Web Version [link removed] | Update Preferences [link removed] CBRT in the News California's Powerful, But Obscure, Answer To The COVID Jobs Crisis

We can bring jobs back to California, and we can do it right now. The latest employment numbers should provide the sense of urgency. An additional 287,354 new unemployment insurance claims were filed just for the week ending June 20, bringing the total to more than 6.7 million claims filed in California since mid-March, and $33.5 billion in unemployment benefits paid. Our California economy is now surviving in good part on unemployment insurance payments.

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The state legislature must also provide employers who follow the safety protocols with greater protection against COVID-19 lawsuits. Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, recently highlighted liability protection as one of the top priorities of his members in hastening the recovery: “Statewide, businesses, large and small, will be able to move more quickly as they can confidently follow safety protocols and not operate in fear of lawsuits.”

A pragmatic approach on liability should inform a third strategy—simplifying the rules for reopening and recognizing the tradeoffs and risks involved. The major California counties started lifting their economic lockdowns a few weeks ago, but in a hesitant manner and accompanied by complex rules that were nearly impossible to understand. Most businesses chose not to fully reopen. Things got even more complicated this week, as the state ordered retreats from reopening in 19 counties, in response to the increased rates of infections.

Read More [[link removed]] Wineries Alerted To Proposed Property Tax Changes

Wineries and farming enterprises already hit hard by COVID-19 restrictions are facing another financial threat from the proposed Split-Roll Property Tax Measure set for the November 2020 statewide ballot.

The proposed property tax is known as a “split-roll tax” because it splits the property tax roll, assessing business property differently than residential property.

The California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) hosted a webinar on Wednesday, June 24, to explain the ballot measure to members of the winegrowing industry. Winery owners and farmers are concerned the split-roll measure would remove Proposition 13 property tax protections and trigger annual property reassessments at market value for agriculture-related fixtures and improvements, including structures, wineries and vineyards.

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Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable and another webinar participant, said it is important to include the agriculture community in the campaign against the split-roll tax.

“The ag community’s voice is important,” Lapsley said. “The proponents thought they could neutralize your voice. We want others to come on board, too, to get endorsements and to get funding.”

Read More [[link removed]] Court Upholds S.F.'s Prop. C Homelessness Funds

A 2018 ballot measure that raised business taxes to fund homelessness services was allowed to pass with a simple-majority vote, a California appellate court ruled on Tuesday.

Arguments centered around Proposition C, which passed in November 2018 with about 61% of the vote. The measure taxes the city’s biggest corporations to raise money for homelessness and mental health services by imposing an average of 0.5% in gross receipts tax on corporate revenue above $50 million, which would include between 300 and 400 of the city’s largest players.

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Three business-related groups — the California Business Roundtable, the California Business Properties Association and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association — originally joined forces last year to try to invalidate Prop C. They together filed court documents arguing that the passage of Prop. C violated the state Constitution because it only passed with a simple majority vote.

Read More [[link removed]] VMT Opponents Say Plan Is Tax On Car-Driving Commuters

A coalition of 30 business and industry associations have asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to delay a controversial plan affecting new development for one year.

Among the groups: the Southern California Leadership Council, LA County Economic Development Corp., California Business Roundtable, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and California Building Industry Association.

The Building Industry Association of Southern California produced a YouTube video (below) and sent it to Newsom. A source tells GV Wire℠ the governor’s office received the video and called the California Building Industry Association. It’s not known what was discussed.

The SoCal BIA video says that VMT, in effect, will be a tax on new home buyers who commute in cars.

Read More [[link removed]] Don't Plan On Big 4th Of July Plans

The budget agreement Newsom struck with lawmakers calls for passing a new law ensuring more workers can regain their jobs after taking paid family leave, marking the second year in a row the governor has used budget negotiations to push a “parents’ agenda” developed in conjunction with his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom and Chief of Staff Ann O’Leary, CalMatters’ Laurel Rosenhall reports.

