Tagged With "Modesto Bee"
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5 things people are doing to help the victims of the California fires.(upworthy.com)
On Sunday night, flames swept into Santa Rosa and other cities across the region with little warning . At least 24 people have been confirmed dead , with hundreds displaced and nearly 300 still reported missing . Meanwhile, hundreds of residents from hotel owners to teachers and students to local government officials to relief workers are marshalling help those to affected. Here's what they've been up to in the days since the devastation began. 1. Farms are taking in displaced animals, and...
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A 'fire of infections' could sweep California evacuation centers. Here's the plan to stop it [sacbee.com]
By Ryan Sabalow, The Sacramento Bee, April 29, 2020 The town of Paradise and the surrounding communities had burned to the ground. The victims, many of them poor and with nowhere to go, barely escaped. They were exhausted and scared. Then the norovirus hit as they crammed together in churches and a local fairground. They shared restrooms and slept shoulder-to-shoulder on cots. At the East Ave Church in Chico , some 300 Camp Fire evacuees had it better than some others in Butte County. Only...
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A Fresno family got coronavirus. Advocates say language accessibility could've prevented it [fresnobee.com]
By Brianna Calix, The Fresno Bee, April 22, 2020 Government agencies and interpreters have rushed to make sure information about COVID-19 is available in various languages — but some hospital patients are falling through the cracks, according to at least one Fresno-area advocacy group. Naindeep Singh, the executive director of the Jakara Movement , says he’s heard several accounts in which medical providers rely too heavily on bilingual staff rather than provide interpretation and...
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An inside look at Sacramento’s Youth Detention Facility, named best in nation after turnaround [Sacramento Bee]
BY CANDICE WANG cwang@sacbee.com Six boys dove into the water, passing volleyballs and footballs, in a recent scene that seemed more like a snapshot from an afternoon at a community pool, rather than from Sacramento County’s Youth Detention Facility. Only the barbed wire encircling the area showed the difference. The frequent use of the pool, built along with the facility in 1963, is now part of a series of progressive, rehabilitative programs that contributed to the 2018 Barbara Allen-Hagen...
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Assistance dog trained to help witnesses, victims in Stanislaus County court [Modesto Bee]
The woman, a victim of an assault, sat in the courtrooms witness chair and started to talk. As she told a judge what happened and how it affected her giving whats called a victim impact statement the woman started...
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California bill would allow homeless college students to sleep in campus parking lots [The Hill]
A bill proposed in the California State Assembly would allow homeless community college students to sleep in their vehicles in campus parking lots, according to The Sacramento Bee . The bill is reportedly aimed at combatting California’s increasing homeless problem — particularly among college students — as property values and rent prices soar in the state. The legislation, [ AB 302 ] introduced Wednesday by state Rep. Marc Berman (D), would require the California Community Colleges System...
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California campuses confront a growing challenge: homeless students [calmatters.org]
The dream was always the same, Arthur Chavez says. He was following a bumblebee through a forest, stumbling over puddles and branches. When he caught the bee, he’d find himself onstage, wearing a suit, in front of an applauding crowd. After the third time, Chavez decided the dream was a sign. He quit his job at a Fullerton gas station and enrolled in community college, on his way to a bachelor’s degree. His first semester as a transfer student at Sacramento State, he started participating in...
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California judiciary panel delays evictions, foreclosures until summer due to COVID-19 [fresnobee.com]
By Danielle Bergstrom, The Fresno Bee, April 7, 2020 On Monday the California Judicial Council approved emergency orders essentially halting most evictions and foreclosures through the summer. The order is a welcome respite for many renters and homeowners struggling to pay their rent and mortgage this month due to job losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is no rent forgiveness on the table — and renters are urged to learn their rights in these uncertain times. [ Please...
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California must save its successful after-school programs [EdSource.org]
Evan Cardona, a 1st-grader at Mountain View Elementary in Los Angeles, arrived at the Regional Spelling Bee excited to take on a new challenge. Despite placing first in his school spelling bee, Evan’s success had not come easily. In kindergarten, Evan fell behind and finished the year without knowing many of his first-level words. Doctors had told his mother that, because of complications at birth, Evan would likely experience many developmental delays throughout his life. [For more of this...
