Weekly CA-COVID Update 2/23/22

California

The Newsom administration is set to announce its school mask mandate plan next week…

President Biden is looking to California to help secure a permanent pipeline of critical materials essential to the tech industry that can boost the nation’s green energy production and its competitiveness…

Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled out a strategy Thursday, 2/17, for the “next phase” of managing COVID-19 in California that focuses more intently on early detection of variants, stockpiling high-quality masks and contracting with a manufacturer of at-home rapid tests…

State Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) on Friday, 2/18, unveiled new legislation that would allow Californians to sue makers and sellers of assault weapons, .50 BMG rifles, ghost guns or ghost gun kits…

California lawmakers are proposing a web overhaul to protect California kids when they’re online, the most sweeping privacy measure since voters approved the California Privacy Rights Act in 2020… 

California lawmakers, working with the nonprofit group Stop AAPI Hate, introduced two bills Thursday, 2/17, that aim to combat harassment and violence against women and other vulnerable populations in public spaces, including streets and transit platforms…

California State University chancellor Joseph Castro resigned Thursday, 2/17, amid mounting criticism of his handling of a subordinate accused of sexual harassment and bullying at Fresno State when Castro was president there…

The Biden administration is moving to restore California’s legal power to lead the nation in stifling auto emissions and accelerating the transition to electric vehicles…

Medi-Cal, the state’s safety net health program, isn’t free for everyone…

A new Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll shows Gov. Newsom’s failing grades on crime and homelessness… 

The recall was a victory for parents who were angered that the district spent time deciding whether to rename a third of its schools last year instead of focusing on reopening them…

Gov. Newsom has asked the California Supreme Court to block a lower court’s order capping enrollment at the University of California, Berkeley, while the ruling is under appeal…

Coronavirus

Almost 350,000 loans made to small businesses in 2020 haven’t been forgiven and most of them are for less than $25,000…

A study in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that once the Omicron variant became dominant, hospitalizations of children and adolescents reached levels that were four times higher than those of Delta's peak…

A simulation study published in JAMA found that with student vaccination coverage of 70 percent or less and moderate assumptions about mitigation effectiveness (e.g., masking), mitigation could only be reduced when local case incidence was 14 or fewer cases per 100,000 residents per day to keep the mean additional cases associated with reducing mitigation to five or fewer cases per month… 

Fully vaccinated children aged five to 11 were found 73 percent less likely to get infected with COVID-19 when compared with unvaccinated children of the same age, according to a study released last week by Multnomah County, Oregon, health officials…

The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report featured a study showing that protection against Omicron hospitalizations and emergency department visits drops significantly by four months after a third booster dose but is overall still high…

A recent study examined hospitalization trends across 20 children's hospitals in 17 states from July 2021 through January 2022…

FDA authorizes new Eli Lilly and Co. antibody drug that stands up against Omicron…

Immune responses were about two- to threefold higher in adolescents than in adults against all variants studied…

Weekly Federal Update 2/22/22

President and Administration

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo held a call Thursday, 2/17, with lawmakers key to developing a compromise bill to spur domestic semiconductor chip production and combat the rise of China’s high-tech industry…

Biden administration officials told lawmakers last week that they plan to seek $30 billion in new spending to combat the COVID-19 pandemic - which includes $18 billion for medical countermeasures like antivirals and vaccines, $5 billion for testing, $3 billion to treat the uninsured and $4 billion to prepare for future variants…

The Biden administration is debating whether to overhaul a major Trump-era program tied to Medicare as soon as this week in the face of rising pressure from prominent progressive Democrats… 

Last week the Senate confirmed Robert Califf to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a 50-46 vote…

The White House and Federal Communications Commission announced more than 10 million households are enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity Program…

President Joe Biden is actively looking for Republican support for his Supreme Court nominee…

Dr. Francis Collins, who stepped down as the head of the National Institutes of Health, will succeed Eric Lander as White House science adviser… 

Russian troops and military equipment have begun to move into the eastern parts of Ukraine following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision yesterday, 2/22, to recognize the Donetsk and Luhansk regions – controlled by Russian-backed separatists – as independent states… 

Congress  

President Biden on Friday, 2/18, signed the Senate-passed a short-term funding bill to head off a government shutdown, after Democrats bent to Republican demands for controversial votes on vaccine mandates…

The Senate’s top GOP appropriator, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) was fairly optimistic Thursday, 2/17, about the ability to reach agreement on a massive 12-bill spending package by the new mid-March deadline… 

Vulnerable Senate Democrats are attempting a bold strategy: Running for reelection as the real tax-cutters in Congress, even if it pits them against some of their caucus colleagues…

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is concerned that Republican attacks on the Democrats' handling of the COVID-19 pandemic have "alarming credibility”…

Rep. Eric Swalwell can pursue his lawsuit to hold former President Trump accountable for the violent insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a judge held in a scathing ruling delivered Friday, 2/18… 

Education

Inside Higher Ed released a print-on-demand compilation, entitled “Recruiting International Students in a New Era”…

