Poll: Newsom approval plummeting; a third of voters support recall amid COVID-19 criticism
PHIL WILLON and TARYN LUNA: "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s job approval rating among California voters has plummeted, driven largely by dissatisfaction over the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and adding fuel to a Republican-led recall campaign, according to a new poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies.
More than a third of the state’s registered voters said they would vote to oust Newsom from office if the recall qualifies for the ballot, though 45% said they would oppose such a move, the survey found.
The decline in Newsom’s standing could endanger his policy agenda as he guides the state through the pandemic and as even his political allies begin to question the actions he has taken. It also provides a sobering sign for the 53-year-old Democrat that his once bright political future, for years the subject of whispers about a potential White House run, has lost some of its shine."
State workers earned $1.6B in overtime last year amid virus, wildfires
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "California state worker overtime pay increased sharply last year as firefighters, nurses, and unemployment benefit specialists worked extra hours to handle a series of disasters, according to new data from the State Controller’s Office.
The state paid about $1.57 billion in overtime in 2020, up almost $200 million, or 14%, from 2019. State overtime has been increasing for several years running, but last year’s jump was especially large as the state responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Correctional officers and doctors at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation accounted for the biggest chunk of overtime, followed by employees at Cal Fire, the California Highway Patrol and the Department of State Hospitals."
READ MORE related to Economy: How unemployed Californians launched new careers in a pandemic with 9 weeks of training -- Sac Bee's JEONG PARK; California state worker pay database updated with 2020 wages, overtime -- Sac Bee's PHILLIP REESE/WES VENTEICHER
Column: Recall threat sharpens Newsom’s focus on California’s troubled COVID-19 response
GEORGE SKELTON, Column, LAT: "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest reshuffling of pandemic rules suggests this paraphrase of an old line: Nothing so concentrates the mind as the thought of a recall.
There has only been one recall of a governor in California history — Democrat Gray Davis in 2003 — and it must still be frighteningly fresh in Newsom’s mind. Back then, he was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and about to be elected mayor.
The prospect of a Republican-backed recall attempt qualifying for a state ballot seems slightly better than 50-50. But the odds these days of any Democratic governor actually being recalled by voters in this deep blue state are very low without a celebrity Republican challenger — such as an Arnold Schwarzenegger, who ousted Davis. And none is in sight.
Republicans are emerging to run for governor should Newsom recall qualify
SEEMA MEHTA, LA Times: "Backers of an effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom are still collecting signatures, but rivals are already announcing their intention to run.
Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer plans to challenge the governor if the recall qualifies for the ballot this year, or in 2022 if it does not. In an interview with The Times, the Republican attacked Newsom’s handling of the economy, homelessness and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is time to be a voice for Californians who are suffering because Sacramento can’t do the basics,” Faulconer said. “This campaign is going to be about restoring balance and common sense to California, to get people back to work, to get our kids back to school and to get people proud of our state again.”
Bill to outlaw bear hunting in California withdrawn by lawmaker, after online campaign
Sac Bee's RYAN SABALOW: "Barely a week after it was introduced, a San Francisco state senator is no longer moving forward with legislation that would ban bear hunting in California.
With more pressing issues such as the pandemic underway, the senator felt “this isn’t the time to focus on this right now,” Catie Stewart, a spokesman for Sen. Scott Wiener, told The Sacramento Bee on Monday.
The Democrat introduced Senate Bill 252, “The Bear Protection Act” sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States late last month, saying California’s bear population was under threat from California’s “inhumane” bear hunting season."
California isn't fully tracking workplace COVID infections, deaths
Sac Bee's JASON POHL/DALE KASLER/PHILLIP REESE: "A year after the first COVID-19 case hit California, the state agency in charge of policing warehouses, offices, factories and other workplaces is woefully understaffed and significantly undercounting the number of employees who have fallen seriously ill or died as a result of the coronavirus.
California employers reported only 1,600 serious worker illnesses or deaths to the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA, from the start of the pandemic through mid-December, according to data obtained by The Sacramento Bee through a Public Records Act request.
The agency’s inspectors determined that only 779 of those serious or deadly infections were actually contracted in the workplace. That represents a tiny fraction of the 3.2 million people who have tested positive for the disease in California, and less than 2% of the more than 41,000 who have died from it."
California’s early vaccine rollout was chaotic and filled with problems. Here’s what went wrong
MAYA LAU and LAURA J. NELSON: "Some twentysomethings with social media jobs are getting COVID-19 vaccines before senior citizens.
More than a third of the Pfizer and Moderna doses in California appear to be unused, but health officials say they can’t give out shots more quickly.
