Updating . .   

L.A. schools will relax some student mask rules, ease COVID-19 testing. What to know -- The Los Angeles Unified School District is making tweaks to its coronavirus protocols and is pushing new strategies to persuade more students to get vaccinated before critical deadlines. Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

Stressed school leaders urge California lawmakers to keep student vaccine exemptions -- Some California school leaders are urging lawmakers to preserve Covid vaccine exemptions for students, warning of a logistical nightmare that could push thousands of children out of classrooms. Mackenzie Mays Politico -- 11/18/21

Updated California workplace safety guidelines delayed because of federal legal challenges -- Earlier this month the Biden administration released sweeping COVID-19 workplace safety rules including a vaccine-or-test mandate for tens of millions of workers nationwide. Chase Difeliciantonio in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

S.F. woman gets 18 months in prison for creating a fake company to receive $370,000 in pandemic-relief loans -- A San Francisco woman was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges that she fraudulently obtained nearly $370,000 worth of federal pandemic-relief loans, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Ryce Stoughtenborough in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

California’s MyTurn site allows all adults to get COVID booster appointments -- As of Thursday morning, the MyTurn.ca.gov site has stopped asking adults who were originally vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shots and are now seeking boosters whether they are in certain high-risk groups before allowing them to book an appointment. Rong-Gong Lin II, Luke Money in the Los Angeles Times$ Kellie Hwang in the San Francisco Chronicle$ John Woolfolk in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/18/21

L.A.’s COVID rules: Mask and vaccine guidance for out-of-town visitors -- The good news is that if you’re fully vaccinated — and can prove it — there’s little you can’t do as a visitor to L.A. County. Jon Healey in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

Workplace   

Kaiser will ‘spend significantly’ to bolster operations, guard reputation amid huge strike -- Kaiser Permanente faces two days of massive strikes in Northern California starting Thursday, and the company and experts in labor and finance told The Bee on Wednesday that the walkouts could pose a risk to both Kaiser’s reputation and its bottom line. Cathie Anderson in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/18/21

Kaiser workers walk out in solidarity on Thursday with striking engineers. ‘They’re not asking for the moon’ -- At least 40,000 members of unions SEIU-UHW, OPEIU Local 29 and IFPTE Local 20, representing healthcare workers, optometrists, phlebotomists, X-ray technicians, clinical lab scientists and other employees, were scheduled to participate in the walk-out. Some of them started picketing at 7 a.m. at Kaiser facilities in the Bay Area. Summer Lin in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/18/21

California libraries now offering free online classes to help people learn new job skills -- While she’s in between accounting jobs, Leslie Fong is working to enhance her Excel skills through advanced online classes at the South San Francisco library. Carolyn Said in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

Policy and Politics  

A bigger tax deduction for Californians making up to $550K? The Senate’s thinking about it -- Democratic senators are seriously considering a plan to lift the cap on state and local tax deductions entirely for people who earn between $400,000 and $550,000. Some sort of adjustment to the SALT cap on federal income tax, which was set at $10,000 by the 2017 tax cut law, is probably coming. David Lightman in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/18/21

Asian community groups: Sacramento supervisors trying to ‘stifle our power’ in redistricting -- Despite considerable public input to establish a supervisor district that joined Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in south Sacramento together, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors are finalizing a redistricting map that fails to do so. Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/18/21

California’s $1.2 billion Capitol renovation is underway. Activists are still trying to halt it -- Dozens of environmental and preservation activists on Wednesday protested the demolition of the California Capitol annex, a 69-year-old structure attached to the historic statehouse that lawmakers consider outdated and dangerous. Hannah Wiley in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/18/21

Skelton: Column: Don’t blame politicians for California’s sky-high gas prices. Blame COVID-19 -- Who can we blame for record-high gasoline prices? Sorry. No one in particular. The worst culprit is COVID-19. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

‘A drinking club with a charity problem’ -- How a launchpad for young leaders enabled Dominic Foppoli and a culture of sexual violence. Alexandria Bordas, Cynthia Dizikes, Jessica Christian, Yalonda M. James, AJ Mast, and Maddie McGarvey in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

Education  

Race in the classroom? Ethnic studies have been taught at Sacramento schools for years -- Public and charter high school students in California will soon be required to take an ethnic studies course before graduation, a mandate that marks the end of a protracted political debate and charts a new course in the education of millions of students in one of the most diverse states in the country. Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks and Sawsan Morrar in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/18/21

S.F. schools see $123 million windfall after final ruling in tax case as district faces big shortfall -- San Francisco schools will get $123.4 million collected from property owners that has been frozen for three years while the state’s courts decided whether the parcel tax was legally authorized by voters. Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

