Stricken cruise ship to dock in Oakland; governor, mayor defend decision; others wary
From the Chronicle's TATIANA SANCHEZ, JOHN KING, LAUREN HERNANDEZ and MICHAEL CABANATUAN: "Workers on Sunday rushed to prepare an empty pier at the Port of Oakland for the arrival of a luxury ocean liner with more than 3,500 people on board — including at least 21 with coronavirus — setting in motion what one federal official called an “unprecedented and difficult operation.”
The 11-acre site at Pier 22 will be the disembarkation point for the Grand Princess, which has been held offshore since the first cases were identified on Thursday. Once docked, the liner will remain in fenced-off isolation while passengers are examined and then either sent to hospitals, put into quarantine in California or sent out of the state. The ship and its crew will then return to sea.
If all goes well, the unusual transition from ship to shore should be completed within two to three days, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Sunday. The setting in Oakland’s Outer Harbor, across the water from the Bay Bridge toll gates, should ensure that no residents or regular port employees have contact with cruise passengers who might carry the mysterious and potentially lethal virus."
COVID-19 pandemic would swamp California hospitals. Are there enough supplies?
Sac Bee's RYAN SABALOW/DALE KASLER//PHILLIP REESE/JASON POHL: "Emergency rooms would likely be swamped, overflowing into “surge tents” outside. Intensive care units might fill to capacity. Test kits and masks could run low. And medical personnel would almost certainly get overwhelmed.
A coronavirus pandemic would strain California’s ability to quickly and effectively contain the disease. Although the state has confirmed less than 100 cases and a single death from
COVID-19, experts are worried the state’s health care system couldn’t keep up.
State officials have already complained about the availability of test kits. Masks are in such short supply, the California Department of Industrial Relations has said it’s acceptable to use N95 masks — considered the most protective — that are past their expiration dates."
READ MORE related to COVID-19 Pandemic: Virus fight enters new phase -- LA Times's ANITA CHABRIA/LAURA KING/ANDREW J CAMPA/ALEX WIGGLESWORTH; 2 members of Congress say they met man with coronavirus -- AP's ASHRAF KHALIL/MICHAEL BALSAMO; Newsom warns of more school closings, leaders call for calm -- Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK/SAWSAN MORRAR; Newom tells people to stop taking cruises due to pandemic -- Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG; 10 new Bay Area cases; SF public schools cancel nonessential public events -- The Chronicle's LAUREN HERNANDEZ/JOHN KING
CA120: California’s March primary had a major impact
PAUL MITCHELL in Capitol Weekly: "Super Tuesday is barely in the rear view mirror. There are millions of votes to count and the exact delegate allocation for the presidential candidates is still TBD, but there is one clear outcome: a victory for advocates of California’s March presidential primary.
When SB 568 by Ricardo Lara was passed in 2017 there were many detractors with a number of arguments. So, let’s bring these back and see how the primary fared....
There are a number of ways to unpack this, but let’s start with the Sacramento Bee’s candidate tracker. Through the primary, Bryan Anderson tracked 458 presidential candidate visits from 26 candidates for president, including more than 75 for Pete Buttigieg. This number far surpasses any previous California primary."
Can California hold Congress in 2020?
Sac Bee's KATE IRBY: "California has at least half a dozen races to watch in this year’s battle for control of the House of Representatives, and voters have a little more clarity on who their choices will be following last week’s primary election.
Democrats flipped seven GOP-held California districts in 2018, delivering a knockout punch that year to Republicans. Now, Democrats are fighting to hold onto those seats in traditional GOP turf like the San Joaquin Valley and Orange County.
While some Republicans outperformed their Democratic opponents in early primary election results, Democratic strategists expect higher turnout in November, when President Donald Trump will be up for re-election."
Tax returns show Newsom made $1.2M the year he was elected California's governor
Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom made $1.2 million dollars in 2018, mostly from wine businesses, according to tax returns viewed by The Bee.
On Friday, the governor’s office let reporters view, but not photograph or copy, the Newsoms’ 2018 tax returns. Reporters had 45 minutes to study the filing, which contained more than 150 pages.
The returns show the Newsoms paid nearly 30 percent of their income in federal taxes and an additional 10 percent in state taxes. The Newsoms reported giving more than $25,000 to charity, about 2 percent of their total income."
