Stay-at-home COVID order lifted for greater Sac region, Newsom announces
Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK/DALE KASLER: "California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday afternoon that the 13-county greater Sacramento region has been released from its month-long COVID-19 shutdown order, the result of new data that show hospitals likely will not be as crowded with COVID-19 patients in the coming weeks.
“We’re seeing stabilization in ICUs and positivity rates,” Newsom said in a social media post at 4:30 p.m. “Greater Sacramento is coming out of the regional stay-at-home and going back to purple tier effective today.
“We must continue to wear a mask and stay home as much as possible. There is a light at the end of this tunnel.”
READ MORE related to Pandemic: COVID-19 crisis improves in NorCal, but LA County braces for more -- LA Times's RONG-GONG LIN II/LUKE MONEY/MAURA DOLAN
Tahoe region partially reopens, but Bay Area travelers still discouraged from going
GREGORY THOMAS, Chronicle: "Lake Tahoe can now reopen outdoor dining, wineries, barbershops and salons, after officials received word from the state Tuesday afternoon that the Greater Sacramento region was being moved out of the state’s regional stay-at-home order.
The news comes just days before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend — typically one of the ski destination’s most popular vacation times. Ski resorts have remained open throughout lockdown and hotels, which had only been allowed to serve essential workers, are available to reopen to tourists.
The state’s four-week projection for intensive-care unit capacity across the 13-county region put the area at 19.1%, well above the state’s 15% threshold for lifting its stay-at-home order. The region now reverts to the state’s tiered system of COVID restrictions. The Tahoe area remains in the most-restrictive “purple” tier, which limits outdoor gatherings to a maximum of three households and comes with a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew."
Vaccines start for elderly in Sacramento. California still lags nation in roll out
Sac Bee's TONY BIZJAK/ANDREW SHEELER: "Sacramento health care providers on Tuesday provided the first COVID-19 vaccines for people in the general public age 75 and up, marking a notable expansion of the so-far bumpy month-long roll out of virus inoculations in California.
UC Davis Health and Sutter Health, two of the capital region’s largest health systems, were the first to announce shots for that older cohort. Davis began giving the shots to its patients Tuesday afternoon, focused on elderly patients with acute health issues. Sutter said it planned to start shots for its patients age 75 and older this week.
Until now, vaccines in California have only been available to hospital workers, first responders such as paramedics, and elderly residents of skilled nursing homes, which have proven to be the epicenter of the 11-month pandemic."
READ MORE related to Vaccines: California planning to make big changes to vaccination plan -- after feds direct states to do so -- The Chronicle's CATHERINE HO; OC embarks on a PR offensive to convince skeptics that COVID-19 vaccines are safe -- LA Times's HANNAH FRY/COLLEEN SHALBY
Wildfire smoke now causes up to half the fine-particle pollution in Western US, study finds
LA Times's TONY BARBOZA: "Wildfire smoke now accounts for up to half of all fine-particle pollution in the Western U.S., according to a new study that blames climate change for worsening air quality and health risks in both urban and rural communities in recent years.
The study by researchers at Stanford University and UC San Diego found that the concentration of tiny, lung-damaging pollutants known as PM2.5 that are attributable to wildfire smoke roughly doubled between 2006 and 2018, while the share of pollution from other sources like car and truck exhaust declined.
The trend is most pronounced in Western states and highlights the rapidly growing health threat of wildfire smoke. This became shockingly apparent to millions during last year’s record-breaking firestorm, which enveloped much of the West Coast in an unhealthy pall for weeks."
City Admin Naomi Kelly to resign amid City Hall scandal
The Chronicle's MEGAN CASSIDY/DOMINIC FRACASSA: "San Francisco City Administrator Naomi Kelly, the city’s highest-ranking nonelected official, will resign Feb. 1, she told Mayor London Breed on Tuesday, weeks after federal prosecutors implicated her husband in an expanding City Hall corruption scandal.
Kelly started a six-week leave of absence last month to focus on her family after prosecutors charged her husband, former San Francisco Public Utilities Commission chief Harlan Kelly, with accepting bribes from a contractor.
Prosecutors have not charged Naomi Kelly with a crime. The criminal complaint against her husband alleges she attended a 2016 family vacation that federal investigators believe was intended as a bribe for Harlan Kelly."
Biden to return donation from ex-California Senator Barbara Boxer over Chinese lobbying
The Chronicle's JOE GAROFOLI: "President-elect Joe Biden’s inaugural committee said it would refund a $500 donation from former California Sen. Barbara Boxer because she was working as a lobbyist for a Chinese firm that allegedly helps Beijing imprison hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims in concentration camps.
The controversy prompted Boxer to de-register as a foreign agent Tuesday.
