California logs record-breaking week of COVID-19 vaccinations
LA Times's LUKE MONEY/COLLEEN SHALBY: "In a sign that the state’s uneven COVID-19 vaccine rollout is significantly ramping up, nearly 1 million Californians have gotten a shot in the past two days, data show.
The last four days have seen the four highest single-day totals of vaccines administered to date, according to data compiled by The Times.
That record-setting run includes 464,249 doses reported Tuesday — an all-time high — and 400,360 on Wednesday, the second-largest daily total."
Xavier Becerra confirmed as Health and Human Services secretary
LA Times's ELI STOKOLS: "Xavier Becerra was narrowly confirmed as the Health and Human Services secretary on Thursday on a near party-line vote.
The Senate voted 50-49 in favor of Becerra, who will be the first Latino to lead the agency. The vote also made him President Biden’s 20th appointee confirmed by the equally divided Senate. He resigned later Thursday as attorney general of California.
All Democrats backed his nomination, while Republicans were nearly united in opposition, with many pointing to his past comments and record as attorney general of having led more than 150 Democratic legal challenges to Trump administration policies."
Becerra quietly admits failure of gun registration website, halts California investigations
Sac Bee's RYAN SABALOW/HANNAH WILEY/JASON POHL: "California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office quietly signed a settlement agreement in federal court admitting his agency’s gun-registration website was so poorly designed that potentially thousands of Californians were unable to register their assault weapons and comply with state law.
Under the terms of the settlement filed Wednesday in U.S. Eastern District Court in Sacramento, the state Department of Justice is required to notify each district attorney and law enforcement agency to put on hold “all pending investigations and prosecutions” for those suspected of failing to register their assault weapons.
The settlement agreement is a major setback for one of California’s signature pieces of gun control legislation. It comes 11 months after a federal judge said the state’s newly implemented online ammunition background-check program was so glitchy that tens of thousands of otherwise legal firearms owners were barred from buying ammunition — in violation of their 2nd Amendment rights."
How Asian Americans are dealing with attacks
LA Times's ANH DO/ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE: "Asian Americans have been dealing with rising anxiety about racial attacks since the COVID-19 pandemic began — everything from ostracism to cruel comments and physical violence.
The shootings in Atlanta that left six Asian women dead have pushed these concerns even more to the forefront. Some say they are going out less — and when they do, they go with other people for protection. Others say they have smartphones ready to record incidents of hate.
Here are some voices from across Southern California:"
Sacramento leaders condemn anti-Asian violence and call for more protection, data
Sac Bee's ASHLEY WONG: "Sacramento community leaders and state officials gathered Thursday morning to denounce anti-Asian violence and discrimination and call for culturally sensitive law enforcement protection and hate crime data collection.
Gathered inside Asian Resources Inc., state leaders and community organizers including Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, state Sen. Richard Pan, La Familia Counseling Center Executive Director Rachel Rios and City Councilman Eric Guerra pointed to the long history of anti-Asian racism in the U.S. as well as the recent rise in attacks. Leaders emphasized the importance of elevating Asian voices and getting more funding for local API community organizations.
“As an API daughter of refugee parents, we came here escaping war, escaping violence,” said ARI executive director Stephanie Nguyen. “We today call Sacramento home, and home is where we need to feel safe. Can you imagine the fear I felt the next day coming in to work? ... We are not going to let fear win this.”
Warner Bros. steps away from $100M Hollywood sign aerial tramway
LA Times's RYAN FAUGHNDER: "Movie and TV studio Warner Bros. has backed away from a proposal to build an aerial tramway to improve access to the Hollywood sign, the company said Thursday.
Warner Bros. in 2018 told Los Angeles city officials it would fund an aerial tramway to take visitors to and from the Hollywood sign, starting from a parking structure next to its Burbank lot.
The effort, dubbed the Hollywood Skyway, would have cost the studio an estimated $100 million. The tramway would have taken visitors on a six-minute ride more than 1 mile up the back of Mt. Lee to a new visitors center near the sign, with pathways to a viewing area."
House passes 'Dreamers' bill as immigration debate intensifies -- at the border and in Congress
LA Times's DAVID LAUTER/JENNIFER HABERKORN: "The long-raging debate over fixing the nation’s dysfunctional immigration system flared back to life this week, with Republicans seeking political advantage from a surge of children at the southwestern border as Democrats pressed forward with legislation that could create a path to citizenship for millions, including young “Dreamers.”
Although both sides agree that the current immigration system works poorly, efforts at reform have stalled for two decades.
The voters for whom the issue is a top priority tend to be strongly partisan, giving elected officials little political incentive to appeal to the other side. Although polls have shown that the country as a whole grew more liberal on immigration issues during the Trump administration, Republicans have moved toward increasingly hard-line positions, undercutting possibilities for legislative compromise."
California OKs ethnic studies curriculum for high school students
The Chronicle's DUSTIN GARDINER: "California high school students soon will be able to learn about the contributions and oppression of people of color in America under a new ethnic studies curriculum approved Thursday by the state Board of Education.
The course guidelines are the nation’s first statewide ethnic studies curriculum for public school students. It will initially be an elective course, but could eventually become a high school graduation requirement.