The proposed law would require companies with at least five employees to protect the jobs of workers who take family leave to bond with a baby or care for a sick family member. It’s opposed by many business groups, who say it will further burden employers already hamstrung by the pandemic. But for millions of workers paying into a system they could be fired for using, it’s a step in the right direction.

Stark differences in unemployment between Los Angeles, Bay Area

Los Angeles County contains eight of the 10 California congressional districts with the highest unemployment rates, while the Bay Area boasts the five districts with the lowest unemployment rates, according to a new report from the California Center for Jobs and the Economy. The gap is largely due to the dominance of the tech sector in the Bay Area and of low-wage hospitality and service jobs in Los Angeles. In just another indication of how the pandemic has unequally ravaged communities, each of the six California congressional districts with the highest unemployment rates have Black and Latino populations of about 70% or more.

Read More [[link removed]] Bay Area vs. Los Angeles: Unemployment Hitting Hardest In Southern California

The lowest unemployment rates in California are in five Bay Area congressional districts, while eight of the 10 hardest-hit districts are in Los Angeles County, evidence that the coronavirus is treating regions of the state very differently.

Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo’s Palo Alto-area district had a 9.3% unemployment rate in May, according to a new report by the nonpartisan Center for Jobs and the Economy. Hers is the only one of California’s 53 congressional districts that showed a single-digit jobless mark.

Every one of the Bay Area’s 10 congressional districts was under the state’s 16.3% average.

The Bay Area, with its wealth of high-paying tech jobs, has long led the state in employment. In February, before the coronavirus began shutting down large parts of the California economy, the state’s jobless rate was 3.9%, but Alameda, San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma and Santa Clara counties were all at or below 3%.

Read More [[link removed]] Business Climate and Job Creation U.S. Stocks Close Lower As Jobless Claims Remain Elevated

The S&P 500 dropped Thursday as investors continued to back away from bets on a smooth reopening from the coronavirus shutdowns.

Fresh data showed that initial unemployment claims in the U.S. remain elevated, and the number of confirmed new Covid-19 cases in the U.S. hit a new single-day high Wednesday.

The broad U.S. stock index pulled back, dropping 17.89 points, or 0.6%, to 3152.05. Only its consumer discretionary and technology sectors gained ground. The index has surged more than 40% from its March low.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 361.19 points, or 1.4%, to 25706.09, dragged down by broad losses among the blue chips.

“I think the resurgence in the Covid-19 positive cases certainly makes the markets worried,” said Feifei Li, head of equities at Research Affiliates. “They are concerned about the potential second round of lockdown.”

Read More [[link removed]] U.S. Initial Unemployment Claims Edged Lower In Latest Week

New applications for unemployment benefits edged down last week and the number receiving payments fell to the lowest level since mid-April, signs the labor market is healing and so far not significantly affected by a rising number of Covid-19 cases in several states.

Initial unemployment claims fell by a seasonally adjusted 99,000 to 1.3 million for the week ended July 4, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That extends a trend of gradual declines from a peak of 6.9 million in mid-March, when the coronavirus pandemic and mandated business closures shut down swaths of the U.S. economy. Still, last week’s level was well above the highest week on record before this year, which was 695,000 in 1982.

The number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits fell by nearly 700,000 to 18.1 million for the week ended June 27, the lowest reading since the week ended April 18. Those so-called continuing claims are reported with a week lag. The modest easing of the number of unemployment rolls suggests new layoffs are being offset by hiring and recalling of workers.

Read More [[link removed]] California Jobless Claims Drop For Two Weeks In A Row

Despite widespread business shutdowns and cutbacks during the coronavirus pandemic, California’s battered job market showed signs of improvement with a decrease in first-time claims for unemployment, federal labor officials reported Thursday.

An estimated 267,100 California workers filed initial claims for jobless benefits last week, down about 10,000 from the week before, according to a new report by the U.S. Labor Department.

The decrease in claims filed in California over two consecutive weeks marked the first time that’s happened in about two months.

