KQED's The California Report

California reported more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases yesterday. In Los Angeles County, public health director Barbara Ferrer pleaded with people to wear masks when out of the house.Los Angeles County will begin mailing COVID-19 test kits to some people’s homes. This new effort is aimed at those with mobility issues.Reporter: Jackie Fortier KPCCSacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones has tested positive for COVID-19. He has been vocal about his refusal to enforce public health mandates, including mask requirements.Reporter: Scott Rodd, CapRadioA red flag warning went into effect for most of Southern California last night as 70-80mph Santa Ana winds whipped through the region. The Bond Fire broke out in Orange County around 10pm and has burned thousands of acres. High profile California politicians, including the Governor and San Francisco Mayor, have been called out recently for defying their own health advice by dining out in groups. Behavior like this can undermine public trust in coronavirus guidelines. Guest: Kimberly Elsbach, Professor of Management, UC DavisA San Francisco based appeals court has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing the so-called public charge rule, which penalizes low income immigrants who use public benefits like Medi-Cal and food stamps.Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQEDWith the pandemic, the lives of Farmworkers in California have gotten more difficult, and dangerous. A new UC Berkeley study looks at the toll on laborers in one corner of California and why some are hesitant to get vaccinated when treatments do become available.Reporter: Alex Hall, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The California Department of Public Health is recommending weekly COVID testing for all health care workers at hospitals. Nurses have been calling for this for months. Reporter: Polly Stryker, KQEDAs COVID-19 cases soar, communities of color are bearing much of the burden, including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. These communities around Sacramento are utilizing several strategies to bring infection rates down.Reporter: Pauline Bartolone, CapRadioGovernment climatologists say two-thirds of California is in some state of drought. With little rain in the forecast, is this the beginning of another prolonged dry spell?Reporter: Ezra David Romero, KQEDOne L.A. area restaurant is defying the ban on outdoor dining which went into effect Monday, and also poking fun at the politicians who didn’t follow their own advice about mask-wearing and social distancing.Reporter: Benjamin Gottlieb, KCRWCalifornia lawmakers are demanding accountability after it was revealed that a statewide unemployment scam was being run out of jails and prisons. This week, officials confirmed at least $400 million in stolen benefits has been lost through the scheme. Reporter: Mary Franklin Harvin, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Governor Gavin Newsom says the state could see another stay-at-home order for regions where COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admission rates are surging.Reporter: Laura Klivans, KQEDNearly a month after Election Day, the last of California’s close congressional races has been decided, and it brings good news for Republicans. Reporter Guy Marzorati, KQEDThe U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday over whether the Trump Administration can exclude immigrants without legal status from the census totals to determine Congressional seats for each state. The stakes are enormous for California.Reporter: Caroline Champlin, KPCCA group of families have filed a lawsuit against the State of California. The suit claims the state is denying underserved students the equal right to education during the pandemic. Reporter: Vanessa Rancaño, KQEDThe San Jose city council will vote today on a measure to ban natural gas in nearly all new buildings beginning next year. The city estimates the ban will prevent hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon emissions from wafting into the atmosphere over the next fifty years.Reporter: Kevin Stark, KQEDOil and gas companies got approval to drill hundreds of wells in California last year without proper review. That’s outraged environmental groups. Reporter: Nina Sparling, KQEDThe pandemic has forced millions of Californians to file for unemployment benefits, which has led the state to look for possible unemployment fraud. Those efforts have left some San Diego residents in a months-long fight for their payments.Reporter: Max Rivlin-Nadler, KPBS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Record Number of Californians Hospitalized for COVID-19There are now more than 7,400 people hospitalized in California because of the coronavirus. That’s more than triple the number who were hospitalized just a month ago. As coronavirus cases surge, a new stay at home order takes effect for Los Angeles County residents.Which Healthcare Workers Will Receive COVID-19 Vaccine First?Health care workers will be first in