State Health Department Blasted Over Nursing Home Oversight

By Jocelyn Wiener, CalMatters

At an emotional legislative hearing Tuesday, lawmakers and critics subjected the Newsom administration to blistering questions about the state’s oversight of nursing homes.

Assemblymember Jim Wood, a Santa Rosa Democrat who chairs the Assembly Health Committee, questioned the state’s lack of urgency in addressing licensing concerns.

“Where is the proactive, patient centered, public safety approach here?” he asked Cassie Dunham, an acting deputy director of the California Department of Public Health. “Where is that? 

“Because I don’t feel it right now. And yet here we are. Here we sit,” he said. “We have to wait for news articles. We have to wait for people to die.”

Democratic Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi of Los Angeles, who introduced legislation earlier this year to address some of these issues, also grilled Dunham about the department’s performance in caring for California’s most vulnerable residents..

 “What I’m hearing is a lengthy history, that goes back decades, of the Department of Public Health failing to crack down on bad actors who are gaming the system,” he said.

The tense hearing touched on the department’s staffing levels and on nursing homes’ financial practices, issues which elder care advocates and legislators have raised for years and have triggered similar hearings.

“I struggle to accept the premise that nursing homes are underfunded when their owners are living in homes that are sometimes worth $11 million dollars,” said Kim Valentine, an Orange County attorney who has spent more than 20 years working on cases of elder abuse in nursing homes, in her testimony.

“I am petrified to get old,” she added. “This disgraceful, broken system of senior living care is something that we all need to care about. Because this is our future.” 

Two officials of the embattled department acknowledged that some changes are needed but attempted to deflect criticism by pointing to the stresses of the COVID-19 crisis, which hit nursing homes especially hard.

“Throughout the (pandemic) response, the department’s absolute focus has been on saving lives,” said Dunham.

Much of the attention Tuesday was focused on longstanding licensing issues that CalMatters has documented extensively in recent months. The legislators repeatedly referenced reporting by CalMatters, which examined the state’s largest, for-profit nursing home owner, Shlomo Rechnitz of Los Angeles, and the unusual licensing decisions surrounding some of his homes. Lawmakers also cited work by KPCC and LAist, which looked at Crystal Solorzano, another controversial nursing home operator. 

A CalMatters investigation published April 6 revealed an opaque state licensing process plagued by indecision, confusion and yearslong delays. The report detailed how the state has permitted Rechnitz to operate facilities for years through a web of companies, despite license applications left in “pending” status — and some that were formally denied.

A subsequent CalMatters story on Aug. 19 revealed that the department hadincorrectly listed Rechnitz as holding permanent licenses for two homes whose applications actually had been undecided. After advocates pointed out that mistake to department officials, they doubled down, admitting the error but refusing to take the licenses away.

This week, CalMatters reported that family members of residents who died as a result of a COVID-19 outbreak at Windsor Redding last fall are suing that facility for elder neglect and abuse, alleging that employees were forced to come into work while symptomatic with the virus, and that dozens of residents who fell ill were left isolated and neglected due to “extreme understaffing.” The complaint specifically refers to Rechnitz and his management companies as being an “unlicensed owner-operator” of the skilled nursing facility, since the state denied them a license in 2016.

Mark Johnson, an attorney for Rechnitz and one of his companies, Brius, has in the past expressed frustration in emailed statements to CalMatters about the state’s inconsistent approach to Brius homes. Johnson also has previously said that the facilities in “pending” status had licenses in good standing and were operated under an “interim management agreement,” which he described as “state approved.”

Tony Chicotel, a staff attorney at the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, referred to a “zombie nursing home licensing system,” which he described as “straight bananas.”

“Corrosive (Department of Public Health) inaction has created a system where operators with terrible track records take over nursing homes without approval,” he said. “What’s worse, when the state actually denies a license, it doesn’t really matter. The unfit operator can just keep operating.”

California State Auditor Elaine Howle also called out the department for being inconsistent in its licensing practices at Tuesday’s hearing.

Muratsuchi referred to the Windsor Redding lawsuit repeatedly during the hearing, at one point asking Howle: “Does it make sense to you that a nursing home can continue to operate when the owner’s application for a license has been denied five years ago?”

Howle in 2018 published an audit criticizing state nursing home oversight, saying that licensing lapses by the California Department of Public Health increased the risk that residents may not receive adequate care. 

In response to Muratsuchi’s question, Howle said: “​​I don’t have that authority and that expertise. But if I had a loved one, I would be very concerned about having one of my family members in a facility like that. I would not do it.”

Muratsuchi posed the same question to Dunham of the Department of Public Health, quizzing her on how it was possible that someone with a “documented history of violations” isn’t automatically barred from continuing to own and operate nursing homes in California.

The complaint against Windsor Redding lists 142 violations substantiated by investigators including neglect, abuse, staffing and infection control issues between January 2018 and June 2021. In November 2020, the federal government fined the facility $152,000 as a result of the inspections.

n response to Muratsuchi’s question, Dunham echoed a response given to CalMatters earlier this year: Ownership applications are decided in a case by case, ‘point-in-time process,” she explained, noting that applicants’ track records may change.

“Operators may improve in their performance, operators may decline in their performance,” she said.

Muratsuchi said it was clear that laws “desperately need to be revised and changed.” 

His bill, AB 1502, would forbid using management agreements  to “circumvent state licensure requirements” and would require owners and operators to get approval from the state Department of Public Health before acquiring, operating or managing a nursing home.

The bill stalled in the Assembly Health Committee, where Tuesday’s hearing took place, and is not expected to be heard until next year. Wood, the committee chair, said in the spring that he believed the issue would require a lot of staff time to gather data and communicate with various state agencies, and that he wanted to make sure the California Department of Public Health and the Newsom administration were on board.

