Bay Area weather: Biggest storm in five weeks coming, but still not a drought-buster
PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News: "The biggest storm in the Bay Area in five weeks is forecast to bring widespread rain across Northern California on Tuesday and Wednesday. There could be thunder, lightning and even some hail, forecasters say, just like winter weather is supposed to behave.
It’s expected to deliver up to 2 inches of rain to coastal mountains, about half an inch to Bay Area cities, and 1 to 2 feet of new snow in the Sierra Nevada.
“It’ll be above a drizzle but below a downpour,” said Brayden Murdock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey."
Santa Clara County refuses to participate in California's Blue Shield-managed vaccine distribution
The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO: "The Bay Area’s largest county will not participate in the statewide coronavirus vaccine distribution system managed by Blue Shield of California.
Santa Clara County executive Jeff Smith said Monday that the county does not plan to sign the agreement with Blue Shield because the county has already set up its own vaccine appointment system and vaccination sites that work well. Blue Shield, he said, would add another layer of bureaucracy to the process and no apparent benefits. He called MyTurn, the state’s vaccine appointment system, an “inferior appointments and data collection system” compared to the county’s existing vaccine IT system.
“We don’t need more bureaucracy, we just need more vaccine,” he said."
LA County, OC close to wider reopening of economy as COVID-19 vaccinations climb
LA Times's LUKE MONEY/RONG-GONG LIN II: "Some of California’s largest counties — including Los Angeles — could be poised to unlock parts of their economies as soon as this week if certain state-set benchmarks are met.
The potentially accelerated opening in places like L.A., Orange and San Bernardino counties is possible thanks to a rewrite of California’s coronavirus reopening blueprint that state officials announced last week.
It works like this: 40% of the state’s available COVID-19 vaccines will now be dedicated to residents in California’s most disadvantaged areas — a massive commitment officials say will help address glaring inequities in vaccine administration."
Newsom bets on COVID vaccine optimism amid threat of potential recall
Opinion, Sac Bee's GIL DURAN: "Gov. Gavin Newsom did not invent the COVID-19 vaccine, but he’s doing everything he can to get some credit for it. Expect to hear plenty about California’s vaccination efforts during tonight’s State of the State speech, which Newsom will deliver from one of the nation’s largest vaccination sites, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
“The stadium also provides a more somber reminder of the pandemic: It seats 56,000 people, nearly the number of people who have died from COVID-19 in California,” wrote Adam Beam of the Associated Press.
The governor’s constant appearances at vaccination stations around the state help to raise public awareness of the increasingly available jabs. Their true purpose, however, is political: to help inoculate Newsom from troubling poll numbers and a recall threat."
Newsom agrees to negotiate after lawmakers complain Bay Area is bypassed in plan to vaccinate poorest Californians
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office is negotiating changes to a new state plan for inoculating the poorest Californians after local lawmakers complained that it bypassed the Bay Area, legislators involved in the discussions said.
The state’s vaccine distribution plan, set to take effect this week, is supposed to send 40% of the vaccine supply to people living in the state’s poorest ZIP codes. On Friday, The Chronicle posted an analysis of the new plan showing that Bay Area residents represented just 2% of the people in ZIP codes covered by the new system — even though the region represents 20% of California’s population and has many needy people.
“Our phones were blowing up after the media stories about the disproportionate share,” state Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, told The Chronicle Monday, referring to lawmakers in every Bay Area county. “That inspired us to try to use our positions” to change that."
California job seekers found new careers with help from a rent relief program. Here's how
Sac Bee's JEONG PARK: "Pandora Crowder over the last few months felt like she was jumping off a cliff as she prepared to take on a full-time job for the first time since 2007, moving to a position as a special projects coordinator for the Reinvent Stockton Foundation.
Her rising income made her ineligible for CalFresh food stamps. She had to figure out how to get to her office. She had to figure out how to care for her 9-year-old daughter. Her rent at Conway Homes, a 436-unit public housing development in south Stockton, is usually tied to her income — meaning the more she made, the more she had to pay in rent.
