Gov. Newsom’s speedy reopening plan leaves Bay Area counties perplexed as coronavirus cases grow
From tghe Chronicle's ERIN ALLDAY and ALEXEI KOSEFF: "Faced with a ruined economy and mounting political pressure, Gov. Gavin Newsom has opted for a speedy reopening of the state after two months of sheltering in place. The decision has not been universally embraced, leading to a patchwork of policies among counties as life resumes in the shadow of the coronavirus.
Most of the Bay Area is refusing to go along with the governor’s accelerated pace, and a handful of local health officers have criticized his plan as overly risky, especially with COVID-19 case counts still climbing across the state.
San Francisco’s new public health order, revealed Thursday afternoon, allows for more businesses to reopen — but not for another two weeks. Even then the city will be far behind the governor’s statewide schedule. The city doesn’t intend to open indoor restaurants or hair salons for six weeks at least."
No mandatory paycuts for lawmakers, other leaders. Commission freezes salaries
Sac Bee's MATT KRISTOFFERSON/SOPHIA BOLLAG: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom, state lawmakers and other elected officials will see a salary freeze for the coming year, and the commission that sets their pay on Thursday encouraged them to take a voluntary pay cut.
Newsom plans to take a 10 percent pay cut, his spokesman Nathan Click said. That’s in line with the 10 percent cut he has proposed for state workers overall, including employees of his office.
That will be the first pay cut for a California governor since 2012, when the governor’s salary fell from $173,987 to $165,288."
State slow to crack down on COVID-19 'treatments'
DAVID JENSEN in Capitol Weekly: "The state of California and its top medical regulator remain mired in a go-slow posture on the regulation of “snake oil” stem cell clinics that are currently riding the COVID-19 crisis to peddle dubious treatments to desperate patients.
The marketing surge by the clinics has drawn increased attention nationally, including in prestigious scientific journals such as Cell Stem Cell whose usual fare deals with such things as “Stem Cell Hierarchy in Colorectal Cancer.
But one article published earlier this month was titled: “Preying on Public Fears and Anxieties in a Pandemic: Businesses Selling Unproven and Unlicensed ‘Stem Cell Treatments’ for COVID-19.””
Supreme Court weighs California's limits on church crowds during pandemic
LA Times's DAVID G SAVAGE: "The Supreme Court is set to decide on a religious freedom claim from a south San Diego County church that wants an exemption from California’s COVID-19 rules, which limit large gatherings for services.
Lawyers for the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista argue that the 1st Amendment’s protection of the “free exercise” of religion outweighs the state’s power to enforce a quarantine during a pandemic, at least when churches are subjected to stricter limits than other businesses or groups.
They said they had the support of President Trump, the U.S. attorneys in California and a growing number of religious conservatives who contend the state’s restrictions on church services go too far."
A Los Angeles County deputy public defender dies from COVID-19
LAT's MATT HAMILTON: "A Los Angeles County deputy public defender died earlier this week, just a few days after testing positive for COVID-19, officials confirmed late Thursday.
It marked the first coronavirus death in the ranks of the L.A. County public defender’s office, and it comes as courts across California chart a path to reopen services and ease restrictions.
Ricardo Garcia, the county’s top public defender, did not identify the deceased attorney, but said the person worked in the West Covina branch office and died Wednesday."
Cops can't require fees for editing body cam videos, California Supreme Court says
Sac Bee's ROSALI O AHUMADA: "The California Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that public agencies cannot require fees for redacting police body camera video before releasing it under a public records request.
In a unanimous decision, the state’s highest court ruled that agencies cannot charge these fees to simply redact images in video footage, such as blurring a bystander’s face. In a concurring opinion by Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, he wrote that these editing costs could stand in the way of the California Public Records Act.
“Allowing government agencies to charge potentially steep sums for mere redactions that must be routinely performed by municipal employees for PRA requests — fees that could very well stand as a practical obstacle to the public’s right of access — would hinder that purpose,” Cuéllar said."
Chinese billionaire helped LA councilman settle sexual harassment suit, feds say
LA Times's DAVID ZAHNISER/EMILY ALPERT REYES: "As Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar was preparing to run for his third and final term in 2014, he was facing enormous political pressure.
County Supervisor Gloria Molina, one of the biggest names in Eastside politics, had just launched a campaign to unseat him. One of his former staffers had accused him of sexual harassment and was seeking a payout from the city.
Then, the lawsuit was abruptly settled. The city paid her nothing. And Huizar refused to say how he had persuaded Francine Godoy, his onetime deputy chief of staff, to drop her claims."
READ MORE related to Boys Club: Garcetti, Martinez call on LA City Councilman Huizar to resign -- LA Times's DAKOTA SMITH
California's draft guidelines for reopening schools include costly and long to-do list
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER/DUSTIN GARDINER: "The state’s draft guidelines for reopening schools detail a costly and logistically challenging checklist that educators say will be nearly impossible to complete, given projected budget cuts.
The Chronicle obtained a summary of the draft, with the governor expected to release a final version Friday, that will guide a return to school for California’s 6 million K-12 students. It is possible that students across the state would continue with 100% distance learning simply because their schools cannot afford to reopen safely, education officials said Thursday based on expected safety guidelines.
The list includes installation of handwashing stations, 6 feet of separation at all times and staggered student arrival times, among other recommendations."
READ MORE related to Reopening, Phase II: Reopening California off to a slow start as customers stay away, fears of virus still loom large -- LA Times's STAFF; A Tahoe county removes travel ban, but California still doesn' t allow tourism to the lake -- The Chronicle's ALEJANDRO SERRANO
California Senate balks at Newsom's 'draconian' budget cuts, proposes more borrowing instead
Sac Bee's HANNAH WILEY: "Dentist appointments for low-income Californians.
