60. “As the nation’s median age creeps closer to 40, you can really see how the aging of baby boomers, and now their children – sometimes called echo boomers – is impacting the median age,” said
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Kristie Wilder, a Census Bureau demographer, in a statement. Lower birth rates also play a role and will likely continue to drive median age slowly but steadily higher, Wilder added. Some states have passed legislation requiring that health insurers cover fertility treatments in
response to lower fertility rates, according to a University of California, Irvine study published last year. New York state’s 2020 law, for example, requires coverage of in vitro fertilization in some cases. No states saw a drop from 2021 to 2022, and See Older, Page A7
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