California attorney general announces investigation into TikTok’s impact on children
BRIAN CONTRERAS, LA Times: "A nationwide investigation will explore the risks that the wildly popular short-form video app TikTok poses to children, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Wednesday.
Among the issues the investigation will focus on will be how the company has sought to increase the duration and frequency of use of its app by young people, the extent to which the company is aware of any harm it may be causing those users and whether it’s violating consumer protection laws.
“Our children are growing up in the age of social media — and many feel like they need to measure up to the filtered versions of reality that they see on their screens,” Bonta said in a statement. “We know this takes a devastating toll on children’s mental health and well-being. But we don’t know what social media companies knew about these harms and when.”
Violent Crime Soared During the Pandemic. But Does the Political Debate Reflect the Data?
MARISSA LAGOS, KQED: "With major national and statewide increases in murders since the start of the pandemic, crime is shaping up to be a big political football in 2022. In California, it’s already dominating debate in the race for attorney general, and has largely fueled the recall attempts of at least two reform-minded county district attorneys.
Politicians and activists are seizing on the issue for good reason: Polls show voters being increasingly concerned about crime in their communities.
While this is often framed as a red-versus-blue debate, the data shows much broader trends — like the increase in murders — playing out across the nation, regardless of the political makeup or the individual policies of a particular city, county or state. Nationally, there was an unprecedented spike in murders in 2020 — up nearly 30% over 2019, marking the largest single-year increase ever recorded in the U.S.
Sacramento-area Catholic schools are lifting mask mandates ahead of the state
LARA KORTE, SacBee: "Catholic students in two Northern California dioceses removed their masks this week after leaders said they wouldn’t wait for state approval to lift the mandate in their classrooms.
On Monday, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly announced that the state would move to strongly recommending masking in schools after 11:59 p.m. on March 11. In the meantime, students and staff are still required under state law to wear masks at school. Masking rules apply to both public and private K-12 schools, according to the California Department of Public Health.
Shortly following the announcement, Katie Perata, executive director of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Sacramento, and Stockton Bishop Myron J. Cotta, sent letters to their respective communities announcing they would allow students to remove masks before the state lifts its mandate.
Drought is killing wild salmon. Wildlife managers hope an extra half-million babies can help
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "Scientists estimate that only 6% of the eggs that wild winter-run chinook salmon laid in the Sacramento River last summer survived the punishing drought, so wildlife officials are taking drastic actions to keep the endangered population going. On Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released 400,000 juvenile salmon from a hatchery into the river, after releasing almost 125,000 last month.
That’s more than double the number of fish they released in 2020 — the first year of the drought — and 220,000 more than last year, to bolster the struggling population of winter-run chinook. Federal scientists are monitoring this year’s cohort to see how well the smolt survive the 352-mile journey from the base of Shasta Dam to the Golden Gate by attaching acoustic tags to hundreds of hatchery fish.
That monitoring program has been around for a while, but scientists are particularly keen to watch the fish’s movements in the midst of a three-year drought. Large fish releases usually occur during big rainstorms, to help speed the baby fish down the river and give them cover. But the warm, dry weather in recent months is making their situation even more perilous than usual."
California’s diverse judiciary is getting even more diverse under Gov. Gavin Newsom
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "California's judiciary, already among the most diverse in the nation, became even more so in the past year, according to a new state report, as Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed unprecedented numbers of women and racial minorities to the bench.
As 2022 began, 38.6% of the state’s judges were female, up by 1% from the previous year, and 35% identified as non-white, an increase of more than 1.5%, the state Judicial Council said Tuesday. It was the 16th straight year of increases in both categories, the report said.
By comparison, 34% of state court judges in the nation are women, and fewer than 20% are minorities, according to the most recent reports. In federal courts, 33% of the judges are women and about 20% are minorities."
Biden’s push to ‘test to treat’ COVID on the spot already under way in Bay Area
The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO: "A central part of President Biden’s new COVID strategy — the so-called “test to treat” initiative to enable pharmacies, long-term care facilities and community health centers to test patients and give out antiviral pills on the spot if they test positive — is already underway at many Bay Area health care providers.
Doctors and pharmacists have essentially been operating this way for the last few months, since pills first became available, local clinics and long-term care facilities say. However, their ability to do so has been limited by scarce supply of pills, particularly the Pfizer drug Paxlovid, and the very short window of time between symptom onset and when patients must start taking the drug. So Biden’s “test to treat” plan would ostensibly expand these operations, which are still relatively small, to more locations and improve access to the medication for more people.
