What to know as California halts indoor dining, shutters other businesses
LA Times staff: "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to roll back more reopenings Wednesday halted indoor service at restaurants and other businesses in Los Angeles and 18 other counties.
The move is an expanded effort to slow the sudden spike in coronavirus cases and comes days after the state ordered bars closed in several counties.
Here is what you need to know about the new order"
Lawmakers slam California prisons for 'out-of-control' COVID-19 infections
Sac Bee's JASON POHL: "California lawmakers on Wednesday called the state prison system’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic a “fiasco” and criticized a “horribly botched transfer” of inmates to San Quentin that appears to have sparked the state’s most explosive outbreak.
The hearing before the Senate Committee on Public Safety focused on the escalating 1,131-inmate outbreak at San Quentin, but officials also warned of a dangerous feedback loop as the virus is carried into prisons — by inmates and employees — rapidly spreads, and infects workers who carry it back into the community.
“The plain fact is the virus is out of control at our state prison facilities and it is defying every curve we point to for progress,” said Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley."
The ticking clock on California's newest homeless plan
Sac Bee's MACKENZIE HAWKINS: "“We need a new approach,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in February when he dedicated his State of the State address to California’s worsening homelessness crisis.
Now we have one: acquiring $600 million of hotel properties before the federal funding clock, which controls the vast majority of acquisition funding, runs out in six months.
The strategy outlined in California’s latest budget, which carves out a total of $1.3 billion for housing and homelessness, turns Project Roomkey — an emergency hotel and motel lease effort to house California’s most vulnerable homeless — into a permanent housing plan dubbed Project Homekey."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: Sacramento at a breaking point. Health officials issue stern July 4th warning -- Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK; SF threatens enforcement against Catholic archdiocese for violating health order on gatherings -- The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA; In California's hardest-hit county, fear and death mix with anger -- The Chronicle's DUSTIN GARDINER
MoveOn endorses Joe Biden, a sign that progressives are embracing him
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "The influential online liberal organization MoveOn endorsed Joe Biden for president Wednesday, a sign that progressives are starting to warmto his candidacy.
Biden won the support of 82% of MoveOn members, which counts 13 million people on its mailing list. He is the fourth presidential candidate that the organization has endorsed in its 20-year history, after Barack Obama (twice) and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary. MoveOn declined to reveal how many members voted.
“MoveOn’s millions of members are ready to mobilize together in support of Joe Biden, working to turn out voters in key states and ensure that Donald Trump is a one-term president,” Rahna Epting, MoveOn Political Action executive director, said in a statement."
California extends unemployment bennies by 7 more weeks
The Chronicle's KATHLEEN PENDER: "Jobless Californians could get up to seven additional weeks of unemployment benefits, bringing the maximum duration to 59 weeks for those on regular state unemployment and 46 weeks for those receiving Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, according to an Employment Development Department announcement Wednesday.
The extended benefits are part of a program known as Federal-State Extended Duration benefits; the EDD calls it Fed-Ed. It becomes available when a state experiences high or prolonged periods of unemployment. California previously became eligible for 13 weeks of these benefits; the extra seven brings it to 20 weeks for those receiving regular state unemployment insurance.
Those people can now receive up to 26 weeks of regular state benefits, followed by 13 weeks of Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, a federal program created and funded under the Cares Act. After that, they could begin to collect up to 20 weeks of Fed-Ed if they remain unemployed, for a total of 59 weeks."
Which California beaches are closed for July 4th weekend? Here's your guide
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "If you had beach plans in Southern California or the Bay Area this Fourth of July weekend, you may want to consider changing them.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced that, due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases, the state will close several SoCal beaches and closing the parking facilities in several Southern California and Bay Area counties.
Newsom said the full beach closures in Los Angeles and Ventura counties are in conjunction with county decisions there to close local beaches."
READ MORE related to Climate & Environment: 5 campgrounds you can walk into this crowded Fourth of July weekend -- The Chronicle's TOM STIENSTRA
Uber & Lyft say regulator can't make drivers employees
The Chronicle's CAROLYN SAID: "Uber and Lyft may be headed for a showdown with the California agency that regulates them.
The San Francisco ride-hailing companies, along with two smaller ride services for children called HopSkipDrive and Zum, on Tuesday filed papers challenging the authority of the California Public Utilities Commission to determine that their drivers are employees.
At issue is a June 9 “scoping memo” from agency Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma that said “for now, TNC drivers are presumed to be employees,” using the acronym for “transportation network companies,” which is what the commission calls on-demand ride services. A scoping memo is a mechanism to identify future issues rather than a formal decision."
READ MORE related to Transportation: Golden Gate Bridge's new hum louder than expected; officials explore options to fix handrails -- The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN
Sac City Council to consider 911 overhaul, IG to oversee police
Sac Bee's THERESA CLIFT: "The Sacramento City Council will Wednesday consider whether to overhaul the city’s 911 system and hire an inspector general for police oversight.
The meeting will take place at 5 p.m. Wednesday and will be livestreamed on the city’s website.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg proposed both changes earlier this month amid protests across the country and in Sacramento against police brutality following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis."
READ MORE related to Defunding Police: Berkeley City Council passes a budget with $9.2M cuts to police -- The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN; The future of Bay Area policing is coming into focus as cities and agencies slash budgets and redirect money -- The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN
More than 40 Bay Area school principals in quarantine after in-person meeting
The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI: "More than 40 school principals in the South Bay are in quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19 during an in-person meeting held by the Santa Clara Unified School District.
A pre-symptomatic individual at the school reopening planning meeting on June 19 tested positive for the coronavirus just a few days after school administrators congregated.
Superintendent Stella Kemp confirmed the exposure to the school board during an online meeting last week."
SFPD to stop releasing mug shots in effort to curb implicit bias
The Chronicle's ALEJANDRO SERRANO/BOB EGELKO: "Police in San Francisco will stop releasing mug shots of most people who have been arrested, a change that Chief Bill Scott described as a groundbreaking attempt to curb implicit bias in policing.
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The publication of mug shots on social media or in the news “creates an illusory correlation for viewers that fosters racial bias and vastly overstates the propensity of Black and brown men to engage in criminal behavior,” Scott said Wednesday as he issued the directive.
Mug shots have been at the center of controversies in recent years — particularly when published in galleries that may disproportionately include Blacks and Latinos, or on websites that charge people to have their photos removed."