California bottle deposit program sitting on at least $100 million more than it told lawmakers
The Chronicle, DUSTIN GARDINER: "California’s bottle recycling program has a surplus that’s at least $100 million larger than the department previously reported to state legislators and the public — adding to an unprecedented windfall that has ballooned as recycling centers across the state close in droves.
The program is now sitting on a surplus of more than $529 million, money that comes from the nickel and dime deposits consumers pay every time they buy a can of soda or bottle of beer in the state.
CalRecycle, the state department that runs the deposit program, said the amount of the surplus jumped because of an accounting backlog that delayed actual totals during the pandemic. But some recycling advocates say the department has in the past downplayed the scope of its flush coffers to distract from its plummeting bottle recycling rate."
Heavyweight health care plans confront lawmakers
JOAQUIN ROMERO, Capitol Weekly: "California could soon be seeing an unprecedented overhaul of its state health care system — but only if the politics and money come together.
Two proposals are making the rounds at the Capitol which, if approved, would greatly expand eligibility for publicly funded health insurance.
The plans – one from Gov. Gavin Newsom and the other from Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) – have reinvigorated the debate over universal health care in the state that stretches back decades."
‘A false hope:’ These Sacramentans waited years for a voucher, now they can’t find homes
THERESA CLIFT, SacBee: "After more than a decade on the streets, Timell Brown was ecstatic to receive a highly-coveted Housing Choice voucher.
The voucher, formerly called Section 8, gives her $1,100 toward rent — enough to get a Sacramento studio apartment.
More than five months later, Brown is still sleeping in a tent. It’s not for lack of trying. She’s applied for more than 30 apartments, forking over at least $40 in application fees each time. She has been denied every time."
Hospitals’ double whammy: more patients, fewer workers
URIEL ESPINOZA-PACHECO, Capitol Weekly: "Last year during the winter’s peak, hospitals in the state had an estimated 54,000 patients, with roughly 22,000 of them testing Covid positive. Today, similar numbers reflect the hospitals’ overcrowding.
But now, there is an overall 20 percent reduction in health care workers, and the combination of the two has compounded the stress on hospitals and their staffs.
Some workers are infected themselves and others may be stressed and overworked, but for whatever reason, the number of health care workers has started to plummet at hospitals statewide as the omicron wave takes hold."
Elk Grove officer’s death in DUI crash is example of rising danger on California roadways
DARRELL SMITH, PHILLIP REESE and CATHIE ANDERSON, SacBee: "Tyler Lenehan was minutes away from pulling into Elk Grove Police Department’s station house to start the morning shift early on a Friday when he was killed on Highway 99 in Sacramento by a wrong-way driver suspected of being drunk behind the wheel.
The Jan. 21 tragedy deeply shook Elk Grove’s police force, rekindled the fears of the loved ones who see motor officers off to work each day and is a painful reminder of the dangers the officers face when they climb aboard their motorcycles.
“You’re just exposed,” said retired Bay Area motor officer Doug Wayne of life on motorcycle patrol. “You have to accept that at any time, it can happen to you. You just don’t dwell on it. Your job is safety. You’ve got a job to perform. The motorcycle is just another tool.”
Should logging halt over endangered California animal? Here’s what appeals court says
CARMEN KOHLRUS, SacBee: "California conservation groups won a partial victory this month in their quest to protect the federally endangered Southern Sierra Nevada population of Pacific fisher, an elusive tree-dwelling mammal in the weasel family.
A federal judge in Fresno was “premature” in denying a request for a preliminary injunction last year that would have temporarily halted many logging projects in Sierra, Sequoia and Stanislaus national forests while a lawsuit is being decided against federal land management agencies, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said in a decision issued Tuesday.
The appeals court headquartered in San Francisco largely sided with plaintiffs Unite the Parks, Sequoia Forestkeeper and Earth Island Institute in their lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and sent the case back to U.S. District Court for further review."
Capitol Weekly Podcast: Assemblyman Ash Kalra on AB 1400
Capitol Weekly Staff: "This episode we welcome California Assemblymember Ash Kalra to talk about the biggest bill of 2022 so far: AB 1400, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act. The bill (and a companion Constitutional amendment, ACA 11) would create Cal-Care, a single-payer healthcare system administrated by the state, guaranteeing health care for all Californians.
The bill has so far made swift headway in the Democratic-controlled Assembly: it easily passed the Health and Appropriations Committees earlier this month. The bill faces its next hurdle today, Monday, January 31 – the deadline for two-year bills to be advanced from their house of origin."
There’s a battle brewing over changes to California solar incentives. Newsom is in the middle
LAT, GEORGE SKELTON: "Rooftop solar is generating intense heat on Gov. Gavin Newsom. And he’s quietly trying to cool it down.
He’s doing that by pressuring warring interest groups and the California Public Utilities Commission.
Governors and interests regularly pressure one another. It’s part of the political playbook."
Optimism at L.A. County’s nursing homes as coronavirus surge declines
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN II, LUKE MONEY, EMILY ALPERT REYES: "Los Angeles County’s nursing homes have observed an extraordinary increase in coronavirus case rates during the Omicron surge — reaching levels exceeding even last winter’s wave — but that unprecedented torrent of infections hasn’t been matched by a record-high number of daily COVID-19 deaths, county health data show.