Housing  

‘It’s still not easy’: SoCal home prices rise 14% as buying frenzy cools slightly -- Southern California’s cutthroat housing market has cooled in recent months, with some home shoppers — tired of losing bidding wars — putting their search on hold. Price drops became more common. Andrew Khouri in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

California holds 70% of the country’s priciest ZIP Codes for home buyers -- Home prices across the country soared during the pandemic, but at the top of the market, California kept its crown as the priciest state in the nation — by far. Jack Flemming in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

He’s been blamed for killing housing, but credited with keeping SoMa affordable. Meet S.F.’s most influential housing advocate -- In 2018, San Francisco political campaign manager Jen Snyder was in the early stages of running a ballot measure to provide free legal aid to tenants facing eviction when she got a phone call “out of the blue” from someone she had never met before: veteran South of Market nonprofit housing boss John Elberling. J.K. Dineen in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

Water  

San Jose: New drought rules and water fees go into effect — what they mean for your bill -- New mandatory drought rules, the first since 2016, will give San Jose the toughest water rules of any big California city. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/18/21

Supply Chain  

From Alabama to California, a trip along the broken supply chain -- The great American supply chain has hit the skids. Once a marvel of logistics that hummed with scheduling rigor and pricing predictability, the fount of goods has slowed to a trickle as key supply links have broken down in recent months. Connor Sheets in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

Supply-Chain Snarls Deliver Windfalls to Wall Street -- Global supply-chain bottlenecks are creating headaches for retailers, delays for consumers—and big gains for financial firms that invested in container ships before the pandemic upended the logistics business. Juliet Chung and Costas Paris in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 11/18/21

Street  

String of LAPD shootings exposes L.A.’s broken mental health system, officials say -- When a 19-year-old tourist from Singapore was stabbed in the abdomen on Hollywood Boulevard last month, witnesses and the victim quickly pointed out the suspect to police. Police already knew the man, Grisha Alaverdyan, from prior encounters. Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

Bay Area teenager abducted from Santa Rosa gas station, police say -- Santa Rosa police and California Highway Patrol officials issued an Amber Alert asking for the public’s help in locating Georgiana Chozmana Bambaloi, who police said was forced into a dark-colored vehicle “by several adult males.” Dominic Fracassa in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

Roseville official charged with directing taxpayer money to hire woman, pay law school tuition -- Kenneth James Glotzbach, 54, Roseville’s assistant director of wastewater utilities and the executive director of the wastewater authority, was charged in Superior Court on Nov. 8 by Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire’s office and an arrest warrant was issued, court files say. Sam Stanton in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/18/21

California fentanyl deaths spiked during the pandemic. What Biden wants to do about it -- California could get some relief for its rising overdose deaths as the Biden administration moves to better control the opioid epidemic. Gillian Brassil in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/18/21

Suspected Shadow Hills prowler captured after days-long manhunt -- An intense, days-long manhunt for a suspected serial burglar in the San Fernando Valley ended with an arrest late Wednesday, authorities said. A police K-9 captured the man, identified as 25-year-old Benjamin Renteria, in dense brush near Hansen Dam around 10:40 p.m., according to Officer Lizeth Lomeli with the Los Angeles Police Department. Hayley Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

Canadian kid arrested in eight-figure Bitcoin theft after investigation aided by South Bay tech crime team -- A Canadian youth has been arrested in connection with an eight-figure Bitcoin theft reported last year, following an FBI and Secret Service investigation aided by a tech-crime team run out of the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Robert Salonga in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/18/21

Guns  

Outgunned: The story of a woman, an abuser, and California’s failing gun control -- What happened to Calley Garay – a story that culminated this week in the Madera courthouse – is about more than one woman. It’s about California’s inability to disarm abusers, a longstanding failure that judges, advocates and law enforcement have been warning about for years. Robert Lewis CalMatters -- 11/18/21

Also . . .   

Sixty-foot waves exploded off the Pacific Coast during October’s bomb cyclone -- The bomb cyclone and atmospheric river that pummeled Northern California in late October produced exceptionally heavy rain and high winds. But it also battered the California coast with some epic ocean waves. Paul Duginski in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

San Jose to pay $750,000 to victims of the disastrous 2017 Coyote Creek flood -- Hoping to put one of the city’s worst natural disasters behind them, San Jose leaders this week quietly approved a $750,000 settlement for a group of about 240 renters and homeowners who suffered significant losses in the disastrous 2017 Coyote Creek flood. Maggie Angst in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/18/21

California Policy and Politics Thursday Morning  

77 L.A. city employees lose pay after refusing to sign notice for vaccine mandate -- Dozens of Los Angeles city employees are now going unpaid after refusing to sign notices that directed them to get COVID-19 vaccines by a December deadline — and the numbers could grow in coming weeks, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday. Emily Alpert Reyes in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

