‘Off the charts’: California hit with very high flu activity, among worst in U.S.
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II: "California is now reporting very high flu levels, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the respiratory illness continues to surge nationwide.
The CDC uses five overall levels, from minimal to very high, to measure influenza-like illnesses across the U.S. and its territories. On Friday, the agency’s color-coded map showed California and 10 other states, along with New York City, shaded purple, the worst of the three shades in the very high flu level.
Since the start of October, CDC officials estimate, there have been 78,000 flu hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths nationally."
Clinical trials okayed for children with ‘bubble boy’ disease
Capitol Weekly, DAVID JENSEN: "Nearly three years after a British firm abandoned a successful therapy for the life-threatening “bubble baby” disease, children will again be treated in a clinical trial backed with millions of dollars from the state of California.
“It’s the best Christmas gift ever,” said the mother of an afflicted child, Andrea Fernandez. “We are so, so happy and hopeful that Jakob would have an opportunity to be in the trial soon. It’s a possibility of a new life for him and other children.”
Fernandez’s family is among 20 families that were denied care by Orchard Therapeutics, PLC, in 2021 for their children who have the rare bubble baby disease. The affliction is scientifically known as ADA-SCID. The bubble baby term arose from an attempt in the 1980s to treat a child with the genetic disease by encasing him in a plastic bubble."
Empty pews: How COVID changed the way the Bay Area worships
BANG*Mercury News, MARISA KENDALL: "Empty pews. Taking communion at home. Zooming into Shabbat services in pajamas.
It’s been nearly three years since COVID-19 shut down the world, but the Bay Area’s places of worship have yet to return to their pre-pandemic normal — and experts wonder if they ever will. More than one in three local residents say they still aren’t going to their spiritual centers as often as they did before COVID struck, according to an exclusive poll by the Bay Area News Group and Joint Venture Silicon Valley. That’s despite the fact that nearly everything has opened back up, vaccines are widespread, and hospitalizations and deaths from the virus have plummeted.
This massive shift — which has seen some congregants get comfortable with worshipping online while others have stopped attending altogether — is forcing the Bay Area’s religious institutions to reevaluate their roles as they struggle to adapt to the new needs of their congregations and try to stay relevant at a time when faith already is in the midst of a years-long decline."
CA120: This was an election the pollsters got right
Capitol Weekly, PAUL MITCHELL: "Much of the coverage of the recent midterm election has been about the surprise outcome – one in which the Republicans have taken a small majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Democrats retained control of the U.S. Senate. However, this was the story that polling was telling us — if we were willing to listen.
The final polling numbers from non-profit and independent pollsters and news agencies, was right. NBC News polling on voter enthusiasm showed Democrats and Republicans tied at 73% saying they were highly motivated to vote on the eve of the election. That same poll showed a “generic ballot” result that had both parties at an effective tie.
The New York Times/Siena polling ended up with the most exacting predictions they have ever seen, with zero measurable bias across all their polls. And here in California, the public polling from the Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) and Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) nailed all the ballot measure results and every statewide contest – including early predictions of the losses expected for the two gambling measures, Propositions 26 and 27, prior to those campaigns stopping their spending, and providing evidence that Proposition 30 would fail after the Gov. Newsom came out in opposition."
High gas prices prompt California lawmakers to consider penalties on oil profits
LA Times, TARYN LUNA: "A new class of state lawmakers will be sworn in Monday and thrust into the middle of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political fight with oil companies, testing the clout of an industry that spends heavily to influence the Legislature and potentially affecting gas prices for Californians.
Newsom has accused the oil industry of intentionally “price gouging” consumers at the pump as retribution for the state’s policies to phase out dependence on fossil fuels in an effort to curb climate change. The petroleum industry argues the consequences of those policies and the state’s dependence on a small number of oil refineries drives up gasoline costs.
In response to gas price spikes this year, the governor pledged to back bills to place new monetary penalties on excessive oil company profits in a special legislative session."
A record number of Latino lawmakers are heading to California’s Capitol after midterm election
Sac Bee, MATHEW MIRANDA: "Latinos, mostly Democrats, continue to make gains in the Legislature, pushing them closer to equal representation with California’s population.
With midterm results finalizing, the Legislature is on track for its largest class of Latinos in history, increasing from 32 to 39 lawmakers. All but five of them are Democrats.
Latinos will now make up 32.5% of the California Legislature, which consists of 80 Assembly seats and 40 Senate seats."
What Prop. 28 funding will mean for arts education in California
EdSource, CAROLYN JONES: "On Nov. 8, Californians overwhelmingly passed Proposition 28, which will bring a windfall of arts education funding to California schools. Advocates say the investment is long overdue, as arts education has declined in most districts — particularly those in low-income areas — for decades. While the state requires arts education in grades one to six and a year of arts education in high school, it’s up to districts to decide how to fund and implement it. The result has been an inconsistent patchwork of arts programs that leave many children with little exposure to music, dance, art and other creative forms of expression.
