KQED's The California Report

Unemployment in California Climbs to 15% There are new unemployment figures out this morning from the U.S. Department of Labor showing unemployment in California in April climbed to 15.5 %. But for a lot of people who are newly jobless, filing for unemployment benefits has been difficult because of the crush of applications. State elected officials also expressed frustration at a legislative heari...

Pastors Want To Resume In-Person Religious Services More than 1,200 California pastors are vowing to hold religious services on May 31st, Pentecost Sunday. That would be in defiance of a state moratorium on religious services put into place to help halt the spread of the coronavirus. One pastor explains what it's like to shut down his house of worship at a time when people's needs, both spiritual...

U.S. Justice Department Warns State Not To Violate Religious Freedoms Are measures put into place to protect Californians from the coronavirus also stepping on religious freedoms? In a letter sent to Governor Gavin Newsom, the U.S. Justice Department warns that keeping houses of worship closed might violate constitutional rights. Over One Million Undocumented Californians Seek Financial Relief Thi...

Newsom Changes Qualifications for Next Phase of Reopening The vast majority of counties in the Golden State can start easing pandemic restrictions and reopening their economies, says Governor Gavin Newsom. This despite the fact that there are more than 80,000 confirmed coronavirus infections in the Golden State and more than 3,200 Californians have died from COVID-19. Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQED...

Undocumented Californians Get Access to Financial Help Starting Monday, undocumented Californians affected by the pandemic can get financial assistance through a 125 million dollar fund set up by the state and philanthropic groups. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Hospitals Ask for State Funds for Fall COVID-19 Wave California hospitals are disappointed that Governor Gavin Newsom’s new state...

Coronavirus Pandemic Decimates State Budget State lawmakers there are looking at painful cuts to the state budget. Governor Gavin Newsom has projected a somber picture in his revised budget proposal for the state post-coronavirus. Reporter: Katie Orr, KQED Politics California's Schools Face Deep Budget Cuts Just as schools across the state gear up to reopen, they’re facing deep budget cuts. Govern...

California AG Sues Federal EPA Over Regulation Relaxation California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is once again suing the federal Environmental Protection Agency.... this time for saying they'll suspend enforcement of some environmental requirements during the coronavirus pandemic. Reporter: Kate Wolffe, KQED COVID-19 Hits State Women's Prison The state Department of Corrections has announced a...

COVID-19 Outbreak Hits Turlock Nursing Home Fourteen residents of a nursing facility have died of COVID-19 in Stanislaus County, at the Turlock Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. It's one of the deadliest outbreaks at a skilled nursing facilities in Northern California. Reporter: Kate Wolffe, KQED LA Residents Set To Shelter-in-Place Through July Los Angeles has become the epicenter of the coronav...

900+ Inmates Test Positive for COVID-19 at Lompoc Prison The largest cluster of coronavirus cases in the entire federal prison system is centered at the prison complex in Lompoc along California’s Central Coast. More than 900 inmates there have now tested positive for COVID-19. That’s more than three-quarters of the prison's population of inmates. Reporter: Matt Guilhem, KCRW Newsom Defends Mask D...

Tourism in Southern California Expects Big Hit The coronavirus has brought the travel and hospitality industries to a standstill. People aren’t flying, hotels are empty, and bars and restaurants are barely getting by with takeout service. A forecast commissioned by the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board expects the city to lose billions of dollars and millions of visitors. Reporter: Matt Gui...

Newsom: Some Retailers Can Re-Open Nearly two months after many California businesses shut their doors to slow the spread of the coronavirus, some retailers and manufacturers are re-opening… just a little bit... starting today. Reporter: Guy Marzorati, KQED Mom-and-Pop Shops Prepare to Re-Open at LA's Flower Mart Small shops prepare for a partial reopening and hope they can make enough sales to st...

With Revenues Down, California's Budget Outlook is Bleak Less than an hour ago, the state of California released a snapshot of what the coronavirus pandemic has done to the state’s finances. And the numbers are bad. Surging unemployment and business closures mean the state is projecting a drop of more than 25 percent in both personal income tax and sales tax revenues, and a more than 20 percent de...

California, City Attorneys Sue Uber and Lyft Over Worker Misclassification The state of California and some cities are suing Uber and Lyft for misclassifying their drivers as contractors and denying them access to employee benefits like unemployment insurance, which is especially needed during the pandemic. Reporter: Sam Harnett, KQED Advocates Call For Prisoner Release As Inmate Cases Grow More t...

