California orders more body bags -- and begins a campaign on vaccine safety
Sac Bee's KIM BOJORQUEZ: "Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a public vaccine campaign to reach Californians in 13 different languages Tuesday but warned that the state is still facing an uptick in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
He said the state recently purchased 5,000 additional body bags to be distributed in San Diego, Los Angeles and Inyo counties, and that 60 refrigerated storage units are currently standing by in case they are needed for overflow from hospitals and county morgues.
“There’s light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re still in the tunnel,” Newsom said at a Tuesday press conference. “That means we’re going through perhaps the most intense and urgent moment since the beginning of the pandemic.”"
READ MORE related to Vaccines: Vaccinations underway in Sacramento -- Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK/MICHAEL MCGOUGH
With ICUs hitting capacity, hospitals turn to desperate measures
LA Times's RONG-GONG LIN II/LUKE MONEY: "With intensive care units in Southern California and the Central Valley lurching perilously close to full capacity Tuesday, officials are turning to increasingly desperate measures to prevent the state’s coronavirus surge from killing more patients.
Hospitalizations are continuing to rise at unprecedented levels, and officials have limited options for boosting capacity. Among the tools: Canceling scheduled surgeries; keeping critically ill patients in emergency rooms; sending ICU patients into step-down units earlier; training nurses from elsewhere in hospitals to help with intensive care; and increasing the numbers of patients an ICU nurse can treat.
California has recorded a cumulative 1.65 million coronavirus cases and more than 21,400 COVID-19 deaths. The state has far fewer cumulative cases and deaths per capita compared with other states, but a surge in infections related to pandemic fatigue and Thanksgiving has resulted in the worst wave of the pandemic so far."
UCB's Jennifer Granholm is Biden pick for Energy, signaling shift to green policies
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "President-elect Joe Biden will reportedly nominate Oakland resident Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor who teaches at UC Berkeley, to lead the Department of Energy, signaling a shift in the agency’s focus toward championing renewable energy and combating climate change.
Granholm, 61, who teaches at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School for Public Policy, would be the second woman to lead the 14,000-employee department. Its focus has long been on maintaining the nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons, but that is not Granholm’s area of expertise.
Granholm has long advocated for renewable energy sources. She founded the American Jobs Project, a 30-state research effort aimed at exploring how to create more clean energy manufacturing jobs."
READ MORE related to Biden Cabinet Nominations: Transportation secretary is off the table. Where does that leave Garcetti? -- LA Times's DAKOTA SMITH
Investors can now trade on and profit from California water -- how might that work out?
The Chronicle's KURTIS ALEXANDER: "It’s not just Californians paying attention to the state’s water supply anymore. It’s Wall Street.
In a sign of the growing value of water in a warming world, investors began trading futures of the coveted commodity, tied to California water prices, for the first time last week.
The novel marketplace allows speculators to make money betting on future prices of California water while allowing farmers, businesses and municipal suppliers to hedge against price swings and stabilize their costs."
Senators unveil $478B pandemic relief proposal. What it could mean for you
Sac Bee's SUMMER LIN: "A group of senators has introduced two stimulus bills that would provide unemployment benefits to Americans for months but doesn’t include $1,200 payments to Americans.
The $748 billion bill, which has bipartisan support, would give $300 in weekly unemployment insurance for four months, but does not include liability protections for businesses and funding for state and local aid, components that have emerged as points of contention among lawmakers.
Those measures are included in the $160 billion bill, which is sponsored by Republicans and is only supported by one Democrat, Sen. Joe Machin of West Virginia."
California workers appear likely to lose two weeks of paid sick leave as COVID-19 surges
Sac Bee's JEONG PARK/DAVID LIGHTMAN: "Even as California sets new records for COVID-19 cases, millions of workers in the state stand to lose two weeks of paid sick leave and additional weeks of paid family leave by the end of the year.
Congress has yet to extend those leave programs past Dec. 31, and lawmakers remain deadlocked over any compromise.
California earlier this year created its own sick leave program, but it is written in a way that it will expire at the same time the federal programs end."
READ MORE related to Economy/Reopening: Bay Area workers are going remote from Hawaii, and some aren't coming back -- The Chronicle's TOVIN LAPAN; SF faces massive budget deficit that could force layoffs -- The Chronicle's MALLORY MOENCH
Kevin McCarthy still silent on Joe Biden's election after Electoral College vote
Sac Bee's KATE IRBY: "House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has not acknowledged that Joe Biden is the president elect a day after the Electoral College made Biden’s victory official.
The Electoral College met Monday to ratify Biden’s victory, casting the official votes that mean Biden will be president next year. The margin was 306 electoral votes to President Donald Trump’s 232, the same margin Trump won by in 2016 against then Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated Biden on his win Tuesday morning in remarks on the Senate floor, after previously declining to do so."
Side-by-side races in OC frame Democrats' debate
LA Times's MARK Z BARABAK: "Joe Biden may have won the White House, but that hasn’t stopped Democrats from reverting to form, turning their upset inward and taking aim at each other.
True, they beat President Trump (though it may take a crowbar to pry him from the Oval Office). Still, for many the November election was a crushing disappointment.
Democrats barely kept control of the House, lost ground in legislatures across the country and, depending on the outcome next month in Georgia, will at best settle for a 50-50 tie in the Senate."
With a woman in prison for a stillbirth, California's murder law is tested
LA Times's ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "Adora Perez was two years into an 11-year prison sentence when she got a phone call.
