6,000-plus: California shatters its single-day record for most new coronavirus cases
The Chronicle's MATT KAWAHARA: "California shattered its single-day record for most new coronavirus cases Monday as the number of people hospitalized statewide due to the virus also reached record levels.
As of Monday evening, county health departments had reported more than 6,000 new cases, with several counties still yet to report, according to data compiled by The Chronicle. California hadn’t exceeded 4,515 new cases in a single day previously, according to the state’s health department.
Monday’s number included some counties reporting multiple-day totals after not updating their case counts over the weekend, and state officials note that daily case counts might not represent true day-over-day change due to lags in reporting of results."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: How can Bay Area counties prove they remain safe? 'It's a scoreboard' -- The Chronicle's ERIN ALLDAY/CATHERINE HO; Social gatherings help fuel rising coronavirus spread in parts of California -- LA Times's RONG-GONG LIN II; Here's what's behind Sacramento's recent coronavirus surge -- Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK
Newsom and top Dems have a budget deal. Here's what we know so far
Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG/WES VENTEICHER/HANNAH WILEY/KIM BOJÓRQUEZ: "California schools and health care programs will escape many proposed cuts under a budget deal announced Monday that Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders say will close a projected $54 billion deficit.
Details about the deal struck Sunday night were still sparse Monday, and Newsom declined to get into specifics during a news conference, saying more information would be available “in the coming hours, days and throughout the week.” The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic made budget negotiations particularly difficult, he said.
The latest spending deal apparently relies on more optimistic projections of revenue and expenses than Newsom had assumed."
READ MORE related to Economy: Here's what people are saying about California's state budget deal -- Sac Bee's MACKENZIE HAWKINS
$5.5B stem cell rescue plan makes November ballot
DAVID JENSEN in Capitol Weekly: "A $5.5 billion stem cell bond measure qualified this afternoon for the November ballot, but the campaign to win voter approval is facing an array of hurdles that its supporters never envisioned last summer when they were formulating the initiative.
Call it the COVID-19 crunch. The pressures include a $54 billion hole in the state budget,looming cuts involving schools and medical assistance for the poor, unemployment now standing at more than three million and predictions by the Federal Reserve that things could get worse. Even California’s famed Rosebowl is facing losses of up to $20 million.
That is not to mention that the wealthy folks who support such things as stem cell research are also feeling a squeeze from Covid. These are the donors who are usually called upon to help finance what is predicted to be a $50 million campaign on behalf of the measure."
Judge prohibits California from putting cancer warning on weed killer Roundup
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "Despite three trial verdicts awarding nearly $200 million to cancer victims who used Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, California cannot require a cancer warning on the product label because it is contradicted by “the great weight of evidence,” a federal judge ruled Monday.
In issuing a permanent injunction against the state’s attempt to place a cancer warning on the world’s most widely used weed killer, U.S. District Judge William Shubb of Sacramento did not prevent California from including Roundup’s main ingredient, glyphosate, on its own list of probable human carcinogens.
His ruling also does not affect the three Bay Area jury verdicts against Monsanto, now on appeal. Monsanto’s parent company, Bayer AG, faces as many as 125,000 lawsuits by users of Roundup and related products, and has tentatively agreed to pay $8 billion to settle 50,000 to 85,000 of them, according to a Bloomberg News report last month."
Community colleges grapple with students' basic needs
AKEMI TAMANAHA in Capitol Weekly: "Facing the pandemic and financial woes, California’s community colleges are struggling to provide programs to meet some of their students’ most basic needs, such as food and shelter.
The efforts come as many community college students report a loss of income, increased h0melessness and a worsening financial situation.
Lawmakers are considering legislation to deal with the issue."
With hospitalizations rising, Newsom says mask order isn't optional
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "California is seeing a growing number of COVID-19-related hospitalizations and intensive care unit cases, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday, making it all the more necessary that people follow his mandatory mask order in public.
“The reason we’re doing this is simple. Wearing face coverings saves lives and mitigates spread,” Newsom said during his Monday press conference. “As we reopen, all I ask is that we are more vigilant than we have been.”
The Democratic governor said that while his administration is looking to local governments to enforce the mask order, he has the power to go after those who are “thumbing their nose” at the requirement. He said that while masks previously were recommended, they are now mandatory in situations in which people cannot be socially distant."
Increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations tell 'sobering story,' Newsom says
LA Times's TARYN LUNA: "Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday that hospitalizations from COVID-19 grew 16% over the last two weeks as the state reported more than 46,000 new cases of the virus, marking significant increases as more Californians begin to return to a sense of normalcy.
The Democratic governor started easing his stay-at-home order roughly six weeks ago and has now allowed 54 of 58 counties in the state to open businesses again. Newsom also noted a modest uptick in the rate of positive cases — from 4.5% to 4.8% — in the last week. The number of patients in intensive care has also increased by 11% over two weeks, he said.
“Those that suggest we’re out of the woods, those that suggest this somehow is going to disappear, these numbers tell a very, very different and sobering story,” Newsom said."
California bans state travel to Idaho over transgender sports restrictions, birth certificate law
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Monday extended California’s ban on taxpayer-funded trips to a 12th state, adding Idaho to the list based on the state’s passage of two laws limiting the state’s acknowledgment of gender preferences.
