Republican groups sue Newsom over California's plan to mail ballots to all voters in November
The Chronicle's MATT KAWAHARA: "Three Republican groups filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom and Secretary of State Alex Padilla over an executive order to send mail-in ballots to all registered voters in California in November, in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Newsom issued this month’s order, requiring county elections officials to mail a ballot to everyone registered to vote for the upcoming general election, saying it would keep California residents from crowding polling places.
The lawsuit, brought by the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee and California Republican Party, seeks to bar the state from implementing the order, describing it as a “brazen power grab” that would “violate eligible citizens’ right to vote."
Courts to have final say over 'business interrruption' coverage
RICH EHISEN in Capitol Weekly: "With no compromise in sight, it appears the debate over business interruption insurance coverage will be solved by litigation, not legislation.
At issue are thousands of businesses around California with insurance policies to protect them against a sudden catastrophic event that forces them to close down for an extended period of time.
Like a global pandemic."
Schools would get $1B to help homeless students under bipartisan federal proposal
EdSource's CAROLYN JONES: "Homeless youth and families, who’ve been largely left out of federal coronavirus aid, would get more than $1 billion under a bipartisan proposal put forth this week in the U.S. Senate.
The proposal includes money for shelters, motel bills, food, school supplies and other services intended to help homeless students, whose numbers are expected to grow as unemployment soars to Depression-era levels nationwide.
“It’s what we need right now during this crisis,” said Darla Barbine, executive director of the National Network for Youth, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. “We were already at record levels of youth homelessness before the pandemic, but the coronavirus has put a spotlight on these deep fissures in our society."
California lawmakers pushing back on Newsom's pandemic spending plans
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing growing resistance from the Legislature to his strategy for emergency spending on the coronavirus pandemic, just as he is seeking billions of dollars more to shore up the state’s response.
At an Assembly hearing Friday to review $4.4 billion in additional funding requests from the Newsom administration, lawmakers from both parties expressed frustration that the governor has largely sidelined the Legislature during the pandemic.
“The way legislative notification has gone in the past is, ‘Everything’s done. We’re going to be announcing this and we’re giving you 10 minutes advance notice,’” said Assemblyman Phil Ting, the San Francisco Democrat who oversees the budget process in the Assembly. “What is the point of a Legislature if we’re like the public watching TV to get information? It doesn’t feel very democratic to me.”
California DMV issues another extension for expiring licenses, driving permits
Sac Bee's VINCENT MOLESKI: "The California Department of Motor Vehicles will be pushing back expiration dates for license holders due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a news release, the DMV said the extra extensions for noncommercial licenses and permits was meant to prevent unnecessary visits to DMV offices.
Only some DMV offices are currently open, including the field office in Carmichael, which is only open to scheduled appointments."
What lies ahead for post-shutdown cities? It depends on whom you ask
The Chronicle's JOHN KING: "Our nation only now is beginning to emerge from the first stifling phase of its efforts to contain the harrowing threat of a global pandemic. The pronouncements concerning “what comes next” for American cities, however, are already in high gear.
Depending on which supposedly omniscient source you prefer, the specter of a lethal virus that can be transmitted by air or a simple handshake signals the end to dense cities once and for all — or a chance to return to the creative, inclusive urban ideal. It proves the value of the private automobile — or the essential importance of public transit.
Just like political punditry, experts are happy to explain how the current crisis proves the point they’ve been making all along. But if the past 120 years of urban history are any indication, much of what we are hearing will turn out to be irrelevant or wrong."
On a virtual Memorial Day, online remembrances combine with real crowds at parks and beaches
The Chronicle's LAUREN HERNANDEZ: "It was a virtual Memorial Day Monday, with a Bay Area ravaged by the coronavirus replacing the in-person parades and cemetery services with videos and online commemorations of those who have given their lives in service to the country.
But that didn’t stop people from crowding into parks and beaches on a hot holiday afternoon.
While public health concerns canceled large-scale ceremonies, veterans groups still honored service members in nonpublic events across the the Bay Area, including a virtual memorial hosted by the USS San Francisco Memorial Foundation, and with private wreath-laying and ceremonial bell-ringing services in San Bruno and San Francisco."
