A California bill banning medical debt from credit reports gets a boost from California Atty. Gen. Bonta
KFF Health News's MOLLY CASTLE WORK: "California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Monday that he is throwing his weight behind legislation to bar medical debt from showing up on consumer credit reports, a Democratic-led effort to offer protection to patients squeezed by healthcare bills.
Bonta is a sponsor of Sen. Monique Limón’s bill, SB 1061, which seeks to block healthcare providers, as well as any contracted collection agency, from sharing a patient’s medical debt with credit reporting agencies. It would also prevent credit reporting agencies from accepting, storing or sharing any information concerning medical debt. Medical debt isn’t necessarily an accurate reflection of credit risk, and its inclusion in credit reports can depress credit scores and make it hard for people to get a job, rent an apartment or secure a car loan."
California’s primary turnout not a record low, but vote count still slow
CALMatters's LYNN LA: "The latest official tally from the Secretary of State’s office shows that 4.8 million ballots have been counted from California’s primary, with 2.5 million still to go.
Based on the late Friday numbers, the total of nearly 7.3 million votes means a turnout of about 33%, well below the norm for presidential primaries, but not the record low that some analysts projected based on early numbers."
‘It’s crazy’: How soaring PG&E rates are impacting California’s electric car owners
The Chronicle's JULIE JOHNSON: "California wants residents to buy electric vehicles to fight climate change, to the point of ending the sale of new gasoline-fueled cars in 2035.
But after a 20% rate hike this year by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., charging a car — one of the single biggest items on electric bills — just got more expensive. And the trend is unlikely to let up anytime soon: State regulators are considering further rate increases for PG&E this year."
California needs “all-of-the-above” transportation infrastructure funding strategy (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly's MICHAEL QUIGLEY and JACOB SANDOVAL: "Since the passage of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in 2021, and the state’s passage of Senate Bill 1 in 2017, California is investing record amounts to improve our state’s long-neglected and deteriorating transportation infrastructure system. This includes historic investments in public transportation, mass transit and active transportation, as well as traditional transportation infrastructure projects to improve local streets and roads, fixing potholes, bridge safety improvements, and reducing congestion on highways and freeways.
This balanced approach to transportation infrastructure funding is the right approach to address the needs of residents in a state as large and diverse as California."
California weather: Big swing from rain and snow to 70-degree temperatures this week
The Chronicle's ANTHONY EDWARDS: "The last in a series of wet weather systems is expected to brush Northern California from Monday evening to Tuesday morning. Thereafter, no rain is in the forecast for at least a week.
Gusty Santa Ana and Diablo winds Wednesday and Thursday will kick off a dry, warm weather pattern through the weekend. Thursday through Sunday are expected to be the warmest days so far this year in California, with highs in the upper 60s to lower 70s in San Francisco and Oakland and mid- to upper 70s in Sacramento and San Jose."
California flood victims can get state help. They only have days to apply
CALMatters's JUSTO ROBLES: "Almost three months after a January storm and flash floods killed several people and displaced hundreds of San Diego-area residents, the state is offering one-time Disaster CalFresh benefits to help families recover.
To be eligible for disaster food benefits, people must have lived or worked in storm-impacted areas on Jan. 21, the day record rainfall swelled creeks and rivers, deluging neighborhoods. About 600 people sought emergency shelter."
More parents are delaying their kids’ vaccines, and it’s alarming pediatricians
LA Times's JENNY GOLD: "As measles cases pop up across the country this winter — including several in California — one group of children is stirring deep concerns among pediatricians: the babies and toddlers of vaccine-hesitant parents who are delaying their child’s measles-mumps-rubella shots.
Pediatricians across the state say they have seen a sharp increase recently in the number of parents with concerns about routine childhood vaccinations who are demanding their own inoculation schedules for their babies, creating a worrisome pool of very young children who may be at risk of contracting measles, a potentially deadly yet preventable disease."
