Sacramento’s top stories today: New COVID vaccines, wildfire bill and more

From new COVID-19 vaccines hitting pharmacies to a last-minute wildfire bill collapse in the Capitol, Tuesday brought major developments across health, politics and Sacramento’s neighborhoods. Here’s a rundown of the top stories.

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• The Food and Drug Administration approved four new COVID-19 vaccines for 2026-27 distribution, with Moderna receiving authorization for two formulations alongside Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty and Novavax-Sanofi’s Nuvaxovid. The updated shots are designed to combat currently circulating variants and will be limited to adults over 65 and younger people with qualifying risk factors. Walgreens said the vaccines will be available shortly, while CVS and Kaiser Permanente said timing will vary by location.

• The California Assembly on Tuesday rejected Senate Bill 492, a controversial wildfire liability measure, ending furious weeks of negotiations driven by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The bill would have sped up victim compensation, restricted attorney practices and denied short-term bonuses for utility CEOs whose companies sparked deadly fires, but it did not restrict insurers’ ability to recoup money from utilities. “Simply put, this measure did not meet the gravity of this moment,” Newsom said in a statement, adding that the solution is “to return to fix the entire problem, not part of it.”

• Sacramento’s Our Street Night Market returns to the R Street Corridor on Saturday, Sept. 5, occupying six city blocks with more than 100 local food vendors, chefs and restaurateurs. Inspired by the open-air markets of Asia and launched in 2018, the event aims to push Sacramento’s food culture forward and give mom-and-pop operations a broader audience. Tickets are $15 and available on the Night Market website.

• Sacramento has largely completed a roughly $20 million overhaul of a 1.2-mile stretch of Franklin Boulevard between Sutterville Road and 32nd Avenue, replacing two through lanes with protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks, new streetlights, trees and pedestrian crossings. The corridor was identified in 2018 as part of Sacramento’s high-injury network — the 14% of streets where 77% of severe crashes occur. Business owners report mostly positive early reactions, though drivers are still adjusting, with new concrete medians bearing tire marks from the transition.