As California preps to ‘transform’ its youth prisons, can counties take up the slack?
JAMES RAINEY, LA Times: "Eighty years after California created separate incarceration facilities to spare teenagers from being locked up alongside adults, the state has pledged to begin the shutdown of its long-troubled and frequently violent youth prisons.
The planned dismantling of the Division of Juvenile Justice, or DJJ, comes after years of scandal and mistreatment of young offenders, which spurred multiple reform efforts and more than a decade of state court oversight that ended in 2016. The shutdown mirrors changes across the country — embracing rehabilitation over punishment and confinement close to home, rather than in isolated state facilities.
Three remaining DJJ prisons will stop taking new prisoners in July, with rare exceptions. California plans to close the facilities — twin lockups in Stockton and another in Ventura — in July 2023, under a state law passed last year and a budget directive issued in January by Gov. Gavin Newsom."
L.A. County reports lower COVID-19 numbers over holiday weekend
CITY NEWS SERVICE, LA Daily News: "Los Angeles County reported 1,936 new cases of COVID-19 and 82 additional deaths as officials said the relatively lower numbers may reflect reporting delays over the weekend.
The number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals continues to fall, dropping from 3,426 Saturday to 3,270, with 30% of those people in intensive care. The Los Angeles Department of Public Health said Saturday that the county’s hospitalization rate has declined 37% since Feb. 1.
The seven-day average for the county’s daily test positivity rate, which has also been steadily declining, dropped to 5.1% Sunday from 5.3% the previous day."
Coronavirus: Santa Clara County will open ‘large-scale’ vaccination site in Gilroy
ETHAN BARON, Mercury News: "Santa Clara County will open a “large-scale” vaccination site at Gilroy High School by the end of the month in what officials say is part of an effort to increase vaccine access in parts of the county with the highest rates of COVID-19.
The appointment-only site, at 750 W. 10th St., will be launched in partnership with the Gilroy Unified School District and will vaccinate about 1,000 people per day or more, the county said. Daytime, weekend and evening appointments will be available.
“Gilroy residents face the highest case and positivity rates of any city in the county,” a county news release noted."
Health experts say CDC school reopening guidelines miss the mark
TATIANA SANCHEZ and SUSIE NEILSON, Chronicle: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally issued guidelines last week on how to reopen schools safely. But some Bay Area health experts are not sure that what the federal agency is recommending makes sense — or that it has students’ mental health in mind.
The CDC on Friday outlined its much-anticipated guidance for returning for K-12 students to in-person instruction in the coming year. It recommends handwashing, disinfection of school facilities, diagnostic testing and contact tracing to identify infections and separate infected people from others in a school.
The CDC guidance is advisory — much as its public health guidance about gatherings, mask-wearing and the like are at the discretion of states and communities. Local school districts still will make their own decisions, and the CDC guidelines cannot be implemented in San Francisco until the school district and unions agree fully on conditions for a reopening."
Column: California Senate Republicans take a step back from Trump with new leader
GEORGE SKELTON, LA Times: "A Republican moderate takes over as state Senate minority leader this week — a small, post-Trump step that could help rejuvenate the California GOP.
Sen. Scott Wilk, 61, of Santa Clarita is a throwback Republican lawmaker, the type needed by the GOP if it’s ever going to move forward and regain legislative relevancy.
He’s a self-described “practical conservative” who strives toward bipartisanship and often coauthors bills with Democrats."
Inland Empire the nation’s ‘poster child’ for rent hikes, researcher says
JEFF COLLINS, Press-Enterprise: "Renters are seeing low vacancy rates, soaring rents and long waiting lists in the Inland Empire, where tenants can get more space for less, demand is through the roof and empty apartments “rent immediately,” property managers and housing experts say.
To the west, however, they see rising vacancies, falling rents and first-month-free move-in specials.
