Ethical land mines, 'Sophie's Choice' moments as California decides who gets COVID-19 vaccine next
LA Times's COLLEEN SHALBY/LUKE MONEY/RONG-GONG LIN II: "With COVID-19 vaccine doses still in short supply, the decision of how to prioritize immunizations is becoming an increasingly fraught matter as officials must choose among many groups, each with its own desperate need to get to the front of the line.
Focusing on older people, the disabled and others at higher risk of becoming critically ill from the coronavirus has the potential to save many lives. Reserving doses for essential workers would also help slow the spread of COVID-19. And moving educators to a higher position could make teachers willing to return to campus for in-person instruction.
“What’s so difficult right now is that we even have to view this as competing priorities. There’s all this tension on shifting priorities in groups, and all of this is based on a limited supply,” said Dr. Eve Glazier, president of the Faculty Practice Group at UCLA Health. “There’s a lot of different lenses to look at it.”"
READ MORE related to Vaccine: SF opening mass vaccination site at Moscone Center in anticipation of more doses -- The Chronicle's MICHAEL WILLIAMS/TRISHA THADANI/AIDIN VAZIRI
Looking for the American Dream — outside California
CHUCK McFADDEN, Capitol Weekly: "Growth – rapid, buoyant, unstoppable – has been part of California’s DNA since tough and greedy men from around the world came here in search of gold 170 years ago.
Now it may be a thing of the past.
The Public Policy Institute of California tells us that its recent online survey of 2,325 California residents, taken between Nov. 4 and Nov. 23, found 26% of Californians have seriously considered moving out of state and that 58% say that the American Dream is harder to achieve in California than elsewhere in the United States."
Senate passes key budget bill for COVID-19 relief, with Harris as tiebreaker
AP: "The Senate early Friday approved a budget resolution that’s a key step toward fast-track passage of President Biden’s $1.9-trillion coronavirus relief plan without support from Republicans. Vice President Kamala Harris was in the chair to cast the tiebreaking vote, her first.
Democrats in the upper chamber applauded after Harris announced the 51-50 vote about 5:30 a.m. The action came after a grueling all-night session, in which senators voted on amendments that could define the contours of the eventual COVID-19 aid bill.
The budget now returns to the House, where it will have to be approved again because of the changes made by the Senate. Final passage will unlock the next phase in drafting the relief bill, with the work divided among several congressional committees."
COVID-19 in LA County finally on sustained decline after catastrophic winter
LA Times's LUKE MONEY/RONG-GONG LIN II:"
The numbers of new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations are nosediving in Los Angeles County, welcome news following a catastrophic winter wave that pummeled the region.
Officials stress, however, that the county is far from out of the woods. Though those figures have tumbled in recent weeks, they remain well above their pre-surge levels — and are still too high for the county to unlock additional sectors of its battered economy or to provide the long-term relief hospitals desperately need.
And the final, most devastating consequence of the pandemic — the number of people losing their battle with the disease — remains high."
California lawmaker wants state to spend millions to revive tourism industry after pandemic
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "COVID-19 cratered California’s once-thriving tourism economy. Now, a lawmaker from California’s Wine Country wants the state to spend millions on an effort to revive it.
California State Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, has introduced a bill that would allocate $45 million toward a “Calling All Californians” advertising campaign encouraging in-state travel once the California Department of Public Health has cleared the way.
Tourism is a major industry in California. Visitors to California spent just shy of $145 billion in the Golden State in 2019, generating $12.2 billion in state and local tax revenues, according to data from Visit California, an industry-funded nonprofit. At its height, the industry employs 1.2 million Californians."
While Biden pushes crisis response, Republicans go to war -- with themselves
LA Times's ELI STOKOLS: "Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen made a succinct case for President Biden’s $1.9-trillion coronavirus relief package, asserting Thursday morning in a national television interview that it will be an economic lifeline to families, workers, teachers and healthcare workers.