line to receive the coronavirus vaccine once it’s available, but that first shipment may not be enough to vaccinate all of them. California has 2.4 million health care workers, but the state expects to receive just 1 to 2 million vaccines in the first allocation from the federal government.Reporter: April Dembosky, KQEDTobacco Industry Coalition Looks to Referendum to Overturn Flavored Tobacco BanCalifornia legislators passed a law this year banning the retail sale of flavored tobacco products in the state as a way to stop young people from getting hooked on the products. Now a coalition backed by the tobacco industry says it’s collected more than a million voter signatures to place a referendum on the November 2022 ballot that would overturn the flavored tobacco ban if passed.US Citizenship Test Just Got Longer and Potentially Harder to PassStarting Tuesday, applicants for naturalization will have to take a new naturalization test. The Trump administration is doubling the length of the test from 10 to 20 questions, and the list of possible questions people need to study will also increase to 128. Critics say a longer test is meant to discourage people from becoming citizens.Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQEDUC Application Deadline Extended Due to Technical DifficultiesBecause of an online power outage it experienced, UC is extending the deadline for applications from today, Monday, to Friday of this week. But now that the system is back up and running, UC is advising prospective students not to procrastinate and get in their applications as soon as possible.How a Controversial News Blog Helped Cost Michael Tubbs Re-Election in StocktonThe defeat of Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs was a surprise to many and in part attributed to how he was covered in a Stockton news blog, the 209 Times. Without trusted news sources, residents go to other places for information.Sarah Minez-Tan, CapRadio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Young Queer Candidates of Color are Changing the Bay Area Political SceneKQED podcast 'The Bay' is kicking off a series about expanding concepts of democracy and increasing representation in government. In the first episode, The Bay’s host Devin Katayama talks to KQED reporter Adhiti Bandlamudi about LGBTQ candidates of color who've recently been elected in the Bay Area.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Food Banks Face Enormous Need This ThanksgivingMany Californians confront incredible hardships this Thanksgiving because of the pandemic. Food banks all over the state are stepping in to fill in the gaps, including distributing Thanksgiving meals. They expect the need this year to be enormous.Guest: Amanda Green, Director, Union Station Homeless ServicesRare Rose Flourishes on Alcatraz After Decades of NeglectMany of Alcatraz Island’s indoor spaces are off-limits to visitors because of the pandemic. But The Rock’s craggy outdoor landscape is full of unexpected finds, like a rare rose once thought to be extinct. Reporter: Chloe Veltman, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Incarcerated People Got Hundreds of Millions in California Unemployment ScamA group of California prosecutors says thousands of state prison inmates have scammed California's Employment Development Department out of hundreds of millions of dollars of unemployment benefits.Reporter: Mary Franklin Harvin, KQEDTrump Gives Uber and Lyft Five Year Government ContractCalifornia-based ride hail companies Uber and Lyft have negotiated a big contract with the Trump Administration to provide transportation services to federal employees. Those who’ve traditionally provided those services are not happy.Reporter: Sam Harnett, KQEDElected Officials Weigh Public Health Against Economic NeedsAs many California counties and cities implement pandemic restrictions, elected officials confront the charged issue of how to balance public health and the needs of the economy. The mayor of Long Beach, felt the pain of the pandemic personally when his mother and stepfather died from the coronavirus.Guest: Robert Garcia, Mayor of Long BeachL.A. County Suspends Outdoor Dining As COVID-19 Spike ContinuesIt will soon be back to take-out and delivery only for restaurants in Los Angeles County. Starting tonight outdoor dining will be suspended as COVID-19 cases continue to rise. But not all areas of the county will adopt the new restriction.  