Craig Cornett, CEO and president of the California Association of Health Facilities, an industry group, said Tuesday that “substantial improvements” could be made in how the department handles licensing decisions. He expressed pride in the work of nursing home staff, especially in light of the pandemic, and said the state’s nursing homes are very highly ranked in many measures of quality. But he also noted that the industry faces “a severe workforce shortage.”

Cornett expressed frustration about long licensing delays and high licensing fees. But he said his organization opposed Muratsuchi’s bill as being punitive, “rather than addressing the fundamental problems with the process.”

The Department of Public Health has a wide range of responsibilities surrounding nursing homes; its execution of several of those was criticized Tuesday. In addition to licensing, the department is responsible for routinely inspecting the state’s 1,215 nursing homes to ensure they are meeting federal standards. It also conducts complaint investigations and can cite facilities for violating federal or state rules, and levy fines.

The hearing comes at a pivotal time. The industry is reckoning with the devastating impacts of the past 18 months, during which 9,243 California nursing home residents died of COVID-19, along with 249 healthcare workers. That data comes from the state’s Department of Public Health; some advocates and lawyers for nursing home residents say they suspect it is an undercount.

The department has been reticent to speak to CalMatters about licensing issues, refusing to put any officials on the phone. But at the hearing, legislators repeatedly called department officials to account.

“COVID cannot be an excuse to not do better,” Wood said. “We don’t need excuses. We have to do more.”

A Year After a Jobs Bust, College Students Find a Boom

By Nelson D. Schwartz and Coral Murphy Marcos, The New York Times

Trevaughn Wright-Reynolds, a senior at Colby College in Maine, expected a lengthy job search when he returned to campus in August. “I wasn’t sure how much interest I was going to get,” he said. “I didn’t know what to think of the job market.”

It didn’t take him long to find out. By September, he was in the final round of interviews with several suitors, and on Oct. 1, Wright-Reynolds accepted a position with a proprietary trading firm in Chicago. “I didn’t think I would get an offer this quickly,” he said.

For many college students, the pandemic’s arrival last year did more than disrupt their studies, threaten their health and shut down campus life. It also closed off the usual paths that lead from the classroom to jobs after graduation. On-campus recruiting visits were abandoned, and the coronavirus-induced recession made companies pull back from hiring.

But this year, seniors and recent graduates are in great demand as white-collar employers staff up, with some job-seekers receiving multiple offers. University placement office directors and corporate human resources executives report that hiring is running well above last year’s levels, and in some cases surpasses pre-pandemic activity in 2019.

“The current market is great for employment,” said Lisa Noble, director of employer partnerships and emerging pathways at Colby. “There was a lot of trepidation for companies in 2020. People wanted to see how things would work out and were stalling.” Since June 1, Noble has had discussions with 428 employers, compared with 273 in the same period last year.

Much of the recruiting is taking place virtually, as are job fairs and even many internships. But the reliance on virtual platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams for interviews, job offers and eventually welcoming new hires aboard hasn’t dimmed enthusiasm among employers.

“The appetite for college labor is strong right now, whether it’s student positions, or part time, all the way through entry-level jobs,” said Jennifer Neef, director of the Career Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

That appetite at this stage of the pandemic — when overall U.S. employment remains more than 5 million jobs below the level in early 2020 — underscores the long-standing economic premium for those with a college education over holders of just a high school diploma.

The unemployment rate for all workers with a college degree stood at 2.8% in August, compared with 6% for high school graduates with no college. Among workers ages 22 to 27, the jobless rate in June was 6.2% for those with at least a bachelor’s degree and 9.6% for those without one, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

“We’ve seen a bifurcation in the labor market recovery,” said Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “College graduates were less affected by job losses and have seen a faster rebound, while people with high school diplomas or less witnessed a much more serious decline in employment opportunities during the COVID crisis.”

What’s more, the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus has been a one-two punch for those lacking a college degree, hitting the sectors they depend on the most, like restaurants and bars, hotels and retail businesses. By contrast, white-collar employers are thriving.

Office work can also be done remotely, a key advantage over face-to-face jobs dealing with consumers that frequently employ less-educated workers. In many cases, the new hires will rarely set foot at corporate headquarters, with orientation and full-time work mostly taking place online.

And the courtship rituals of recruiters haven’t changed, even if everything is done over the internet.

“It’s back to business as usual,” said Wendy Dziorney, global university hiring leader at HP Inc. The company plans to hire 315 graduates of the class of 2021 in the United States, compared with 126 from the class of 2020 and 210 in the class of 2019.

Fall marks the peak of the recruiting season on campus, with interviews and full-time offers for seniors, while internships beckon for sophomores and juniors.

“October is our busiest month,” said Jennifer Newbill, director of university recruitment at Dell Technologies. Her company has extended full-time offers to more than 1,300 graduates this year, up 60% from 2020.

Recruiters of students in the hottest majors — including engineering, computer sciences, accounting and economics — find themselves butting up against one another for the same candidates.

“I’ve been with the firm 26 years and I’ve never seen it this competitive,” said Rod Adams, talent acquisition and onboarding leader at PwC, the accounting and consulting firm. “It’s not just our direct competitors but also tech firms, big industry, banks and investment companies.”

For this year, PwC plans to extend offers for internships and full-time jobs to 12,000 people, up 15% to 20% from 2020 and 10% above 2019 levels. Like many employers, PwC is approaching students earlier and trying to get top candidates to make a commitment as soon as possible.

The interviewing process used to extend through November, but Adams hopes to get offers out by the middle of this month and to hear back from candidates by Thanksgiving. “We are moving faster, and the moment students set foot on campus, they start hearing from us,” Adams said.

PwC is using a hybrid approach to recruiting, with Adams and his team visiting a few campuses in person while contacting many more virtually. “It allows us to extend our reach,” he said.

In particular, the company has made an effort to pursue students from historically Black colleges and universities, recruiting from 35 of these institutions; five years ago, it recruited from seven.

The rise in campus hiring means more choices for some current students as well as belated help for the pandemic-hit class of 2020, said Annette McLaughlin, director of the Office of Career Services at Fordham University.

