Nearly a third of Californians are fully vaccinated. Half have had at least one shot
VINCENT MOLESKI, SacBee: "More than half of California adults have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccination, and nearly a third are fully vaccinated, according to the state’s health agency.
The California Department of Public Health’s most recent data shows 10.1 million people, 31.4% of the adult population, are fully vaccinated. Another 6.5 million have received one shot of the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Johnson & Johnson vaccines — the use of which was recently paused in California due to an extremely rare blood clotting issue experienced in six patients out of more than 7 million — only requires one shot.
The number of partially vaccinated adults in California still awaiting their second shot accounts for 20.1% of the total adult population. Combined, that means 51.5% of California adults have gotten at least one shot."
Read More related to vaccination: Fauci says he expects Johnson & Johnson vaccine to resume later this week -- AP's HOPE YEN; Half of US adults have received at least one COVID-19 shot -- AP's HOPE YEN/JONATHAN MATTISE:
Could a super typhoon bring late-season rain to parched California? Here's one expert's take
The Chronicle's KELLIE HWANG: "A weather event known as a super typhoon just set the record as the strongest tropical cyclone during the month of April in the Western Hemisphere — and may help bring some much needed rain to bone-dry California at the end of the month.
Super Typhoon Surigae reached a Category 5 level on Saturday with winds reaching 190 mph as it barreled past the Philippines.
UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said that while the storm’s intensity is waning, its indirect effects could impact Northern California’s worrisome lack of precipitation, possibly resulting in a 40% to 50% chance of some rain at the end of this month."
READ MORE related to Environment: NASA's Mars helicopter takes flight, a first on another planet -- AP's MARCIA DUNN; SF's unique tradition of marking the 1906 quake returns after pandemic interruption -- The Chronicle's SAM WHITING
Garcetti plans nearly $1B in spending on programs to address homelessness
LA Times's BENJAMIN ORESKES/DAVID ZAHNISER: "Mayor Eric Garcetti is planning to spend nearly $1 billion to combat homelessness in the coming budget year, tapping huge new sources of state and federal aid and finally ramping up construction of homes for the unhoused.
Garcetti’s spending proposal, which will be discussed during his State of the City address on Monday, reflects the growing pressure he and others at City Hall are under to make significant headway on a crisis that has left tens of thousands of people living in squalor in streets, parks and beaches. Cities across the U.S. are relying on a similar playbook, using COVID-19 recovery funds to attack a problem that has confounded politicians for decades.
The mayor intends to propose $791 million in the upcoming budget year for initiatives to help homeless residents, increase cleanups around shelters and expand programs aimed at keeping housed Angelenos from slipping into homelessness themselves, mayoral aides said. On top of that, he expects to roll over more than $160 million that had been allocated for homelessness programs in the current year but has not yet been spent."
Capitol Weekly Podcast: Redistricting, a resignation and the recall
Capitol Weekly Staff: "We’re joined today by Matt Rexroad, redistricting expert and the former mayor of Woodland and member of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. Since leaving public office Matt has shut down his longtime firm, Meridian Pacific, and moved on to Redistricting Insights, whose motto is “fair lines produce good government.”
Rexroad knows something about fair lines, having been involved in California’s first redistricting effort following the creation of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission in 2008.
Rexroad offers his thoughts on the upcoming congressional reapportionment, the abrupt resignation of Daniel Claypool, the Executive Director of the Redistricting Commission and the likelihood of success for the attempt to recall Gov. Newsom."
California gold fever still reigns. New prospectors seek to reopen giant mine
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "It’s been a long time since California’s Gold Country has churned out any big mining fortunes.
The rush of prospectors and the blasting of ore have given way to small towns comfortable in the quiet of the foothills. The glory of the Mother Lode today lives largely in history museums, local tourism ads and an occasional bar named the Mine Shaft or Golden Era.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no gold."
LAUSD unequal reopening: Nearly full classrooms on Westside, emptier elsewhere
LA Times's PALOMA ESQUIVEL/HOWARD BLUME/IRIS LEE: "The first week of in-person school at Warner Avenue Elementary in Westwood rolled out like a joyous sigh of relief. Families lined up around the block, exchanging hugs as children chased one another on the grass.
Parent Dina Cohan was “ecstatic,” she said, before flying into an embrace with Principal Agnes Kamau just outside the entrance gate and shouting, “This is the best day in a year!”
About 95% of students at Warner Avenue Elementary were back on campus, Kamau said."
4 officers hospitalized as protesters march in Sacramento over national killings by police
Sac Bee's VINCENT MOLESKI: "A group of demonstrators protesting police killings in Minneapolis and Chicago gathered Saturday night at the California State Capitol and marched through Sacramento.
The Sacramento Police Department said four of its officers were sent to a hospital by the night’s end after being sprayed with an unknown irritant. The protest was declared an unlawful assembly by officers as the protesters made their way into the midtown area.
Protesters gathered outside the Capitol around 8 p.m. in response to two recent police killings in Minnesota and Illinois. Daunte Wright, 20, was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis, on April 11 by an officer who said she had mistaken her taser for her service pistol. A similar protest sprung up in Sacramento on Tuesday following Wright’s death. That demonstration was also declared an unlawful assembly."
READ MORE related to Crime/Police/Public Safety: How the pandemic changed crime in every SF neighborhood -- The Chronicle's SUSIE NEILSON/NAMI SUMIDA
Rescued hiker faces investigation over where he was found, California officials say
Sac Bee's DON SWEENEY: "A lost California hiker’s troubles seemed to be over after his rescue Tuesday from the Angeles National Forest in Southern California.
But 45-year-old Rene Compean, who was found with the help of a satellite map buff using a photo Compean earlier sent a friend, now faces a criminal investigation by the U.S. Forest Service.
Rescuers found the Palmdale man deep inside a restricted burn area left by the 115,000-acre Bobcat Fire in September, The San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported."
What entertainment does Gen Z prefer? The answer isn't good for Hollywood
LA Times's RYAN FAUGHNDER: "If you’re a parent gathering your teenage kids in the living room to watch “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” on Disney+, just know there’s a good chance they’d rather be playing “Fortnite.”
That’s the implication of a new study from consulting firm Deloitte, which analyzed the generational divide in at-home entertainment.
The study, based on a February online survey of more than 2,000 consumers, showed that preferences are changing rapidly between millennials and the younger generation when it comes to how they want to spend their leisure time."
Hester Ford, oldest living American, dies at 115 (or maybe 116)
AP: "A North Carolina woman who grew up picking cotton, got married at 14 and went on to become the oldest living American, with more than 120 great-great-grandchildren, has died peacefully in her home, according to her family.
Hester Ford’s age was either 115 or 116, depending on which census report was accurate. Either way, she was the oldest living American when she died Saturday in Charlotte, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks “supercentenarians.” They listed her age as 115 years and 245 days.
“She was a pillar and stalwart to our family and provided much-needed love, support and understanding to us all,” great-granddaughter Tanisha Patterson-Powe said in a statement emailed to news outlets."