2,000 join rally against Newsom's stay-at-home coronavirus orders at California's Capitol
Sac Bee's SAM STANTON/DALE KASLER: "It was the largest protest rally in Sacramento so far over COVID-19 shutdowns — with haircuts on the side.
At least 2,000 demonstrators came to the Capitol on Saturday to march around the grounds, feast on barbecue and demand that Gov. Gavin Newsom lift his restrictions on business, religious gatherings and other trappings of everyday life.
The demonstration, dubbed Liberty Fest, was a cross between a tailgate party, music festival and political statement. Organizers said it would be country’s largest Memorial Day weekend protest against coronavirus stay-at-home orders."
California Reeps think reopening the state is a winning election issue
The Chronicle's JOHN WILDERMUTH: "With California’s economy racked by the coronavirus pandemic, a growing number of GOP congressional candidates are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to move much more quickly to fully reopen the state’s economy.
In Orange County, Mission Viejo Councilman Greg Raths, who will challenge Democratic Rep. Katie Porter in November, sued Newsom this month after the governor ordered the county’s beaches closed.
“The people of Orange County deserve better than this,” he said."
Republicans move to disown California candidate over social media posts
The Chronicle's JOHN WILDERMUTH: "Republican leaders are frantically backpedaling away from the party’s candidate in a key Central Valley congressional race in reaction to a second report that his social media accounts formerly contained anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and conspiracy theory messages.
The National Republican Congressional Committee on Thursday pulled its endorsement of Ted Howze, who will face Democratic Rep. Josh Harder of Turlock (Stanislaus County) in the November election, and GOP leaders had harsh words for the messages that had been deleted.
Among them was a post on Howze’s Facebook page in September 2016 that said, “The Western world and Christian Nations should all be suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS! They obviously cannot be both ‘good’ Muslims and good Americans,” Politico reported Wednesday."
Coronavirus widens healthcare divide between red and blue states
LA Times's NOAM N LEVEY: "Jenny Morones and Courtney Marrs are both working mothers. Both labor to raise three children on low incomes. Both fled abusive relationships.
But because Morones lives in California — a state that expanded its safety net through the Affordable Care Act — she has health coverage. It protected her from financial ruin last year when a severe infection put her in the hospital.
Marrs lives in Texas, which refused to expand Medicaid through the healthcare law. That’s left her and hundreds of thousands of other Texans uninsured. Lack of coverage has forced Marrs to forgo asthma inhalers and dental work on a molar she said was broken in a domestic dispute. “I’ve been living on Orajel,” she said."
Bernie Sanders, iconoclast turned team player, leans in to help Joe Biden
LA Times's JANET HOOK: "Bernie Sanders, long seen by Democratic critics as a loose cannon and definitely not a team player, is stepping up to help former rival Joe Biden in ways likely to far exceed what he did for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Sanders ended his 2020 presidential campaign and cleared the field for Biden in April rather than fight to the bitter end as many supporters wanted. The Vermont senator is ordering his delegates to the Democratic convention to avoid criticizing Biden. Top lieutenants have set up a super PAC to back the former vice president. And Sanders allies have teamed up with Biden’s on task forces to develop the party platform.
That sets a tone very different from the mood in 2016, when Sanders stayed in the hotly contested nomination race against Clinton until June. His raucous supporters protested at the convention. Some ended up backing third-party candidates or Donald Trump. While Sanders himself campaigned hard for Clinton, their two camps continued to view each other with suspicion."
LA County COVID-19 cases top 46,000 on Memorial Day
LA Times's TONY BARBOZA: "Los Angeles County reported 1,047 new COVID-19 cases and 12 more deaths on Monday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 46,018 and fatalities to 2,116.
The additional cases and deaths come during a holiday weekend that county health officials are watching closely as a test of whether they can keep the virus in check while slowly easing restrictions.
“On this Memorial Day, as we join with those mourning the loss of their loved ones to COVID-19, including the families of the 1,100 veterans who recently passed away from COVID-19, we want to honor the memory of all the members of the armed forces who courageously gave of themselves to protect our country,” L.A. County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement. “We take to heart the lessons of courage and caring that mark this day of remembrance."