Yet it appears that California’s job woes are far from over.

Read More [[link removed]] New Coronavirus Surges Slow Economic Recovery

The nation’s fledgling economic recovery is losing momentum, as a new wave of coronavirus infections causes businesses to scale back or reshutter in several big states and consumers to retreat anew.

Restaurant seating rates have fallen of late in Florida, California, Arizona and Texas. Foot traffic to businesses has ebbed in some states since late June. Google searches for “file for unemployment” in Arizona and Florida are rising.

The new economic disruptions are concentrated in the three most populous states—California, Texas and Florida—and Arizona, all of which have seen a rise in infections in recent weeks. Together, those states make up about 30% of all U.S. economic output, according to Moody’s Analytics. State and city leaders have imposed new restrictions on businesses to prevent further spread, though many consumers had already voluntarily stopped going out, according to foot-traffic data.

Read More [[link removed]] Behind New Covid-19 Outbreaks: America’s Patchwork of Policies

The rising tide of coronavirus cases in the U.S. South and West, coming four months into the outbreak, emerged amid a patchwork of often confusing or conflicting rules across government that have proved inconsistent and often difficult to enforce, making the pandemic harder to halt.

With the federal government handing off many decisions over reopening, the states have been the primary drivers behind moves with the most impact on the coronavirus’s spread. States, in turn, have often given responsibility for many of those decisions to counties, cities and businesses.

The result is a dizzying mix of rules and guidelines that can differ widely from one region to the next. It is a reflection of the American system of governance that limits federal power and distributes power across states and localities, but to health officials it is an ineffective way to manage a pandemic.

Read More [[link removed]] Strong U.S. Recovery Depends On Effective Covid-19 Response

A strong economic recovery depends on effective and sustained containment of Covid-19, economists said in a new Wall Street Journal survey, as the U.S. surpassed 3 million confirmed coronavirus cases.

The latest monthly survey by The Wall Street Journal found that 91% of business and academic economists agreed “somewhat” or “strongly” that economic recovery depends on containing the virus.

“A virus resurgence will push consumer spending back into hibernation,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West.

Federal Reserve officials, including Chairman Jerome Powell, have voiced similar views in recent days.

“It is not possible to fully reopen the economy until this coronavirus no longer poses a threat to public health,” said Bernard Baumohl, chief global economist at the Economic Outlook Group.

Read More [[link removed]] 1.3 Million Americans--A Fifth Of Them In California--Join Ranks Of Jobless

The coronavirus pandemic’s economic toll continues to be unrelenting as businesses nationwide experience stop-and-start reopening. For the 16th straight week, the number of Americans seeking new unemployment benefits topped 1 million, according to government figures released Thursday.

A total of 1.3 million newly jobless people applied for unemployment during the week ended July 4, the U.S. Department of Labor said. That brought the four-month total to 50 million claims for benefits. In addition, just over 1 million freelancers, gig workers and self-employed people applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a new program created for those excluded from traditional unemployment.

California saw 267,123 new unemployment claims for the week, a second week of declining numbers.

Read More [[link removed]] Mnuchin Expects New Stimulus Deal By End of July

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday the Trump administration is working with the Senate to pass a new bill for coronavirus-related economic aid by the end of July, as enhanced unemployment benefits near expiration.

Mr. Mnuchin said the administration supports a second round of economic impact payments to households, an extension of enhanced unemployment benefits for furloughed workers and a “much, much more targeted” version of the Paycheck Protection Program of forgivable loans for small businesses.

“I had a very productive call with [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell yesterday,” Mr. Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC. “As soon as the Senate gets back, we’re going to sit down on a bipartisan basis with the Republicans and the Democrats, and it will be our priority to make sure between the 20th and the end of the month that we pass the next legislation.”

