For the first time since January, Humboldt returned to the red or “substantial” COVID-19 risk zone, meaning some businesses can reopen for indoor service, including restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and places of worship, at reduced capacity. The state data shows the county with a test positive rate of 2.7 percent and a daily case rate […]
California
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Who Will Pay for All of California’s Unemployment Fraud?
A 1-year-old in Fresno raking in $167 a week. An ex-state employee stealing $200,000 from California’s unemployment system, some by impersonating Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Another $1.2 million swindled by a rapper who bragged about it on YouTube, $1 billion drained in the name of state prisoners, and $2 billion in jobless benefits siphoned off state-issued […]
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California Shifts Vaccine Priorities Again: People with Health Conditions Eligible Next Month
Californians with high-risk medical conditions will qualify for COVID-19 vaccines starting March 15, the state’s health secretary announced today. Under the state’s previous guidelines, people with chronic conditions did not qualify for vaccinations until people 65 and older, first responders, food industry workers and educators were vaccinated. Under the new guidelines, people ages 16 to […]
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Teacher Vaccinations in California Determined by Luck, Location
How soon teachers can expect to get vaccinated depends largely on where they live and could determine whether the bulk of California’s students return to campuses this spring — or next fall. Teacher vaccinations have emerged as a central point of contention in California’s charged debate over reopening schools as unions representing teachers and school […]
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COVID and Churches: U.S. Supreme Court Lifts State Ban on Indoor Services, Other Lawsuits Continue
Among the beach-goers denied, the indignant gun shop owners and frustrated parents who want schools reopened, one set of plaintiffs against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pandemic shutdown restrictions have scored a big win: churches. A 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued late Friday sided with house-bound pastors and their congregants in their claim Newsom’s bans on […]
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How EDD, Bank of America Make Millions on California Unemployment
She didn’t know it at the time, but last September was when everything started to unravel for Julie Hansen. It was late in the month when the furloughed Disneyland candy maker noticed a string of suspicious charges totaling $12,222.23 on her state-issued Bank of America unemployment debit card. First, the money was credited back to […]
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COVID Advisory Panel Rejects Higher Vaccine Priority for Disabled Californians, Those with Chronic Conditions
An influential group of California health experts is holding fast for now to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to make age the primary criteria for getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The decision announced Wednesday dismayed advocates who hoped the group would recommend moving disabled people and those with chronic medical conditions to the front of the line […]
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Two Polls Give Gov. Newsom Bad News … and Worse News
Two fresh polls indicate that California voters may be falling out of love with a governor who just three years ago was elected by a record-breaking margin, and who early in the pandemic ranked as one of the country’s most popular state leaders. How worrisome is this for the governor facing a burgeoning recall effort? […]
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Home State Advantage: What Vice President Kamala Harris Could Mean for California
Goodbye, state of resistance. Hello, state of influence. California’s status has shifted dramatically with the inauguration of Joe Biden as the next president. The reasons are both political — deep blue California will have more inroads to a White House controlled by Democrats — and personal: For just the second time in American history, a […]
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Next Secretary of State Aims to Teach Californians ‘How Fragile the Democracy is’
Seventy years ago, sharecroppers David and Mildred Nash refused to back down in a dispute with a white farmer, and fled from a lynch mob in Hope, Arkansas. With their 2-year-old daughter in tow, they found a new home out west in a place so different her grandfather, who would die without ever being able […]
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California’s New Goal: 1 Million Vaccinations in 10 Days
Getting the coronavirus vaccines into the arms of as many Californians as possible has become a race against time as COVID-19 cases continue to spiral upward and a more infectious variant of the virus takes root. Many questions remain unanswered about how the next — and much larger — wave of Californians will be vaccinated, […]
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Questions Answered About the New COVID Strain
As California continues to ride its worst wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials have more unsettling news: Four cases of a worrisome, potentially more infectious new coronavirus variant have been detected in California. The new strain, first detected in the United Kingdom, also has been seen in Colorado and Florida and 33 other […]