UC regents unanimously approve plan to drop SAT and ACT from admissions
The Chronicle's RON KROICHICK: "The University of California Board of Regents, in a landmark move that could reshape the college admissions process across the country, voted Thursday to drop the SAT and ACT testing requirement.
The unanimous decision, after hours of spirited debate in a teleconference meeting, adopted UC President Janet Napolitano’s proposal made last week. Napolitano recommended that UC make standardized tests optional for two years, then become “test blind” for two years.
Students applying to UC schools in the fall of 2021 or 2022 will have the option of submitting test scores for admissions. Those who choose not to provide scores will not be penalized."
Autopsies of 34 who died in Conception boat fire offer grim new details
LA Times's RICHARD WINTON: "Within days of the dive boat Conception bursting into flames off the Channel Islands and killing 34 people, the Santa Barbara County coroner declared that the deaths were the result of smoke inhalation and that all died below deck.
But documents from the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s coroner’s operation released eight months after the disaster raise new questions about those final moments below.
Of the 33 passengers and one deckhand below deck, at least six were wearing shoes, boots or some kind of footwear when their bodies were discovered, according to the coroner’s records."
GOP candidate Darrell Issa sues California governor over vote-by-mail order sparked by virus
Sac Bee's SAM STANTON: "Seizing upon President Donald Trump’s recent criticism of states moving to vote-by-mail efforts during the coronavirus pandemic, former Republican Rep. Darrell Issa and four others sued California Gov. Gavin Newsom Thursday over his executive order that all voters receive a mail-in ballot for November’s general election.
The lawsuit, filed by lawyers for the conservative Judicial Watch group in Washington, D.C., alleges that Newsom overstepped his authority with the order and that the governor’s move could lead to questions about the legitimacy of election outcomes and subsequent federal court challenges.
Issa, a San Diego-area Republican campaigning to return to Congress, also argued that the move has forced him to “reevaluate his electoral strategy in order to campaign in the 50th Congressional District."
CW Podcast: Jim Wunderman of the Bay Area Council
Capitol Weekly STAFF: "Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council, joins the Capitol Weekly Podcast to talk about the impact of the coronavirus on his association’s members, and what to expect as California reopens. What you can’t expect is for things to be the same as they were before COVID-19.
Businesses are revising work-from-home and other policies, and most of his members expect to see dramatic workplace changes in the wake of the pandemic. Wunderman also weighs in Tesla’s standoff last week with Alameda County and what that means for Tesla’s — and Elon Musk’s — future in the Golden State."
Newsom's promise to feed California seniors falling short so far
LA Times's TARYN LUNA: "When Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the start of an initiative last month to deliver free meals to California seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic, he declared that “the universe of those eligible is certainly in the millions.”
“Even if it’s hundreds of thousands that take advantage of this, just in weeks you’ll see millions and millions of meals as part of this program,” the governor said at his April 24 news conference.
But nearly a month later, the Great Plates Delivered program has served only 16,377 seniors. Local leaders say delayed information from the state, the duplication of existing services to provide meals to seniors and questions about the government reimbursement have hampered the ability to quickly ramp up the program."
California unemployment backlog boils over in Capitol
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "The state’s embattled unemployment department will hire 1,800 people — including 600 phone agents — over the next two weeks as the state frantically scrambles to help respond to frustrated out-of-work California residents who continue to get jammed phone lines and lengthy waits for answers.
Sharon Hilliard, director of the Employment Development Department, heard a barrage of complaints from California Assembly and Senate members Thursday at budget hearings.
One by one, Assembly members described constituents’ frustration getting through to the agency, which manages the state’s unemployment insurance program."
FB, Google donated millions to Newsom's pandemic fight. Which other companies gave?
Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Google provided free ad credits for COVID-19 public service announcements.
Zoom gave money to connect students with technology needed for remote schooling.
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer donated to provide trailers for homeless people."
123k-plus sign up so far to get health coverage in special Covered California enrollment
Sac Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON: "More than 123,000 state residents have signed up for insurance coverage through Covered California as part of a special enrollment period launched March 20 amid a surge in cases of COVID-19.
“When the worst is happening in people’s personal economic lives, we want to make sure that Californians know they can have the peace of mind that comes with quality health care coverage,” said Peter V. Lee, the executive director of Covered California. “Whether Californians have lost job-based health insurance coverage, or they were uninsured when this pandemic began, our doors are wide open to help them get coverage through either Covered California or Medi-Cal.”
