Gov. Newsom returns to public eye after sudden absence sparked social media speculation
TARYN LUNA and PHIL WILLON, LA Times: "For the past two weeks, Gov. Gavin Newsom did something that’s very out of character: He stayed out of the public eye.
Declining to offer a detailed reason for his absence until he reappeared Tuesday, one of the first politicians to harness the power of social media to connect with voters seemingly forgot how quickly a dearth of information can give birth to misinformation in the Twittersphere.
By the time Newsom explained that he had simply kept a low profile both in the office and at home, taking time to watch his children play soccer after a grueling recall campaign and 20-month battle leading the fight against COVID-19 in California, anti-vaccine activists had spread rumors on social media that the Democratic governor experienced an adverse reaction to a booster shot he received at a news conference on Oct. 27."
Newsom reveals why he canceled Scotland trip: His kids staged an 'intervention'
Sacramento Bee, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "After more than a week of silence, Gov. Gavin Newsom finally revealed the reason he canceled his trip to Scotland for the United Nations climate conference: spending Halloween with his kids.
Newsom and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, had planned to attend the conference from Nov. 1-3 in Glasgow, which would have forced them to miss Halloween.
That upset the four Newsom children — ages 5, 8, 10 and 12 — so they staged what Newsom called an “intervention” at dinner."
USC gave Rep. Karen Bass a full scholarship worth $95,000 while she served in Congress
DAKOTA SMITH and MATT HAMILTON, LA Times: "During Rep. Karen Bass’ first year in Congress in 2011, she contacted government ethics officials with a request: Could she accept a full scholarship for a graduate degree at USC.
The House Committee on Ethics cleared Bass’ request to accept the USC School of Social Work tuition award, ultimately valued at over $95,000.
Bass, the Los Angeles Democrat, has frequently spoken of how she juggled the demands of an online master’s program during her first three terms in Congress. She graduated in 2015 and credits the USC program with deepening her understanding of child welfare policy and helping her become a national advocate for foster youth."
California's COVID fortunes reverse as cases begin to climb
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI: "California’s progress against the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have stalled and reversed course, as new cases, hospitalizations and deaths are once again trending upward across the state.
“It’s not subtle, that’s for sure,” said Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at UCSF. “The numbers are increasing. Cases are up over the past three weeks. We were down to as low as about 5,000 new cases per day. Now we’re up to 6,000 cases per day. Hospitalizations are up about 4% over two weeks. There have been some big spikes. To me, that is worrisome.”
Large urban areas with vaccination rates that are lower than the Bay Area’s are seeing some of the most concerning rises. That includes the Central Valley, Greater Sacramento region, and highly populated Southern California counties like Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties, where hospitalizations have increased by more than 20% in recent weeks. Hospitalization rates in the Bay Area, however, are at their lowest point in four months."
Outside auditor takes critical look at stem cell agency
DAVID JENSEN, Capitol Weekly: "California’s $12 billion stem cell agency needs to do better in several critical areas, ranging from planning for the replacement of its current chair to handling information that is key to its operations as well as the tracking of potential sources of royalties.
That’s according to that latest performance audit of the 17-year-old agency, an enterprise that voters expect to develop stem cell cures and treatments for afflictions ranging from cancer to diabetes.
The audit commended the agency for its work in 2019-20 in dealing with its financial problems, shrinking staff and the pandemic. But it said improvements were needed in a number of areas. The audit also declared that some of its recommendations from previous years have not been fully implemented, particularly those dealing with information and how it is handled."
Here's how much the latest atmospheric river added to California reservoir levels
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "Another atmospheric river swept through the Bay Area this week, adding to what has been a wet start to the rainy season.
So how much did the second round of rain add to the state’s water supply?
As of midnight Monday, after much of the rain had fallen, several of California’s major reservoirs across the state had slightly more water than they did in late October after the last atmospheric river, according to state data — a good sign for the parched state."
Capitol Weekly Podcast: Redistricting update and a look at GovBuddy
Staff: "We’ve got a two-fer episode today: first up, we speak with political data expert Paul Mitchell, who gives us an update on the status of California’s new district maps.*
Next we turn to Bruce and Lane Campbell, who run Capitol Enquiry, the publisher of GovBuddy and other indispensable tools for keeping track of legislative contact info. Bruce and Lane shared the company’s origin story and gave us insight into the development of their unique product line.
And of course we wrap it all up with the #WorstWeekCA."
Recall of DA Boudin heads to SF voters in June
The Chronicle, TRISHA THADANI: "San Francisco voters will officially weigh in next year on whether District Attorney Chesa Boudin should stay in office, following confirmation from the Department of Elections Tuesday that campaign organizers collected enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.