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Why California native tribes are cautious about ending the shutdown. 'We can't lose a single elder' [sacbee.com]
By Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler, The Sacramento Bee, May 6, 2020 Sherry Scott joined the rebellion in some parts of the state against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order at a protest with dozens of others in Crescent City on Friday. The next day, buoyed by the experience, Scott and her business partner invited customers to eat at her Log Cabin Diner in Klamath, an outpost along Highway 101 at the mouth of the river that gives the town its name. “In those three days, we’ve had people...
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Wildfires, power outages cause unprecedented healthcare disruption in California (sacbee.com)
Healthcare leaders told The Bee that they are confronting a level of disruption to delivering care and running their businesses that they have never seen in their careers as a result of the California wildfires and Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s planned blackouts . “I actually have never experienced a power outage where we were on emergency generator backup for 40 hours or more,” said Dr. Brian Evans , the chief executive officer at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital in Grass Valley. “We’ve had...
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Women Trying to Improve Their Lives Find a Deep Resource in WELL, A Female-Led Nonprofit [modbee.com]
By Deke Farrow, The Modesto Bee, October 4, 2019 Alana Scott likes to share a story about Tanya King. King, 47 and a student at Modesto Junior College, was interviewing for a scholarship to take a five-week Living WELL program, said Scott, a founder of the nonprofit organization WELL, or Women’s Education and Leadership League. King saw another candidate, Veronica Nunez, arriving and greeted her. Scott asked King how she knew Nunez, and learned that they’re MJC classmates and that King had...
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State surgeon general’s prescription for a healthy Sacramento: Alleviating childhood trauma [sacbee.com]
California’s new surgeon general made Sacramento the first stop on her statewide listening tour, and after Tuesday’s event, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris told The Bee that capital residents are powerfully grappling with the long-term impact childhood trauma has on their families and neighborhoods. Burke Harris said many of the 100 Sacramento-area residents she met with asked her to find ways to bring training, resources and support to families, educators, nonprofits and other community-based...
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Students Can Pay for College with Public Service. Stanislaus State, UC Merced Take Part [modbee.com]
By John Holland, The Modesto Bee, February 11, 2020 Some students will be able to help pay for college through public service, thanks to a pilot program the state launched Monday. Three universities in the Northern San Joaquin Valley are among the eight involved statewide. About 250 students will take part in the rollout of the Civic Action Fellowship during the 2020-21 academic year. It builds on community service that many students already do as part of their coursework. In Turlock, for...
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School-based health bill passes committee [Lake County Record -Bee]
In California, AB 254 authored by Assemblymember Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond) will ensure access to health and mental health services for all students. The bill passed the Assembly Health Committee this afternoon. “We cannot continue to allow children that suffer from health conditions to fall behind in school and slip between the cracks,” said Thurmond. “All students, regardless of economic circumstances, deserve an opportunity to pursue an education and get the healthcare they need to remain...
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School health centers are big boost for Fresno [Fresno Bee]
A seismic event that will pay dividends for children, their families and the future of Fresno took place last week. What was it? The Fresno Unified School District Board of Trustees’ decision Feb. 8 to open six new school-based health centers over the next two school years. We believe that the partnership forged by Fresno Unified, Clinica Sierra Vista and Valley Children’s Healthcare should inspire other community leaders and organizations to find new ways to team up for the good of...
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Day Without Power in Placer and El Dorado: Frustration, Confusion, Concern for Elderly [sacbee.com]
By Theresa Clift, Sawsan Morrar, and Tony Bizjack, The Sacramento Bee, October 9, 2019 The largest intentional blackout in California history, which left more than 500,000 without power after midnight Wednesday, began to take its toll on routines in Placer and El Dorado counties. Dixie LaRouche, 79, woke up Wednesday extremely worried. With power out at her Placer County home, she was unable to charge the neurostimulator recently implanted in her back for her neuropathy. She and her husband...