From inside the women’s state prison in Chowchilla, Calif., Perez listened as attorney Mary McNamara introduced herself, saying she had been looking into Perez’s case — and found it deeply flawed.
Perez was charged with murder after she delivered a stillborn baby at a hospital in California’s Central Valley, with authorities alleging methamphetamine use while pregnant was responsible. Faced with the possibility of life in prison, Perez accepted a plea deal, lost an appeal and busied herself adjusting to the rhythms of time behind bars."
California Assemblyman Jim Cooper eyes a second run for Sacramento County sheriff
Sac Bee's SAM STANTON: "California Assemblyman and former Sacramento sheriff’s captain Jim Cooper says he is considering making a second run for sheriff in 2022 to replace Sheriff Scott Jones.
Cooper, a 30-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, said he has a campaign committee to run for re-election to the Assembly, but also is opening a committee to possibly run for sheriff “out of respect for the hundreds of people that have asked me to run.”
“At this point, I am only weighing my options and considering what is best for my family, the people of the 9th Assembly District, and for the citizens of Sacramento County,” Cooper, D-Elk Grove, said in a statement."
SF must continue moving homeless people into some hotel rooms, supes say
The Chronicle's TRISHA THADANI: "As San Francisco winds down its homeless hotel program, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed legislation Tuesday ordering the city to continue moving people off the streets and into some empty rooms for at least the next 60 days.
More than 2,300 homeless people currently live in city-funded hotel rooms, where many have their own beds, bathrooms and three meals a day for the first time in years. But there are still hundreds — maybe thousands — of people sleeping outside, as San Francisco experiences a massive COVID-19 surge amid cold, wet winter weather.
The point of the legislation is to provide those on the streets, who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, with an opportunity to temporarily come inside. But unlike those who moved into the hotels before November, the new residents will not be guaranteed other long-term housing after their hotels shut down."
READ MORE related to Homelessness/Housing: Airbnb co-founder to donate $25M to SF, Bay Area homelessness programs -- The Chronicle's MICHAEL CABANATUAN; Richmond council greenlights plans for housing development on toxic site -- The Chronicle's SARAH RAVANI
COVID ruins holiday travel plans for tens of millions of Americans
Sac Bee's MITCHELL WILLETTS: "For weeks, experts have been warning against holiday travel during the pandemic, but is anyone listening?
It seems they are, according to figures from AAA.
At least 34 million fewer Americans will hit the road or take to the skies this month compared with last year, AAA predicts."
SFPD releases body cam footage of incident a day after DA charges cop with assault
The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY: "Body-camera footage released by San Francisco Police Tuesday evening shows Officer Terrance Stangel striking a Black man with a baton — including at least once while he was on the ground — in a 2019 incident that has triggered the latest criminal charges against a San Francisco police officer.
The department released the video, along with audio of 911 calls leading up to the incident in which a witness reported a “guy beating up on this girl,” and “dragging her by the neck.”
The caller then described a suspect wearing a black and red top, matching the description of Dacari Spiers, whom police confronted in the location of the call a short time later.
During the altercation, Spiers was heard yelling that he didn’t do anything while his girlfriend repeatedly screamed “No!”"
LA Police Commission rules officer broke policy with final two shots in Hernandez killing
LA Times's KEVIN RECTOR/RICHARD WINTON: "The Los Angeles Police Commission ruled Tuesday that LAPD Officer Toni McBride broke department policy when she continued shooting Daniel Hernandez during a fatal encounter in April — deciding McBride’s first four shots were justified, but her fifth and sixth shots were not.
Hernandez had been involved in a vehicle collision on San Pedro Street near East 32nd Street on April 22 when McBride and her partner arrived on the scene. Video showed McBride repeatedly advised Hernandez to drop a box cutter that he was holding as he approached her, then shot him six times in a matter of seconds.
Hernandez went down to the asphalt after the first two shots, but quickly pushed himself up and forward again. McBride then fired four more rounds — the final two coming as Hernandez was on the ground."
Mitch McConnell warns GOP off electoral college brawl in Congress
AP: "Fending off a messy fight that could damage Republicans ahead of Georgia’s Senate runoff election, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned fellow GOP senators on Tuesday not to join President Trump’s extended assault on the electoral college results.
In public remarks and private warnings, McConnell worked to push ahead to the Biden era and unite a fractured Republican Party ahead of the runoff election that will determine Senate control.
First, the Republican leader heaped praise on Trump’s “endless” accomplishments as he congratulated President-elect Joe Biden during a morning Senate speech. Then he pivoted, privately warning Republican senators away from disputing the electoral college tally when Congress convenes in a joint session Jan. 6 to confirm the results."
Suspected Russian hack of US govt brings attention to obscure IT firm
AP: "Before this week, few people were aware of SolarWinds, a Texas-based software company that provides vital computer network-monitoring services to corporations and government agencies around the world.
But the revelation that elite cyber spies have spent months secretly exploiting SolarWinds’ software to peer into computer networks — including those of U.S. government offices such as the State Department — has put many of its highest-profile customers in national governments and Fortune 500 companies on high alert.
“They’re not a household name the same way that Microsoft is. That’s because their software sits in the back office,” said Rob Oliver, a research analyst at Baird who has followed the company for years. “Workers could have spent their whole career without hearing about SolarWinds. But I guarantee your IT department will know about it.”"
