SACRAMENTO — California state officials have agreed to delay the effective date of what state lawmakers intended as a Jan. 1 ban on flavored tobacco products, after opponents led by tobacco companies said they filed enough signatures to put the new law to a statewide vote. The secretary of state...
Valley Will Likely See COVID Lockdown Order Extended Tuesday
UPDATE: Stay-at-home orders are expected to be extended in Central and Southern California Tuesday as hospitals quickly run out of intensive care unit beds for coronavirus patients ahead of the presumed post-holiday surge. Gov. Gavin Newsom said the decision would be made after a review of the latest hospitalization data, including from...
Walters: COVID-19 May Have Permanent Economic Impacts
When the state Employment Development Department released a new report on jobs this month, it had a tinge of optimism. California’s unemployment rate had dropped to 8.2% in November, exactly half of the record-high 16.4% recorded in the spring as the first wave of COVID-19 pummeled the state and Gov. Gavin Newsom...
Fauci: Vaccines Should Allow CA Colleges to Teach in-Person Next Fall
While coronavirus cases are surging across California and overwhelming intensive care units, the country’s top infectious disease expert said today he’s “cautiously optimistic” that college students can return to campus in the fall. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he anticipates that...
In California’s Middle Kingdom, Life is SLO
SLO down, California. Even in pandemic, you move too fast. This new year, perhaps Californians should resolve to model the spirit of SLO, the acronym for San Luis Obispo County, perhaps the easiest place in California to catch your breath. SLO is central to my COVID coping. Whenever work or...
COVID in California: 2 Million Confirmed Cases and Counting
LOS ANGELES — California became the first state to record 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases, reaching the milestone on Christmas Eve as close to the entire state was under a strict stay-at-home order and hospitals were flooded with the largest crush of cases since the pandemic began. A tally by...
California Sees Near-Record Deaths, Modest Signs of Hope
SACRAMENTO — California had a near record number of daily coronavirus deaths as pandemic cases strained hospitals and reduced normal intensive care space to a record low, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday, yet there was a faint hint that residents may be heeding medical officials’ increasingly desperate calls for caution...
California Water Stockings Stuffed With $1 Billion in Federal Funding
Christmas came early for California water interests with more than $1 billion in federal funding for a variety of projects packed into the recent federal funding bill that included COVID-19 relief. At the top of the list for the San Joaquin Valley is $206 million to aid in repairing the...
California Hospital Leaders Plead With Residents: ‘Don’t Share Your Air’
California’s health care system is in the throes of a coronavirus crisis stemming from ill-advised Thanksgiving gatherings, top executives from the state's largest hospital systems said Tuesday as they put out a “desperate call” for residents to avoid a Christmas repeat they said would overwhelm the state’s medical system. Increasingly...
California Could See 100,000 Hospitalizations Within a Month
SACRAMENTO — California has recorded a half-million coronavirus cases in the last two weeks, overwhelming emergency rooms in urban centers and rural areas including along the Mexican border where a small hospital system warns it is fast running out of patient beds. The state could be facing a once-unthinkable caseload...