A state Senator has tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting California's upper chamber to cancel its session Wednesday during a critical final week when lawmakers must consider hundreds of measures that face a Monday deadline. Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins promised the chamber “will use the tools available to us...
A Genetic Study Reveals Which Animals Can Contract Coronavirus
[aggregation-styles] Salon Researchers at the University of California, Davis, figured out a clever way to deduce which animals are susceptible to the novel coronavirus — without putting any of our animal friends at risk by intentionally infecting them. According to the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the...
Greece Battles Coronavirus Resurgence After Early Success
PIRAEUS, Greece — Workers in bright yellow vests stand on the dock in Greece’s main port of Piraeus, greeting hundreds of masked ferry passengers with fliers and the occasional temperature check. “Would you like a coronavirus test? Yes, it’s free. Right over there, in the white structure, you’ll see the...
Walters: Politics, Snafus Stall Jobless Benefits
The good news for millions of out-of-work California workers is that the federal government is offering them an additional $300 per week in unemployment insurance benefits. The not-so-good news is that the bonus is just half of the $600 in extra jobless benefits that expired nearly a month ago, it’s uncertain when...
COVID-19 Tests Will Now Be Required for Nursing Home Staff
WASHINGTON — Scrambling to check the spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes, the Trump administration announced Tuesday it will require facilities to test staff regularly or face fines. The move comes months after the White House first urged governors to test all nursing home residents and staff. With residents, nursing homes...
Revved by Sturgis Rally, COVID-19 Infections Move Fast, Far
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The hundreds of thousands of bikers who attended the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally may have departed western South Dakota, but public health departments in multiple states are trying to measure how much and how quickly the coronavirus spread in bars, tattoo shops and gatherings before people traveled...
Mojave Desert School Opens, So Why Not Big Creek Elementary, Hume Lake Charter?
Lucerne Valley Elementary School opened its doors last Thursday to in-person instruction for nearly 200 students, even though San Bernardino County is on the state's watchlist for counties with high rates of coronavirus infections. Listen to this article: The county has had twice as many reported COVID-19 cases and deaths...
New Virus Cases Decline in the US and Experts Credit Masks
NEW YORK — The number of Americans newly diagnosed with the coronavirus is falling — a development experts credit at least partly to increased wearing of masks — even as the outbreak continues to claim nearly 1,000 lives in the U.S. each day. About 43,000 new cases are being reported...
‘High Risk’ of Waste, Fraud in California COVID Spending, Auditor Warns.
SACRAMENTO — California is getting so much money from the federal government because of the coronavirus — more than $71 billion — that the state's auditor on Tuesday warned Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration it is at high risk of waste, fraud and abuse. In a letter to Newsom and legislative...
Poll: Many in US Shoring Up Finances Amid Downturn
WASHINGTON — It's the paradox of a pandemic that has crushed the U.S. economy: 12.9 million lost jobs and a dangerous rash of businesses closing, yet the personal finances of many Americans have remained strong — and in some ways have even improved. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center...