Millions of people have lost their jobs and the employer-sponsored health insurancethat came along with it as layoffs mounted when businesses were forced to close during the stay-home orders. If you purchased your own insurance policy but have since lost your job, go to coveredca.com to determine whether you are now eligible for greater financial assistance. The state of California started offering subsidies this year."
When eviction protections are lifted, how will people afford to pay accumulated rent?
The Chronicle's OTIS R TAYLOR JR: "On May 6, Lorenzo Perez got a notice on the door of the Walnut Creek apartment he shares with his wife, Lesly Ordonez, and their two children. It said they had three days to pay rent or quit.
In other words, the landlord was threatening to evict the family.
“I haven’t worked since March 15, so of course I’m very worried,” Perez, a grill cook, told me. “The most stressful thing is that we don’t know when things go back to normal."
Little sense of shared grief as virus deaths near 100,000
LA Times's NOAH BIERMAN/ELI STOKOLS: "For months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the nation ached together in televised memorials, joining in a collective catharsis of uniformed salutes, bagpiped dirges and President George W. Bush declaring a national day of mourning and remembrance.
The space shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986 turned classrooms into grieving sessions, with President Reagan directly addressing the national wounds. The Japanese attack on Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor in 1941 was a day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt said would live in “infamy,” uniting the mainland to enter a world war.
Yet as the nation nears 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 — far more than all those tragic events combined or the entire Vietnam War — there is little sense this Memorial Day weekend that Americans are grieving together or uniting in a sense of purpose."
4 million SoCal jobs may be at risk because of coronavirus, report finds
LA Times's SAMMY ROTH: "Southern California faces a dire economic outlook over the next two years, with high unemployment rates expected to linger through 2021 and many more jobs at risk than unemployment data may suggest, according to two new reports.
Consultants at McKinsey & Co., who have been exploring the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on jobs and economies globally, conducted an analysis this week focused on Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. They looked at how social-distancing requirements and reduced demand are likely to affect workers across 800 different occupations and dozens of industries.
The results were staggering."
READ MORE related to Economy: When should Americans expect a second coronavirus stimulus check? -- Sac Bee's KATE IRBY; Lives or livelihoods? Bay Area seeks balance in reopening economy -- The Chronicle's CAROLYN SAID
State tells Sac County to back off on allowing gatherings, fitness studios to open
Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK/SAM STANTON: "It turns out Memorial Day weekend will not be quite the big economic and social reopening moment that Sacramento residents and businesses owners had hoped.
Sacramento County health chief Peter Beilenson on Thursday reversed his approval from earlier this week for fitness centers to reopen, saying state health officials had stepped in to tell him it’s too soon.
Beilenson said state health officials also told him to back off of his plans to allow groups of up to 10 get together, with social distancing, starting this weekend."
Bay Area getting better at buyer personal protective equipment, but nurses still feel vulnerable
The Chronicle's DOMINIC FRACASSA: "More than two months into the COVID-19 pandemic, county officials and health care providers across the Bay Area are still facing bewildering roadblocks in their efforts to procure sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment, or PPE.
Accessing steady streams of vast amounts of medical gowns, gloves, masks and disinfectant has presented unprecedented logistical challenges that officials are only now starting to smooth out, thanks largely to their ability to buy from reliable suppliers — a process that took considerable time to figure out.
About the time the Bay Area shelter-in-place started in mid-March, “everyone out there, whether it’s a fire department or a board-and-care home, they weren’t getting what they needed,” said Jim Morrissey, a tactical medical program director who’s helping coordinate the procurement of PPE for Alameda County’s Emergency Operations Center."
With roads wide open and nowhere to go, this year's Memorial Day weekend could be the quietest ever
The Chronicle's SAM WHITING: "Gas is cheap. The roads are wide open. The car is waiting in the driveway and the battery is dead.
That sums up the outlook of the American Automobile Association, which expects the number of holiday weekend travelers to hit a record low. So low that for the first time in 20 years, AAA did not bother to send out a Memorial Day travel forecast.
“We don’t expect a lot of people to hit the road,” said Sergio Avila, Public Relations Specialist for AAA Northern California, Nevada and Utah. “It’s a weird time."