But she had one big thing going for her — she enrolled in a program that steadied her rent as she pursued full-time work. It saved her $700 to $800 a month, giving her freedom to replace her 21-year-old Ford Explorer and get on a path toward home ownership."
1/4th state prison employees got COVID-19. Inmates have herd immunity at 7 sites
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER/JASON POHL: "So many people in California’s prisons have been infected with COVID-19 that at least seven of the institutions have crossed a threshold for herd immunity, a Sacramento Bee review of infection data found.
More than 70% of inmates have tested positive for the illness at the seven prisons, enough to minimize the potential for further spread, experts say.
And more than 60% have tested positive at seven other institutions, falling just short of the threshold. The infection rates don’t include vaccinations, which likely have pushed more of the state’s 35 prisons into herd immunity territory."
SF's budget will be saved from painful cuts thanks to federal stimulus. What about in the next one?
The Chronicle's TRISHA THADANI: "The federal stimulus package likely to be signed by President Biden this week will erase the majority of San Francisco’s projected $650 million budget deficit over the next two years, saving City Hall from having to make painful service cuts and layoffs — for now.
While the federal stimulus is a boon for the economy in the short term, it will not solve all of the city’s financial woes. San Francisco’s ultimate recovery heavily depends on how quickly parts of the local economy bounce back, from tourists visiting the city to employees returning to downtown offices.
Without a substantial comeback in hotel, sales and business taxes, City Controller Ben Rosenfield said that Mayor London Breed and the Board of Supervisors will likely grapple with a fragile budget over the next few years."
No 'super bloom' in Anza-Borrego this spring, but late-season wildflower burst is coming
San Diego Union-Tribune's PAM KRAGEN: "Thanks to a dry winter, visitors to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park this spring won’t get to enjoy a wildflower “super bloom,” but a rainstorm last week has raised hopes for a late-season burst of color in early April.
Borrego Springs officials said last week they’re enjoying a moderately busy wildflower visitor season, despite COVID-19 rules that have continued to restrict restaurants to outdoor dining, canceled on-site tourist events and kept the doors locked at the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park visitors center.
But that’s an improvement from last year, when the pandemic bloomed just a couple weeks into the peak season of March and April. Stay-at-home orders in spring 2020 temporarily closed the state park and all restaurants, hotels, nonessential businesses and even community parks."
Ghost Ship defendant Derick Almena to serve the remainder of his sentence from home
The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI: "Derick Almena, the master tenant of an Oakland warehouse-turned-music venue that erupted in fire and killed 36 people in 2016, was sentenced Monday on 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter — but he will not see the inside of a state prison despite receiving a 12-year “split prison sentence.”
In a plea deal blasted by families of victims who died in the Ghost Ship inferno, Almena will serve 1½ years in home detention with an ankle monitor and 3 years of post-custody supervised release. He was given nearly 7 years of credit for time served and good behavior.
“This plea deal is not justice for a crime of this magnitude and deserves a harsher punishment and not a slap on the wrist,” said David Gregory, father of 20-year-old Michela Gregory, who died in the fire. Gregory and other victim family members pleaded for Alameda County Superior Court Judge Trina Thompson to reject the plea deal."
SGV men charged with rigging admission to US colleges for foreign students
LA Times's MATRTHEW ORMSETH: "Federal prosecutors say two San Gabriel Valley men helped foreign students secure visas and admission to U.S. universities by falsifying their transcripts and paying people to write their application essays and take their standardized exams.
Yi Chen, 33, and Yixin Li, 28, were charged with conspiracy, visa fraud and aggravated identity theft in an indictment made public Monday. The document describes how the two men ran what federal authorities contend is an illegal scheme out of a pair of educational consulting companies in Alhambra and Arcadia.
