Exodus of staff from California’s unemployment agency hinders help for jobless
PATRICK McGREEVY, LA Times: California’s struggle to get unemployment benefits to jobless workers and combat fraud has been hampered by an exodus of some 1,590 staff and managers involved in the effort since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to state officials.
The presidential appointment of California Labor Secretary Julie Su to a federal post on Wednesday, subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate, would be just the latest departure of those in key roles responding to the unprecedented unemployment caused by the pandemic.
Su oversees the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency, which already is missing its second in command, Stewart Knox, who departed as undersecretary in November after 18 months in the job. Knox was the agency’s point person in overseeing the state Employment Development Department, and more than two months later, Gov. Gavin Newsom has not yet appointed a replacement."
The Bay Area tech crowd is flooding Sacramento. What it means for real estate, our economy
Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK/DALE KASLER: "For years in the shadow of bigger coastal metropolises, California’s capital region has emerged as one of the hottest relocation spots in the West for young professionals who’ve moved during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A LinkedIn analysis found that the Sacramento region was the third most popular destination in the country for professional workers who left the Bay Area in 2020. Sacramento ranked behind tech meccas Seattle and Austin, Texas, and ahead of Portland, Ore. and Denver.
For every LinkedIn Sacramento member who moved to the Bay Area last year, 1.45 members did the opposite, a substantial increase over the year before. Sacramento also attracted an increasing number of Los Angeles-area residents. LinkedIn is an online employment networking site."
L.A. church to host indoor conference of 3,000 attendees, despite public health order
JACLYN COSGROVE, LA Times: "Escalating its defiance of Los Angeles County public health orders, an evangelical megachurch in Sun Valley is gearing up to host an indoor conference expected to draw thousands of men from across the country in what officials fear could become a potential superspreader event.
Grace Community Church, whose pastor has preached for the last six months to his congregation of mostly unmasked members that the pandemic is a hoax, is expected to draw at least 3,000 people to its sprawling campus on Roscoe Boulevard from March 3 to 5. The Shepherds’ Conference includes speakers who will present in the church, which holds about 3,000, and in smaller sessions throughout the church complex.
A few weeks after last year’s conference, two older men from Washington who attended the event — one of them a 90-year-old pastor — died of complications from COVID-19, according to family members and news reports by Slavic Sacramento, a daily Russian-language news site in California. It’s not known where the men contracted the virus or whether it was connected to the event."
California wants to prevent rolling blackouts. Will it use more fossil fuels to get there?
The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS: "California regulators moved Thursday to avoid a repeat of last summer’s rolling blackouts by directing utilities to secure more energy capacity, an effort that some environmentalists fear will rely too much on fossil fuels.
The California Public Utilities Commission told the state’s three largest investor-owned electric companies, including Pacific Gas and Electric Co., to seek additional contracts for power that will be available by this summer. To meet the mandate, PG&E and its Southern California counterparts can tap into various resources, including upgrades at existing power plants, contracts that prevent facilities from retiring and incremental energy storage.
Commissioners ordered the new power procurement as a way to prevent more rolling blackouts like the ones that swept California over two days in August. Those outages happened when the state’s energy supplies ran unexpectedly short amid an extreme heat wave across the western United States — a scenario that state officials do not want to happen again."
California police unions back bill that aims to diversify departments, add training
Sac Bee's KIM BOJORQUEZ: "California’s largest law enforcement union on Thursday announced its support for a bill that seeks to modernize training for officers and diversify police departments by creating new recruitment channels.
The bill’s author state Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, said Senate Bill 387, known as the Law Enforcement Academic and Recruitment Next Act, would lead to increased recruitment of potential peace officers from under-represented populations.
“Community policing is more complex than ever, and we need officers that reflect our diverse communities and adapt to their values,” Portantino said in a statement."
Women said they faced harassment, bullying in California water district’s apprentice program
ADAM ELMAHREK, LA Times: "Miranda Grow loves the challenge of working with her hands. She’d had experience in carpentry and construction, and fulfilled a career dream when she was accepted as a mechanic apprentice at a large water district, relishing the behind-the-scenes work to deliver clean water to faucets and shower heads across Southern California.
But she said that dream shattered one day on a van ride with a group of co-workers — all men — traveling home from a water treatment plant operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
A man in the next row turned to Grow and asked her for a piece of chewing gum. She said he pointed and whispered, “I want the one that’s in your mouth.”
Senate conviction not only way to punish Trump. Will Congress try another tack?
The Chronicled's BOB EGELKO: "In 1870, Congress invoked a post-Civil War constitutional amendment — barring government officials from holding any federal or state office if they had “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the United States or given “aid and comfort” to its enemies — to prohibit former Confederate officials from holding public office. That prohibition lasted only two years before Congress granted amnesty to those officials.
In 1919, Congress cited the same constitutional provision in denying a House seat to Victor Berger, a newly elected Socialist Party member from Wisconsin, who had just been convicted under the Espionage Act for writings that opposed U.S. participation in World War I. After the courts overturned Berger’s conviction, however, he was elected again in 1922 and was allowed to take his seat.
The constitutional provision is Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 and is best known for language in Section 1 that guarantees everyone “equal protection of the laws.” Now, the formerly obscure Section 3 is returning to the spotlight as a possible vehicle for preventing former President Donald Trump from seeking the White House in 2024."
Harassment complaints continued in Capitol after shift to working at home, report says
Sac Bee's LARA KORTE: "The arm of the California Legislature charged with investigating complaints of harassment, discrimination and retaliation says it received 80 complaints over the past year, at a time when most Capitol employees were working from home.
The report summarizes the second second full year of operations for the Legislature’s Workplace Conduct Unit, a nonpartisan body within the Office of Legislative Counsel that was created in 2019 to assess complaints made by employees lawmakers, and third parties against legislative employees.
