Updating . .   

Tsunami advisory issued for California coast; beaches closed, strong waves expected -- A tsunami advisory was in effect along the California coast Saturday morning due to a volcano erupting near the South Pacific nation of Tonga. Several beaches and marinas from Orange County to the Bay Area were temporarily closed as a precaution because of higher than normal waves, officials said. Officials urged people to stay out of the water and away from the shore. Harriet Ryan, Robert Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ Danielle Echeverria in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Shomik Mukherjee in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 1/15/22

Downtown S.F., North Beach included in new Bay Area tsunami hazard zones -- If a once-in-a-millennium tsunami hit the Bay Area, waves could inundate more of the waterfront than scientists previously feared. While alarming, new tsunami hazard maps created by the California Geological Survey are aimed at showing people how to find out if they’re in a vulnerable area and how to get to safety — that often means only walking a few blocks. Tara Duggan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/15/22

What is the expected impact from California coast tsunami event? Here’s what we know -- What is the expected impact? Officials are expecting waves of 1 to 2 feet in parts of Southern California, but widespread inundation or flooding is not expected. However, it is expected to produce strong currents “that may be hazardous to swimmers, boats, moorings and coastal structures,” the National Weather Service said. The item is in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/15/22

COVID  

Emergency rooms nearing ‘crisis levels’ in parts of California as Omicron surges -- Emergency rooms are nearing crisis levels in parts of California, and officials are forecasting weeks of strain in hospitals even as there are glimmers of hope the Omicron wave may soon peak in the northern part of the state. Luke Money, Rong-Gong Lin II, Hayley Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/15/22

COVID School  

California schools under intense strain, fighting to stay open during Omicron surge -- Educators across California are in triage mode working to keep campuses open and the state’s 6 million children in class as Omicron-fueled coronavirus cases surge. Save for some notable exceptions, they are managing to do so. Melissa Gomez, Paloma Esquivel in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/15/22

LAUSD adopts modified quarantine for students -- The Los Angeles Unified School District has, in recent days, updated its COVID-19 safety protocols to allow for students and employees who were in close contact with an infected person to remain on campus under a “modified quarantine” as well as announced other changes impacting student athletics. Linh Tat in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 1/15/22

Policy and Politics  

If elected mayor, Rep. Karen Bass wants to house 15,000 homeless people in first year -- Bass unveiled a plan Friday calling for 15,000 people to be housed in her first year in office — though she didn’t specify exactly what proportion of those people would go into permanent housing, as opposed to interim housing such as bunk-style shelters, tiny homes or rented hotel rooms. Benjamin Oreskes in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/15/22

Street  

Sexual assault of 10-year-old sparks latest criticism of L.A. district attorney’s policies -- A 26-year-old woman who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in Palmdale might be sentenced to a short stay in juvenile hall or granted probation at a court hearing this month, sparking another round of outrage over Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s all-or-nothing criminal justice reform platform. James Queally in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/15/22

Dead wife’s relatives seek part of Robert Durst’s fortune -- A quest for the fortune left behind by multimillionaire murderer Robert Durst is underway just days after his death. A lawyer for the family of his first wife, who vanished and was declared legally dead, notified the real estate tycoon’s trust that it would be seeking more than $100 million from Durst’s estate and widow. Brian Melley Associated Press -- 1/15/22

 

California Policy and Politics Saturday Morning  

About 130,000 LAUSD students are absent from class during first days back -- About one-third of Los Angeles Unified students — approximately 130,000 — have been absent from school during the first days back from winter break, ushering in another chapter of pandemic disruption in the nation’s second-largest school system. Elissa Gomez, Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/15/22

Federal website to order free at-home coronavirus tests is launching next week -- Starting Wednesday, Americans can go to a federal website to request delivery of free rapid coronavirus tests to their homes, according to the White House. The launch of covidtests.gov is an attempt to remedy nationwide shortages, but tests will be limited to four per home, the White House said Friday. Anumita Kaur in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/15/22

How to get at home COVID tests reimbursed or delivered for free -- Charlotte Roberts read a yellow sign taped to the window of her local pharmacy in San Diego. "Out of stock all at home COVID tests," it said. She and her 5-year-old-son were on a mission to find an at home COVID-19 test. Kitty Alvarado, Carlos Castillo KPBS -- 1/15/22

How to Find a Quality Mask (and Avoid Counterfeits) -- Knowing which mask to pick and making sure it’s not a fake requires the sleuthing skills of a forensic investigator. Our guide can help. Tara Parker-Pope in the New York Times$ -- 1/15/22

$7 million of PPE left outside in San Mateo County, damaged by storms -- Roughly $7 million of personal protective equipment purchased by San Mateo County last year was left outdoors and forgotten about for months. Now, much of that batch has been damaged by rain, officials said. Andres Picon in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/15/22

