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California Assembly — led by ex-GOP leader — calls for Trump’s resignation over riot -- In its first big vote of the new year, the California Assembly on Monday passed a resolution backed by its former Republican leader calling for President Donald Trump to be removed from office with 10 days left in his tenure. Lara Korte in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/11/21

FBI, Sacramento-area law officials on guard for violence flaring at California Capitol -- Federal law enforcement officials, hate-crime specialists and social media platforms are warning of the possibility of nationwide attacks at state capitols and in Washington, D.C., in the days leading up to the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. Sam Stanton in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/11/21

Stunned teachers and scared students: How the Capitol insurrection is overtaking lessons -- Brianna Davis, a history and government teacher at Rancho Campana High School in Camarillo, was showing a readout of the Declaration of Independence with her students online when she began receiving news alerts about the violent siege on Capitol Hill — live history careening into her government course. Melissa Gomez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/11/21

Chapman University refuses to fire professor who spoke at DC pro-Trump rally -- Law professor John Eastman was a speaker at the "Stop the Steal" rally Wednesday, where he repeated multiple falsehoods about fraud in the 2020 election during his rambling, three-minute address. Joshua Bote in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 1/11/21

Dems prep ‘incitement of insurrection’ charge against Trump -- Impeachment pressure mounting, the House worked swiftly Monday to try to oust President Donald Trump from office, pushing the vice president and Cabinet to act first in an extraordinary effort to remove Trump in the final days of his presidency. Lisa Mascaro, Bill Barrow and Mary Clare Jalonick Associated Press -- 1/11/21

This could be an impeachment like no other. Here’s what to expect -- If they proceed as planned, it will look like no other presidential impeachment in U.S. history. Here’s what we know about what the next few days and weeks could look like. David G. Savage, Sarah D. Wire in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/11/21

Policy & Politics 

Send money quickly to schools, businesses and the poor, Gavin Newsom urges returning lawmakers -- Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking lawmakers to hit the ground running as they return Monday, pressing them to act immediately on billions in new spending proposals to help California families harmed by the coronavirus. Sophia Bollag, Hannah Wiley, Lara Korte, and Kim Bojórquez in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/11/21

Despite reports, pro-Trump protesters in San Francisco's Twitter HQ nowhere to be found -- Police officers and reporters swarmed Twitter's heavily-barricaded headquarters Monday morning, and even a couple of counter-protesters carrying "impeach Trump" signs. But the pro-Trump mob that was expected to descend into San Francisco following the permanent banning of President Donald Trump on his preferred social media platform was nowhere to be found. Joshua Bote in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/11/21

In pandemic-era budget, Newsom tries to nestle friends and neutralize enemies -- Amid a calamitous pandemic that has strained his relationships with fellow Democrats in the Legislature and given momentum to a Republican-led effort to throw him out of office, Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying to pull off a political balancing act as he begins his third year leading California. Laurel Rosenhall CalMatters -- 1/11/21

Interactive: How diverse is the California Legislature? -- In a year of radical upheaval, this much has remained constant: California’s elected representatives still aren’t all that representative. Elizabeth Castillo, Ben Christopher, John Osborn D'agostino, Orlando Mayorquin and Matt Levin CalMatters -- 1/11/21

Covid  

Darkest days for L.A. doctors, nurses, EMTs: ‘The way most people leave is by dying’ -- At a hospital near South Los Angeles, doctors debate whether an elderly patient should be hooked to one of the few remaining ventilators. Meanwhile, nurses at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood fear they are treating too many patients to provide them all with the best care. Soumya Karlamangla, Hayley Smith, Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/11/21

'We've never seen it this bad': Top doctor at SF General on COVID surge -- A hub of COVID-19 response in San Francisco is moving into level red of its hospital surge plan, as the number of patients reaches an all-time high and nearly every bed is full. Amy Graff in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 1/11/21

Sacramento County reaches new COVID-19 milestone: More than 1,000 residents have died -- The county on Monday confirmed 38 newly reported COVID-19 deaths mostly from late December and early January, pushing the cumulative tally to 1,015 for the duration of the health crisis. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/11/21

Why COVID-19 has left so many hospitals running low on oxygen -- The demand for oxygen has skyrocketed, as critically ill COVID-19 patients often need high rates of oxygen flowing into their lungs to keep them alive, helping them to overcome a perilous moment when their lungs are inflamed and their oxygen levels in the body become dangerously low. Rong-Gong Lin II, Luke Money in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/11/21

