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Borenstein: Three years into pandemic, it’s still unclear who is in charge

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:18:32 GMT

More than three years after the pandemic began, legal confusion remains in California over who’s in charge at the local level during an emergency of issues such as curfews and eviction moratoriums.Uncertainty over authority exacerbated tensions during the early months of the pandemic. Now that almost all restrictions have been lifted, it’s time to use the calm before the next storm, fire, flood, earthquake or pandemic to resolve the thorny issues of jurisdiction.The dispute is not whether Gov. Gavin Newsom had the power to impose emergency orders and make temporary changes to state law. He did. The state’s appellate courts resolved that dispute.Rather, as a recent Bay Area court case showed, the uncertainty is at the local level over whether counties during emergencies can set rules within cities. Or is county jurisdiction limited to unincorporated areas outside municipal boundaries?Lack of clarity has potentially life-altering implications for emergency responses if they are delaye...

Opinion: ‘I’m sorry, but you no longer have health insurance’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:18:32 GMT

“I’m sorry. You no longer have health insurance.”Up to 14 million Americans are now at risk of hearing those words at the worst possible moment — in the ER clutching their pained chest or bleeding from an accident, or at their doctor’s office seeking to stabilize a spike in their asthma or diabetes. As one result of ending the U.S. COVID Emergency Declaration, the pandemic continuous enrollment provisions for Medicaid ended on April 1. Medicaid recipients who were protected from disenrollment during the pandemic can be disenrolled now if their eligibility status has changed. Many may not realize that they are required to recertify for eligibility.It is right to end the COVID Emergency Declaration. It is not right that the American insurance sector fails to attain universal coverage, the standard of all other industrialized democracies. It is not right that insurance in America is so complex that people may not know if they are covered. Puzzlingly, health care finance reform ha...

Calvary Chapel in San Jose ordered to pay $1.2M in Covid-19 fines

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:18:32 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) -- The latest ruling in a yearslong battle between Santa Clara County and Calvary Chapel in San Jose ordered the church to pay $1.2 million in administrative fines, including interest, according to a news release. The fines date back to 2020 when Santa Clara County said the church blatantly violated public health orders during the Covid-19 pandemic by continuously holding large in-door church services and not requiring face coverings or social distancing.The church said the orders prevented it from exercising its religious freedom and violated the constitution—claim that was rejected by the judge with the courts saying, “It should appear clear to all—regardless of religious affiliation—that wearing a mask while worshiping one’s god and communing with other congregants is a simple, unobtrusive, giving way to protect others while still exercising your right to religious freedom. Unfortunately, defendants repeatedly refused to model, much less, enforce this ges...

Feinstein asks for Judiciary replacement after calls for resignation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:18:32 GMT

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced on Wednesday that her return to work in Washington has been delayed due to ongoing health complications and called on the Senate to appoint a temporary replacement for her on the Judiciary Committee. Her announcement came hours after Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) called for her to resign from the chamber. Feinstein has been sidelined since late February after being diagnosed with shingles. Her absence, coupled with that of Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), has left Democrats working at an even 49-49 at best during that time. However, Feinstein’s post on the Senate Judiciary Committee has meant that the panel has been unable to advance partisan nominees through to floor votes over that period.“When I was first diagnosed with shingles, I expected to return by the end of the March work period. Unfortunately, my return to Washington has been delayed due to continued complications related to my diagnosis,” Feinstein said...

Australia’s most powerful cyclone in 8 years to cross coast

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:18:32 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A tropical cyclone nearing Australia is forecast to be the most powerful storm in eight years to hit the country, bringing wind gusts of up to 315 kilometers (196 miles) per hour as it crosses the northwest coast, meteorologists said Thursday.Cyclones are common along the sparsely populated Pilbara coast of Western Australia state and fatalities are rare, but authorities fear that Cyclone Ilsa’s extraordinary wind speeds could take some in its path by surprise.Ilsa reached the highest Category 5 intensity Thursday over the Indian Ocean and is expected to maintain that destructive level as it crosses the Pilbara coast by early Friday, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said.Category 5 cyclones have mean wind speeds exceeding 200 kph (124 mph) with gusts exceeding 280 kph (174 mph). They typically cause widespread destruction, the bureau said. The last Category 5 storm to cross the Australian coast was Cyclone Marcia in 2015. Marcia caused hundreds of million...