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Do you or a loved one need mental health help amid the coronavirus crisis? Here's who to call [sacbee.com]
By Andrew Sheeler, The Sacramento Bee, April 7, 2020 With unemployment soaring, a statewide stay-at-home order and no end in sight for the coronavirus pandemic, this is a trying time for the mental health of all Californians. To that end, the state maintains a resource at covid19.ca.gov that includes advice and multiple hotlines to call. The site also offers some advice to people struggling at home. That advice includes limiting social media and news intake, and being mindful of your sources...
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Dozens of Cabins for Homeless Women and Children Proposed Next to North Sacramento School [sacbee.com]
By Theresa Clift, The Sacramento Bee, December 5, 2019 A long-vacant dirt lot across from Garden Valley Elementary School in the Northgate neighborhood of north Sacramento could soon become the site of 49 cabins sheltering homeless women and children. Councilman Jeff Harris wants the City Council to consider the project as one potential site for shelters as Sacramento continues to search for ways to address its increasing homeless population. The development, on city-owned land at Northgate...
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Drum circles for PE: It’s happening in some Fresno elementary schools – and helping
The Fresno Bee did a highlight of Every Neighborhood Partnership's Beat The Odds program. You can read the rest of it here: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/education/article230090999.html
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Flint's not the only place where the drinking water's unsafe [Sacramento Bee, Soapbox]
In a civilized country, access to safe drinking water shouldn’t be a luxury. It’s a necessity as the foundation of a healthy life. The lead water crisis in Flint, Mich., should never happen in any community. But we are all Flint. Incredibly in 2016, more than 1 million Californians lack reliable access to safe drinking water. In the eastern Coachella Valley in Southern California, families in the poorest neighborhoods struggle with contaminated well water. In the San Joaquin Valley, uranium,...
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For California Firefighters, How 'Mindfulness' Can Ease the Deadly Stress of Their Jobs [sacbee.com]
By Cathie Anderson, The Sacramento Bee, November 12, 2019 About three and a half years ago, paramedic Susan Farren underwent major surgery for kidney cancer, and as she lay in the recovery room, one of her doctors told her that he had treated quite a few first responders with organ cancers. The comment stuck with her. “I went home and started researching it after getting out of the hospital,” Farren said, “and for the next year and a half, that’s what I did every single day. I researched...
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Free food at Fresno-area restaurants for healthcare workers and everybody else [fresnobee.com]
By Bethany Clough, The Fresno Bee, April 2, 2020 Free food is always a good thing. Free food during the global coronavirus pandemic that has us a little anxious? Even better. Many restaurants are offering free food to healthcare workers during this time as a thank you (along with some businesses offering non-edible freebies). Other places have kids-eat-free deals. And some restaurants are doing special promotions – like a free giant cinnamon roll from The Train Depot restaurant – as an...
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Fresno-area officials fear child abuse going unreported amid coronavirus quarantine [fresnobee.com]
By Yesenia Amaro, The Fresno Bee, April 7, 2020 Fresno County child welfare investigators worry many child abuse cases may be left unreported while residents shelter amid the coronavirus pandemic – leaving young victims locked inside with their abusers. Tricia Gonzalez, director of child welfare at the Fresno County Department of Social Services, said abuse reports are down about 36% since mid-March when Fresno County began shuttering all nonessential functions. But she said she doesn’t...
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Fresno Project Offers Pregnant Mothers of Color Hope to Avoid Preterm Births [fresnobee.com]
By Emilia Reyes and Joseph Castro, The Fresno Bee, November 20, 2019 Over the last few years, our community has given birth to innovative solution-driven projects to combat one stark fact: Fresno County ranks No. 1 on the list of California counties, with the highest preterm rate of two-thirds of all births. More startling, African American babies continue to die in their first year of life at three times the rate of all other babies. Landing on what to do about our reality has been no easy...
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Getting Food Stamps to Poor Californians is Surprisingly Difficult [fresnobee.com]
By Jackie Botts and Cresencio Rodriguez-Delgado, The Fresno Bee, September 2, 2019 In May 2017, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors set an ambitious goal: enroll 70,000 new families in food stamps in two years. Home to the state’s highest poverty rate and a growing homeless crisis, the county was enrolling just 69% of residents who were eligible for CalFresh, the state’s name for the federal food stamps program. With full participation, the county would have been expected to gain...