And problems with the state’s data systems have left officials in the dark about how many doses have actually been administered, clouding the picture of the state’s progress."
READ MORE related to Vaccine: Bay Area counties frustrated with pace of nursing home and assisted living vaccinations -- The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI
Kaiser Permanente cancels vaccine appointments for more than 5,000 seniors in Silicon Valley
MAURA DOLAN, LA Times: "A vaccine shortage has forced Kaiser Permanente to cancel more than 5,000 appointments in Santa Clara County for seniors who had been set to receive COVID-19 inoculations.
In what Kaiser spokesman Marc Brown called “a very unfortunate development,” the hospital failed to receive the vaccines it anticipated when people had booked appointments for late January and early February.
Brown said staff had scheduled people for the vaccine based on previous deliveries and “guidance” from the state and county."
‘Anti-vax’ protesters could get free-speech area to prevent them from blocking COVID-19 vaccine distribution
HAYLEY SMITHR and RONG-GONG LIN II, LA Times: "Los Angeles officials on Monday expressed anger at anti-vaccine protesters who temporarily blocked the vaccine distribution center at Dodger Stadium on Saturday and said they hoped to avoid future disruptions.
“I was very upset and disheartened,” L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis said of the disruption to the vaccination efforts.
Solis said authorities will set up space for protesters in the future who can share their viewpoints but “won’t disrupt” the traffic flow."
California parents would get big tax breaks under Biden's COVID economic relief plan
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Chances are California parents will soon get more tax breaks that will probably be worth thousands of dollars.
President-elect Joe Biden is proposing big one-year increases in both the credit for child care, which allows breaks for the cost of such care, and the Child Tax Credit, which allows qualifying parents to reduce their tax bill for each child.
Expanding the Child Tax Credit could help the parents of an estimated 10.1 million children in California. The poorest 20% of state income earners – who make less than $26,500 a year – could get an average $4,250 tax break, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington-based economic research group."
'Goldilocks' storm brings light rains to the Bay Area after heavy downpours
The Chronicle's VANESSA ARREDONDO: "A light storm system will spread through the Bay Area early this week, bringing with it a smattering of rain and moderate winds — a contrast to last week’s storms that prompted evacuations and led to destructive landslides in some parts of Northern California, meteorologists said.
Light to moderate rain was expected in the North Bay on Monday evening before making its way across the region and down to the Central Coast. Moderate winds and some lingering rain, particularly in higher altitudes, is forecast through Wednesday morning, with regions drying out and warming up Thursday and into the weekend.
“This is kind of like a Goldilocks storm system with beneficial rainfall and breezy winds, but not the crazy 60 to 80 mile an hour winds we saw with the last system,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Drew Peterson. “It’s going to bring us exactly what we need right now, which is more rain, but there’s not going to be too much.”"
Debate about elitism at SF's Lowell High School reflects broader fight over merit-based admissions
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "For decades, San Francisco’s academically competitive Lowell High School has been a point of pride for the city, consistently one of the top performing public schools in the country, luring straight-A students and churning out prominent figures in politics, entertainment, literature and science.
But now, the so-called academic gem has come under fire by some who have condemned the school’s lack of diversity and raised concerns over racist incidents, leading to the school board’s abrupt proposal this week to eliminate the selective admissions process in favor of a random lottery like the district’s other high schools.
The plan quickly divided the city, pitting the value of a prestigious public school against the role and responsibility of a public education system meant to serve students equally. Critics argue that not only is Lowell exclusionary, but it lacks diversity — it’s majority Asian — and has more college-prep coursework and more resources than other district high schools."
Suspects could now face murder charges after death of storied detective Jack Palladino
The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY: "The Monday death of storied private eye Jack Palladino raised the legal stakes for the two men accused of trying to rob him, who now could face murder charges in addition to a slew of other felony crimes.
Prosecutors have already filed charges, including attempted murder and attempted robbery, against Lawrence Thomas, 24, of Pittsburg and Tyjone Flournoy, 23, of San Francisco, whom police arrested over the weekend. But that was before Palladino died after sustaining massive head injuries in the Thursday incident.
“We’ll likely elevate it to a murder charge once we get an opinion from the medical examiner about cause of death,” San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin said Monday afternoon."
Biden plan could reunite Bay Area families split by Trump's travel ban: 'Precious time has been stolen'
The Chronicle's MALLORY MOENCH: "On a video call across 8,000 miles, Fathiya Saleh showed her youngest daughter Shatha a romper she’d bought for her 9th birthday.
She told Shatha this would be the last gift she bought before her daughter arrives, “God willing.”
Then she carried the gift to a closet in her Oakland home piled with presents she hasn’t been able to give her husband and five children in Saudi Arabia."