The county has instead observed a relatively small increase in daily COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes during the Omicron surge, officials said. And new daily coronavirus cases have already started to drop.
As of mid-January, L.A. County was tallying a daily COVID-19 death rate of 20 fatalities for every 100,000 nursing home residents. That’s about one-fifth of the peak of last winter’s surge, and roughly one-fourth the rate of the pandemic‘s early days in spring 2020, according to figures presented by L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer."
L.A. County’s daily coronavirus cases continue dramatic decline, but death rate remains high
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN II: "Los Angeles County’s daily coronavirus case numbers continue to see a dramatic decline, but death rates remain high, health officials said.
The county reported 16,835 new daily coronavirus cases on Sunday, down from 26,354 cases recorded a week earlier, on Jan. 23, officials said. There were 40 additional deaths reported Sunday; there were 63 on the previous Sunday. Officials caution that the number of cases and deaths may reflect reporting delays over the weekend.
The decline in the daily numbers comes as numerous family gatherings and community events are scheduled to mark the Lunar New Year this coming week. And with their NFC Championship win over the San Francisco 49ers at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, the L.A. Rams earned a trip to the Super Bowl on Feb. 13 in Inglewood."
Omicron in California: Latest developments in the battle against COVID
The Chronicle, RITA BEAMISH: "Analysis of the data on accidental drug overdoses in San Francisco reveals how much the isolation and distancing of the pandemic increased risk of overdose. As quickly as the high demand and impossibility of getting coronavirus tests arose, it appears now to have eased. The unvaccinated New York Nets player Kyrie Irving did make it inside and onto the court at the Chase Center, and that did not go down well with many San Franciscans who unlike him have to follow local public health dictates aimed at curtailing coronavirus spread.
Latest updates:
NYC to give out free COVID-fighting pills: New York City is launching a program for residents to get antiviral Covid pills delivered directly to their homes for free, though supplies of the drugs remained limited, Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday. The oral pills will be for same-day at-home delivery as of Sunday for eligible New Yorkers who receive a prescription, the New York Times reported. According to a statement from the mayor’s office, treatments will be prioritized to infected New Yorkers at higher risk for severe illness."
Return to campus riven by conflicting pressures over in-person vs. remote classes
LAT, TERESA WATANABE: "As the University of California returns to in-person instruction Monday, conflicts are brewing across the system over whether to continue offering remote learning options amid lingering fears about health and safety risks during the continuing pandemic.
After a largely in-person fall term, the UC system’s nine undergraduate campuses shifted to remote classes through January as a precaution against the highly contagious Omicron variant. But the return to mostly in-person classes — encouraged by high vaccination rates and signs that the surge has peaked — is anything but smooth.
Student groups at UCLA, UC Davis and UC Irvine are planning one-day walkouts this week to amplify their demands for more flexibility, allowing students to choose between in-person and remote options. Some faculty are supportive, including UC Irvine’s sociology department. But others say that extending both options for all courses would be a major strain without many more instructors, since delivering quality online education requires far more than simply recording and posting a lecture."
Why owning a car in the S.F. Bay Area will only become more expensive this year
The Chronicle, RICARDO CANO: "After a year of soaring gas and car prices, will 2022 offer a financial respite for Bay Area motorists?
Not likely.
In 2021, gas prices in the Bay Area and California soared to all-time highs and have shown few signs of tapering. The cost to buy a new or used car also reached record highs to end the year, partly due to supply chain woes, which are likely to continue for much of this year. The region rung in the new year with planned toll hikes on the Bay Bridge and six other bridges, and there are considerations for other, separate tolls as a way to confront future traffic congestion."
Rallies in L.A., other cities decry anti-Asian hate on anniversary of killing
AP, JANIE HAR: "On their final night together, 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee and his daughter watched the news and traded goodnight kisses on the cheek. The next morning, Ratanapakdee was assaulted while on a walk in San Francisco and died, becoming yet another victim of violence against people of Asian descent in America.
On Sunday, hundreds of people around the nation, in the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Chicago, took to the streets to mark the one-year anniversary of Ratanapakdee’s death and to say they would stay silent no more about attacks on and harassment of Asian Americans.
Such incidents escalated sharply after the coronavirus first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. More than 10,000 hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were reported to the Stop AAPI Hate coalition from March 2020 through September 2021. The incidents involved shunning, racist taunting and physical assaults."
U.S. and Russia set to square off at United Nations over Ukraine
AP, EDITH M LEDERER: "The United States and Russia are set to square off Monday at the United Nations over Ukraine, with Washington calling Moscow’s actions a threat to international peace and security and a Kremlin envoy ridiculing the Security Council meeting as a “PR stunt.”
Diplomatic talks between the U.S. and Russia have so far failed to ease tensions over Ukraine, near whose borders Russia has massed an estimated 100,000 troops, stoking fears in the West of an invasion.
Russia denies that it intends to launch an attack. But it demands that NATO promise never to allow Ukraine to join, that the alliance halt the deployment of its weapons near Russian borders and that it roll back its forces from Eastern Europe. NATO and the U.S. call those demands nonstarters."
