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With hospitals full, Central California pleading to send COVID-19 patients to L.A. -- The COVID-19 surge still affecting Central California is so dire that health officials are pleading with state officials to make it easier to transfer hospital patients to areas like Los Angeles County. Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/23/21

Troubled state COVID-19 lab escapes sanctions despite reports of muddled test results -- State inspections at the Valencia lab conclude deficiencies found in earlier investigation and reported by whistleblowers have been resolved. Tony Saavedra in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 11/23/21

Hiring shortages and COVID complicate schools’ year of recovery -- This was supposed to be a recovery year for schools and for students. But it doesn’t always feel like it for Jennifer Davis, who teaches seventh-graders at the Language Academy near San Diego State University. Kristen Taketa in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/23/21

Biden administration asks court to allow vaccine mandate -- The Biden administration on Tuesday asked a federal court to let it move ahead with a workplace rule that would require employees at larger companies to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or face weekly testing. Geoff Mulvihill Associated Press -- 11/23/21

Wildfire   

Thanksgiving sides include Santa Ana winds, fire danger and potential power shutoffs -- Santa Ana winds are expected to howl across the Southland on Thanksgiving, delivering the potential for critical fire weather conditions and power shutoffs just as people gather for their holiday meals. Hayley Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/23/21

Wildfires will affect California Christmas tree business for years — and it’ll cost you -- The real Christmas tree harvest was impacted by wildfires, floods and extreme weather in Oregon, which is the number one producer of Christmas trees in the nation and where many West Coast sellers buy their trees. As a result, the season is expected to have a limited number of trees at a higher cost. Brianna Taylor in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/23/21

Policy and Politics  

In historic vote, O.C. supervisors approve majority-Latino district for five-member board -- In a historic vote, the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Monday created a majority-Latino district for the first time while also giving power to Asian voters. Hannah Fry in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/23/21

Will California become an abortion hub? How a Supreme Court decision could affect the state -- People in California seeking abortions would still be able to get them if the Supreme Court, which will likely release its decision on the Mississippi case in June, overturns Roe v. Wade. Gillian Brassil in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/23/21

Fresno State College Republicans host speaker connected to white nationalist movement -- The Fresno State College Republicans group recently hosted a digital event with Tyler Russell, a Canadian nationalist with reported ties to American white nationalist movements. Russell is the host of Canada First, a live-stream broadcast. Ashleigh Panoo in the Fresno Bee$ -- 11/23/21

Street  

A new breed of brazen takeover robbers hitting California luxury retailers, raising ire -- The mayhem began Friday night, when thieves smashed a Louis Vuitton storefront window in San Francisco’s Union Square and ransacked the store. Criminals also targeted about a dozen nearby stores for theft and vandalism, police said, including a Burberry and Hermes store, as well as an eyeglass shop and cannabis dispensaries. Richard Winton, Christopher Goffard in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/23/21

3 arrested after brazen smash-and-grab attempt at Nordstrom at the Grove -- Three people were arrested early Tuesday after thieves broke into a Nordstrom department store at the Grove mall late Monday, smashing one window. Rick Caruso, the developer behind the Grove, confirmed there was a break-in at the Nordstrom but no entry was made to the Grove. Gregory Yee, Richard Winton, Christian Martinez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/23/21

Oakland reels from weekend violence as chief asks for help: ‘There is a clear problem in this city’ -- Oakland’s debate over how to address violent crime was reignited Monday as the city reeled from a slew of incidents over the weekend, including officers shooting and killing an armed carjacking suspect in Rockridge. Mallory Moench in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/23/21

How a high-living thief reaped millions from a Coachella resort she never built -- Serena Shi’s taste for luxury seemed insatiable. She spent $133,000 on clothes at Valentino. Her two Mercedes-Benzes — a sports car and an SUV — cost $294,000. Michael Finnegan in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/23/21