“Maybe you’re starting to see people say, ‘I don’t need to be in Los Angeles,’ ” real estate broker and property manager Lance Martin said. “The home (size) is a little more important.”
New state data breaks down vaccine distribution by age, race, gender, and shows disparities
ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE, LA Times: "White Californians so far have received 32.7% of the first available doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 16% for Latinos, 13% for Asians, 2.9% for Black people and 0.3% for Native American populations, according to a new state report that provides a snapshot of vaccine distribution.
The new data from the California Department of Public Health for the first time breaks down vaccine recipients by age, race, gender and location. Due to limited supplies, healthcare workers, long-term-care residents and people 65 and older make up the largest portion of those who have received a first dose.
As of Sunday, 8,051,475 vaccine doses have been delivered to distribution sites across the state, and 5,768,684 doses have been administered. More than 8 million additional doses have been shipped."
Assistant principal in San Bernardino County arrested on child sex abuse charges
ADAM ELMAHREK, LA Times: "An assistant principal at a high school in San Bernardino County has been arrested on charges of repeatedly sexually abusing a girl who was 7 and 8 years old at the time of the alleged crimes, authorities said.
Matthew Lin Johnson, a 42-year-old assistant principal at Oak Hills High School, was charged last week with continuous sexual abuse of a minor, including lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Johnson was booked at the county jail and was being held without bail.
There is no evidence at this time Johnson has had any “inappropriate contact with students at the school,” authorities said."
California Republicans who turned against Trump face little GOP blowback at home
JOE GAROFOLI, Chronicle: "Republicans are hammering their own in other states for committing one of two political sins: voting to impeach Donald Trump or to remove QAnon-believing Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her House committees.
But not in California. Here, those sinners are rewarded. Celebrated, even.
So while the Wyoming state GOP censured Rep. Liz Cheney for her vote to impeach Trump, California Republican Party leaders have declined to scold Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford (Kings County), for his. Nor have they criticized Rep. Young Kim, R-Fullerton (Orange County), for being one of 11 Republicans who joined House Democrats in stripping Greene of her committee assignments."
Why does California's health care giant Kaiser lag in getting vaccines to seniors?
MALLORY MOENCH, Chronicle: "Kaiser Permanente, which serves the largest share of the state’s health insurance market and runs a vast hospital system, has received a disproportionately small share of vaccines from the state, according to the company and government officials.
That leaves some of its older members out of luck while seniors with other providers stand a better chance of getting a shot, a dynamic highlighting inconsistencies in the state’s distribution of limited resources.
Across California, Kaiser is still prioritizing vaccines only for members over 75, even as other health care providers and the state’s mass vaccination sites are now open to Californians over 65. In Northern California, the state has given Kaiser 269,500 vaccines — too few to cover its members over the age of 75, let alone its health care workers. When the state changed to age-prioritized guidelines a month ago, supply didn’t keep up, the company said."
California’s monarch butterflies are in crisis. Inside a state parks plan to revive them
MACKENZIE SHUMAN, SacBee: "Big changes could be coming to the Pismo Beach monarch butterfly grove as part of California State Parks’ wide-ranging plan for Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area and Pismo State Beach.
The roughly 900-page Public Works Plan and subsequent environmental impact report outline State Parks’ ideas for the Pismo State Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove.
Located off Highway 1, the grove is considered the most important overwintering site in California for western monarch butterflies — a species that has seen a dramatic and disheartening population decline in recent years."
Ad sought ‘non Asian’ applicants for tech job in California. Company blames mixup
DON SWEENEY, SacBee: "A woman checking online job listings in California couldn’t believe it when she read one calling for “non Asian” applicants.
“My girlfriend found it and was so shocked and she sent it to me,” Stephen Li told KGO. He posted about the ad on LinkedIn from Aptude for a Menlo Park data analyst job. “I definitely wasn’t going to let it go unnoticed.”
The ad seeks someone familiar with several programming languages who is “non asian” and has “no visa issue” for the position, The Mercury News reported."
