Boom times for cannabis businesses as Californians, in a pandemic fog, isolate indoors
LA Times's SUSANNE RUST/CAROLYN COLE: "If there’s one business the coronavirus has kissed with fortune, it’s weed.
“Business is up, oh, about one hundred percent,” said Ryan Moran, operations manager for the Flower Co., a marijuana distributor in Arcata — a small college town, seated on Humboldt Bay, just north of Eureka.
Moran, who hails from New Jersey, said his company provides next-day delivery for communities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and as of Friday, he expected to start next-day service for Los Angeles, too."
Education vs. COVID-19: The shift to online learning
LISA RENNER in Capitol Weekly: "Schools, parents and children in California are facing a steep learning curve as they switch to remote learning in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools shut down abruptly in mid-March, forcing teachers to scramble to come up with online or distance learning materials. Meanwhile, parents had to figure out how to set up home schools while balancing jobs. It’s a gigantic change affecting 6.2 million K-12 public school students and about 500,000 private school students.
Some haven’t made the switch. Earlier this month, Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Buetner reported that 15,000 of its high school students were absent online and failed to do any schoolwork. More than 40,000 had not been in daily contact with teachers since the school shut down."
Petition asks Gov. Newsom to block 5G wireless expansion in California. Is it dangerous?
Sac Bee's HANNAH WILEY: "Petitions asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to block the roll out of 5G in California neighborhoods have popped up on social media in recent weeks, raising concern that the super-fast fifth generation of mobile broadband will cause adverse health effects like cancer and DNA damage.
One Change.org petition asking Newsom to stop the installation of 5G in schools had more than 3,700 signatures as of Sunday.
“I believe that our local government, representatives and Gov. Newsom have a very serious responsibility to make decisions with the health and well being of the citizens of California always in mind,” said campaign organizer Corissa Furr. “And the fact that he is allowing the installation of 5G in all of our schools right now, with zero evidence that this technology is safe, is a disservice to all of us."
80,000 California wildfire victims weigh their futures, and PG&E's
The Chronicle's J.D. MORRIS: "About 80,000 people affected by recent Northern California wildfires are making a multibillion-dollar decision that could have enormous consequences for their lives and the future of the state’s electric grid.
Survivors of catastrophic fires caused by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. power lines in 2015, 2017 and 2018 are now voting on PG&E Corp.’s closely watched plan to pay them for their losses and resolve its bankruptcy case. They have until May 15 to cast ballots, and while thousands have already done so, many are holding out, hoping to improve the terms of a $13.5 billion settlement deal or weighing which way they should vote.
The outcome will shape the manner in which PG&E compensates people who lost property or loved ones in the 2015 Butte Fire, the 2017 Wine Country wildfires and the 2018 Camp Fire. Those disasters collectively killed well over 100 people and razed thousands of homes from the North Bay to the Sierra Nevada foothills in Butte County, where the town of Paradise was almost totally destroyed in the Camp Fire."
40,000 dead in US
The Chronicle's ALEJANDRO SERRANO/MATTHEW KAWAHARA/RITA BEAMISH: "• 31,539 in California, including 1,176 deaths.
• 6,314 in the Bay Area, including 199 deaths.
• 759,786 in the U.S., including 40,683 deaths. The five states with the highest death tolls are New York with 18,298; New Jersey with 4,362; Michigan with 2,391; Massachusetts with 1,706 and Louisiana with 1,296. Click here to see a U.S. map with state-by-state death tolls and coronavirus case counts."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: London Breed, a mayor who scolds and empathizes, is SF's face of pandemic -- LA Times's MAURA DOLAN
What does a recession hold for California state workers?
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "California’s state workforce has already changed dramatically in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
People who reported to state offices for decades are working from home. Department leaders are navigating technology, security and policy hurdles to keep the work going. State residents are accessing government services online that used to require in-person visits.
Many aspects of state work eventually will return to normal. Some changes could become permanent. Here are five questions we’ll track in the months to come."
READ MORE related to Economy: Recycling takes a hit in coronavirus California as plastic waste piles up -- The Chronicle's DUSTIN GARDINER; Walmart has been hiring 5,000 people a day and wants 50,000 more. Here's how to apply -- Sac Bee's CHARLES DUNCAN; Questions about getting jobless bennies in California? We have your answers -- Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN; Stocks sink under weight of another collapse in oil prices -- AP's STAN CHOE; Charity is off the charts amid the coronavirus. Is that a sign of America's strength or weakness? -- LA Times's LAURENCE DARMIENTO
From quiet acceptance to 'crippling fear,' medical workers confront their own mortality
LA Times's KIERA FELDMAN/ANITA CHABRIA/SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA: "As the coronavirus tore through California in March, Dr. Amit Gohil bought his family a new board game: Pandemic.
A pulmonary critical care doctor at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Gohil has asthma and diabetes, risk factors for COVID-19, and has been treating infected patients for weeks. At age 43, he is acutely aware his life could be cut short.
He hoped the game, with its heroes of scientists and researchers, could be a way to help his children feel a sense of control over the virus, a story they all know could end badly."
Is failure an option? Bay Area school districts debate student grading during coronavirus closures
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "It’s a conundrum all schools are facing during the coronavirus closures: How do you hold students accountable for academic work while also ensuring they aren’t punished on their report cards for circumstances beyond their control?
