California's unusually dry winter could be the new normal, according to decades of data
MICHAEL CABANTUAN, Chronicle: "As Californians can tell by the already beige hills, the early fire weather warnings and the dusty umbrellas sitting deep inside closets, it’s been drier than usual this winter.
And according to decades worth of precipitation data, that’s the new normal.
What’s considered “normal” for baseline rainfall amounts is determined by a 30-year average that gets recalculated every decade. The latest recalculation, according to Jan Null, a forecaster who runs Golden Gate Weather Services, “show a noticeably drier state” through 2020 compared to the previous “normal” calculation covering 1981 through 2010."
Noticed a sharp increase in Bay Area gas prices? Here's why - and it's not the Colonial Pipeline
ANNIE VAINSHTEIN, Chronicle: "Gas prices are rising across the Bay Area — but not for the reasons people might think.
The Bay Area and the rest of the state hasn’t been affected by the Colonial Pipeline shutdown, which has caused shortages, price hikes and panic-buying around the country — particularly the East Coast. The pipeline, which runs from Texas to New Jersey, has been shut down since Friday after a cyberattack.
But prices in the Golden State are still steadily increasing, in part to do with an uptick in commuting and leisure travel, experts said."
READ MORE on gasoline: No, California, you don’t need to stock up on gasoline -- ROB NIKOLEWSKI, Union-Tribune
Is California ending its mask mandate June 15?
PAUL ROGERS, Mercury News: "Are the mask rules that Californians have been required to follow for nearly a year about to be scrapped?
In the span of 24 hours, Gov. Gavin Newsom caused confusion over the issue, appearing to tell a TV reporter in Los Angeles that indoor mask rules would be dropped after June 15, the date he plans to end California’s colored COVID tiers system which has limited how businesses and other activities can be run during the pandemic. But then in Monterey County Wednesday afternoon, Newsom said he wanted to “clarify” the issue, and seemed to walk his remarks back.
On Tuesday, Elex Michaelson, co-anchor of FOX 11 News in Los Angeles, asked Newsom in an interview: “Are we looking at masks after June 15?”
California children ages 12 to 15 can get COVID-19 vaccine starting Thursday
LAUREN HERNANDEZ, Chronicle: "Parents of children ages 12 to 15 in California can begin scheduling them to get their first doses of the Pfizer vaccine beginning Thursday morning, state health officials said Wednesday night.
The announcement came after Centers for Disease Control & Prevention director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement Wednesday that she adopted the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recommendation that “endorsed the safety and effectiveness” of the Pfizer vaccine for the adolescent age group, saying that providers can start vaccinating them “right away.”
There are roughly 2.1 million California residents that fall into the 12 to 15 year old age group, state public health officials said. Roughly 17 million adolescents across the country are now eligible to get vaccinated, CDC officials said."
READ MORE on vaccine distribution: Younger teenagers will start getting COVID-19 vaccine Thursday in L.A. County -- RONG-GONG LIN II and HAYLEY SMITH, LAT; CDC recommends Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children as young as 12 --EMILY BAUMGAERTNER, LA Times; Nurses, nonprofits, others take vaccine to homebound people -- JANIE HAR, AP
Should California offer transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds?
KAREN D'SOUZA, EdSource: "Early childhood advocates, lawmakers and the governor are pushing to gradually expand transitional kindergarten (TK) to all the state’s 4-year-olds. But the moves are raising issues, such as the viability of the child care system and whether expanded TK might be too academic for younger 4-year-olds.
Often described as a bridge between preschool and kindergarten, transitional kindergarten began in California in 2012. The program, often referred to as TK, now serves about 100,000 children, most of whom turn 5 between Sept. 2 and Dec. 2, narrowly missing the cutoff for traditional kindergarten.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that he plans to use an unanticipated surplus in the general fund to phase in universal TK as part of his annual May budget revision. Starting in 2022-23, the program would roll out in annual increments, first to children turning 5 by March 2, then in 2023-24 for birthdays by July 2 and finally in 2024-25 for full implementation at an additional annual cost of $2.7 billion."