Bay Area funeral homes cope with COVID-19 onslaught, and things could get worse -- When the pandemic started, Robert Gordon, the CEO of Colma’s expansive Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, purchased refrigerated storage to accommodate an extra 100 bodies. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/11/21

Gavin Newsom said he would punish counties for not enforcing COVID rules. Why hasn’t he? -- Gov. Gavin Newsom in July warned local officials they could lose out on $2.5 billion worth of state assistance if they didn’t enforce the state’s coronavirus orders. Lara Korte in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/11/21

Santa Monica Pier will be closed for MLK holiday and on weekends this month as COVID spike continues -- The Santa Monica Pier will close the remaining three weekends this month and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in an effort to rein in the record-breaking number of coronavirus infections in Los Angeles County, officials said. Erin B. Logan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/11/21

Vaccine  

‘Not ready’: These Californians hesitant to take COVID vaccine, despite surge -- Mina Perez, of Sacramento, could be among the millions of Californians to receive a vaccine this year to protect against a virus that has infected more than 2.4 million people in the state. But don’t expect her to roll up her sleeve anytime soon. Kim Bojórquez in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/11/21

When can I get my COVID-19 vaccine? California trying to ramp up distribution -- After a slow and at times rocky start, California is trying to ramp up vaccine distribution. For now, the vaccine is still supposed to go to medical personnel and first responders. But officials expect to provide details soon about who will next be eligible. Colleen Shalby, Melody Gutierrez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/11/21

Back to Campus  

UC students will be back on campus this fall for mainly in-person classes -- The University of California announced Monday it is planning to bring students back to its 10 campuses for mostly in-person classes beginning fall 2021, as the development of effective vaccines indicate they will once again be able to safely gather. Teresa Watanabe in the Los Angeles Times$ Sawsan Morrar in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/11/21

Street  

Arellano: A Black Lives Matter mural keeps getting defaced. Its artist always returns -- Lucia Daniella Saldivar-Lozano approached her canvas on a recent December morning: a curbside utility box in Sylmar that she had painted three times in the past month. Only to have vandals deface her work thrice. Gustavo Arellano in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/11/21

Covid Economy  

S.F. office market hits worst slump in decades as coronavirus pandemic rages on -- San Francisco’s office market had its weakest year in at least three decades in 2020, with the coronavirus pandemic bringing business expansion to a near standstill. Roland Li in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/11/21

 

California Policy and P  olitics Monday Morning  

San Francisco braces for possible pro-Trump demonstration at Twitter headquarters on Monday -- San Francisco police were preparing for a possible pro-Trump demonstration at Twitter’s headquarters on Monday, days after the social media company banned President Trump, citing the risk that he might incite further violence following last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol. Vanessa Arredondo in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/11/21

‘Citizens Take Arms!’: What a Santa Clara County Republican wrote as mob stormed Capitol -- Democratic Assemblyman Evan Low of Santa Clara County has called for the resignation of Phil Reynolds, an elected member of the County Republican Central Committee, for comments he made on Facebook last Wednesday, as the U.S. Capitol was under attack. Sam Whiting in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/11/21

Skelton: American exceptionalism is a myth. Our Constitution is the only thing keeping us from authoritarianism -- We Americans are not particularly exceptional when compared with other people in the world. What makes our country great is a Constitution that provides us with liberty, democracy and opportunity. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/11/21

Schwarzenegger compares mob attack on Capitol to Nazi assault on Jews, calls Trump a ‘failed leader’ -- Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday released a highly personal video message condemning the attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Trump, comparing it to Nazi assaults on Jews before World War II. Kellie Hwang in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Lara Korte in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/11/21

For many Bay Area immigrants, Capitol chaos triggers flashbacks of home -- In one of Myrna Melgar’s earliest childhood memories, her mother flips over the dining room table and pushes it against their sliding glass doors — “for protection, in case the glass shattered.” Off in the distance they heard explosions. They didn’t live far from the El Salvadoran president’s home, where a military coup was under way in 1979. Ryan Kost in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/11/21

‘Absolute insanity’: Bay Area residents grapple with assault on democracy amid exploding pandemic -- Through tears, Raymond Lie watched images of a mob provoked by the president himself breaching the U.S. Capitol, his eyes still red when his 130 eighth-grade students came back from lunch and asked the question they’ve been asking over the past year: Is this normal? Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/11/21