San Francisco’s largest skilled nursing facility, Laguna Honda, for instance, tests residents and starts them on antiviral treatment immediately if they test positive and have symptoms, said spokeswoman Zoe Harris of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, which runs the facility."
‘Alarming’ disparities leave parts of L.A. County hit hard by COVID-19
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN II/LUKE MONEY: "Two years into the pandemic, wealth, poverty and race still dramatically affect the toll the coronavirus takes on people, with Latino and Black communities in L.A. County continuing to be significantly harder hit than wealthier white ones.
Data analyzed by Los Angeles County public health officials showed disturbing inequities in the disproportionate toll COVID-19 was causing for Black and Latino residents, as well as people living in poorer neighborhoods.
The findings underscore how much poorer and largely Black and Latino neighborhoods of L.A. County could suffer should the improvement in pandemic trends suddenly reverse as mask mandates ease, or the need for quick action comes if a new variant emerges."
‘Race is wide open’: New L.A. mayoral poll shows Bass and De León in close proximity
LAT, JULIA WICK: "A new poll shows a different shape of the Los Angeles mayoral race than previous polling, with no commanding front-runner.
Rep. Karen Bass still has a small lead in the Loyola Marymount University Center for the Study of Los Angeles poll released Wednesday, but City Councilman Kevin de León is a close second.
With the June primary just over three months away, more than 40% of self-identified registered voters remain undecided in the survey."
S.F. Mayor Breed scrapped a request to fund $7.9 million in police overtime. Here’s why
The Chronicle, MEGAN CASSIDY: "What San Francisco officials described as a historic staffing shortage at the city’s Police Department prompted Mayor London Breed to withdraw her request for an extra $7.9 million to fund police overtime.
With so few officers on duty, the city could instead pay for the overtime needs with money left over from what officials said is a dire attrition issue at the Police Department.
The issue also reflects a national trend, as law enforcement agencies across the country report difficulties recruiting and retaining officers."
Fast-moving wildfire grows to 500 acres in Cleveland National Forest
LAT, CHRISTIAN MARTINEZ/HANNAH FRY: "Firefighters are working to gain the upper hand on a fast-moving wildfire that broke out Wednesday in the Cleveland National Forest.
The blaze was first reported at 10 acres around 11:20 a.m. near the Holy Jim Trail in Orange County. Within three hours, the fire had swelled to 400 acres.
But crews on the ground laying down containment lines and an aerial attack that included aircraft releasing fire retardant and helicopters dropping water helped stop much of the blaze’s forward momentum in the early evening, said Nathan Judy, Cleveland National Forest’s public affairs officer."
The fight over Lowell High School admission is about to heat up again under S.F.’s new school board
The Chronicle, JILL TUCKER: "With three new school board members expected to be seated soon in the wake of a historic recall, San Francisco Unified likely will reopen the debate over admission to the academically prestigious Lowell High School this spring.
The board’s decision to move to a lottery system and ditch the competitive process divided the city over the last year and at least partially inspired the recall. Reviving the debate promises to bring up difficult issues around equity, racism and achievement in the city’s public schools.
The current lottery-based admission process, adopted as a temporary solution after a judge rejected the board’s move toward a permanent lottery system, addressed concerns over the lack of grades and test scores amid the pandemic. The new board will need to decide on a permanent process moving forward."
Jan. 6 committee says Trump ‘may have engaged in criminal acts’ to overturn election
LAT, SARAH D. WIRE: "The House Jan. 6 select committee says former President Trump and his campaign may have tried to illegally obstruct Congress’ counting of electoral votes and “engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States.”
In a federal court filing Wednesday, the committee alleges that emails it is trying to obtain will show that Trump himself violated multiple laws by attempting to prevent Congress from certifying his defeat in the 2020 election.
“The Select Committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States,” the committee wrote in a filing submitted in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California."
Russia captures Ukrainian port city, faces world censure as attacks intensify
LAT, NABIH BULOS/LAURA KING: "Russian forces Wednesday intensified a wide-ranging offensive targeting key Ukrainian cities, menacing the capital, Kyiv, with a miles-long military convoy, launching deadly strikes on the second-largest city, Kharkiv, and seizing a strategic Black Sea port city with tanks and troops.
On the seventh day of a war marked by fierce Ukrainian resistance against advancing Russian firepower, Moscow faced growing international denunciations. The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution condemning the invasion, and President Biden said it was “clear” that Russia was deliberately targeting civilians.
The capture of the port of Kherson, a city of some 300,000 people, marked the expanding reach of Russian forces across the south."