Shootings in Oakland soar as cuts to PD take hold
The Chronicle's PHIL MATIER: "As disturbing as Oakland’s rising homicide rate is, the numbers tell only part of the story.
Oakland has had 14 homicides since the start of the year — that compares with a single homicide during the same time period last year.
If the homicides continue at the current rate, Oakland is looking at 168 homicides by the end of the year. In 2020 there were 102, and in 2019 there were 75."
PG&E settlement fund $1B short for California wildfire victims, trust's leader warns
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER: "The trust established by PG&E Corp. to pay California wildfire victims is “more than $1 billion short” of what’s needed to pay anticipated claims, the trust’s overseer said.
In a letter to victims filed Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the head of the Fire Victim Trust said the shortfall is the result of a downturn in PG&E’s stock price, which makes up about half of the settlement fund.
“To date, with the stock at its present value, the Trust is more than $1 billion short of its intended settlement value,” wrote retired appeals court Justice John Trotter, the fund’s trustee."
After DC riot, California spent $22M protecting its Capitol and state buildings
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "California spent $22.2 million to secure the Capitol and other sites in Sacramento and elsewhere against potential civil unrest in the aftermath of the U.S. Capitol insurrection earlier this month.
Most of the money went to the California Highway Patrol, which protected a fortified Capitol over the week leading up to President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
The state spent $18.5 million to support the CHP deployment, $2.8 million for the California Military Department, $642,000 for the Department of General Services, $176,000 for the Office of Emergency Services and $36,000 for Cal Expo, according to the California Department of Finance."
Oakland airport terminal closed after delayed passenger claims to have bomb
The Chronicle's MICHAEL WILLIAMS: "Upset over a delayed flight, a passenger at Oakland International Airport on Sunday told airline employees that he had a bomb in his bag — prompting one of the airport’s two terminals to be evacuated.
The threat was unfounded, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said in a Twitter post, and the man was arrested.
The incident happened around noon, authorities said. Deputies found the man and arrested him “after a brief struggle.”"
Another winter storm to pass over Northern California
Sac Bee's VINCENT MOLESKI: "Having just recovered from a severe storm over Northern California that ripped trees out of the earth, the region is preparing for more inclement weather, although likely not as destructive.
The National Weather Service’s Sacramento office predicts the system will move into Northern California on Monday and last through Wednesday morning.
Describing the upcoming system as “not nearly the magnitude as the last storm” — which brought 60 mile-per-hour gusts to Sacramento — meteorologists say the Valley can expect moderate rainfall and substantial snow at high elevations of the Sierra Nevada."
READ MORE related to Air/Climate/Environment: Light rains to return, linger in the Bay Area -- The Chronicle's VANESSA ARREDONDO; After a snowy few days in Northern and Southern California, there's more to come this week -- LA Times's LAURA NEWBERRY
Co-founder of anti-Trump Lincoln Project accused in multiple cases of sexual harassment
AP: "The influential anti-Trump group Lincoln Project is denouncing one of its co-founders after multiple reports that over several years he sexually harassed young men looking to break into politics.
In a statement on Sunday, the Lincoln Project called co-founder John Weaver, 61, “a predator, a liar, and an abuser” following reports that he repeatedly sent unsolicited and sexually charged messages online to young men, often while suggesting he could help them get work in politics.
“The totality of his deceptions are beyond anything any of us could have imagined and we are absolutely shocked and sickened by it,” the Lincoln Project said in its statement. The group is the most prominent “Never Trump” Republican super PAC to emerge during the 45th president’s time in the White House."
UK, Brazil coronavirus variants found in Bay Area
The Chronicle's TATIANA SANCHEZ: "Two additional coronavirus variants have been discovered in the Bay Area, making even more urgent California’s commitment to a faster and more efficient distribution of vaccinations across the state.
The variants, which originated in Brazil and the United Kingdom and have spread to numerous countries, were identified in the Bay Area by scientists at Stanford University’s Clinical Virology Lab, spokeswoman Lisa Kim confirmed Sunday. She provided no information on the location of the infections but said they were reported to public health authorities on Thursday from samples “collected less than two weeks prior to reporting.”
The spread of the coronavirus mutations comes as California is turning over vaccine distribution to the Oakland-based health insurance company Blue Shield, with assistance from Kaiser Permanente, in an effort to speed up what has been among the slowest vaccination rollouts in the country."
READ MORE related to Pandemic: How the coronavirus flooded California and swamped LA -- Sac Bee's SEAN GREENE/ANDREA ROBERSON
Here are the likely candidates on Newsom's list to be California's AG
The Chronicle's DUSTIN GARDINER: "The musical-chairs effect of President Biden’s election on California politics is nearing an end as Gov. Gavin Newsom narrows his list of appointees for state attorney general.
The post is expected to open soon because Attorney General Xavier Becerra is Biden’s nominee for secretary of health and human services, and his path to confirmation has become clearer now that Democrats have taken control of the Senate. Assuming Becerra is confirmed, Newsom would appoint someone to fill the remaining nearly two years of his term.
Whomever Newsom chooses could have a significant impact on criminal-justice reforms and the lawsuits the state pursues related to environmental and consumer safety."
