California plans to fully reopen economy in June, aiming to end 15-month COVID restrictions
Sac Bee's LARA KORTE and SOPHIA BOLLAG: "California will fully reopen its economy June 15 as long as it has a sufficient supply of vaccines and hospitalizations are low, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday.
Californians will still need to wear masks and will still be encouraged to get vaccinated after that date, but the state plans to end its color-coded tier system that has governed county-by-county reopening for several months. Newsom says he expects all California students will be able to return to classrooms by June 15.
Newsom made the announcement the same day California reached an immunization milestone: administering more than 20 million vaccine doses, including 4 million in the state’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods."
READ MORE related to Reopening: What you can/can't do under California's new reopening plan -- Sac Bee's HANNAH WILEY; Here's what you need to know -- The Chronicle's KELLIE HWANG; Sacramento businesses see a comeback with new reopening rules, but it's too late for some -- Sac Bee's DALE KASLER
Alarmed by recent mass shootings, California lawmakers push to tax guns and ammo
LA Times's PATRICK MCGREEVY: "Citing recent mass shootings in Orange, Boulder, Colo., and the Atlanta area, state lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a proposal for a new tax on the sale of guns and ammunition in California to boost funding for violence prevention programs.
The legislation by Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) would place a $25 excise tax on retailers for the sale of each new gun and an as-yet-undetermined levy on ammo sales to raise millions of dollars to fund the efforts.
“Gun violence will not end on its own,” Levine told the Assembly Public Safety Committee during a hearing Tuesday. “We must take responsible action to end the public health crisis that is gun violence in our state, in our nation.”"
PG&E faces another criminal case as Sonoma County DA files charges in 2019 Kincade Fire
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER: "Pacific Gas & Electric is facing criminal charges again following a massive California wildfire — in this case, the worst incident of the 2019 fire season.
The Sonoma County district attorney indicted the state’s largest utility Tuesday in connection with the Kincade Fire, the October 2019 wildfire that didn’t kill anyone but forced the evacuation of nearly 200,000 residents.
The Sonoma case shows that PG&E, nearly a year removed from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy driven by wildfire liabilities, continues to struggle with fire risk and its legal consequences. Last month Cal Fire blamed PG&E for last September’s Zogg Fire, which killed four people in Shasta County, and referred the case to the Shasta District Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution."
Biden makes all adults eligible for a vaccine on April 19
AP's DARLENE SUPERVILLE and ALEXANDRA JAFFE: "President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he’s bumping up his deadline by two weeks for states to make all adults in the U.S. eligible for coronavirus vaccines. But even as he expressed optimism about the pace of vaccinations, he warned Americans that the nation is not yet out of the woods when it comes to the pandemic.
“Let me be deadly earnest with you: We aren’t at the finish line. We still have a lot of work to do. We’re still in a life and death race against this virus,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.
The president warned that “ new variants of the virus are spreading and they’re moving quickly. Cases are going back up, hospitalizations are no longer declining.” He added that ”the pandemic remains dangerous,” and encouraged Americans to continue to wash their hands, socially distance and wear masks."
READ MORE related to Vaccine: Dangers of COVID-19 far outweigh vaccine risk -- LA Times's SEAN GREENE/VANESSA MARTINEZ; Why you should cancel any extra vaccine appts in the Bay Area -- The Chronicle's JESSICA FLORES
Nearly half of new infections are in just 5 states
AP's RUSS BYNUM and MICHELLE R SMITH: "Nearly half of new coronavirus infections nationwide are in just five states — a situation that is putting pressure on the federal government to consider changing how it distributes vaccines by sending more doses to hot spots.
New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey together reported 44% of the nation’s new COVID-19 infections, or nearly 197,500 new cases, in the latest available seven-day period, according to state health agency data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Total U.S. infections during the same week numbered more than 452,000.
The heavy concentration of new cases in states that account for 22% of the U.S. population has prompted some experts and elected officials to call for President Joe Biden’s administration to ship additional vaccine doses to those places. So far, the White House has shown no signs of shifting from its policy of dividing vaccine doses among states based on population."
Sacramento area insurer pays $97M after over-billing US for veterans care
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER: "A Rancho Cordova health insurance company has repaid $97.2 million to settle an investigation into inflated claims submitted to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Health Net Federal Services LLC agreed to the settlement after an audit by the VA Office of Inspector General revealed that Health Net had filed duplicate claims under a veterans healthcare contract. A follow-up investigation “confirmed the conduct,” the U.S. attorney’s office said. Health Net repaid $93.7 million plus $3.5 million in interest.
“Providers must be held to the highest standard of care and must rigorously comply with their contractual obligations,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert in a prepared statement."
SF supes pass right to 're-employment' for some workers laid off during the pandemic
The Chronicle's CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO: "The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance Tuesday that would create a more permanent “right to re-employment” for some workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic, enshrining some of the protections enacted through temporary emergency ordinances dating back to last year.
Spearheaded by Supervisor Gordon Mar, the ordinance passed a vote at the full board 10-1 with Supervisor Catherine Stefani voting against it.
It requires certain employers to offer people their jobs back after having been laid off due to the pandemic, when they are hiring for the same or a similar position. It also requires companies to make reasonable accommodations for employees who are unable to work because of family care."
