In California: More changes in vaccine rules. And 17 key environment bills to watch
In California brings you top Golden State stories and commentary from across the Paste BN Network and beyond. Get it free, straight to your inbox. I'm Julie Makinen, California editor for the USA Today Network, bringing you Thursday's headlines.
But first, the L.A. Times is out with a deep dive on Jeff Grosso, the skateboarding ambassador who died last March of an accidental drug overdose. Grosso, writer Jack Harris said, "spoke for skateboarding’s soul through his beloved 'Loveletters to Skateboarding' YouTube show. He was a guardian and a helping hand to skateboarding’s newest generation." His death, Harris explains, left a void the skateboarding world is still trying to fill. (Note, this one's for paying subscribers only.)
Can you keep up? More vaccine changes
Another day, another switch in the way the state allocates vaccines. California will begin setting aside 40% of all doses for people who live in the "most vulnerable neighborhoods" in an effort to inoculate people most at risk from the coronavirus and get the state’s economy open more quickly, the Associated Press reported.
The doses will be spread out among 400 ZIP codes with about 8 million people eligible for shots, said Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state's health and human services secretary. Many of the neighborhoods are in Los Angeles County and the Central Valley, which have had among the highest rates of infection. The areas are considered most vulnerable based on metrics such as household income, education level, housing status and access to transportation.
While race and ethnicity are not explicit factors in designating vaccinations, the 400 ZIP codes overlap heavily with neighborhoods with higher populations of Blacks, Latinos and Asian and Pacific Islanders, officials said.
The L.A. Times has a detailed take at what the changes mean. The San Francisco Chronicle looks at the areas most likely to get help in the Bay Area.
Meanwhile, local officials are complaining that the state's My Turn COVID-19 vaccination appointment system is riddled with flaws that are making it difficult for counties to reserve vaccine appointments for targeted populations, The Times reported.
And.... Nine great apes at the San Diego Zoo are the first non-human primates to receive an experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Legislature OKs $6.6B plan aimed at returning public school students to the classroom
California lawmakers approved a $6.6 billion plan aimed at pressuring school districts to return students to the classroom before the end of the school year, Associated Press reported. The bill does not order school districts to resume in-person instruction and it does not say parents must send their kids back to the classroom if they don’t want to.
Instead, the state will dangle $2 billion before cash-strapped school boards, offering them a share of that money only if they offer in-person instruction by the end of the month. School districts have until May 15 to decide. Districts that resume in-person learning after that date won’t get any money.
Many lawmakers criticized the bill as too weak because it doesn't say how much time students should spend in the classroom. Republicans in the state Senate tried to amend the bill to require schools to offer at least three days per week of in-person learning, but Democrats in the majority rejected it.
And while the bill requires most elementary school grades to return to the classroom to get the money, it does not require all middle and high school grades to return this year.
California settles suit from high school athletes, allowing indoor sports statewide
A settlement reached between the state and youth sports advocates stemming from a lawsuit filed on behalf of two San Diego high school athletes could pave the way for youth sports to resume statewide, The Desert Sun reported.
The settlement will require COVID-19 testing for indoor sports, though the settlement announcement includes agreements with outside groups to provide testing for school districts at no cost, according to Let Them Play California.
Attorney Stephen Grebing, who represented two San Diego-area high school football players in the suit, said indoor sports will be allowed with testing within 48 hours of competition and periodic testing throughout the week. Grebing said the state is only providing testing for football, rugby and water polo, so testing for other sports will have to be acquired through other means. Grebing added that the settlement will allow for a limited number of spectators — athletes’ immediate family members — to attend some games, depending on the sport.
Youth sports officials were studying the settlement. The CIF-Southern Section issued a statement saying it was not ready to immediately say sports can start again.
Bite-sized news bits...
Not your ordinary drug bust. A 44-year-old Oxnard man was arrested Tuesday after detectives found heroin, methamphetamine and a 4-foot long crocodile at his residence, according to the Oxnard Police Department, the Ventura County Star reported.
Out of this world. San Diego State University has received a $14 million donation to support its Department of Astronomy, a small program that has made big contributions in recent years, especially in finding and analyzing planets that exist far beyond the solar system. The gift is the largest ever made to SDSU’s astronomy department, the only stand-alone program of its kind in the 23 campus California State University system. The gift is from the late Theodore William Booth and his wife, the late Nhung Lu Booth, an alumna of the College of Sciences, the San Diego Union Tribune reported.
Plan accordingly. The weekly $400 federal unemployment supplements included in the pending economic aid package being considered by Congress will end in August, not September, as some Senate Democrats had requested, the L.A. Times reported.
17 key environmental bills to watch
California lawmakers are juggling a variety of issues, including assisting industries hurting from pandemic-induced shutdowns, straightening out a fraud-laden unemployment system and reopening schools. But environmental legislation is also on the agenda this session. Conservation groups are hopeful many of these bills will pass; groups opposed to more regulations and higher spending are questioning how much energy environmental measures deserve.
The Desert Sun's Mark Olalde has highlighted some of the most important bills proposed in the 2021 legislative session. Among them:
- SB 467: Oil well setbacks, fracking ban. Introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and Sen. Monique Limon, D-Santa Barbara, this measure would halt new hydraulic fracturing and other methods of enhanced oil recovery as well as renew the quest for a 2,500-foot setback between petroleum operations and buildings such as houses and schools. The oil industry is, not surprisingly, opposed.
- SB 45 and AB 1500: Borrowing billions for 'climate resiliency' A bond worth at least $5.51 billion, which would provide funds for $240 million for Salton Sea restoration, $250 million for groundwater management and $300 million for grants for clean and reliable drinking water. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association's president, Jon Coupal, said "the Legislature has decided to elevate climate-related matters above all other priorities, and that's their prerogative, but if these are their top priorities they should fund them out of the General Fund and not with bond financing in which half the money spent goes to the bondholders.
- AB 525: Offshore wind power As the state works to meet its clean energy goals, this draft legislation attempts to throw offshore wind into the mix. If passed, it would require the Energy Commission and other government agencies to figure out how to get 10 gigawatts of wind operational off the Golden State's coast by 2040. California currently has no offshore wind due to a variety of factors, including the ocean's depth. Green groups and builders might both be able to get on board with this one.