Read More [[link removed]] Fed’s $600 Billion Lending Program Will See More Interest Uf Economy Slumps, Official Says

The Federal Reserve’s $600 billion lending program for medium-size businesses hasn’t attracted much interest yet, but that is likely to change if the U.S. economy takes a turn for the worse amid rising coronavirus cases, said the official who runs the program.

“The likelihood that we continue to have serious problems with the infections means that businesses are likely to be disrupted for a longer period of time,” Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said in an interview Wednesday. “So there’s an insurance element against the pandemic, as well as meeting an immediate need of some borrowers.”

The Main Street Lending Program aims to lend to companies contending with the economic fallout from the pandemic, but it has struggled to get off the ground since it was announced in April. Its rollout was held up by negotiations over terms, while bankers have expressed skepticism that many borrowers that need help will be eligible to access the loans.

Read More [[link removed]] Tyson Turns To Robot Butchers, Spurred By Coronavirus Outbreaks

Deboning livestock and slicing up chickens has long been hands-on labor. Low-paid workers using knives and saws work on carcasses moving steadily down production lines. It is labor-intensive and dangerous work.

Those factory floors have been especially conducive to spreading coronavirus. In April and May, more than 17,300 meat and poultry processing workers in 29 states were infected and 91 died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Plant shutdowns reduced U.S. beef and pork production by more than one-third in late April.

Meatpackers in response spent hundreds of millions of dollars on safety equipment such as personal protective gear, thermal scanners and workplace partitions, and they boosted workers’ pay to encourage them to stay on the job.

Read More [[link removed]] L.A. Could Reimpose State-At-Home Order If Coronavirus Spike Continues, Mayor Warns

Los Angeles residents could again be ordered to stay home to stem the spread of the coronavirus should infections and hospitalizations continue to climb, Mayor Eric Garcetti warned Wednesday.

The potential return of the kind of strict restrictions that kept Angelenos indoors and effectively shuttered wide swaths of the region’s economy is yet another indicator of what elected and health officials have maintained for weeks: that the threat of COVID-19 remains real, and trend lines are heading in the wrong direction.

As Garcetti put it: “COVID-19 hasn’t gone away. In fact, it’s gotten worse.”

“We know so much more about this disease today than we did in March when it first hit us, and that means we can make targeted interventions to stop the spread of this novel coronavirus,” he said during an evening briefing. “But making sure we don’t have to go farther and close more businesses requires an individual commitment of each and every one of us.”

Read More [[link removed]] Chaos In Unemployment Insurance

Long before the COVID-19 shredded California’s economy, the state’s unemployment insurance program was deeply troubled.

Thanks to a decades-long political stalemate, the unemployment system, managed by the Employment Development Department (EDD), had scant reserves to handle a recession. The unemployment fund had been sharply depleted during the Great Recession and EDD officials had warned for years that the fund was deficient, but nothing was done.

Moreover, the Great Recession had exposed serious flaws in EDD’s outdated computer system, and while promises were made to upgrade it, little had been done when COVID-19 struck and hundreds of thousands — eventually millions — of laid-off workers applied for benefits.

During the first three months of the partial economic shutdown ordered by Gov. Gavin Newsom in March, “one in four Californian workers has filed (an unemployment) claim…reaching levels of the Great Depression,” according to a June study by the California Policy Laboratory, a multi-university think tank.

Read More [[link removed]] What To Know About California’s ‘Dimmer Switch’ Reopening

We all know California had the nation’s first stay-at-home orders, and officials have emphasized pre-emptive efforts to expand hospital capacity that have largely allowed communities in the state to sidestep the horrific effects of the coronavirus that have played out elsewhere.

And yet, here we are, hurtling toward a holiday weekend, with case counts that are threatening to surge out of control, increasing hospitalizations and an antsy population navigating a constantly changing patchwork of restrictions.

More than 7,000 new cases were announced across the state on Monday — the highest single-day total of the pandemic.

