THE BUZZ: POST-PANDEMIC STRESS — Thousands and thousands of children returned to lecture rooms this week, and the information exhibits they’re struggling greater than ever.
Like many younger individuals throughout the nation, kids in California are grappling with melancholy, nervousness and even rising charges of suicide within the wake of the pandemic. Within the Golden State, suicide for youths ages 10 to 18 jumped by 20 p.c from 2019 to 2020, and up to now yr, one in 10 youngsters between the ages of 12 and 17 suffered from no less than one main depressive episode, per the governor’s workplace.
That somber actuality was the backdrop for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s go to to McLane Excessive College in Fresno on Thursday, the place he and First Companion Jennifer Siebel Newsom hit on the state’s efforts to handle rising charges of psychological well being issues amongst younger individuals — which had already been rising for years previous to the pandemic.
The governor touted the $4.7 billion the state has invested over the previous three years to launch what he termed the “historic overhaul” of the psychological well being system. The funding goals to create extra interventions for youths and simpler entry to companies. Maybe most notably, the state is trying so as to add 40,000 new psychological well being staff and 10,000 faculty counselors to the workforce to satisfy youngsters the place they’re at.
Newsom: “I must make this level: The world that we’re dwelling in right now did not occur in a single day. It’s over the course of many years and many years of neglect that we ended up right here.”
Unsurprisingly, some California dad and mom would beg to vary. The unfavorable results of not simply the pandemic, however faculty closures particularly, on youngsters’ psychological well being has been one of many thorniest political problems with the governor’s tenure. Frustrations over distant studying have been definitely a motivating think about final yr’s unsuccessful recall try, and nonetheless come up within the occasional political volley between Newsom and red-state leaders like Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Newsom, after all, would level out California had a decrease per-capita demise fee than Florida throughout the pandemic, however we’ll go away the remainder of the sparring to them.)
Let’s additionally not overlook it was that very same anger from dad and mom that helped oust three San Francisco faculty board members in February. The vitriol that fermented throughout the pandemic remains to be effervescent throughout the state right now. As CalMatters’ Joe Hong identified yesterday, pandemic faculty closures are one of many a number of elements driving dad and mom to run for native faculty boards.
CA Dad or mum Energy founder Megan Bacigalupi on Newsom’s psychological well being plan: “College closures did not trigger our scholar psychological well being disaster however it was like lighter fluid on a hearth. To have zero acknowledgement right now about how a lot hurt that brought about many CA college students is denial.”
‘SUB-ZERO INTEREST’: Newsom, after all, couldn’t make a public look with out taking a pair pictures at crimson states — three of them, in actual fact. He criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for chopping $211 million from the state’s psychological well being funds a month earlier than the Uvalde capturing. He went after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey for allocating federal stimulus {dollars} to new state prisons. And Florida bought a shout out for banning books that embody “social emotional studying” ideas.
BUENOS DÍAS, good Friday morning. It’s time to begin saying goodbye to the legislators who’re leaving Sacramento this yr. Lawmakers yesterday honored 19 members of the Assembly and 10 senators who’re set to retire. Prepare for a shakeup subsequent session when the Capitol welcomes a giant batch of recent faces of their place.
Obtained a tip or story thought for California Playbook? Hit us up: [email protected] and [email protected] or observe us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “What we introduced on Tuesday, that advice, was that the Division of the Inside will take actions with or with out a voluntary settlement. Will we proceed to be engaged with the basin states as a result of we consider that the answer is one among consensus.” U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton in Irvine on Thursday talking about continued negotiations over easy methods to lower states’ use of the Colorado River.
TWEET OF THE DAY: @CaucusRedux recounting scheduling woes: “Overheard this morning:
#CALeg staffer’s partner on speaker telephone: “Don’t it’s a must to go? It’s 9 a.m.”
Staffer: “No, it’s the Meeting and it’s finish of session. They are saying 9 however actually imply 9:30. Then they surprise why they’re nonetheless right here on the final day of session at 1 a.m.””
WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official introduced.
— “California’s quick meals invoice might hyperlink chains to wage theft and different office violations,” by CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang: “Proponents say AB 257 might curb wage theft, however restaurateurs say it might increase prices and costs and basically change relationships with quick meals chains.”
