In California: Atmospheric river drenches Central California; audit exposes more woes at EDD
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Torrential: 14 inches of rain, 7 feet of snow
An atmospheric river storm pumped drenching rains into the heart of California on Thursday as blizzard conditions buried the Sierra Nevada in snow.
The storm was aimed like a massive firehose at the central coast, where two-day rainfall neared 14 inches in San Luis Obispo County, the National Weather Service said.
In the Eastern Sierra, the Mammoth Mountain ski resort reported 7.25 feet of new snow on its summit. A blizzard warning continued for both sides of the California-Nevada border along a 170-mile stretch of the Sierra.
The storm punched into Northern California late Tuesday night, drifted down the coast, and stalled Wednesday and for much of Thursday. It pelted Central California residents with heavy rain that caused mudslides and road closures on both sides of the Santa Lucia Mountains.
In Salinas, a mudslide was reported early Wednesday morning. At least 25 homes were damaged, according to the Monterey County Office of Emergency Services. The debris flows trapped residents, at least one of whom was injured. Scores of animals also had to be rescued.
On Thursday morning, flooding was reported at the Carmel River Lagoon, which sits downriver of the Carmel Fire's burn scar. And parts of Highway 101 closed, including in Salinas, because of flooding.
The storm was expected to eventually drop down into Southern California, bringing threats of debris flows, mudslides and flash floods to areas near huge wildfire burn scars. Up to 3 feet of snow was predicted for the mountains. Los Angeles and counties to the east and south issued warnings to get residents ready to leave areas near wildfire scars.
Deaths remain high, but the rate of new coronavirus infections falling
California reported its second-highest number of COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, while the rates of new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations continue to drop.
The total of 737 new deaths is second to the record 764 reported on Jan. 22, according to the state Department of Public Health.
Hospitalizations and newly confirmed cases have been falling, however, and health officials are growing more optimistic that the worst of the latest surge is over.
The number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 has slipped below 16,250 statewide, a drop of more than 20% in two weeks.
The nearly 17,000 new cases reported Thursday are about one-third of the mid-December peak of 54,000. In the last week, the state averaged about 21,000 new cases per day, more than 5,000 fewer than the prior week.
The positivity rate for people being tested also has been falling for weeks.
California unemployment agency's inaction led to fraud, audit finds
The Employment Development Department was warned early in the pandemic about an increase in fraudulent jobless claims yet waited four months before it made any substantive changes to its systems, according to a new audit released Thursday that blames Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration for “significant missteps and inaction” that cost taxpayers at least $10.4 billion.
California State Auditor Elaine Howle said the amount of fraudulent payments is likely far higher. The agency itself this week said it's investigating another $20 billion in payments for possible fraud.
Newsom and agency officials have consistently blamed the fraud problems on a federal expansion of unemployment benefits whose broad eligibility requirements made it an easy target for fraud. New EDD director Rita Saenz repeated those claims in a letter responding to the audit, saying former President Donald Trump’s administration “provided insufficient support to states to address the aggressive attacks by domestic and international criminal syndicates.”
But Howle found the department delayed implementing critical safeguards for months while suspending some of the few tools it did have to detect and prevent fraud because top agency officials did not understand how they worked.
State's first Black elections official
California lawmakers on Thursday gave final approval to the appointment of the state’s first Black top election official, filling a position vacated when the former secretary of state became California’s first Latino U.S. senator.
Assemblywoman Shirley Weber “is the right person for the job,” Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins said in supporting the nomination of her fellow San Diego Democrat to the post.
The 40-member Senate approved Weber’s nomination 29-0, with Republicans not voting. The Assembly had approved her nomination a day earlier.
Meanwhile, the Senate on Thursday also approved extending California’s universal vote-by-mail system for another year. Senators sent the measure to the Assembly on a 29-7 roll call.
California lawmakers agree to help cover some unpaid rent
California lawmakers on Thursday agreed to use $2.6 billion in federal stimulus money to pay off up to 80% of some tenants' unpaid rent — but only if landlords agree to forgive the rest of their debt.
The legislation, which Gov. Gavin Newsom helped negotiate and is expected to sign into law, is the state's first major attempt to clear unpaid rents that have piled up during the pandemic.
The move is risky because of two big unknowns: Is $2.6 billion enough to cover all of the unpaid rent in the state, and how many landlords will take the deal?
If landlords refuse, the law would only pay off 25% of the tenants' debt — enough to ensure they could not be evicted.
Last year, Newsom signed a law that banned tenants from being evicted for not paying their rent during the coronavirus, but only if they paid at least 25% of what they owed after Sept. 1. The bill lawmakers approved Thursday also extends those protections through at least June 30.
The legislation had rare bipartisan support, passing 71-1 in the 80-member Assembly and 34-0 in the 40-member Senate with some Republicans not voting.
Covered California to give people more time to buy health insurance
Covered California says it will give people more time to purchase health insurance this year.
Open enrollment for the state’s health insurance marketplace ends Sunday. But on Thursday, the agency that runs the marketplace said it would launch a special enrollment period next Monday that will run through May 15.
The announcement came on the same day that President Joe Biden signed an executive order declaring a special enrollment period for states served by the federal government’s health insurance marketplace.
2 more California men arrested in connection with Capitol riot
A Rocklin man has become the third Northern California resident arrested for taking part in the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Tommy Fredrick Allan is accused of, among other things, taking papers from then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s desk, according to a complaint filed in federal court in the District of Columbia.
Allan lives in the 34-county Eastern District of California, which includes Shasta County and spans from the California-Oregon border south to Bakersfield and east to the California-Nevada border.
Valerie Elaine Ehrke, of Arbuckle, and Jorge Riley, of Sacramento, also have been arrested. Riley was the corresponding secretary of the California Republican Assembly before being forced to resign.
Meanwhile, in Southern California, the owner of a Victorville gym, who defied public health orders last year by keeping his fitness center open amid the coronavirus pandemic, was arrested by FBI agents Wednesday for his alleged role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.
Jacob Lewis, 37, was released on $50,000 bond and ordered to appear virtually before a District of Columbia court on Feb. 10, the FBI Los Angeles field office said. Lewis is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to a criminal complaint.
CORRECTION: In yesterday's newsletter, we incorrectly reported Tim Zook's place of employment. He worked at South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana.
That's all for this Thursday. We'll be back in your inbox tomorrow with more headlines from the Golden State.
In California is a roundup of news from across USA Today network newsrooms. Also contributing: The Associated Press.