Coronavirus death toll higher in California than previously known, new data suggest
LA Times's MATT STILES: "Total deaths across the state during the COVID-19 pandemic are more than 9% higher than historical averages, according to newly released federal statistics, suggesting the toll could be hundreds or even thousands of deaths more than what’s been attributed to the disease thus far.
The new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show roughly 4,500 additional deaths from all causes have occurred in 2020 over what would be expected from historical averages, according to a Times analysis.
With the agency’s coronavirus death total for the state at 1,017 as of Monday, the difference of about 3,500 suggests a broader implication on mortality attributable to the disease, experts say."
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3 million masks arrive in California as part of quiet deal with Chinese company
LA Times's JOHN MYERS: "The first shipment of protective masks purchased from a Chinese company by advisors to Gov. Gavin Newsom arrived in California over the weekend, part of a still-confidential agreement costing California taxpayers almost $1 billion.
Newsom briefly mentioned the delivery in his remarks Wednesday on the state’s coronavirus response, and it was later confirmed by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. In all, the state received some 3 million surgical masks made by BYD, a company known for building electric vehicles with an assembly plant in Los Angeles County.
The masks “arrived on Saturday night, got into the state warehouse on Sunday, started getting distributed to 18 specific sites yesterday,” Newsom said. “And as more protective gear comes in, more quickly, we’ll get it out."
Appeals court says California judges can still require bail
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "A statewide order eliminating bail for all but the most serious charges during the coronavirus pandemic was not binding on a county’s judges, who can still require defendants to post bail or hold them without bail at a prosecutor’s request, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.
The ruling by the Fourth District Court of Appeal in San Diego allows Superior Court judges in San Diego County to decide whether to set bail in individual cases despite the April 7 order by the state Judicial Council that reduced bail to zero for nearly all misdemeanor charges as well as most nonviolent felonies.
The order, recommended by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, took effect April 13 and was intended to reduce overcrowding in county jails that makes inmates and staff more vulnerable to the coronavirus. The order, criticized by a number of local sheriffs and prosecutors, is due to expire 90 days after the end of the state of emergency declared by Gov. Gavin Newsom."
Grand compromise on California water wars in disarray. Newsom faces multiple lawsuits this week
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER: "From the moment he took office, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he wanted to bring peace to California’s water wars. But now, more than a year later, most of the warring factions are united against his plan for governing the Delta.
Three of the most powerful groups in California water sued the state this week over Newsom’s two-month-old plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the hub of California’s complex water delivery network.
A coalition of environmental groups charged Wednesday that Newsom’s plan, released in late March, doesn’t do nearly enough to protect Chinook salmon and other endangered species from the perils that occur when water is pumped through the Delta to farms and cities in the southern half of the state."
Judge orders PG&E to overhaul power line inspections, record-keeping
The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS: "A federal judge is forcing Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to overhaul the way it inspects high-voltage power lines, improve record keeping in its electrical system and bolster its tree-trimming practices to prevent more deadly wildfires.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Wednesday ordered PG&E to design a new system for conducting inspections of heavy-duty transmission lines and keep detailed records about their age. PG&E must also hire enough of its own power line inspectors to manage the work of contractors who trim trees around lower-voltage distribution lines, Alsup said.
PG&E shall further require that contractors hired to inspect its transmission towers carry enough insurance to “cover losses suffered by the public should their inspections be deficient and thereby start a wildfire,” Alsup said."
Assault allegation puts Biden -- and Democratic Party -- in bind
LA Times's EVAN HALPER/JANET HOOK: "Joe Biden’s campaign adamantly denied it and then stopped talking about it. His surrogates get uncomfortable when it comes up — and it keeps coming up. And his aides insist the media have already litigated the mess and exonerated the former vice president, which is not entirely true.
An allegation that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee sexually assaulted a young staffer in a Capitol Hill basement hallway nearly three decades ago refuses to go away even as the campaign disputes the claim.
Top Democrats are rallying behind Biden, and there are no available records from the time substantiating his accuser’s account. But Biden, stuck at home in Delaware in the coronavirus crisis, is facing demands by some supporters to mount a more aggressive defense."