Initially, Boxer said in federal documents she signed last week that she would be “providing strategic consulting services” to the U.S. subsidiary of Hikvision, a Chinese firm that the Trump administration placed on a trade blacklist last year after the Defense Department said the company was controlled by the Chinese military."
5 ways parents and teachers are explaining the U.S. Capitol riot to kids
MANEEZA IQBAL, LA Times: "On Jan. 6, an insurrection unfolded at the U.S. Capitol when a mob stormed the building while lawmakers were voting to certify the electoral college results and Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.
The Los Angeles Times asked parents, guardians and teachers how they are explaining the events of the day to their children and students.
Below are some of the responses we received, including explanations that showcased common concerns and others that had a unique approach."
Pence says he won't invoke 25A to remove Trump. Read his letter to Pelosi
Sac Bee's MADDIE CAPRON: "Vice President Mike Pence won’t invoke the 25th Amendment, he said in a letter shared by multiple media outlets.
Pence said in the letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he would not invoke the 25th Amendment in the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency.
“Every American was shocked and saddened by the attack on our Nation’s Capitol last week, and I am grateful for the leadership that you and other congressional leaders provided in reconvening Congress to complete the people’s business on the very same day,” Pence wrote in the letter."
Trouble for Newsom's electric car plan? Dems criticize it at hearing
Sac Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG: "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s coronavirus recovery proposal is too focused on promoting electric cars and not enough on supporting small businesses, some lawmakers said Monday.
Some moderate Democrats were among the lawmakers who raised concerns about the plan during the Legislature’s first hearing on Newsom’s budget proposal, indicating it faces hurdles from his own party.
Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, pointed out that Newsom wants to spend more on his electric car plans than on grants for struggling small businesses."
Dems face backlash for calling Newsom recall effort a 'California coup'
LA Times's TARYN LUNA: "The California Democratic Party is facing backlash after referring to the campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom as a “coup” nearly a week after the violent pro-Trump insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“This recall effort, which really ought to be called the California coup, is being led by right-wing conspiracy theorists, white nationalists, anti-vaxxers in groups who encourage violence on our democratic institutions,” said Rusty Hicks, chairman of the California Democratic Party. “Today we’re here to say enough is enough is enough.”
Hicks and other Democratic leaders, described in a party press release as the “Defending Against The California Coup” coalition, held a midday Zoom event with reporters in which they alleged ties between the backers of the recall effort and those who overtook the Capitol on Jan. 6."
Bay Area lawmakers process trauma as they press impeachment
The Chronicle's TAL KOPAN: "One Bay Area lawmaker tested hundreds of pens to see if they had ink. Another Californian made sure his life insurance policy was up to date. Some congressional staffers have trouble sleeping. Most describe feelings of anger, sadness and fear.
As lawmakers move rapidly toward impeaching President Trump for his role in last week’s deadly Capitol riot by his supporters, they are dealing with not only the political fallout, but the human one.
The Jan. 6 attack was timed to interrupt the certification of electoral votes cementing the president’s loss in November’s election, which meant that virtually all members of Congress were in the Capitol complex when the pro-Trump insurrectionists breached it."
Union sues to block California gig worker initiative voters passed 2 months ago
Sac Bee's JEONG PARK: "Rideshare drivers and one of the largest unions in California are suing the state, seeking to overturn an initiative voters passed in November that exempts drivers for Uber, Lyft and other app-based companies from a labor law that requires them to provide employment benefits to more workers.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in the California Supreme Court from the drivers and SEIU represents the first legal challenge over Proposition 22, the most expensive ballot initiative in California’s history.
The union contends the initiative violates the state’s constitution by limiting the power of the Legislature to regulate labor practices of the companies."
Trump admin moves ahead with H-1B pay rule over Silicon Valley's objections
The Chronicle's CHASE DIFELICIANTONIO/CAROLYN SAID: "The Trump administration forged ahead with a rule to increase the minimum pay for foreign workers on high-skill H-1B visas Tuesday in a move that could sideline many of them from the U.S. labor market.
The Department of Labor announced the final rule after federal lawsuits in San Francisco and elsewhere stopped a previous version from taking immediate effect late last year.
“The final rule we are releasing today represents an important step to improve some of America’s largest foreign labor programs and ensure they function in a way that benefits all Americans,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia in a press briefing on Tuesday. The new wage standards will “ensure companies cannot use foreign labor as a low-cost alternative to American workers.”"
UCSF not open to SF supes' request to delay OK of Parnassus expansion plan
The Chronicle's JK DINEEN: "The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday asked the University of California Board of Regents to slow down its approval of a 2 million-square foot expansion of UCSF’s Parnassus campus.
