Maddy Institute – January 5, 2021

06Jan

POLICY & POLITICS

North SJ Valley:

‘A very unique grief’: How Turlock nonprofit can help families cope with COVID loss

Modesto Bee

Jessica’s House launched a dedicated support group for families grieving a loved one due to COVID-19 last fall. The Holts were one of the first families to join the group. A total of seven is now taking part.

● Coronavirus update, Jan. 5: Stanislaus adds 455 cases, 7 deaths. ICU’s still tight Modesto Bee

Mixed COVID messaging from Modesto and Stanislaus leaders isn’t helping

Modesto Bee

One might point to local leadership at best sending mixed messages, and at worst giving a green light for risky behavior. Our top county law enforcement official stated “we have no intention of arresting anyone as a result of any of these orders.”

Editorial: Concealing crucial COVID info a recipe for distrust in Stanislaus County government

Modesto Bee

There is no more important time for government transparency than in the middle of a deadly pandemic. Unfortunately, Stanislaus County’s commitment to transparency in one important aspect amounts to lip service.

Jay Lund: California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta – a short history of big changes

YubaNet

Deltas globally adjust with changes and fluctuations in external conditions, internal dynamics, and human management. This is a short history of big changes to California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) in the past and present, and its anticipated future.

Central SJ Valley:

Fashion Fair violence, tragedy and a Trader Joe’s protest — Fresno’s rough start to 2021

Fresno Bee

The New Year’s Eve weekend and early days of 2021 have been filled with violence and mayhem that has taken several lives in Fresno County. The new year began violently in the aftermath of more than 70 homicides in 2020. It has been nearly 25 years since the last time Fresno saw so many deaths from violence — primarily gun violence.

COVID-19 Testing Site to be Held at Clovis West High School

Clovis Roundup

The Family HealthCare Network (FHCN) along with the Fresno County Department of Public Health will be hosting a free COVID-19 testing event today at Clovis West High School.

● Fresno County on brink of 70,000 cases ahead of death toll update Fresno Bee

Fresno State's new interim president begins role

abc30

Fresno State's new interim president begins his role Monday morning. Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval recently served as Fresno State's provost and vice president for academic affairs. He's taking on his new role after the departure of former President Dr. Joseph Castro.

Is a church angling to buy Fresno’s historic Tower Theatre? Why one group is voicing concerns

Fresno Bee

Fresno City Council President Miguel Arias told The Bee on Monday afternoon that the sale of the Tower Theatre is in escrow. Arias also said that the building would need to go through rezoning before it could be used as church.

Trump Gives Medal Of Freedom To Loyalist GOP Congressman Nunes

VPR

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who defended President Trump in the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, has been awarded the Medal of Freedom, the White House announced Monday.

● Trump Rewarding Allies Nunes, Jordan with Medal of Freedom Business Journal

● Trump awards Medal of Freedom to GOP Rep. Devin Nunes CNN

● Editorial: Does Devin Nunes deserve the Medal of Freedom given by President Trump? Facts say no Fresno Bee

● Editorial: Editorial: Devin Nunes doesn’t even belong in the vicinity of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Los Angeles Times

South SJ Valley:

Kern Public Health: 1,237 new coronavirus cases, 6 new deaths reported Monday

Bakersfield Californian

Kern County Public Health Services reported 1,237 new COVID-19 cases and six new deaths Monday. That brings the case count since the pandemic began to 72,270. Public Health reports that 518 people have died from the virus.

Supervisor Phillip Peters elected as board chair on first day in office

Bakersfield Californian

Kern County Supervisor Phillip Peters hasn’t even fully decorated his new office, and yet he has already been named the newest chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

Tejon proposes rental project near Outlets

Bakersfield Californian

A 495-unit apartment complex proposed at what is now an outlets-center parking lot has jumped to the front of Tejon Ranch Co.'s line of housing projects. Pending a vote Tuesday by the Kern County Board of Supervisors, the project is expected to house people working at the company's nearby retail and distribution-center developments — and help recruit new employers to the area.