COVID School  

Sacramento City Unified gets N95s for staff, expects respirator masks for students soon -- Sacramento City Unified is set to receive a shipment of close to 150,000 N95 respirator masks, which it will begin distributing to teachers and other staff, and expects to receive a shipment of different respirator masks for students next week. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/15/22

Capitol Siege  

Glendora man pleads guilty to felony in connection with Jan. 6 insurrection at Capitol -- Hunter Ehmke was part of a large crowd that gathered around 2:15 p.m. that day outside the Rotunda door on the east side of the Capitol building, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia. Gregory Yee in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/15/22

Policy and Politics  

Rally attendees: Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream remains out of reach in San Francisco -- Almost 100 people showed up at a town hall rally outside City Hall on Friday to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and call attention to the stubborn distance between his dream and the reality for many of San Francisco’s Black residents. Shwanika Narayan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/15/22

Ninth Circuit says Breed was within her rights to ask for removal of opponent’s billboard -- San Francisco Mayor London Breed did not violate the rights of a political opponent in 2019 by pressuring advertising companies to take down two billboards, one of which showed a cartoon image of the mayor barefoot, smoking a cigar and counting stacks of money, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/15/22

In heated meeting, California mayor censured for ‘fake news’ interviews -- During a marathon city council meeting in the Orange County city of Westminster, the mayor was censured for allegedly making false statements about his colleagues in Vietnamese-language media. The 3-2 vote in the meeting that started Wednesday night reprimanded Tri Ta for public statements concerning a dispute with three city council members. Susan Christian Goulding in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 1/15/22

‘Lol f— you’: Vallejo council member Hakeem Brown lays into constituents in profanity-laced emails -- Vallejo City Council Member Hakeem Brown used his government-issued email address to lash out at constituents last month after losing a vote to create a sanctioned tent encampment in a parking lot. Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/15/22

Workplace  

California judge rules Google’s confidentiality agreements break labor law -- A California judge ruled this week that the confidentiality agreements Google requires its employees to sign are too broad and break the state’s labor laws, a decision that could make it easier for workers at famously secret Big Tech firms to speak openly about their companies. Nitasha Tiku, Reed Albergotti and Gerrit De Vynck in the Washington Post$ -- 1/15/22

Street  

Retired San Jose police officer convicted in multimillion-dollar fraud scheme -- Robert Foster, 48, and his wife owned Atlas Private Security and conspired to pocket millions of dollars by paying employees off the books, underreporting employee injuries, failing to pay employees for overtime and reporting false payroll. Christian Martinez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/15/22

Fernando Arroyos returned to his native L.A. to be a cop, and fell to the city’s violence -- When Los Angeles police Lt. Rex Ingram first read a police report written by Officer Fernando Arroyos, he realized the young L.A. native and newbie on the force was something special. For starters, he could write better than most of his LAPD peers, and some of his bosses. Kevin Rector, Andrew J. Campa, Richard Winton, Robert J. Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ Brian Rokos in the Orange County Register -- 1/15/22

This small Bay Area city has a big problem with abandoned vehicles on public streets -- Last year, Petaluma police received 1,915 calls from residents reporting abandoned vehicles, or more than five calls a day, and launched several enforcement efforts aimed at getting the vehicles off city streets and into wrecking yards where they’ll be dismantled and recycled. Michael Cabanatuan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/15/22

Education  

San Diego State receives record number of undergrad and transfer applications -- A record 76,792 candidates applied to San Diego State University for fall 2022, a number which university leaders say bodes well for the institution following several tumultuous years in the COVID-19 pandemic, it was announced Friday. KPBS -- 1/15/22

Also . . .   

Lopez: The secret to a long life? Curiosity, says Morrie, who has now survived two pandemics -- At his birthday party on Wednesday, Morrie Markoff was telling me about his family’s rough ride through the pandemic. His older brother died, and for a while it looked as though Morrie might follow him. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/15/22

 

 

Friday Updates   

Here’s what’s changed as California’s new COVID workplace rules go into effect -- Today, as COVID-19 case rates in California have jumped to their highest levels yet — more than six times the peak of the delta variant wave — updated workplace rules are kicking in to better help protect workers vaccinated against COVID-19. Grace Gedye CalMatters -- 1/14/22

Free tests? As COVID surges, rapid results cost up to $300 -- With the explosion of the highly transmissible omicron variant, more Californians find themselves seeking tests wherever they can find them. State and local testing sites offer free COVID-19 tests but they are swamped, forcing people to seek private pop-up clinics. Quick results often come with hefty upfront costs: Some clinics charge nearly $300 for a rapid PCR test. Ana B. Ibarra CalMatters -- 1/14/22

COVID-19 deaths rise in L.A. County, but officials blame Delta more than Omicron -- Los Angeles County has recently noted an increase in coronavirus deaths, but officials think they are mainly tied to the Delta variant, rather than the prolific Omicron strain that has fueled record-high infections in the county and across the state. Luke Money, Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/14/22