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Let’s invest in the care of our young people instead of putting them in cages [Sacramento Bee]
BY CHET HEWITT AND SHANE GOLDSMITH SPECIAL TO THE SACRAMENTO BEE JUNE 13, 2019 02:40 AM, UPDATED JUNE 13, 2019 02:40 AM California’s young people need care, not cages. That call to action has become the drumbeat of a powerful movement of advocates working across California to push us to think bigger – and act boldly – to improve the health and wellbeing of our state’s biggest assets: our young people. A central theme and focus of this movement has been to encourage California to shift its...
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May 22nd as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Resilience Awareness Day by Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
In preparation for the proclamation being presented today at the Sacramento Board of Supervisors meeting May 21st at 9:30 AM, I sent the attached news release to the Sacramento Bee and Capital Radio. Please feel free to share with the community. Dear....... I wanted to let you know about an important event that is coming up next week and see if you could help me spread the word. On May 21st Supervisor Patrick Kennedy and the Sacramento Board of Supervisors are going to declare May 22nd as A...
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Mental health services vital to heal children traumatized by violence [The Sacramento Bee]
Recent suicides by students who survived the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High reveal how trauma induced by violence, especially gun violence, extends long after the event and well beyond a shooting’s direct victims. Children, in particular, bear the consequences of violence-induced trauma. Without timely and effective intervention, the brains of children exposed to violence, especially if that exposure is sustained, will never develop as biologically destined. This revelation has...
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Most Recent Spike of Toxic Air Pollution has Officials Rethinking Alert System [fresnobee.com]
By Cresencio Rodriguez-Delgado, The Fresno Bee, December 17, 2019 A sudden and dangerous spike in Fresno’s air quality last week has regional officials re-examining everything from burn-day approvals to public notification systems, authorities said. But officials with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District said the unexpected spike of hazardous particulate matter was the result of a perfect storm of circumstances in the Valley. “Unfortunately, mother nature took a turn. We...
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New Approach to Treat Those in Mental Health Crisis Comes to Stanislaus County [modbee.com]
By Ken Carlson, The Modesto Bee, November 14, 2019 Paramedic Dennis Flannery is one of eight medics in a Stanislaus County pilot program that is ensuring people in a mental health crisis are taken promptly to the care they need. “Our goal is to help people in a behavioral health crisis to avoid extensive emergency room stays, if the (mental health) crisis is their only emergency at that time,” Flannery said. The community paramedicine program — a first in California — was launched in fall...
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No more ‘cowboys and Indians’: Newsom wants Californians to learn Native American history (Sacramento BEE)
By Hannah Wiley, Sacramento Bee, September 27, 2019 Gov. Gavin Newsom at an annual celebration of Native American culture said he wanted greater “truth telling” of California’s indigenous history and a stronger acknowledgment of the state’s genocide of native people. The governor opened his remarks at the 52nd annual Native American Day in Sacramento by describing California’s first governor, Peter Hardeman Burnett , authorizing a “war of extermination” against the state’s indigenous...
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‘None of us will ever be the same’: Survivors of 2017 Tubbs Fire face long-term trauma [Sacramento Bee]
BY PANCHALAY CHALERMKRAIVUTH pchalermkraivuth@sacbee.com August 3, 2019 Robert “Priest” Morgan hasn’t slept without a cocktail of pills since the night he says God kicked him in the head to wake him up – the night he opened the front door of his Santa Rosa mobile home to see a fire engine, a few people running up and down Sahara Street and screaming. “The sky looked like the Fourth of July,” he said. “The entire park except for my street was an inferno.” It wasn’t Independence Day – it was...
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Overdose and suicide among top causes of death for new moms in California, study finds [Sacramento Bee]
By Elizabeth Shwe, The Sacramento Bee, June 14, 2019 Drug overdose and suicide are leading causes of death among California mothers within the first year after delivery, a recent study shows. Professor Sidra Goldman-Mellor of UC Merced and Professor Claire Margerison of Michigan State University found that drug overdoses were the second-leading cause of postpartum death and suicide was the seventh in California. Both constitute around 20% of all California postpartum deaths from 2010-2012.
