An illustration of California battered by the coronavirus pandemic. (Image: bekulnis, via Shutterstock)More than two years after California imposed the nation’s first lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19, the deadly disease persists, fueled now by the highly infectious subvariants and clouded by fears that the malady will stick around awhile — a long while.
Siblings Jasmine and Josh Obra both tested positive for COVID-19 on the same day. Only one of them survived. (The Obra family)Jasmine Obra believed that if it wasn’t for her brother Joshua, she wouldn’t exist. When 7-year-old Josh realized that his parents weren’t going to live forever, he asked for a sibling so he would never be alone. By spring 2020, at ages 29 and 21, Josh and Jasmine shared a condo in Anaheim, California, not far from Disneyland, which they both loved.
Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer and several fellow Democrats at the state Capitol. i>(Photo: State Assembly)Meet the progressives, an outgrowth of California’s Democratic political landscape. As Democrats began their dominance in California over 20 years, they saw their electoral success expand out of urban centers into wealthier suburban enclaves, such as Pasadena, Calabasas, and Walnut Creek.