Governor admits problems with vaccine rollout in Latino and Black communities
MAYA LAU, LA Times: "Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged Sunday that state and local health officials have stumbled in distributing the COVID-19 vaccine equitably among Latino and Black communities in California.
Speaking at a mobile vaccination clinic in Inglewood, Newsom said the state needs to “do more and do better” to provide outreach and set up vaccine sites directly in the communities that have been hit hardest by the virus.
“We’re not doing enough. We need to do significantly more programs like this,” he said. “We’ve got to get people back to work. We’ve got to get people back into church. And we’ve got to get people back into school.”
A 'low-cost' plan for California's bullet train brings $800 million in overruns, big delays
LA Times's RALPH VARTABEDIAN: "A 65-mile section of California’s bullet train through the San Joaquin Valley that a contractor assured could be constructed much more cheaply — with radical design changes — has become another troubling and costly chapter in the high-speed rail project, a Times investigation found.
The segment runs across rivers, migratory paths for endangered species and an ancient lake bed through the length of Kings County, a fertile agricultural belt south of Fresno. Before awarding a contract for the section, the California High-Speed Rail Authority and its consultants knew about these sensitive issues and prepared lengthy environmental reports aimed at accelerating construction by avoiding legal obstacles.
But in 2014, when the rail authority awarded the contract, it went with the lowest bidder — a Spanish company named Dragados — which promised $300 million in cost savings by altering the design that the authority had proposed to regulators."
Entire California school board resigns after 'hot mic' catches them insulting parents
Sac Bee's DON SWEENEY: "A California school board has resigned after comments bashing parents aired in a “hot mic” moment before a remote meeting.
Lisa Brizendine, president of the Oakley Union Elementary School District board near San Francisco, resigned Thursday, followed by trustees Kim Beede, Erica Ippolito and Richie Masadas on Friday, KTVU reported.
The resignations follow an outcry after trustees were heard before a Wednesday board meeting attacking parents for demanding that schools reopen, according to the station."
What you need to know about the attempt to recall Gov. Newsom
LA Times's SEEMA MEHTA: "Every California governor in modern history has faced recall attempts to oust them from office. All but one have failed, but there is an active effort aimed at Gov. Gavin Newsom that appears to be gaining momentum amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here’s what California voters should know about the rules, the next steps and the personalities involved."
US death toll from COVID-19 approaches 500K
AP's JOHN RABY: "The U.S. stood Sunday at the brink of a once-unthinkable tally: 500,000 people lost to COVID-19.
A year into the pandemic, the running total of lives lost was about 498,000 — roughly the population of Kansas City, Mo., and just shy of the size of Atlanta. The figure compiled by Johns Hopkins University surpasses the number of people who died in 2019 of chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer’s, flu and pneumonia combined.
“It’s nothing like we have ever been through in the last 102 years, since the 1918 influenza pandemic,” the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”"
Terrifying 'post-COVID syndrome' is next focus for researchers in Bay Area and beyond
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "The end of the pandemic feels tantalizingly near as vaccines arrive and the pace of new infections slows. But a new coronavirus mystery is set to keep researchers busy in the Bay Area and across the country for years to come.
Doctors call the medical conundrum “post-acute COVID syndrome.” Scientists prefer “post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection.” But those suffering from the multitude of frightening symptoms that don’t go away just call themselves “long-haulers.”
“Thousands of researchers across the United States are going to be developing projects to study this problem,” said Dr. Michael Peluso, an infectious disease expert who manages a UCSF study of long-haulers with funding for 250 participants. “There will be a huge effort to do this now, and it will far exceed the small studies that have existed so far.”"
Did Garcetti deliver on his $250M pledge to communities of color?
LA Times's DAKOTA SMITH: "As protests erupted last year over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he would slash $250 million from city departments and put the money toward Black communities and other communities of color.
Garcetti and the City Council quickly moved to cut $150 million from the Los Angeles Police Department budget, directing a small portion of the money to jobs programs. The mayor said he achieved the remainder of his goal not by cutting the budget but by tapping hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds provided to the city to respond to COVID-19.
Those federal funds, allocated under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES, went to pay for programs to address homelessness, which disproportionately affects Black residents, Garcetti said."
For some Oaklaand tenants, the city across the Bay is more affordable now
LA Times' s LIAM DILLON: " Even on a foggy San Francisco morning, the view from Scott Simmons’ 25th-floor apartment stretches from downtown to Golden Gate Park. The home of the 42-year-old tech worker is also spacious for a one-bedroom, featuring hardwood floors, new appliances and granite countertops.