What could GOP's COVID relief counteroffer mean for stimulus checks? What to know
Sac Bee's BAILEY ALDRIDGE: "A group of Republican senators sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Sunday urging him to consider their smaller COVID-19 relief counterproposal to his administration’s $1.9 trillion plan.
The letter says the framework “builds on prior COVID assistance laws” that passed with bipartisan support, reflects many of Biden’s “stated priorities” and could quickly be approved by Congress.
“We request the opportunity to meet with you to discuss our proposal in greater detail and how we can work together to meet the needs of the American people during this persistent pandemic,” the letter says."
READ MORE related to Economy/Relief Package: LA and Oregon disclosing workplace outbreaks. Most Bay Area health officers won't. Why? -- The Chronicle's CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO/SHWANIKA NARAYAN; 10 GOP senators offer to negotiate with Biden over COVID-19 relief bill -- LA Times's LAURA KING
Vaccine ruled out as COD in man who had COVID-19, Placer County officials say
Sac Bee's VINCENT MOLESKI: "The Placer County Sheriff-Coroner Office ruled out a coronavirus vaccine as the cause of death in a 64-year-old man who died on Jan. 21 shortly after being administered a dose.
The man, a health care worker at a facility in the county, tested positive for COVID-19 in late December and, according to a Saturday update from the Sheriff’s Office, “he also had underlying health issues, and had been exhibiting symptoms of illness at the time the vaccine was administered.”
Several hours after receiving the vaccination, the man died, but the Sheriff’s Office was clear in stating that the vaccine was not to blame: “Clinical examination and lab results have determined the COVID-19 vaccine has been ruled out as a contributing factor in the individual’s death.”"
Bay Area activists hope Black History Month will drive racial justice
The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI: "It’s not lost on Carolyn Johnson that Black History Month this year comes after an extraordinarily complicated time for African Americans.
Johnson, an Oakland resident, along with the rest of the country has seen a riot in which Trump supporters sporting Confederate flags and white nationalist imagery attacked the Capitol. She’s watched historic protests over police brutality.
She’s witnessed a pandemic that had a disproportionate impact on Black communities nationwide — sickening them at high rates while also exacerbating unemployment and housing insecurity."
Is Sacramento really 'The Midwest of California?' Transplants give us the final word
Sac Bee's ASHLEY WONG: "If you’ve ever seen “Lady Bird” — and you’ll be hard pressed to find a Sacramentan who hasn’t — you’ll likely remember the iconic, drawling putdown of California’s capital delivered by the titular protagonist.
“I have to get out of Sacramento,” Lady Bird says. “It’s soul-killing. It’s the Midwest of California.”
Setting aside the irony of Lady Bird casting this stone while frolicking in a glittering outdoor pool in late winter, many Midwesterners will recognize the dismissal in her pronouncement, expressed by Californians who view the Midwest as nothing more than a series of corn-fed cow towns."
Push to reopen schools could leave out millions of students
AP's GEOFF MULVIHILL/ADRIAN SAINZ/MICHAEL KUNZELMAN: "President Joe Biden says he wants most schools serving kindergarten through eighth grade to reopen by late April, but even if that happens, it is likely to leave out millions of students, many of them minorities in urban areas.
“We’re going to see kids fall further and further behind, particularly low-income students of color,” said Shavar Jeffries, president of Democrats for Education Reform. “There’s potentially a generational level of harm that students have suffered from being out of school for so long.”
Like some other officials and education advocates, Jeffries said powerful teachers unions are standing in the way of bringing back students. The unions insist they are acting to protect teachers and students and their families."
READ MORE related to Education: California public schools suffer record enrollment drop -- The Chronicle's RICARDO CANO
A House Republican launches campaign to 'take back our party'
LA Times's JENNIFER HABERKORN: "As the Republican Party wrestles with its identity in the wake of former President Trump, an Illinois Republican is out to prove there is a GOP voter base that wants to give up the division and conspiracy theories that he says have come to define the party.
“The biggest danger right now is that we’ve become a party that dabbles — not just dabbles — we traffic in conspiracies and we traffic in lies,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who on Sunday plans to release a video and website, country1st.com, to start the campaign.
Kinzinger, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump earlier this month, has been one of the few GOP lawmakers willing to speak out against the former president’s actions. The campaign effort positions him alongside Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as one of the leaders of a wing of the party seeking to distance itself from Trump."
Russia arrests 5,100 as protests backing opposition candidate Alexei Navalny flare anew
LA Times's VASILIY KOLOTILOV: "Chants of “Putin is a thief!” and “Freedom!” echoed through snowy streets and squares of Russia on Sunday, as tens of thousands of protesters turned out across the country in a show of support for jailed anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny.
More than 5,100 people were arrested nationwide, a monitoring group said, as the demonstrations triggered a massive and often heavy-handed police response. Those detained included Navalny’s wife, Yulia.
The protests in Moscow and elsewhere across the vast country marked a second straight weekend of demonstrations demanding freedom for Alexei Navalny, who was arrested Jan. 17 upon his return to Russia from Germany. The 44-year-old activist had spent five months in Berlin recuperating from an attempt to kill him with a military-grade nerve agent, which was widely blamed on Russia’s security apparatus."