District officials across the Bay Area and state have responded to that concern with a range of grading systems, with many opting for pass/fail or credit/no credit.
Teachers want to reward students who continue to work hard."
READ MORE related to Education: LAUSD confronts $200M in coronavirus costs and a grim budget future -- LA Times's HOWARD BLUME
In coronavirus landscape, moving homeless people into hotels is a puzzle
The Chronicle's KEVIN FAGAN/JOHN KING: "Brian McFarland had been aching to get out of the Multi-Service Center South homeless shelter for weeks. His cot was just a few feet from his neighbor’s, his diabetes made him vulnerable to coronavirus and fear of infection rattled him constantly. It wasn’t until the city put him in a hotel room on April 6 that he started to relax.
Now, two weeks later, he has what he thinks might be pneumonia and flinches every time he hears anyone cough. So far, he’s tested negative for COVID-19 and he’s not panicking, being street-tough after decades of off-and-on homelessness. But he’s pretty fed up, like a lot of homeless people in San Francisco.
“Believe me, I am grateful for the hotel room. It’s really nice,” said McFarland, 47. “But it’s insane that they didn’t get on this problem sooner. I mean, really, I was saying for two weeks before I left MSC that they weren’t doing enough to solve the issue — not doing the distancing thing — and now a lot of my friends have coronavirus. Why didn’t they?"
Coronavirus shutdown of hiking, biking, boating near 100% on Peninsula
The Chronicle's TOM STIENSTRA: "New levels of closures were ordered as the weekend arrived at parks on the Peninsula, with 15 county parks, 13 open space preserves, four state parks and three boat ramps shut down to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
In San Mateo County, health officials also ordered that travel be restricted to within 5 miles of a residence. Just a handful of city-operated parks were left open for recreational access over the weekend.
When Gov. Gavin Newsom’s shelter-in-place order included a provision for hiking, biking and running for fitness, many county parks, open space preserves and state parks on the Peninsula were overwhelmed with visitors. Park officials verified overflowing parking areas, trails with clusters of people and mountain bikers at times riding at high rates of speed."
LA County judges deny early release to some young offenders, often without a hearing
LA Times's JAMES QUEALLY: "Dorian Martinez was sure her son was coming home.
The 17-year-old had been held in a La Verne juvenile camp for three months for a probation violation, the latest in a string of them stemming from a years-old drug possession charge, she said. But with county and state officials trying to lower jail populations to reduce the risk of a coronavirus outbreak, her son seemed like the perfect candidate to be let out early.
Martinez’s son suffers from asthma severe enough to require nebulizer treatments, and his probation officer submitted a petition asking the court to release the teen early, according to Martinez and her son’s attorney. And Martinez had what she thought to be a trump card — a picture of her son posing next to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey, who presented the boy with an award in 2018 after his quick thinking helped police capture a sexual assault suspect."
'Cartels are scrambling': Coronavirus snarls global drug trade
AP: "The coronavirus is dealing a gut punch to the illegal drug trade, authorities say, paralyzing economies, closing borders and severing supply chains in China that traffickers rely on for the chemicals to make such profitable drugs as methamphetamine and the powerful opioid fentanyl.
One of the main suppliers that shut down is in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the global outbreak.
Interviews with nearly two dozen law enforcement officials and trafficking experts found that Mexican and Colombian cartels are still plying their trade, as evidenced by a bust last month in which nearly $30 million worth of street drugs was seized in a new smuggling tunnel connecting a warehouse in Tijuana to southern San Diego. But the stay-home orders that have turned cities into ghost towns are disrupting steps including production, transport and sales."
Michelle Obama to read books each Monday to children stuck at home by coronavirus
Sac Bee's DON SWEENEY: "Kids stuck at home under coronavirus lockdown orders can read along with former First Lady Michelle Obama in a series of live stream events starting Monday, Variety reported.
“Mondays with Michelle Obama” will air at noon Eastern time each Monday through May 11, PBS Kids announced on Twitter.
The readings will stream live on PBS’ Kids Facebook page and YouTube channel as well as Penguin Random House’s Facebook page, USA Today reported."
Trump admin and Dems near deal for more aid to small businesses
LA Times's LAURA KING: "The Trump administration and congressional Democrats expressed optimism Sunday that more than $450 billion in loans and aid to Americans most affected by the coronavirus outbreak will be enacted this week, providing a measure of financial help as the U.S. death toll passes 40,000.
The bulk of the money is aimed at helping small-business owners, many of them pushed to collapse by the weeks-long shutdown of bars, restaurants, shops and other businesses in much of the country.
The package would also earmark $25 billion for coronavirus testing, which has become a major point of contention between President Trump and the nation’s governors, and $75 billion for beleaguered hospitals, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said Sunday."
16 killed in shooting rampage, deadliest in Canadian history
AP's ROB GILLIES: "A gunman disguised as a police officer shot people in their homes and set fires in a rampage across the Canadian province of Nova Scotia that killed 16 people, the deadliest such attack in the country’s history. Officials said Sunday the suspected shooter was also dead.
A police officer was among those killed. Several bodies were found inside and outside one home in the small, rural town of Portapique, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Halifax — what police called the first scene. Bodies were also found at other locations. The assault began late Saturday, and authorities believe the shooter may have targeted his first victims but then began attacking randomly.
Overnight, police began advising residents of the town — already on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic — to lock their doors and stay in their basements. Several homes in the area were set on fire as well."
