The Sacramento Bee’s top stories on July 28, span a major transit planning milestone, a Placer County homicide conviction and a record-breaking Pacific hurricane.
Here’s a quick digest of what readers need to know:
Hurricane Genevieve became the first Category 5 storm in the eastern Pacific since 2024, with peak winds of 160 mph and 11-foot waves expected to reach Southern California later this week. The storm is headed west into the open ocean and poses no threat to land, but its rapid intensification — doubling wind speeds in roughly 30 hours — is being fueled by El Niño warming ocean temperatures nearly 3 degrees above normal.Blake Anthony Rakela, 21, will be sentenced to four years in prison for voluntary manslaughter on Aug. 4 after pleading no contest to using a metal wrench to kill 55-year-old Jeremy Styles in a March 2025 road rage confrontation in Rocklin. His father, Anthony David Rakela, 61, will receive 90 days of probation on a reduced misdemeanor assault charge for his role in the deadly encounter.
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