California legislators will return to flurry of major pandemic response votes -- California legislators who return to work Monday will quickly be asked to vote on a flurry of high-profile spending measures to confront the worsening toll of the coronavirus pandemic. Dustin Gardiner in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/11/21

Covid  

L.A. to turn Dodger Stadium into a COVID-19 vaccine site this week -- Los Angeles plans to turn its massive coronavirus testing site at Dodger Stadium into a vaccination distribution center this week, with officials hoping to vaccinate up to 12,000 people a day when the site is fully operational, city and county officials announced Sunday night. Liam Dillon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/11/21

San Diego County opens ‘vaccination super station’ near Petco Park -- A 280,000-square-foot COVID-19 vaccination site that aims to inoculate 5,000 health care workers each day will open downtown San Diego Monday, county and health officials announced Sunday. Lauryn Schroeder in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 1/11/21

L.A. County will stop using Curative coronavirus test after concerns from the FDA -- The decision affects only a small number of county-supported mobile testing sites. County health officials had already discontinued the broad use of oral swab tests produced by Silicon Valley start-up Curative over the summer because of concerns about too many false negatives. Liam Dillon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/11/21

California passes 30,000 COVID-19 deaths amid continuing surge -- California continued to see a dramatic surge Sunday in its number of COVID-19 deaths as the state surpassed another milestone: 30,000 fatalities. The pace of daily COVID-19 deaths has climbed since the most recent surge began in November. Rong-Gong Lin II, Vanessa Martínez, Swetha Kannan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/11/21

Bay Area seeing more COVID-19 patients with no underlying health conditions -- The rampaging coronavirus is revealing new unpredictability as the promised post-holiday surge continues, with some hospitals now seeing a rise in patients sick with COVID-19 who had no underlying medical conditions, officials say. Tatiana Sanchez in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/11/21

Willie Brown: Willie Brown: It’s time for California to give the vaccine to anyone who wants it -- In terms of sheer numbers, California wins the title as the most dangerous state in which to contract COVID-19. Willie Brown in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/11/21

Stanford pulls plug on the return of freshmen and sophomores to campus -- Stanford University’s freshmen and sophomores will not be allowed on campus for the winter quarter, school officials announced a day after they said 43 students on campus had tested positive for COVID-19. Elliott Almond in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 1/11/21

Covid Economy  

Pandemic creates “weird boom time” for some Bay Area remote workers -- Millions of California workers have faced at least one of two gut-wrenching situations this past year: losing their jobs or risking their lives by showing up in person at work during a pandemic. But for the others — the “work-from-home” contingent — things have been, well, mostly fine. Laurence Du Sault in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 1/11/21

Education  

Some California teachers and staff to receive Covid-19 vaccines beginning this week -- Teachers and school employees in Mariposa County are expected to be among the first of California’s 1.4 million teachers and other school staff to be vaccinated for Covid-19 when they roll up their sleeves for the shot on Monday. Diana Lambert EdSource -- 1/11/21

Street  

Six inmates at Merced County jail escape using rope made from prison sheets -- Using a rope made from braided prison sheets, six inmates at the Merced County jail scaled a 20-foot wall and escaped into downtown Merced late Saturday evening. The fugitives remain at large — including one charged with murder and two charged with attempted murder. John King in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Doug Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ Deke Farrow in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/11/21

D.A. inspector listens to prisoner’s phone call, uncovers huge state unemployment scam -- It was the first break in what turned out to be the biggest jailhouse scam in California history. It involved millions of dollars in fraudulent unemployment payments to prisoners and their co-conspirators on the outside. And it happened quite by accident at the San Mateo County Jail. Phil Matier in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 1/11/21

POTUS 46  

Biden faces challenge in guiding America past Trump era -- President-elect Joe Biden appeared on television last week as a bipartisan group of lawmakers huddled in an undisclosed location to protect them from a violent mob that was ransacking the U.S. Capitol. “The whole room went silent,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., recalled as everyone listened to Biden denounce the insurrection and call for calm. Alexandra Jaffe Associated Press -- 1/11/21