OSHA suspends large employer COVID-19 vaccine mandate --The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has suspended enforcement of its requirement that large employers nationwide ensure their workers are either vaccinated against COVID-19 or tested weekly for the virus by Jan. 4 in light of a court stay, throwing President Biden’s controversial mandate into doubt. John Woolfolk in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/18/21

Bay Area hospitals face renewed strain as COVID cases continue to rise -- Officials are concerned hospitals could be strained this winter as COVID-19 cases increase across the region ahead of Thanksgiving weekend. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

Kid vaccinations spike in San Diego, mirroring national trend -- The pace of vaccination among younger children accelerated in its second week across San Diego County, with some saying a desire for holiday travel and visiting older relatives is driving interest among many families. Paul Sisson in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/18/21

Wildfire   

Caltech grad charged with setting Fawn fire is declared mentally unfit to stand trial -- Alexandra Souverneva, 31, is accused of sparking a blaze in forest land north of Redding that injured three firefighters, destroyed 185 buildings and charred more than 8,500 acres. Nathan Solis in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

Napa was on fire. A winery’s private crew was accused of wrongdoing. The case has exposed deep tensions in California -- As the devastating Glass Fire ripped through the Napa Valley in October 2020, a state investigator made an unusual move: He ordered all the private firefighters who’d been hired by wineries and other wealthy interests in the area to pull into a dirt lot next to the St. Helena Reservoir. Someone, the investigator suspected, had intentionally ignited what is known as a “backfire.” Matthias Gafni in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

Policy and Politics  

A huge California budget surplus will test legal spending limit, analysts warn -- California lawmakers should take early action next year on how to implement the state’s constitutional spending limit, an analysts’ report recommended Wednesday, pointing out that the longstanding law will dictate how to divvy up almost all of a towering $31-billion tax surplus. John Myers in the Los Angeles Times$ Adam Beam Associated Press -- 11/18/21

2028 L.A. Olympics: Agreement outlines key issues but final price tag remains unclear -- Los Angeles officials have reached a tentative agreement with private organizers of the 2028 Summer Olympics that, while short on details, serves as a road map for the biggest issues facing the city as it inches toward hosting a sporting event that could cost $7 billion or more. David Wharton, Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

Supply Chain  

Gov. Newsom visits LA, Long Beach ports as focus shifts to supply chain fixes -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom and White House appointee John D. Porcari toured Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach terminals on Wednesday, Nov. 17, as attention shifts to a new phase in fixing the supply chain logjam — identifying the funding and projects that will be needed quickly. Donna Littlejohn in the Orange County Register in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/18/21

Workplace   

Thousands of Kaiser workers planning to picket in sympathy with striking engineers -- Days after Kaiser reached an agreement with its pharmacists to avoid a strike earlier this week, the health care giant is bracing for thousands of workers to walk off the job at its Northern California medical centers on Thursday and Friday. Emily DeRuy in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/18/21

Staying Afloat  

Santa Ana to deliver $300 pre-paid cards to 20,000 households using stimulus money -- Households in Santa Ana’s most disadvantaged communities will receive $300 in the form of pre-paid Visa cards next month as part of the city’s Revive Santa Ana stimulus program. The City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 16, unanimously agreed to the distribution of the cards, which city staff will deliver door-to-door beginning Dec. 4. Lou Ponsi in the Orange County Register -- 11/18/21

Street  

Woman who says CHP officer sexually assaulted her, followed her home to get $4.5 million -- She was a passenger in a Ford Expedition on the Santa Ana Freeway when California Highway Patrol Officer Xavier Aguirre pulled the vehicle over and cited the driver for driving without a license. That’s when the 47-year-old mother of three claims the nightmare began. Richard Winton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

Son of Black man killed by California police settles lawsuit -- The child of a Black man who was fatally shot by Southern California police in 2018 — and whose death spurred lawmakers to enact a state law that decertifies officers who act criminally or with bias — has settled a federal lawsuit with the city of Gardena for $1.3 million, according to an attorney for the man’s son. Stefanie Dazio Associated Press -- 11/18/21

What to know about the safe injection site that could open in San Francisco -- Critics argue injection sites encourage drug use and foster crime in surrounding neighborhood. Proponents cite research saying that injection sites can reduce overdoses and risky behavior and limit drug use in public spaces. Amy Graff in the San Francisco Chronicle -- 11/18/21

Retired Oakland police captain released from hospital nearly a month after gas station shootout -- Ersie Joyner had been in critical condition on Oct. 21 after fatally shooting one of three assailants who ambushed and robbed him as he pumped gas at a downtown gas station. Joyner was shot himself during the incident and underwent surgery at Highland Hospital. Sarah Ravani in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