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Childhood Trauma Linked to Poor Health. Can Parents Find Help in Stanislaus County [modbee.com]
By Chrisanna Mink, The Modesto Bee, February 25, 2020 Aguilar is tall with the lean, athletic physique of a soccer player, casually confident and with a magnetic smile. It’s hard to imagine that a little more than a year ago, the 14-year-old was suffering with ticks that caused his head and neck to jerk to the side, incapacitating headaches and sometimes, body twitches. His body was trying to cope with mental distress after witnessing the frightening event of a gang member threatening to...
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County Pulse: Financial, domestic problems common among regular pot smokers, study says (Modesto Bee)
Frequent smokers of marijuana tend to earn less, occupy a lower social class than their parents and have more domestic problems than people who don’t use pot, a long-range study concluded. An international research team followed subjects from birth to their late 30s, and measured the outcomes of people who regularly smoked cannabis four or more days a week. The findings were released this week by the UC Davis Health System. Magdalena Cerda, a chief author and epidemiologist with the...
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Cruel and Unusual: A Guide to California’s Broken Prisons and the Fight to Fix Them [propublica.org]
Sacramento Bee and Propublica, May 28, 2019. A decade ago, so many inmates were crammed into California’s prisons that the sprawling system had reached a breaking point. Prisoners were sleeping in gyms, hallways and dayrooms. Mentally ill prisoners were jammed into tiny holding cells. There were dozens of riots and hundreds of attacks on guards every year. Suicide rates were 80% higher than in the rest of the nation’s prisons. The California prison population peaked at more than 165,000 in...
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California Protective Parents Association Spring conference, April 8 in Davis, CA
California Protective Parents Association (CPPA) is celebrating our 20 th Anniversary at a Spring conference. Domestic Violence and the Battle for Custody: Moving Towards Child Safety will take place on April 8, 2018 from 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm at the Brunelle Performing Arts Center, 315 West 14 th Street, Davis CA 95616. The program includes: Rachel Meyrick’s excellent documentary What Doesn’t Kill Me A panel discussion including Kathleen Russell from the Center for Judicial Excellence Retired...
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California Will Be First State to Train Doctors in How Their Counsel Can Prevent Gun Deaths [sacbee.com]
By Cathie Anderson, The Sacramento Bee, October 16, 2019 The state of California will pay $3.85 million to researchers at the University of California, Davis, to develop the nation’s first program to train health care professionals to help their patients reduce firearm-related injury and death, university officials announced Tuesday. Gov. Gavin Newsom approved the funding on Friday when he signed Assembly Bill 521 . Money will go toward educating a variety of California providers, including...
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Hopeless about the homeless? Don’t sit at the intersection, step up [Fresno Bee]
It is easy to sit at almost any intersection in our community, spot a person we presume to be homeless, mentally ill (or both), and think to ourselves “No one is doing anything about this.” Nothing could be further from the truth. First, make no mistake. The challenges of homelessness, mental illness, substance abuse and general disenfranchisement from our community are complex. There are no simple solutions. Five years ago, our community was in crisis. County mental health services were...
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How Bad Teeth and a Lack of Dental Care Can Lead to Discrimination and Poverty [fresnobee.com]
By Manuela Tobias, The Fresno Bee, October 16, 2019 Gina Diaz-Nino considers herself an extrovert. But since her mouth began deteriorating after years of methamphetamine use and two fights, she receded into the shadows. Her teeth are yellow, crooked and browning around the corners. Most of her top teeth are either chipped, missing or decaying. When they fell out, they crumbled like chalk. “I’ll open my mouth and oh — drug addict,” Diaz-Nino said. “It’s there. It’s like a past that you’re...
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How Free Food Programs at MJC, Stan State are Coming to Rescue of Hungry Students [modbee.com]
By Chrisanna Mink, The Modesto Bee, January 4, 2020 Nancy Carranza, a third-year student at Modesto Junior College, is happy to give back to hungry families. She knows first-hand what it feels like to study with the distraction of a growling stomach. “Sometimes my mom skipped (meals),” Carranza said tearfully. “My mom planned out the month and made things work with food stamps.” [ Please click here to read more .]