POTUS 45  

Pelosi to move forward with impeachment if Pence doesn't act to remove Trump -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued Vice President Mike Pence an ultimatum on Sunday night — invoke the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump in the coming days or Democrats will proceed this week with impeaching the president for an unprecedented second time. Sarah Ferris, Heather Caygle and Kyle Cheney Politico -- 1/11/21

Beltway   

Pelosi: House to vote on impeachment if Pence does not act to remove Trump -- Citing President Trump’s “assault on our democracy,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday for the first time that the House would move to impeach him in the wake of last week’s ransacking of the U.S. Capitol, unless Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet agree to remove him under the 25th Amendment. Laura King in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/11/21

Capitol assault a more sinister attack than first appeared -- Pelosi said Sunday “the evidence is that it was a well-planned, organized group with leadership and guidance and direction. And the direction was to go get people.” She did not elaborate on that point in a ”60 Minutes” interview on CBS. Jay Reeves, Lisa Mascaro and Calvin Woodward Associated Press -- 1/11/21

-- Sunday Updates

Schwarzenegger compares attack on Capitol to Nazi violence -- Arnold Schwarzenegger likened this week’s siege of the U.S. Capitol to Nazi attacks on Jews in Europe ahead of World War II in a scathing video in which the former California governor also called President Trump “the worst president ever.” Alex Wigglesworth in the Los Angeles Times$ Hailey Fuchs in the New York Times$ -- 1/10/21

A day before Capitol attack, pro-Trump crowd stormed meeting, threatened officials in rural California -- The rebellion that took place inside a government building in rural Northern California happened the day before the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Trump. Hailey Branson-Potts in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/10/21

Police departments across the U.S. open probes into whether their own members took part in the Capitol riot -- Departments in California, Washington state, and Texas are among those that have announced investigations into their officers based on tips, social media posts and other evidence, though more officers could be identified as evidence emerges in the coming days. Kim Bellware in the Washington Post$ -- 1/10/21

Covid  

How much worse will coronavirus crisis get in L.A. County? Here is what next few weeks could look like -- The number of COVID-19 deaths in California and Los Angeles County — an epicenter of the pandemic — is setting records or near-records almost daily. There is clear evidence that the post-Christmas holiday surge in cases is worsening, as the numbers continue to spike, particularly in L.A. County. Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/10/21

New evidence that U.K. coronavirus variant spreads more easily has scientists really worried -- The coronavirus variant that emerged in the United Kingdom belongs to the world now, and mounting evidence is confirming some scientists’ early suspicions: It is a super spreader capable of turbocharging the pandemic and muscling less transmissible strains of the virus into oblivion. Melissa Healy in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/10/21

Battered by COVID surge, hospitals are admitting patients faster than they can discharge them -- The patient needed a ventilator or she would die. The hospital wanted to discharge her, but there was no place she could go. Brittny Mejia in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 1/10/21

‘It’s their lives’: California’s grocery workers navigate COVID outbreaks, fears -- John Grant’s voice breaks as he talks about it. “It’s overwhelming to us. The stories leave all of us weeping,” Grant said. “We’ve never had to make calls to workers who survived their husband’s death or their wife’s.” Darrell Smith in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/10/21

Growing consensus that schools do not contribute to COVID-19 spread is complicated by worsening surge -- Local and national experts are coming to a consensus that schools do not contribute to community COVID-19 spread — as long as the levels of the virus in the community are not high. Schools do appear to contribute to spreading the virus where it already is spreading at high rates in a community, one of two new studies shows. Kristen Taketa in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 1/10/21

State argues mentally ill patients must stay put at Patton state hospital despite COVID outbreak -- 14 have died and hundreds more are infected at the psychiatric hospital. ‘Patton is on fire with COVID-19 right now,’ says an attorney for the patients. Joe Nelson in the Orange County Register -- 1/10/21

Policy & Politics 

Virus, housing issues await returning California lawmakers -- Mending California’s coronavirus-ravaged economy and fixing a state unemployment agency that is at the center of a titanic fraud case that could exceed $2 billion are at the top of the to-do list when lawmakers resume their session on Monday. Don Thompson and Adam Beam Associated Press -- 1/10/21

Housing  

Sacramento has a plan to address its housing crisis. Some neighborhoods are fighting it -- When Maggie Coulter moved to Sacramento for a state job in 1981, she knew immediately she didn’t want to live in midtown or downtown. But she also didn’t want to move out to the suburbs. Theresa Clift in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 1/10/21