Housing  

Here’s how much S.F. supervisors want to spend to help buy buildings to protect renters -- As San Francisco struggles with its affordable housing crisis, a majority of the Board of Supervisors wants to spend big on one way to keep residents at risk of displacement housed. Mallory Moench in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

Investors nab record slice of US home market. Here’s what they’re doing in Sacramento -- Investment buyers purchased 56.3% more homes in the Sacramento area compared to last year, according to a new real estate report from real estate brokerage Redfin. Mila Jasper in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/18/21

Education  

$20 billion more projected in early forecast for 2022-23 funding for K-14 schools -- In what usually is an accurate annual preview of the governor’s state budget released in early January, the state Legislative Analyst’s Office is projecting a double-digit increase in billions of dollars and percentages in 2022-23 in education funding under Proposition 98. That’s the formula that determines the minimum funding allocation for K-14 schools. John Fensterwald EdSource -- 11/18/21

UC Davis quietly added caste to its anti-discrimination policy. Will it cause others to do the same? -- For J. Kaur, a UC Davis senior of Indian descent, it started with insulting memes casually dropped into her group chats. For one of her schoolmates, it was overhearing South Asian students ask each other what caste they belonged to before picking roommates. Shwanika Narayan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

S.F. schools see $123 million windfall after final ruling in tax case as district faces big shortfall -- San Francisco schools will get $123.4 million collected from property owners that has been frozen for three years while the state’s courts decided whether the parcel tax was legally authorized by voters. Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21

Critical role of UC lecturers affirmed as strike is averted, tentative agreement reached -- The critical role played by University of California lecturers was affirmed Wednesday in a tentative labor agreement that averted a massive strike and widespread class cancellations — instead sparking jubilation over what the union called the ‘best contract’ in its history. Colleen Shalby, Teresa Watanabe in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

Northern California teacher accidentally sent boss a video that put him in jail -- A former high school drama teacher who accidentally sent his boss a video of partially clad students was sentenced to 364 days in El Dorado County jail. Ryan Pullen, 38, who taught at Union Mine High School in the Sierra foothills community of El Dorado, pleaded guilty last month to felony possession of child pornography and misdemeanor child abuse. He was sentenced on Monday. The item is in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/18/21

California school district responds to ‘F--- Biden’ flag: ‘A very poor choice’ -- Paso Robles High School students’ efforts to honor veterans were “disrupted by a very poor choice to include a profane flag,” the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District said in a news release Wednesday. MacKenzie Shuman in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/18/21

Long Beach City College offers students safety while sleeping in their cars -- Every night, some college students attending Long Beach City College drive their vehicles into the on-campus parking ramp where they will spend the night. Once they find their assigned parking spot, they check in with the private security guard hired by the college before settling in for the night. Betty Márquez Rosales and Bella Arnold EdSource -- 11/18/21

Climate  

Should California make solar more expensive? Inside the climate justice battle -- The average home served by Southern California Edison can make back its solar investment in five years, according to an analysis by consulting firm E3. Under the utility industry’s proposed changes to net metering, that would grow to 17 years for new solar adopters served by Edison and 21 years for those served by Pacific Gas & Electric — making solar a tougher financial lift. Sammy Roth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

State addresses urgency to prepare roads, water systems for rising sea -- The 230-page document sets a controversial benchmark by urging communities to prepare for the Pacific Ocean to rise 10 feet by 2100, a projection so far beyond current calculations that climate scientists haven’t yet determined the probability of it occurring. Martin Wisckol in the Orange County Register -- 11/18/21

Environment  

San Diego’s Landfills Are Leaking Planet-Warming Methane -- Data from the San Diego Air Pollution Control District show landfills operated by local government and private operators have been emitting methane for years from leaky wells, tanks and hatches and improperly burning off the gas called flaring. MacKenzie Elmer Voiceofsandiego.org -- 11/18/21

After record low, monarch butterflies return to California -- The number wintering along California’s central coast is bouncing back after the population, whose presence is often a good indicator of ecosystem health, reached an all-time low last year. Haven Daley and Olga R. Rodriguez Associated Press -- 11/18/21

Also . . .   

‘Blasphemy’: Some ßAngelenos grouse, others rejoice at Staples Center’s new name -- Hugo Garcia had to check his phone Wednesday morning to believe it was real. The Staples Center will soon be called Crypto.com Arena, after naming rights went to the highest bidder — reportedly for more than $700 million. Lila Seidman in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/18/21

Why you might want to start your holiday shopping right now in the Bay Area -- That’s because inventories are lagging, while demand is way up — so much that Amanda and Richard Weld, the owners of toy shop Tantrum in San Francisco’s Inner Richmond neighborhood, rented an extra storage unit to hold their inventory. Gwendolyn Wu in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/18/21