In CA: Affirmative action is back on the ballot, Disney delays reopening, and a 5.8 quake
But first, an earthquake! Plus, the governor warns he'll yank funding from counties that don't bring their virus numbers down. And: Tips for avoiding rattlesnakes.
Filling in for Arlene Martinez, I'm Shad Powers, a sports and entertainment columnist with The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, making my In California debut. Let me first check in on sports and entertainment. Nope, none of that happening, so let's explore the newsy side of California today.
But first, did you hear about the guy who bought airline seats from a junkyard in the Mojave Desert, put them in his basement, and then invented a way to quickly disinfect an airplane using an ultraviolet light? No one was interested — until COVID-19 hit.
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Center of the state shaken by mid-morning quake
EARTHQUAKE! Setting off waves of "Did you feel it?" social media posts, a 5.8 earthquake originating near Lone Pine rattled a large portion of Central California around 10:40 a.m. Wednesday.
Charlie Hiller, a Ridgecrest resident who is used to riding out earthquakes, described the shaker like this to the Visalia Times-Delta: "We heard the creaks from the apartment first, which is totally normal for the smaller quakes. But then the actual movement happened and it was like slow and swaying, almost like being on a boat. I could tell it was still going based on the clothes swaying in the closet. You're so caught up in the moment, it's hard to gauge how long it actually lasted. It could have lasted only eight to 10 seconds, but it felt longer."
And Hiller was 80 miles away from the epicenter. Thankfully, no damage or injury has been reported so far as a result of the seismic activity.
Affirmative action back on the ballot in California
California voters will be asked in November whether to reinstate affirmative action after lawmakers approved a proposal Wednesday to repeal the 25-year-old law that bans the consideration of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in university admissions, public employment and contracting. In a 30-10 Senate vote, the bill — Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5 — secured the necessary two-thirds majority needed to send it to voters in the Nov. 3 election.
The ballot measure would repeal one approved in 1996 — Proposition 209 — that banned affirmative action. Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a San Diego Democrat and the bill’s author, said earlier this month that the current cultural climate represented an “urgent cry for systemic change.”
“The ongoing pandemic as well as recent tragedies of police violence is forcing Californians to acknowledge the deep-seated inequality and far-reaching institutional failures that show that your race and gender still matters,” she said. “ACA 5 would allow Californians to revisit and express their views after 25 years.”
Newsom strikes parental tone as COVID-19 numbers keep rising
Pointing to recent increases in statewide coronavirus cases, the rate of people testing positive and hospitalizations, Gov. Gavin Newsom made an almost-parental plea to residents on Wednesday, demanding that they wear masks and take precautions to halt the spread of the virus.
He also delivered a warning to individual counties that fail to enforce health requirements, saying those that fall short will lose funding from the state.
"We cannot support bad behaviors, but we want to encourage and support good behavior," Newsom said. "And if counties simply are going to (flout) the rules ... we're going to attach some considerations, some consequences to that. There's $2.5 billion in this budget that simply will not flow to those counties that do that.''
Speaking of problematic counties ...
Increases in Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties have contributed to an overall rise in hospitalizations recorded statewide that began after Memorial Day, just as officials were rapidly reopening the economy, according to an L.A. Times data analysis that singled out those four counties in Southern California as primary contributors to the state's increase in hospitalizations due to the coronavirus.
While the causes of the spikes are not fully known, social gatherings are partly to blame. A barbecue at a mobile home park in Oxnard recently resulted in 19 people testing positive for the virus, and authorities are now monitoring an additional 40 people who are close contacts of those who are infected.
“It’s like we’re cheating on our diet, and angry or baffled that we can’t lose weight,” said Dr. Robert Levin, the Ventura County health officer, on Tuesday. “There’s all those times that we’re not cheating. But (in) the few times we do, all that effort is for naught. So what is the price we pay? Where are we headed? More cases of COVID-19. More people hospitalized. More people in our ICUs. More people dead.”
Disneyland, which is in Orange County, says it's going to postpone reopening, which it had planned for July 17.
Meanwhile, in non-pandemic news
One California jail has seen more than its share of inmate deaths, and this has nothing to do with the coronavirus. It's been a prevailing pattern for almost 15 years. Take an interesting deep dive into what is happening at Shasta County Jail in Redding.
Statue stuff: As efforts to remove statues of controversial historical figures sweep the globe, there is an ongoing push in Palm Springs to remove the likeness of one of its most well-known mayors from the city's center. A political activist launched a petition to remove "Cowboy Mayor" Frank Bogert's statue from Palm Springs City Hall.
Who needs an elaborate "Shawshank Redemption"-style escape plan? An inmate escaped from the Salinas Valley State Prison on Tuesday. How did he do it? He walked out. Hollywood is not clamoring for the movie rights.
And finally, from Redding, some tips on how to avoid sunbathing rattlesnakes. Another great reason to follow those stay-at-home orders. Yikes!
That's all for today. Stay golden, Golden State. Mask up and stay safe.
In California is a roundup of news from across Paste BN Network newsrooms. Also contributing: Los Angeles Times, City News Service, Sacramento Bee.