A new report from Sallie Mae documents what families don’t know about paying for college…

Mid-year data from Amplify, a curriculum and assessment provider, shows that while the so-called “COVID cohort” of students in kindergarten, first, and second grade are making progress, they haven’t caught up to where students in those grade levels were performing before schools shut down in March 2020…

Most students who attend college earn more 10 years down the road than those who don’t…

Private school students were almost twice as likely as their public school counterparts to have real-time contact with their teachers during the early months of the pandemic, an advantage that could be attributed to better home internet, according to a new report released today, 2/22, by the National Center for Education Statistics, which compiled data collected from the 2020-21 National Teacher and Principal Survey…

During the pandemic, a nationwide crisis of isolation and anxiety has fallen particularly hard on young people - and more and more, those young people are turning to each other for help… 

Nearly 16,000 borrowers will receive $415 million in borrower defense to repayment discharges following the approval of four new findings…

Catholic schools experienced their first enrollment increase in 20 years after decades of declines and school closures prior to the pandemic…

Climate Change

Days when large damaging wildfires are possible could nearly double in Southern California by the end of the century if climate change continues unchecked, according to a study released Thursday, 2/17…

Oil refineries, utilities, and other companies that must pay to emit greenhouse gasses in California have saved up so many credits allowing them to pollute that it may jeopardize the state’s ability to reach its ambitious climate goals, according to a report by the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee, a group of five experts appointed by lawmakers and the governor…

Sea levels along U.S. coasts will rise by as much as a foot in the next 30 years as climate change accelerates, leading to a “dramatic increase” in millions of Americans’ exposure to flooding, scientists warned in a federal report published last week… 

Biden is indefinitely freezing decisions about new federal oil and gas drilling as part of a legal brawl with 10 Republican-led states that could significantly impact Biden’s plans to tackle climate change…

Public Safety Update 2/22/22

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the launch of a national ghost gun enforcement initiative designed to prevent privately-made firearms from being used to commit crime by bringing federal charges against criminal use of such weapons…

The DOJ’s announcement on ghost guns comes as President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland traveled to New York City on 2/3 to discuss gun violence and anti-crime efforts…

Los Angeles authorities are urging three major credit card companies to stop processing online payments for kits used to assemble untraceable “ghost guns”…

Fresno officials and police are urging Governor Gavin Newsom to change Proposition 47 after recent polls from UC Berkeley and the Los Angeles Times showed 78 percent of voters surveyed believe crime rates have risen statewide over the last year…

Police were called to break up a fight between two teenagers in a New Jersey mall on 2/12, but the difference in police treatment of the individuals involved is raising questions…

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) joined Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and John Cornyn (R-TX) this week to introduce a bill that would support the families of officers who struggle with mental health or who are lost to trauma-linked suicides…

The Democratic party’s response to George Floyd’s murder and calls to reduce funding for police may have cost Democrats as many as 12 House seats in 2020, and a recent poll showed that only 36 percent of Americans approve of the way President Biden is handling crime…

Susan Rice, the White House domestic policy adviser, met with the nation’s largest policing groups last month to promise a significant reset in their relationship as the Biden administration finished an executive order on police reform…

Following the leak of a draft executive order on police reform, small departments raised concerns about what the proposed order would mean for rural policing…

Homicides rose in 2021, following a spike of more than 27 percent in 2020, bringing rates to the highest level since the mid-1990s, with effects felt unequally across the country…

On the fourth anniversary of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, parents of the victims marched in Washington, D.C. on 2/14, to demand action against gun violence…

Last week, a federal appeals court heard oral arguments regarding a police union’s constitutional challenge to a Washington, D.C. measure prohibiting the union from negotiating over disciplinary rules, one of the significant reforms that followed nationwide protests after the 2020 murder of George Floyd. D.C. enacted a broad set of police reforms in July 2020—including restrictions on neck restraints and the establishment of a commission on reforms…

A practice conducted by the National Institute of Justice on the effects of Body-Worn Cameras on officer behavior was rated No Effects for its effects on officer use of force, officer injuries, officer-initiated calls for service, traffic stops, field interviews, and arrest incidents…

The National Police Foundation (NPF) assessed the reach, impact, challenges, and successes of the principles of the 21st Century Policing Task Force Report (21CPTFR)…

Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), who is running for mayor of Los Angeles, called for a surge in funding for L.A.’s police force because residents “don’t feel safe today”…

The National Association for Gun Rights and gun owner Mark Sikes sued San Jose in federal court last month after City Council members voted to approve the ordinance believed to be the first measure of its kind in the United States…

In 2015, AB 953 was enacted to require police to collect data on the people they stop, including perceived race and ethnicity, the reason for the encounter, and the outcome…

San Diego is experiencing an increase in officer vacancies threatening to reverse major staffing gains over the last four years…

As local, state, tribal and federal law enforcement agencies address funding and recruitment challenges, more departments are creating partnerships with private security professionals to expand capabilities and presence without increasing costs…