CommonSpirit Health announces new president of Southern California division

KGET
Dignity Health’s parent company, CommonSpirit Health, has announced a new president of its Southern California division. Julie J. Sprengel has been appointed president of the newly expanded division, which now includes Dignity Health hospitals from Central California and the Central Coast.

Days ahead of swearing-in, Valadao tweets he's tested positive for COVID-19

Bakersfield Californian

Just days ahead of his swearing-in ceremony, incoming 21st Congressional District Rep. David Valadao said he has tested positive for COVID-19. Valadao shared the news on Twitter Friday afternoon. He said a rapid antigen test on Thursday afternoon came back positive.

State:

California governor says vaccination pace “not good enough”

Fresno Bee

Only about 1% of California's 40 million residents have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, setting a pace of immunization that's “not good enough," Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.

● Vaccination drive enters new phase in US and Britain Fresno Bee

● Gov. Gavin Newsom explains why COVID-19 vaccine rollout is slow going abc30

● Bay Area health departments, health care providers explain their plans for COVID-19 vaccine distribution abc7

● COVID-19 Cases Surge In U.S. As Vaccinations Fall Below Government Predictions VPR

● California’s vaccine rollout has been too slow, Newsom says, with only 35% of doses administered Los Angeles Times

● As Covid-19 Surges in Jails, Guards Want Vaccine Early Wall Street Journal

‘We have to do better’: California Democrats say COVID pandemic highlighted their failures

Fresno Bee

In California, pain is everywhere. At food banks, where hungry families once able to comfortably stock their pantries stand for hours in lines that circle around the buildings. At home, where renters anxiously crunch numbers to make next month’s payment pencil out. At fast food restaurants, where kids connect to free WiFi so they can log on for class.

For months, California kept a lid on COVID-19. Now it's leading the surge

Stockton Record

California is caught in one of the worst moments of the COVID-19 pandemic only months after it looked like the state might escape the brunt of the virus' wrath.

See also:

● California Coronavirus Map and Case Count New York Times

Data shows some Californians heeded stay-home order on New Year’s Eve, Gavin Newsom says

Sacramento Bee

Data shows some Californians heeded stay-home orders on New Year’s Eve, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday, but deaths have reached new daily records and officials are still bracing themselves for an increase in coronavirus cases after the holidays.

California’s new workplace laws: COVID-19 safety, family leave and more

Los Angeles Times

Sweeping new laws ramping up in 2021 will force California businesses to offer employees more help to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, including measures on disclosure of workplace infections, on healthcare and wage replacement, and on job-protected leave to care for sick family members

Five things to watch in California politics in 2021

Los Angeles Times

The first full week of 2021 will kick off with huge national political news — a decisive special election in Georgia and an expected intense showdown on Capitol Hill during the final step in November’s presidential contest.

An ‘epidemic of lawsuits’ due to COVID? Businesses want protections, setting up 2021 battle

Sacramento Bee

Manuel Cosme has been providing help to small businesses for 35 years. He’s never seen such worry and confusion as he has in the past few months. “I have a box of tissues in my office. We’ve had clients who cry in our office not knowing what to do,” said Cosme, senior consultant at Vacaville’s Professional Small Business Services.

Longtime Capitol Employee Dies Of COVID-19 As California Legislature Remains In Extended Recess

Capital Public Radio

An employee who worked in California’s Capitol died of COVID-19 in late December, after serving nearly 40 years in state government, according to memos obtained by CapRadio.

Next Secretary of State aims to teach Californians “how fragile the democracy is”

CalMatters

Weber’s appointment was not widely anticipated like Padilla’s. But her biography indicates life experience relevant to the job of California’s top election administrator. Voting, denied to the Webers in the South, became a precious, fiercely guarded and unfailingly exercised right for the whole family.