Becerra’s order means public employees and college students may not travel to Idaho under provisions of a 2016 California law.
One of the northern state’s new laws, titled the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” bans transgender girls and women from participating in girls’ and women’s school sports. The law runs counter to guidance National Collegiate Athletic Association guidance, according to a news release from Becerra’s office."
Congressional candidate questions if 'Kung flu' is racist, drawing ridicule on Twitter
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "So, if ‘Kung flu’ is racist, does that make Bruce Lee and ‘Kung fu’ movies racist? And that song back in the 70s?”
So asked Buzz Patterson, a Republican challenging Rep. Ami Bera, a California Democrat, in November.
And the Twitter battle was on over Patterson’s use of the phrase coined Saturday by President Donald Trump to describe the coronavirus."
LA panel backs $133M in LAPD cuts, stopping far short of 'People's Budget'
LA Times's DAVID ZAHNISER: "A key committee of the Los Angeles City Council agreed Monday to cut the Police Department’s budget by more than $133 million, slashing police overtime pay in the coming year and taking the size of the force well below 10,000 officers.
The Budget and Finance Committee endorsed the reductions on a 4-to-1 vote, saying such a move would begin the process of reimagining public safety in L.A. while also helping the city cope with a major budget crisis.
Councilman Curren Price cast the only opposing vote, after pushing unsuccessfully for a larger reduction of $150 million. Price, the committee’s only Black member, said more aggressive action is needed, pointing to the recent death of Andres Guardado, an 18-year-old Gardena resident fatally shot by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy."
Trump announces new visa restrictions on immigrant workers but exempts agriculture, food service, health
LA Times's MOLLY O'TOOLE: "President Trump on Monday expanded a measure restricting visas to the United States to target many more temporary foreign workers, limiting immigrants from coming to the country for employment in industries including technology, academia, hotels and construction.
The order primarily affects H-1B visas, broadly set out for high-skilled workers; H-2B visas, for seasonal employees; L-1 visas, for corporate executives; and J-1 visas, for scholars and exchange programs, restricting new authorizations through Dec. 31. The new measure takes effect Wednesday.
Yet it also comes with broad exemptions, such as for many potential agricultural, healthcare and food industry workers. It does not change the status of immigrants already in the U.S."
Oakland schools agree to give girls equal access to sports programs, facilities
The Chronicle's BRETT SIMPSON: "The Oakland Unified School District will be scrutinized for the next three years to ensure that girls have equal access to sports programs and facilities, following proposed budget cuts that illuminated the underlying gender inequities of sports in Oakland schools.
On Monday, after two years of negotiations with attorneys representing the nonprofit Legal Aid at Work’s Fair Play for Girls in Sports project, the district announced a pre-litigation settlement agreement — in anticipation of Tuesday’s 48th anniversary of the Title IX federal law that mandates equal opportunity for girls and boys to participate in school sports.
“The partnership with Legal Aid at Work is an exciting and collaborative approach designed to fine-tune our system and ensure equity among athletic offerings, opportunities to play, and access to benefits and facilities,” said John Sasaki, the Oakland Unified School District’s director of communications. “We are excited to engage in this multiyear collaborative plan that underscores our commitment to serve the whole child, eliminate inequity, and give opportunities to all students to equally benefit from school-centered athletics."
Federal judge: San Quentin COVID-19 outbreak result of 'significant failure'
The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY/JASON FAGONE: "A federal judge wiped away tears Friday as he addressed an increasingly disastrous coronavirus outbreak at San Quentin prison, calling the recent transfer of infected prisoners to the facility a “significant failure of policy and planning.”
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar of Oakland said during the hearing that prison officials could still save lives if they act fast in transferring medically vulnerable prisoners to a brand-new facility, use a furlough-like system of releases or allow some inmates to serve their sentences at home under house arrest.
“We know what’s going to happen. We know,” Tigar said, his voice cracking. “So, you have the chance to avoid some unnecessary infection and mortality at San Quentin. Probably."
At Talladega, NASCAR fans reckon with a noose found in Bubba Wallace's garage stall
LA Times's JENNY JARVIED: "A large crowd of NASCAR drivers and pit crew members walked behind Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. in his No. 43 car Monday on their way to the front of the field before the NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 race at the Talladega Superspeedway.
After his Chevrolet Camaro came to a stop, Wallace climbed out and sobbed.
With thousands of NASCAR fans looking on, Richard Petty, the Hall of Fame NASCAR driver who was among Wallace’s many supporters, placed a hand on his shoulder."
Tom Petty's family wants Trump to stop playing 'I Won't Back Down' at rallies
LA Times's CHRISTIE D'ZURILLA: "Will the Trump campaign “back down”? The family of Tom Petty says a legal notice has been filed after the rocker’s song “I Won’t Back Down” was played prominently at the Trump rally Saturday in Tulsa, Okla.
“Trump was in no way authorized to use this song to further a campaign that leaves too many Americans and common sense behind,” said a statement on Twitter signed Saturday by Petty’s daughters Adria and Annakim, his widow, Dana, and ex-wife Jane.
They continued: “We would hate for fans that are marginalized by this administration to think we were complicit in this usage. Concurrently, we have issued an official cease and desist notice to the Trump campaign."