— “Newsom slams Oakland over dealing with of Wooden Avenue homeless encampment,” by KTVU: “The state claims that Oakland is shirking its accountability of offering shelter and housing help to unhoused residents on the Wooden Avenue encampment, the place a string of fires have erupted.”
RETURN TO THE EARTH — “It was as soon as the nation’s largest trash heap. Now it’ll be an inspirational L.A. County park,” by the Los Angeles Occasions’ Andrew J. Campa: “A lot of the pure house surrounding the path for many years was a part of the nation’s largest trash heap — the Puente Hills Landfill, which held one-third of Los Angeles County’s rubbish. Now it’s set to grow to be the primary regional park the county has created in 30 years.”
— “California turns into the primary state to interrupt down Black worker knowledge by lineage,” by NPR’s Jaclyn Diaz: “Workers won’t be required to reveal this demographic info, however advocates who’ve been pushing for this enlargement of knowledge assortment say it’s for the Black group’s profit, in keeping with the Coalition for a Simply and Equitable California.”
TOUCHDOWN? — UCLA and USC departures might price Pac-12 $200 million-plus, by POLITICO’s Blake Jones: Notably, USC’s sports activities program brings in thrice as a lot income from media offers for the Pac-12 as UCLA’s does, and USC accounts for 30 p.c of complete Pac-12 media income.
— “Gavin Newsom mentioned he would give land again to Native Individuals in California. Has he?” by the Sacramento Bee’s Ari Plachta: “Roughly 12,635 complete acres of land in California have been returned to Native American tribes with state involvement, the bulk coming inside the final 5 years. Since Newsom introduced this coverage, the tempo slowed to some 1,500 acres, in keeping with publicly accessible knowledge gathered from state and tribal authorities sources.”
HIGH TIDE — “California is susceptible to a mega-flood. Are Central Valley communities ready for it?” by the Sacramento Bee’s Ryan Sabalow and Dale Kasler: “However a rising variety of scientists say local weather change — the identical disaster that’s drying up the West — can be growing the danger of nightmarish flooding throughout a lot of the state.”
— “Secret Service waited to inform Capitol Police of Pelosi menace till the Jan. 6 riot was underway,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sophia Bollag: “Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, confirmed that the e-mail was genuine. He famous that Pelosi, D-San Francisco, will not be a protectee of the Secret Service, which oversees safety for the president.”
— LGBTQ advocates say the federal government is lacking communities of shade in its monkeypox response, by POLITICO’s Megan Messerly and Krista Mahr: “Regardless of these warning indicators, LGBTQ well being advocates and public well being consultants mentioned authorities messaging is failing to achieve the communities that want it most, and concern federal and state well being officers are repeating the errors of not solely the coronavirus pandemic but additionally the HIV epidemic, which nonetheless disproportionately impacts individuals of shade.”
— Alphabet staff push for stronger privateness protections post-Dobbs, by POLITICO’s Alfred Ng: “The petition, which the Alphabet Employees Union despatched to Google executives on Monday and made public Thursday — calls for that the corporate add knowledge privateness controls for health-related searches, which might embody searches for abortion entry, and evaluate its privateness practices company-wide.”
DISTRIBUTABLE DATA — “FTC sued by agency allegedly promoting delicate knowledge on abortion clinic visits,” by Ars Technica’s Ashley Belanger: “Kochava’s grievance revealed for the primary time how the FTC would possibly act to guard client knowledge from getting used to assist abortion prosecutions in post-Roe America.”
UP AND DOWN THE STATE — “What to do, see and eat in California’s 9 finest school cities,” by the Los Angeles Occasions’ Christopher Reynolds.
— “The Colorado River drought is so dangerous you may see it from house,” by Vox’s Umair Irfan.
CAN WE FIX IT? — “California Wants Extra Housing. Unions Would possibly Stand within the Method.” opines the New York Occasions’ Farhad Manjoo.
— “He turned his weed-filled yard right into a low-water jungle of fruit timber,” by the Los Angeles Occasions’ Jeanette Marantos.
Eva Guidarini … Adam Conner of the Middle for American Progress … Julius Genachowski of the Carlyle Group
POLITICO reporter Susannah Luthi and her husband Garrett welcomed a child boy, Wyatt, this week.
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