“Activity is up significantly from last year and is about 10% higher than it was before the pandemic,” she said. “It’s likely that students will get multiple offers and they will have to choose.”

The rebound is also benefiting recent Fordham graduates like Jonah Isaac, who finished school in May 2020, two months after the pandemic struck. Several companies withdrew offers and Isaac, a business administration major, spent a year interviewing for spots that never materialized until a Fordham alumnus helped him get a sales development job with Moody’s Analytics in June 2021.

“It was a huge hit for many students, and not getting anything was demoralizing,” said Isaac, a Chicago native who was a wide receiver on Fordham’s football team. “I’d get to the third or fourth interview, and they’d say, ‘Sorry, we’re going in another direction.’”

Members of the class of 2021 have had an easier time. Brittanie Rice, a Spelman College graduate, landed a job at Dell after working as an intern the summer before. “I felt lucky,” she said. “A lot of my friends had cancellations left and right, but my internship went on.”

Rice was a computer science major, an especially sought-after concentration for many big employers. But Newbill, the university recruitment director for Dell, said her company was also hiring students majoring in nontechnical fields — like philosophy and journalism — for sales positions. “Sales is about the personality, not the degree,” she said.

Still, graduates in STEM-related fields are having the most success.

Manuel Pérez, 23, is two months into his job as a data analyst at Accenture, which led him to move to Nashville, Tennessee, after graduating from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez.

Pérez, an information systems major, said he attended a virtual job fair last October and applied to work at Accenture after meeting with recruiters over Microsoft Teams. After three rounds of interviews, he received a job offer in March and started his position in the summer.

“I had other job offers, but they all wanted me to start immediately, and I wanted to graduate first,” said Pérez, from Camuy, Puerto Rico. “I feel the job demand has grown, with more people demanding better pay, in every sector from retail to white-collar jobs.”

Wright-Reynolds, the Colby senior, is studying statistics with a minor in computer sciences. A native of Medford, Massachusetts, he will start at the trading firm in Chicago in August.

“This was a great opportunity, and I couldn’t go wrong in accepting it,” he said. “I feel like a weight is off my shoulders. I have a lot more time to enjoy senior year.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Congressman Panetta Announces Farmworker Aid

ROYAL OAKS—Congressman Jimmy Panetta was on the Central Coast Thursday, touting two pandemic assistance programs he helped pass that will benefit agriculture workers and the industries that employ them.

The Pandemic Response and Safety (PRS) Grant Program will provide $650 million in grants to food processors, distributors, farmers markets and producers to respond to coronavirus, including for measures to protect workers against Covid-19. 

The Farm and Food Worker Relief Grant Program will provide $700 million in relief to farmworkers, meatpacking workers and front-line grocery workers for expenses incurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Throughout the pandemic, farmworkers continued to work very hard for our nation’s food security,” Panetta said during a tour of JSM Organics in Royal Oaks. “Unfortunately, that difficult work made them and their families extremely vulnerable to Covid-19. As Congress did its job during the pandemic to provide the necessary relief funding to our communities, it was my job to ensure that funding included protections for farmworkers. I’m proud to partner with the UFW Foundation and UDSA leadership today to announce the results of our work at the federal level with two grant programs that will provide protections to farmworkers at the local level.”

Panetta also spoke at the United Farm Workers Foundation in Salinas. 

The money is intended to defray costs for “reasonable and necessary personal, family, or living expenses related to the Covid-19 pandemic,” Panetta’s office stated in a press release. 

This includes costs for personal protective equipment, dependent care and expenses associated with quarantines and testing related to the pandemic.

Grant recipients will reimburse workers for up to $600 for expenses incurred. 

The money will be managed and dispersed through the United States Department of Agriculture.

“As the economy continues to gain strength after the Biden Administration’s historic vaccination and economic relief efforts, USDA is working with agricultural and food businesses to ensure they have the resources and tools to thrive in 2021 and beyond,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Financial relief to these essential producers, distributors, processors and other small agricultural businesses is a critical tool to get our food system back on track.”

The grants align with President Joe Biden’s efforts to revitalize the economy and provide relief to historically underserved communities, Panetta’s office said.


For information, visit usda.gov. To apply, visit usda-prs.grantsolutions.gov/usda.

Newsom Signs Laird’s Wildfire Mitigation Bill

In the wake of the CZU August Lightning Complex fires last year, State Sen. John Laird authored a bill that will require long-term wildfire mitigation planning from the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed the bill, which “codifies the task force that was already in place and gives it specific powers and direction,” says Laird.

The bill renamed the Forest Management Task Force to the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force. It requires the task force to create strategies for key goals, submit public annual progress reports and update the action plan every five years.

“I thought it was important to have a five-year or longer plan. And I thought it was important to have a transparent reporting system so we actually knew how many acres we met with these different goals every year,” says Laird.

The CZU Complex was a wake-up call in some ways. But Laird says the last five years or so, in general, have changed the way legislators think about fire.

“The issue has been that, for a great number of decades, fire policy in California was fire suppression,” says Laird. “And it is really understood that there needs to be more controlled fires and fuels management.”

That suppression combined with climate change means that fires now look different than they did in recent history. They’re hotter, bigger and faster. 

“I keep pointing out that the Paradise fire moved at 60 acres a minute,” says Laird. “60 acres a minute,” he repeats. “People could not outrun that fire.”

Supporting Local Efforts

The primary goal of the bill is prevention, which means different things in different areas. Population, climate and environment all affect fire management strategies. Laird expects the bill to result in grants to local agencies and on-the-ground organizations. 

David Reid, the director of the newly formed Santa Cruz County Office of Response, Recovery and Resilience, says the bill points the state in the right direction.

“What this legislation will do, hopefully, is give more energy and more financial support to the work that we’re starting to do [locally],” he says. 

Improving fire road access and building appropriate buffers to protect communities provide two starting points. In many of the surrounding state-owned lands, the bill could mean larger controlled burns or other fuel management methods.

Parks such as Nisene Marks, Henry Cowell and parts of unburned Fall Creek look similar to Big Basin before the fires, he says. More intensive fuel management could protect them.

Reid calls the CZU Complex an eye-opener. Until last summer, few of the state’s catastrophic fires had occurred in coastal redwood forests, he explains.

“None of us thought that redwood forests would burn as quickly and as intensely as they did last August,” he says. Characteristics that protected the areas in the past—thick bark and coastal fog, for example—might not do so now.

“Climate change is changing those dynamics. It’s drying up the fuels on the ground, and it’s creating conditions that could result in these kinds of fires in the future,” he says. 

“We are recognizing that we need to be more proactive.”

Groups like the Santa Cruz Mountains Stewardship Network are already working on strategies. The Long-Term Wildfire Mitigation Planning Bill, he hopes, will bolster those efforts. 

Changes to Accessory Dwelling Unit Rules Approved

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday amended the county’s rules governing accessory dwelling units (ADU), which county officials say were created to streamline the process for building them. 

Under the new rules, old ADUs can be demolished and rebuilt as long as the new construction sits on the same footprint as the previous ADU, also known as, among other things, granny flats and in-law units.

In addition, only property owners or their relatives may apply to build ADUs.

The rules also place a series of six objective standards for the appearance of new ADUs that are visible from public roads or public areas, the intent of which is to make the ADUs consistent with the look of the primary structure on the property.

Applicants are required to choose any three of the standards, which include roof pitch, roof material, siding or color, window and door trim, fencing or landscaping and facade items such as porches and bay windows.

“This menu approach allows applicants to address various situations where it may not be appropriate for an ADU to exactly match the design of a primary dwelling,” said Daisy Allen, a planner with the Santa Cruz County Planning Department. 

Allen added that the changes are consistent with state rules and as such will make it more likely the California Coastal Commission will approve them later this month.

The rules also include discretionary approval requirements for ADUs built in parks and recreation districts, and timber production areas.

The changes passed 4-1, with Supervisor Manu Koenig dissenting. 

Koenig, who said he would address housing issues when he was running for the District 1 seat in 2020, called the changes “half-measures” and said that the standards governing the appearance of ADUs will rule out factory-made and “prefab” units, which may look different than the primary dwelling.

He also objected to the requirement that only property owners can build ADUs. 

“We should be allowing everyone to do that, not just owners who live on the site,” Koenig said. “What about people who are currently renting a home?”

Koenig added that allowing investors to build ADUs could be a way to quickly add to the county’s housing stock.

“Just about all housing is made possible by investors, and we should not cut them out of the equation,” he said. 

“We are in a deep, deep hole when it comes to housing, and with these changes, we’re just going to hand our community a teaspoon,” he added. “We need to hand them a shovel to get everyone involved digging ourselves out of the hole we are in and provide more housing for Santa Cruz County.”

Koenig made a motion to eliminate design review for ADUs and eliminate the owner-occupancy requirement, but the motion died for lack of a second.

The changes to the County’s ADU rules came after several public meetings by the Housing Advisory Commission and the Planning Commission.

Supervisor Zach Friend praised the planning department for the new rules and called them “an absolutely essential tool for affordable housing.”

“It seems a very reasonable approach you came up with to ensure that this continues to extend the ability to construct ADUs without also creating additional challenges moving forward,” he said.

Open Farm Tours to Return this Weekend

PAJARO VALLEY—Open Farm Tours returns this Saturday and Sunday to the greater Pajaro Valley, with eight local farms participating in two days of events. 

Originally started in 2014 as the Corralitos Open Farm Tour, the event has continued to grow and add more farms from the surrounding regions. Its aim is to connect residents with farms and teach them about where and how their food is grown. 

Karell and Phil Reader own Luz Del Valle Farm, a multi-generational farm in Pleasant Valley that has been growing apples since 1880. Karell Reader said they have been constant supporters of Open Farm Tours for years.

“OFT is when we get to showcase not only our wonderful apples, but our message and philosophy,” she said. “Our regular U-Pick days focus on customers … OFT has a real educational aspect.”

All 2021 farms are family-owned, implement sustainable agriculture practices and grow organically. This year’s event will focus on how these farms are adapting to the realities of climate change and other ongoing environmental and health challenges, in the wake of Covid-19.

“Our industrial food system has really separated us from our food,” said Penny Ellis, a founder and organizer of OFT. “Generations are growing up now without a lot of knowledge, unless they have immediate access to farms and gardens. We want to promote the importance of that… of learning to look at the earth as a living organism.”

Added Reader: “It’s part of our mission to share how important it is to farm responsibly and sustainably. To show people that even they could do it, in their backyard gardens.”

With the exception of Paicines Ranch in San Benito County, all farms on the tour are in Santa Cruz County within a 10-mile radius of each other. Guests are invited to come to meet the farmers, learn about local food production and take tours of the properties.

Each farm will have its own scheduled activities, including guided and self-guided tours, various demonstrations, wine tasting, U-picks, product sales, appetizers and more. 

At Luz Del Valle, guests can enjoy a self-guided tour of the orchard and historic barn, fresh apple juice picking, a U-Pick and a visit with the farm’s resident Arabian horses. 

“Our horses … they’ve become a highlight of our entire operation,” Reader said.

Similar to last year, all activities scheduled for 2021 will be for small groups that require online pre-registration and ticketing through Eventbrite. All proceeds will go directly to the farms.

A number of tours are already sold out, said Ellis, but some are still available—including Whisky Hill Farms, where people can tour a regenerative farm growing unique crops such as wasabi.

Tour activities are outdoors and socially distanced, however, all guests are requested to bring a mask.

