Long before COVID-19, bubonic plague panicked California. A cover-up toppled the governor.
Sac Bee's DALE KASLER: "A deadly medieval scourge, never before seen in North America, had arrived in San Francisco — and California was in denial.
After bubonic plague killed its first victim in San Francisco in 1900, the city’s business elite, in partnership with the governor, engineered a brazen but unsuccessful cover-up. Hundreds died before the disease was vanquished.
The outbreak panicked the nation, worsened anti-Asian sentiments in Chinatown, where the disease first surfaced, and eventually toppled the governor who abetted the cover-up. The scientist who led the effort to contain the plague is considered the father of the federal government’s preeminent medical research agency, the National Institutes of Health."
READ MORE related to COVID-19 Pandemic: Supplies fly off shelves in Bay Area as coronavirus spreads -- The Chronicle's TATIANA SANCHEZ/JOHN KING; Evacuees pased through California military base. Did safety plan break down? -- Sac Bee's JASON POHL/FRANCESCA CHAMBERS/DARRELL SMITH/CATHIE ANDERSON; 2 healthcare workers diagnosed with coronavirus treated Solano County woman with illness -- Sac Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON/DARRELL SMITH; Can your 401(k) stay healthy as stock market sickens? -- Sac Bee's DALE KASLER/CATHIE ANDERSON; 2 Vacaville hospital workers in isolation; 3 new Santa Clara cases -- The Chronicle's ERIN ALLDAY/MICHAEL CABANATUAN/CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO/CATHERINE HO/LAUREN HERNANDEZ/ROLAND LI; Chinatown businesses begin to feel sting of coronavirus scare -- LA Times's ANDREW J CAMPA; Anxiety mounts among US health workers on the front lines of coronavirus outbreak -- LA Times's SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA
After a dry month, recreation outlooks range from good to bad to ugly
The Chronicle's TOM STIENSTRA: "Behind the headlines of a dry February, here’s where the prospects stand, good and bad, for outdoor recreation:
The weather: After a zilch February, Lake Tahoe residents and visitors awoke Sunday to 6 inches of fresh snow. The forecast for the rest of the month: fair.
Bay Area wildflowers: California poppies are blooming on the foothills of Mount Diablo, with wild mustard on the coast. A chance of March showers followed by warm days would bring widespread blooms. Outlook: good."
The leader of California's Republican Party has a strategy for success: Never mention Trump
LA Times's GEORGE SKELTON: "If the leader of the California Republican Party had her way, GOP candidates in this state would never mention President Trump’s name.
Not that Jessica Millan Patterson is trashing Trump — it’s hard to imagine a state Republican leader badmouthing a GOP president — but she devours the polls like every political pro. And polls consistently show that throughout most of California, Trump’s name is dirt.
The latest poll by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that among likely voters, 94% of Democrats and 57% of independents disapprove of Trump’s job performance. It was approved by 84% of Republicans, but they’ve become increasingly scarce in California."
Oil and real estate groups are dishing out money on California Democrats. Here's where
Sac Bee's HANNAH WILEY: "It doesn’t matter who California power brokers like Gov. Gavin Newsom or the state Democratic Party have endorsed for this week’s primary election.
They can’t stop big business, oil and real estate groups from pouring money into primaries to support the moderate Democrats lobbyists think will keep an open door for them in the Capitol.
Big businesses are working through so-called independent expenditure committees that can’t coordinate with candidates directly."
Bloomberg's fraught history with women threatens to undermine his candidacy
LA Times's MELANIE MASON/SEEMA MEHTA: "Michael R. Bloomberg has blanketed the airwaves with commercials for months, but last week, he added a new one to the mix. Its intended audience was not subtle.
As a lilting piano score plays, woman after woman testify how wonderful it was to work for the media mogul and former New York City mayor.
“Mike supports women,” one former colleague said. “He promotes women and he respects women."
Buttigieg is out -- along with many other candidates on California's ballot
Sac Bee's BRYAN ANDERSON: "The number of viable candidates on California’s presidential ballot shrunk Sunday afternoon as Pete Buttigieg planned to suspend his campaign just two days before Super Tuesday.
His decision followed a strong performance by Joe Biden in South Carolina and dwindling enthusiasm for Buttigieg in key states that will vote on Tuesday.
Buttigieg made his announcement Sunday evening in South Bend, Indiana — the city of about 100,000 people that twice elected him mayor."
Sanders swipes at Buttigieg in California rally
Sac Bee's BRYAN ANDERSON: "Bernie Sanders used his return to California on Sunday afternoon to argue that he’s better positioned than former Vice President Joe Biden to win a general election against Donald Trump.
Two days before the Golden State’s presidential primary election and one day after Biden’s sizable win in South Carolina, Sanders sought to paint a clear contrast for the millions of California voters who may still be weighing their options.
“Joe Biden is a friend of mine, but here is the point that we’ve got to be honest about: We have to be honest and say which campaign can beat Trump,” Sanders told the roaring crowd of 9,500."
Sanders: My running mate will back Medicare for All
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI/ANNA BAUMAN: "Sen. Bernie Sanders isn’t going to soften his views just because some moderates are lining up behind former Vice President Joe Biden after his landslide win in the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary and Pete Buttigieg’s supporters are suddenly up for grabs.
Sanders told The Chronicle on Sunday that he won’t choose a running mate who doesn’t support his signature issue, Medicare for All, a government-run single-payer health system that would require Americans to give up their private health insurance.
Polls indicate that many Democrats prefer to build on the Affordable Care Act rather than replace their private insurance with a single-payer plan. That doesn’t faze Sanders."
Californians who already voted for Buttigieg or Steyer grapple with desire for a do-over
LA Times's JOHN MYERS: "There may be plenty of second chances in life, but there are very few when it comes to voting — a bitter pill to swallow for those Californians who voted for any of the presidential candidates that dropped out before Tuesday’s statewide election.
The sudden exit from the race Sunday by Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Ind., sparked some brief interest on social media about the rules governing a possible revote. No doubt similar questions were raised by those who cast early absentee ballots for Tom Steyer, the billionaire climate change activist who left the race Saturday.
The answer, in a word: no. There’s no provision in California election law for a second chance once a ballot has been mailed or cast in person at a polling place or regional vote center."
TSA announces new security measures at SIA checkpoints
Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK: "Passengers at Sacramento International Airport are no longer required to show their boarding pass at the federal Transportation Security Administration federal checkpoint, federal officials announced on Thursday.
Instead, checkpoint agents are employing new technology that can scan a flier’s driver license or other identification and electronically verify if that person is on a list of ticketed passengers for flights out of the Sacramento airport on that day.
The new identification verification system, called Credential Authentication Technology, is being introduced this month at airports nationally. The technology connects to the TSA’s Secure Flight database, which identifies people who are on the federal government’s “no fly” list."
Robert Durst's fate rests with 12 jurors, the only audience that matters now
LA Times's MATT HAMILTON: "The story of New York real estate heir Robert Durst has been chronicled for the masses in lurid and often gory detail.
There was the mysterious disappearance of his wife in 1982, which sparked a frenzy of tabloid coverage and a movie on Lifetime. National media converged on Galveston, Texas, in 2003 when Durst was acquitted of murdering his neighbor, even though he admitted to chopping up the man’s body and disposing the pieces into the Gulf of Mexico. And in 2015, millions watched HBO’s “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” a six-part series that explored Durst’s close bond to people who’ve met early demises, including his close friend Susan Berman, who was shot execution-style in Los Angeles in 2000.
Now only one audience matters, and they’ll decide the fate of the 76-year-old Durst as he defends against the charge that he killed Berman."