Chen, of Monrovia, and Li, of San Gabriel, signed contracts with foreign students that guaranteed they would be admitted to a U.S. university of their choice, the indictment says. A spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office said the men charged fees in the thousands of dollars. Their clients paid a portion of the amount upfront with the understanding it would be returned if they weren’t accepted to one of their preferred schools, the indictment says."
SFUSD just released new details on the reopening plan for SF schools
The Chronicle's MICHAEL WILLIAMS: "San Francisco school officials on Monday released more details about their plans to get some of the city’s more than 52,000 schoolchildren back into classrooms this spring after a year of distance learning that left many families struggling and sparked a lawsuit over reopening schools.
Under the plan, starting April 12, some students in lower grades would return for four full days and one partial day each week while others would return two full days a week and spend three days in distance learning, depending on the level of demand for in-person learning at each school. The plan brings back preschool through fifth-graders, and special education students and other vulnerable groups through high school, by the end of April. Families can also choose to remain in distance learning.
The detailed plan came after district officials late Friday announced a deal with the teachers union following months of tense negotiations. The union has long expressed concern over the potential of unvaccinated educators returning to the classroom, but last week the state set aside enough vaccines for the majority of teachers to get their first doses immediately."
The Bay Area migration has turned the Central Valley into a suddenly hot housing market
The Chronicle's JK DINEEN: "A dozen years ago the sprawling subdivisions of San Joaquin County became a national symbol of the financial crisis: cul-de-sacs lined with foreclosed homes and half-built neighborhoods abandoned by bankrupt speculators.
Now builders in places like Tracy, Lathrop and Mountain House have a new problem. They can’t build homes fast enough to meet the demand of families looking to relocate from the Bay Area.
The pandemic-driven desire for more living space, coupled with the freedoms afforded by corporate work-from-home rules, is luring thousands of Bay Area families over the Altamont Pass to planned communities where homes are often bigger, and 50% cheaper, than they are in Dublin or Fremont or San Leandro."
You could see a stimulus check shortly after Biden signs economic relief bill
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Millions of Californians are likely to see thousands of dollars in stimulus money by the end of March, if not sooner.
A qualifying family of four could get $5,600 in federal stimulus payments, thanks to the new economic relief plan the House is expected to pass as soon as Tuesday. An estimated 80% of Californians should see some stimulus payment.
Unemployed workers could see the extra $300 on their weekly payments continue through Labor Day."
SJ police video shows officers fatally shooting suspect as he ran
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "A 27-year-old man killed by San Jose police officers on January 21 was running on a second-floor balcony of an apartment complex when he was shot, a newly released video shows.
Police confronted David Tovar following months of investigations into an alleged crime spree spanning a large geographical swath of the South Bay. Tovar was a suspect in a homicide, three shootings, kidnapping and carjacking when officers tracked him to an apartment complex on La Pala Drive in San Jose.
“San Jose police officers joined a multi-agency effort to connect the dots and apprehend a prolific and increasingly violent person victimizing the South Bay,” Sgt. Christian Camarillo said in a department video about the incident. He cited multiple forms of evidence linking Tovar to the alleged crimes, including fingerprints, DNA, cell phone and GPS data, surveillance videos and witness statements."
Biden reaches pivotal moment in pandemic and presidency
LA Times's CHRIS MEGERIAN/ELI STOKOLS: "Less than two months after taking office, President Biden has reached a pivotal week at the anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdowns, one that could shape the rest of his tenure in the White House.
Once Congress gives final approval by midweek, he will sign his $1.9-trillion plan to extend relief for most Americans and small businesses. With vaccinations picking up, on Monday his administration provided a glimpse of normality that awaits, releasing guidelines on how inoculated Americans can begin mingling safely indoors without masks or distancing. And he’s continuing to press people to follow coronavirus restrictions, an increasingly difficult challenge as some Republican-led states lift their rules.
For Biden, who has staked his presidency on ending the pandemic and restoring the economy, a wrong turn could cost him public backing and increase the chances that Democrats lose their narrow majorities in Congress, hobbling him for the rest of his term."