A black infant health program.
Housing for California’s foster youth."
Sonoma County sheriff criticizes county's health order, says he won't enforce it
The Chronicle's LAUREN HERNANDEZ: "Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said Thursday that he will stop enforcing the county’s shelter-in-place order on June 1 because he believes the past and current orders put “significant restrictions on our freedoms.”
In a Facebook post, Essick said the county’s initial and subsequent health orders since the start of the coronavirus pandemic have been “far more restrictive” than guidelines in neighboring counties and in statewide orders.
He said the county — which has reported 531 coronavirus cases and 4 deaths as of Thursday — has dramatically increased its testing capacity which he said has shown the infection rate is “under control and decreasing.” County officials have conducted 23,362 coronavirus tests, according to county data."
READ MORE related to Pandemic Guidelines: SF expands mask-wearing reqs to outdoor use -- The Chronicle's STAFF
Schools should encourage but not require students to wear face covering, draft guidance says
EdSource's LOUIS FREEDBERG: "Students should be encouraged but not required to use face coverings when California schools reopen for classroom instruction, according to a draft of “interim guidance” from the state obtained by EdSource.
However, all staff should use face coverings, according to the document, which sources familiar with it say was drawn up by the California Dept. of Public Health in collaboration with the governor’s office.
That is only one of the numerous issues addressed in the document on what schools need to take into account when reopening. The guidelines, it says, are based on “the best available public health data at this time, international best practices and the practical realities of managing school operations.”
Sacramento nursing home workers move to strike over 'continued negligence' with PPE, testing
Sac Bee's ELAINE CHEN: "Employees at Windsor Care Center of Sacramento have authorized a strike because the nursing home’s management has not provided personal protective equipment and coronavirus testing, the union representing said Thursday.
Windsor Sacramento, a 128-bed facility, has not had any reported COVID-19 cases or deaths. But, its employees, represented by SEIU Local 2015, are concerned about a lack of disease-prevention measures and the “continued negligence (of) this employer to address such critical needs in this moment,” said Arnulfo De La Cruz, executive vice president of the union.
The strike authorization does not automatically mean a work stoppage will occur, De La Cruz said. The union, which represents over 400,000 long-term care workers across California, is in the middle of contract negotiations that include demands to improve PPE and testing."
Pandemic casts a shadow on future of SF's would-be high rise hub
The Chronicle's JOHN KING: "Uncertainty has always clouded the urbane visions of an emerging high-rise residential district at Market Street and Van Ness Avenue, so it seems weirdly appropriate that the plan has now been approved in the midst of a global pandemic.
That’s what San Francisco’s Planning Commission did last week — clearing the way for a cluster of apartment and condominium towers that on paper has the potential to be a dynamic crossroads. A place where downtown workers live above bustling pedestrian-filled sidewalks and plazas.
It’s also the type of idealized 21st century setting thrown into doubt by the pervasive impact of the coronavirus on everything from the global economy to how we behave in public — if we choose to venture out at all."
George Floyd protesters set Minneapolis police station ablaze; National Guard ordered in
LA Times's MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE/MELISSA ETEHAD: "Protesters late Thursday lobbed bottles, trampled a perimeter fence, broke windows and overran a Minneapolis police station that has become the epicenter of outrage over the death of George Floyd. Crowds continued to ransack the station, burn cars and fire guns in the air early Friday.
It was near the station that four officers stopped Floyd, 46, on Monday in an encounter captured on video by bystanders. A shopkeeper had called police, saying someone had tried to use a fake $20 bill. One of the officers, who is white, knelt on Floyd’s neck, ignoring the man’s pleas that he couldn’t breathe. Floyd, who was black, died soon after. All four officers have since been fired, but none have been charged in connection with the incident.
Minneapolis officials warned protesters overnight to stay away from the 3rd Precinct station, citing unconfirmed reports of cut gas lines and explosives in the building, but crowds lingered and fires contined to burn early Friday. National Guard troops and Minneapolis police protected fire trucks as firefighters fought several blazes. Members of the Guard were also deployed to protect banks, grocery stores and pharmacies."
READ MORE related to Abuse Under Color of Authority: 7 shot at Kentucky protest over fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor -- AP
Trump calls Minneapolis protesters 'thugs,' vows action
AP JILL COLVIN/COLLEEN LONG: "President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to take action to bring the city of Minneapolis “under control,” calling violent protesters outraged by the death of a black man in police custody “thugs” and saying that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Trump tweeted after protesters torched a Minneapolis police station, capping three days of violence over the death of George Floyd, who pleaded for air as a white police officer knelt on his neck.
He said he spoke to the state's Democratic governor, Tim Walz, and “told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"
Twitter flags tweet by Trump as 'glorifying violence' as protesters rage in Minneapolis
LA Times's HENRY CHU: "Twitter has tagged a tweet by President Trump as a violation of its rules “about glorifying violence” after he threatened a harsh crackdown on protests in Minneapolis, warning that “any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
The move by the social media giant is sure to inflame the growing hostility between the White House and Twitter, hitherto Trump’s favored mode of communication. After the company began flagging some of his tweets as misleading earlier this week, Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at limiting the immunity of some digital media companies over the content on their platforms.
On Friday morning, after his tweet on the George Floyd protests was tagged, Trump complained — again on Twitter — that the company was biased against him and others on the political right. “Twitter is doing nothing about all of the lies & propaganda being put out by China or the Radical Left Democrat Party. They have targeted Republicans, Conservatives & the President of the United States,” Trump wrote, vowing that the platform “will be regulated!"