Sutter Health finds black patients get coronavirus diagnoses at later stage than white peers
Sac Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON: "The chief medical officer for Sutter Health is seeing a worrisome trend when it comes to COVID-19 diagnoses.
According to data reviewed by Dr. Stephen Lockhart, African Americans were almost three times more likely than their non-Hispanic white peers to learn they had the coronavirus-caused illness through an emergency room or hospital test.
The black patients also were far more likely to be admitted for care, leading Lockhart and research scientist Kristen Azar to postulate that they may be seen with more serious cases or at a more advanced stage than white patients."
Language interpreters prove crucial in Bay Area COVID-19 cases
The Chronicle's CAROLYN SAID: "The COVID-19 patient was gasping for breath. As her oxygen levels dropped, the ER team at San Francisco General Hospital knew she needed to be intubated and placed on a ventilator. They called a Cantonese interpreter to explain the gravity of the situation and what to expect.
Dr. Jessica Paz spoke in short sentences, pausing between each phrase to allow the interpreter to speak them in Cantonese over the phone. “We’ll give you medications to sleep.” “We will put a tube down your throat to get oxygen into your lungs.” “You will be connected to a machine to provide breaths for you.”
Barely able to speak, the patient nodded in understanding. Paz reassured the woman they would do everything they could to care for her. It was the last thing the patient heard from the interpreter before being put to sleep."
Bay Area search for coronavirus drugs extends far beyond remdesivir
The Chronicle's JD MORRIS: "Remdesivir, the antiviral drug made by Foster City’s Gilead Sciences that has recently shown promise in treating COVID-19 patients, will likely not turn the tide of the coronavirus pandemic on its own.
Doctors in the Bay Area know that, which is why they’re studying a host of other potential treatments that could be used to alleviate the worst symptoms of COVID-19 or keep people out of the hospital entirely. And the scope of the local research seems to be broadening.
The regional efforts raise the possibility that a major advancement in coronavirus treatments could come from the Bay Area, a research powerhouse that has produced drug breakthroughs before. But they have many competitors, as more than 220 treatments for the virus are in consideration worldwide, according to the Milken Institute."
Crowdsourced COVID Near You website generates map of coronavirus spread
The Chronicle's CAROLYN SAID: "Maps showing the spread of COVID-19 are invaluable for public health researchers, health care professionals and policymakers. Most are generated based on statistics reported to the government.
A new website, covidnearyou.org, asks everyday people to join in self-reporting coronavirus symptoms, using crowdsourcing to help picture where the disease is spreading or receding. Its real-time data help compensate for the fact that testing is still not sufficiently widespread.
“There is so much value to be gained by engaging the public directly in public health,” said Dr. Mark Smolinski, president of nonprofit Ending Pandemics, which partnered with Harvard and Boston Children’s Hospital on the site. Ending Pandemics previously created a sister website called Flu Near You to track influenza activity. “Direct community engagement can find hot spots sooner."
California bars, restaurants could renegotiate rent or quit leases in coronavirus relief bill
Sac Bee's HANNAH WILEY: "California restaurants and nonprofits financially devastated by the coronavirus outbreak could gain a safeguard from eviction and rent relief in a proposal approved Friday by state senators.
Senate Bill 939 would prevent commercial landlords from evicting certain small businesses and nonprofits during the pandemic. The proposal would also allow bars, restaurants and entertainment venues to renegotiate rent prices with their landlords if they’ve experienced a 40-percent drop in revenue or have limited their capacity by at least 25 percent to safely reopen their doors.
Tenants and landlords would have the flexibility to cut their own rent deal, and should negotiations turn sour, a lease could be terminated with limited financial consequences. Tenants would have a year from the end of the state of emergency to pay back rent owed."
The history of SF is being told during the pandemic, one telephone pole at a time
The Chronicle's PETER HARTLAUB: "The corner of Coleridge Street and Coso Avenue in Bernal Heights never appeared in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. It’s not memorably crooked, and no one from the Grateful Dead lived there.
That makes it the perfect for the Western Neighborhoods Project poster project, an act of “guerrilla history” responsible for hundreds of historic photos that have been showing up on telephone poles in far-flung city neighborhoods over the past two weeks.
