Bay Area wastewater surveys suggest COVID surge could be biggest yet
The Chronicle, ERIN ALLDAY: “Surveys of coronavirus levels in Bay Area wastewater suggest that the region’s relentless spring COVID surge probably rivals the winter omicron wave in terms of the number of people currently infected — in fact, this surge may be the largest yet in some places. But capturing the scale of disease, and conveying to the public the relative risk of getting sick, is becoming increasingly tricky, health experts say.
The huge winter surge peaked in the Bay Area at more than 20,000 reported COVID cases a day in mid-January. Currently, the region is recording far fewer cases — roughly 3,500 a day as of this week — but experts believe the actual number of infections may be anywhere from 2 to 10 times higher, as so many more people use home tests, the results of which are not reported to county or state public health authorities.
In all previous surges, the level of coronavirus detected in wastewater closely matched case counts when plotted on a curve. In the omicron winter, for example, both wastewater virus levels and reported case counts started to spike sharply in mid-December, peaked over a period of a few days, then quickly plummeted.”
Dozens of criminal cases dropped over crimes and misconduct by East Contra Costa cops, DA says
NATE GARTRELL, Mercury News: "As state and federal criminal probes into Antioch and Pittsburg police officers continue, Contra Costa County prosecutors have dropped dozens of cases after determining the officers behind them can no longer be trusted.
In a statement to the Bay Area News Group, Chief Assistant District Attorney Simon O’Connell said an ongoing review found that “approximately 40” cases have been “compromised to the point they cannot be salvaged” because of crimes and misconduct by officers who played key roles in the investigations.
“At this point in time, due to the nature of the criminal wrongdoing and misconduct of the involved officers, approximately 40 cases have been compromised to the point they cannot be salvaged and have subsequently been dismissed,” O’Connell said. “The cooperation of the Antioch and Pittsburg Police Departments has assisted greatly in this complex endeavor.”
The FDA has authorized a fourth COVID vaccine. Here’s what you need to know about Novavax
The Chronicle, KELLIE HWANG/CATHERINE HO: “U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday granted emergency use authorization to the COVID-19 vaccine made by Novavax.
If the vaccine is recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which the agency could do as soon as next week, it would be the fourth COVID-19 vaccine option available for adults in the U.S.
The vaccine from the Maryland drugmaker is used overseas but is a latecomer to the U.S. field occupied for more than a year by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson — and it differs in several ways from those three now-familiar brands.”
State Supreme Court move could make cities’ environmental reviews of housing projects more difficult
BOB EGELKO, Chronicle: "The state Supreme Court has left intact a ruling that blocked a proposed hillside housing development in Livermore and could require local governments considering such projects to show why they aren't instead using available funds to preserve the land for plants and animals.
The ruling in March by the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco rejected Livermore officials’ 2019 approval of the Garaventa Hills project, which would build 44 homes on 32 acres near a wetlands preserve that is home to nine legally protected wildlife species. The developer and the city said the project, scaled down since it was first proposed in 2011, had adequate environmental safeguards, but the court said Livermore had failed to properly consider using available preservation funds to keep the land free of development.
The city and organizations of local governments and builders asked the state’s high court to withdraw the appellate ruling as a standard for future cases, saying it could interfere with future developments by making environmental review more difficult. But the court let the decision stand Wednesday, leaving it as a binding precedent for trial courts statewide."
They sounded alarms about a coming Colorado River crisis. But warnings went unheeded
LAT, IAN JAMES: “The Colorado River is approaching a breaking point, its reservoirs depleted and western states under pressure to drastically cut water use.
It’s a crisis that scientists have long warned was coming. Years before the current shortage, scientists repeatedly alerted public officials who manage water supplies that the chronic overuse of the river combined with the effects of climate change would likely drain the Colorado’s reservoirs to dangerously low levels.
But these warnings by various researchers — though discussed and considered by water managers — went largely unheeded.”
California social media addiction bill drops parent lawsuits
ADAM BEAM, AP: "A first-of-its-kind proposal in the California Legislature aimed at holding social media companies responsible for harming children who have become addicted to their products would no longer let parents sue popular platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
The revised proposal would still make social media companies liable for damages of up to $250,000 per violation for using features they know can cause children to become addicted. But it would only let prosecutors, not parents, file the lawsuits against social media companies. The legislation was amended last month, CalMatters reported Thursday.
The bill’s author, Republican Assemblymember Jordan Cunningham, said he made the change to make sure the bill had enough votes to pass in the state Senate, where he said a number of lawmakers were “nervous about creating new types of lawsuits.”
Health care costs keep rising. A new California agency aims to fix that
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG/ ANA B. IBARRA: “In 2017, a rare viral infection hospitalized Bernadette Moordigian for three weeks and paralyzed her for nearly nine months. Although she had health insurance, the hospital sent her an $80,000 bill. She appealed and got financial aid but was still on the hook for $10,000.
In 2018, Shelly Tsai, a lawyer with Neighborhood Legal Services Los Angeles, took on a client who opted to give birth at home with a midwife. Insurance wouldn’t foot the $8,000 bill despite it costing three times less than a hospital birth.
Last year, Laila Dellapasqua reduced her family’s health insurance coverage yet again as premiums increased. Collectively their yearly deductibles are more than $31,000.”
