Central Unified School District trustees will consider extending the closure of schools through May 1 because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The board will hold a special meeting Thursday by teleconference, with the open session starting at 7 p.m. Board members will appear in a Zoom video teleconference broadcast on the district's...
Of America and Sacrifice: Is the Country Ready to Step Up?
WASHINGTON — For most Americans alive today, the idea of shared national sacrifice is a collective abstraction, a memory handed down from a grandparent or passed on through a book or movie. Not since World War II, when people carried ration books with stamps that allowed them to purchase meat,...
Fresno Offers 0% Loans for Small Businesses Affected by COVID-19
The Fresno City Council voted to provide COVID-19 financial relief for small businesses at an emergency meeting Wednesday. Businesses with 25 or fewer employees will be eligible for 0% loans. If the business remains open for one year, the loan will be forgiven. In a separate vote, the council allocated...
Could Chloroquine Treat Coronavirus? 5 Questions Answered About a Promising, Problematic and Unproven Use for an Antimalarial Drug
An Arizona man died, and his wife was hospitalized, after taking a form of chloroquine, which President Trump has touted as an effective treatment for COVID-19. The couple decided to self-medicate with chloroquine phosphate, which they had on hand to kill parasites in their fish, after hearing the president describe...
Newsom Says 4 Banks Agree to Allow Mortgage Payment Pause
SACRAMENTO — Four of the nation's largest banks agreed to temporarily suspend residential mortgage payments for Californians affected by the coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. The announcement comes as more than 1 million Californians have filed for unemployment benefits since March 13 because many businesses have had to shut...
They Already Had an Anxiety Disorder. Now Comes a Pandemic.
NEW YORK — At first, Jonathon Seidl wasn't worried about the coronavirus despite his anxiety disorder. But that changed. The 33-year-old digital media strategist from Dallas, who takes medication, said his concern was less about getting sick than about the battering the economy could sustain. Would he be able to...
Opinion: Forget Coronavirus. In Israel, the Democracy Virus Will Be Defeated
[aggregation-styles] Haaretz “They’re stealing democracy from us,” the demonstrators protesting via their computer screens charged. The real theft of democracy, the prime minister’s defenders retort, is the High Court of Justice’s intervention in the Knesset’s work by delivering an ultimatum to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein. This intervention will “undermine the...
Sen. Caballero Backs Newsom's COVID-19 Efforts, Seeks Legal Status for Farmworkers
Like most of her legislative colleagues, state Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) is working at home instead of the State Capitol in Sacramento. Bills may have stalled, but dealing with the state's response to the COVID-19 outbreak hasn't. Her 12th Senate District covers parts of Fresno, Madera, Stanislaus, and Monterey counties,...
Some Golfers Play On. But Open Courses Becoming Scarce.
Even as the coronavirus pandemic has shuttered restaurants, bars and beaches, many golf courses have managed to stay open with all sorts of precautions in place to promote social distancing, from sanitizing carts to removing rakes from bunkers. The hope is that golf can provide a safe outlet for the...
How Airlines, Others Stand to Benefit From $2 Trillion Rescue Bill
The White House and Senate leaders agreed early Wednesday on a $2 trillion economic rescue package, the largest in the country's history. The bill would give direct payments to most Americans, expand unemployment benefits and provide direct grants and loans to businesses and hospitals. The Republican-controlled Senate must still approve...