More than 80 aftershocks from Monday's LA earthquake, but 'it doesn't raise a red flag'
LA Times's HAYLEY SMITH: "Any time the earth shakes in California, residents can’t help but wonder: Is this the Big One?'
Monday’s swarm of earthquakes, which included a magnitude 4.0 near Inglewood, didn’t do much to quell those nerves. Experts say panic isn’t necessary, but preparation never hurts. Here’s what we know about L.A.’s latest quakes.
The first rattles started at 4:15 a.m., when three foreshocks struck near Inglewood: a magnitude 2.1, a magnitude 2.4 and a magnitude 3.0, all within about three miles of one another, according to the U.S. Geological Survey."
Natomas teachers union files unfair labor charge after district announces 5-day schedule
Sac Bee's SAWSAN MORRAR: "Teachers in the Natomas Unified School District are pushing back on the district’s plan to bring elementary school students back to campus five days a week, saying the plan doesn’t give teachers much time to prepare their lessons.
Natomas Unified plans to bring students back on campus five days a week beginning Monday as coronavirus infection rates continue to drop in Sacramento County.
The decision prompted the Natomas Teachers Association to file an unfair labor practice charge with the Public Employment Relations Board, stating that the district should have consulted with the union before making the switch. The district says the memorandum of understanding it has with the union to reopen campuses doesn’t require them to negotiate such changes."
READ MORE related to Education: Newsom expects K-12 schools to open full time in fall -- LA Times's HOWARD BLUME; SF school board reverses decision to rename 44 schools, citing 'frivolous litigation' -- The Chronicle's EMMA TALLEY
California housing bill would lean on cities that fall behind their targets
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "About once a decade, California sets goals for how much new housing each region of the state must build to meet the needs of local residents and keep up with population growth. But with few options available for the state to enforce the law, much of that housing is planned and then never gets built.
A new bill from Assembly Member David Chiu, D-San Francisco, would require cities that fall behind on their construction targets to adopt policies that make it easier to plan and build housing. Chiu said it’s an accountability measure as California struggles with the soaring prices and widespread homelessness that have resulted from decades of failure to keep up with demand.
“If we’re ever going to truly address the worst housing and homelessness crises in our state’s history, we need all cities to do their part,” he said. “We can’t just have some cities moving forward with pro-housing policies and other cities deliberately lagging.”"
READ MORE related to Homelessness/Housing: SF isn't the only city seeing a major exodus, according to Zillow's Mover Report -- The Chronicle's KELLIE HWANG
Family of Tyrell Wilson sues Danville over fatal police shooting
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "The family of Tyrell Wilson, a 33-year-old Black man shot by a Danville police officer last month, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city.
It comes a day after a bystander’s cellphone video surfaced, showing Wilson and Danville police Officer Andrew Hall standing feet apart in the intersection of Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon, shortly before noon on March 11.
In the wobbly recording, Hall appears to step toward Wilson as Wilson backs away. For a moment, the cellphone camera dips behind the door frame. When it gets both men back in sight, Hall fires once and Wilson collapses on his back."
LAPD officer alleging sexual harassment by Garcetti aide says he feared retaliation
LA Times's DAKOTA SMITH: "Los Angeles police officer Matthew Garza, a former bodyguard to Mayor Eric Garcetti, testified that he worried he would face retaliation if he reported the sexual harassment that he alleges he endured by a former top aide to Garcetti.
“I would have been ostracized,” Garza said in a deposition taken last month and reviewed by The Times. “I would have been removed from the [security] detail. If I made that big of a deal of it, if I had sought out a complaint with the sexual harassment division within the city, I no doubt would have been retaliated against. The mayor and his staff is extremely vindictive.”
Garza sued the city in July, alleging that former aide Rick Jacobs made crude sexual comments, massaged his shoulders and hugged him between 2014 and 2019. Garza alleged that the harassment happened in front of the mayor, but that Garcetti did nothing to stop it."
Police end Oakland airport standoff by turning up the heat -- literally
AP: "Oakland International Airport was closed for nearly four hours Tuesday after a knife-wielding man threatened to harm himself, but police managed to safely end the situation by turning up the heat — literally, authorities said.
Shortly before 6 a.m., a man in his 30s passed a note to a Transportation Safety Administration employee at Terminal 1 with the words “Help me,” Bay Area station KTVU reported.
The man, who was “highly agitated,” then pulled a large knife and held it to his throat, Alameda County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Tya Modeste said."
Jordan's royal rift entangles an American-born queen
LA Times's LAURA KING and TRACY WILKINSON: "At age 27, she married a king. By 47, sooner than she had thought possible, she was a royal widow.
Now, more than two decades later, Jordan’s Queen Noor — the American-born, Princeton-educated former Lisa Halaby — is caught up in a palace drama surrounding her eldest son, the prince she had hoped would eventually follow his charismatic father, the late King Hussein, onto the throne of the Hashemite Kingdom.
Whether lifted from Shakespeare or next up in the video-streaming queue, the story’s plotline seems oddly familiar: the traumatic circumstances of a royal death reverberating down through the years, family tensions simmering quietly for a generation before bursting into full view."
