Pallbearers carry a coffin into a church for services. Photo: Krysja, via Shutterstock)COVID 19 is not only overwhelming California’s hospitals, it’s overwhelming cemeteries and funeral homes as well. Funeral directors across the state are being forced to tell grieving families that they have no more room and cannot serve them.
Illustration of California flag and the pandemic. (Image: bekulnis)Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to announce a tougher response to a surge in coronavirus infections that includes a three-week cutback on nonessential services and renewed stay-at-home restrictions affecting most Californians.
Pedestrians crossing Hollywood Boulevard. (Photo: Sean Pavone)Pedestrian deaths are on the rise throughout the nation, but California is bucking the trend. Preliminary data by the Governors Highway Safety Organization shows an increase in pedestrian fatalities throughout the United States, rising 12 percent to 5,997 in 2016. Yet California, home to the highest number of pedestrian deaths for years, is finally seeing a drop.
Photo: GongTo, via Shutterstock.A new battlefront has emerged in the nation’s struggle over gun control: a proposed firearm violence research center at the University of California. In a move being closely watched by advocates on both sides, California lawmakers are pushing for the state to study gun violence, taking over a job the federal government dropped 20 years ago.
Demonstrators protesting police conduct at a gathering in Capitol Park, Sacramento, October 2014. (Photo: Rachael Towne)An effort is under way to make California the first state in the nation to have its top law enforcement officer independently investigate deaths in police custody, bypassing the prosecutors in California’s 58 counties. Under the plan, the state attorney general would appoint a special prosecutor to direct an investigation when a civilian dies as a result of deadly physical force by a peace officer.
The state Public Utilities Commission’s transportation section has failed to adequately oversee limos, buses, and shuttles, as well as such ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, according to a sharply critical state audit. The report notes that the problems stem from poor leadership and unclear guidelines and procedures