Terrifying video shows a glacier completely collapsing. Could that happen in California as the climate warms?
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: “The avalanche seems to starts off slow, like whipped cream melting off a sundae. But the icy flow picks up speed as it heads downhill, crests an embankment and finally explodes into a huge cloud of ice particles that engulfs the hapless videographer — who miraculously survives — in seconds.
The extraordinary footage was from a massive glacier collapse in Kyrgystan on July 8, and it was actually the second major avalanche caused by a glacier collapse in a single week. The first, which occurred in Italy’s Dolomites on July 3, killed 11.
Could something similar happen in California, home to seven glaciers on Mount Shasta and many more along the crest of the Sierra Nevada?”
Analysis of Covid funding reveals California districts have spent little so far to address learning loss
EdSource, JOHN FENSTERWALD: “One year after Congress passed record funding in Covid relief, a new analysis reveals that California school districts so far have spent little of it on efforts to address learning setbacks caused by the pandemic. This despite data that indicates that learning slowed, especially among the youngest students, and gaps in achievement between Black and Hispanic students and their white and Asian peers widened during distance learning in 2020-21.
As Thomas Kane, the faculty director of the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, wrote in a recent article in The Atlantic, “The achievement loss is far greater than most educators and parents seem to realize.”
The analysis by the California School Boards Association, released earlier this month, represents the first comprehensive look at how the state’s school districts have used a total of $40 billion in federal and state funding dedicated to helping them cope with Covid. It covered reports for spending through March 31.”
Dial 988: State’s new mental health crisis hotline debuts
CALMatters, JOCELYN WIENER: “Starting Saturday, people experiencing mental health crises need to remember just three numbers to dial for help: 988.
The new federal number — debuting in California and across the country this weekend — is billed as an alternative to 911 for people experiencing mental health emergencies. Here, advocates say the shortcut will make it simpler for people in crisis to tap into the state’s network of 13 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline call centers.
The plan has been in the works for nearly two years.”
Golden Gate Fields lawsuit: Court rejects free speech argument by animal rights group
The Crop, ERIN ALLDAY: “After animal rights demonstrators lay down on the racetrack at Golden Gate Fields in March 2021 and chained themselves together, briefly bringing horse racing to a halt, the track owners sued not only the protesters but also an activist group that allegedly had recruited them. The group sought to dismiss the suit, citing freedom of speech, but a state appeals court says the case can proceed, at least for now.
The organization, Direct Action Everywhere, denied any involvement in the protest and contended the real motivation of the suit was its signature-gathering and ongoing campaign to shut down the north Berkeley track. But the First District Court of Appeal said Wednesday that the language of the owners’ lawsuit — the only issue at this stage of the case — referred to “the organization’s alleged involvement in the illegal trespass, not its speech or petitioning activity.”
The track owners have not offered any evidence to support their accusations, and their suit could be dismissed without a trial if they fail to do so, Presiding Justice James Humes said in the 3-0 ruling. But he said Direct Action Everywhere was not entitled to dismissal under a California law that seeks to discourage meritless suits by penalizing the plaintiffs.”
Starbucks says these L.A. stores are too unsafe to operate. Not everyone buys that
LAT, GRACE TOOHEY/SALVADOR HERNANDEZ/CHRISTIAN MARTINEZ: “Anna Gonzalez grabs a coffee at the Starbucks on 2nd Street in downtown Los Angeles across from her office most workdays, a favorite part of her morning routine.
She admits the store two blocks from the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters and City Hall is surrounded by a growing unhoused population and struggles with petty crime. But she and other customers were disappointed and slightly alarmed to learn it was one of six locations in the L.A. area and 10 locations in other major cities the coffee giant said this week was closing because of safety issues.
“Everyone in there is really sweet, but it is kind of dicey around here,” Gonzalez said, leaving the downtown store Wednesday morning with her iced vanilla latte. “It’s only going to get worse without the business.””
Man suspected of plotting a mass shooting at UC Irvine is behind bars again — for now
LAT, HANNAH FRY: “Sebastian Dumbrava seemed like an ordinary UC Irvine student, studying computer science and applying for summer internships.
Then his life unraveled, beginning with several Reddit posts that led campus police to place him on a psychiatric hold, even though he denied writing them.
He sued the University of California Board of Regents, angry that his prospects of working for the federal government had probably evaporated. He tweeted about suicide and about “serious consequences.” He shared a quote about “blood on your hands” from the gunman who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007.”
Sen. Manchin opposed to energy, tax provisions in downsized economic bill, Democrat says
AP, ALAN FRAM: “Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) has said he’ll oppose an economic measure he’s been negotiating with Democratic leaders if it includes climate or energy provisions or higher taxes on the rich and corporations, a Democrat briefed on the conversations said late Thursday, delivering a blow to one of the party’s top election-year priorities.
The official said Manchin, who derailed his party’s bigger and wider-ranging social and environment package in December, told Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Thursday that he will support a new measure only if it is limited to curbing pharmaceutical prices and extending federal subsidies for buying healthcare coverage.
Manchin’s demands leave the measure’s future unclear, seemingly upending the hopes of President Biden and Democratic leaders for a more sweeping package they could push through Congress by August. That would have let them show Democratic voters that they were addressing various party priorities, including curbing climate change and taxing the rich, and draw a contrast with Republicans, who are expected to oppose the legislation unanimously.”
