After nearly a year of Zoom school, Bay Area parents and doctors sound the alarm: 'A cry for help'
The Chronicle's JILL TUCKER: "Viola Buitoni tried to help her son as he grew increasingly detached, the high school junior’s anger flaring, tears flowing as she begged him to do his schoolwork.
Before the pandemic, her son was thriving at San Francisco’s Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, where he was in the vocal music program and the robotics team.
But after schools closed in March, “everything came tumbling down,” Buitoni said. He has stopped going to Zoom school."
California state worker retirements jumped 15% in year of pay cuts, coronavirus
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER/ANDREW SHEELER: "State employee retirements increased 15% last year in California amid pay cuts and changes to working conditions brought on by the coronavirus, according to California Public Employees’ Retirement System data.
While state workers headed for the exits, retirements among local government employees — who generally avoided pay cuts and even received scheduled raises last year — decreased 7% compared to 2019, according to preliminary figures from CalPERS.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California State Legislature imposed pay cuts on state workers starting in July. Most employees took a base pay cut of 9.23% under union-negotiated agreements. Most employees receive two days off per month in exchange for the reduction in pay, and the state softened the blow by suspending the contributions employees normally make to their retirement health care."
Why the massive power outages in Texas are so much worse than California's summer blackouts
The Chronicle's SUSIE NEILSON: "Californians are familiar with large power blackouts, but Texas’ energy grid failures this week are on a much vaster scale, leaving millions of residents shivering.
As severe winter weather blanketed much of the U.S. on Monday, an unusual snowstorm pummeled Texas — and caused a serious energy shortage in the state. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 3.6 million customers were still without power. The California Independent System Operator urged residents of the state to voluntarily conserve energy during the evening for the next few days “to help ease stressed grid conditions in the Midwest, Texas and the Southeast.”
Rotating outages “could be initiated until this weather emergency ends,” the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s energy provider, said in a press release on Monday. Officials said there were no limits to how long any particular outage would last. The blackouts were avoiding areas of critical infrastructure like hospitals, meaning that other areas would bear the brunt."
LA school board cuts its police force and diverts funds for Black student achievement
LA Times's MELISSA GOMEZ: "In a major overhaul of the Los Angeles School Police Department, the Board of Education on Tuesday approved a plan that cuts a third of its officers, bans the use of pepper spray on students and diverts funds from the department to improve the education of Black students.
The unanimous decision comes after a yearlong campaign by students activists and community members to reimagine the school police force, which they maintain disproportionately targets Black and Latino children. Their drive and recent calls to completely defund the school Police Department intensified following the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, which forced cities and school districts across the country to consider how police use of force has disproportionately hurt Black Americans.
“We would not be at this point, though it is delayed admittedly, without the community’s leadership,” said board President Kelly Gonez. “I’m glad that the plan’s development also provided an opportunity for more engagement with our students, families and the broader community.”"
California Dems push Newsom to prioritize vaccinations for state's immigrant detainees
Sac Bee's YESENIA AMARO: "A group of lawmakers and advocates want Gov. Gavin Newsom to clear up what they say is conflicting information about the vaccination of hundreds of immigrants detained in the state’s immigration facilities.
The group, led by Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, sent a letter to Newsom about the issue on Tuesday. The letter, which more than a dozen other lawmakers signed, lists questions for the governor to answer.
Assemblyman Dr. Joaquin Arambula, D-Fresno, is among those who signed the letter. In a statement to The Bee, Arambula said prioritizing detainees is the right thing to do."
California Reeps infighting over candidate endorsement process for Newsom recall push
Sac Bee's LARA KORTE: "The effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom has yet to trigger an election, but California Republicans are already fighting about how they might endorse someone to replace him.
California Republicans at an organizing convention this weekend will debate a change to party bylaws around candidate endorsement that has some delegates fuming it could diminish the power of grassroots activists in the recall.
The amendment proposed by Sacramento GOP Chairwoman Betsy Mahan could allow the party’s roughly 100-member executive committee to endorse a candidate in a recall election."
Proposed law would give undocumented Californians access to state food assistance
Sac Bee's KIM BOJORQUEZ: "As immigrant communities continue to be left out of federal COVID-19 relief and are unequally impacted by the pandemic’s economic downturn, a Democratic lawmaker is introducing a bill that seeks to expand a state food assistance program to Californians regardless of their immigration status.
Senate Bill 464, introduced by state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, on Wednesday would allow low-income undocumented immigrants to receive food-assistance benefits under the California Food Assistance Program. If passed, the expansion would commence in January 2023. To qualify, immigrants must meet all other CalFresh criteria.
“Historically, there has been a need for this type of bill, here in the state of California,” Hurtado said. “This pandemic has made matters significantly worse for many more and we need to take action immediately.”"
Board of SF Supes budget chair demands action
The Chronicle's MALLORY MOENCH: "Last year, the pandemic highlighted San Francisco’s racial and economic disparities while corruption scandals underscored the cozy culture at City Hall. Now, one city leader wants to shake up the budget process to help address those problems.
San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney, chair of the board’s budget and appropriations committee, called on city departments to root out corruption, tackle inequity and innovate in their budget proposals in a letter sent to officials Wednesday. The budget will come through his committee for approval before moving to the full board.
