Final California inflation relief payments are coming, with debit cards being sent by Jan. 14
LA Times, CHRISTIAN MARTINEZ: "If you still have not received your California inflation relief payment, it could be on its way in the new year.
All direct deposit payments from the Middle Class Tax Refund program have been issued, according to the California Franchise Tax Board, and the remaining payouts will be sent as debit cards expected to be mailed out by Jan. 14.
The eligible residents yet to receive their debit cards are those who received their state-issued pandemic stimulus payments through direct deposit but changed their banking information after filing their 2020 taxes, according to the Franchise Tax Board."
Here’s when Southwest says travel meltdown should end
The Chronicle, DOMINIC FRACASSA: "The nightmarish travel conditions brought on by an extreme winter storm and faulty technology at Southwest Airlines should come to an end on Friday, the beleaguered airline said.
After a days-long fiasco stranded thousands of passengers and separated many of them from their luggage, Southwest said in a statement Thursday that the airline expected to “return to normal operations with minimal disruptions” on Friday."
Southwest hopes to resume normal operations Friday. Can the airline rebound from its historic meltdown?
LA Times, ALEXANDRA E. PETRI/GRACE TOOHEY/TERRY CASTLEMAN: "After days of chaos, canceled flights and stranded travelers, Southwest Airlines said it plans to resume normal operations “with minimal disruptions” Friday.
But it remains unclear how long it will take passengers who spent days in limbo to reach their final destinations, reconnect with luggage or receive compensation for the weeklong meltdown.
“With another holiday weekend full of important connections for our valued customers and employees, we are eager to return to a state of normalcy,” the airline said in a statement Thursday."
Chronically ill patients facing a lack of insurance coverage — by law (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, ALYSSA R. DYKSTRA: "Managing autoimmune arthritis that causes painful, swollen joints and daily fatigue is almost like having a full-time job. The medication I need to prevent further joint damage also suppresses my immune system, which means running through PTO (paid time off) for sick days instead of fun days. Regardless, biologic medications allow me to function and keep my hands from swelling like balloons. Living with chronic illness is taxing enough without having to decode insurance hurdles to receive these life-altering medications.
I incorrectly thought that moving from New Jersey to California would alleviate some of my struggles, but this year I ran face-first into one of those insurance hurdles.
Chronic illness requires both specialized medication and specialized doctors, which requires a high-tier PPO insurance plan to provide access to the necessary specialists. Inevitably, the only option for these parameters is a High Deductible PPO. Starting a high-deductible plan in 2018 was a stressful change, but I knew about manufacturer assistance programs and quickly realized my copay assistance would offset the initial expense of a high-deductible. I had heard of copay accumulator adjustment programs, which meant insurance would take the assistance money from the drug company but not count it towards your cost limits."
Winter storm will disrupt start of Dungeness crab season — here’s what to expect
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "Winter storms are adding uncertainty to the launch of the commercial Dungeness crab season, which is due to open early Saturday morning after multiple delays.
Many fishers don’t know whether it will be possible to deliver crab in time for New Year’s Eve celebrations due to the poor weather, including high winds expected on the ocean. Even if they do, many seafood buyers will be closed for the New Year’s holiday. The soonest most people can expect to see local Dungeness crab in stores is early next week, though bigger boats that can handle the weather and smaller ones that sell directly off the boat could make it out in time for a New Year’s Eve harvest.
“There will probably be some crazy people getting it done,” said Joe Conte, co-owner of seafood company Water2Table and San Francisco seafood restaurant Ancora. He said he expects to have crab for sale on his seafood delivery site Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday."
Rain-soaked soil means Bay Area should brace for some flooding and landslides, forecasters say
BANG*Mercury News, ROBERT SALONGA/AUSTIN TURNER: "The Bay Area should brace for another soaking Friday and Saturday with a major storm system settling that is raising flooding and landslide concerns given that the region’s soil already absorbed rain from another storm earlier this week.
Both the National Weather Service and U.S. Geological Survey have found that soil saturation is expected to set off a domino effect that leads to an elevated risk of shallow landslides, particularly on Saturday.
“You can’t just keep adding water to the soils when the soils are full,” said Brian Garcia, a meteorologist at the Bay Area’s National Weather Service station in Monterey. “That becomes runoff, putting more water in rivers, creeks and streams and in the watershed. We’re going to see higher rises than what we saw in the last system.”"
Bay Area winter storm: Here’s when the rain will peak today
The Chronicle, GERRY DIAZ: "The Bay Area’s brief lull in rain showers has come to an end as the next round of inclement weather sets its sights on California today, bringing rounds of rain showers to the coast and snow squalls to the Sierra Nevada.
This is all part of a broader atmospheric river that’s poised to help feed today’s rain and snowmaker, along with this weekend’s upcoming winter storm. The stage is set for an active weather pattern that’s sure to bring a tirade of hazards to the Bay Area and much of the Golden State.