The Atlanta-based Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative (PAD) was launched to address community concerns related to unmet mental health needs, substance use, or extreme poverty…

As the nation calls for criminal justice reform, civil justice should be included to truly advance equity…

Weekly CA-COVID Update 2/15/22

California

Today is the final day of California’s statewide indoor mask mandate as the COVID-19 rate has dipped to 6.2 percent…

Newsom says kids' low vaccination rates are holding up school mask changes… 

California’s subsidized preschool program may be open to children as young as two if the expansion of services in Gov. Newsom’s proposed budget comes to pass…

The U.S. Department of Justice is signaling it might be open to allowing so-called safe injection sites - safe havens for people to use heroin and other narcotics with protections against fatal overdoses…

California’s COVID-19 sick leave bill, which the Legislature passed last week, doesn’t apply to small employers with 25 or fewer workers…

The California Student Aid Commission on Thursday, 2/10, reported a year-over-year decline in financial aid application completions among high school and undocumented students with just three weeks left before a major financial aid deadline, March 2…

The field is now officially set in the LA mayoral race… 

Coronavirus

With COVID-19 cases still high nationwide, "now is not the moment" to drop mask mandates in schools and other public places, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said last week…

On Friday, 2/11, the CDC updated its guidance for some people with weakened immune systems, recommending they get a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine three months after completing the initial series of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shots, rather than the current interval of five months…

A large-scale scientific study found that COVID-19 patients were at “substantial” risk of heart disease one year after their illness, increasing the odds of clots, arrhythmias, heart failure and related conditions… 

COVID-19 can cause “irreparable damage” to the placenta - the organ that serves as a fetus’s lifeline - and lead to stillbirth, according to a study published Thursday, 2/10, in the journal Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine…

Pfizer-BioNTech on Friday, 2/11, said they were delaying their request for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorize their COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 until early April, waiting on more data on the effectiveness of a third dose…

California Department of Public Health study published by the CDC found that people who reported always wearing face masks or respirators, such as N95 masks, in public indoor settings were significantly less likely to later test positive for COVID-19 than people who said they never wore masks in such places…

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously earlier this month to fully recommend the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for adults 18 and older…

Weekly Federal Update 2/14/22

President and Administration

The Biden administration said on Thursday, 2/10, that it would require states to submit proposals to line highways with electric vehicle chargers, part of a $5 billion plan to fill a gap in the infrastructure needed to support booming sales of battery-powered cars…

The White House released the initial edition of its Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) guidebook to help state and local governments and other stakeholders unlock the benefits from this historic investment…

Consumer prices rose a higher-than-expected 0.6 percent for the second month in a row, and an alarming 7.5 percent during the last year…

President Biden is starting to clear a legal path for relatives of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to pursue $3.5 billion that Afghanistan’s central bank had deposited in the U.S. before the Taliban takeover, while also seeking to steer a roughly equal amount toward spending to aid the Afghan people…

The threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine is shaking up a fragile global oil market, as traders calculate that supplies will struggle to cushion the effect from any significant disruption in Russian fossil fuel exports… 

Congress  

On Wednesday, 2/9, House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement on a framework to move forward with conference negotiations on an omnibus appropriations bill…

On Tuesday the House passed, 272-162, a three-week Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government funded through March 11 while the broader spending package is still under discussion…

A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday, 2/9, announced that they had reached an agreement on a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, after months of negotiations in the chamber… 

The Senate on Thursday, 2/10,  passed legislation by voice vote to reform the way private companies handle sexual assault and harassment cases by ending the use of forced arbitration to resolve workplace disputes…

President Biden is expected to start interviewing potential nominees to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer this week, with a promise to announce his choice by the end of the month…

Education

During his first address to Congress last spring, President Biden said that Jill Biden, the first lady, would lead an effort to fulfill his administration’s promise to provide two years of free community college to all eligible students…

The Education Department has proposed to again impose regulations to measure the gainful employment of graduates of for-profit colleges and non-degree programs at nonprofit colleges… 

Students who receive a check-in text message from a friend or family member are less likely to experience loneliness or depression, according to a new study from California State University, Fullerton…

Some four-year colleges place too much emphasis on mathematics in admissions, specifically whether students have done well in calculus, limiting access as a result, said a report by Just Equations and the National Association for College Admission Counseling…

The America COMPETES Act, which passed the House on 2/4, would expand Pell Grant eligibility for students enrolled in short-term skills and job training programs, but excludes students attending these programs online, a provision some community college leaders and online education advocates call a mistake…

About 55 percent of teachers say because of the pandemic they’re considering leaving their jobs sooner than they’d planned, according to a poll from the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union…

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, in a letter sent to Congressional leadership Friday, 2/11, urging lawmakers to pass the 2022 spending bills after months of delay…

The Education Department issued a FAQ supplement on using the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund and the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the pandemic and a revised Notice of Proposed Requirements (NPR) and updated FAQs for the ARP’s Maintenance of Equity provisions…