Most Californians favor continued restrictions
From PPIC in Capitol Weekly: "Many Californians believe that the worst is yet to come for the U.S. with the COVID-19 pandemic, and less than three in 10 believe restrictions on physical activity in their area should be decreased. Gov. Newsom’s job approval has increased since earlier this year—and most Californians approve of his handling of the pandemic—but his recently released budget plan gets mixed reviews.
These are among the key findings of a statewide survey released today by the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research and information institute.
Asked where they think the U.S. stands with regard to the coronavirus outbreak, 48 percent of Californians say the worst is yet to come, 46 percent say the worst is behind us, and 6 percent say they don’t know. Across racial/ethnic groups, 69 percent of African Americans say the worst is yet to come, as do 53 percent of both Asian Americans and Latinos, and 41 percent of whites."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: California braces for second wave even as first wave is far from over -- LA Times's RONG-GONG LIN II/IRIS LEE/COLLEEN SHALBY
LA Times's TARYN LUNA/JACLYN COSGROVE: "In his most outspoken public rebuke of President Trump in months, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that California would “reject” any attempts by the White House to deploy the military in major cities to end civil unrest following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
“It won’t happen,” Newsom said during a visit to Hot & Cool Cafe in Leimert Park. “It’s not going to happen. We would reject it. We would push back against that.”
Dubbing himself a “president of law and order,” Trump threatened Monday to send “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers” into U.S. cities."
READ MORE related to Criminal Justice Reform/Struggle For Equality: Huge protest in downtown LA targets DA Jackie Lacey ; others demonstrate around Southland -- LA Times's MATTHEW ORMSETH/BENJAMIN ORESKES/COLLEEN SHALBY; SF resident was kneeling when fatally shot by Vallejo police during civil unrest -- The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY
California Assembly, Senate leaders say no to mandatory pay cuts for state workers
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "Leaders from both houses of the Legislature have now rejected Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to force state workers to take a pay cut this summer.
Assembly and Senate leaders announced a unified budget pact Wednesday that encourages the state’s unions to negotiate pay reductions to help address California’s projected $54 billion budget deficit, but does not require them to give concessions.
It’s similar to a plan the Senate Budge Committee approved last week."
High-ranking California state judge facing removal -- sexual harassment allegations
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "Unless the California Supreme Court intervenes, veteran state Appeals Court Justice Jeffrey Johnson — who sexually harassed and groped numerous attorneys and court employees, including a fellow justice, and lied about it under oath, according to a disciplinary agency — will become the highest-ranking judge in the state ever removed for misconduct in office.
“Justice Johnson’s misconduct has severely tarnished the esteem of the judiciary in the eyes of the public,” the state Commission on Judicial Performance said Tuesday in a 9-0 decision ordering Johnson’s removal from the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. “Given his lack of candor during this proceeding, we do not have confidence that he has the fundamental qualities of honesty and integrity required of a judge.”
Johnson “has made significant contributions to the judiciary as well as to his community,” but they do not excuse his misconduct, the commission said."
Pressure builds to end curfew amid more peaceful protests
LA Times's COLLEEN SHALBY/MATTHEW ORMSETH/LUKE MONEY/MATT HAMILTON: "More huge protests against the death of George Floyd and local police violence spread across Southern California along with growing pressure to end curfews imposed over the weekend.
Police reported few problems Wednesday night, after dealing with scattered looting and vandalism Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Officials pushed back curfews later into the evening amid pressure to lift them all together.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said that while the curfews may have been warranted on Sunday and Monday nights, “now it seems like they are being used to arrest peaceful protesters. I don’t think they are needed anymore.” Mayor Eric Garcetti said the curfew could be lifted if things remain quiet Wednesday night."
He suggested his tenant wasn’t a hero. Now the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op wants him out
Sac Bee's HANNAH WILEY: "The Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op has asked board member Steven Maviglio to resign after he fired off a controversial tweet Tuesday in the midst of the George Floyd demonstrations.
Maviglio, a Democratic strategist and president of Forza Communications, responded on the social media site to a post heralding his D.C. tenant Rahul Dubey as a hero. Dubey opened the Swann Street home on Monday to dozens of protesters fleeing tear gas and a mass of police in riot gear that had cornered the crowd.
As Dubey’s actions turned into headlines, Maviglio became frustrated."
Do Californians support mail-in voting? Survey says: Yes
Sac Bee's MATT KRISTOFFERSEN: "As California inches closer to the November election, new survey results suggest that nearly three-quarters of likely voters support a move to mail-in ballots opposed by President Donald Trump and Republican leaders.
The Public Policy Institute of California’s latest survey, which polled 1,706 adults statewide in late May, shows an “overwhelming majority” support such a policy.
Voters’ views differ by political party, however."
READ MORE related to Voting: Newsom orders counties to add in-person voting centers -- The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI
State would delay deepest cuts under Legislature 's alternative to Gov. Gavin Newsom's plan
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Senate and Assembly leaders issued a joint budget proposal Wednesday, unifying the Legislature against billions in cuts proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom as a deadline looms to pass a spending plan for California.
The legislative proposal closely resembles a framework put forward by the Senate last week, which would delay cuts for months in anticipation of federal bailout. If that aid does not come, the state would dip further into reserves and defer payments to future years to avoid severe reductions to education and safety-net programs.