Newsom Says Business Can Reopen, A Little Bit Governor Gavin Newsom announcing that the Golden State can start to reopen, at least a little bit, beginning as soon as Friday. State Finances Take Hit from Coronavirus This crisis has taken a huge bite out of state tax revenue... just as the demand for California’s social safety programs is skyrocketing. All those people in need put extra pressure on...

State Assembly Heads Back to Work After Emergency Recess State legislators are returning to Sacramento today after leaving for an emergency recess in March because of the coronavirus crisis. Guest: Anthony Rendon, California Assembly Speaker State's First Election During Pandemic Heats Up North of LA The first election during California's COVID-19 crisis is next Tuesday. Voters north of Los Angele...

As Economy Stalls, California Renters Organize for Relief It’s the first of the month. Which means rent is due. But with the COVID-19 pandemic gutting parts of the economy, a lot of California renters can’t pay it. KQED’s Molly Solomon reports advocates have organized a “rent strike” in hopes of winning support for rent relief on a massive scale. Reporter: Molly Solomon, KQED Surf's Up, But Some S...

PG&E 'Cheated on Maintenance,' Judge Writes — Then Orders New Probation Conditions We’ll start a San Francisco federal judge’s order to require Pacific Gas and Electric to take a series of steps to improve its safety practices and head off future disasters. Reporter: Raquel Maria Dillon, KQED Fire Victims Vote on PG&E Settlement, But What’s The Plan? As tens of thousands of PG&E fire victims vote...

California's Finances Will Take A major Hit From Coronavirus It’s too early to tell just how hard the COVID-19 pandemic will hit California’s finances. The state official in charge of signing the checks issued by California is keeping a close eye on the revenues coming into the state’s coffers. Reporter: Scott Shafer, KQED Governor Newsom May Open Schools This Summer Concerned about California stu...

Emergency Room Doctors Have Coronavirus Homework Turns out it’s not just the risk of infection and the long hours that makes being an hospital Emergency Room staffer draining right now. Treating COVID-19 comes with homework. Once doctors finish their shifts, they still have to try and catch up on the latest coronavirus research. Following the latest medical literature about coronavirus is exhausti...

The Feds' Help for Small Businesses: Did California Get a Fair Share? We’ve been hearing growing calls from elected officials for a phased, responsible re-opening of California, just parts of it, for now. They’re coming from the conservative northern parts of the state, and in San Luis Obispo County along the Central Coast. These politicians are asking Governor Gavin Newsom to sign off on a gradua...

Nursing Home Workers' Union Calls for Better PPE In the community of Yucaipa in San Bernardino County, 20 people have died from coronavirus — 18 of them from a single skilled nursing facility. At Cedar Mountain Post Acute Rehabilitation, more than a hundred staff and residents have also tested positive for COVID-19. It’s just one startling example of how the coronavirus has ravaged such facilities...

Gov. Newsom Talks Coronavirus Testing Governor Gavin Newsom says California is making big strides in its push to ramp up COVID-19 testing, but he isn’t committing to a date for reopening the state just yet. Reporter: Marisa Lagos, KQED Politics Worker Tests Positive at Foster Farms Plant Employees at a Foster Farms plant in the Central Valley are worried about their health… now that one of their c...

First Known Coronavirus Death Weeks Earlier Than Previously Thought The first confirmed deaths from the novel coronavirus in the United States look like they took place in Santa Clara County, more than a month earlier than initially thought and reported. Reporter: Kate Wolffe, KQED PG&E's CEO Steps Down The CEO of embattled utility Pacific Gas and Electric is stepping down. The utility's plan for...

Research Shows More People Had Coronavirus Than Previously Thought What if far more people are infected with coronavirus than previously thought? A preliminary study that tested more than 800 adults in L.A. County for COVID-19 antibodies suggests that’s the case. Those antibodies indicate someone’s been exposed to the virus. Reporter: Robert Garrova, KPCC Legislators Want More Oversight of Pandemi...

Cities and Counties Brace for Budget Cuts Due to Coronavirus Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti gave a sobering warning in his State of teh City address Sunday. Because of cratering municipal revenue during the coronavirus shutdown, the city plans to enact furlough days for thousands of employees and make painful cuts to municipal services. L.A. is just the biggest example of how California’s 482 cit...