Read More [[link removed]] Riskier Bet: Why CalPERS, The Country's Largest Pension Fund, Is Getting Into Banking

Retired DMV clerks, former firefighters and aging government bean-counters across California, put on your three piece suits: You might be getting into the banking business.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which manages a nearly $400 billion basket of nest eggs for retired public workers across the state, is wading into the rollicking market for private debt.

It used to be that lending directly to small and medium-sized companies not traded on public stock exchanges was the business of big banks. But after the financial crisis of 2008, those traditional lenders were forced to park their money into less risky ventures. And that left behind a financial vacuum into which “shadow bankers” such as private equity financiers have been rushing ever since.

Now CalPERS, the nation’s largest pension fund, wants in on the action.

Read More [[link removed]] Energy and Climate Change California Regulators Consider Proposal To Incorporate Climate Planning Into Utility Rate Cases

There are three broad ways in which climate risks impact utility services, according to Chhabra: production, consumption and transmission and distribution infrastructure. Renewables are weather-dependent energy sources, so climate change could affect how energy is produced — for instance, changing rain patterns can affect hydroelectric supply — and increasing temperatures could lead to higher energy consumption for cooling needs.

Transmission and distribution infrastructure also faces its fair share of risk — hotter, drier climate increases the odds of wildfires, for instance, and coastal facilities can be vulnerable to sea level rise.

In 2018, the CPUC opened a docket to take a deeper look at how utilities should prepare for the operational risks they will face due to climate change.

Read More [[link removed]] With New Permits, Newsom Ramps Up Fracking In California

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s oil and gas regulatory agency has approved 12 new permits for Chevron to conduct hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the Lost Hills Oil Field in Kern County.

The authorizations — issued late Thursday afternoon, just before the holiday weekend — will allow Chevron to frack these wells 168 times.

“It’s outrageous that Gov. Newsom is handing out fracking permits during a pandemic that disproportionately harms polluted communities,” said Hollin Kretzmann, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The governor needs to stop recklessly approving fracking and new oil and gas drilling. Instead of restarting fracking in areas already suffering from dirty air, Newsom should direct oil companies to start plugging these dangerous wells to create jobs and move us away from polluting fossil fuels.”

Newsom ended a moratorium on fracking permits in April when the California Geologic Energy Management Division approved 24 new permits for Aera Energy LLC. Including Chevron’s new permits, Newsom has now granted a total of 48 fracking permits since ending the moratorium.

Read More [[link removed]] California Megadrought? Not If You Look At Precipitation

If you want to know what climate change means for California’s water supply, consider the last two Februaries.

In 126 years of statewide record-keeping, you can’t find a drier February than the one we just experienced. But February 2019 was the third-wettest on record.

The extremes underscore how global warming is exaggerating the year-to-year swings in California precipitation, which is naturally the most variable in the country.

But surprisingly, the dramatic ups and downs even out. Average precipitation is not declining.

Michael Anderson, the state climatologist, points out that despite periods of withering drought in the last two decades, precipitation in the northern Sierra Nevada — a key water source for the state — hasn’t changed.

Read More [[link removed]] Clean Energy Fuels Partners With Chevron On Southern California Port Trucks Program

Energy giant Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and natural-gas fueling station operator Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ:CLNE) have announced a new initiative to supply truck operators serving the California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach with renewable natural gas (RNG).

The plan, called Adopt-a-Port, seeks to reduce emissions related to port traffic by offering truck operators a carbon-negative fuel source near the ports. Clean Energy Fuels will operate the program, while Chevron will supply the RNG to the fueling stations, and provide funding to help subsidize new RNG-powered truck purchases. Clean Energy Fuels currently operates more than 530 natural-gas fueling stations in the U.S. and Canada.

Greg Roche, vice president of Clean Energy, said, "Switching trucks to fuel with RNG is vital to improving air quality and fighting climate change in our country's largest port complex." The ports currently have a Clean Trucks Program and Clean Air Action Plan, which this initiative supports.

Read More [[link removed]] Big Oil Asks Ninth Circuit To Rethink California Climate Case

Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., and other oil giants are calling on federal judges to rethink their recent revival of efforts to make the industry pay for the impacts of climate change.