Gas  

San Diego gas prices keep going up as Thanksgiving nears -- Gasoline prices in the San Diego area are keeping their stubborn march upward, with The Automobile Club of Southern California reporting that the price for a gallon of regular at local stations on Monday averaged $4.66, which is just six cents shy of the all-time record. Rob Nikolewski in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/23/21

Climate  

Citing climate risks, California is denying fracking permits in droves -- Oil companies that blast water and chemicals into the earth to extract fossil fuels are having trouble getting new permits for their California operations even sooner than expected. Dustin Gardiner, J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/23/21

Energy  

Another energy storage plant in SLO County? This Canadian company is eager to build -- A massive new energy storage project could be coming to San Luis Obispo County to harness unused power and then send it back out to the grid when it’s needed most. MacKenzie Shuman San Luis Obispo Tribune -- 11/23/21

Cannabis  

As California prepares to raise marijuana tax, a cannabis entrepreneur calls for tax revolt -- Fresh off of news that California is set to raise the cannabis cultivation tax despite projections of a $31 billion surplus, one marijuana entrepreneur is calling for a potential tax revolt this summer. Andrew Sheeler in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/23/21

Education  

Most California college students who qualify for ‘food stamps’ aren’t using them -- Cheyann Wakefield was frustrated the first time she tried to apply for CalFresh, the social service formerly known as food stamps. The Fresno City College student was denied when she tried applying while attending college less than half time. Then she reapplied while working 36 hours and attending college and was only eligible for $20. Ashleigh Panoo in the Fresno Bee$ -- 11/23/21

California Policy and Politics Tuesday Morning  

About 44,000 LAUSD students miss first vaccine deadline and risk losing in-person classes -- About 80% of students in the Los Angeles Unified School District are on track to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, school district officials announced Monday, raising concerns about the potential for thousands of students to be displaced from in-person classes for the start of the spring semester on Jan. 10. Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/23/21 ..

California sees welcome dip in COVID-19 heading into holidays -- After a worrisome upward trend last month, Bay Area counties have seen COVID-19 transmission rates decline and the state overall is seeing hopeful signs of improvement heading into the holidays — even as outbreaks worsen across much of the country. John Woolfolk in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/23/21

Scripps Ranch High student asks appeals court for injunction against vaccine mandate -- A 16-year-old Scripps Ranch High School student and her parents who sued to block the San Diego Unified School District's COVID-19 vaccine mandate are asking an appeals court to issue an injunction blocking the requirement by next Monday when students will need to have taken their first vaccine dose. KPBS -- 11/23/21

Federal judge rejects California’s bid to postpone vaccination of prison staff -- With COVID-19 already having taken the lives of nearly 300 California inmates and prison staff, a federal judge has ordered all prison employees to be vaccinated by Jan. 12, and criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom and the prison guards’ union for seeking to postpone his order. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/23/21

Most Federal Workers Complied With Covid-19 Vaccine Mandate, White House Says -- About 95% of federal employees will have received their first Covid-19 vaccination shot or have a pending or approved exception by the end of Monday, the deadline set by President Biden for federal employees to get vaccinated, according to a senior administration official. Tarini Parti in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 11/23/21

PG&E   

California cites PG&E $7.5 million because of power line inspection failures -- Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was ordered Monday to pay California $7.5 million because state officials identified two safety problems in the company’s inspections of its power equipment. J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/23/21

Newsom picks new top regulator for PG&E, other California utilities -- Alice Reynolds, Newsom’s senior advisor for energy since 2019, will be the next president of the California Public Utilities Commission starting Dec. 31., the governor’s office announced in a news release. J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/23/21

Policy and Politics  

Accusations against a California campaign finance watchdog went undisclosed for months -- A campaign finance investigation against a top official at California’s political watchdog agency sat in limbo and hidden from public view for months, raising questions about whether the government organization holds its own members to the same standard as candidates and campaigns across the state. John Myers in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/23/21

OC supervisors reconfigure voting districts for next decade -- New Orange County supervisor districts will soon be in place for the next decade, creating a first-ever Latino majority district, splitting up inland and coastal south county communities and likely setting up competitive races for at least two of the five board seats next year. Alicia Robinson in the Orange County Register -- 11/23/21

