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Bay Area Plans to Align With State, Drop COVID Restrictions
The majority of California’s nine Bay Area counties plan to drop their COVID-19 restrictions when the state does the same next week. The area has had some of the strictest restrictions during the pandemic.
June 09, 2021 • (TNS) The Bay Area will be wide open along with the rest of California when the state lifts almost all pandemic restrictions next week. Even San Francisco, which has had among the strictest public health responses in the country, plans to align with the state, city officials said Tuesday night.
Health officials in all nine Bay Area counties have said that with very few exceptions, they plan to go along with the rest of the state in lifting mask mandates, capacity rules and pretty much every other order meant to force social distancing and prevent spread of the coronavirus in public settings.
Join Black Californians in Fighting Climate Change
By Edwin Lombard
Edwin Lombard (Courtesy Image)
It goes without saying that 2020 was a difficult year for everyone, but especially Black communities across California. Our communities were disproportionately impacted by both the health and economic crises wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, we led the charge in an unprecedented social justice movement to fight systemic racism.
Yet in the face of these troubling events, we’ve not forgotten our commitment to helping save the planet from climate change. Starting with our communities on the frontline here in California, this spring and summer offer a chance for renewal and an opportunity to create positive change. The Golden State has set a goal to reduce our carbon pollution to 1990 levels by 2030, and our communities are at the forefront of that effort.
Low housing supply
Never has it cost so much to buy a house in California.
The median price for a single-family home shot up to a staggering $758,990 in March a nearly 6% increase from the previous record of $717,930 set in December and a whopping 24% increase from March 2020, according to figures released Friday by the state Department of Finance. It’s at least the sixth time the Golden State’s housing market has broken its own record amid the pandemic it did so five times in 2020 alone, cracking the $700,000 median price mark for the first time in August.
Meanwhile, housing production has strayed farther and farther from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s campaign goal of building 500,000 units annually as the state’s homeless population swells to record levels. California approved permits for 102,800 new housing units in 2020 an 8.8% decrease from 2019, itself a 3.8% decrease from 2018. Lawmakers are currently considering a raft of bills to increase affordable housing producti
BBA Salutes Black Women, Honors Gwen Moore
By Cora Jackson-Fossett, Staff Writer
Published April 22, 2021
Honorable Gwen A. Moore (File photo)
The achievements of African American women were highlighted at the Annual Salute to Black Women sponsored by the Black Business Association (BBA).
The virtual event, held March 30, featured a special tribute to the late Gwen A. Moore, who served 16 years in the California State Assembly and more than a decade on the BBA Board of Directors, both as chair and as a member.
The theme was “Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to be Silenced.” Elected officials, business executives and community leaders were among the people joining BBA President Earl “Skip” Cooper II in recognizing Moore and other females who have contributed to securing women’s rights in America. Gwendolyn A. Goodman, public relations director of the Black Women’s Network, was the emcee for the occasion.