Pockets of rain showers scattered across most of the Bay Area this morning are set to become more widespread and intense by the afternoon as the bulk of today’s storm comes ashore. Its size and scale will help it easily tap into the atmospheric river floating a mile above the ground, and this will allow it to generate heavy downpours over Northern and Central California."
Planning a trip to Tahoe this weekend? Here’s what to know as winter weather hits
Sac Bee, MOLLY JARONE: "Heavy snow is in store for the Sierra this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
A group of storms is hitting Northern California and Nevada, dropping significant rain at lower elevations and dumping snow on the mountains, making travel conditions difficult for those headed to the Tahoe region ahead of New Year’s Eve.
“We’re in the middle of a storm right now, and another round of snow is coming tonight that could produce another few inches, up to 6 to 12 inches overnight,” Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist for the weather service, said Thursday."
California restaurant group sues state labor department to stop fast-food council
Sac Bee, MAYA MILLER: "A coalition of restaurants and business groups sued the state Department of Industrial Relations Thursday afternoon, marking the group’s latest attempt to block a new California law that would create a statewide labor council to set pay and working conditions for the fast-food industry.
Save Local Restaurants announced earlier this month that it collected enough signatures — more than 1 million — from California voters to put the landmark fast-food law on the 2024 ballot. In Thursday’s suit, the group alleges that the DIR’s intent to enact the law on Jan. 1, 2023 would violate California’s constitution and undermine the legitimacy of the referendum process.
“The Save Local Restaurants coalition will not stop working to protect the small business franchisees, restaurant operators, workers, and customers of these community establishments despite this flagrant attack on the rights of California voters,” the group wrote in a statement."
After election debacle in Oakland, what’s next for ranked choice voting?
BANG*Mercury News, SHOMIK MUKHERJEE: "The revelation this week of an unprecedented error in Alameda County’s counting of election results has upended an Oakland school board race. But more lasting damage could be done to the reputation of ranked choice voting, a novel “instant runoff” format that is growing in popularity around the country.
Mike Hutchinson, the third-place finisher in a race for Oakland Unified’s District 4 school board seat, was told by election officials Wednesday that he may actually have won the race due to a technical mistake in how the county’s Registrar of Voters tabulated ranked-choice results.
The mistake itself involved a simple switch — a feature in the county’s election software that was incorrectly turned on, rather than left off. As a result, ballots where a first-choice candidate was missing were incorrectly counted."
‘The War on Drugs Part II’: California taxes, rules are killing small legal weed farms
LA Times, KEVIN RECTOR/BRIAN VAN DER BRUG: "When Johnny Casali was a teenager growing weed illegally in the mountains of Northern California, there was always the risk the government would ruin everything — that his plants would be discovered and ripped up, or that he would be discovered and locked up.
In the 1990s, dozens of federal agents raided his family’s Humboldt County farm, and Casali spent eight years in federal prison.
Today, weed is legal in the state and Casali grows it openly on his family farm. Law enforcement helicopters don’t fly over as often, and there’s not much risk of another raid."
Admissions scandal mastermind ‘feeling shame’ ahead of sentencing
CNN, LAUREN DAL VALLE: "The mastermind of a historic pay-to-play scheme for wealthy parents to get their teens into top universities is set to be sentenced next week.
Prosecutors want William “Rick” Singer, the college admissions scam architect, to serve six years in prison and pay over $19 million in fines and asset forfeitures. Singer’s attorneys are seeking probation with home detention and community service.
Singer is one of the last to be sentenced in connection to the decade-long scandal that led to more than 50 arrests and convictions, including celebrities like Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin who used Singer’s services to get their kids into elite schools."
Decades of sex abuse allegations rocked elite Ojai boarding school. But no charges filed
LA Times, GREGORY YEE: "A criminal investigation into decades of allegations of sexual abuse at one of California’s most prestigious private schools has concluded without charges filed.
Detectives’ and prosecutors’ case-by-case efforts to look into the dozens of allegations at the Thacher School in Ojai were hampered by a number of issues, including statutes of limitations and the school’s decision in 2020 to hire a private law firm to investigate the incidents, the Ventura County sheriff’s and district attorney’s offices said Wednesday in a joint statement.
Last year, in an extraordinary public disclosure, the elite boarding academy posted a report on its website compiling accounts of alleged rape, groping, unwanted touching and inappropriate comments dating back 40 years. The 90-page document identified six alleged perpetrators by name and recounted alleged efforts by former school administrators to cover up complaints and blame teenage victims."
Teacher hassled over MAGA hat can sue principal for allegedly threatening his job, court says
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "A sixth-grade teacher who brought a MAGA hat — the “Make America Great Again” slogan of then-President Donald Trump — to teachers-only training sessions had a constitutional right to do so and can sue the principal who allegedly threatened to fire him, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Thursday.
