COVID-19 restrictions protected California’s economy. Now it’s poised for a “euphoric” rebound
MARGOT ROOSEVELT, LATimes: "California’s strict public health measures during the pandemic protected its economy, setting the stage for an even faster recovery in the state than nationwide, UCLA economists reported.
The Golden State’s strong technology and white-collar business sectors, along with a relatively rapid boost in home building, will buoy its economy, offsetting a slower return of tourist-dependent leisure and hospitality jobs, according to the UCLA Anderson quarterly forecast.
In the nation and in California, “we are about to have one of the best years of economic growth that we’ve had since World War II,” said Leo Feler, the UCLA Anderson Forecast’s senior economist. “We’re looking at a boom time for the U.S. economy.”
New California union leader tries to block $1 million donation to Newsom recall defense
LARA KORTE, SacBee: "The newly elected president of California state government’s largest public employee union is trying to block a potential $1 million contribution from his union to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s campaign.
Richard Louis Brown, president-elect of SEIU Local 1000, doesn’t yet have power to hold up the union’s support for Newsom. Brown isn’t scheduled to take office until the end of June. The union announced his victory one week ago, unseating longtime Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker.
During his campaign, Brown said he wanted to “run Gavin Newsom out of office” because of the pay cuts Newsom and the Legislature demanded from state workers last year when the state braced for a severe recession in the coronavirus pandemic."
READ MORE ABOUT UNION NEWS: Major unions back Newsom in likely recall -- KATHLEEN RONAYNE, AP
Sacramento apartment rental market more expensive than New York and D.C., report says
PHILLIP REESE, SacBee: "The typical apartment in the four-county Sacramento region rented for $1,760 in May, a 14% increase over May 2020, according to new estimates from Apartment List.
Personal finance experts often advise households not to spend more than 30% of income on rent. At that level, a Sacramento household would need to earn at least $70,000 to afford the typical apartment. Almost half of Sacramento’s households don’t make that much, the latest census figures show.
Rent has risen in Sacramento as more people arrive from even more expensive areas like San Francisco."
Rural Northern California is falling behind in vaccinations, and COVID-19 cases are rising
LUKE MONEY, RONG-GONG LIN II and SEAN GREENE, LA Times: "Some rural counties in Northern California are falling further behind in COVID-19 vaccination rates compared with the rest of the state, causing cases to remain flat or, in some cases, to rise.
A Times analysis found that the counties with the lowest vaccination rates were likely to have higher recent case rates per capita. Counties in rural Northern California and the greater Sacramento area fared worst, while Southern California and the Bay Area have fared best in terms of higher rates of vaccination and lower daily case rates, the analysis found.
Health officials in some of the rural areas with low rates of vaccination said they are battling reluctance on the part of residents to get the shot, which leaves a greater percentage of the population exposed to the coronavirus than in more urban parts of California, where cases continue to plummet."
READ MORE ABOUT VACCINATIONS: California wasted 31,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s how we ranked among other states -- ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS, SacBee.
California saw more active shooters than any other state over past 20 years. FBI data shows
The Chronicle, MEGAN CASSIDY: "California, the most populous state in the nation and home to some of its strictest gun laws, was also the site of the most active shooter incidents over the past two decades, according to a new FBI report.
The Golden State saw 42 active shooter incidents between 2000 and 2019, a figure more than 50% higher than the 27 shootings recorded in Florida, the state with the second-highest number of such attacks.
The data, released Tuesday, was included as part of the largest FBI report of its kind, drawing on demographics, location and other data from 333 active shooter incidents throughout the nation. Among these incidents, 135 qualified as what the FBI defined as a “mass killing,” meaning there were three or more slA\ayings in a single event."
READ MORE GUN VIOLENCE NEWS --- Santa Clara officials release body cam footage of SJ massacre -- --The Chronicle, MORA MISHANEC
Sac City Council adopts new police use-of-force policy
SacBee, THERESA CLIFT: "The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday adopted a new use of deadly force policy for police, replacing the one it adopted less than a month ago.
The language, proposed by the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission, is modeled after San Francisco’s policy. It reads: “A peace officer is justified in using deadly force upon another person only as a last resort when reasonable alternatives have been exhausted or are not feasible and the officer reasonably believes, based on the totality of the circumstances, that such force is necessary.”