Proposition 28 funds will be distributed according to the Local Control Funding Formula, with districts receiving an additional 1% of their formula funding allotment to spend on the arts. School boards must certify districts’ Prop. 28 budgets annually, post the expenses on the district’s website and submit the information to the state Department of Education, where it will be available to the public.
Schools must spend 80% of the money on teachers and aides, which should help alleviate California’s teacher shortage, with the remainder of the funds earmarked for art supplies and materials."
Sen. Scott Wiener’s dramatic idea for San Francisco: Tear down the Central Freeway
The Chronicle, YOOHYUN JUNG: "State Sen. Scott Wiener has a controversial idea to reconfigure San Francisco’s landscape: Tear down the freeway that snakes through SoMa and spills into Hayes Valley, pumping traffic from the Bay Bridge into the city’s downtown core.
In a letter to Caltrans District 4 Director Dina El-Tawansy, Wiener asked the agency to study demolition of the Central Freeway, part of which was already razed and transformed into what’s now Octavia Boulevard. He also pointed to at least two other freeway structures that he says have outlived their usefulness — the Bayshore viaduct, and the Interstate 280 viaduct between the Highway 101 interchange and the 4th and King off-ramps.
The freeways generate pollution and pose safety risks to communities around them, and have cut off low-income communities of color in San Francisco, the state lawmaker said. The Central Freeway and the Bayshore viaducts straddle the Mission District, and the I-280 spur isolates Bayview-Hunters Point from much of the rest of the city."
Paul Pelosi appears at D.C.’s Kennedy Center Honors, draws applause
The Chronicle, JOHN KING: "Five weeks after the husband of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was attacked by an intruder in their Pacific Heights home, Paul Pelosi on Sunday attended the star-studded Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C.
He was wearing a wide-brimmed black fedora and a black glove on his left hand, perhaps to cover scars left by the assailant who hit him with a hammer as police were coming through the door. He appeared in good spirits and waved to the applauding crowd after being pointed out by President Biden, who was two boxes away.
Paul Pelosi, 82, spent six days in the hospital after the attack before being released. Since that time, Nancy Pelosi has said that she will step down as House speaker at the end of this congressional term."
What happens when Black organizers get millions for community activism, no questions asked?
The Chronicle, JUSTIN PHILLIPS: "Brenda Grisham said one of her son’s last acts before he was slain on Dec. 31, 2010, was to provide food to a homeless man outside of a gas station.
Christopher Lavell Jones, all of 17, was a talented musician who spent time in the church and had plans to attend college. A few hours after his act of kindness, Jones was shot dead near his home in East Oakland, a crime police have yet to solve or find a motive behind.
In 2011 Grisham began Christopher L. Jones Foundation Inc., which provides grief counseling and other services to families that similarly lost a loved one to gun violence."
Catholic Church sex abuse scandal: Why weren’t newly accused priests on Bay Area bishops’ disclosure lists?
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "When Bay Area bishops a few years ago released lists of their clergy found credibly accused of sexually abusing children, they called it a commitment to confronting past failings, a move toward accountability for a colossal scandal that has scarred the Catholic Church for decades.
But the Rev. Elwood Geary’s name wasn’t on any list. Neither was the Rev. Robert Gemmet’s.
The pair of now-deceased priests, who ministered in the South Bay a half-century ago, are now accused of horrific acts in separate lawsuits made possible under a state law that opened a three-year window for abuse claims long after the statute of limitations for such crimes expired. Geary and Gemmet are just two of at least 14 clergy in Northern California – 10 in the Bay Area – who this past week were linked for the first time to the church abuse scandal."
More rain to hit the Bay Area while fresh powder falls over the Sierra Nevada
BANG*Mercury News, JAKOB RODGERS: "A line of storms that ushered in a chilly, soggy start to December should continue to move across Northern California early this week, offering more chances for rain in the Bay Area and a fresh coat of powder over the Sierra Nevada.
One-third to a half-inch of rain could still fall over lower-lying portions of the Bay Area from Sunday through Tuesday morning — further boosting already healthy rainfall totals over the past several days. Three-quarters of an inch of rain could fall in that same time span over the coastal mountains, particularly in Sonoma County, said Brayden Murdock, a National Weather Service meteorologist."
Impressive rainfall totals from Northern California storm — how much did Sacramento get?
Sac Bee, DARRELL SMITH: "The capital region got more than its fair share of precipitation from this weekend’s winter storm, the second to rake across Northern California in less than a week.
Most areas in the southern Sacramento Valley received 1.5 inches of rain or more in the 24-hour period from midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday.