Walters: Court upbraids Jerry Brown on ballot measure

CalMatters

Unanimously, the court declared that Proposition 57, a major criminal justice overhaul sponsored by Brown and overwhelmingly passed by voters in 2016, did what its critics said it would do, not what Brown told voters.

Federal:

‘The deaths are real deaths.’ Fauci rebuts Trump claim COVID numbers are ‘exaggerated’

Fresno Bee

Top health officials are pushing back against President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about the coronavirus situation in the United States.

No more ‘he’ or ‘she’. House approves gender-neutral terms in its official language

Fresno Bee

A code of conduct change in the U.S. House of Representatives swaps gendered language for gender-inclusive terms in its official language.

See Also:

● House Passes Rules Package for New Session of Congress Wall Street Journal

● House adopts rules package for 117th Congress Roll Call

● Opinion: The Pelosi Rules Wall Street Journal

Trump's Call To Georgia Election Officials Sparks Debate Over Legality, Ethics

VPR

Depending on whom is asked, President Trump's Saturday phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — during which he urged state officials to "find" votes that could overturn his loss in the state during November's election — may have violated state and federal law.

● 'This Was A Scam': In Recorded Call, Trump Pushed Official To Overturn Georgia Vote VPR

● Trump Criticizes Some Republicans as ‘Surrender Caucus’ Wall Street Journal

● In Trump’s Final Days, Lines Are Drawn for a Republican Civil War Wall Street Journal

● Opinion: The Election Rejectionists Wall Street Journal

● Georgians Vote in Runoff Races That Will Determine Senate Control Wall Street Journal

● It All Comes Down To This — 2 Georgia Races That Will Determine Control Of The Senate VPR

Business leaders urge Congress to certify Biden win

Washington Post

Almost 200 of the country’s top business leaders urged Congress to certify the electoral results for President-elect Joe Biden in a letter Monday, arguing that “attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy.”

Urgent steps for President Biden on postal reform

AEI

The Postal Service has been an important American institution since the birth of the nation. However, its organization and legal framework have failed to keep pace with changing times.

Opinion: Congress’s Doctor Shortage

Wall Street Journal

Hospitals in much of America are triaging Covid-19 patients because they are short of staff, especially doctors trained in emergency-care and anesthesiology. Blame Congress, which rationed the supply of new physicians two decades ago and is only now addressing its mistake...

Other:

Opinion: The world after the coronavirus

AEI

To help us make sense of these shifts as the crisis enters a new phase in 2021, Foreign Policy asked 12 leading thinkers from around the world to weigh in with their predictions for the global order after the pandemic.

AGRICULTURE/FOOD

Why few farmworkers isolate in California’s free COVID-19 hotel rooms

CalMatters

Despite a heavy toll of COVID-19 among California’s farmworkers, who often live in crowded homes, Newsom’s Housing for the Harvest program has made just 81 hotel reservations for isolation or quarantine as of Dec. 16.

Proven programs, not false hopes — engaging farmers in climate solutions

The Hill

Farmers should be rewarded for their efforts to become climate stewards. From building healthy soil to on-farm renewable energy to organic production and more, there are diverse agricultural solutions to the climate crisis. Our food security depends upon this fundamental transition in how farmers manage the land.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/FIRE/PUBLIC SAFETY

Crime:

Fresno police see violent first weekend of 2021

abc30

A group huddles together and surrounds an illuminated memorial near Shaw and Maple as they remember their loved one, 14-year-old Breana Gomez, who they knew as Bre. Her life was taken at that spot early Sunday morning.

Public Safety:

California board urges bias reviews of police social media

Bakersfield Californian

California police agencies should routinely review officers' social media, cellphones and computers for racist, bigoted or other offensive content that contributes to disproportionate police stops of Black people, a state advisory board said Monday.

Fire:

Fresno Fire Department hiring for first time in four years

abc30

Michael Lombardi was first exposed to firefighting as a teen. His family friend, an Atascadero firefighter, brought him on a ride along while on the job. "Fell in love with it that day and I've been doing it ever since," he said.

