Biden signs historic $1T bipartisan infrastructure bill
LA Times, ERIN B. LOGAN: "President Biden on Monday signed a historic $1-trillion bipartisan bill that he said will overhaul the nation’s infrastructure and boost the nation’s economy, which has been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Touting the legislation as a job creator, the president said it was also an example of him fulfilling a campaign promise to reach across the aisle to get things done.
“Democrats and Republicans can come together and deliver results,” the president said during a signing ceremony on the White House lawn that was attended by more than 800 labor leaders, business executives, governors, mayors and mostly Democratic lawmakers."
Bipartisan infrastructure bill passes: Here's what California will get
JOSHUA BOTE, SF Gate: "Billions of dollars will be poured into California's roads, pipes and wires, among other infrastructure projects, after President Joe Biden signed the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Tuesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris at his side.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., celebrated the passage of the bill for Californians in a tweet Tuesday, citing the historic lack of investment in the state’s infrastructure and the state’s subpar grades from the American Society of Civil Engineers. The bill's signing comes after weeks of arduous debate and demands for cutbacks. The bill eventually received support from a critical mass of Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
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“I’m delighted that President Biden has signed this historic bipartisan infrastructure legislation into law,” Feinstein wrote on Twitter. “This is a huge win for everyone across the country.”
CA cars: Supply slows, while prices head to the fast lane
SETH SANDRONSKY, Capitol Weekly: "Several factors are shaping demand, prices, sales and supply of new and used cars in the Golden State, but consumers know one thing — their pocketbooks are taking a hit.
Jessica Caldwell is Edmunds’ executive director of insights, based in Santa Monica. “There has never been a greater imbalance of supply and demand for vehicles as there is right now across the country, including the nation’s largest automotive market, California,” she says.
By one estimate, new car prices rose 12.1 percent between September 2020 and September 2021, or about $4,871 per vehicle. The average cost of a new car has surpassed $45,000 — an historic first."
California wants all adults to get booster shots. Here's why making an appt is a challenge
The Chronicle, AIDIN VAZIRI/KELLIE HWANG: "Health officials in California want everyone 18 and older to get COVID-19 booster shots ahead of the holiday season. But there is still widespread confusion about who can book an appointment and how.
That’s because most online vaccination scheduling systems — including the state’s MyTurn appointment site — still show the specific eligibility categories to receive a booster dose that were in place before state and county officials last week began encouraging booster shots for all.
Those categories follow federal guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The standard says shots are available to those who are 65 and older; people who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine; and any adult 18 and over with underlying health conditions or who works or lives in a high-risk setting."
California students can get vaccinated. When will the state let them take off their masks?
LARA KORTE, SacBee: "California schools next month will wrap up their fourth semester amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Children ages 5 to 11 soon will have to get vaccines to attend.
Now, some parents and doctors want to know what it will take to lift California’s school mask mandate."
Califrornia AG announces agreement with Amazon over workplace COVID-19 notifications
The Chronicle, CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO: "The California Attorney General’s Office has reached an agreement with Amazon about how the company reports COVID-19 outbreaks and notifies employees, ending a legal tug-of-war dating back to last year between California and the e-commerce giant over its virus prevention protocols.
The agency has pressured the company in court since last year to turn over detailed information on how it was preventing and reporting COVID-19 cases, saying its communications with workers and the state were vague and insufficient under state virus prevention rules.
Amazon will change how it notifies its workers in California and state and local health agencies about infections, submit to monitoring and pay a $500,000 fine to the state. The company entered into the agreement without admitting to allegations about its workplace safety outlined in a complaint."
Retirement Fund Giant Calpers Votes to Use Leverage, More Alternative Assets
HEATHER GILLES, Wall Street Journal: "The board of the nation’s largest pension fund voted Monday to use borrowed money and alternative assets to meet its investment-return target, even after lowering that target just a few months ago.
The move by the $495 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System reflects the dimming prospects for safe publicly traded investments by households and institutions alike and sets a tone for increased risk-taking by pension funds around the country.
Without changes, Calpers said its current asset mix would produce 20-year returns of 6.2%, short of both the 7% target the fund started 2021 with and the 6.8% target implemented over the summer."
California community college system urged to do more to help students complete college
MICHAEL BURKE, EdSource: "Amid declining enrollment, California’s community colleges should do more to help students in the system stay enrolled once they get there and complete their college goals, faculty and members of the statewide board of governors said Monday.
During a meeting Monday of the board, which oversees California’s 116 colleges, members learned that in addition to enrollment being down dramatically across the colleges, students who do enroll rarely go on to complete a degree or certificate.
Wendy Brill-Wynkoop, president of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges, said the enrollment declines currently affecting the system allow the colleges a chance to invest more in students. Because the colleges are not losing funding as a result of enrollment declines, Brill-Wynkoop said it “gives us the opportunity to invest more significantly” in students."
Why Bay Area air quality suddenly took a turn for the worse
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "In the wake of several recent rounds of heavy rain, and with no major wildfires burning anywhere near the Bay Area, a widespread decline in air quality levels over the weekend and into Monday left some in the region perplexed.
The National Weather Service and Bay Area Air Quality Management District both fielded inquiries Monday on Twitter by people surprised by soupy skies and elevated pollution levels showing up on air quality maps.
The dense, acrid fog that has pervaded parts of the Bay Area over the past several days originated in the Central Valley, where car exhaust and other pollutants got trapped in a thick atmospheric cloud and were blown in by northeasterly winds at night, experts said."
Bird strike forces Aeromexico flight to return to Sacramento International Airport
DANIEL HUNT, SacBee: "A passenger jet returned safely Monday night to Sacramento International Airport after suffering a bird strike after takeoff. Aeromexico Flight 789, bound for Guadalajara, Mexico, took off shortly after 6 p.m. and encountered birds south of the airport, according to flight data information.
Scott Johnston, a spokesman for the county’s airport system, said the Boeing 737 NextGen 8 circled 25 miles south of the airport for more than an hour as it burned off fuel before landing without incident at 8:08 p.m.
The jet was able to taxi back to its gate under its own power, according to Sacramento Fire Department officials."
Inside the quest to rewrite racist housing laws in Silicon Valley town where homes go for $3M
The Chronicle, LAUREN HEPLER: "When Sonoo Thadaney-Israni and her husband signed the paperwork for their home in the hills above Silicon Valley in 1991, they were assured that the red flag in the fine print didn’t really matter.
The couple, who immigrated to the U.S. from India a decade earlier, had been surprised to learn that the deed to the roomy house just across I-280 from Stanford University in Ladera still included a ban on all owners and occupants “other than those of the Caucasian or white race.” There was one exception: “the keeping of domestic servants of any race” was protected by the 1950 covenant.
“Knowing you’re moving to a neighborhood to have a family, you’re like, ‘Whoa, what does this mean?’” Thadaney-Israni recalled. “You’re told, ‘Well, it’s not enforceable.’”"
And just in case you missed it...
Watch a bear walk right into a 7-Eleven in California. 'He just wanted a slurpee'
Sacramento Bee, MADDIE CAPRON: "A bear opened a door to a 7-Eleven and walked right in — until the hand sanitizer got him.
A TikTok posted by Rachelle Ducusin, an employee at the 7-Eleven store in Olympic Valley, California, about 7 miles from Lake Tahoe, shows the bear open the door.
The automatic hand sanitizer dispenser went off as the bear’s nose triggered it, the video posted Nov. 13 shows."
