Kern County

Palo Alto resident Margaret Park, 91, is accompanied by her son to the waiting area after receiving her first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Levi’s Stadium on Feb. 9, 2021. The 49ers arena opened on Tuesday as a vaccine distribution site for Santa Clara County residents 65 and older and is expected to inoculate up to 15,000 people per day once supplies become available. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters

Coronavirus

Vaccine appointments may be backed up for several weeks

The CEO of Blue Shield predicts it will take until the end of April to ease California’s backlog. “When you make millions of people eligible overnight, there's not millions of appointments immediately available,” he told CalMatters.

By

Barbara Feder Ostrov

and

Ana B. Ibarra

• March 26, 2021

WhatMatters

State halves desk-spacing rule — will more schools reopen full-time?

California just made it significantly easier for K-12 schools to bring students back to campus full-time — but some of the state’s largest districts and most powerful unions are pushing back, suggesting that hundreds of thousands of students may not receive daily in-person instruction this school year. Student desks should now be kept a minimum […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• March 22, 2021

Gov. Gavin Newsom delivers the State of the State address at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on March 9, 2021. Photo by Shae Hammond for CalMatters

WhatMatters

Newsom speech ushers in election season

Good morning, California. It’s Wednesday, March 10. High stakes for governor Buckle your seatbelts: It’s officially election season in California. That much was evident from the ambience of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s State of the State speech Tuesday night. The governor stood at a podium in Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium, flanked by massive screens that alternated […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• March 10, 2021

Children play in the backyard of Ana Ballesteros home where she runs a day care in Delano on Feb. 26, 2021. Photo by Shae Hammond for CalMatters

Coronavirus

More than 12,000 coronavirus cases have been reported at California child care centers

Experts aren’t sure if the numbers are good or bad because of the number of variables involved and lack of similar data. Child care providers hope new relief from the state will help.

By

Elizabeth Aguilera

• March 4, 2021

Laura Garcia stands outside her family home in the rural Fresno County community of Raisin City on Feb. 12, 2021. Garcia, a mother of 5 with one on the way, is concerned about how the air quality due to nearby burns is affecting her kids. The orchard in the background replaced a vineyard which was burned away. Photo by Craig Kohlruss, The Fresno Bee

Environment

Up in smoke: Burns in San Joaquin Valley vineyards, orchards may finally end

California’s air board will vote this week on stopping burns that spew plumes of smoke that can trigger asthma attacks. The move is long in coming — it was supposed to end a decade ago under state law.

By

Rachel Becker

• February 22, 2021

Alameda County Fire Department employee Max Shih, left, administers the second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Julia Jackson, a volunteer at a Berkeley needle exchange program, at St. Rose hospital in Hayward on Jan. 27, 2021. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters

Coronavirus

Who’s getting vaccinated in California? A county-by-county look at racial data

Although data is incomplete, in nearly all counties, white people received the largest percentage of vaccine doses — even in counties with large Latino populations. Latinos are the biggest group vaccinated in Los Angeles and two other counties.

By

CalMatters Staff

• February 19, 2021

A fieldworker wearing a hat with the golden eagle, the official bird of Mexico, as he uses it to shield his face from the sun while he picks strawberries on Saturday, April 25, 2020. Photo by David Rodriguez, The Salinas Californian

California Divide

Farmworkers say employers, Cal/OSHA don’t enforce COVID-19 safety regulations

A new study shows farmworkers say they have been left unprotected from COVID-19 by the very employers and agencies who wrote emergency regulations intended to keep them safe.

By

Kate Cimini

• February 2, 2021

Workers arrive at the Foster Poultry Farms site at 900 W. Belgravia Ave., Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 9, 2020 in Fresno. Photo by Eric Zamora, The Fresno Bee

California Divide

California isn’t fully tracking serious workplace COVID-19 cases in Fresno. Here’s why

A year after the first COVID-19 case hit California, the state agency in charge of policing offices, warehouses, and other workplaces is understaffed and significantly undercounting the number of people in Fresno County and across the state who’ve fallen seriously ill with the coronavirus. Employers in Fresno County reported only 66 serious worker illnesses or […]

By

,

,

and

• February 2, 2021

Commentary

Conserving Tejon Ranch: A fight worth waging

The Tejon Ranch dispute threatens funding for cutting-edge science and innovative field applications to prevent ecosystem decline.

By

Guest Commentary

• January 4, 2021

WhatMatters

California leads fight to defend Obamacare

Good morning, California. It’s Tuesday, November 10. Note: The newsletter will pause Wednesday in recognition of Veterans Day. I’ll be back in your inbox on Thursday. Health insurance on the line Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare — […]

By

Emily Hoeven

• November 10, 2020