The new version of the plan announced Wednesday includes nearly $900 million more in funding for the University of California and California State University systems, homelessness services and county health programs."
California hospitals suffer massive losses from fewer patients, major pandemic expenses
Sac Bee's MARA HOPLAMAZIAN/CATHIE ANDERSON: "California hospital revenue plummeted by more than a third in the first four months of the pandemic as costs to care for coronavirus patients rose, a shocking financial blow that threatens to raise health care prices, according to a recent report.
The report, published Wednesday by the California Health Care Foundation, said hospital revenue fell by a cumulative $13 billion from March to June — a 37% reduction from pre-coronavirus levels — as state and local shelter-in-place orders nearly eliminated surgeries and halved emergency room visits. Even with some patients now returning to hospitals as restrictions ease, dire financial losses persist.
“It’s a huge shock,” said Glenn Melnick, a professor of health care finance and public policy at the University of Southern California who co-authored the report. “Basically, the bottom dropped out overnight.”
Will Bay Area's private schools survive the coronavirus pandemic? One has already closed
The Chronicle's RON KROICHICK: "Joe Oberting brought deep connections to Napa’s St. John the Baptist Catholic School when he became its principal two years ago. His three children went to school there, and his family has attended church at St. John for more than 20 years.
Oberting knew the school, in operation since 1912, had struggled with declining enrollment. But things were improving — until the coronavirus pandemic hit in mid-March. Soon thereafter, as county officials talked of extended shelter-in-place orders, Oberting confided to one colleague, “This is going to kill us.”
And that’s what happened."
5.5 quake strikes near Ridgecrest and shakes SoCal
LA Times's RONG-GONG LIN II: "A magnitude 5.5 earthquake rumbled near Ridgecrest, about 120 miles northeast of Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and shaking was felt across Southern California.
The USGS estimated that only moderate shaking, or level 5 on the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale, would have affected Ridgecrest, a city of about 29,000 people in the Mojave Desert. Moderate shaking is capable of breaking dishes and windows and overturning objects, but is not expected to cause major damage.
The earthquake hit Wednesday at 6:32 p.m."
READ MORE related to Environment/Climate: Bay Area cooling centers offer a little relief from heat wave during pandemic -- The Chronicle's STEVE RUBENSTEIN
Why did BART close nine stations during protests?
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "BART closed nine stations as demonstrations over the death of George Floyd came to a boil Sunday night while looters ransacked shopping malls throughout the Bay Area.
Agency staff said they looked at threats of violent activity or sightings of looters in considering which stations to shut down. Ultimately, the list spread from urban centers to quiet suburbs, including Walnut Creek, Powell Street, Concord, Bay Fair, 12th Street, Lafayette, Civic Center, Montgomery and Hayward stations.
But the closures caught some city officials by surprise. Some stations were miles away from any civil disturbances on Sunday. And law enforcement has not presented any evidence indicating that looters use public transit."
Gun owners four times more likely to die by suicide than non-owners, Stanford-led study says
Sac Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON: "California residents who own handguns are four times more likely to commit suicide than their neighbors who don’t own them, according to a study led by California researchers and released Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Firearm owners were not more likely to die of other causes than non-owners,” said the study’s lead author, David Studdert, a professor of both medicine and the law at Stanford University. “As a matter of fact, they were a little bit less likely. “
While women typically have far lower risk of suicide overall, this research found that they are 35 times more likely to kill themselves when they own a handgun."
Victims identified in fatal PG&E contractor helicopter crash in Fairfield
The Chronicle's JD MORRIS: "Local authorities on Wednesday named the three Pacific Gas and Electric Co. contractors who died in a Fairfield-area helicopter crash one day earlier as federal officials continued to investigate the incident.
The Solano County coroner’s office identified the victims as helicopter pilot Roscoe Gray, 38, of Sonora (Tuolumne County); Travis Shull, 29, of Chico (Butte County); and 41-year-old Jimmy Wasdin, whose place of residence was unknown.
All three died Tuesday afternoon after their helicopter made contact with a 115,000-volt PG&E power line and burst into flames near Lyon Road and Soda Springs Road off Interstate 80 between Fairfield and Vacaville. It’s not clear what caused the crash, which is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board."
Senate passes fix to COVID-19 payroll loan program after businesses complain about changing rules
LA Times's SARAH D WIRE: "Following complaints from business groups about changing rules and confusing guidelines, the Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved a fix to the popular Paycheck Protection Program program, which was created to help small businesses survive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee — tasked with overseeing trillions of taxpayer dollars provided by Congress to prop up the economy — to push for more clarity and consistency in the program. Others warned that some business owners were worried that they may not qualify under revised rules to have the loans forgiven, as originally promised.
Chamber officials pointed out that the Treasury Department has changed the rules and guidance governing the loans repeatedly during in the past eight weeks."
James Mattis denounces President Trump and describes him as a threat to the Constitution
The Atlantic's JEFFREY GOLDBERG: "James Mattis, the esteemed Marine general who resigned as secretary of defense in December 2018 to protest Donald Trump’s Syria policy, has, ever since, kept studiously silent about Trump’s performance as president. But he has now broken his silence, writing an extraordinary broadside in which he denounces the president for dividing the nation, and accuses him of ordering the U.S. military to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens.
“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis writes. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.” He goes on, “We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”
In his j’accuse, Mattis excoriates the president for setting Americans against one another."