“I am going to demand a high level of accountability during this budget process,” Haney told The Chronicle. “I feel very strongly that we can’t have business as usual this year.”"
Biden reframes goal on reopening of elementary schools
AP's AAMER MADHANI/ALEXANDRA JAFFE: "President Joe Biden is promising a majority of elementary schools will be open five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office, restating his goal after his administration came under fire when aides said schools would be considered open if they held in-person learning just one day a week.
Biden’s comments, during a CNN town hall in Milwaukee, marked his clearest statement yet on school reopenings. Biden had pledged in December to reopen “the majority of our schools” in his first 100 days but has since faced increasing questions about how he would define and achieve that goal, with school districts operating under a patchwork of different virtual and in-person learning arrangements nationwide.
“I said open a majority of schools in K through eighth grade, because they’re the easiest to open, the most needed to be open in terms of the impact on children and families having to stay home,” Biden said."
New maps showing which California school districts are open reflect big divides
The Chronicle's ANNIE VAINSHTEIN: "Data from a new state online dashboard shows a clearer picture than ever of California’s school reopening divide.
For the first time during the pandemic, the California Department of Public Health has released interactive maps showing which school districts and types are currently open for in-person instruction, remote learning or a hybrid version.
They reveal what has been occurring for months: Most of the state’s private schools are operating in-person, while hundreds of the state’s public elementary schools — particularly in the largest urban districts — remain in distance learning."
CDC school reopening guidelines could hurt efforts to reopen classrooms
The Chronicle's TATIANA SANCHEZ/SUSIE NEILSON: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finally issued guidelines last week on how to reopen schools safely. But some Bay Area health experts are not sure that what the federal agency is recommending makes sense — or that it has students’ mental health in mind.
The CDC on Friday outlined its much-anticipated guidance for returning for K-12 students to in-person instruction in the coming year. It recommends handwashing, disinfection of school facilities, diagnostic testing and contact tracing to identify infections and separate infected people from others in a school.
The CDC guidance is advisory — much as its public health guidance about gatherings, mask-wearing and the like are at the discretion of states and communities. Local school districts still will make their own decisions, and the CDC guidelines cannot be implemented in San Francisco until the school district and unions agree fully on conditions for a reopening."
LA elementary schools can finally reopen, but it will be complicated, uneven
LA Times's HOWARD BLUME/PALOMA ESQUIVEL/LAURA NEWBERRY: "The announcement this week that Los Angeles County coronavirus rates have finally dropped low enough to allow for the immediate reopening of elementary schools is leading to an uneven return to class — fast in districts serving more affluent communities, but just one step in an arduous climb for school systems elsewhere, including in L.A. Unified.
Both school leaders and families face difficult choices after pandemic-forced school closures nearly a year ago upended the education of about 1.5 million students in L.A. County and about 6 million statewide. Every school system has the authority to decide how far to go when reopening elementary campuses — and how soon.
Smaller school systems in more prosperous communities — and many private schools — appear poised to quickly expand in-person instruction; many have been calling for it. But in larger districts and those serving mainly low-income areas, concerns about vaccinations for school staff and community anxiety over health risks are making for harder decisions."
With COVID still raging, Sacramento sets $31.7M fund to help renters. How to apply
Sac Bee's STAFF: "The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday approved a $31.7 million fund to help residents pay their rent as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the economy.
Applications for the rental assistance are expected to be available starting Feb. 25 and can be found on the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency website.
In order to be eligible for the assistance, applicants must live in a household in the city of Sacramento in which someone has lost their job, experienced a reduction in income or experienced financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Renters must also demonstrate “a risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability,” according to a city staff report."
After prosecuting Trump, Rep. Swalwell pledges return to bipartisanship
The Chronicle's TAL KOPAN: "East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell has become a household name known for his criticism of Donald Trump on cable television, via Twitter and during the former president’s two impeachments. But after the second trial’s end, he says he’s ready to reach across the aisle.
“It’s a new chapter personally for me, and I think the end of an accountability chapter for Donald Trump and Congress,” Swalwell said in an interview.
The Dublin Democrat was one of House Democrats’ nine impeachment managers for Trump’s trial in the Senate last week, which concluded on Saturday with a historically bipartisan vote but ultimate acquittal."
Law enforcement confronts an old threat: far-right extremism in the ranks. 'Swift action must be taken'
LA Times's KEVIN RECTOR/RICHARD WINTON: "After an Orange County sheriff’s deputy was spotted on a protest skirmish line wearing a far-right Oath Keepers patch last summer, the department started to look for ways to better address extremism in its ranks.
Last week, after sources confirmed that FBI agents had searched the Irvine apartment of another O.C. officer suspected of participating in the far-right insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the agency again stressed efforts to improve — including by pointing to new training to teach personnel how far-right and other radical groups recruit, operate and pose threats to police and the public.
“Obviously our thought process is our employees need to be informed,” said Sgt. Dennis Breckner, a sheriff’s spokesman. “The course is educational: This is what these groups do, and this is how they might try and ingratiate themselves with law enforcement officers and then use their participation for the group’s own means.”"