The often hastily hung posters show homes, streets and views that are often more than a century old, positioned so passersby can get a then-and-now view of their neighborhood."
Bayer reaches deals on many of its 125,000 Roundup weedkiller lawsuits
BLOOMBERG's JEF FEELEY & TIM LOH: "Bayer has reached verbal agreements to resolve a substantial portion of an estimated 125,000 U.S. cancer lawsuits over use of its Roundup weedkiller, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
The deals, which have yet to be signed and cover an estimated 50,000 to 85,000 suits, are part of a $10-billion Bayer plan to end a costly legal battle the company inherited when it acquired Monsanto in 2018, the people said. Although some lawyers are still holding out, payouts for settled cases will range from a few thousand dollars each to a few million, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
Bayer is likely to announce the settlements, which need approval from the supervisory board, in June, people familiar with the negotiations said. None of the deals are signed, though plaintiffs’ lawyers are expected to do so the day of the announcement, the people said."
Reopened California park quickly shuts down again as Memorial Day weekend crowds surge
Sac Bee's MADDIE CAPRON: "A popular California hiking spot tried to welcome guests over Memorial Day weekend, but “overwhelming” crowds caused it to shut down again, the county parks department said.
Eaton Canyon Natural Areas and Trails opened up before Memorial Day weekend with several safety precautions, LA County Parks said on Facebook. Days after it reopened, crowds caused it to shut down again.
“Eaton Canyon Natural Areas and Trails are closed for the rest of today and for Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, due to overwhelming crowds that were not following the COVID-19 public health requirements,” the county parks and recreation department said."
When life dries up
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "Nowhere has California’s dry winter hit harder than the state’s far north.
In a handful of counties along the rural Oregon border, where late-season rains have done little to sate the parched forests and dusty plains, hundreds of farmers are at risk of having their irrigation water shut off — and watching their crops wither in the field.
The Klamath Project, a U.S. government-operated waterworks that steers runoff from the towering Cascades to more than 200,000 acres of potatoes, alfalfa, wheat, onions and other produce on both sides of the state line, is running low on supplies. The local water agencies served by the project say they may not have water to send to farms beyond next month."
California veterans home eyed for closure in Newsom's proposed budget cuts
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to close a $54 billion state budget deficit includes one small but difficult cut for an under-used state veterans home in the Mojave Desert.
Now, residents and workers at the Barstow Veterans Home are rallying to prevent the facility from being eliminated in the state budget. They have some help from state lawmakers, who in a committee have already asked Newsom to find an alternative spending cut.
California has eight veterans homes that collectively have about 2,400 beds for aging former military service members. The original one was built in Yountville in 1884. Barstow, the second, followed in 1996."
Trump says he'll pull GOP convention unless NC commits to 'full attendance' despite coronavirus
LA Times's ELI STOKOLS: "President Trump threatened Monday to move the Republican National Convention out of North Carolina if its Democratic governor doesn’t immediately guarantee party members can fill a Charlotte arena in August, though the state’s coronavirus outbreak is far from contained.
Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday loosened restrictions on hair salons, barbershops and restaurants, but larger venues such as gyms, bars, concert halls and arenas remain closed. The governor, who is up for reelection in November, has continued to limit public gatherings to no more than 10 people.
The Spectrum Center arena in Charlotte, which hosted the Democratic National Convention in 2012, can hold roughly 20,000 people at capacity, and the Republican convention was expected to draw about 50,000 people to Charlotte."
UN virus therapy trial pauses hydroxychloroquine testing
AP: "The World Health Organization said Monday that it will temporarily drop hydroxychloroquine — the antimalarial drug U.S. President Trump says he is taking — from its global study into experimental COVID-19 treatments, saying that its experts need to review all available evidence to date.
In a press briefing, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that in light of a paper published last week in the Lancet that showed people taking hydroxychloroquine were at higher risk of death and heart problems, there would be “a temporary pause” on the hydroxychloroquine arm of its global clinical trial.
“This concern relates to the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in COVID-19,” Tedros said, adding that the drugs are approved treatments for people with malaria or autoimmune diseases. Other treatments in the trial, including the experimental drug remdesivir and an HIV combination therapy, are still being tested."
