California freezes many people's unemployment benefits to combat fraud
The Chronicle's CAROLYN SAID/KATHLEEN PENDER: "California’s Employment Development Department has suspended unemployment payments for numerous people because of fear of fraud. Many Californians who said they are legitimately unemployed flooded social media over the weekend with laments that they desperately need the benefits that they rely on for housing, food and other necessities.
“You have been receiving unemployment benefits, but we have temporarily suspended your claim because it may be tied to fraudulent activity,” said a notice dated Dec. 31 that many people received. “You will receive further instruction from EDD on how to verify your identity beginning Jan. 6, 2021.”
In a tweet on Sunday, the agency said, “As part of ongoing efforts to fight fraud, EDD has suspended payment on claims considered high risk and is informing those affected that their identity will need to be verified starting this week before payments can resume. More details on the EDD website in the days ahead."
Groundbreaker: State Capitol's first Muslim chaplain
RICH EHISEN in Capitol Weekly: "When Sacramento Imam Mohammad “Yasir” Khan leads the opening invocation for the California Assembly on Jan. 11, he will do so as the first appointed Muslim chaplain in state legislative history.
In a statement released with the announcement on Dec. 7, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said Khan “represents California’s growing diversity in all the best ways.”
“I’ve seen the growth of the Islamic community in my own district and have become close to both religious and civic leaders,” Rendon said. “Like them, Khan shows a strong desire to contribute to the spiritual and civic vitality of California.”
Another study confirms Californians are packing up and moving out. Where are they going?
Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK: "U-Haul, the national rental truck company, provided yet more evidence Monday that California is dropping in popularity as a place to live, even as Sacramento is gaining ground as a COVID-19 era landing spot.
The company’s annual migration analysis ranks California last among states in net migration to and from other states. Put another way, California lost more residents to other states than any other state, as measured by “one-way” U-Haul trucks crossing state lines.
Tennessee saw the biggest net influx nationally, followed by Texas and Florida."
READ MORE related to Housing/Homelessness/Real Estate: Sacramento's emerging plan for homeless shelters and a $100M affordable housing fund -- Sac Bee's THERESA CLIFT
Orange County bar owner faces criminal charges for operating during pandemic
HANNAH FRY, LAT: “A Costa Mesa bar owner has become the first Orange County proprietor to face a criminal charge for illegally operating during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roland Michael Barrera, 47, who owns Westend Bar, was charged with a misdemeanor after repeatedly failing to mandate that customers and employees wear face coverings, declining to enforce social distancing requirements and continuing to operate during restricted hours, the Orange County district attorney’s office said Thursday.
Authorities have responded to the bar several times since November, when the state’s overnight stay-at-home order was issued, mandating that all nonessential businesses close between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m."
The Chronicle's ERIN ALLDAY: "Gov. Gavin Newsom said to brace for a “surge on top of a surge” of post-holiday coronavirus cases, and on Monday that grim prediction appeared to take shape: California reported more than 70,000 cases, the most in any one day since the pandemic began.
The sober tally arrived after a brief lull in the wave that has swept over the state for the past two months. Average daily cases had tapered off for a week or two, but public health officials warned that the respite likely was temporary, and they anticipated a fresh swell of cases from Christmas and New Year’s.
“This week is critical in terms of a bigger understanding of where we are,” Newsom said in a news briefing on Monday. “We are entering into what we anticipate — the surge on top of a surge — is going to put a lot of pressure on (intensive care units) coming out of the holidays.”"
READ MORE related to Pandemic: Short on equipment, ambulances and space, LA County medical system reaches 'a point of crisis' -- LA Times's STAFF
Several LA County hospitals declare ‘internal disasters’ as pandemic deepens
DAVID ROSENFIELD and OLGA GRIGZORYANTS, LA Daily News: "With Los Angeles County health officials projecting that January would become the worst month yet of the worsening pandemic, several local hospitals declared “internal disasters” over the weekend.
That status can be triggered by extreme conditions that could put patients at risk, such as severe staffing shortages or an overflow of patients during a natural disaster — and can mean hospital doors are closed to all ambulances. So far, however, no local hospital has needed to declare that it was operating under crisis care guidelines, a more severe declaration that can lead to rationing.
“Every day it just grows and grows,” Health Services Director Christina Ghaly said on Monday, Jan. 4, describing waves of new coronavirus patients topping 800 per day. Hundreds of patients are discharged daily, she said, but the rate can’t keep pace with new admissions, forcing local hospital officials to make increasingly tough decisions. In all, 7,898 patients are being treated at the county’s hospitals, 1,627 of them in intensive care units, according to the state.”
New COVID tests for California state workers in prisons are easier than nasal swabs
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "California prisons are offering COVID-19 saliva tests as an alternative to nasal swabs starting this week, according to corrections department emails.
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is allowing the less-invasive saliva tests for the first time since it started requiring periodic testing for all employees in July.
Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Gransee said in an email that the tests are available now from MiraDX, the department’s contractor for the tests, and will be rolled out to institutions across the state in the coming weeks."
READ MORE related to Vaccines/Testing: Congress is at the front of the line for vaccines. Which Californians are taking it? -- Sac Bee's KATE IRBY
Data shows some Californians heeded stay-home order on NYE, Newsom says
Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Data shows some Californians heeded stay-home orders on New Year’s Eve, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday, but deaths have reached new daily records and officials are still bracing themselves for an increase in coronavirus cases after the holidays.
Mobility data for New Years Eve was down 23% compared to pre-pandemic months last year, Newsom said. That’s the most mobility has been down since late March, Newsom said, when he first enacted the state’s stay-at-home order.
California’s hospitalization and test positivity rates have plateaued in recent weeks, although they continue to be the highest the state has seen since the spring."