ECONOMY/JOBS

Economy:

An ‘epidemic of lawsuits’ due to COVID? Businesses want protections, setting up 2021 battle

Fresno Bee

People are frightened not only about the future of their small business as the COVID pandemic rages on, but about whether employees will take them to court, saying they contracted the virus at work or were exposed to dangerous conditions.

More store closings in 2021? These are the most vulnerable major retailers of 2021 as pandemic continues

Visalia Times Delta

For retailers that survived the catastrophe that was 2020, there's hope on the horizon in 2021. But there's no guarantee they'll keep their engines running long enough to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.

A look at the new restaurants/businesses coming to Modesto, Central Valley in 2021

Modesto Bee

At the start of 2020, I wrote about all these businesses that you could look forward to opening throughout the year. Things looked good. The economy was booming. And new businesses couldn’t open their doors fast enough in the valley.

California added $500 million in small business grants. Here’s how you can apply.

Modesto Bee

Stanislaus County small businesses can take advantage of a new statewide COVID-19 relief grant program that will pay out $500 million to businesses and nonprofits across California.

Some Pandemic Protections for Consumers Could Become Permanent

Pew Charitable Trust

Consumer complaints to federal and state agencies exploded this year, fueled by a global crisis that financially stressed millions of Americans and disrupted thousands of businesses’ normal operations.

Commentary: Hewlett Packard packs up — Will California ever get fed up with losing to Texas?

Fox & Hounds

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the California firm that literally kickstarted Silicon Valley in a garage in 1939, is moving to Texas. The low-key announcement was made via an SEC filing on Dec. 1.

Grubhub drivers say app change eats into tips, jeopardizing a usually generous season

Los Angeles Times

A recent tweak to the food delivery app Grubhub that changes the way customers are prompted to tip delivery drivers has frustrated many workers, who say the change discourages tipping and is slashing their potential earnings.

Jobs:

Vons, Pavilions to Fire “Essential Workers,” Replace Drivers with Independent Contractors

KnockLA

When Dylan’s grocery delivery arrived a few days before New Years, it came with some bad news. The delivery driver who brought his groceries from Vons mentioned that drivers across the state are getting fired by Vons, Pavilions, and other California stores owned by Albertsons Companies at the end of January. Stores will instead turn to a third-party delivery service using independent contractors.

How finding a job will be different in 2021

Fast Company

Whether you’ve been unemployed and looking for a job through the pandemic or are planning to leave your current role in 2021, it’s no secret that hiring has changed in many ways. From remote onboarding to a shift in where we network and look for job opportunities, there have been fundamental changes in how we get our next gigs.

EDUCATION

K-12:

Children with delayed development were lost in the pandemic. The push is on to catch up

Sacramento Bee

Brandy Patania of Elk Grove feared something was wrong with her youngest child. Kahmirah, who is almost 1, wasn’t developing as fast as her four older siblings had. She wasn’t walking, she didn’t say any words, and, when Patania called her name, she didn’t respond.

Quarantines Leave Schools Scrambling for Substitute Teachers

PEW
Josephine Brewington has been a substitute teacher in suburban Beech Grove, Indiana, for a decade, but her job has grown in importance as her school district scrambles to supervise pupils whose teachers are sick, quarantining or caring for others.

Opinion: Will Gov. Newsom patch up the Local Control Funding Formula for schools?

CalMatters

Without transparency, we cannot evaluate whether the Local Control Funding Formula is working for our most vulnerable students.

Higher Ed:

Health Careers Opportunity Program Prepares Next Generation Of Providers

Fresno State News

As health care providers face crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, they also face unprecedented levels of demand around the world. Some Fresno State students have pressing questions about the future of health care provision and what it might look like in a post-COVID-19 world.

Fresno State's new interim president begins role

abc30

Community college enrollment numbers down, here's how to register

abc30

Some local community colleges are facing a crisis as enrollment numbers aren't where they should be. Local community colleges are trying to get one message out to the public.