Participating farms include Thomas Farm, Luz Del Valle Farm, Terra Sole Nursery, Paicines Ranch, Storrs Winery, Fruitlicious Farm, Live Earth Farm, and Whiskey Hill Farm. 

In addition, OFT is scheduling a special 21+ tour on Monday. The Cannabis Farm Tour will take place at Bird Valley Organics and Lifted Organics Farms.

“Cannabis has become a pretty big agricultural presence in our community,” Ellis said. “We think it’s important to connect people with those farms as well.”


To register for this year’s OFT, and for directions and tour details visit openfarmtours.com. For information about the Cannabis Farm Tour visit the website’s Events page.

Santa Cruz Warriors to Host Home Game at Chase Center

SANTA CRUZ—The Santa Cruz Warriors will get a chance to play this season at the Chase Center in San Francisco for the first time since the arena opened two years ago. 

The team announced Tuesday that they will play the NBA G League Ignite on March 13 at 3pm. The first 10,000 fans will receive a Stephen Curry Birthday Bobblehead on the eve of the two-time MVP’s birthday. 

Santa Cruz was supposed to host the Austin Spurs at the Chase Center last year on March 14, but that game was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Warriors hold a 1-2 record in games played on Golden State’s home court. They have also drawn crowds of more than 14,000 fans to the Oracle Arena, including a then new single-game NBA G League attendance record in February 2017 with a crowd of 17,497 in attendance. 

In the Ignite’s second year, the team will feature two players in the ESPN top 10 recruiting class of 2021 that includes No. 2-ranked Jaden Hardy and No. 9 Michael Foster Jr. 

Last year’s Ignite squad featured three players in the 2021 NBA Draft, with two being drafted in the top 10—Jalen Green at No. 2 to the Houston Rockets and Jonathan Kuminga drafted by Golden State at No. 7 overall.

The Chase Center will continue to comply with all health and safety protocols regarding the venue’s entry requirements, as mandated by the City and County of San Francisco Department of Public Health. Updated event entry guidelines will be provided closer to the event.

The Warriors and Ignite have two games scheduled in the first half of the season on Nov. 26 and Dec. 17 at Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz. Tickets for those games are on sale now on the team’s website at www.santacruzbasketball.com.

Cabrillo Receives $5 Million Grant for STEM Education

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—Cabrillo College has been awarded a five-year, $5 Million U.S. Department of Education Title III grant, meant for STEM programs at federally-designated Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI).

To receive the HSI designation, at least a quarter of a college’s student body must be Hispanic. Today Hispanic students represent 46% of Cabrillo enrollment. This past spring, the school reached a historic milestone of 50% of its graduating class being Latinx.

The grant, titled Advancing in College & Career pathways to Expand STEM Opportunities (ACCESO), is designed to increase access to education and careers in STEM, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics, fields for Latinx and/or low-income students.

The project has identified three goals to address institutional education gaps, and create opportunities that Cabrillo hopes to sustain beyond the life of the grant:

  • Increasing access to STEM education through outreach
  • Developing a biotechnology career pathway at Cabrillo
  • Providing integrated academic and transfer support

The Title III grant program, also known as the Strengthening Institutions Program, is designed to help higher education institutions expand their capacity to serve at-risk students. Cabrillo has received two other Title III awards, which are available every five years. 

Dr. Marina Ramon, STEM Project Director at Cabrillo, said that faculty and staff worked together for the past year in advance of the new grant cycle, looking at data and pinpointing specific gaps that needed to be addressed.

“This grant builds on what we’ve been trying to do for the last 10 years,” Ramon said. “The last two grants increased our low-income and Latino students into STEM, and we want to continue that.”

Ramon, who received her Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from UC Santa Cruz, said breaking down barriers to higher education and careers is “continuous work.”

“The entire educational institution was not meant for our current batch of students,” she said. “For so long there was a specific type of student going to college. That is not our student body now. We must be making sure we make it more accessible and be more supportive. It is so important to diversify our STEM fields.”

The grant will provide STEM outreach to K-12 students in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, specifically high school juniors and seniors. It will fund the development of dual-enrollment math courses, something Ramon said is vital for student success.

“One of the gaps we noticed was math,” Ramon said. “We’ve had students coming in who need a lot more support, who haven’t taken a math course in years.”

The grant will also help Cabrillo develop courses for a new Associate of Science Degree in Biotechnology, connecting students with opportunities in biotech and STEM to inspire them to pursue careers. This includes updating lab spaces and making them more accessible to South County students.

In addition, the grant will help secure course alignment and agreements with universities, including UC Santa Cruz, San José State University and UC Davis.

Prospected outcomes of the grant, to be achieved by September 2026, include increasing Cabrillo’s STEM enrollment by at least 8% among Latinx and low-income students, increasing the persistence rate of students in STEM disciplines by 10% and increasing their transfer rate by 12%.

Pfizer Asks FDA to Authorize Vaccine for Children 5 to 11

By Sharon LaFraniere and Noah Weiland, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Pfizer and BioNTech said Thursday morning that they had asked federal regulators to authorize emergency use of their coronavirus vaccine for children ages 5 to 11, a move that could help protect more than 28 million people in the United States.

The companies have said they were submitting data supporting the change to the Food and Drug Administration. The agency has promised to move quickly on the request and has tentatively scheduled a meeting Oct. 26 to consider it. A ruling is expected between Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Parents across the United States are anxiously awaiting the regulators’ decision, which could affect family life and the operation of schools. Clearance depends not only on the strength of the clinical trial data, but on whether they can prove to regulators that they are able to properly manufacture a new pediatric formulation.

Dr. Janet Woodcock, the acting FDA commissioner, said last week that children might require “a different dosage or formulation from that used in an older pediatric population or adults.”

Pfizer has proposed giving children one-third of the adult dosage. That might require adding more diluent to each injection or using a different vial or syringe. The company was expected to describe the method it intended to use in its FDA submission.

