How much will it actually change school mask policies? Although the California School Boards Association recently begged Newsom to give schools “a specific K-12 exit strategy,” Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s top health official, said earlier this month that local officials will still be able to implement stricter mask rules than the state’s. That suggests that California could retain its current patchwork of strategies, where some districts require face coverings at all times — even outdoors — and others refuse to enforce mask mandates, even at the risk of losing their insurance coverage or of teacher walkouts .How much will it alter California’s current school climate, where mask rules are dividing parents, students and educators and fracturing campus life ? Any move the state makes seems unlikely to bridge the sizable chasm: A recent UC Berkeley poll found that 61% of parents with school-age kids approve of school mask mandates, while 37% oppose them. How will it align with new federal guidance? As CalMatters’ Kristen Hwang reports, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday updated masking recommendations based on a three-tiered system ranking each county’s infection levels and its hospital admissions, staffing levels and bed occupancy. More than half of California’s 58 counties — or about 49% of the population — fall into the highest tier, where masks are recommended indoors, including in schools. The CDC doesn’t recommend universal school masking for communities in the medium or low tiers.
Indeed, Newsom is under mounting pressure to end California’s pandemic state of emergency, which will celebrate its two-year anniversary on Friday. Last week, Democratic lawmakers agreed to consider on March 15 a Republican-led resolution to end the state of emergency. On Friday, Newsom signed an executive order to terminate 12 open states of emergency — mainly related to heat waves and wildfires — and another to phase out provisions of 52 COVID executive orders, though the pandemic emergency declaration itself will remain in place, CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff reports. At the end of June, just 30 of the original 561 COVID emergency orders will remain, Newsom administration officials said. They include provisions allowing pharmacies to administer COVID tests and vaccines and permitting hospitals to bring in out-of-state health care workers.
One such contract: the state’s ill-fated $456.9 million mask deal with three-day-old company Blue Flame in March 2020. California clawed back the money within hours of wiring it, but the saga didn’t end there: On Thursday, JPMorgan Chase sued California for $5.9 million in legal fees resulting from its intervention in the transaction.
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Lucia Marroquin, an undocumented immigrant who lives in Fresno County :“It’s very difficult to be without coverage. It doesn’t have to be free, just at a fair price. As my husband says, we can get car insurance, why can’t we buy health insurance?”
California lawmakers’ failure to advance a state-funded single-payer health care proposal — and Newsom’s refusal to take a position on it — may have stalled similar efforts in other states, California Healthline reports .After a rocky start to the state’s new Medi-Cal prescription drug program — which left thousands of low-income patients unable to access their medications — state officials said Thursday the situation is improving. Nevertheless, California plans to withhold roughly two-thirds of its January payment to Magellan Health, the company running the program, according to California Healthline .
Drought: California’s agriculture industry lost nearly 9,000 jobs and took a $1.2 billion financial hit last year as it left 395,000 acres of cropland — an area larger than Los Angeles — unplanted due to severe drought, according to a UC Merced Water Systems Management Lab report prepared for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. To make matters worse, the Central Valley — home to much of the state’s agriculture industry — is generally experiencing more severe drought than it did last year, the San Francisco Chronicle reports .Fire: California business owners and homeowners who take steps to reduce their property’s wildfire risk would see lower insurance premiums under proposed regulations from California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. Meanwhile, PG&E unveiled plans to increase its wildfire safety budget from nearly $4.9 billion last year to nearly $6 billion this year. And new aerial survey data from the U.S. Forest Service suggests that hundreds of millions of trees in California’s forests perished last year due to fire, along with another 9.5 million that died from bugs, disease and dehydration. Water: A plan to tear down four huge dams on Northern California’s Klamath River — mainly to restore suffering salmon fisheries — took a big step forward when federal regulators unveiled a draft environmental impact statement highlighting the project’s benefits, the Associated Press reports .Electric cars: Newsom traveled to the Central Valley to visit Michael Macias , a Stockton resident who reportedly purchased the millionth electric vehicle sold in California with the help of rebates and tax credits. But, as the Mercury News reports , the Newsom administration later conceded “there’s some squishiness” to who actually bought the millionth electric car — raising questions as to whether the administration chose to highlight Macias to bolster support for Newsom’s budget proposal to increase electric-vehicle affordability for middle- and low-income Californians.
Nina Bogdan, a former San Francisco resident and Russian American whose father was born in Ukraine :“The relatives that I have left are in Ukraine, they are now refugees. For me, I am personally devastated by it. I can’t believe it’s happening.” Chuck Olynyk, a 65-year-old Ukrainian American who lives in Los Angeles :“I’m heartbroken. I’ve had to step away from the TV and work in the garage.”
Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of Livermore made waves Thursday for suggesting that the U.S. kick Russian students out of the country as punishment for the Ukraine invasion. Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a consumer alert warning Californians about fraudsters seeking to capitalize on people’s desire to help Ukrainians. And, due in part to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, gas prices in California set yet another record average price Sunday of $4.82 per gallon.
