State unemployment call center still overwhelmed a year into the pandemic
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Trying to get through to the state’s unemployment agency call center remains a grueling, frustrating chore for many people — yet the Employment Development Department has been warned time and again that the system badly needed fixing.
“Despite knowing for years that it had problems with call center performance, EDD has not yet adopted best practices for managing the call center, leaving it ill prepared to assist Californians effectively,” California State Auditor Elaine Howle reported in January.
She issued a similar warning a decade ago, the last time unemployment claims overwhelmed the department. The auditor said in 2011 EDD made progress revamping its system after being inundated with calls during the 2007-09 recession, but that “access to agents may continue to be a challenge.”"
Criminals stole billions in COVID-19 unemployment benefits. New relief bill won't stop a repeat
LA Times's SARAH D WIRE: "Congress is poised to approve another quarter-trillion dollars in COVID-19-related unemployment benefits even though the nation’s patchwork, state-based system remains vulnerable to the same rampant fraud that allowed scammers last year to siphon off more than $40 billion in pandemic relief intended for needy Americans.
That means the $1.9-trillion stimulus package headed for approval in Congress this month — including another $260 billion in unemployment insurance — is likely to bring another windfall for cyber criminals, including many foreigners impersonating laid-off workers and exploiting loopholes created by last year’s CARES Act relief bill.
“It’s like Christmas for the fraudsters,” said Haywood Talcove, chief executive of information firm LexisNexis Risk Solutions, who says the government should adopt tougher anti-fraud safeguards to verify the identity, work history and location of applicants. “I wouldn’t let another penny go out until the government puts some of these tools in place to prevent it.”"
Back to School: California's reopening plan for campuses statewide
Sac Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers have reached a deal tying public schools’ funding to an April 1 deadline to reopen campuses from coronavirus restrictions.
The state won’t mandate a return to the classroom by that date, but districts will lose out on percentages of funding within the $6.6 billion budget package for each school day they fail to meet certain criteria for offering in-person instruction, starting April 1.
Here’s what you need to know."
State commission calls for higher wages, better jobs
LA Times's MARGOT ROOSEVELT: "California’s high poverty rate, low wages and frayed public safety net require a new “social compact” between workers, business and government, according to a report by a blue-ribbon commission that highlights the state’s widening inequality.
In a report released Tuesday, the Future of Work Commission, a 21-member body appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in August 2019, laid out a grim picture of the challenges facing the world’s fifth-largest economy, even as it acknowledged the Golden State’s technology leadership, its ethnically and culturally diverse workforce and world-class universities.
“Too many Californians have not fully participated in or enjoyed the benefits of the state’s broader economic success and the extraordinary wealth generated here, especially workers of color who are disproportionately represented in low-wage industries,” the report says."
Newsom's plans regarding state worker pay cuts amid a tax revenue boom
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER/SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that he will continue to work through the collective bargaining process to restore state workers’ pay after the Finance Department reported tax revenue is running $10 billion above projections.
Speaking at an Elk Grove news conference, Newsom credited state employee unions with “stepping up” by agreeing to accept pay cuts last year when California was projecting a $54 billion deficit.
“We’re going to work with them in a collaborative spirit, great respect and admiration” on restoring workers’ pay, Newsom said."
California's wet season nears an end with big concerns about drought
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "A disappointingly dry February is fanning fears of another severe drought in California, and cities and farms are bracing for problems. In many places, including parts of the Bay Area, water users are already being asked to cut back.
The state’s monthly snow survey on Tuesday will show only about 60% of average snowpack for this point in the year, the latest indication that water supplies are tightening. With the end of the stormy season approaching, forecasters don’t expect much more buildup of snow, a key component of the statewide supply that provides up to a third of California’s water.
The impact is registering. Growers in the Central Valley are having to make decisions about which crops to prioritize, and which to sacrifice, should the water situation see no improvement. Urban water agencies, meanwhile, are asking customers to think twice about long showers and outdoor watering. The calls for austerity will feel familiar to many Californians who less than five years ago faced mandatory water restrictions during the 2012-2016 drought."
CW STAFF: "Today’s episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast features Delaine Eastin, former Chair of the Assembly Education Committee, two term Superintendent of Public Instruction and now, candidate for California Democratic Party Chair.
