14 Americans test positive for coronavirus as U.S. evacuates cruise passengers
From the LAT's ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "U.S. officials said early Monday that 14 American passengers evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan had tested positive for the new coronavirus, but were allowed on flights to military bases in California and Texas."
"The State Department chartered the flights to transport more than 300 U.S. citizens from the ship, which had been docked off Yokohama since Feb. 3. The passengers landed Monday at Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, although some will continue on to Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. All will face a 14-day quarantine on the bases."
"The 14 infected passengers had been tested two to three days before the evacuation but officials received notice of the positive results after they had left the ship for the airport, the U.S. Departments of State and Health and Human Services said in a joint statement."
Sparse state funding for rape crisis centers — again
From Capitol Weekly's SCOTT SORIANO: "When rape crisis center counselors and their advocates read Gov. Gavin Newsom’s draft budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year, they were extremely disappointed."
"Despite a continued rise in California’s cost of living and the increase in the centers’ operating expenses, the state’s general fund contribution to its 84 rape crisis centers remains at $45,000 and $1.7 million from the State Penalty Fund, far less than the funding from the federal government through Congressional appropriations."
"The centers, independent non-profits that help sexual assault survivors navigate the rape-testing process and the legal system. They also obtain therapy, housing and help with what other needs the victims may have."
California to apologize officially for historical mistreatment of Japanese Americans
GUSTAVO ARELLANO, LAT: "For decades, Japanese American activists have marked Feb. 19 as a day to reflect on one of the darkest chapters in this nation’s history."
"On that date in 1942, during World War II, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized the forced removal of over 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent from their homes and businesses."
"On Thursday, the California Assembly will do more than just remember."
Scientists theorize that space aliens may already be here, but we don’t recognize them
From PETER FIMRITE, Chronicle: "Stargazing scientists have recently begun to focus on the prospect of encountering intelligent extraterrestrials, and the more they think about it the more they realize the first meeting probably won’t be with little green men in flying saucers."
"What aliens might look like is a growing question among astrobiologists, who are increasingly conjuring up creatures more Lilliputian than mega-brained or reptilian."
“The intriguing possibility is they are, in fact, here, but we just don’t know it,” said Andrew Fraknoi, the emeritus chairman of the astronomy department at Foothill College who recently taught a course on aliens at the University of San Francisco’s Fromm Institute and believes space aliens could very well be microscopic or unrecognizable as a life-form."
As Homelessness Plagues Los Angeles, Success Comes for Veterans
NYT's JENNIFER STEINHAUER: "For nearly two decades, Bobby Shriver, the onetime mayor of nearby Santa Monica, would look at the sprawling Department of Veterans Affairs complex in the upscale neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles and wonder why it could not house some of the homeless veterans who had been living in squalor in his beachside city for a generation. Many of the politicians, federal officials and wealthy residents he lobbied greeted the idea with derision."
"So in 2011, he sued."
"One legal victory, a glacially paced environmental study and years of negotiations later, veterans are getting homes on the 388-acre, eucalyptus-scented campus, a return to the facility’s historical roots housing disabled volunteer soldiers after the Civil War."
PG&E trimming trees, but some residents aren’t happy with the operation
From CAMILLE VON KAENEL, Chico Enterprise-Record: "Pacific Gas & Electric Corp.’s efforts to catch up on trimming down potentially dangerous trees near power lines have both fallen short of mandated targets and upset some Butte County residents who didn’t want their trees removed."
"PG&E has upped its vegetation management program since the Camp Fire. The utility company’s contractors are taking down the limbs of trees that are close to its power lines. In some cases, they are also taking down dead or dying trees on private property that arborists found could fall onto its equipment. The goal is to reduce the risk of a spark that could become a catastrophic wildfire."
"Ever since the fire, residents with burned trees near power lines on their property have seen PG&E work crews come in to tag and remove some of them. PG&E has a right-of-way near its power lines that allows it to do the work on private property, according to spokeswoman Brandi Merlo."
Column: There’s a new Proposition 13. It would send billions to California schools that need it
GEORGE SKELTON, LAT: "Proposition 13 is the only measure on the March 3 state ballot — and its number is causing many voters to do double takes."
"Maybe we should retire certain proposition numbers like professional sports teams retire their superstars’ jersey numbers. It would eliminate confusion."
"The difference, however, is that the honored athletes are iconic heroes. The celebrated propositions usually are loved by some and hated by others."
Newsom’s spending more, saving less
From DAN WALTERS, CalMatters: "When Jerry Brown returned to the governorship in 2011, he faced what he called a “wall of debt” from years of severe economic recession and deficit-riddled state budgets."
"Accordingly, he made paying off that debt, more than $30 billion, and armoring the budget against future recessions his top priority. Brown persuaded voters to approve what was supposed to be a temporary tax increase, mostly higher income taxes on the affluent, and later a “rainy day fund” that would cushion the effects of recession."
"Annually, as Brown presented his budgets to the Legislature, he would display charts and graphs to punctuate his dire warnings about the potential impacts of recession and backed them up by insisting on directing extra revenues into reserves."