“This is really an urgent need,” she told ABC News, “and we need to act big.”
Hours later, a freshman Republican congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, drew live cable news coverage as she spoke on the House floor. Ahead of a vote to revoke her committee assignments, she tried to disavow her past statements denying the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and school shootings, as well as attributing California’s forest fires to “space lasers” controlled by Jews. But she made no apology, portraying herself as a victim of a liberal “cancel culture.”
Voting software maker Smartmatic sues Fox News and its anchors for $2.7 billion
LA Times's STEPHEN BATTAGLIO: "Smartmatic, the voting software company that former President Trump’s lawyers falsely accused of manipulating vote counts in the 2020 presidential election, has filed a $2.7-billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News and three of its on-air hosts — Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro — who presented the disinformation on their programs.
The suit filed Thursday in New York State Supreme Court also names Trump’s lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudolph W. Giuliani, who were frequent guests on Fox News programs in the weeks after the November election, which the former president insisted was rigged against him to elect President Biden.
Smartmatic, which is based in London, said Trump’s lawyers and the Fox News anchors presented false conspiracy theories and accusations about the company’s role in the election that damaged its reputation."
Sacramento schools remove controversial air cleaners after experts, teachers raise concerns
Sac Bee's ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS: "The Sacramento City Unified School District removed controversial air purifiers from classrooms this week and will begin testing the devices for how effectively they clean the air and whether they potentially released harmful chemicals, district officials confirmed.
As part of its reopening effort, the school district bought thousands of air cleaners, replacement filters and bulbs last year through a more than $6 million contract with Johnson Controls. But several experts identified potential concerns about the V-PAC SC air cleaners, saying the devices the district purchased are overpriced, inefficient and have unnecessary and unproven technology.
The school district has 480 units in its possession, according to spokesperson Tara Gallegos, and has paid Johnson Controls $1.22 million, a 20% down payment, for the devices and parts manufactured by Ultraviolet Devices, Inc."
Stanford faces backlash over bonuses to football, basketball staff amid sports cuts
The Chronicle's ANN KILLION: "Stanford gave bonuses to staff members who traveled with its football and basketball teams during the pandemic, drawing criticism both internally and by the group fighting to save 11 Cardinal teams slated for elimination because of what the university has deemed a dire financial crisis.
The bonuses came to light after an anonymous Stanford staff member criticized the decision and questioned department leadership in an email that circulated within the athletic department.
“Stanford Athletics did provide modest bonuses to select support staff who went above and beyond their scope of regular duties, in many cases at great personal sacrifice and on a nearly 24/7 basis, to provide an opportunity for our football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball student-athletes to continue their seasons,” Stanford Athletics said in a statement to The Chronicle on Thursday."
California prison employees file lawsuit demanding hazard pay during COVID pandemic
Sac Bee's KATE IRBY: "Correctional officers at a California federal prison are suing the federal government in a bid to force their employer to pay them hazard pay for working during the pandemic.
The lawsuit, brought by 51 employees of the Federal Correctional Institution at Mendota, says most of the employees deserve an extra 25% in pay for the hours they’ve worked during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At least 60 inmates and 30 staff members have become infected with COVID-19 during the pandemic, according to the complaint, filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on Monday."
While Buden pushes crisis response, Republicans go to war -- with themselves
ELI STOKOLS: "Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen made a succinct case for President Biden’s $1.9-trillion coronavirus relief package, asserting Thursday morning in a national television interview that it will be an economic lifeline to families, workers, teachers and healthcare workers.
“This is really an urgent need,” she told ABC News, “and we need to act big.”
Hours later, a freshman Republican congresswoman, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, drew live cable news coverage as she spoke on the House floor. Ahead of a vote to revoke her committee assignments, she tried to disavow her past statements denying the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and school shootings, as well as attributing California’s forest fires to “space lasers” controlled by Jews. But she made no apology, portraying herself as a victim of a liberal “cancel culture.”"