Reporter: Benjamin Gottlieb, KCRWSurvey Shows Latino Californians Most Impacted by COVID-19More than 40% of Californians personally know someone who’s tested positive for the coronavirus and 25% know someone who has died from it. That’s according to a new survey from Covered California. The Latino community is bearing the heaviest burden.Reporter: April Dembosky, KQEDHomesick College Students Face Tough Thanksgiving DecisionHomesick college students are torn about whether or not to go home for the holidays. They're being warned they risk bringing the virus back to their families, and are having to make complicated decisions. Reporter: Vanessa Rancano, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Health Officials Urge Californians to Scale Back Holiday Plans as COVID-19 Cases SurgeNew COVID-19 cases in the state continue to increase rapidly, with well over a million cases so far. In Los Angeles County, supervisors are contemplating a strict stay-at-home order, similar to the one implemented in the early days of the pandemic.Judge Denies Reopen Request from San Diego BusinessesA San Diego judge has denied a request from a group of local businesses demanding to be allowed to reopen indoor operations, despite record numbers of coronavirus cases in California. The judge found that the risk to public health outweighed the needs of the businesses.Reporter: Max Rivlin-Nadler, KPBSCOVID -19 Vaccines Require Rigorous Safety ProceduresCoronavirus vaccines may be available to the general public soon. That’s extraordinarily fast, but experts say the vaccines must still go through a rigorous safety process and California will have a role.Reporter: Laura Klivans, KQEDDianne Feinstein Resigns from Senate Judiciary CommitteeSenator Dianne Feinstein says she’s stepping down from her role as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, a position she’s had for the past four years. Dissatisfaction with the 87-year-old senator grew more intense over her handling of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQEDApple's Head of Security Indicted in Santa Clara County Bribery ScandalThe head of global security at Apple and a county undersheriff have been indicted by a grand jury in Santa Clara County. These are the latest of six indictments in a widening bribery scandal.Reporter: Adhiti Bandlamudi, KQEDHow Far Will the Biden Administration Go To Reunite Separated Immigrant Families?President-elect Joe Biden has said that on his first day in office, he'll create a task force to reunite migrant families separated at the border by the Trump administration. It's a monumental task that could prove easier said than done.Reporter: Michelle Wiley, KQED Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

L.A County Suspends Outdoor DiningAs the state and counties put in place new coronavirus restrictions, California businesses try to survive. Guelaguetza is a well known restaurant here in L.A. known for its Oaxacan dishes from Mexico. Guest: Bricia Lopez, the co-owner of Guelaguetza, a restaurant in L.AHospitals Brace for COVID-19 SurgeCalifornia hospitals are seeing an increase in COVID-19 patients, which they expect will only increase. Hospitals are applying lessons learned at the beginning of the pandemic to deal with the surge. Sammy Caiola, CapRadio Kaiser Enrolls Youth in Sacramento and Santa Clara for Vaccine StudyKaiser Permanente says it’s enrolling 12 to 15 year olds in Sacramento and Santa Clara in an expanded late-stage study of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine. Pfizer has said the vaccine is safe and 95 percent effective in adults. Now researchers want to determine how well it will work in adolescents and teenagers.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Police and the Public Are Likely to Respond to Newsom's Curfew OrderGovernor Gavin Newsom is imposing an overnight curfew as California tries to head off a surge in coronavirus cases. California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly says the limited stay-at-home order is being implemented in 41 counties.Guest: Scott Rodd, CapRadio New Report Shows State Employment Agency Left People Vulnerable to Identity TheftThe report says E.D.D. has sent at least 38 million pieces of mail containing Social Security numbers since the start of the pandemic. The problem persists even though the state auditor asked the agency to remove this information from many of these documents a year and a half ago. Reporter: Mary Franklin Harvin, The California ReportNew Rules Aim to Protect California Workers from COVID-19The emergency standard approved unanimously by the board that oversees Cal OSHA standards requires employers to implement cleaning protocols, investigate and respond to positive COVID cases in the workplace, and provide testing in cases of outbreak. Reporter: Alex Hall, KQED Prison Officials Defend Transferring Inmates Leaving State Prisons to ICEState law currently restricts local law enforcement from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But inmates leaving state prisons are excluded from those protections. Prison officials are defending that policy. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Salton Sea Could Get Funding BoostCoachella congressman Raul Ruiz introduced a bill this week which seeks to hold the federal government financially accountable for restoring and cleaning up California’s Largest Lake. Reporter: Megan Jamerson, KVCR The California Report Magazine Preview: Sounds of Boyle HeightsA new musical project spearheaded by the Alliance for California Traditional Arts tells the story of Boyle Heights. The immigrant neighborhood is quickly gentrifying. “Sounds of Boyle Heights” is featured on this week’s California Report Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices