Wealthy patients scramble for COVID-19 vaccine: ‘If I donate $25,000 ... would that help me?’
LAURA J. NELSON and MAYA LAU, LA Times: “They’re offering tens of thousands of dollars in cash, making their personal assistants pester doctors every day, and asking whether a five-figure donation to a hospital would help them jump the line.
The COVID-19 vaccine is here — and so are the wealthy people who want it first.
“We get hundreds of calls every single day,” said Dr. Ehsan Ali, who runs Beverly Hills Concierge Doctor. His clients, who include Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, pay between $2,000 and $10,000 a year for personalized care. “This is the first time where I have not been able to get something for my patients.”
Fired EDD workers, inmates, parolee charged in California's COVID unemployment fraud scandal
Sac Bee's SAM STANTON/DALE KASLER: "Federal prosecutors have charged four women in California’s ongoing unemployment fraud scheme, including a former Employment Development Department worker who allegedly filed 100 claims — one of them in the name of a sitting U.S. senator.
The charges name fired EDD worker Andrea M. Gervais, as well as an inmate at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla and a parolee who allegedly filed false claims seeking government payments under the guise of being hairdressers forced out of work by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officials say the government was bilked out of $400,000 in assistance payments for fraudulent claims seeking more than $2 million, and that some of the funds went to plastic surgery for the parolee."
READ MORE related to Unemployment Scandal: Former California EDD worker faked being Dianne Feinstein in scamming jobless benefits, sources say -- LA Times's ANITA CHABRIA/PATRICK MCGREEVY
After Floyd killing, prosecutions of police increase. How will jurors react?
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "Not long ago, charging law enforcement officers with homicide or assault was virtually unheard-of, even in liberal California. But outrage over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May appears to have changed the prosecutorial climate.
Chesa Boudin, elected district attorney in San Francisco last year after promising to hold police accountable for lawbreaking, has filed manslaughter charges against an officer for a fatal shooting in 2017, the first homicide charge against San Francisco police in decades. He has also charged two officers with assault: one for shooting and wounding a man who had struck him in the head with a glass bottle, the other for clubbing a man he apparently suspected of domestic violence, breaking his wrist and leg.
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, who had not prosecuted a police killing since taking office in 2010, has now obtained a manslaughter indictment against a San Leandro officer for an April killing and has opened an investigation of possible murder charges against a former BART police officer in the 2009 killing of Oscar Grant on an Oakland station platform."
READ MORE related to Police/Prisons/Protests/Public Safety: Oakland police cite 'alarming' trend of juveniles as young as 11 committing armed robbery -- The Chronicle's VANESSA ARREDONDO
Trump admin cuts off $200M for California health care over abortions
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "The Trump administration said Wednesday that it would withhold $200 million in federal health care funding from California because the state requires that insurance providers cover abortions, escalating a highly politicized battle just weeks before President Trump leaves office.
Earlier this year, the administration warned California that it could lose federal funding over its 2014 regulation mandating that employers and private insurance plans pay for abortions. The Department of Health and Human Services determined that the state was violating a federal law, known as the Weldon Amendment, prohibiting discrimination against insurers and health care providers that decline to offer abortion services — a reversal of the Obama administration’s position.
Because California refused to come into compliance, the federal government will withhold $200 million in funding for Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor, for the fiscal quarter starting in January, Roger Severino, director of Health and Human Services’ civil rights office, said Wednesday."
Next in line for California's COVID-19 vaccine? Teachers and first responders, panel says
LA Times's LUKE MONEY/RONG-GONG LIN II/HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "California’s first responders, farmworkers and educators would be among those next in line to be vaccinated against COVID-19 under recommendations a state advisory committee discussed this week.
Should that guidance eventually be put into effect, those workers — as well as others in the broadly defined fields of education and childcare, emergency services, and food and agriculture — would be prioritized within the second major stage of the state’s wider vaccination push.
Roughly 5.9 million Californians work in those sectors."
California's next COVID vaccine shipment will be 40% smaller than promised
The Chronicle's DUSTIN GARDINER: "California’s second shipment of coronavirus vaccines, set to be delivered next week, will contain far fewer doses than initially expected, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said Thursday.
Newsom estimated earlier this week that the state would receive an additional approximately 393,900 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the shipment. It will now receive 233,000 doses — a decrease of 40%.
California is one of several states notified by federal authorities since Wednesday that their vaccine shipments would be reduced. The shortfalls led to mass confusion as states prepared distribution plans."