Regulators will have to examine the purity and stability of mass-manufactured doses of the vaccine and determine that it matches the quality and potency of doses given to children in clinical trials. A pediatric dose will also most likely require new labeling, with special codes that would allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track specific lots in case of reports of serious side effects.

Children rarely become severely ill from COVID-19, but the delta variant drove nearly 30,000 of them to hospitals in August. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, nearly 5.9 million Americans younger than 18 have been infected with the coronavirus. Of the roughly 500 Americans under 18 who have died, about 125 were children ages 5 to 11.

“It really bothers me when people say kids don’t die of COVID,” said Dr. Grace Lee, an associate chief medical officer at Stanford Children’s Health who also leads a key advisory committee to the CDC. “They die of COVID. It’s heartbreaking.”

About 1 in 6 Americans infected since the beginning of the pandemic was younger than 18. But with the surge of the delta variant, children accounted for as many as 1 in 4 infections last month, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The FDA authorized emergency use of Pfizer’s vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds in May.

The infection rate in the United States is currently falling, prompting hope that the delta variant is ebbing. But public health experts worry that the onset of colder weather could result in increased transmission.

Although federal regulators are under enormous pressure to quickly review Pfizer’s application, they also face other pressing decisions. Next week, they might rule on whether people who received the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines should receive booster shots, both potentially contentious decisions.

Public health experts have said that the agency’s review of a Pfizer pediatric dose would be closely scrutinized. According to a recent survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, roughly a third of parents of children between ages 5 and 11 said they would wait and see before allowing their children to receive such a shot.

Dr. Walt A. Orenstein, an epidemiologist at Emory University and a former director of the U.S. immunization program, said that given the competing pressures on the FDA to make vaccine decisions quickly but carefully, public discussion was essential.

He said many parents were wavering between fear of COVID-19 and fear of side effects of a pediatric vaccine. If they were less worried about the consequences of coronavirus infection, he said, safety would be their top priority. If they were more worried, the vaccine’s effectiveness would matter more. As with other vaccines, Orenstein said, pediatricians would play a critical role in easing parental anxiety.

Pfizer’s clinical trial for children was not intended to draw meaningful conclusions about the vaccine’s ability to prevent disease or hospitalizations. Instead, researchers looked at antibody levels, comparing them with levels in adults that had conferred high protection. Regulators are expected to compare those immune responses to vaccine efficacy data in the adult population.

The trial included 2,268 children, two-thirds of whom had received two doses of the vaccine three weeks apart. The remaining volunteers were injected with two doses of saltwater placebo. Regulators over the summer asked for the trial size to be expanded to 3,000 children.

At a virtual panel on COVID-19 last week, Norman Baylor, the former director of the FDA’s vaccines office, said that the number of participants in Pfizer pediatric study was noticeably small. The adult trial involved about 44,000 people.

“It does beg the question of the size, given what we have for the adults: Would one expect more for the pediatric population?” he said. “They may be thinking, ‘Well, we know the vaccine is safe, because look at how many people we had in the adults.’ But as we know, things may shift in that pediatric population.”

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been tied to increased risks of myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle; and pericarditis, inflammation of the lining around the heart, particularly in younger men. In August, the FDA published results from an analysis of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine that used a U.S. health care claims database and found that the risk of the conditions in 16- and 17-year-old vaccinated boys could be as high as 1 in 5,000.

The cases in the database were unconfirmed, but they were considered a reasonable estimate of possible risk, the agency wrote.

A lower dose of the vaccine for children could alleviate those concerns.

Officials in a number of countries have recommended a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 12 and older, which would provide partial protection from the virus, but without the potential effects occasionally observed after two doses. Sweden and Denmark joined those countries, announcing Wednesday that adolescents should get only one dose of the Moderna vaccine.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Things To Do in Santa Cruz: Oct. 6-12

A weekly guide to what’s happening

ARTS AND MUSIC

BANFF CENTRE MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL VIRTUAL FESTIVAL From the comfort of your living room, travel to the most remote corners of the world, dive into daring expeditions and celebrate some of the most remarkable outdoor achievements. Films are available for purchase individually or bundled. Banff will also screen a mixed program of award winners from the 2020, 2019 and 2018 Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festivals. Just announced: The Encore Classic Films from the past 10 years—audience favorites. Screening until Oct. 24. For more information about the online programs and supporting local screenings, visit riotheatre.com.

SHEDM: THE FEMALE CREATORS OF DANCE MUSIC Sundays: DJs are mixing in the darkest bass beats by our favorite female and LGBT producers. Don’t miss out. Guest DJs every week. Motiv nightclub is open and fully remodeled—there are all-new bathrooms and state-of-the-art dance floor lights. Add to your calendar: facebook.com/events/3008160246139834. Sunday, Oct. 10, 9pm. Motiv, 1209 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz.

COMMUNITY

BOOKSHOP SANTA CRUZ PRESENTS: GARY PAULSEN’S HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DAD Bookshop Santa Cruz is delighted to welcome acclaimed and bestselling author Gary Paulsen (Hatchet) for a virtual event celebrating his new middle grade novel, “How to Train Your Dad.” Paulsen will be in conversation with writer Dan Gemeinhart (“The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise”). For more information visit bookshopsantacruz.com/gary-paulsen. Thursday, Oct. 7, 6pm. 

CUÉNTAME UN CUENTO Acompáñanos para una hora de cuentos, actividades y canciones en español. Este programa es para niños de 0-8 y sus familias. La hora será miércoles a las 4:30pm. Nos reuniremos en el porche exterior. Cuéntame un Cuento se llevará a cabo en Capitola durante el período de construcción de Live Oak. En caso de mal clima, se cancelará la hora de cuentos. The Spanish Storytime, activities and music is for kids 0-8 years old, and their families. Storytime takes place at 4:30pm on Wednesday on the outside porch; it also takes place in Capitola during Live Oak’s construction period. Storytime is canceled if it rains. Wednesday, Oct. 6, 4:30pm. Capitola Library A Santa Cruz City County Public Library Branch, 2005 Wharf Road, Capitola.

