California to hire 1,400 more firefighters as the state braces for wildfire season
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "California will spend more than $80 million in emergency funds to hire nearly 1,400 additional seasonal firefighters, ahead of this year’s peak fire season.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced the emergency fund expenditure in a statement Tuesday.
“In California, climate change is making the hots hotter and the dries drier, leaving us with world record-breaking temperatures and devastating wildfires threatening our communities,” Newsom said. “We aren’t just waiting for the next crisis to hit — this funding will support our heroic firefighters to save lives as they work to prevent and tackle destructive wildfires.”"
Record-high springtime temps on tap for Bay Area
The Chronicle's VANESSA ARREDONDO: "High winds raked across the Bay Area Monday and Tuesday at more than 60 mph in some places, but caused little in the way of damage or power outages.
A wind advisory for the hills and San Mateo coast expired Tuesday morning. And despite warming temperatures and high winds, fire danger remained low due to recent rains, meteorologists said.
Strong winds mostly buffeted higher elevations in the Bay Area before subsiding Tuesday afternoon."
California Republicans and Democrats both favor citizenship for undocumented residents, poll says
Sac Bee's KIM BOJORQUEZ: "A new poll released on Tuesday suggests the vast majority of Californians regardless of political party support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
About 85% of Californians surveyed by the Public Policy Institute of California said they supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants if they met certain requirements, “including a waiting period, paying fines and back taxes, and passing criminal background checks,” according to the poll.
That concept has bipartisan appeal, with 93% of Democratic respondents and 68% of Republicans supporting a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants."
With Mexico's vaccination program lagging, wealthy Mexicans are flocking to the US
LA Times's KATE LINTHICUM/MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE: "Here in the wealthiest city in Latin America, there is almost nothing money can’t buy.
Diamonds from Tiffany & Co. Luggage from Luis Vuitton. Ferraris, Maseratis, Bentleys.
But there is one sought-after item that isn’t readily available in San Pedro Garza Garcia: COVID-19 vaccine."
Everyone 16 and older now can get shots in Contra Costa County -- a Bay Area first
The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO: "Contra Costa County on Tuesday expanded eligibility for coronavirus vaccinations to everyone 16 and older, becoming the first in the Bay Area and one of the first large counties in the state to offer shots to all comers.
The move brings Contra Costa County’s roughly 1.2 million residents in line with about a dozen states that have opened up vaccinations to those 16 and older. It marks an early start to so-called vaccine open season, at least in one corner of the Bay Area, and preempts by about two weeks California’s target date to do so statewide.
The county was also one of the first to extend vaccinations to people 50 and older, which it did last week, ahead of the state’s plan to do so Thursday."
Vaccine eligibility opening to people as young as 50 - 'except we don't have the vaccine'
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV/CATHERINE HO: "Bay Area counties have a message for hundreds of thousands of patient 50- to 64-year-olds who become eligible for a COVID-19 vaccination as of Thursday: Stay patient.
“We just don’t have the supply right now,” said Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, which sent a letter over the weekend begging state health officials for more vaccine. Hopkins told the state that the county could vaccinate 40,000 people each week, but has only been getting 15,000 doses a week — and less than 13,000 this week.
“We’re going to be in a situation where demand greatly exceeds supply,” she said at a news briefing Monday during which Dr. Urmila Shende, the county’s vaccine chief, suggested that newly eligible people voluntarily continue to wait for their shots if they are healthy enough to do so."
13 counties move to looser COVID-19 tiers
Sac Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH: "Thirteen California counties with a combined population of more than 17 million residents advanced to less restrictive tiers within the state’s reopening framework in a weekly update Tuesday, while four others that were positioned for possible promotion missed out.
All five purple-tier counties that were eligible to move — Fresno, Glenn, Kings, Madera and Yuba counties — promoted into the red tier, allowing a number of indoor business openings including restaurant dining rooms, gyms and movie theaters.
Eight other counties advanced from red to orange: Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Los Angeles, Modoc, Orange, Santa Cruz and Tuolumne. That move will loosen capacity limits from red-tier restriction levels and also allows a few more types of indoor entertainment businesses to open."
Newsom would survive a recall if it went to California voters today, new poll shows
Sac Bee's LARA KORTE: "If a recall election were held today, Gov. Gavin Newsom would likely survive, according to the latest poll released from the Public Policy Institute of California.
In interviews with more than 1,700 Californians conducted between March 14 and March 23, 56% of respondents said they would vote no to a recall, with 40% saying they would vote yes and 5% saying they were unsure.
The same survey showed positive results for the governor’s approval rating, support for his COVID-19 relief package, and strong support among Democratic voters."
Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective in children ages 12-15
AP's LAUREN NEERGAARD: "Pfizer said Wednesday that its COVID-19 vaccine is safe and strongly protective in children as young as 12, a step toward possibly beginning shots in young teenagers before they head back to school in the fall.
Most COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out worldwide are for adults, who are at higher risk from the disease. Pfizer’s vaccine is authorized for ages 16 and older. But vaccinating children of all ages will be critical to stopping the pandemic — and helping schools, at least the upper grades, start to look a little more normal after months of disruption.
In a study of 2,260 U.S. volunteers ages 12 to 15, preliminary data showed there were no cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated adolescents, compared with 18 among those given dummy shots, Pfizer reported."
In California, could 2021 be propane's year?
GORDON FELLER in Capitol Weekly: "Among the numerous advocates for a wider range of lower-carbon options in the U.S. is one group who’ve not received much attention: the propane industry.
Given the trends on propane usage and production, that may very well change in 2021. Propane advocates think that their fuel is not getting the kind of attention that it deserves from policy-makers, regulators, and environmental lobbyists.
During the Western Propane Gas Association’s recent “Path to Renewable Propane” conference, one of the key presenters was the President/CEO of Santa Rosa-based Blue Star Gas Corp. Jeff Stewart’s company is California’s leading propane marketer for renewable propane."
California Lottery mishandled Scratchers giveaway on 'Ellen' show, state review finds
LA Times's PATRICK MCGREEVY: "The California Lottery mishandled a promotion that gave 30,000 Scratchers tickets, worth more than $138,000, to “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” which handed most of them out as gifts to audience members, the state controller said Tuesday.
The report by State Controller Betty T. Yee was released a year after an investigation was launched into the giveaway, which some called an inappropriate gift of public resources. Yee, the state’s chief fiscal officer, recommended that the Lottery change its policies and practices to prevent similar problems in the future.
“Our review determined that the Lottery did not maintain adequate controls over The Ellen DeGeneres Show Scratchers ticket promotion’s approval process, agreement negotiations, security of promotional Scratchers tickets, and purchases of add-on media,” the report concluded."
As Oakland schools reopen, students rush into classrooms and parents sigh with relief
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER/EMMA TALLE Y: "It was a first day of school unlike any other. There were no tears and no hesitation Tuesday at Oakland’s Madison Park Academy Primary as the youngest students headed through the gates for their first day of in-person learning, joining classmates they had seen on screens for a year.
They skipped, did cartwheels and never looked back at their parents peering through the cyclone fence, unable to enter the school grounds.
Students throughout Oakland who hadn’t set foot in a classroom in a year rushed onto school grounds as sites reopened to the youngest students."
New LA school vaccination sites to open for families of students in hard-hit communities
EdSource's BETTY MARQUEZ ROSALES: "California’s largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, next week will open new vaccination sites designed to reach the families of students. The plan, a partnership with St. John’s Well Child & Family Center, is considered one way schools could help solve a vexing problem as schools across the state continue to reopen — how to increase access to vaccines for families in areas hard hit by the pandemic.
“Vaccinating family members will help more kids to return to school as they can return to school without the fear of bringing the virus home,” Superintendent Austin Beutner said in a press release announcing the vaccination sites, which will open April 5.
The vaccines will be administered at two L.A. Unified schools in South and East L.A., both neighborhoods that have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic."
GOP Rep. Gaetz investigated over sexual relationship
AP's MICHAEL BALSAMO/ERIC TUCKER/ALAN FRAM: "Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, a prominent conservative in Congress and a close ally of former President Donald Trump, said Tuesday he is being investigated by the Justice Department over a former relationship but denied any criminal wrongdoing.
Gaetz, who represents parts of western Florida, is accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl and paying her to travel with him, and he is under investigation to determine if he violated federal sex trafficking laws, a person familiar with the case told The Associated Press.
The probe has been underway for nearly a year and Gaetz has been aware for months that he was under investigation, the person said. The Justice Department has also been looking into whether Gaetz, 38, may have also been involved in relationships with other underage girls, the person said."
Can Congress fix I-80? How Biden's expected infrastructure plan could impact Sacramento
Sac Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Can Joe Biden and Congress actually make the ride less bumpy on Interstate 80 as you pass through Sacramento?
Could be. Biden Wednesday is expected to unveil a massive infrastructure plan that aims to help repair America’s roads and bridges.
California needs the help. About 6% of the state’s 25,763 bridges, or 1,536, are considered “structurally deficient,” according to the nonpartisan American Road and Transportation Builders Association. That’s down from 2019’s 1,797."
Service dogs may be trained by owner and allowed into shops and restaurants, court rules
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "People with mental or physical disabilities can train their own dogs to aid them and accompany them into restaurants, shops and hospitals without having to formally certify them as “service animals,” a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The service designation lets owners bring their dogs into businesses and other establishments that do not otherwise allow them. Allowing owners to self-certify their pets, after training and subject to reasonable limits, promotes the goals of the 1990 federal law banning discrimination against the disabled, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said.
The Americans with Disabilities Act was intended to promote “independent living and economic self-sufficiency” as well as equal opportunity, Judge Ronald Gould said in the 3-0 ruling, which overturned a federal judge’s decision. He said private dog registry organizations lack a uniform standard for certifying service animals, and requiring the disabled to seek such certification would make dog ownership more expensive and less accessible."
Unrepentant Watergate burglar who became talk show host, G. Gordon Liddy, passes at 90
LA Times's STEVE MARBLE: "G. Gordon Liddy, the tough-guy Watergate operative who went to prison rather than testify and later turned his Nixon-era infamy into a successful television and talk show career, has died at age 90.
Liddy died Tuesday at his daughter’s house in Virginia, his son Thomas P. Liddy told the Associated Press. He did not give a cause of death.
While others swept up in the Watergate scandal offered contrition or squirmed in the glare of televised congressional hearings, Liddy seemed to wear the crime like a badge of courage, saying he only regretted that the mission to break into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters had been a failure."
Biden sees opportunity to call for big spending on infrastructure
LA Times's CHRIS MEGERIAN: "President Biden on Wednesday in Pittsburgh will outline a plan worth more than $2 trillion centered on an ambitious infrastructure initiative to repair, replace or rebuild the country’s roads, bridges, schools and more, as well as fund expanded broadband access, training programs and family caregiving.
The proposal represents Biden’s long-anticipated attempt to make progress on an issue — the state of the nation’s public works — that has languished for years despite bipartisan consensus that improvements are needed.
“The urgency and need for action has been identified again and again in Washington, and we now have an opportunity to really do something about it,” said an administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity before Wednesday’s announcement."