Bakersfield College's Inmate Scholars Program reflects on success inside, outside prison walls

Bakersfield Californian

Roberto Luca was 16 when he was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. Two decades into his sentence while in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison, he had an epiphany about the pain he caused his victims and he vowed to improve himself. He began by working on his GED in solitary confinement.

UC Merced denounces professor’s anti-Semitic tweets. Petition calls for his firing

Merced Sun-Star

A spate of anti-Semitic tweets from a UC Merced professor that have since been deleted has prompted an investigation, university officials confirmed late Tuesday.

ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY

Environment:

Study: Warming already baked in will blow past climate goals

Fresno Bee

The amount of baked-in global warming, from carbon pollution already in the air, is enough to blow past international agreed upon goals to limit climate change, a new study finds.

Landmark Climate Policy Faces Growing Claims of Environmental Racism

PEW
When California passed its landmark cap-and-trade law in 2006, supporters were hopeful that the program would provide the template for other states—and eventually the federal government—to solve the climate crisis.

EPA finalizes rule to limit science behind public health safeguards

Washington Post

The Trump administration’s ‘transparency’ rule requires researchers to disclose their raw data. Opponents argue that the goal is to exclude important research on human health.

· Opinion: Why We’re Ending the EPA’s Reliance on Secret Science Wall Street Journal

Policy Recommendations

Statewide Commission on Recycling Markets and Curbside Recycling

Working by consensus, the proposals that follow are the policy recommendations that

we consider most urgent, approved at our last meeting of 2020 on December 18th.

Energy:

Op-Ed: Treat fossil fuels like nukes. Endorse a new nonproliferation treaty

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles City Council is poised to endorse a call for a global Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Approval could make Los Angeles the first U.S. city — New York is also in the running — to sign on to the treaty resolution. Introduced in November by Councilman Paul Koretz, it won unanimous support in committee and awaits likely passage by the full council in the new year.

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

Health:

Local health care workers believe worst is yet to come with COVID-19

abc30

Amanda Putnam has been working as a Kaweah Delta ER nurse for the last five months. The pandemic has been tough and overwhelming at times, but Putnam believes the worst is yet to come. "When I first started we saw COVID patients, but nothing like what we are seeing now," she said.

Kern Public Health: 1,237 new coronavirus cases, 6 new deaths reported Monday

Bakersfield Californian

● Fresno County on brink of 70,000 cases ahead of death toll update Fresno Bee

● Stanislaus County hospitals remain under pressure Modesto Bee

● Coronavirus update, Jan. 5: Stanislaus adds 455 cases, 7 deaths. ICU’s still tight Modesto Bee

● California Coronavirus Map and Case Count New York Times

● Coronavirus Live Updates: Hospitalizations Jump to Another Record Wall Street Journal

What’s in the COVID vaccine? Doctors assure allergy-sufferers it’s OK to get the shot

Merced Sun-Star

With more than 4.5 million Americans injected with their first dose of one of the two available COVID-19 vaccines, allergic reactions continue to prove rare across the nation. As of Dec. 31, there were at least 10 reported cases of allergic reactions to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and two cases to the Moderna shot, according to a team of allergists led by doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Even more contagious? Here’s what you need to know about the mutating virus now in California

CalMatters

As California continues to ride its worst wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials have more unsettling news: Six cases of a worrisome, potentially more infectious new coronavirus variant have been detected in California.

Human Services:

California governor says vaccination pace “not good enough”

Fresno Bee

Only about 1% of California's 40 million residents have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, setting a pace of immunization that's “not good enough," Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.