Prop 13 school bond measure appears headed for a fall
LA Times's GEORGE SKELTON: "California voters flashed a bright red stoplight at Democrats’ taxing and borrowing as they rejected the largest state school bond proposal in history.
At least it seems like voters rejected it. Stunned backers of Proposition 13 — a confusing number that probably helped dig the measure’s grave — still haven’t publicly conceded defeat. They’re clinging to slim hope that continued vote counting from Super Tuesday will yet save the measure.
By the end of last week, Proposition 13 trailed by 44.8% to 55.2%. That’s a big deficit to fill."
Sen. Harris endorses Biden's presidential bid
AP: "Kamala Harris endorsed Joe Biden on Sunday and said she would “do everything in my power” to help elect him, becoming the latest dropout from the Democratic race for president to line up behind the former vice president in his battle with Bernie Sanders for the nomination.
The decision by the California senator who was one of three black candidates seeking to challenge President Trump further solidifies the Democratic establishment’s move to close circles around Biden after his Super Tuesday success. Her endorsements come before the next round of primaries, with six states voting Tuesday, including Michigan.
“There is no one better prepared than Joe to steer our nation through these turbulent times, and restore truth, honor, and decency to the Oval Office,” Harris said in a statement. “He is kind and endlessly caring, and he truly listens to the American people."
Higher ed leaders launch $187M census campaign to engage college students
The Chronicle's TATIANA SANCHEZ: "Educational leaders across the state have launched a campaign aimed at motivating college students to participate in the 2020 census — a critical demographic that has gone under-counted in years past, they say.
Officials with the University of California, Cal State and California community colleges — which share an estimated 2.8 million students across 148 campuses — are opening the $1.5 million California Census 2020 Campaign, which will fund a variety of outreach activities to ensure students take the survey.
The U.S. Census Bureau considers college students a hard-to-count population. They’re highly mobile, often live off campus and fall within a young age demographic — normally between ages 18 to 29 — that has historically indicated it’s least likely to participate in the survey, according to the Association of College and Research Libraries, a professional association of academic librarians."
In SF, cannabis business hasn't hit the highs expected when it went legal
The Chronicle's PHIL MATIER: "High prices, increased competition and a largely unchecked illegal market have taken the bloom off San Francisco’s budding cannabis business.
“It’s a mess,” said Erich Pearson, a longtime cannabis activist and CEO of SPARC, which operates three cannabis outlets in the city.
And no one knows how to fix it."
Diocese of Sacramento members found work abroad despite abuse allegations
Sac Bee's KATIE ZAVADSKI/TOPHER SANDERS/NICOLE HENSLEY: "The Rev. Jose Antonio Pinal, a young priest from Mexico, arrived at his first parish near Sacramento in 1980, fresh out of seminary. The priest befriended the Torres family, helping the parents, also immigrants from Mexico, to fill out an application for food stamps. Pinal became an occasional dinner guest and took the children to theme parks and on road trips along the Pacific coast. He encouraged 15-year-old Ricardo Torres to become an altar boy.
But in the priest’s quarters at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the small city of Gridley, Torres said, Pinal, then 30, gave him alcohol, showed him movies with sex and nudity, and groped and raped him. The teenager told another priest in 1989 and the family was assured by lawyers for the diocese that Pinal would not be allowed around children, Torres said."
Bay Area has the 7th worst traffic in the nation -- but it's improving
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "San Francisco and surrounding cities compose the seventh-most-congested area in the country — a rank that, while dismaying, signals that the Bay Area is actually making incremental improvement.
The ranking was was a drop from No. 6 in the nation the previous year.
A new report by the Seattle traffic analytics firm Inrix shows how cities throughout the world stack up. On average, Bay Area drivers lost 97 hours last year, crawling at 10 mph during the peak commute. That wasted time costs $1,436 in economic productivity per driver, or about $3 billion for the entire region."
Trump to skip St. Patty's Day bipartisan luncheon with Congress; blames Pelosi
AP: "Irish eyes at the U.S. Capitol will not smile on President Trump on St. Patrick’s Day.
Trump is skipping an annual bipartisan luncheon with House and Senate lawmakers celebrating the ties that bind the U.S. and Ireland, a White House spokesman said.
Trump blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi."