Sierra snowpack at 59% but 'next few weeks will be critical' for state water officials
Sac Bee's ROSALIA AHUMADA: "California water officials on Thursday reported the statewide snowpack is just 59% of average for this time of year as the state continues to experience one of the driest years on record.
It’s the second straight year of low numbers, after the Department of Water Resources recorded a reading of 53% on April 1 a year ago. The back-to-back low measurements could mean the return of summer drought conditions and water-use restrictions for the first time since 2016.
The April 1 survey is typically the most important of the year, when the snowpack is the deepest and has the highest snow-water content. It also marks the end of the wet season for California and is a key indicator for water supply."
READ MORE in Environment: Drought is back. But SoCal faces less pain than NorCal -- LA Times's BETTINA BOXALL; Bay Area heat wave to last through the week before cooling off with a chance of rain -- The Chronicle's VANESSA ARREDONDO; Lava spews as crowd watches first eruption in centuries from volcano's edge -- Sac Bee's DAVID CARACCIO; It's no April Fool's joke, there really is a wild gray wolf in Monterey County -- The Chronicle's LAUREN HERNANDEZ
California’s latest drought is already here
CHUCK McFADDEN, Capitol Weekly: "As if the COVID-19 epidemic, economic malaise, disrupted schooling and wildfires weren’t enough, California now finds itself heading for a drought. A big drought.
In fact, the U.S. Drought Monitor says that 91 percent of the state is in a drought right now.
Reservoir and groundwater levels are significantly below average, and despite recent storms, the snowpack was only 63 percent of average as of March 10. The state’s next snow survey — the critical indicator of spring runoff — at Echo Summit in the Sierra Nevada is unlikely to show improvements."
Newsom says he's worried about COVID variants, urges Californians to take precautions
Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Nearly a third of Californians have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine, but Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he’s still concerned the state could see another coronavirus surge before its population reaches herd immunity.
That would mean more coronavirus deaths, as well as more harm to California’s already damaged economy. If case rates increase again, counties may face more restrictions on their economic activity, Newsom said. For weeks, the state has allowed counties to ease restrictions as case rates declined.
Currently, just 2.7% of California residents live in counties in the state’s “purple tier,” where economic activity is most restricted. Everyone else lives in a red or orange tier county, where restrictions for schools and businesses are looser."
READ MORE related to Vaccine: Sacramento gets biggest vaccine allotment yet, but growing supply still trails demand -- Sac Bee's MICHAEL MCGOUGH/TONY BIZJAK
GOP has unique edge in Newsom recall election -- a lower bar to the governor's post
LA Times's SEEMA MEHTA: "Even before the attempt to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom officially qualifies for the ballot, Republicans hoping to replace him are in full campaign mode.
The trio of notable Republicans running are not well known among the state’s voters so they are refining their message, raising money against an incumbent who will have limitless resources, figuring out how to deal with former President Trump and trying to define themselves in contrast to their GOP rivals while also focusing their fire at Newsom. Sometimes, that has devolved into sniping at one another.
“It’s perhaps the one shot Republicans actually have of winning the governorship in a while because of the structure of the recall,” said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College."
More LGBTQ politicians are elected, put in positions of power than ever before
The Chronicle's TONY BRAVO: "When Dr. Rachel Levine became the first transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate, for the role of the assistant secretary of health, it was a breakthrough moment for LGBTQ equality in government. Aria Sa’id, the executive director of San Francisco’s Transgender District, called last week’s confirmation a major victory for the trans community.
“How often do we ever hear about trans people being promoted into positions of decision-making and power and being equal in those spaces to talk about the issues our community is facing,” Sa’id said. “As we’re seeing more trans people decide to be change-makers in government, America is seeing the breadth of who we are beyond the surface issue of gender identity.”
Likewise, when Pete Buttigieg was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as transportation secretary in early February, he made history as the first openly gay Cabinet member to go through the process."
California took 35K homeless people off the street for 1 year. Did the program work?
Sac Bee's HANNAH WILEY: "It took a pandemic for Bennie Rogers to get healthy, housed and happy.
Rogers, 68, was living in a tent along the river in Old Sacramento last summer when he got the chance to go inside with help from a state-run emergency program set up to house vulnerable homeless people during the COVID-19 crisis.
Rogers was hot. He wasn’t eating regularly. He was tired."
Experts rate the risk of activities reopening in the Bay Area
The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI: "The Bay Area is marching week by week, county by county, through Calfornia’s reopening levels, with increasingly fewer restrictions on what residents and businesses can do. Restaurants, wineries and amusement parks now are welcoming the public back, with baseball games, sleepaway camps, and maybe even music festivals on the cusp.
But as public health officials scale back pandemic rules, it will be up to individuals to assess which activities feel comfortable as things slowly get back to normal. “Everything has risks and benefits,” said Dr. Nathan Lo, an infectious disease expert with UCSF. “It’s all an individual-based decision.”
The basic COVID-19 precautions should remain in place when leaving the house, the experts warn. Wear a mask, wash your hands, don’t touch your face, avoid crowded spaces and maintain physical distance from others."
California falls short on COVID contact tracing amid warnings of new wave, audit says
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER: "More than a year after the COVID-19 pandemic began, the state auditor says California’s public health agency is doing just a so-so job on a key element of coronavirus control: finding out whether infected Californians had possibly spread the disease to someone else.
Amid warnings of another potential surge in coronavirus cases, State Auditor Elaine Howle said Thursday the California Department of Public Health has fallen short of its goals for contact tracing, in which newly-infected residents are supposed to be interviewed to determine who might have infected them.