Eric Dodge, a longtime instructor at the Evergreen School District in Vancouver, Wash., wore the hat to a training session on cultural sensitivity and racial bias just before the 2019-20 school year, and took it off when he entered the building, but left it in view. Afterward, the professor who conducted the session told the school principal that she felt intimidated, and a few of the 60 participants also complained."
Concord woman with rare disease who faced deportation allowed to stay in U.S. permanently
BANG*Mercury News, RACHEL HEIMANN MERCADER: "A Concord woman battling a rare and deadly disease will be permanently allowed to reside in the United States thanks to a bill signed into law Wednesday.
In 2003, Isabel Bueso came to the U.S. from Guatemala at the age of 8 to receive life-saving treatment as part of a medical trial for Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome, also known as Mucopolysaccharidosis Type VI, a genetic disorder that ravages many of the body’s tissues and organs.
Bueso and her family had been residing lawfully in the East Bay under a program that allows immigrants to avoid deportation while receiving medical treatment not offered in their home country. But in 2019, the Trump Administration, without public notice, canceled the “deferred action” program. A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services letter sent to the Bueso family said they had 33 days to return to Guatemala or face deportation proceedings."
Her parents didn’t want her to grow up in a San Francisco SRO. Here’s how they escaped
The Chronicle, CATHERINE HO/CLAIRE HAO: "For most of her life until this past spring, 9-year-old Winnie Tan lived with her parents and older brother in an apartment in Chinatown — one of hundreds of families in the neighborhood’s single-room-occupancy units, known as SROs.
Earlier this year, Winnie and her family were selected to be part of the federal Emergency Housing Voucher Program, funded by the COVID-19 American Rescue Plan Act, which seeks to provide long-term rental assistance to people at risk of homelessness."
Police shining a spotlight on your car? It’s not a stop, California Supreme Court rules
Sac Bee, ANDREW SHEELER: "The California Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a police spotlight on a vehicle does not necessarily constitute detention under the Fourth Amendment.
The court, in a 5-2 decision, held that “a reasonable person would distinguish between a spotlight and red and blue emergency lights in considering whether the person was free to leave or otherwise terminate the encounter,” according to the ruling.
Justice Carol Corrigan authored the opinion, with Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and Justices Leondra Kruger, Martin Jenkins and Patricia Guerrero concurring."
Gunman who killed Riverside County deputy should have been jailed on ‘three strikes,’ sheriff says
LA Times, RICHARD WINTON/GREGORY YEE/MATTHEW ORMSETH/CHRISTIAN MARTINEZ: "A Riverside County sheriff’s deputy was fatally shot Thursday afternoon during a traffic stop in Jurupa Valley, sparking a high-speed chase across multiple freeways that ended with deputies killing the gunman in a shootout.
The shooter was a violent felon who should have been incarcerated after violating California’s “three strikes” law but was released on bail, Sheriff Chad Bianco said at a news conference Thursday night.
Deputy Isaiah Cordero, 32, was conducting a traffic stop just before 2 p.m. near the 3900 block of Golden West Avenue when the suspect pulled out a gun and shot him as he approached the vehicle, Bianco said."
Berkeley leaders blindsided by 2017 sexual harassment claim against top cop candidate
The Chronicle, SARAH RAVANI: "Berkeley city leaders are expressing alarm over revelations that interim Police Chief Jennifer Louis, who is in line for promotion to the position permanently, was previously investigated over allegations of sexual harassment and reprimanded for unprofessional conduct.
Mayor Jesse Arreguín said in a statement that the allegations made in 2017 were “very concerning” and “can’t be ignored.” He declined to comment more on the personnel matter. He and other members of the City Council were unaware of the case until this week, even though the council had been expected to vote on whether to confirm Louis’ appointment."
She spent 32 years in prison for a violent robbery. Now she’s been granted parole under a new state law
LA Times, NATHAN SOLIS: "After serving 32 years in prison for her part in a violent armed robbery, Ranza Marshall was informed Thursday that she had been granted parole and would soon be freed.
Marshall heard the news via speakerphone at the California Institution for Women in Corona.
“Good luck, Ms. Marshall,” said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Connie Quiñonez, who spoke to the inmate from a Compton courtroom."
Pelé, who rose from a Brazilian slum to become the world’s greatest soccer player, dies at 82
LA Times, KEVIN BAXTER: "Growing up in Brazil, Edson Arantes do Nascimento so hated the nonsensical nickname his grade school playmates used to tease him that he would fight anyone who dared call him “Pelé.”
Before he had become an adult, however, the boy had turned the taunt into a word that came to define soccer greatness, embarking on a career that would produce more goals, more World Cup titles and more breathtaking moments than any other.
“People said, ‘Pelé! Pelé! Pelé!’ all over the world,” the boy once lamented long after he had become a man. “But no one remembers Edson. Edson is the person who has the feelings, who has the family, who works hard. Pelé is the idol.”"