Eastin joins Tim Foster and John Howard to make the case for her campaign, acknowledging that unseating current party chair Rusty Hicks will be a heavy lift, but expressing the optimism that is a hallmark of all of her efforts.
Eastin also weighs in on the debate over reopening schools, arguing that it not only needs to happen, it needs to happen as fast as possible for the benefit of the state’s schoolchildren. She discounts “distance learning,” noting that it is not possible for many of the state’s children, especially those in lower income households or rural areas with lack of access to broadband. Getting back into class, she argues, is essential: for many kids, “going to school every day is what makes their life work.”"
California prison agency failed to notify employees exposed to COVID-19, regulator says
Sac Bede's WES VENTEICHER: "California’s workplace safety regulator has fined a state prison agency $24,300 for failing to enforce COVID-19 protections.
The state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA, cited the California Prison Industry Authority for three “serious” violations related to a June 21 COVID-19 exposure at a metal fabrication and vehicle outfitting warehouse, according to the citation.
The warehouse is located at California State Prison-Solano, in Vacaville."
Tips & Tricks: Uncomplicating your filings during the COVID tax season
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "So your 22-year-old graduated college last year and is on his or her own, earning money. You claimed your child as a dependent in 2019 but won’t do so for 2020. Can he or she get an economic stimulus payment?
Yes, he or she would be able to claim it in the form of a recovery rebate credit so long as he or she is not claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.
It’s one of the most frequently asked questions The Sacramento Bee has heard as the 2021 tax season gets under way."
LA City Council has a new plan for spending $88M on communities of color
LA Times's DAKOTA SMITH: "For months, L.A. politicians have wrestled with how to spend tens of millions of dollars cut from the city’s Police Department budget after protests erupted over George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis last May.
A draft plan approved by the L.A. City Council in December would have devoted $88 million to youth and recreation programs, neighborhood beautification initiatives, job and business programs, nonprofit services and more.
But that proposal ran into opposition from the police chief and the police union, as well as Mayor Eric Garcetti. The mayor vetoed the plan, saying the reprogrammed money should focus more heavily on racial justice, income inequality and community safety programs."
LA council candidate takes heat for FB handgun post
LA Times's DAVID ZAHNISER: "A Los Angeles City Council candidate posted an image of a handgun on his Facebook page last week while describing a dispute involving local Democratic Party activists, prompting one state lawmaker to call for him to drop out of the race.
David Cunningham, who is running against Councilman Curren Price in next year’s election, uploaded the gun image as part of a post in which he accused Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) of having members of a slate of Democratic Party delegate candidates threaten him and his family.
“Guess what sir? We can and will defend ourselves from all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Cunningham wrote in his post."
Scam Warning: Texts asking for personal info related to REAL ID are a scam
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "The California Department of Motor Vehicles has issued a warning about a new phishing scam related to REAL ID that seeks to get personal information, such as a driver’s license number, Social Security number or financial information.
Multiple DMV customers have received a text message stating, “Our records indicate that your contact information must be updated for REAL ID compliance. Provide an up-to-date mailing address and phone number.”
That message is not from the DMV."
SF is poised to move to the red tier. Here's what it'll take to get to orange
The Chronicle's KELLIE HWANG: "San Francisco is poised to advance from California’s purple reopening tier to red this week, and as cases continue to drop throughout the Bay Area, many in the city may already be looking toward the next step: orange.
California’s counties continue to see progress, with an additional seven likely to move to less restrictive tiers when the state announces updated assignments this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday. Mayor London Breed had signaled last week that she expected San Francisco to be among those counties.
Tier assignments are determined by the state based on a county’s daily coronavirus cases per 100,000 population, adjusted for the amount of testing it performs, as well as its positive test rate. To move to a less restrictive tier, a county must have been in its current tier for a minimum of three weeks, and must meet the criteria for the next-least-restrictive tier for two consecutive weeks."
California State University faculty seek paid leave for juggling caretaking and online teaching
EdSource's ASHLEY A SMITH: "Some California State University faculty members are asking for relief from the pressure of teaching online, helping students and their colleagues, while also taking care of their families amid the pandemic.
These faculty, who are mostly women, say the CSU system should provide teaching assistants or paid leave to ease their load, which includes educating their children who are learning from home or caring for elderly family members.