Businesses sue California over COVID-19 workplace rules that require testing, sick pay
Sac Bee's JEONG PARK: "Groups representing small businesses sued California’s workplace regulator Wednesday, saying the agency exceeded its authority and overburdened companies when it passed new COVID-19 rules a month ago.
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, commonly called Cal-OSHA, approved strict emergency regulations on Nov. 19. The regulations require companies to test employees at no cost during COVID-19 outbreaks, provide protective equipment and preserve workers’ pay and benefits when they miss work because of the virus.
Those rules, along with requirements to exclude employees from work after virus exposures, could cost California companies millions of dollars, according to the lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court by the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the National Retail Federation and three California businesses."
Garcetti plans to remain in office and says his daughter, 9, has coronavirus
LA Times's DAKOTA SMITH: "Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Thursday that he plans to remain mayor, an announcement aimed at ending speculation that he might join President-elect Joe Biden’s administration.
He also announced at a briefing Thursday that his 9-year-old daughter, Maya, had tested positive for the coronavirus. Both Garcetti and his wife, Amy Wakeland, tested negative, he said.
Garcetti said he told the Biden team this week that he wanted to remain in Los Angeles. “There were things on the table for me,” Garcetti said."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: ICU availability in SoCal at 0%, and it's going to get worse, officials warn -- LA Times's LUKE MONEY/RONG-GONG LIN II/SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA
Biden nominates Rep. Haaland to Interior, naming first Native American Cabinet member
LA Times's ANNA M PHILLIPS: "President-elect Joe Biden will nominate Deb Haaland, the freshman representative from New Mexico, to lead the Interior Department, making history by selecting the first Native American to oversee the agency that manages millions of acres of federal land and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, according to a person familiar with the decision.
If confirmed by the Senate, Haaland will take over a department mired in controversy over the Trump administration’s campaign to open up sensitive land and offshore areas to oil and gas development. She will also be responsible for implementing Biden’s promise to end oil and gas leasing on land controlled by the federal government — a move certain to face backlash from oil-dependent states, including her own, and lawsuits from the fossil fuel industry.
Because most drilling in the United States takes place on private land, it’s unlikely that this push would affect major oil and gas states like Pennsylvania and Texas. But it would have a significant impact on New Mexico, where one of the country’s largest oil booms on federal land has brought jobs and tax revenue to one of its poorest states. The state is expected to ask for a waiver exempting it from a drilling ban."
Newsom lobbying ban won't immediately affect French Laundry dining partner Jason Kinney
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "The lobbying ban that Gov. Gavin Newsom adopted last week for his political consultants does not include the type of “revolving door” prohibition that is standard in government service, allowing his advisers to return to lobbying his administration as soon as he stops paying them.
That appears to be the case for Jason Kinney, the lobbyist and longtime adviser to Newsom, whose attendance at a 50th birthday dinner for Kinney last month at the French Laundry sparked criticism over his close ties to consultants who also work for corporate clients and other influential interests at the state Capitol.
The governor’s office confirmed Wednesday, nearly a week after The Chronicle first inquired, that his new ethics policy bans a dozen people serving as paid consultants to Newsom’s campaign or the California Democratic Party from lobbying — and that Kinney is not among them."
Sac County names former mgr Jim Hunt acting director of Health Services
Sac Bee's MICHAEL FINCH II: "Sacramento County named Jim Hunt, a longtime manager, to act as the director of Health Services. He replaces Dr. Peter Beilenson, who stepped down from the job on Dec. 2.
Hunt’s appointment comes at a critical time for the county and the nation as the worst of the coronavirus pandemic hits many communities, flooding hospital intensive care units with COVID-19 patients. His predecessor was at the tip of the spear of the local effort alongside public health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye.
Hunt will start Monday. Beilenson’s final day is Tuesday."
SF's Pinterest commits to workplace culture changes after $22.5M discrimination settlement
The Chronicle's CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO: "Pinterest on Wednesday committed to workplace policy changes meant to promote inclusion after multiple employees left the company this year over what they described as a discriminatory and retaliatory workplace at the highest levels.
The San Francisco company’s board accepted policy changes — including mandating unconscious bias training for all employees, creating an office for handling complaints, clarifying job expectations and increasing transparency around pay — after an independent review.
Earlier this week, the company settled a gender discrimination lawsuit from former Chief Operating Officer Francoise Brougher for $22.5 million. Pinterest did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement but has pledged to improve its workplace policies."