California on track for worst COVID surge yet -- State public health officials project that in this California COVID surge, more than 70,000 will be hospitalized at the end of January. Emily Hoeven CalMatters -- 1/14/22

California hospitals add surge beds; cases soaring at nursing homes -- While some experts and health officials’ projections suggest the state will reach a peak within the next few weeks, California’s COVID-19 infection rate continues its steep climb in mid-January, placing ever-increasing strain on hospitals, schools, businesses, prisons, jails, nursing homes and more. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/14/22

Are more Californians getting a first vaccine dose as COVID surges? What the data shows -- Just over 80% of Californians ages 5 and older have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to date, according to the state health department. For the state’s roughly 31 million adults, the rate is about 87%. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/14/22

COVID Q&A: What to know about San Jose’s booster-or-test mandate -- San Jose this week approved a new ordinance mandating that anyone entering city-owned facilities such as the SAP Center for large events must prove they received a booster shot or tested negative for COVID-19. Maggie Angst in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 1/14/22

Hiltzik: A new study calculates the incredible cost of ivermectin stupidity -- A couple of things are known about ivermectin, the anti-parasitic treatment being promoted by a clutch of conspiracy-mongering mountebanks as a COVID-19 treatment. Michael Hiltzik in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/14/22

COVID School  

Culver City Unified to close next week so all can ‘recoup and recover’ amid Omicron surge -- The Culver City Unified School District, the first K-12 public school system in the nation to issue a coronavirus student vaccination mandate, announced Friday that due to the spike in coronavirus cases, it will close all its schools next week to give students and staff time to “recoup and recover,” the superintendent said. Melissa Gomez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/14/22

Campus COVID Falloff    

California’s undergraduate enrollment dropped by about 250,000 during pandemic years -- The report from the National Student Clearinghouse shows that California saw an overall decline of more than 99,000 — or 4.3% — in undergraduate enrollment from fall 2020 to fall 2021, driven largely by a 9.9% drop in community colleges.

No Strings     

California’s next attempt at universal basic income could be on college campuses -- California could send $500 a month with no strings attached to college students from low-income families as part of the Legislature’s latest approach to a guaranteed basic income plan. Mackenzie Mays in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/14/22

L.A. County homeless count postponed due to Omicron -- The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority announced Friday that it was delaying its annual homeless census by a month because of the risks posed by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Benjamin Oreskes in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/14/22

Policy and Politics  

CHP wants more security at California Capitol to protect lawmakers -- The California Legislature’s temporary move to a state office building last month created a new security problem in downtown Sacramento: How to keep lawmakers and their staff safe as they walk back and forth between the Capitol and their offices on O Street. Rosalio Ahumada and Lara Korte in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/14/22

Mayor Breed vents frustration with supervisors, jokes about getting rid of board -- Mayor London Breed criticized the Board of Supervisors this week as “obstructionist” and suggested some supervisors were hypocrites for calling for more homeless services and housing while rejecting hundreds of homes and delaying the approval of a new shelter. Mallory Moench in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/14/22

Street  

Fugitives accused of running illegal L.A.-area operation to move money from China to U.S. -- According to the indictment, Wang and Song told their customers to make deposits into Chinese bank accounts the men controlled or had access to, and agreed to deposit the equivalent amount of U.S. dollars, minus a fee, in American bank accounts set up by the customers. Gregory Yee in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/14/22

Housing  

Diamond Heights condo project will proceed after neighborhood group withdraws opposition -- Developer Marc Babsin said the parties reached a settlement last weekend on the 24-unit condo project at 1900 Diamond St. after he agreed to save 10 Monterey Cypress trees, set back the buildings and create a parklet with a public viewing platform offering 180 degree views from the downtown skyline to Mt. Diablo and south along the bay. J.K. Dineen in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/14/22

Sewage  

Imperial Beach is polluted with Tijuana sewage even in summer, study says -- A new report out of UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Stanford University and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now confirms what many have suspected: A crumbling wastewater plant south of the border is daily discharging millions of gallons of raw sewage into the ocean that routinely carry pathogens up the coast. Joshua Emerson Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/14/22

Also . . .   

Lopez: Two years of the pandemic, and we’re still not in the clear. But there’s room for optimism -- When the nation’s second-largest school district reopens for business despite tens of thousands of positive coronavirus tests among students and staff, things have changed. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/14/22

Here’s how much of California is owned by different government agencies and why that matters -- California is the third largest state in the country in terms of land area, with a total of more than 104 million acres. It’s also among the states where the U.S. government owns the highest percentage of land. Yoohyun Jung in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/14/22

This woman got charged $10,000 for a 1-mile cab ride in S.F. When she disputed the bill, things got even more outrageous -- One evening this past September, Margarita Bekker and husband Chris Schlesinger hopped into a San Francisco taxi. Their 1.1-mile Yellow Cab ride to a rooftop birthday dinner took 11 minutes. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/14/22