Company lawyers say a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit “overlooked or misapprehended several key issues” when it gave new life to lawsuits from San Francisco and Oakland that a district court had previously dismissed.

The filing asks for a rehearing before the panel, or before a larger slate of 11 judges.

Read More [[link removed]] Workforce Development Gov. Newsom Names Three Board Members To California's State Board Of Education

An education leader of the Yurok Tribe, the chief academic officer of Riverside County and a bilingual teacher in El Centro in Imperial County are three new members of the State Board of Education.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced their appointments on Monday, and they took their seats on the board at its bimonthly meeting on Wednesday. The three fill the remaining vacancies on the 11-member board, although Brenna Pangelinan, the student board member, completed her one-year term this week.

Cynthia Glover Woods has been the chief academic officer at the Riverside County Office of Education since 2016, where she leads the office’s focus on supporting equitable learning environments, student achievement and post-secondary readiness. She was an elementary school principal, language arts curriculum specialist, and teacher in Compton Unified. She was also assistant superintendent, director of elementary education, coordinator of professional development, and elementary principal in Alford Unified in Riverside County.

Read More [[link removed]] Michael Drake Will Be The First Black President In U.C. System’s 152-Year History

The University of California Board of Regents has made by history naming Dr. Michael Drake as the 21st president of the UC system. He was unanimously approved by the board and will be the first person of color to hold the position in the system’s 152-year history.

He recently stepped down as president of The Ohio State University, a position he’s held since 2014.

Drake will replace outgoing UC President Janet Napolitano. Drake, a physician, received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a medical degree in ophthalmology from UC San Francisco before his career in academia.

“Stepping down as president of the University of California is bittersweet, especially after seven wonderful, dynamic years, but I depart knowing Dr. Michael Drake will lead with experience and integrity, with the critical support and guidance of the UC Board of Regents,” Napolitano said in a statement.

Drake also served as chancellor of the University of California, Irvine from 2005 to 2014. Before that, he was the UC system’s vice president for health affairs for five years.

Read More [[link removed]] Schools May Return To 100% Distance Learning

To the millions of exhausted and frustrated parents out there, I apologize for the news I’m about to share: Some school districts may return to 100% distance learning this fall as California’s coronavirus surge pushes them to rethink their reopening plans.

Los Angeles Unified district superintendents were instructed Tuesday to prepare plans for 100% distance learning. San Francisco Unified will likely offer in-person learning only to the neediest students at first. One San Jose district also plans to start the year with most students in distance learning.

The California Teachers’ Association on Wednesday put its foot down on the issue in a sharply worded letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and top lawmakers.

Read More [[link removed]] Survey: Current And Incoming California College Students Report Worry Over Finances, Online Classes

Current and incoming California college students report heightened financial distress and concern over online classes since the start of the pandemic.

In a California Student Aid Commission and UC Davis Education Lab survey, just over 90% of current college students and 82% of recent high school graduates reported concern about the shift to online classes.

As one continuing college student wrote in the survey: “My current challenge is being a mother on top of a student. I was able to go on campus to do my learning, free from distraction of my children. Now I am trying to find the time to do my classes solely online on top of taking care of children that were also enrolled in school and now homeschooling.”

Campus re-opening plans have gone through multiple changes in recent months, with most colleges and universities in California planning for at least a hybrid of in-person and virtual classes. California State University was the first in the nation to announce plans for largely virtual classes for the fall term and recently extended it to the entire 2020-21 school year.

Read More [[link removed]] Some Teachers Unions, Districts At Odds Over Live Distance Learning Instruction

In negotiations with school districts around the state, the California Teachers Association has argued, with some success, that school districts lack the authority to force teachers to do live online instruction or to record lessons for later use. Some districts have accepted that assertion.

But some attorneys for school districts are challenging the CTA’s position. They point out that the Legislature encourages distance learning in legislation that accompanied the state budget Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law last week.