“(Saturday) we had a good amount of rain across Northern California. We’re expecting another round tonight and into tomorrow,” National Weather Service forecaster Chelsea Peters said about 4 p.m. Sunday just as another band of heavy rain packing thunderclaps moved quickly across south Sacramento County."
Travel around Tahoe could be ‘difficult to impossible’ with more snow on the way
The Chronicle, NORA MISHANEC: "Heavy storms walloped the Lake Tahoe area over the weekend, bringing a thick layer of snow and dangerous driving conditions.
The snowfall — the second major dousing this season — arrived late Saturday on the heels of a low-pressure system moving northeast from the Bay Area to Tahoe, meteorologists said. Another storm moved in Sunday from the coastal California-Oregon border.
Adding to drivers’ woes, the storm brought heavy winds, with speeds reaching 40 mph near Lake Tahoe and gusts between 80 and 100 mph on the Sierra ridge, the National Weather Service reported Sunday."
Wish Book: Reading partners provides crucial literacy assist to kids
BANG*Mercury News, JOHN WOOLFOLK: "Mateo Hernandez gazed at the shelf full of colorful books at San Antonio Elementary School in San Jose, reached for Syd Hoff’s “Danny and the Dinosaur: The Big Sneeze” and settled into his chair alongside tutor Jasmine Kaur.
“Danny’s mother…” the second-grader began, then paused.
“Let’s sound it out,” Kaur suggested. “Buh… Ruh… Ah… Tuh.”
Hopeful glimmers in long war on Alzheimer’s disease
BANG*Mercury News, LISA M. KRIEGER: "After decades of failure in Alzheimer’s disease research, scientists are buoyed by new findings that could mark a turning point in the field, offering hope that treatment may someday slow the grim deterioration of the brain.
The data, published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine and presented to applause at a sold-out conference in San Francisco last week, showed a substantial reduction in damaging brain plaques and some modest slowing of cognitive decline in patients with early disease.
It’s just one study. It’s not known whether, over time, the positive results will persist — or vanish."
Only Elon Musk can heal the hellhole of hate he’s created on Twitter
Opinion, The Chronicle, JOE GAROFOLI: "Sane minds agree that Twitter is about to become even more of a dangerous, ill-monitored tinderbox of hate.
What they don’t agree on is what to do about it. Suspending the account of the former Kanye West — which Twitter CEO Elon Musk did Thursday for violating the social media platform’s prohibition against inciting violence — won’t end it. Ye is just the tip of the iceberg of hate."
California accused dozens of CHP officers of overtime fraud. Their defense: Everyone does it
Sac Bee, WES VENTEICHER: "California Highway Patrol officers stationed in East Los Angeles grew so accustomed to uneventful overtime shifts that they set up a room with six beds where they could sleep while on duty, according to investigative reports prepared by the department.
Photos of the beds, set up in a room nicknamed “535 Inn” after the station’s identification number, appear in reports that formed the basis for the CHP to fire many of the officers and, early this year, for Attorney General Rob Bonta to charge 54 of them with fraud and felony wage theft of about $267,000.
The criminal charges followed a CHP audit and investigation that found officers exaggerated the overtime hours they had worked on late-night Caltrans details, reporting full shifts when in fact they spent only a few hours, or none, at work sites. The East L.A. office was the smallest in CHP’s Southern Division but accounted for nearly three times as much reimbursable overtime as the largest office in the division, according to a summary of CHP’s initial audit."
Bay Area transit agencies project doomsday scenarios. How likely are BART and Muni cuts?
The Chronicle, RICARDO CANO: "BART, Muni, Caltrain and the Bay Area’s transit systems risk unprecedented financial collapse in the coming years, a potential deficit that could mean massive service cuts if their ridership remains stagnant and there’s no replacement for the billions of dollars in dwindling federal COVID funds.
That, at least, is the dire picture that emerges from planning scenarios each of the Bay Area’s 27 transit agencies submitted to the region’s transportation planning body, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Rail, bus and ferry operators have projected imminent, “fiscal cliffs” for more than a year because sweeping aid by the federal government has kept operations afloat. The latest projections foretell a future where transit agencies struggle to provide competitive service without a new subsidy."
Barry Bonds denied Hall of Fame election again on era committee ballot
The Chronicle, MATT KAWAHARA: "The Hall of Fame continues to elude Barry Bonds, whose latest shot at selection was denied Sunday by an era committee.
Bonds, the all-time home run leader, needed at least 12 votes from a 16-person committee assigned to consider the eight-man Contemporary Baseball Era Players ballot.
Bonds received fewer than four votes, the Hall of Fame announced Sunday. The era committee ballot offered Bonds another possible door to Cooperstown after his decade on the writers’ ballot passed without election."
