Newsom extends drought emergency to 41 California counties
FAITH E. PINHO, LA Times: "In a stark indication of California’s growing water crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday declared a drought emergency in 41 counties, including areas of the Central Valley that had urged action on behalf of agricultural growers.
Newsom’s proclamation dramatically expands the drought emergency he declared in Sonoma and Mendocino counties last month, and now covers 30% of the state’s population.
“With the reality of climate change abundantly clear in California, we’re taking urgent action to address acute water supply shortfalls in Northern and Central California while also building our water resilience to safeguard communities in the decades ahead,” Newsom said in a prepared statement. “We’re working with local officials and other partners to protect public health and safety and the environment, and call on all Californians to help meet this challenge by stepping up their efforts to save water.”
Newsom recall challenged in California appeals court
JOHN HOWARD, Capitol Weekly: "A Sacramento-area resident has challenged the legitimacy of the recall drive against Gov. Gavin Newsom, telling a state appellate court that a Superior Court judge violated the California constitution when he gave recall proponents more time to gather voter signatures.
The appeal, filed Monday with the 3rd District Court of Appeals in San Francisco, said Sacramento County Superior Court Judge James Arguelles violated a voter-approved constitutional amendment that limits signature gathering to 160 days to qualify an initiative for the ballot.
The filing asks the justices to block the recall until the court rules on the issue."
Newsom, with huge $38B budget surplus, proposes new stimulus checks, more rent relief for Californians
The Chronicle, ALEXEI KOSEFF: "State finance officials project that California will have a $38 billion discretionary surplus in the upcoming fiscal year, a massive influx of cash that Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature have a month to decide how to spend.
The surplus is more than twice what the Department of Finance estimated in January, reflecting an economy that has recovered far more quickly than expected from the pandemic-induced recession, particularly for the wealthiest Californians.
Newsom wants to use more than $8 billion of the windfall to expand on the $600 stimulus checks the state already targeted to millions of Californians this spring, a second round of direct cash payments that the governor said would ultimately reach two-thirds of Californians. He also outlined additional steps to cover unpaid rent and utility bills for tenants slammed by the pandemic."
The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO: "Federal regulators granted
emergency use authorization Monday for the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to be given to children ages 12 to 15, which will open the door for 2.1 million California adolescents to get their shots.
The expansion, authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “is a significant step in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” the agency’s acting commissioner, Dr. Janet Woodcock, said in a statement.
Shots could start going into arms of adolescents within days. An advisory group for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is scheduled to meet this week to discuss the use of the Pfizer vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds. The FDA is in charge of authorizing vaccines, but the CDC’s advisory group is considered influential, and the two agencies typically align on vaccine policy."
California could end workplace social distancing and mask requirement by August
Sac Bee, JEONG PARK: "California workers won’t have to physically distance themselves from each other at workplaces starting in August under a proposed update to the state COVID-19 safety rules.
The proposal, which would adjust California workplace regulations adopted in November, also specifies fully vaccinated workers will not have to wear face coverings when they are outdoors and don’t have COVID symptoms.
Workers will also not have to wear face coverings indoors if they and everyone around them in a room are fully vaccinated and do not have symptoms of the coronavirus."
Bernie Sanders slams restoring tax deduction that benefited California as giveaway to 'wealthy and powerful'
The Chronicle, TAL KOPAN: "An effort to restore a deduction for state and local taxes that would benefit residents of high-cost states like California was dealt a major blow this week, when a key senator slammed the idea as choosing the wealthy over working families.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, told Axios on HBO on Sunday that restoring the deduction “sends a terrible, terrible message,” opposing the idea that has been supported by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Progressives have been less enthused over the tax deduction, which allows Americans to subtract what they pay to state and local governments from their federal tax bill. Republicans’ 2017 tax cut bill capped that deduction, primarily impacting people who live in areas with high property taxes."
Opposition to Newsom recall grows as Jenner, GOP generate little support, poll finds
LA Times, PHIL WILLON: "The campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom has failed to gain momentum in recent months as significantly more California voters favor keeping him in office, and only anemic support has surfaced for reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner while other Republican candidates hoping to take the governor’s place have little backing, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll that was co-sponsored by the L.A. Times.
The survey’s results were especially bleak for retired Olympic gold medalist Jenner, as just 6% of Californians who took part in the survey said they would vote to have her replace Newsom — a vast majority of Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated or independent voters said they would not be inclined to support her candidacy.
Democratic voters polled also overwhelmingly favored having a prominent Democratic replacement candidate on the recall ballot in case Newsom is ousted from office, putting them at odds with efforts by their state party and Newsom’s campaign to prevent that from happening."
Meet the woman who will lobby California Legislature on behalf of black communities
Sac Bee, MARCUS D SMITH: "Dominique Donette is the new public affairs specialist for the California Hawaii State Conference NAACP(CA/HI NAACP).
She will be the CA/HI NAACP’s lead lobbyist and will also support the organization’s communications and public relations strategies.
Donette is a Sacramento native and was raised in Oak Park. She recently spoke with The Sacramento Bee to discuss her journey back to her hometown and her work with the NAACP."
What does US fuel pipeline shutdown reveal about the danger of cyber ransoms?