READ MORE related to Economy/Reopening: Coinbase has thrived during the pandemic. Now it plans an IPO -- The Chronicle's SHWANIKA NARAYAN; Crabbers sue port of SF over giant fire at Fisherman's Wharf shed -- The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO; LA County appeals court's order barring renewal of outdoor dining ban -- LA Times's LILA SEIDMAN
DNA test results reveal one coyote is behind three separate attacks in the East Bay
The Chronicle's VANESSA ARREDONDO: "California Fish and Wildlife officials have used DNA testing to determine that the rogue coyote that bit a grocery store worker in Lafayette on Tuesday is the same animal that attacked a 2-year-old boy in July and a man five months later in Moraga.
Fish and Wildlife Capt. Patrick Foy said DNA lab results showed a match for the coyote that bit a man on Tuesday and the coyote responsible for two previous attacks in Moraga on Dec. 4 and July 9. The agency said it has begun plans and operations to locate the “offending coyote.”
Officials began trapping coyotes in Moraga near Campolindo High School where a man was attacked on Dec. 4, The Chronicle previously reported. They caught and euthanized three coyotes, but none matched the wanted coyote’s DNA, Foy said."
A California bus crash killed 11. Was the driver's prison sentence a 'miscarriage of justice'?
Sac Bee's JASON POHL: "The Gambler’s Special was loaded with 40 passengers and headed north on the outskirts of Colusa.
Soon, 11 of them would be dead.
It was 6:10 p.m. on Oct. 5, 2008, on a narrow two-lane road north of Sacramento. The sun slumped toward the horizon to the left. Some passengers dozed. Others took stock of the pancake-flat rice fields just off Interstate 5."
Billionaire MacKenzie Scott donates $10M to Sacramento chapter of United Way
Sac Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "Billionaire MacKenzie Scott’s recent, enormous charitable donations include $10 million for the Sacramento chapter of United Way, a national nonprofit dedicated to reducing inequities in income, health and education.
United Way’s California Capital Region chapter confirmed the donation earlier this week in a statement, with regional president and CEO Stephanie Bray calling it a “game-changer.”
The chapter says the $10 million will go largely toward expanding Square One, a 20-year project launched in 2016 focused on preparing high school students for college and beyond, according to its website."
Bay Area home prices maintained record in November, despite out-migration
The Chronicle's KATHLEEN PENDER: "Bay Area home prices maintained their record levels last month, despite sluggish population growth.
The median price paid for an existing, single-family home in the Bay Area was $1.1 million in November, unchanged from October’s record and up 18.9% from last November. Sales were down 7.3% from October but up 34.4% from November 2019, according to a California Association of Realtors report released Thursday.
On Wednesday, the California Department of Finance reported that the state’s population grew only 0.05% between July of this year and last, its slowest pace since 1900. More people moved out of California to other states than vice versa, immigration slowed, the birth rate dropped and the death rate increased."
Members of Sackler family behind OxyContin attest to its role in opioid crisis
AP: "Two owners of the company that makes OxyContin acknowledged to Congress on Thursday that the powerful prescription painkiller played a role in the opioid epidemic, but they stopped short of apologizing or admitting wrongdoing.
“I want to express my family’s deep sadness about the opioid crisis,” David Sackler, whose family owns Purdue Pharma, said at a rare appearance in a public forum. “OxyContin is a medicine that Purdue intended to help people, and it has helped, and continues to help, millions of Americans.”
The company’s marketing efforts have been blamed for contributing to an addiction and overdose crisis that has been linked to 470,000 deaths in the United States over the last two decades."
US cybersecurity agency warns of 'grave' threat from hack
LA Times's BRIAN CONTRERAS: "The federal government’s top cybersecurity agency issued its most urgent warning yet about a sophisticated and extensive computer breach, saying Thursday that it posed a “grave risk” to networks maintained by governments, utilities and the private sector and could be difficult to purge.
Removing the malware from “compromised environments will be highly complex and challenging for organizations,” the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, said in an alert providing the most extensive details yet about the hack.
Over the weekend, reports emerged that hackers had broken into computer networks at multiple federal agencies, including the Treasury and Commerce departments. The list of victims has continued to grow, and includes the Department of Homeland Security and the National Institutes of Health. Federal law enforcement officials have said Russia was behind the attack and are still assessing how much information was pilfered by Moscow."