DOWNTOWN SANTA CRUZ ANTIQUE FAIRE The Santa Cruz Antique Faire is on the second Sunday of every month. Vendors offer an eclectic blend of antiques and unique items, vintage clothing, collectibles, LPs, clothing, furniture, memorabilia, home decor and more. Sunday, Oct. 10, 9am-5pm. Downtown Santa Cruz Antique Faire, Lincoln St. between Pacific St. and Cedar St., Santa Cruz.

FELTON TODDLER TIME Join Librarian Julie on the beautiful Felton patio for Toddler Time. Toddler Time is a weekly early literacy program for families with children ages 0-3 years old. Music, movement, stories, fingerplays, rhymes and songs are fun ways for children to learn. Play and learn together. Bring something to sit on. Adults are required to wear masks. Every week. Wednesday, Oct. 6, 11am. Felton Branch Library (NEW), 6121 Gushee St., Felton.

GREY BEARS BROWN BAG LINE Grey Bears are looking for help with their brown bag production line on Thursday and Friday mornings. Volunteers will receive breakfast and a bag of food if wanted. Be at the warehouse with a mask and gloves at 7am. Call ahead for more information: 831-479-1055, greybears.org. Thursday, Oct. 7, 7am. California Grey Bears, 2710 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz.

JAVASCRIPT CODING This program will follow the curriculum from Khan Academy called “Intro to JS: Drawing & Animation.” It covers fundamental ideas of computer science, and helps students learn JavaScript, one of the most popular programming languages. The curriculum has 18 modules, each with a few videos, short readings and hands-on activities. Students are free to work at their own pace; an advanced Khan Academy course is available for students who move quickly. Prior programming experience is not required. Class is open to students 8-18 years old. For more information, please contact Julie Soto at so***@sa*********.org; registration required. Thursday, Oct. 7, 3pm. 

KNITTING AT THE FELTON LIBRARY Join us every Monday afternoon at the Felton Branch for a knitting party. All you need to do is bring some yarn and knitting needles. All ages are welcome. Monday, Oct. 11, 12:30pm. Felton Branch Library, 6121 Gushee St., Felton.

LA SELVA BEACH PRESCHOOL STORYTIME Read books, sing songs and use rhythm and movement. This event is suitable for children ages 3-6 years. There will be an arts and crafts project to take home. Held outside on the back patio, so bring something to sit on and dress for the weather. Masks are required. Repeats weekly. Tuesday, Oct. 12, 11am. La Selva Beach Branch Library, 316 Estrella Ave., La Selva Beach.

PRESCHOOL STORYTIME IN THE SECRET GARDEN Share stories, songs and rhymes in a safe environment. This 30-40 minute program is intended for children aged 2-6. Do-it-yourself craft kits provided every week. Every other week features STEM-related stories and concepts. Tuesday, Oct. 12, 11am. Abbott Square, 118 Cooper St., Santa Cruz.

PRESCHOOL STORYTIME ON THE FELTON PATIO Preschool Storytime is a weekly early literacy program for children ages 3-5 years old and their caregivers. Music, movement, stories, fingerplays, rhymes and songs are fun ways for children to learn. Play and learn together! Bring something to sit on. Adults and children ages 3 and up are required to wear masks. Repeats weekly. Thursday, Oct. 7, 11am. Felton Branch Library, 6121 Gushee St., Felton.

WORK THAT RECONNECTS WEEKEND Build motivation, connection, solidarity and vision. Renew the courage to act for the healing of our world. In these times of climate chaos, rampant inequality, systemic racism and other daily catastrophes, there is a tension between our desire to take urgent action and our need to process reality on a deeper level. Through reconnection with ourselves and others, and acknowledging the reality of these times, we can find hope and the courage to continue. The “Work that Reconnects” is both a process for transforming our despair into purposeful action, as well as nourishment to continue. Through a series of creative and experiential exercises, the program opens space for radical truth-speaking and personal and collective empowerment. Drawing on deep ecology, systems theory and spiritual traditions, this open-source body of work is rooted in the teachings and experiential methods of Joanna Macy. Saturday, Oct. 9, 9am. Santa Cruz Permaculture, 343 Soquel Ave. #185, Santa Cruz.

GROUPS

COMMUNITY PILATES MAT CLASS The popular in-person community Pilates Mat Class in the big auditorium at Temple Beth El in Aptos is in session once again. Please bring your own mat, small Pilates ball and Theraband if you have one. You must be vaccinated for this indoor class. Suggested donation of $10/class. Thursday, Oct. 7, 10am. Tuesday, Oct. 12, 10am. Temple Beth El, 3055 Porter Gulch Road, Aptos.

ENTRE NOSOTRAS GRUPO DE APOYO Entre Nosotras support group for Spanish speaking women with a cancer diagnosis. Meets twice monthly. Registration required, please call Entre Nosotras 831-761-3973. Friday, Oct. 8, 6pm. WomenCARE, 2901 Park Ave., Suite A1, Soquel.

S+LAA MENS’ MEETING Having trouble with compulsive sexual or emotional behavior? Recovery is possible. Our small 12-step group meets Saturday evenings. Enter through the front entrance, go straight down the hallway to the last door on the right. Thursday, Oct. 7, 6pm. Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center, 2900 Chanticleer Ave., Santa Cruz.

WOMENCARE ARM-IN-ARM WomenCARE Arm-in-Arm Cancer support group for women with advanced, recurrent, or metastatic cancer. Meets every Monday at WomenCARE’s office. Currently on Zoom. Registration is required, call WomenCARE at 831-457-2273. All services are free. For more information visit womencaresantacruz.org. Monday, Oct. 11, 12:30pm. WomenCARE, 2901 Park Ave., Suite A1, Soquel.

