Unemployment rate drops to 13.3% in hopeful prognosis for economy sick with the coronavirus
The Chronicle's CAROLYN SAID: "Unemployment dropped to 13.3% in May according to government figures released Friday morning, suggesting the economy has passed the high point of the job devastation wrought by the coronavirus and shelter-in-place orders.
The Department of Labor said the workforce gained 2.5 million jobs in May. The unemployment rate fell 1.4 percentage points from April’s 14.7%, which saw the largest month-over-month spike (at 10.3 percentage points) since tracking began in 1948.
Jobs returned to many sectors, from restaurants and bars to clothing stores to dentistry practices. One notable area where jobs were lost included government and education, due to ongoing school closures."
Newsom's listening tour comes to a close in Stockton as calls for action and intensity of protests refuse to decelerate
LA Times's TARYN LUNA: "Gov. Gavin Newsom met with Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs and the Central Valley city’s black community leders on Thursday, continuing a listening tour in cities across the state as more Californians demand action and accountability for police brutality.
But when asked what changes he intends to make as the state’s chief executive, the governor’s message has been clear: There are no quick fixes.
“What I fear is that we can pass programs and feign that we’ve solved problems,” Newsom said earlier this week, pushing back on the notion of a top-down approach from the state Capitol."
READ MORE related to Criminal Justice Reform/The Struggle For Racial Equality: Troubling videos capture LA police violence and aggression amid demonstrations -- LA Times's JAMES QUEALLY/KEVIN RECTOR/RICHARD WINTON; Police chokehold tactics scrutinized globally proceeding Floyd's death -- AP; Newsom says protests will most likely cause California's numbers to surge once again -- The Chronicle's AIDIN VAZIRI; Sean Monterrosa's family emphatically disputes Vallejo Police Chief's account about Sean's death: 'My brother was kneeling and surrendering' -- The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY/MICHAEL CABANATUAN; Photo of LBC officer standing over blood with his baton spurs internal investigation -- LA Times's PRISCELLA VEGA/JAMES QUEALLY; Growing LAPD was gospel at City Hall. George Floyd changed that -- LA Times's JAMES RAINEY/DAKOTA SMITH/CINDY CHANG
Hillary Clinton slams Trump's ability (or lack thereof) at effective crisis management: 'He's without shame'
LA Times's GLENN WHIPP: "Since “Hillary,” Hulu’s four-part documentary about Hillary Clinton, premiered in early March, America has been devastated by a pandemic and convulsed by nationwide protests following the police killing of George Floyd.
Clinton understands the despair that drives the protests and pervades the country in the wake of more than 100,000 pandemic deaths and one in four American workers filing for unemployment insurance.
But she also sees signs for cautious optimism."
Domestic violence shelters in SF, elsewhere see rise in calls, severity of violence
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "One result of shelter-in-place orders during the coronavirus pandemic is to confine some household members with others who abuse them. By most indications, domestic violence has become more frequent and more violent.
Police chiefs nationwide reported increases of 10% to 30% in domestic assaults in the first two weeks after a national emergency was declared in March, according to a USA Today survey. On April 6, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres implored governments worldwideto address the “horrifying global surge in domestic violence.”
While the number of calls for help in California has varied over the weeks since, “the calls are now indicating a much greater severity of violence, much more physical violence ... strangulations,” compared with past years, said Krista Niemczyk, state policy director of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, which helps victims find local shelters and assistance."
Sanders endorses former SF prosecutor Gascon for Los Angeles DA
LA Times's JAMES QUEALLY: "Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders threw his support Thursday behind former San Francisco Dist. Atty. George Gascón in his bid to unseat Jackie Lacey as Los Angeles County’s top prosecutor.
The Vermont senator said on Twitter he was endorsing a slate of 10 progressive prosecutors in elections across the country following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, which has sparked nationwide protests and calls for criminal justice reform.
“Los Angeles is home to the largest criminal justice jurisdiction and jail in the nation. George is facing a two-term ‘tough on crime’ incumbent who has been criticized by Black Lives Matter and the ACLU for failing to hold officers accountable for excessive use of force,” Sanders said in a statement."
California Legislature pushes to close embattled Calbright College
EdSource's ASHLEY A SMITH: "California Assembly and Senate leaders moved Wednesday to eliminate Calbright College, the state’s online two-year institution.
The college, which opened in October, has faced an onslaught of criticism and courted controversy since it was first proposed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017. The legislature reached an agreement on the state budget that included defunding and redirecting more than $100 million to support other needs in the 115-campus community college system. The college was seen as a bold initiative to serve adult and underemployed populations of students working part-time or stuck in positions that don’t pay a living wage.
“I want to see the most bang for our buck, and we certainly weren’t getting that from Calbright,” said Assemblyman Jose Medina, who is chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee. “And given the economic crisis from the coronavirus, the state doesn’t have the money. It’s time to shut that program down completely … The money saved can be better used in other places."