New California bill would help those with hair loss pay for wigs, hairpieces
BANG*Mercury News's RYAN MACASERO: "Hair loss is something Mihir Sharma from Saratoga, who has alopecia areata, has been dealing with for most of his life.
The articulate and confident 17-year-old has grown accustomed to stares or strange looks from his classmates when they see the lack of hair on his head."
The top 5 takeaways from the 2024 Oscars, according to those who were there
LA Times's MATT BRENNAN, JESSICA GELT: "If you did not, for instance, down a double shot of espresso on the way out of the Governors Ball, or stop to buy a chicken salad sandwich in your tuxedo at Ralphs on your way home, you may have taken the responsible route Sunday and turned in at a reasonable hour. In which case the Times staffers who did stay out past their bedtimes are happy to help you catch up on the 96th Academy Awards before you’re flat-footed at the office watercooler.
Below are the top five takeaways from the 2024 Oscars, from those of us who were in the room."
READ MORE -- L.A. Times wins first Oscar for ‘The Last Repair Shop,’ about LAUSD music program -- LA Times's JOSH ROTTENBERG
Is Joshua Tree’s famed three-legged coyote being loved to death? The legend of Tripod
LA Times's ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "Rachel Crabtree was visiting Joshua Tree National Park last March when she saw something that shocked her:
In the middle of a desert snowstorm, a three-legged coyote was darting back and forth across a busy road."
These gigs offer paths to higher wages for young Californians. Now they’re facing budget cuts
CALMatters's ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE: "California is just starting a statewide effort to create apprenticeship opportunities for young people, ages 16 through 24, as college becomes less affordable for many high school graduates and other costs of living are rising.
But the program has run into a funding snag. Gov. Gavin Newsom, trying to plug a budget hole that some officials say could be $78 billion, now plans to delay $25 million in next year’s funding — about how much the state is spending this year on the effort."
They were part of the Bay Area exodus. Now, they’ve decided to return
BANG*Mercury News's KATE TALERICO: "In the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he and his wife were locked down at home in the East Bay, Ricardo Diaz would call his brother in Texas and get a snapshot of life there.
Lockdowns? They’d lasted just a few weeks. Vaccine passports? Not in Texas. And masks? What masks?"
California ZIP code with highest average income is a mansion-free area of S.F.
The Chronicle's CHRIS TIAN LEONARD: "One of San Francisco’s smallest ZIP codes has the highest average income in California.
The 94104 ZIP code, which includes a handful of blocks in the city’s Financial District with such buildings as 555 California St. and the Ritz-Carlton residences, had an average household income of about $5.5 million in 2021, according to recently released tax data from the IRS. Only one ZIP code in the United States had a higher average household income: 33109 of Fisher Island, Fla., where about 300 filers, totaling 500 people, made an average of $6 million."
Sacramento gave a homeless camp a lease as an experiment. Here’s what happened
CALMatters's MARISA KENDALL: "When Sacramento changed its plan to demolish a homeless encampment on a vacant lot on Colfax Street, instead offering the homeless occupants a lease, activists and camp residents celebrated it as a win.
The first-of-its-kind deal, which allows the camp to remain in place and govern itself without city interference, was held up as a model Sacramento could replicate at future sites. Other cities, including San Jose, have said they’re considering similar models, putting the success or failure of this encampment under the microscope."
California could require robotaxi companies to share more performance data or risk hefty fines
The Chronicle's RICARDO CANO: "A frequent criticism by San Francisco officials as driverless robotaxis became common on city streets has been that California’s laws have been slow to catch up to reality.
Self-driving cars were stalling traffic, involved in collisions and interfering with first responders on local roads amid their sudden proliferation, officials said. But, they couldn’t say to what extent the problems were occurring because autonomous vehicle companies aren’t required to report the information to state regulators. Nor could officials determine how well robotaxi companies were performing as they pivoted to paid ride-hailing."