The recall will be part of the the June 7, 2022, statewide primary election.
To qualify for the ballot, campaign organizers with the group Safer SF Without Boudin submitted approximately 83,000 signatures to the Department of Elections last month — about 32,000 more than required."
Cargo jam at L.A. and Long Beach ports begins to ease as hefty fines loom
SAM DEAN, LA Times: "In mid-October, when the White House announced it was wading into the logistics logjam at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in a bid to unclog the supply chain before Christmas, 58 container ships were waiting offshore.
Nearly a month later, San Pedro Bay’s unwilling flotilla has grown to 78 vessels, and more are on the way to meet holiday shopping demand. But on the docks themselves, the situation seems to be improving — slightly.
One key problem facing the port complex has been the towering piles of containers left at the import terminals for days on end, taking up space that should go to new containers unloaded from the ships offshore."
Here's how much snow fell near Tahoe, as brief NorCal storm dwindles
Sacramento Bee, MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "It was no blizzard, but a healthy amount of snow fell on the Sierra Nevada mountains during this week’s brief storm passing through Northern California.
Around 6 inches dropped on Palisades Tahoe, Sugar Bowl and Bear Valley ski resorts between Monday and Tuesday mornings, the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office said
in a social media post. In the southern Sierra, Mammoth Mountain got about 9 inches. Meanwhile, moderate rain totals fell in the Sacramento Valley. The weather service reports that about a quarter-inch fell Monday in Sacramento. More rain fell overnight and into the morning, before showers stopped around midday."
Newsom warns of a winter COVID surge as California's positive test rate ticks up
Sacramento Bee, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Californians hoping to ditch their masks should prepare to be disappointed, Gov. Gavin Newsom suggested Tuesday when he told attendees at an economic conference in Monterey that a winter COVID-19 surge is coming to the Golden State.
“I know you’re sitting here with masks and going, ‘Why the hell I do I still have this mask on?’” Newsom said at the California Forward conference in Monterey.
“For good reason.” California’s COVID rates have started to tick up after months of decline. In the most recent week for which data is available, 2.3% of COVID-19 test came back positive. That’s far below the pandemic-high of more than 17% during last winter’s surge, but Newsom says his administration is bracing for a grim few months, including preparing to bring in hospital staff from out of state."
Sutter Health logs third-quarter operating profit of $104M as pandemic restrictions lift
Sacramento Bee, CATHIE ANDERSON: "While Sutter Health still faces challenges, company leaders said, the health care giant logged operating income of $104 million in the third quarter ending Sept. 30, up from a loss of $45 million in the same period one year earlier.
“At the beginning of this year, we started to look at ways to change the organization to help us better serve our communities and provide access to affordable, high-quality care for years to come,” said Jonathan Ma, Sutter’s vice president of finance and treasurer. “We’d like to thank our staff and clinicians for their hard work so far this year, which has helped to improve Sutter’s financial condition that will allow us to reinvest back into our communities and plan for the future. We know there is still more work ahead.”
Sutter is in the midst of a cost-cutting effort that has it evaluating the effectiveness and profitability of some units, and the company has laid off some employees."
These charts show a strong geographic pattern in how Bay Area rents have changed in the pandemic
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "In recent months, rental prices have rebounded across the country as many aspects of life return to pre-pandemic normal.
But how has the rent recovery looked in the Bay Area, which historically has some of the most expensive markets in the country and includes many of the first companies to embrace work from home arrangements?
Using data from rental listing website Apartment List, we looked at the percent change of one-bedroom rents from March 2020 to Oct. 2020 for Bay Area cities with more than 40,000 residents for which Apartment List publishes data. The analysis shows a strong geographic relationship in how rents have changed: there were generally higher increases further north and east, and larger decreases in the western and southern regions."
San Mateo County sheriff ends transfer of immigrants to ICE
The Chronicle, LAUREN HERNANDEZ: "The San Mateo County sheriff’s office is ending its practice of transferring immigrants to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody nearly a week after residents expressed concerns over the county’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities at a Truth Act Forum.
Immigration advocates for years have scrutinized county law enforcement officials for cooperating with ICE. Sheriff Carlos Bolanos said in a statement Tuesday that, “It simply is not worth losing the trust of many members of the public by continuing to process these requests from ICE.”
“It has become apparent to me that complying with those requests regarding the pending release of undocumented individuals who have committed serious crimes is undermining the trust we need to protect the community,” Bolanos said."