California vaccine supply will fall 15% next week, just as demand is expected to surge
CATHERINE HO, Chronicle: California expects to receive fewer doses of coronavirus vaccine for the next two weeks, just as the state is slated to see a surge in demand from millions of newly eligible people starting April 15.
The state said its vaccine allocation from the federal government will drop 15%, from 2.4 million doses this week to 2 million doses next week, and dip another 5% the week after that to 1.9 million doses.
The shortfall, if it persists, could throw off the state’s plans to reopen June 15, the target date set by Gov. Gavin Newsom to allow almost all sectors of the economy to resume operations at or near capacity. The reopening assumes the state will meet aggressive vaccination goals, including that by mid-June, all Californians 16 and over will be able to get an appointment for a shot within two weeks."
Ninth Circuit court blocks Republican-led states from reviving 'public charge rule'
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "Over a conservative judge’s angry dissent, a federal appeals court refused Thursday to let a group of Republican-led states try to revive a Trump administration rule that denied legal status and work permits to noncitizens who accept public benefits, such as food stamps and Medicaid.
The 2019 “public charge” rule was challenged in lawsuits by San Francisco and Santa Clara County, joined later by California, 17 other states and the District of Columbia. A federal judge in Oakland and courts in other states halted enforcement of the rule, but the Supreme Court reinstated it in January 2020 while the legal challenges continued.
But President Biden’s administration announced March 9 that it was repealing the rule, and the Supreme Court rescinded its order. The action was challenged, however, by 14 states with Republican leaders, who argued that the administration had failed to follow procedures for changing federal rules or to allow any time for public comment on the turnaround."
Will Californians need a 'vaccine passport' this summer? It depends.
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "This week, both President Joe Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administrations insisted they have no plans to implement a federal or state coronavirus vaccine passport program, although the concept remains popular in the private sector.
A vaccine passport is a physical or digital document that displays whether someone is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Critics say that such passports are a violation of privacy and an example of government overreach.
Supporters point out that federal immigration law already requires that immigrants provide proof of vaccination status for several diseases."
READ MORE related to Vaccine Trials: J&J vaxx supply to plummet next week in California amid surging demand -- LA Times's LUKE MONEY
Newsom's reopening plan may be less likely than originally expected
LA Times's TARYN LUNA: "Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken criticism on all sides for a series of extremely consequential and politically risky calls over the past year as he’s led California through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now his biggest decision of all, to fully reopen a state of 40 million people for business by June 15, may be one of the safest choices he’s made yet.
Public health experts say it’s unlikely that another surge of the virus would overwhelm the hospital system in California. Absent a new variant or mutation that renders vaccines ineffective across the country, they believe the chance that Newsom would need to reinstate the kinds of restrictions that frustrated some voters and helped fuel the recall effort against him is almost nil."
Sac Bee's KIM BOJORQUEZ: "Members of the California Latino Legislative Caucus announced this week they are prioritizing two health care bills that would expand Medi-Cal coverage for nearly 1 million undocumented adults.
The Democratic lawmakers have carried similar bills in the past only to see them fail, largely over concerns about costs.
This time, they’re optimistic because of the state’s rosy budget outlook — tax revenue is coming in billions of dollars over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s January estimates — and because the coronavirus pandemic highlighted inequities in the state’s health care system."
Less distancing, no COVID tests: LAUSD parents seek court order to force wider reopening
LA Times's HOWARD BLUME: "A group of parents — who say their children have been illegally shortchanged by Los Angeles Unified School District’s return-to-school plan — is seeking a court order to force the district to reopen “to the greatest extent possible” within seven days.
The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday, asks the court to prohibit L.A. Unified from using a six-foot distancing standard in classrooms, while also seeking to bar the district from requiring students to take regular coronavirus tests as a condition for returning to campus.
The district’s reopening plan, which begins to unfold next week, offers a half-time, on-campus schedule for elementary students and supervised online instruction on campus for middle and high school students, a format that the lawsuit characterizes as harmful and legally inadequate."
Amazon takes early lead as union vote count gets underway
APs JOSEPH PISANI: "Vote counting in the union push at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, is underway but a winner may not be determined until Friday.
By Thursday evening, the count was tilting heavily against the union, with 1,100 workers rejecting it and 463 voting in favor. The count will resume Friday morning.
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is organizing the Bessemer workers, said that 3,215 votes were sent in — about 55% of the nearly 6,000 workers who were eligible to vote. The union said hundreds of those votes were contested, mostly by Amazon, for various reasons such as the voter didn’t work there or doesn’t qualify to vote. The union would not specify how many votes were being contested."
Racial gaps exist in marketing tactics practiced by banks and payday lenders, study finds
LA Times's DAVID LAZARUS: "Payday lenders want to lure people of color into endless cycles of high-interest debt. Mainstream banks prefer white people as customers.
At least that’s what academic researchers concluded after reviewing advertising and marketing materials for the two industries.
In a soon-to-be-published paper, researchers at the University of Houston sought to understand why Black and Latino people make up a disproportionately high percentage of customers for payday and auto title lenders. I got a sneak peek at their work."
Yosemite National Park will require reservations for entry this summer -- again
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "Yosemite National Park will require visitors to make advance reservations to enter the park for a second straight summer, administrators said Thursday, a bid to keep a lid on crowds during the ongoing pandemic.
The park, one of the busiest in the National Park Service, continues to operate with limited staff and services because of the coronavirus, and officials say they won’t be able to handle typical peak-season numbers, which can approach 20,000 people a day.
Already this spring, swarms of visitors have been creating problems amid the waterfalls, granite domes and snowy peaks. Last weekend, wait times to get into the park exceeded two hours, and hour-plus traffic backups were frequent in Yosemite Valley. More trash, illegal campfires and driving violations were reported."
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "An estimated 250 Bay Area toll collectors won’t be coming back to their booths, after the California Department of Transportation on Thursday announced that several bridges would be moving to all-digital toll collection.
Caltrans plans to eliminate the positions at the end of July, according to spokesman Bart Ney.
So far, no toll collectors have been laid off."
READ MORE related to Transportation: More Californians died on the road during pandemic. Can Biden's plan reduce traffic accidents? -- The Chronicle's DAVID LIGHTMAN
Royal Icon Prince Philip, 99, of Great Britain passed away peacefully Friday morning
LA Times's KIM MURPHY: "Philip Mountbatten, the rakish naval officer who captured the heart of a young Elizabeth Windsor and became the lifelong consort to the British queen, has died in England at age 99.
“It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement Friday just after noon in Britain. “His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.”
The death of the Duke of Edinburgh ended the longest marriage of a reigning monarch in British history, an enduring alliance that outlasted the Cold War, 15 prime ministers, war and peace in Northern Ireland and Britain’s union with Europe — followed by its shattering decision, 43 years later, to leave it."