The purpose of the unit is to protect employees from discrimination, harassment, or retaliation on the basis of protected class, such as sex, race, religion, gender and many others. Conduct that violates discrimination policies includes, but isn’t limited to, slurs, jokes, gestures, pictures or cartoons that related to a protected class."
New bill seeks to allow to-go cocktails from California restaurants even after pandemic ends
The Chronicle's ESTHER MOBLEY: "Takeout and delivery cocktails could become a permanent fixture in California even after the pandemic ends, if a new bill succeeds that was introduced in the state Legislature on Thursday.
State Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, who introduced the legislation known as SB389, said the main impetus was to help restaurants generate more income.
“This industry has gotten hammered so badly,” he said. “In the big scheme of things, this is no silver bullet that is going to keep them in business, but hopefully it’s something that can be a shot in the arm for them going forward.”"
These 2 health care giants will run California's vaccine program. What do they have to gain?
Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Several months after Blue Shield and Kaiser Permanente provided free help to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration on COVID-19 testing, the state has selected the health care companies to run the state’s vaccination campaign.
Blue Shield and Kaiser are not supposed to profit from the arrangement, according to intent letters released by the administration. Experts, however, say the health care companies could still benefit in the long run.
State officials have refused to answer specific questions about what Blue Shield and Kaiser’s specific roles will be in the vaccination process, saying they are still finalizing the details. Newsom said the state will release the contracts soon."
Yvonne Walker, SEIU Local 1000's president, faces election challenges from allies and foes
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "Longtime SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker faces at least four challengers in an upcoming union election, including a new bid from a slate of candidates who have been her allies.
Miguel Cordova, an education programs consultant who campaigned on a ticket with Walker in 2018, is running for president in the May 20 election.
He and two of his running mates sat at the bargaining table with Walker in the union’s most recent round of contract negotiations and have worked with her on other union initiatives in the last three years."
Oakland A's clear hurdle to build waterfront stadium
The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI: "An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday in favor of the Oakland A’s in a lawsuit that would have derailed the team’s plans to streamline the construction of a new waterfront stadium.
Under the judge’s ruling, a ballpark at Howard Terminal would still have to go through the full environmental impact review under the California Environmental Quality Act. But complaints or legal challenges stemming from the review, which could stall the project, have to be resolved within 270 days — as a result of a state bill passed in 2018, AB734.
Last March, a coalition against the development that includes Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, Schnitzer Steel, the Harbor Trucking Association and the California Trucking Association, filed a suit that would have prevented the A’s from completing its environmental impact report under AB734."
Sacramento has an affordable housing crisis. This is City Hall's plan to finally solve it
Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK/THERESA CLIFT: "Sacramento has failed for a decade to build affordable housing for low-income workers. In that time, rents in the capital region have soared, pushing some people to move out of state and forcing others to the streets. Now, the economic carnage of COVID-19 is placing others at risk of eviction.
Can the city turn that unhealthy scenario around this year? City leaders say they have a plan.
Following a promise made when voters passed the 2018 Measure U sales tax hike, the Sacramento City Council last week agreed to take the unusual step of putting up $31.5 million as a carrot to private developers to get them to build an estimated 200 to 300 apartments reserved for people who have very low incomes or who are subsisting on fixed incomes."
Chesa Boudin offers theories on why burglaries are on upswing in Bernal Heights
The Chronicle's LAUREN HERNANDEZ: "San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood is experiencing an increase in burglaries of homes and businesses, and District Attorney Chesa Boudin said he has two theories for the surge.
One is that criminals have shifted their sights from tourists now that the city’s tourism industry has dropped because of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, they’re breaking into small businesses and homes to steal property.
The second theory on what’s driving the increase, Boudin said, is the “economic desperation” that has come with the pandemic, which has left residents without work and grappling with the economic impacts of the global health pandemic."
How to enjoy a safe and fun Valentine's Day this year during the pandemic
The Chronicled's AIDIN VAZIRI: "The pandemic has caused endless misery. But it also takes the pressure off Valentine’s Day — a holiday that causes angst for many people.
This year, no one will be booking overpriced meals at a Michelin-starred restaurant or sending (or receiving) conspicuous balloon bouquets at the office. Theaters, concert halls and cinemas are closed.
Still, the need for a connection remains strong as we approach the one-year mark of life under lockdown, with most activities relegated to home or outdoors."
Pro-Trump rioters intended to kill Pelosi, impeachment prosecutors say
The Chronicle's DUSTIN GARDINER: "Insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol sought to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and feverishly searched hallways and her office in hopes of finding the San Francisco Democrat, according to evidence outlined Wednesday during the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.
“We know from the rioters themselves that if they had found Speaker Pelosi, they would have killed her,” said House Delegate Stacey Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands, one of the House managers prosecuting the case against Trump.
“The Capitol police deemed the threat so dangerous that they evacuated (Pelosi) entirely from the Capitol complex, rushing her to a secure off-site location” as pro-Trump rioters breached the building on Jan. 6, Plaskett said."
Eric Swalwell: Trump 'lit the match' and doused 'kerosene' on insurrection
The Chronicle's TAL KOPAN: "East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell returned to his courtroom roots Wednesday as he helped prosecute the impeachment case against Donald Trump, arguing that the former president whipped up supporters with baseless charges of voting fraud to “steal the election for himself.”
Swalwell, one of nine House managers arguing for conviction in the Senate, said Trump consciously laid the groundwork in the weeks after the November election for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by militant supporters seeking to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden as president-elect.
That attack didn’t come after just a handful of tweets and offhand remarks, Swalwell and other House prosecutors told senators."