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Happy Taco Tuesday! Tonight I'll likely have carnitas tacos using the Riverdog Farm pork shoulder I cooked Sunday in the Instant Pot. Last night, I made pork spare ribs, also from Riverdog, along with braised greens and potatoes fried in duck fat (Riverdog Farm in Capay Valley, Yolo County) and broccoli quick steamed in the IP from Ge Moua Farm in Sacramento County. [dinner photo] Today, the other Capitol is forgetting about the pandemic and driving down the dead-end road of an impeachment trial. I get why Dems are doing it to sate the base, but no individual American will be materially better off following this exercise. I would just prefer to never hear DJT's name again. That said, I do love the ConLaw class that I am getting. Needless to say, at King Hall, even as a research assistant to a ConLaw prof, we never talked about the ability to impeach someone after they've left office. COVID-19: California added 340 deaths yesterday for a total of 44,493 since the pandemic began. As usual, the daily release from LA County Public Health notes "The lower number of deaths and cases may reflect reporting delays over the weekend." As of yesterday, the 14-day rolling average has dropped to 502.3 from a peak 14-day rolling average of 542.2 (-5.8%) on February 1. As I wrote yesterday, we're all crossing our fingers that Super Bowl parties on Sunday amidst an increasing number of cases of SARS-CoV-19 variants in California won't flip the impressive downward slope of the curve. -tiers for fears: Here are the statuses of California's 58 counties. You can see what the restrictions mean here, although county health orders may be stricter than the state.
As we await the weekly presser from Dr. Mark Ghaly, California's HHS secretary, the Chron's Jessica Flores looks at the when the City and County of San Francisco may move to a less restrictive tier than the current, most restrictive purple. The tentative deal between school district and union officials to reopen schools is based on when the county moves to the red tier.
-variants: For The Bee, Michael McGough reports on the discovery of the UK variant in the Sacramento region:
The variant has been shown to be 40-50% more transmissible, although does not appear to be more virulent (harmful) or able to avoid the protections of the FDA-approved vaccines. -vaccines: Good news from the OC...dad is scheduled for a vaccine on Friday. He's crossing his fingers after several canceled appointments because of supply. Meanwhile, up in Portland, mom still isn't a priority as she doesn't turn 75 until later this month, and the priority in Oregon is still 75+ and teachers. In Los Angeles County, there are more vaccine doses arriving but they are reserved for second doses. Luke Money and Rong-Gong Lin II write for the Times:
-school daze: While I didn't have time to watch, Laurel Rosenhall (CalMatters) tweeted during Newsom's presser at Levi's Stadium this morning:
Meanwhile, The Bee's Lara Korte looks at whether kids will be expected to be vaccinated before returning to school.
Well, that's bringing a poo-poo cake to the party... In San Francisco, City Attorney Dennis Herrera is expanding the lawsuit against the school district after the union and district leaders reached a vague agreement on reopening. Jill Tucker reports for the Chron in the last hour:
...more COVID-19 coverage after the jump. NEWSOM HITS THE ROAD: Last week, we didn't have the Monday distanced presser that had become routine. Then, he popped up on Wednesday at the Oakland Coliseum to announce a partnership with the Oakland A's for a major vaccination site. Yesterday, there was no scheduled virtual press conference and Where's Waldo popped up at Petco Park in San Diego to announce another large vaccination site. This morning, he's at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, which is one of the biggest vaccination sites in the country. By the way, national media, it is not in San Francisco, despite the 49ers team name. Frankly, this is what he needs to do as the recall effort moves from simmer to boil. As I've written in many places, I think the recall effort qualifies, but I think Newsom beats it. Getting out to the new large vaccination sites and talking about the issues with supplies from the multi-national companies with FDA-approved vaccines is a far better image for Newsom at this point than appearing in what looks like a bunker at the state's emergency operations center or home. Emergency ops centers are a good visual for a short period of time during a disaster, but going on eleven months, it just doesn't work. Of course, detractors and supporters of the recall will criticize him about flights on private planes... -Governor Newsom update/announcement of A's vaccine partnership on 02/03: -HHS Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly update on 02/02: -HHS Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly update on 01/26: -Governor Newsom update on 01/25: a lot more stories after the jump... AD79 (East San Diego): Last night, the local virtual caucus of the California Democratic Party endorsed Dr. Akilah Weber to succeed her mother Dr. Shirley Weber in the Assembly. Of course, Shirley is now Secretary of State and preparing for a statewide election next year. Akilah is an OB/GYN and councilmember in La Mesa. Consultant Derek Humphrey gives us the virtual vote:
While it was considered a possibility, there was obviously no labor surge for Mungula, who is an organizer for the AFSCME local that represents many employees of the city of San Diego. Meanwhile, as of 6:30 this morning, San Diego County hasn't updated its candidate filing list, so I have no idea who voters will see on the ballot for the April 6 special. AGstakes: After getting a hall pass from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) is now considered the unexpected favorite for appointment by Governor Newsom to a vacancy in the state's Attorney General office, should Xavier Becerra be confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden Administration. What was seen as a non-starter of Newsom picking a straight white guy a few months ago, after appointments of Alex Padilla to the United States Senate and Dr. Shirley Weber to Secretary of State, Newsom has more latitude. Of course, Schiff is a well-known name in many households and wouldn't be seen as just another straight white guy. There are few that Newsom could appoint without broad criticism, but Schiff is one, particularly after appointing the first Black Secretary of State and first Latino United States Senator. net neutrality, cakeday and classifieds after the jump... NET NEUTRALITY: Yesterday, the United States Department of Justice dropped its lawsuit against the State of California over a law to protect neutrality of content delivered by internet service providers. While it sounds technical, it's now an even bigger issue when the legislation was passed in 2018. Because of the pandemic, a lot of content has moved from theaters to streaming. Warner Brothers is not releasing movies directly to HBO Max. Of course, the famous studio is owned by AT&T, a major internet service provider. Similarly, Comcast owns NBC/Universal and is offering proprietary content. The legislation doesn't prohibit the behemoths from bundling content for their customers. However, they can't do things like "throttling" (providing lower bandwidth) of products from other content providers. Jon Brodkin reports for Ars Technicha:
Meanwhile, the internet service providers such as AT&T and Comcast continue with their own lawsuits.. CAKEDAY: Light those candles for former state senator Liz Figueroa, Juan Torres, and Stephanie Williams!
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