“Faculty are trying to be good professors, lecturers, counselors, librarians and coaches, striving to meet the needs of their students and serving their universities via necessary committees and workgroups,” said two CSU professors in an open letter to Chancellor Joseph Castro."
Firm teachers union stance means LAUSD will be slower to reopen than other parts of state
LA Times's HOWARD BLUME: "A huge boost in the number of vaccines targeted exclusively for the Los Angeles Unified School District could lead to in-person classes in the current academic year, but the district won’t bring students back to campus for at least six weeks — a return that also depends on the continued decline of coronavirus infection rates.
The lack of a firm return date is tied to demands by the teachers union. Teachers and counselors will not return to school until all have been offered vaccines and have achieved maximum immunity, union leader Cecily Myart-Cruz said Monday. Her union, United Teachers Los Angeles, also has set standards for lowered coronavirus infection rates that have yet to be achieved.
The union stance comes as the vaccine supply for LAUSD school staff greatly improved Monday, the first day of vaccine eligibility in L.A. County for the education sector."
Bay Area parents worry that classrooms won't reopen full time in the fall. When will normal return?
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "It’s been nearly a year since the vast majority of California’s 6 million students have experienced a normal school day, playing kickball at recess, huddling at a table to discuss Shakespeare, or cutting up frogs in science class, and the hope for even a partial return to classrooms before summer is fading fast.
Many Bay Area families are setting their sights on the fall, hoping public schools will be back in person five full days by then, but in some cases, creating a contingency plan if they’re not. Those plans include moving to a school district that’s open or enrolling in private school for those with options, but many families without financial resources are stuck with no way out.
What learning will look like in August or September is still unclear. Predictions vary among experts, who almost universally say “it depends” on case counts, the possibility of vaccine-resistant variants emerging, local politics and labor demands. Variation within the Bay Area is likely. What it might look like in San Francisco — where the health department is demanding 6 feet of distance between desks — might be different than in Marin, where that’s not a requirement."
Sacramento still in running for MLS. But here's what has to happen next
Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK/MARCOS BRETON: "That didn’t take long.
Almost immediately after news broke Friday evening that business investor Ron Burkle had dropped plans to bring a Major League Soccer expansion franchise to Sacramento, the phone calls started to come into leaders of the local effort from potential new financiers. Finding that deep-pocketed investor is vital to Sacramento’s chances of getting back into the MLS picture.
“My phone is ringing off the hook,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg said on Monday. “I can’t be specific (about who is calling) at this point but there is already significant interest being expressed from some major investors and that is exactly what we want.”"
SF could move more than 500 people off streets into hotels -- but where they go next is uncertain
The Chronicle's MALLORY MOENCH: "In the latest push to keep people off San Francisco’s streets, the Board of Supervisors is poised to pass an emergency ordinance to move 560 more homeless people into shelter-in-place hotels over the next two months.
The ordinance— expected to pass at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting — simply formalizes a plan already under way.
It will extend the federally reimbursed program that leases hotel rooms for around 2,000 vulnerable homeless individuals, fill even more hotel rooms and make available permanent housing for those in hotels, although people may turn it down if they find it less appealing than their current situation."
US/EU eyes sanctioning Russia for Navalny assassination attempt
LA Times's CHRIS MEGERIAN: "The United States and the European Union are preparing to sanction Russia for the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, an opposition leader who was recently jailed, according to senior officials from President Biden’s administration.
Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent Aug. 20, then spent months recovering in Germany. When he returned to Russia on Jan. 17, he was detained and sentenced to prison on what U.S. officials described as spurious charges.
“We’re sending a clear signal to Russia,” said one of the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the announcement of sanctions, expected to come Tuesday. “There are consequences for the use of chemical weapons.”"
Vernon Jordan, civil rights activist and former Clinton advisor, dies
AP: "Vernon Jordan, who rose from humble beginnings in the segregated South to become a champion of civil rights before reinventing himself as a Washington insider and corporate influencer, has died, according to a statement from his daughter. He was 85.
Jordan’s daughter, Vickee Jordan Adams, released the statement Tuesday to CBS News.
“My father passed away last night around 10p surrounded by loved ones his wife and daughter by his side,” she said."