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Re: Thousands of Californians are working while homeless, and many don’t want their bosses to know (calmatters.org)
We've had a couple of transitional age youth living with us while they were getting through school and establishing themselves in the workplace. There is just no fiscal way for a low wage earner to make enough money to live independently. Workers who need to rely on social services (while working) can feel demoralized. This is a stark contrast to when I was growing up and was able to have a low wage job and with a roommate, an apartment and enough funds to pay utilities, food, insurance etc.
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California jail population plummets during the pandemic. Could this lead to long-term change? [sacbee.com]
By Jason Pohl, The Sacramento Bee, May 27, 2020 California’s long history of altering its criminal justice system — from requiring life in prison for third-strike offenders to reducing the punishment for hundreds of crimes — is having another moment that could dramatically alter how the state locks people up. In a seismic, almost overnight shift, California has jailed 21,700 fewer people — nearly one-third of its daily population — in county lockups since the new coronavirus hit the state.
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Undocumented workers hit hardest by pandemic, study says. Will California 'do more?' [fresnobee.com]
By Yesenia Amaro, The Fresno Bee, June 17, 2020 Nearly 360,000 undocumented workers have lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic in California, where the job recovery lags behind the rest of the country, a new analysis has found. Researchers with UC Merced’s Community and Labor Center on Tuesday released the policy report. The study shows undocumented workers in California continue to lose their jobs while other population groups see slow job gains nationally. The report was...
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Coronavirus surging in Sacramento's poor neighborhoods. What can be done to slow it? [sacbee.com]
By Theresa Clift and Phillip Reese, The Sacramento Bee, June 20, 2020 The recent surge in Sacramento County’s confirmed COVID-19 cases has hit several socioeconomically-disadvantaged communities hard, including some places that had previously avoided the worst of the outbreak, according to a Sacramento Bee review of county and census data. All five of the ZIP codes with the highest rates of COVID-19 cases per 10,000 residents diagnosed from mid-May through mid-June are in areas with high...
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Covered California extends time for uninsured residents to sign up for health coverage [sacbee.com]
By Cathie Anderson, The Sacramento Bee, June 24, 2020 Covered California announced Tuesday that it would extend a special enrollment period to July 31 to give Californians additional time to sign up for health insurance. It had been set to end June 30. As cases of COVID-19 surged in California, the agency’s board voted to give all uninsured Californians the opportunity to sign up for coverage. Typically, after open enrollment ends in January, only people who have a qualifying life event such...
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What happens when a drinking water system fails? Ask this small California town [sacbee.com]
By Monica Vaughan, The Sacramento Bee, July 8, 2020 Residents in Earlimart, California, lost water service when a 50-year-old well on Mary Ann Avenue failed in late May. When it came back on, the main source of drinking water for more than 8,000 residents became a well contaminated with a chemical from banned pesticides. And most residents didn’t know. The Tulare County town’s water system is failing, in a lot of ways. [ Please click here to read more .]
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Even when the smoke clears, schools find student trauma can linger (Lake County Record Bee)
By Carolyn Jones, September 29, 2020, Lake County Record Bee. Schools can serve as a hub for an entire community after a disaster, experts say For some students, the fire is only the beginning. The nightmares, the grief and an all-consuming dread can persist for months or even years. That’s what teachers and school employees have observed among students in California’s fire-ravaged areas, especially Sonoma and Butte counties, where deadly wildfires have struck repeatedly in recent years.
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Many unemployed California workers are about to get a $300 payment - but it won't continue [sacbee.com]
By David Lightman, The Sacramento Bee, October 8, 2020 Hundreds of thousands of Californians who were out of work at the start of last month will be getting another week of supplemental $300 payments from the federal government, the state’s Employment Development Department said Thursday. The Lost Wages Assistance Program payments to qualified claimants should start going out next week. They are likely to be the last such supplemental benefits for a long time. President Donald Trump...