1. California widens mental health conditions insurers must cover: In the past, state law only required treatment for nine serious mental illnesses. Even before the pandemic, more than half of Californians said most people with mental health conditions couldn’t get the help they needed. Some families even dropped private insurance to qualify for treatment in […]
California
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Can California Protect COVID-19 Vaccine from Cheaters and Fraudsters?
What seemed like a Herculean task just months ago is now here: the COVID-19 vaccine. For the next several weeks, vaccines will be available in limited amounts in California and across the nation — and only to high-risk individuals, with supply expected to ramp up in the months to come. Experts estimate vaccines will be […]
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California’s COVID-19 Vaccine Plan
California is in the throes of another COVID-19 surge — cases are skyrocketing and hospital beds are filling up quickly. On Tuesday, hospitals had 3,300 more COVID patients than at the beginning of this month, state health officials said. But a glimmer of hope has emerged in the last leg of 2020: The first batch […]
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HSU Possibly Designated Third Calpoly University
Humboldt State University may become the state’s third polytechnic university (and the only one in Northern California) after the California State University system asked the school to undertake a self-study toward becoming a designated polytechnic university. Polytechnic institutions usually feature hands-on and career-focused programs, an emphasis in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) studies, applied […]
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Newsom Issues Limited Stay-at-Home Order for Purple Tier Counties
Starting Saturday, residents of counties in the state’s purple — or “widespread” COVID-19 risk tier — will be under a limited stay-at-home order issued by Newsom that prohibits “non-essential work, movement and gatherings” between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The order remains in effect until Dec. 21 at 5 a.m. About 94 percent of California […]
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What Prop. 15’s Defeat Means for California Schools
Voters narrowly defeated Proposition 15, the tax measure that aimed to eliminate decades-long protections for commercial properties – dashing hopes of billions of dollars flowing into California’s cash-strapped public schools and community colleges in the coming years. In the second-most expensive ballot fight this election, Prop. 15 supporters said the measure would help right what they […]
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Humboldt Still COVID Risk ‘Minimal,’ For Now
The latest data released today under California’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy,” shows Humboldt County will retain its “minimal” COVID risk status for at least one more week. That leaves this part of the North Coast a sort of COVID island surrounded by counties with moderate, substantial and widespread rankings. Humboldt currently has an adjusted […]
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California Headed for Historic Voter Turnout
As Election Day approaches ever closer, approximately 51 percent of California’s electorate, or 11.2 million voters, have already cast their ballots — more than double the number a week ago. As more in-person polling places open, experts say the state is on track to have more votes cast than ever before. One reason is that […]
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Worried it’s Too Late to Send in Your Ballot? Don’t Panic
Less than a week before Election Day and anxiety over the postal service’s ability to ferry voters’ ballots to county election administrators on time has ratcheted up yet again. Back in May, the United States Postal Service’s top lawyer advised voters across the country to put their ballots in the mail no later than 7 […]
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Do You Know Where Your Ballot Is?
For the first time, Californians can track their mail-in ballots from the point they’re printed to the moment they’re accepted by their county elections office. Ballot tracking, now available in parts or all of a dozen states, has become a particularly useful option this year, when many voters are anxious about election security. As of […]
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Replacing Cash Bail: Fairer Justice or Robopocalypse?
California is either about to right decades of inequality between rich and poor defendants by eliminating cash bail, or it’s about to turn over its justice system to robots. The question of what to do about the system that decides whether people should be free while awaiting trial will be determined by Proposition 25. The […]
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The Yurok Tribe Receives $2.2 million Grant for Homelessness
The Yurok Tribe received a $2.2 million grant from California’s Homekey Program to address homelessness, the same grant St. Joseph Health received for its Providence Eureka housing project. According to a release, the Yurok Indian Housing Authority will purchase a motel in Eureka for permanent housing for 30 people who are experiencing or are at […]