While she gave the state agency high marks on COVID-19 testing, she said contact tracing has fallen short. In a one-month period ending Dec. 24 — when infections were surging and 834,487 new cases were reported — state and local health agencies “had successful interviews for only 40 percent of the total cases,” the audit said. The goal was to interview 85%."
US employers add 916K jobs in March as hiring accelerates
LA Times's CHRISTOPHER RUGABER: "America’s employers unleashed a burst of hiring in March, adding 916,000 jobs in a sign that a sustained recovery from the pandemic recession is taking hold as vaccinations accelerate, stimulus checks flow through the economy and businesses increasingly reopen.
The March increase — the most since August — was nearly double February’s gain of 468,000, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate declined from 6.2% to 6%.
Even with last month’s robust increase, the economy remains more than 8 million jobs short of the number it had before the pandemic erupted a little over a year ago. But with the recovery widely expected to strengthen, many forecasters predict enough hiring in the coming months to recover nearly all those lost jobs by year’s end."
Young migrants stuck in BP backlog
LA Times's MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKE: "The 10-year-old boy crossed the Rio Grande with hundreds of other migrants last week. But he was essentially alone.
That is how Christopher Garcia says he managed to travel over the course of three months from his home in one of the world’s most dangerous cities — San Pedro Sula, Honduras — to the U.S. border without an adult: by blending into groups of older children and families.
Christopher, a skinny athletic boy with curly brown hair and an impish smile, departed at an age when street gangs that dominate his neighborhood had started to recruit him. His father, who worked at a clothes factory, had tried to migrate to the U.S. himself in the past but was deported the same day he crossed the border."
Alison Colllins' lawsuit comes amid SF school district crisis. The real losers could be the students
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "San Francisco’s school district was already juggling a difficult classroom reopening, a departing superintendent, tattered finances and bitter leadership battles when one school board member sued the public agency and her fellow commissioners this week, magnifying the crisis.
The federal lawsuit filed by school board member Alison Collins is a rare legal challenge by an elected official against peers and a public agency, with taxpayers on the hook for attorney costs and most of any settlement or damages that could be awarded in the case that stems from a thread of tweets.
It came nearly two months after the city attorney — with backing from the mayor — sued the school district over the district’s slow reopening, pitting local officials against each other."
Amid pandemic, infants especially need quality child care, reformers say
EdSource's KAREN D'SOUZA: "Children are born ready to learn. In the first year of life, the brain doubles, with about 90% of brain growth happening before kindergarten.
However, only 1 in 3 eligible children under 5 years old take part in California’s publicly funded early learning and care programs. To make matters worse this year, 3 out of 4 California parents with children under 5 are worried their education and development will suffer because of the pandemic, according to a recent survey.
That’s why there’s a push in California to get more children, especially infants and toddlers from low-income families, into quality child care at a time when the industry is in crisis because of the pandemic. Senate Bill 50, introduced by state Sen. Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, proposes to open access to the state-funded California State Preschool Program (CSPP) and to make it easier for families to access the child care system."
Elon Musk wants to create his own city. Here's how that could work
LA Times's SAMANTHA MASUNAGA: "The secluded beachside community of Boca Chica Village was once a haven for retirees, snowbirds and outdoorsy people who enjoyed dirt biking, fishing or lounging near the water.
Today, traffic backs up the lone highway out of the unincorporated area that’s now home to only about half a dozen residents — and SpaceX’s Starship facility. During the day, selfie-seeking tourists line the road for photos with the stainless steel spaceship under development. At night, excavators plow the earth at the busy construction site. Before test launches, residents receive a notice suggesting they temporarily evacuate for safety.
Even more change could be in the Texas neighborhood’s future. In March, SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted that he wanted to create a city encompassing Boca Chica Village and the surrounding area."
SF's crime rates have shifted dramatically in 2020. Five charts show what's going on
The Chronicle's SUSIE NEILSON: "In January, former S.F. mayoral candidate Richie Greenberg began a Change.org petition to recall San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
“Our beloved city has seen an astronomical increase in crime, even under COVID-19 restrictions,” Greenberg’s petition states. “In 2020, violent crime, home invasions, rampant and unchecked drug dealing and business property theft have turned our city upside down.”
The petition has garnered nearly 15,000 signatures, suggesting that others may also believe that San Francisco’s crime rates spiked dramatically in 2020."
Harris to move into official VP residence next week
AP's DARLENE SUPERVILLE: "After more than two months of living in temporary housing, Vice President Kamala Harris will soon be able to unpack and unwind at her official residence on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Symone Sanders, senior advisor and chief spokesperson for the vice president, tweeted Thursday that Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, will move into the official vice presidential residence on Massachusetts Avenue in northwest Washington next week, after some repairs are completed. Sanders did not provide an exact date.
The repairs included maintenance on the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, replacing chimney liners and refurbishing some of the hardwood floors in the 19th century Victorian house, Sanders said."
Iran, world powers ready to welcome US back to nuclear detail
AP's RAF CASERT: "Iran and the major powers in the agreement to keep Tehran from developing nuclear weapons said Friday that they are ready to welcome the return of the United States to the deal.
The chair of the group, which comprises the European Union, China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and Iran, said that the participants “recognized the prospect of a full return of the U.S. to the JCPOA, and underlined their readiness to positively address this in a joint effort.” The JCPOA is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The countries “emphasized their commitment to preserve the JCPOA and discussed modalities to ensure the return to its full and effective implementation,” according to a statement after their virtual meeting,"