WOMENCARE TUESDAY SUPPORT GROUP WomenCARE Tuesday Cancer support group for women newly diagnosed and through their treatment. Meets every Tuesday currently on Zoom. Registration required, call WomenCARE 831-457-2273. Tuesday, Oct. 12, 12:30-2pm. 

WOMENCARE WRITING CIRCLE Writing Circle for women with a cancer diagnosis. Meets on the second Saturday every other month. Registration required, call WomenCARE at 831-457-2273. Saturday, Oct. 9, 10am-1pm. WomenCARE, 2901 Park Ave., Suite A1, Soquel.

WOMENCARE: LAUGHTER YOGA Laughter yoga for women with a cancer diagnosis. Meets every Wednesday, currently via Zoom. Registration is required, please call WomenCARE at 831-457-2273. Wednesday, Oct. 6, 3:30-4:30pm. 

OUTDOOR

CASFS FARMSTAND Organic vegetables, fruit, herbs and flowers are sold weekly at the CASFS Farmstand, starting June 15 and continuing through Nov. 23. Proceeds support experiential education programs at the UCSC Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems. Friday, Oct. 8, Noon-6pm. Tuesday, Oct. 12, Noon-6pm. Cowell Ranch Historic Hay Barn, Ranch View Road, Santa Cruz.

EVERGREEN AT DUSK: CEMETERY HISTORY TOURS Welcome back to the second year of Evergreen at Dusk historical tours. Discover the stories and secrets found within Evergreen Cemetery, one of the oldest public cemeteries in California, on a self-guided or private tour of the grounds. Explore the final resting place of Santa Cruz’s early settlers. The 45-minute tour uncovers the stories and tombstones of the people who made Santa Cruz what it is today. Designed for the daring, the curious and the history-loving. This tour is great for all ages. Wear a mask if you are not vaccinated and maintain a 6-foot distance when around other explorers or MAH staffers. Thursday, Oct. 7, 4-7pm. Evergreen Cemetery, 261 Evergreen St., Santa Cruz.

GUIDED COASTAL WALK On this 2.5-mile family-friendly walk, explore the plants, animals and geology of our coastal bluffs. Bring water, hat, closed-toe shoes, layered clothing and binoculars if available. Meet next to the park map in Wilder Ranch main parking lot. Rain cancels. Vehicle day-use fee is $10. For more information, call 831-426-0505. Spaces are limited and early pre-registration is recommended. Attendees are required to self-screen for Covid-19 symptoms when pre-registering. Masks and social distancing are also required at all programs. To register, visit santacruzstateparks.as.me/schedule.php. Saturday, Oct. 9, 11am. Wilder Ranch State Park, 1401 Coast Road, Santa Cruz.

HISTORIC RANCH GROUND TOUR Discover what life was like a century ago on this innovative dairy ranch. This hour-long tour includes the 1896 water-powered machine shop, barns and other historic buildings. The vehicle day-use fee is $10. For more information, call 831-426-0505. Spaces are limited and early pre-registration is recommended. Attendees are required to self-screen for Covid-19 symptoms when pre-registering. Masks and social distancing are also required at all programs. Saturday, Oct. 9, 1-2pm. Sunday, Oct. 10, 1-2pm. Wilder Ranch State Park, 1401 Coast Road, Santa Cruz.

OPEN FARM TOURS Meet your farmers and tour nine family-owned farms Saturday and Sunday. Learn what is involved in growing our food and get a behind-the-scenes look into our region’s vibrant working agricultural landscape. Learn about how important sustainable farming methods are to the health of the Earth and our community. Participate in farm activities, including apple juicing, tastings, you-picks and demos. Learn about the sustainable agriculture methods used to grow our food, and spend a day outside getting to know the local farming community. Visit openfarmtours.com to view the farm’s biographies and download a tour map and schedule. Most of the farms are charging minimal fees to cover tour costs. All proceeds go to the farms. Saturday, Oct. 9, 10am. Sunday, Oct. 10, 10am. 

SUNSET BEACH BOWLS Experience the tranquility, peace and calmness as the ocean waves harmonize with the sound of crystal bowls raising vibration and energy levels. Every Tuesday one hour before sunset at Moran Lake Beach. Call 831-333-6736 for more details. Tuesday, Oct. 12, 6:30-7:30pm. Moran Lake Park & Beach, East Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz.

WEST CLIFF FOOD TRUCK SERIES 2021 West Cliff Food Truck Series is back for a third season. Enjoy the beautiful view, local food trucks and live music. It’s a great chance to get outside and soak in the sunshine. A favorite for locals and tourists. The parking lot is close to many ideal picnic areas. Free admission. Friday, Oct. 8, 4-8pm. Lighthouse Point Park, West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz.

WEST CLIFF OUTDOOR MARKET 2021 The one-of-a-kind market is held in two parking lots along West Cliff Drive, overlooking the famous Steamers Lane surf spot. Enjoy the fresh air as you stroll among many artisan’s booths and specialty food while taking in the view. Come enjoy the live music. Free admission. Free tokens to be given out every hour to random shoppers to use towards vendors of their choice. Saturday, Oct. 9, 10am-7pm. Lighthouse Point Park, West Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz.

YOU PICK ROSES We are growing over 300 roses, deeply fragrant, lush and in every color, and we want to share them with you! Get out of the house and enjoy cutting a bucket of roses for your pleasure or to share with family and friends. Visit birdsongorchards.com to make a reservation. Once you have made a purchase, you will be sent a calendar link to pick a time for your reservation and directions to our farm in Watsonville. Friday, Oct. 8, 11am. Sunday, Oct. 10, 11am. 

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Newsom Signs Laird’s Wildfire Mitigation Bill

John Laird
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Pfizer Asks FDA to Authorize Vaccine for Children 5 to 11

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Things To Do in Santa Cruz: Oct. 6-12

Bestselling author Gary Paulsen at Bookshop Santa Cruz, downtown Santa Cruz Antique Faire, Evergreen Cemetery history tours and more
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