The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "California water officials acknowledged Wednesday that another painful year of drought is likely, and warned the many communities receiving water from the State Water Project that they may get no water at all next year, except in cases of emergency.
The record low 0% water allocation would leave parts of the state, including San Jose, much of the East Bay and Napa County, with significant dents in their water supplies. Local water agencies would have little choice but to seek out additional sources of water, which are certain to be sparse, as well as lean heavily on customers to make cuts — even more so than they’re already doing.
“If it starts to look worse, we will have to call for more conservation,” said Valerie Pryor, general manager of the Tri-Valley’s Zone 7 Water Agency, which last summer mandated a 15% water reduction across its service area of Livermore, Pleasanton and Dublin. The agency usually gets more than two-thirds of its water from the state."
A 'no snow' California could come sooner than you think
LA Times, HAYLEY SMITH: "It was 55 degrees and sunny Thursday at Sugar Bowl Resort, where the opening day of the 2021 ski season — already delayed because of warm weather — was still listed as “TBD.”
“Winter hasn’t quite arrived in Tahoe yet,” officials wrote in a note about the postponement. “The team will be working nightly and ready to flip the switch when Mother Nature cooperates.”
But the mountain isn’t the only place feeling the pinch from lack of snow. A new study led by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that dwindling snowpack across California and the western United States could shrink dramatically more — or in some cases disappear — before the end of the century."
The economy is booming. So why is California’s unemployment rate so high?
DAVID LIGHTMAN and JEONG PARK, SacBee: "California keeps struggling with unemployment far more than the rest of the nation.
Week after week, the numbers tell the same story. Last week, the state had about 22% of the nation’s new unemployment claims, even though it has 11.7% of the country’s workforce, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Throughout November, the percentages were roughly the same. In October, the state was tied with Nevada for having the highest unemployment rate in the nation, at 7.3%, well above the national figure of 4.6%.
LAPD announces 14 arrests in connection with recent smash-and-grab robberies
LA Times, GREGORY YEE and BRITTNY MEJIA: "After a spate of brazen smash-and-grab robberies left Los Angeles-area retailers and shoppers on edge last month, officials announced Thursday that they had arrested 14 suspects in connection with the crimes.
Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore, joined by other officials and members of the business community at LAPD headquarters, said none of the 14 suspects remains in custody.
One of the suspects is a juvenile, Moore said. The others either posted bail or were released without bail."
California to spend nearly $100M to fortify state Capitol following Jan. 6 attacks in Washington
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER: "After a violent mob stormed the the halls of Congress on Jan. 6, Assembly Member Ken Cooley said he knew right away that California needed to dramatically beef up security at its own seat of state government.
Cooley, who is overseeing a project to renovate the state Capitol, said he called the commissioner of the California Highway Patrol two days later to ask what could be done to prevent such a siege here.
Now, as California prepares to move ahead with plans to renovate its Capitol complex, the state will spend about $96 million on security upgrades. The renovations include stronger windows, better fortified entrances and part of the building will be raised on a higher platform, so access can be easily monitored."
LA County records first Omicron case as officials urge more COVID-19 testing
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II/LUKE MONEY: "Los Angeles County reported its first case of the heavily mutated Omicron variant of the coronavirus Thursday evening — a development that, while not unexpected, nevertheless underscores the need for residents to continue to take steps to protect themselves, public health officials said.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have always known there would be more mutations, resulting in the possibility of a more dangerous variant than the Delta variant,” county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement. “While we can’t know for certain the impact of Omicron at this time, the good news is that we already know how to reduce transmission and slow spread using both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions.”
The infection, county officials said, was most probably travel related, as the individual had returned after flying to South Africa via London on Nov. 22 — just days before Omicron’s detection was publicly announced and the World Health Organization officially declared it a “variant of concern.”"
Exhausted Bay Area nurses brace for Omicron's arrival
The Chronicle, NANETTE ASIMOV: "After nearly two grueling years battling the coronavirus, Bay Area nurses reacted with a mix of dread and determination to the news that the omicron variant has emerged not just in the U.S., but on their home turf, in San Francisco.
“It’s stressful, but I’m not going to let it affect me like COVID did before,” said Kristin Cox, an acute care nurse at UCSF’s Mt. Zion campus, where she and her exhausted colleagues have worked nonstop for most of the pandemic.
“I was at my wit’s end” during the summer surge, she said. “Our physical and mental health suffered so much that we’re just not going to do that again.”
READ MORE on Omicron: How the Omicron variant could impact COVID transmission in the Bay Area, KELLIE HWANG, Chronicle; Officials say the ports logjam is easing, but numbers don't tell the whole story -- SAM DEAN, LA Times.
SF's only trans dept head departs, sets eyes to legislating national policy
SHWANIKA NARAYAN, Chronicle: "After four years of leading the landmark San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives, Clair Farley announced her departure Thursday as the city’s second — and currently only — trans department head.
Farley and the office she led both made history.
The office is the first and only city government operation of its kind in the U.S. and shepherded several key equity initiatives and programs for transgender, non-binary and LGBTQ residents, including ones focused on housing and guaranteed income, the city stated in a release."
LA voters back a right to shelter, but are wary of taxes to pay for it, new poll finds
LA Times, BENJAMIN ORESKES: "Los Angeles County voters broadly support a legal right to shelter for all but offer tepid backing for new taxes that might pay for it, a poll finds.
The contrast highlights a key tension in voter attitudes toward solving the region’s persistent homelessness crisis: Even as voters want to see dramatic government action to reduce the number of people sleeping in streets and parks, many doubt the capacity of the region’s leaders to get the job done.
The new poll, conducted by the Los Angeles Business Council Institute in cooperation with The Times, found that a significant majority of voters, 58%, said they believed the region can solve the problem of homelessness. By contrast, 31% said they believed homelessness would always be part of life in Los Angeles.
As warnings fly between US and Russia, how real is the threat of continued war in Ukraine?
LA Times, LAURA KING: "So far, it’s been a war of words. Could it flare into something more dangerous?
Against the backdrop of a major buildup of Russian forces near Ukraine, a former Soviet republic and struggling democracy sandwiched between Russia and the West, the rhetoric and prospect for conflict have been sharpening daily.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, meeting his Russian counterpart in Stockholm on Thursday, explicitly warned Moscow against an invasion — a scenario that Ukraine’s government, backed by both NATO and the Biden administration, has described as a real possibility. The Kremlin, in turn, has hinted that an intervention by its troops may be necessary to halt escalating separatist fighting in eastern Ukraine."