● Vaccination drive enters new phase in US and Britain Fresno Bee

● Gov. Gavin Newsom explains why COVID-19 vaccine rollout is slow going abc30

● Bay Area health departments, health care providers explain their plans for COVID-19 vaccine distribution abc7

● COVID-19 Cases Surge In U.S. As Vaccinations Fall Below Government Predictions VPR

● California’s vaccine rollout has been too slow, Newsom says, with only 35% of doses administered Los Angeles Times

● As Covid-19 Surges in Jails, Guards Want Vaccine Early Wall Street Journal

Ambulance crews told not to transport patients who have little chance of survival

Los Angeles Times

The situation in Los Angeles County hospitals is so critical that ambulance crews have been advised to cut back on their use of oxygen and to not bring to hospitals patients who have virtually no chance of survival.

Latest Covid-19 Aid Package Scales Back Funds to Hospitals, Clinics

Wall Street Journal

The sweeping bill included $3 billion for relief for hospitals, clinics and other health-care providers for revenue losses and higher expenses as a result of the pandemic, far less than the $35 billion previously proposed.

CommonSpirit Health announces new president of Southern California division

IMMIGRATION

COVID-19 relief bill: A promising first act for immigration reform

The Hill

On Sunday evening, President Trump signed into law the $900 billion coronavirus funding package that would provide, among other relief measures, stimulus checks to over 3 million U.S. citizens who were previously denied because they married or have a parent who is an undocumented immigrant.

LAND USE/HOUSING

Land Use:

Is a church angling to buy Fresno’s historic Tower Theatre? Why one group is voicing concerns

Fresno Bee

Tejon proposes rental project near Outlets

Bakersfield Californian

Housing:

Another study confirms Californians are packing up and moving out. Where are they going?

Fresno Bee

U-Haul, the national rental truck company, provided yet more evidence Monday that California is dropping in popularity as a place to live, even as Sacramento is gaining ground as a COVID-19 era landing spot.

Eviction Looms for Millions, Despite New Federal Aid Package

PEW
Julie Ray lives in a mobile home in Pearl River, Louisiana, with her two teenage daughters, Jerilynn and Jasmine. Her mother, Barbara, used to live there too, but she had a stroke before the pandemic hit and had to move to a nursing home. In May, she died there, from COVID-19.

Bringing back housing diversity

AEI

If progress is to be made on the low-income housing front, local planning and zoning boards need to be persuaded of the benefits of building additional private, low-income housing options, not coerced into building them.

PUBLIC FINANCES

No health insurance due to the pandemic? Californians could face tax penalty

Visalia Times Delta

Some California residents who lost their health insurance along with their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic may face financial penalties when they file their taxes next year.

When will you get your $600 stimulus check? The IRS payment tracker is now online

Sacramento Bee

The “Get My Payment” tool allows users to check the statuses on both their first round and second round of stimulus checks and find out if they’ll be distributed by direct deposit or mail.

TRANSPORTATION

Coughing, sneezing, vomiting: Visibly ill people aren’t being kept off planes

Los Angeles Times

The Dec. 14 incident illustrates the deficiencies in the systems that are meant to prevent people from bringing the coronavirus aboard commercial flights and potentially spreading it to the people packed in around them.

Pandemic's revolution in transportation and commerce rivals 19th-century railroad construction

NBCNews

Nearly 200 years after the first freight cars carried goods over railroads, the country is in the middle of a new revolution in transportation and commerce fueled by the pandemic — online shopping delivery.

WATER

Snowfall in much of the Sierra remains sparse. Is California in another drought?

Sacramento Bee

The Sierra Nevada’s snowpack is disappointingly thin, and California’s drought-like conditions continue despite a wet weather forecast for the New Year’s holiday. The overall mountain snowpack is just 52% of average for this time of year as dry conditions persist for a second consecutive winter, the Department of Water Resources said Wednesday.

Jay Lund: California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta – a short history of big changes

YubaNet

“Xtra”

Conservationist George Whitmore, on 1st team to climb Yosemite’s El Capitan, dies of COVID-19

Fresno Bee

George Whitmore of Fresno still had more mountains to climb at age 89, his family said, but COVID-19 changed that. The respected conservationist, often remembered for his famous first ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in 1958, died on New Year’s Day at a Fresno rehabilitation facility from damage caused by the contagious virus.