But the milestone was overshadowed by a bitter split among educators and activist groups over the course’s content. Much of the division focused on the state Department of Education’s decision to delete references to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which appeared in an earlier draft."
One California Republican voted to give 'dreamers' a path to citizenship. Here's why
Sac Bee's KATE IRBY: "One California Republican voted on Thursday to advance a bill that grants a path to citizenship for young immigrants, bucking his party leadership on a proposal favored by Democrats.
Reps. David Valadao, R-Hanford, voted to approve the Dream and Promise Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for immigrants who were brought into the country illegally as children, known as Dreamers. It also grants a path to citizenship for immigrants in the country with temporary protected status or other protections.
The Democratic House passed the same bill in the last session, but it died when the Republican-controlled Senate declined to take it up. Democrats now control the Senate, but narrowly. They would need at least 10 Republican senators to break a potential filibuster and vote for the bill in order for it to become law."
These SF stores survived one year of the pandemic. Now they're closing permanently
The Chronicle's ROLAND LI: "On March 16, 2020, Kathryn Sandretto locked the doors of French clothing store Acote, closing indefinitely along with every other non-essential retailer in San Francisco.
Sandretto, the store manager, didn’t know when the Hayes Valley shop would reopen after six Bay Area counties told everyone to shelter in place from the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic. The image of her locking the gate in front of her store’s entrance was published on the front page of The Chronicle the next day, a herald of the pandemic’s toll on businesses.
It took another 91 days for Acote to reopen, with masks and hand sanitizer marking the new reality."
When will life return to normal? Sacramento area health experts answer key COVID questions
Sac Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "This week marked one year since Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the stay-at-home order, the measure that made California the first U.S. state to effectively close its economy in an attempt to limit spread of the coronavirus.
A year later, closures aren’t as tight but COVID-19 restrictions and modifications remain in place for businesses, schools and other activities across the state and its capital region.
Reopening rules were relaxed this week for the first time in four months for Sacramento, Placer and Sutter. All three counties were promoted into the “red tier” of the state health department’s reopening framework, allowing indoor restaurant dining and establishments including gyms and movie theaters to resume indoor business, as their virus numbers improved."
Santa Clara University president placed on leave as Jesuits probe alleged misconduct
The Chronicle's NORA MISHANEC: "Santa Clara University President Kevin O’Brien, a prominent Jesuit priest who led the inauguration day mass for President Biden, is under investigation for alleged misconduct, according to the Jesuit university’s board chairman.
O’Brien allegedly “exhibited behaviors in adult settings, consisting primarily of conversations, which may be inconsistent with established Jesuit protocols and boundaries,” John M. Sobrato, chair of the university’s Board of Trustees, wrote Thursday in an email to the university community.
Sobrato did not explain the nature of the allegations but said people had come forward to say what they knew."
SFUSD faces lawsuit over controversial renaming of 44 schools
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "The San Francisco school board’s decision to rename 44 schools faces a legal challenge from a local law firm joined by a prominent constitutional scholar, with a lawsuit filed Thursday.
Attorney Paul Scott called on district officials to rescind the 6-1 vote, claiming the district failed to adequately notify the public that the decision would be final. His “cure or correct” demand gave the board 30 days to reverse the decision.
Laurence Tribe, a Harvard University professor emeritus who has argued many cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, is also representing the plaintiffs, which include district high school alumni associations."
Stanford coach reveals gross inequity at NCAA Tournament facilities
The Chronicle's ANN KILLION: "In a year when a great deal of lip service had been paid to issues of equity and when female athletes have gained increased recognition for their performances, it seems that the NCAA still has, um, a tad more work to do. To put it mildly.
Stanford women’s basketball’s associate sports performance coach Ali Kershner pointed out a gross inequity on social media, in a post that went viral on Instagram and Twitter.
She posted side-by-side pictures of the workout facilities in the men’s bubble (in and around Indianapolis) and the women’s bubble (mostly in and around San Antonio)."
Sacramento International Airport offers new 'eye scan' express lane at security checkpoint
Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK: "Sacramento International Airport announced Thursday it has become the fourth California airport to allow passengers to skip the initial part of the federal security checkpoint by stepping instead over to a touchless security “pod” that scans the flier’s eyes or fingers to verify the person’s identity.
The system, designed to speed throughput at the Transportation Security Administration checkpoints, is only available to people willing to pay a $15 monthly membership fee to the system’s private vendor, Clear, a technology company that has a concession agreement with 37 airports nationally and is approved by the TSA.
Other passengers will continue to check in first with the TSA agent who verifies a person’s identity and checks to see the person has a boarding pass for a flight."
Head of SF's homeless dept resigns as city grapples with unhoused amid pandemic
The Chronicle's TRISHA THADANI: "Abigail Stewart-Kahn, interim director of San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, has resigned, officials said Thursday.
Stewart-Kahn’s departure comes at a particularly tenuous time for San Francisco, as it deals with a swelling homeless population amid the pandemic. She took over in March 2020, just as the coronavirus forced many shelters to close to new residents and left many people out on the streets.
She will officially step down in about two weeks, before taking on a new role as special adviser at the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families in May. Sam Dodge, the former deputy director for the homelessness department, will take charge until the city finds a permanent leader."
