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For all of our grousing about COVID-19 fatigue, a few novel trends are clear one year into the pandemic. In the early weeks of 2021, Californians are staying home way more than we did in our pre-pandemic life. Even so, we’re heading out to shop, dine and work far more now than in March 2020, when state officials issued the first sweeping stay-at-home order, or the dark period that followed the winter holidays, when we hunkered down as coronavirus caseloads exploded.
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Democrats, who already enjoy an overwhelming lead in California voter registration, now have one more advantage over the state’s beleaguered Republicans. Political Data Inc., California’s preeminent firm supplying information to political types, has announced that it will henceforth only work for “progressives” and Democrats.
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Backed by $17 million in cash from California’s stem cell agency, researchers at UC Davis this month are launching “the world’s first clinical trial using stem cells to treat spina bifida before the child is born.”
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In February, Texas experienced a freak weather event, a deep freeze that shut down its electrical system, damaged its infrastructure and cost dozens of lives. The storm revealed the lack of preparation and investment by the Texas state government, the flaws of its system of deregulated privately-owned utilities, and the failures of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT. The latter is responsible for maintaining the state’s energy infrastructure.
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Driving the 25-mile, winding pass known as California Highway 20, you could be excused for missing the weather-worn, wooden sign welcoming you into — and through — Jackson State Demonstration Forest. After all, the towering redwood trees dappling the sunlight over the road and the misty fog that clings to every curve is what most drivers are there for, as they head toward the craggy cliffs of the Mendocino coastline.
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The first time, she had just one co-author; the second time, a dozen. And now, on her third attempt, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez has convinced nearly half of the California Assembly to co-author her bill to grant collective bargaining rights to rank-and-file Capitol staffers.
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In 2020, the SPLC recorded a total of 72 California-based hate groups, which they cited as promoting anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, ant-Muslim, White Nationalist, and Neo-Nazi ideology, among others. In the past year, the SPLC has found, the COVID-19 pandemic has altered their traditional organizational strategies, prompting them to make increased outreach efforts through the use of social media platforms.
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It’s a time-honored habit around the Capitol: Fevered speculation about who may be appointed to fill an empty and important statewide office. Sometimes, the speculation even extends to who is going to be appointed to fill the vacancy left by the first appointment. This time around, it’s all about whom Gov. Gavin Newsom will name as California’s attorney general to fill the vacancy to be left by presumably departing Xavier Becerra.
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Amid growing calls for women on corporate boards, and headlines about corporate wrongdoing like the sexual harassment scandals at Google, California’s 662 publicly traded companies have added 669 women to their boards in the past two years. This sea change is driven by California Senate Bill 826, which took effect in 2019.
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For Cristina Garcia, there’s something unsettling about the idea that an unvaccinated person, confined to a prison cell, could be exposed to the corona virus because a guard or other state employee had declined an opportunity to be vaccinated.
The impact of the pandemic is seen in San Diego's Mission Valley, normally crowded with traffic. ((Photo: Travelling Thilo, via Shutterstock)
