WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer confidence inched up this month, showing signs of stabilizing, but remained near a six-year low in the face of the widespread business shutdowns that have sent the economy into recession. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its confidence index ticked up to a reading of 86.6...
Need a Haircut? Barbershops and Hair Salons Get OK to Reopen in Fresno, Other Counties
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that barbershops and hair salons can reopen immediately in counties, including Fresno, that have been cleared to move faster on lifting coronavirus restrictions. The governor’s announcement is part of an ongoing relaxation of orders intended to help prevent spread of COVID-19. Face Masks Required for...
US New-Home Sales Post Slight Gain in April
BALTIMORE — U.S. new home sales ticked up 0.6% in April, a surprising gain amid the coronavirus outbreak that hints at the relative health of potential buyers. The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that sales of new single-family homes rose slightly to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 623,000 last month....
Is Valley at Risk for 2nd Wave COVID Surge? Check Here.
[aggregation-styles] The New York Times Subscription To help provide a detailed picture of the past, present and future of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, here are five ways of thinking about it in hundreds of metro areas across the country, using data compiled by The New York Times....
Need $5K or $10K Grant for Small Business to Survive COVID? Apply Now.
The city of Fresno is taking applications for the second round of Save Our Small Businesses Act funding. Small businesses — defined as 25 or fewer employees — are eligible for grants of either $5,000 (for businesses with 1-5 employees) or $10,000 (between 6-25 employees). Because the second round of...
In Rural California Community, Officials Slow Reopening
SAN FRANCISCO — Humboldt County on California’s North Coast was among the first in the state to get the governor's green light to open up restaurants and stores after a two-month statewide coronavirus lockdown. With only about 50 cases confirmed in the whole month of April in the county of...
The Price of a Virus Lockdown: Economic ‘Free Fall’ in California
[aggregation-styles] The New York Times Subscription LOS ANGELES — Locked down in their homes, the four former California governors clicked into a Zoom call and one after another described how they dealt with the crises that had defined their time in office. For Pete Wilson, it was the 1994 Northridge...
California Woman Arrested for Posting Racist Notes at Homes
SAN LEANDRO — A woman in the San Francisco Bay Area has been arrested on suspicion of posting handwritten messages at several homes, targeting Asian Americans and suggesting that those not native to the United States should leave the country immediately. Police in San Leandro, a suburb of 89,000 just...
California Lays Out Pandemic Rules for Church Reopenings
LOS ANGELES — Rabbi Shalom Rubanowitz looks forward to reopening his synagogue doors — if his congregation can balance the laws of God and California during the coronavirus pandemic. On Monday, the state released a framework that will permit counties to allow in-person worship services. They include limiting worshipers to...
Twitter Bots Drove the Push to ‘Reopen America,’ Study Finds
[aggregation-styles] MSN According to Business Insider, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University found that about half of more than 200 million tweets related to covid-19 that have been sent since January appear to be from bots. About half of all accounts tweeting about “reopening America” appeared to be bots, and 60...