At stake is whether school districts will be able to make live instruction a universal component of distance learning this fall. Many individual teachers across the state have been teaching online on their own since schools closed in March. A number of education experts say that online instruction should be a key strategy to counter the loss of learning that students experienced partly because school districts were unable to transition to remote instruction quickly and effectively.

Read More [[link removed]] Gov. Newsom Hopes California Schools Won't Be Delayed By Virus

Surging coronavirus cases in California prompted a warning on Wednesday from the nation’s most populous county of a possible delay to classroom instruction in public schools next month -- a setback Gov. Gavin Newsom said he hopes to avoid by convincing more people to wear face coverings and stay away from gatherings.

Los Angeles County public health officials say, on average, more than 10% of people tested for the virus end up having it, a rate not seen since late-April. Given the high number of cases, Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said local school officials should prepare for delaying a return classroom instruction.

“With the uncertainty that we face right now in our county, everyone needs to have sort of a plan b around the reopening,” she said. “You absolutely would not want to open a sector when you thought the result of reopening could be an explosion of outbreaks within that sector.”

Read More [[link removed]] How Schools Across The Globe Are Reopening Amid The Coronavirus Pandemic

Each morning before Chengbao Shang leaves for school in Guangzhou, China, his parents take the 7-year-old’s temperature and send the results to his teacher using a program on WeChat, the popular Chinese social media platform. It’s the same for every student in this city of more than 15 million.

Chengbao’s father then drives him to school and drops him off 20 yards away from the campus. Chengbao, a first-grade student, gets his temperature taken again when he approaches the front gate of the school, this time by security guards. He and his classmates enter one-by-one, walking about three feet apart. He then goes to his classroom, where 51 students sit at their own desks, also three feet from their closest classmates.

“I really enjoy the classes and I can play with my classmates and friends. I can hear stories from my teachers,” he said during a conversation over WeChat. “And I feel safer and safer slowly.”

Read More [[link removed]] Infrastructure and Housing America's Looming Housing Catastrophe, Explained

America’s health crisis began just as Joaquín H. was recovering from his own.

He got sick, suddenly, at the end of January. He spent most of February in and out of the hospital, major surgery along the way. As he recuperated in bed, scrolling the internet, he watched the coronavirus emergency grow larger, and closer to his home in Eugene, Oregon.

“As Covid hit,” the 51-year-old, who asked to be identified only by his first name and last initial for privacy reasons, told me, “I’m just trying to get back on my feet. And that just wasn’t happening.”

A self-employed video editor and producer, Joaquín saw his business ground to a halt as he recovered, and it remained that way as the country teetered on the brink of both a public health and economic crisis. He got a job delivering groceries with Instacart, but the spots got scooped up quickly.

Then the seriousness of Covid-19 seeped in, and the Instacart gigs finally materialized — everyone wanted their food delivered now. But by then Joaquín wasn’t sure about going to the supermarket, touching everyone’s groceries, and risking infection every trip to the store. His is a household of seven, including him, his partner, and five dependents, the youngest of whom are toddlers.

Read More [[link removed]] Why California's Housing Market Isn't Tanking

It’s the worst economy since the Great Depression. Nearly 1 in every 6 California workers is out of a job, and those lucky enough to remain employed confront reduced hours, slimmed wages and mounting uncertainty over what the next few months will bring. The state budget is in shambles, and cities and counties are already laying off workers.

And yet California home prices aren’t dropping all that much.

Despite the economic carnage induced by the novel coronavirus pandemic, the state’s stubbornly expensive housing market appears headed for a relatively soft landing. While rents in some markets show signs of a steeper cliff, the value of a California single family home last month — $570,000 — is actually higher than what it was a year ago, according to the real estate data firm Zillow.

Read More [[link removed]] Experts Fear The End Of Eviction Moratoriums Could Plunge Thousands Of People Into Homelessness

Eviction moratoriums nationwide are set to expire later this month, potentially thrusting tens of thousands of people into a housing crisis.