LA Times, DEL QUENTIN WILBER: "A major fuel pipeline supplying the East Coast was shut down Friday after the Georgia-based company operating it became the victim of a ransomware attack.
Friday’s hack forced Colonial Pipeline to halt operations in what it called an abundance of caution. The company said the ransomware attack targeted its information technology systems. White House officials said Monday that the pipeline did not appear to suffer any damage.
Cybersecurity experts have been warning for years about the threat posed by a ransomware attack on U.S. infrastructure in the wake of thousands of successful hacks of computer systems operated by governments, school districts, companies and hospitals. To combat such cyberattacks, governments and businesses must beef up their defenses, better prepare to respond to intrusions and put diplomatic pressure on countries harboring cybercriminals, the experts say."
READ MORE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS --- E-bikes on Lake Tahoe forest trails? Biking and hiking purists aren't happy -- Sac Bee, RYAN SABALOW
SF seniors might go back to school for only one day before term ends. Parents are furious
The Chronicle, JILL TUCKER: "When the teachers union over the weekend announced the “exciting news” that San Francisco’s high school seniors will get a chance to go back to classrooms starting Friday, they left out details about the plan, including that students might only be back for just one day.
In addition, the class of 2021 won’t get any in-person instruction while they’re at one of two school sites. Instead, they have “in-person supervision.”
In what some are calling a blatant money grab, the deal between the district and teachers union will bring seniors back “for at least one day before the end of the school year,” so the city’s public schools can qualify for $12 million in state reopening funds."
What Gallo's new layoffs at Clos du Bois winery reveal about the future of California's cheapest wines
The Chronicle, ESTHER MOBLEY: "Cheap California wine is not as popular as it once was, as a recent round of layoffs at a Sonoma County winery shows.
E. & J. Gallo, the country’s largest wine corporation, let go 32 workers at Clos du Bois Winery in Geyserville, leaving only 5 on staff, former employee Kevin McDonald told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Gallo spokesperson Lon Gallagher confirmed the layoffs, adding that the Geyserville facility would no longer be used to produce wine, with Clos du Bois production moving to other Gallo-owned facilities in Sonoma County.
It’s not a total surprise that Gallo is reducing staff. Gallo acquired Clos du Bois earlier this year as part of a $810 million mega-deal with Constellation Brands, the country’s third-largest wine company. The deal transferred 30 wine brands, mostly in the $11 and under category; it was unlikely that Gallo would invest in every one of them."
California is aiming for 100% COVID rent relief. Will it actually happen?
The Chronicle, LAUREN HEPLER: "Thousands of Bay Area renters who have fallen behind on payments during the pandemic could soon see that debt reduced, thanks to $2.6 billion in new rent relief funding announced Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
But that’s only if they and their landlords can navigate a confusing patchwork of state and local programs that advocates say are already leading to people falling through the cracks.
With rent relief once again wrapped up in the state’s contentious annual budget process, they expect more clashes over income limits for debt forgiveness, whether to pay the money to landlords or tenants, and how to address closely related issues like eviction protections and forgiveness for other kinds of pandemic-induced debt."
READ MORE HOUSING NEWS --- The Bay Area's housing production plummeted in 2020. Here's a look at the trend by county -- The Chronicle, SUSIE NEILSON
After Times investigation, NBC says it won't air Golden Globes in 2022
LA Times. JOSH ROTTENBERG/STACY PERMAN: "For years, NBC has billed the Golden Globe Awards as “Hollywood’s Party of the Year.” On Monday, the network announced that, for now at least, the party is over.
Capping months of intensifying controversy sparked by a Times investigation into the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., the tiny but powerful group that hands out the Golden Globe Awards, NBC said Monday that it will not air the show, a key precursor to the Oscars, in 2022.
The HFPA had been struggling to contain a mounting crisis since publication of the Times investigation that shed light on a range of alleged ethical and financial improprieties and revealed that the organization has no Black members. The Feb. 21 report set off a growing chorus of criticism from Time’s Up and powerful industry figures, including director Ava DuVernay and TV producer Shonda Rhimes."
1 of 2 police officers shot in San Luis Obispo dies, suspect killed
AP via LA Times: "A police officer was killed and another wounded in San Luis Obispo on Monday while serving a search warrant before officers shot and killed the gunman, authorities said.
Shots were fired shortly before 5:30 p.m. as officers served the warrant at an apartment.
“This is a tragedy beyond measure for all of those who serve and care about our community,” City Manager Derek Johnson said in a statement. “Our deepest condolences go out to the family. We are devastated by this loss.”
On the heels of one rare gray wolf’s epic journey into California, another arrives
LILA SEIDMAN, LA Times: "A young male gray wolf crossed into far Northern California early this month — joining another wolf that trekked into the state in late January and made an epic journey south.
The latest wolf to arrive in California — called OR-103 — was outfitted with a GPS collar in Deschutes County, Ore. He entered northeastern Siskiyou County on May 4, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
It’s not clear exactly where OR-103 came from. There isn’t a pack of wolves in the area where he was collared, so it’s believed the roughly 1- to 2-year-old wolf was in the process of dispersing — striking out from his pack in search of new territory and a mate, said Roblyn Brown, wolf program coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/"