In a 10-1 vote the board requested that the regents delay its vote until March. The regents, the board that controls the UC system, is scheduled to consider approvals during its Jan. 19 through Jan. 21 meeting.
“We are asking for a reasonable, two-month pause on a proposed plan to add 2 million gross square feet to the Parnassus campus, which will no doubt have citywide impacts for decades to come,” said Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the area and authored the resolution."
Oakland battalion chief spots smoke, drives up to find people fleeing burning townhouses
The Chronicle's NORA MISHANEC: "Three people sustained minor injuries after a hot plate sparked a fire inside an Oakland townhouse Tuesday, fire officials said.
Oakland Battalion Chief James Bowron was driving near MacArthur Boulevard and Green Acre Road in the Redwood Heights neighborhood when he spotted smoke coming from a row of townhouses shortly before 5 p.m. Bowron called for backup and went to examine the source of the smoke, he told The Chronicle Tuesday evening.
Bowron found residents fleeing the building. Two adults and a young child sustained burns after flames broke out on the second floor of a townhouse, he said."
SCOTUS joins with Trump on restricting abortion pills, despite coronavirus
LA Times's DAVID G SAVAGE: "A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday granted an appeal from Trump administration lawyers and restored a controversial abortionrule that requires women who want medication to end an early pregnancy to travel to a hospital or clinic to pick up the pills, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The justices, by a 6-3 vote, set aside a Maryland judge’s nationwide order that waived the in-person pickup rule on the grounds that it was medically unnecessary and posed a health risk for women during the pandemic. All six conservatives voted in the majority, and the three liberals in dissent.
The decision is the court’s first on abortion since Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined in late October to fill the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, solidifying conservatives’ control of the court."
US carries out its 1st execution of female inmates since 1953
AP's MICHAEL TARM/HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH: "A Kansas woman was executed Wednesday for strangling an expectant mother in Missouri and cutting the baby from her womb, the first time in nearly seven decades that the U.S. government has put to death a female inmate.
Lisa Montgomery, 52, was pronounced dead at 1:31 a.m. after receiving a lethal injection at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. She was the 11th prisoner to receive a lethal injection there since July when President Donald Trump, an ardent supporter of capital punishment, resumed federal executions following 17 years without one.
As a curtain was raised in the execution chamber, Montgomery looked momentarily bewildered as she glanced at journalists peering at her from behind thick glass. As the execution process began, a woman standing over Montgomery’s shoulder leaned over, gently removed Montgomery’s face mask and asked her if she had any last words. “No,” Montgomery responded in a quiet, muffled voice. She said nothing else."
The future of Section 230 and internet speech after Trump
LA Times's BRIAN CONTRERAS: "Debates about content moderation, especially on social media, have been a background hum throughout Donald Trump’s presidency. Early criticisms of his tone and comportment on the campaign trail morphed into more tangible worries about what a smartphone-happy commander in chief meant for America (Did he just threaten nuclear war in a tweet?) and reached a fever pitch in 2020 as he used social media to spread misinformation, first about the coronavirus and then about election fraud.
As social media platforms evolved new policies to rein in Trump’s transgressions and those of his most toxic fans, Trump responded by zeroing in on Section 230 — the previously obscure law giving websites such as Facebook and Twitter latitude to moderate their users’ posts — as Big Tech’s original, censorship-promoting sin. His allies in Congress took up the banner at repeated hearings in which they hit Silicon Valley’s top executives with accusations of liberal bias.
But now Trump is banned, at least temporarily, from Facebook and Twitter — and Instagram and Snapchat and Twitch and Shopify and Stripe — for his role in inciting a lethal riot at the U.S. Capitol last week; the Trump-friendly alt-platform Parler has been cut off from basic internet infrastructure; and a variety of pro-Trump message boards and hashtags have shut down or been blocked."
Emptied villages. Locked campuses. How China battles a COVID-19 resurgence
LA Times's ALICE SU: "Zhao Renmi awakened to the sound of village officials shouting that everyone had to pack and go, without explanation of where or for how long. Word was spreading of a new COVID-19 outbreak, so she gathered her children and obeyed.
“My heart is really troubled. It’s hard to bear,” said Zhao, a woman with close-cropped hair who lives in rural Hebei, in a video posted this week on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. She was one of about 20,000 residents being evacuated from 12 nearby villages, according to local reports and health officials, as part of China’s crackdown on its largest coronavirus outbreak in months.
More than 500 new cases have been found since Jan. 2 in Hebei, the industrial province surrounding Beijing, sparking a “wartime mode” response from Chinese authorities fearful of the virus spreading before the upcoming Spring Festival, when hundreds of millions of Chinese crisscross the country to go home each year."