Congress in March passed a federal mandate prohibiting evictions or foreclosures until July 24 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. But as the deadline quickly approaches, experts warn that unless Congress passes more relief, renters might be forced out on the streets.

Across the country, thousands of evictions are either pending or processing, possibly setting up a wave of newly homeless people in the next few months. The pandemic has pushed millions of Americans into unemployment, leaving many unable to keep up with monthly rent and food demands.

In Tucson, Arizona, the courts are processing an average of 52 eviction cases per day, up from the normal 10 to 30 cases, according to the Arizona Daily Star. In Tennessee, more than 9,000 eviction hearings are pending, about 33% more cases than normal for this time of year, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported.

Read More [[link removed]] The Unseen Costs Of The Extended Eviction Moratorium

Following Governor Newsom’s eviction moratorium extension executive order on Tuesday, thousands of landlords across California are now facing severe financial strain. With two months added on to the moratorium on top of several months of not being able to remove tenants, landlords across California hoping for relief are only finding more months of hardships.

Several landlords reached out to the California Globe about how the order could financially ruin them.

“Me and my husband own a block of apartments in Los Angeles,” said Susan Chang, a Los Angeles landlord. “Out of the 12 units, currently 5 are not paying any rent. Our income has literally been halved.

This was supposed to be our retirement. We never got much in pensions or 401ks, but by chance we managed to buy an apartment complex with our savings. One of our friends is a handyman and another owns a gardening service, so all together we had a good system.

Read More [[link removed]] Editorial and Opinion Latino Small Businesses Must Equitably Benefit From The Paycheck Protection Program

The purpose of the Paycheck Protection Program was to incentivize small businesses to keep their workers on payroll. With the recent data release of where these funds went, it’s clear that small-business owners were hardly the beneficiaries of this program.

Celebrities, law firms and tech companies were able to rake in valuable dollars. Why? Time, resources and connections with established banking institutions allowed them to swiftly claim their share of funds in the midst of this public health and economic crisis.

But if we are to achieve a full economic recovery for California, we have to be honest. As the largest ethnic group in the state, Latinos and their small businesses must equitably benefit from programs like this.

Read More [[link removed]] Trump's Gutting Of Environmental Rules Won't Protect The Economy Or Public Health

When it comes to gutting environmental rules, the Trump team never gives up. Now it’s using the coronavirus pandemic to evade pollution guidelines it has steadily chipped away at for years.

In recent months, the Environmental Protection Agency has let factory and power plant operators know that pollution rules won’t be fully enforced. Spills, leaks and smokestack emissions that might normally draw fines and penalties will be excused. Records don’t need to be kept. It’s all done under the benign label of economic recovery: Don’t harm industries struggling to stay alive in trying times.

That argument might work if it came from an administration that otherwise respected the need for environmental rules and showed a willingness to crack down on rule-breakers. But that’s not this White House.

Read More [[link removed]] California Can Still Lead America And The World On Electric Vehicles - Despite Trump

What is the future for electric vehicles? Are they destined to push out gasoline and diesel cars, or will they be niche players? How does California compare to China or Europe, in this transformation? Which technology will win, and where?

Fortunately, California can still lead the transportation electrification transition – despite Trump administration intransigence.

Zero-emission vehicle sales slipped in both California and China during the first five months of 2020 because of COVID-19’s impact on the economy. If this slowdown continues, it will impede China’s goal of a 25% EV market share by 2025, and California’s plan for five million EVs on the road by 2030.

Luckily, the reverse trend is underway in Europe, driven by stringent greenhouse gas regulations. Its five largest markets—Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, and Spain—collectively registered more EVs than China in the first quarter, helping Europe reach 7.5% of the new car market share. Regulations in Europe require that 2.5 million EVs must be sold between 2020 and 2021, so this trend will grow. And the big winner: 70% of the new car sales in Norway were EVs during the same quarter!

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