How Pelosi is staying safe during the pandemic
The Chronicle's TAL KOPAN: "The speaker of the House walking the halls of the Capitol is a common sight. The silk scarf tied around her face, however, is not.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that older Americans stay home if possible to avoid catching the coronavirus. But as the most powerful Democrat in the country, the leader of one chamber of Congress and the person second in line for the presidency, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not America’s average octogenarian.
Though the San Francisco Democrat is taking steps to protect herself on the job, precautions are more challenging to work out for the more than 430 of her colleagues who must gather together to pass bills."
1st in California, rural Modoc County to drop shelter-in-place orders, open for business Friday
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "The handful of burgers and breakfast sandwiches that Nikki French has been making for pickup each day isn’t paying the bills.
Her eight-table diner in rural Modoc County, which used to serve gobs of pancakes and chicken-fried steak to local ranchers and travelers off Highway 395, has seen sales plunge since the coronavirus put a lid on most commercial activities last month, including sit-down dining.
On Friday, however, the Auction Yard Cafe in Alturas, along with the small town’s movie theater, bars, hair salons and other shops and restaurants, plans to reopen its doors and get back to business."
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Fires are coming. But PG&E and some cities are holding battery backups
LA Times's SAMMY ROTH: "It’s been six months since Dan Terre, his wife and their two children were forced to flee their home in Sebastopol, a small city near the coast in Sonoma County wine country, as the Kincade fire threatened to burn through town.
Sebastopol was ultimately spared. But even if Terre’s family could have stayed, they would have been stuck without electricity for five days, the result of Pacific Gas & Electric shutting down its power lines to prevent them from sparking additional blazes — a fire-prevention tool made necessary in part by the company’s long history of not adequately maintaining its infrastructure.
This year, Terre wanted to be ready with a solution: solar panels on his roof and a big battery in his garage to keep power flowing to his family’s lights, refrigerator and pollution-filtering air conditioner the next time PG&E decided to shut off the electricity."
This California public school might be the last in the state to close amid coronavirus
Sac Bee's MONICA VELEZ: "A Tulare County elementary school — believed to be the only public school in California to remain open in April amid the coronavirus pandemic — has closed its doors, The Bee confirmed late Wednesday.
Tim Hire, the Tulare County Office of Education superintendent, said Outside Creek Elementary School is closed “until further notice.”
He did not elaborate or immediately respond to follow-up questions."
Newsom plays 'anti-Trump' by helping undocumented immigrants -- but will $125M really help?
The Chronicle's TATIANA SANCHEZ: "Socorro Diaz hasn’t worked in nearly six weeks and the bills keep coming.
An undocumented immigrant from Santa Rosa, she was forced to abandon her job as a housekeeper after the state issued a shelter-in-place order to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The 39-year-old doesn’t know how she and her husband will pay rent. She’s afraid she’ll lose her car. And she can no longer send money to help her parents in Mexico.
“There’s been a lot of stress and a lot of worrying,” Diaz said. “I honestly don’t have enough to pay my bills this month."
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These striking photos reveal how California is changing
LA Times' STAFF: "New normal?
Let’s hope not. But the lives of everybody in the state of California and across the globe have changed.
So has the landscape. Crowded freeways, busy shopping centers and packed restaurants have been replaced by empty streets, boarded-up stores and more dogs going on walks than ever before."
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The Chronicle's TRISHA THADANI: "Two San Francisco supervisors are considering legislation that would turn open spaces around the city — including parking lots and parks — into spots where homeless people can pitch their tents at a safe distance from each other amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer and Supervisor Gordon Mar said Tuesday that they are working with the City Attorney’s Office to explore the possibility of such legislation. The move comes as San Francisco struggles to lease enough hotel rooms for the city’s 8,000-plus homeless population, and leade
rs desperately search for alternatives where the unhoused can socially distance from each other.
“We have all been grappling with the challenges of housing our unhoused population even before the emergence of COVID-19,” Fewer said at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. “We recognize that all our unhoused neighbors are vulnerable and need a safe place to shelter in place even if they are unable to obtain a hotel room.”
Harrison Ford again under FAA investigation after new aircraft incident
LA Times's RICHARD WINTON: "The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an aircraft incident at Hawthorne Airport last Friday involving actor Harrison Ford.
The FAA said in a statement that the “Star Wars” actor was piloting a plane that crossed a runway when another plane was trying to land.
The planes came within 3,600 feet of each other."
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