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...
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...
‘Mom’s Worth It’: US Holiday Travel Surges Despite Outbreak
TAMPA, Fla. — Some are elderly and figure they don’t have many Christmases left. Others are trying to keep long-distance romance alive. Some just yearn for the human connection that’s been absent for the past nine months. Millions of Americans are traveling ahead of Christmas and New Year’s, despite pleas...
COVID Relief Bill Morphs Into a Test of GOP Loyalty to Trump
WASHINGTON — Threatening to tank Congress’ massive COVID relief and government funding package, President Donald Trump’s demand for bigger aid checks for Americans is forcing Republicans traditionally wary of such spending into an uncomfortable test of allegiance. On Thursday, House Democrats who also favor $2,000 checks will all but dare...
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...
Trump Threatens to Torpedo COVID Relief With New Demands
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has threatened to torpedo Congress’ massive COVID-19 relief package in the midst of a raging pandemic and deep economic uncertainty, suddenly demanding changes fellow Republicans have opposed. Trump assailed the bipartisan $900 billion package in a video he tweeted out Tuesday night and suggested he...
Pfizer to Supply US With Additional 100m Vaccines Doses
WASHINGTON — Pfizer said Wednesday it will supply the U.S. government with an additional 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine under a new agreement between the pharmaceutical giant and the Trump administration. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said that will bring their total current commitment to 200 million doses...
Opinion: California Small-Business Grant Program Is Right Thinking, but Flawed in Execution
Small businesses owned by Black, Indigenous and People of Color are being disproportionately crushed by the weight of the pandemic – and many aren’t positioned to survive the next few months. So, when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced $500 million in grant funding and a temporary tax relief package for small businesses last...
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...