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The Almost Daily Briefing, August 24, 2026

Post Date:08/24/2026 9:11 AM

The Almost Daily Briefing

Published news articles from local, regional, and national media on topics of interest to the #LoveLafayette Community separately

LOCAL NEWS
Election Cancelled, Councilmembers Appointed Instead In Lamorinda
– Lafayette canceled its Nov. 3 City Council election and appointed three candidates to office after no one else filed to run. The City Council voted Aug. 20 to appoint incumbents James Cervantes and Stella Wotherspoon to four-year terms ending in 2030 and Mario DiPrisco to a two-year term ending in 2028. (Patch) Related: $48,000 Saved as Needless Election Canceled in Lafayette (Bay Area Telegraph)

Uncontested: Henderson, Shaw Appointed to Oakley City Council (Contra Costa News)

 

OTHER NEWS

Forest fires follow roads. The Trump administration wants to build more - The Trump administration announced Tuesday it is rolling back a rule prohibiting logging and road construction in undeveloped parts of national forests, including more than 4 million acres of federally managed forest lands in California. (CalMatters)

 

LOCAL HAPPENINGS

Design Review Commission – cancelled

City Offices Temporarily Closed for Staff Training – Administrative Offices will be closed Wednesday, August 26 9:30am to 2:30pm

Lafayette Community Information & Emergency Radio AM 1670 is currently offline due to technical issues.

The Weekly Roundup

Lafayette Planning Applications Received

Major Development Projects Map 

Contact the City

 

HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION AND CITY PLANNING
Newsom Awards $11.3 Million to Prohousing Communities for Affordable Housing
(Davis Vanguard)

Bay Area city plans 2,300 homes on former Navy base. A dispute over 25 vouchers could stall them - City officials say the next phases of development - which could include as many as 2,300 additional housing units, 25% of which would be affordable - are in jeopardy because of a dispute with the Housing Authority of the City of Alameda about how federal rent assistance vouchers can be transferred. (San Francisco Chronicle)

 3 California cities sued over alleged violations of state housing rules - Housing advocacy groups say these cities are attempting to limit the impact of a new state law designed to increase housing density near transit. The lawsuits argue that San Diego, San Francisco and Montebello, California, have implemented measures that limit the scope of Senate Bill 79, which was signed into law last fall and went into effect July 1. (Smart Cities Dive)

ADUs had a banner year in LA County. It’s not enough to fill the housing gap, study says. (Smart Cities Dive)

The high-stakes legal battle over one of California’s largest proposed data centers — and what it means - Imperial County is one of at least a dozen California localities that have passed moratoriums on new data centers in response to public fears that the developments could cause pollution, drive up utility rates or suck up water — claims that developers like Rucci say are sometimes overblown. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Deadly e-bike accidents shape Bay Area test - Near-misses with a kid whizzing by on an electric bicycle may be a common nuisance these days, but some incidents can end in tragedy. As a growing number of e-bike related accidents — particularly ones involving children — raise alarm among residents and legislators, two bills that aim to expand e-bike safety in California are on their way to the governor’s desk. (Cal Matters)

California school district bans e-bikes, scooters, boards on all K-8 campuses - The first day of school in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District on Monday, Aug. 17, was also the first day of a new ban on electric bikes and all other electric vehicles, such as scooters and boards, at its K-8 campuses. High school students are still allowed to ride e-bikes and similar transportation onto campus as long as they have a sticker showing they’ve attended a California Highway Patrol safety class for e-bikes; middle schoolers also have to take a similar class for pedal bicycles. Upon completion, they also get a sticker. (East Bay Times)

Oakland installed new automated speed cameras. Drivers’ behavior changed dramatically - Even though drivers still speed on city streets, cameras installed to reduce dangerous driving in Oakland have worked, according to a city report released Thursday. The number of motorists going at least 11 mph over the speed limit fell by 70% at 18 locations since automated speed enforcement cameras went up… (San Francisco Chronicle)

Cameras caught half a million speeders in 6 months. Many aren’t from Oakland - Most speeders in Oakland just got warnings. But of 194,000 citations, most went to non-Oakland addresses. Mayor Lee has declared success, saying drivers are already slowing down. (Oaklandside)

 

MIXTAPE
Why this Bay Area business is closing after 101 years

Commuters in these parts of the Bay Area leave for work the earliest

What It Takes To Be Middle Class In CA: New Studies Show Why It's So Hard To Get By

As 3 dangers converge, California’s coast faces rare winter of big waves, erosion, flooding

Fast-moving wildfire amid shifting winds threatens Reno, Nevada, forcing thousands to evacuate

These are the U.S. cities people are moving to

America’s housing market is splitting in two, and one group of buyers is getting left behind

 

MEANWHILE IN ANOTHER LAFAYETTE

This Classic Drive-In Still Brings Root Beer in Frosted Mugs Right to Your Car Window

 

AND FINALLY…

Gen Z gave Walnut Creek a nickname. It's sticking

__________________

The Almost Daily Briefing (ADB) is an aggregation of links to news articles from local and regional newspapers, magazines, websites, and other news sources. Its purpose is to alert readers to current issues and affairs that may impact Lafayette. The ADB does not promote, favor, disfavor, support, reject, or endorse any position, candidate, campaign, or proposition, and nothing about the ADB, including the selection, presentation, arrangement, or content of the links presented should be construed as an advocacy position.

At times, the ADB features articles from sites that limit access for nonsubscribers. The Contra Costa Library offers access to multiple newspapers online for all cardholders, including the Los Angeles Times (via the ProQuest E-Library digital resource) and the New York Times Digital. Visit the library’s website to learn how to get a library card or access digital services.

If you have questions about the ADB, please contact the City of Lafayette's Communications Analyst, Suzanne Iarla, at siarla@ci.lafayette.ca.us. You can subscribe to the ADB and learn more about Lafayette’s publications and social media sites here.