Mysterious $500,000 contribution to Newsom recall is focus of complaint
The Chronicle's DUSTIN GARDINER: "A former chair of the Federal Election Commission filed a complaint Monday urging state officials to investigate an Orange County company with a biblical name that contributed $500,000 to the campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The complaint says Prov. 3:9 LLC appears to be a “shell company” designed to conceal the true source of the largest contribution to the effort to oust the California governor, which has gained momentum recently.
Ann Ravel, chair of the election commission under former President Barack Obama and an unsuccessful candidate for a South Bay state Senate seat last year, said the firm doesn’t appear to be engaged in any business and could be evading campaign finance laws if it is helping to disguise the source of the money. She filed her complaint with the California attorney general and state Fair Political Practices Commission."
Businesses want protections from 'frivolous' COVID lawsuits -- that means a big battle in 2021
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Manuel Cosme has been providing help to small businesses for 35 years. He’s never seen such worry and confusion as he has in the past few months.
“I have a box of tissues in my office. We’ve had clients who cry in our office not knowing what to do,” said Cosme, senior consultant at Vacaville’s Professional Small Business Services.
People are frightened not only about the future of their small business as the COVID pandemic rages on, but about whether employees will take them to court, saying they contracted the virus at work or were exposed to dangerous conditions."
California is scrambling to avoid blackouts. Your refrigerator could help
LA Times's SAMMY ROTH: "Sometime next summer, there’s a decent chance a heat wave will bake the American West, and California’s power grid will again be stretched to its limits.
As the sun sets, solar panels will start generating less electricity even as temperatures remain high. Power plants that burn natural gas will fire up as quickly as possible, in a race to keep air conditioners blowing and avert the need for rolling blackouts.
But the fossil fuel won’t be alone in riding to the rescue."
Despite layoff threat, LAPD officers reject plan to raise $10M for union war chest
LA Times's DAVID ZAHNISER/RICHARD WINTON: "Officers at the Los Angeles Police Department have rejected a plan to raise $10 million to fight layoffs and support candidates in the 2022 elections, dealing a setback to a union attempting to push back against calls to defund the police.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents around 9,800 officers, asked its members last month to approve the creation of a “Protecting Our Profession” assessment, which would have collected $22 per paycheck from each officer over a nearly two-year period. Proceeds would have gone toward supporting the union’s political allies, campaigning against public safety cuts and fighting new legislation.
In a statement, the union’s board said that it’s now looking at additional options to “ensure the interests of our membership and the public are fully protected at the local, state, and federal level.”"
SF wants to cancel homeless count amid COVID-19 concerns
The Chronicle's TRISHA THADANI: "San Francisco’s Public Health Department wants to cancel this year’s crucial, one-night count of people living on the streets, amid concerns that it cannot be done safely amid the pandemic.
The “Point in Time Count” is mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and takes place every two years in nearly every major community in the country. San Francisco’s count is a massive operation, which requires hundreds of volunteers to fan out across the city one night to count every homeless person they see on the streets, in parks and in cars.
That tally — which also includes homeless people in shelters and in jails — is a vital benchmark for federal and city policymakers who decide how much money and what kind of resources are needed to address the crisis. The count also provides detailed demographic data, including age, race, sexuality and health, as well as whether the person struggles with substance use, the cause of their homelessness and where they came from."
See where Trump, Biden scored their biggest wins in the Sacramento region
Sac Bee's PHILLIP REESE: "The U.S. Congress will meet Wednesday to count Electoral College votes for president, a process that is typically routine but could be dramatic this year.
Election officials throughout the Sacramento region certified local results early last month. Here are the precincts in each county where Trump and Biden scored the most lopsided victories, excluding precincts with fewer than 500 voters."
Republicans splinter as they balance Trump's loyalty test and the party's future
LA Times's JANET HOOK/DAVID LAUTER: "A slow-simmering conflict among Republicans has burst into open hostilities at a perilous time for the party, as it seeks unity heading into Tuesday’s crucial Senate election in Georgia and prepares to confront a new Democratic president.
s President Trump has refused to admit defeat in the November presidential election, his resistance to moving offstage has driven a wedge between his staunchest loyalists and many Republican party leaders.
The tensions are growing in the aftermath of legislative battles that pitted much of the GOP against Trump on key policies, last week producing the first veto override of his presidency, on a defense bill, and a blunt rejection of his 11th-hour demand for increased COVID-19 relief payments."
Georgia polls open for Senate runoffs -- and the wait for results begins
LA Times's JENNY JARVIE: "Voters began trickling into polling stations across this Southern battleground state Tuesday morning to cast ballots in a pair of high-stakes Senate runoff races that will determine the balance of political power in Washington.
Already more than 3 million Georgians have voted early – a record high in a Georgia runoff – in the special election between Republican Sens. Perdue and Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock.
At stake is the makeup of the Senate: If Republicans win just one of the two seats, they maintain majority control of the chamber with the power to block President-elect Biden’s agenda. If Democrats capture both, the Senate would be tied 50-50, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris acting as a tie-breaking vote that would give control to Democrats."
Riverside County’s COVID-19 weekend death toll is higher than all of October
BEAU YARBROIUGH, Press-Enterprise: “More Riverside County residents have died of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 in the past four days than during the entire month of October, local data shows.
Between Thursday, Dec. 31 and Monday, Jan. 4, 111 more people were reported dead from the disease in Riverside County. That four-day total, since new deaths weren’t reported over the holiday weekend, beats the entire month of October, when Riverside County saw 93 COVID-19 deaths.
Riverside County also passed 2,000 deaths due to COVID-19 for the first time, reaching 2,096 deaths on Monday."