National Parks are reopening, but expect big inconveniences this summer
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "When Redwood National Park reopened its roads and trailheads in time for Memorial Day, after closing them for nearly two months because of the coronavirus outbreak, the site of the world’s tallest trees looked a bit different.
The popular Lady Bird Johnson Trail was limited to one-way traffic. Permits for the crowd-controlled Tall Trees Trail were no longer offered in-person, only through a new online reservation system. And parts of the park where large groups gather, like campgrounds and visitor centers, remained closed.
The changes in the ancient redwood groves, five hours north of San Francisco, were designed to keep space between people and prepare for life in a world with COVID-19. They’re also a preview of what travelers can expect when they visit the country’s other national parks."
How many people in LA actually have the coronavirus? Why health officials still don't have an accurate tally
LA Times's RONG-GONG LIN II: "One of the most pressing questions public health officials are trying to answer about the coronavirus is how many people actually have been infected by it.
Have a relatively significant portion of Californians been infected with the virus but survived without much problem?
Or has the virus touched only a tiny sliver of California, suggesting the chances of serious illness are greater if you’re infected?"
Looters who hit LA stores explain the logic behind their behavior: 'Get my portion!'
LA Times's MAYA LAU/ALEJANDRA REYES-VELARDE/MATT HAMILTON: "
The young man flanked the shattered entry of a ransacked CVS in Santa Monica, where people had swept the shelves clean of everything from diapers to detergent. The man, who did not cover his face, admitted he was a looter. He did not apologize.
“We’ve got no other way of showing people how angry we are,” he said.
Out of the store ran another young man, this one holding a carton of eggs. He grabbed a friend and started scanning the street for targets: police cars. “We’re doing it because we can,” he said."
(Column) Zuckerberg just made the case for breaking up Facebook
LA Times's MICHAEL HILTZIK: "The problem with giant corporations sometimes isn’t simply that they’re too big, but that their sense of their social impact is too small.
Exhibit A: Facebook.
The giant social media firm’s co-founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, on Tuesday convened a 90-minute video town hall for its employees."
Why SF's new laws forcing mentally ill and the addicted into treatment have yet to be used
The Chronicle's TRISHA THADANI: "When San Francisco expanded its ability to force people into treatment last year, the idea was to help the sickest of the sick: those who are severely mentally ill, addicted to drugs, and continuously cycling in and out of the city’s hospitals.
An additional 50 to 100 people, a small sliver of the city’s most vulnerable, were expected to qualify for court-ordered mental health treatment. But, one year later, not a single person has been considered under the new program, and different public agencies are blaming each other — and the coronavirus pandemic — for the delay.
The finger-pointing and sluggish adoption comes as San Francisco struggles to provide enough services for its 8,000-plus homeless population, the majority of whom also suffer from mental illness and drug addiction. The delays highlight the bureaucratic hoops involved in providing care to those on San Francisco’s streets, even through a pilot program that was only expected to last five years."
Is flying amid the global pandemic safe? You'll be surprised (not really) what airlines have to say
LA Times's HUGO MARTIN: "To help revive the devastated travel industry, airline trade groups and aviation manufacturers are kicking off campaigns to convince travelers that the risk of being infected by the coronavirus on a flight is low thanks to improved cleaning efforts and sophisticated cabin ventilation systems.
Medical experts tend to agree, with one caveat: The risk goes up as more passengers are crammed into a plane.
Still, a group that represents several of the nation’s low-cost airlines is seeking federal regulators’ permission to pack passengers into cabins without having to space them out to reduce the risk of spreading the virus."
Navy carrier sidelined by pandemic and bureaucracy now operating again in the Pacific
AP: "Ten long weeks after a massive coronavirus outbreak sidelined one of the Navy’s signature warships, the Theodore Roosevelt has returned to sea and is conducting military operations in the Pacific region.
Lining the flight deck in their dress white uniforms, sailors wearing white face masks stood a virus-safe 10 feet apart in a final, formal thank you as the ship sailed out of port in Guam on Thursday and headed into the Philippine Sea.
“We manned the rail, which we don’t normally do. There was a lot of symbolism in that,” Navy Capt. Carlos Sardiello told the Associated Press in an interview from the ship Thursday. “They’re excited. They’re fired up to be back at sea doing the mission."
Isolated more than ever, Trump is left in crisis by his own gaffes, mistakes and ineptitude
LA Times's DAVID LAUTER: "Seldom in his 3½ years in the Oval Office has President Trump appeared so alienated from so many as he has this week.
His decision to invoke a military response to nationwide protests against police brutality — symbolized by the move Monday to gas mostly peaceful protesters in a park across from the White House to clear the way for a staged photo outside a church — appears to have been a fateful miscalculation.
The incident has created a deep rift between the White House and the Pentagon, and drew an extraordinary rebuke from Trump’s former secretary of Defense, James N. Mattis. In an essay, the widely admired retired four-star Marine Corps general accused the president of making a “mockery of our Constitution.”"