Priest who said President Biden’s inaugural Mass resigns from Santa Clara University after investigation
JAMES QUEALLY, LA Times: "The Jesuit priest who oversaw President Biden’s inaugural Mass resigned from his post as president of Santa Clara University this week after an internal investigation found he engaged in behaviors that conflicted with the Jesuit order’s “protocols and boundaries,” according to a statement issued by the school Wednesday.
The Rev. Kevin O’Brien, who had been on leave since mid-March, offered his resignation Sunday, according to a letter issued by John Sobrato, president of the Santa Clara, Calif., school’s Board of Trustees.
O’Brien, who formerly served at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and has known the Bidens since the mid-2000s, had been president at Santa Clara since July 2019."
Orange County had gaps in planning for pandemic, OC grand jury says
ALICIA ROBINSON, OC Register: "Although it has long had emergency plans in case of a pandemic, Orange County was not ready for COVID-19 and was slow to react in a number of ways that hampered its public heath response, the OC grand jury said in a report made public Wednesday, May 12.
The report criticized how the county responded to the pandemic on several fronts, including not having enough resources in place to carry out some of its existing plans.
County spokeswoman Molly Nichelson said the OC Health Care Agency and county leaders are aware of the report and will respond within the time frame laid out under the rules."
Latino and Black Californians less likely to have received COVID-19 vaccine
SEAN GREENE and RONG-GONG LIN II, LA Times: "Only about one-third of Latino and Black Californians have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while majorities of white and Asian American Pacific Islander Californians have, according to a Times analysis.
The Times analysis found that 33% of Latino residents and 34% of Black residents of the state have received at least one dose of vaccine. By contrast, 50% of white residents, 46% of Native American residents and 60% of Asian American Pacific Islander residents have received a dose.
The Times analysis also found that people living in California’s most disadvantaged areas — ranked according to a variety of economic and social indicators — were also less likely to have received a shot."
In Sacramento, downtown lunch spot Tony’s Deli, ransacked after protests, reopens after big renovation
BENJY EGEL, SacBee: "It’s been nearly a year since Tony’s Delicatessen & Catering last opened, a visitor Wednesday noted. Eleven months and twelve days, owner Elias Silhi replied.
The downtown Italian deli, a lunch favorite of state employees and convention center attendees during the before times, reopened Wednesday at 1131 J St. A few customers were inside by lunchtime, chowing down on sandwiches like The Godfather (smoked Italian sausage, capicola, salami, grilled peppers, onions and smoked gouda) or the Roma (prosciutto, pesto, artichoke hearts, peppers and provolone).
Tony’s was as badly damaged as any downtown Sacramento business in the nighttime fracas that followed protests last June over the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The large front windows were all smashed, the walk-in cooler’s doors were busted and condiments painted the ceiling. People stole Tony’s safe, espresso machine and food, and even took hammers out of Silhi’s toolbox to use against his restaurant, he said."
Faulconer proposes to cut California's income tax rate for most filers
DUSTIN GARDINER, Chronicle: "Republican Kevin Faulconer said Wednesday that he’d seek to cut California’s state income tax rate for nearly all filers, with extra savings for middle and lower-income households, if he's elected governor in a likely recall contest this year.
Under his plan, the state would not tax the first $50,000 of income for individuals and $100,000 for joint filers. Individuals and households who earn less would pay no income taxes to the state, he said.
Faulconer, a former San Diego mayor, described the plan as a rebuttal to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to mail taxpayers $600 rebate checks, which the governor announced during a tour this week to tout select planks of this revised budget proposal."
Open the California Capitol ASAP, bipartisan group of lawmakers tells Newsom, top Democrats
HANNAH WILEY, SacBee: "A bipartisan group of California lawmakers is urging the Legislature’s leadership to open the Capitol for greater public access by May 19 in accordance with COVID-19 health and safety guidelines.
The coalition of five Democrats, four Republicans and one independent wrote in a letter to Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, and Gov. Gavin Newsom that California’s low coronavirus positivity and hospitalization rates and strong vaccination campaign have made it possible to safely reopen the building to more people.
They pointed to businesses beginning to operate more traditionally as evidence of the “terrific progress” California has made in recent months toward defeating the virus and being able to return to a “semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy.”