It will replace language the council adopted last month, proposed by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg as a compromise between the commission and the Police Department. That language read: “Deadly force shall only be used as a last resort. Last resort means that peace officers shall use tactics and techniques that may persuade the suspect to voluntarily comply or may mitigate the need to use a higher level of force to resolve the situation safely.”
Huntington Beach Mayor Pro Tem Tito Ortiz resigns, citing personal attacks
HANNAH FRY and LEILA MILLER, LA Times: "Huntington Beach Mayor Pro Tem Tito Ortiz has resigned his position, citing an onslaught of public attacks on his character and a fear for the safety of his family.
During a Tuesday night City Council meeting, Ortiz said that although he had been “under a notion that I was in a bipartisan position and that we all had the common goal that our city and our constituents could have... [but] to put it frankly, that’s not the case.”
He said that he has been the “sole focus of character assassination each and every week with multiple news stories” that sought to defame his name. The attacks, he said, now involve his family, causing him to fear for their safety."
Mayor Breed wants to add more than $1B to fighting homelessness in SF over next two years
The Chronicle, TRISHA THADANI: "Mayor London Breed is proposing more than $1 billion in new funding to address homelessness over the next two years — a staggering amount that she hopes will finally make a dent in San Francisco’s most vexing problem.
That proposal, announced Tuesday as part of her wider plan for the city’s upcoming $13.1 billion budget, is on top of the $300 million or so already spent directly on homelessness each year. The investment reflects the intense pressure Breed and other city leaders are under to address the thousands living on the streets, in shelters and in unstable housing.
In front of a large, masked crowd Tuesday, Breed proudly called her proposal a “historic investment.” But she acknowledged that money won’t solve the problem alone, and that the city also needs more housing, treatment and enforcement to compel people inside or into care."
Top California Democrats push Newsom to spend more on health, citing rosy tax projections
SOPHIA BOLLAG, SacBee: "Top Democratic lawmakers announced Tuesday they want to rely on high tax revenue estimates to spend more on public health, undocumented immigrant health care, early learning and child care than Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed.
The plan budget committee chairs Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, unveiled aligns in many ways with the governor’s $268 billion spendng proposal.
But lawmakers and Newsom will need to haggle over some key differences between the two plans ahead of a June 15 deadline."
After Foppoli sexual assault scandal, Windsow looks to seat new mayor
The Chronicle, ALEXANDRIA BORDAS and CYNTHIA DIZIKES: "Battered by a sexual assault scandal that led to Dominic Foppoli’s resignation, the Town of Windsor will turn Wednesday to the delicate and politically fraught task of replacing its mayor.
The stakes are high as Windsor leaders try to recenter and rebuild public trust after nine women accused Foppoli, 39, of sexual assault or misconduct in a series of Chronicle investigations.
Now that Foppoli has resigned his office — after six weeks of denying the allegations and refusing to step down — the Windsor Town Council will meet Wednesday evening to decide whether to hold a special election, or to select a citizen or a sitting council member to fill the seat he left behind."
Is 'pandemic pricing' already over? Here's where SF stands now
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG: "For renters in San Francisco and across the U.S., “pandemic pricing” is increasingly a thing of the past, a new report says — though the Bay Area isn’t rebounding quite as quickly as many other parts of the country.
The latest rent report from Apartment List shows the national median rent price increased by 2.3% from April to May — the largest single month increase ever recorded by the listing service, which began its estimates in 2017.
National year-over-year rent growth also set a record at 5.4%, compared to 2.9% in 2018 and 2.1% in 2019."
How three surfer dudes left California to find a secret surfing oasis in El Salvador
KEVIN BAXTER and WALLY SKALIJ, LA Times: "Bob Levy grew up in El Salvador but discovered surfing in California, and he vividly remembers the day he returned to his homeland and hit the beach with a stiff, 10-foot surfboard under his arm.
“They didn’t even know it was a board,” Levy recalled. “They thought it was an airplane wing.”
Decades later that wing, along with a prayer of sorts from the government, has turned a 13-mile stretch of Salvadoran shoreline into one of the world’s newest surfing meccas. It’s a spot where the waves are so ripe and the water so warm, tourism officials are hoping it can repair the country’s battered image while the International Surfing Assn. has chosen it as the location of the final qualifying rounds for the debut of surfing as an Olympic sport this summer."