Hillary Clinton honors former congresswoman Ellen Tauscher at Caldecott Tunnel naming event -- Speaking to a crowd at the Blackhawk Country Club on Monday, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton quoted German sociologist Max Weber to describe the work ethic of her friend, the late Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher. Annie Sciacca in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 11/23/21

100 places in California carry this derogatory name. Now, they may all have to be renamed -- A new federal order to remove the word “squaw” from the names of public lands across the U.S. could have significant ramifications in California, where an estimated 100-plus places carry the derogatory name. Gregory Thomas in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/23/21

Walters: Will high-income Californians get a big tax break? -- The House has passed President Joe Biden’s $1.85 trillion social policy package but it faces a tough slog in the evenly divided Senate. Dan Walters CalMatters -- 11/23/21

Street  

Gavin Newsom blasts recent retail thefts, vows to up funding for police, prosecution -- Gov. Gavin Newsom called a spate of retail thefts over the weekend “unacceptable” and said he would increase money for cities to address them in next year’s budget. Sophia Bollag in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/23/21

Bay Area’s ‘wild weekend’ of retail crime underscores huge challenges for law enforcement -- The rash of mass retail thefts over the weekend in the Bay Area represents a new paradigm of crime — carefully orchestrated, entrepreneurial and apparently driven by social media — that has created formidable challenges for law enforcement. Rachel Swan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/23/21

California officials release long-awaited report on troubled state testing lab -- After investigating its own COVID-19 testing lab for much of the year, the California Department of Public Health closed its case without issuing sanctions as the state released a long-overdue report Monday that downplayed widespread issues identified during inspections at the Valencia Branch Laboratory. Melody Gutierrez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/23/21

Fatal shooting of Pasadena boy prompts call for more policing as mourners gather at vigil -- Two days after a bullet careened through the bedroom window of a 13-year-old Pasadena boy and killed him while he was playing video games, officials gathered outside City Hall to address the tragedy as well as emerging patterns of gun violence affecting the city. Brittny Mejia in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/23/21

CalFresh  

Thousands wait too long for food because of LA County’s delayed CalFresh benefits, advocates allege -- A coalition of Los Angeles-area anti-poverty and food-aid groups filed a lawsuit against the county on Monday, Nov. 22, alleging that officials have dragged their feet in processing emergency applications for government food assistance for thousands of people in urgent need of a meal. Ryan Carter in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 11/23/21

Education  

Southern California schools rethink Thanksgiving lessons -- A viral video that showed a math teacher hopping around her classroom in a mock Native American headdress spread outrage not just in Southern California, but across the country. Deepa Bharath in the Orange County Register -- 11/23/21

What’s it like to study from a hotel? As UC housing crunch worsens, these students are finding out -- At least four UC campuses have resorted to hotels to house students this fall. The option provided temporary relief to hundreds of students. But the financial support campuses offered varied. And for many students, finding more permanent, affordable housing remains elusive, even as the end of fall quarter nears. Ryan Loyola and Sindhu Ananthavel CalMatters -- 11/23/21

Benefits of early math experiences add up -- While literacy is often seen as a cornerstone to scholastic achievement, and many parents devote a lot of time and energy into nurturing their small child’s love of reading, studies show that mathematical reasoning ability may be even more crucial as a building block for success in school and beyond. That’s why experts say more attention should be paid to early numeracy in childhood. Karen D'Souza EdSource -- 11/23/21

Also . . .   

Downtown flood shows why San Diego is scrambling to replace crumbling water pipelines -- The city of San Diego has been replacing its aging cast-iron water pipes with PVC, a process scheduled for completion by 2025. Joshua Emerson Smith in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/23/21

California announces continued delay to Bay Area Dungeness crab season to protect whales -- State rules that protect the marine animals from entanglement in fishing gear triggered the delays, which will push the season well past its traditional Thanksgiving debut. Tara Duggan in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/23/21