Biden says nothing of ‘great consequence’ in Pentagon leaks

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:18:32 GMT

DUBLIN (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday said while he was concerned that sensitive government documents had been leaked, “there’s nothing contemporaneous that I’m aware of that is of great consequence.” It was the first time Biden has commented publicly about the release of Pentagon documents that were posted on several social media sites. They appear to detail U.S. and NATO aid to Ukraine and U.S. intelligence assessments regarding U.S. allies that could strain ties with those nations. The Justice Department has opened an investigation. “I’m concerned that it happened, but there’s nothing contemporaneous that I’m aware of that is of great consequence,” said Biden, who is in Dublin visiting with Irish leaders Thursday. Biden noted there was a “full-blown” investigation going on with the intelligence community and the Justice Department. “We’re getting close,” he said on answers. “But I don’t have an answer.” There’s no clear answ...

Why is women’s tennis China boycott over Peng Shuai ending?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:18:32 GMT

The women’s professional tennis tour is ending its suspension of tournaments in China that was initiated in late 2021 over concerns about Grand Slam doubles champion Peng Shuai’s well-being.The WTA announced Thursday that it will return to competition in China this season, even though two of its key requests were never met: a chance to meet with Peng, and a thorough, transparent investigation of her sexual assault accusations against a high-ranking Chinese government official. WHO IS PENG SHUAI?Peng is a former pro tennis player who reached No. 1 in the WTA rankings in doubles in 2014 and made it as high as No. 14 in singles in 2011. In doubles, Peng won major championships at Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014; her best Grand Slam showing in singles was a run to the semifinals at the U.S. Open in 2014. In all, she won 23 WTA titles in doubles and two in singles; she also represented China at three Summer Olympics. Her career prize money is listed by the WTA as more than ...

Metro train operator out of job after overshooting Silver Line station

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:18:32 GMT

A train operator is no longer employed by Metro after putting a train into automatic mode, resulting in the train overshooting a station platform last month in Herndon, Virginia.The incident happened on March 17 along the Silver Line at Innovation Station in Fairfax County.“The investigation has determined that the train operator had initially operated in ATO [automatic-control system] in passenger service, undetected by Metrorail numerous times, including multiple times on the day of the safety event,” said Washington Metrorail Safety Commission CEO David Mayer, at a Commission meeting held on Tuesday.More Local NewsMore Transportation NewsHe said the front of the train stopped over 100 feet past the end of the platform, after the train operator initiated emergency braking.Mayer said that’s not the only safety violation that was discovered. “Video related to this event demonstrates that the operator was eating a meal while operating the train, which is also ...

US displays firepower in combat drills with Philippines

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:18:32 GMT

FORT MAGSAYSAY, Philippines (AP) — U.S. and Filipino forces on Thursday blasted vehicles with anti-tank missiles in combat-readiness drills in the Philippines that are part of a show of American firepower that has alarmed China.The long-time treaty allies are holding their largest joint military exercises called Balikatan — Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder — in decades. They involve about 17,600 military personnel and will feature live-fire maneuvers, including a ship-sinking rocket attack and beach assaults to simulate retaking an island near the disputed South China Sea.In a gunnery range at Fort Magsaysay, a northern Philippine training camp for Filipino special forces, American and Filipino troops fired Javelin guided missiles toward three target vehicles simulating a battle zone. The missiles streaked at a low altitude for more than half a kilometer (half a mile) toward their targets and exploded in a fireball that shook the ground.“This is what it looks like when the U.S...

Cannes sets slate with Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes, the Weeknd

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:18:32 GMT

New films by Wes Anderson, Alice Rohrwacher, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Todd Haynes and Wim Wenders will compete for the Cannes Film Festival’s coveted top honor, the Palme d’Or, as will a record number of films directed by women.Cannes artistic director Thierry Frémaux and president Iris Knobloch, who took over the post last year from Pierre Lescure, announced a lineup heavy on big-name international auteurs, along with some new faces, in a press conference Thursday in Paris.Among the 19 films selected for Cannes’ prestigious competition slate are Anderson’s sci-fi homage “Asteroid City,” Wenders’ “Perfect Days”; Kor-eda’s “Monster”; Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera”; and Haynes’ “May December,” a romance with Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore. Ken Loach, long a Cannes regular, will return with “The Old Oak.” Jonathan Glazer will premiere his first feature since 2013’s “Under the Skin” with his Martin Amis adaptation “Zone of Interest.” After a scaled-down 2021 event and a...