AP: Biden Pushes Closer To Victory In Race For The White House
Democrat Joe Biden was pushing closer to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to carry the White House, securing victories in the “blue wall” battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan and narrowing President Donald Trump’s path. With just a handful of states still up for grabs, Trump tried to press his case in court in some key swing states. It was unclear if any of his campaign’s legal maneuvering over balloting would succeed in shifting the race in his favor. (Lemire, Colvin, Miller and Jaffe, 11/5)

The New York Times: Tensions Rise As States Release More Results 
As the Biden camp secured victories in Michigan and Wisconsin critical to its path to victory, attention shifted on Thursday to a handful of states where the result remained too close to call and to the courts, where the Trump campaign filed a barrage of lawsuits challenging the validity of the count. … In Arizona, where ballots continued to be tallied even as roughly 150 Trump supporters, some armed, surrounded a facility in Maricopa County to voice support for President Trump as he continued to chip away at former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s lead in the state. After 62,000 votes in Maricopa County were added to the tally early Thursday, Mr. Biden led Mr. Trump in Arizona by 68,400 votes, or less than three percentage points. But Mr. Trump faced a steep uphill battle to close the gap. (Santora and Landler, 11/5)

NPR: When Will We Know The Winner? Time Frames For Key States
The United States woke up the morning after Election Day not knowing who will be president for the next four years. It's not unprecedented, and with a slew of mail-in ballots to process, several key states are working to finish counting. ... The Nevada secretary of state's elections division says it will give its next update on results Thursday morning. As of Wednesday evening, the state had completed 75% of its tally, with Biden having a slight edge. (Gringlas and Chappell, 11/4)

The Guardian: Fears About Economy Under Covid Lockdown Helped Trump Outperform Polls
Voters’ fears about the economic impact of coronavirus lockdowns appear to have helped Donald Trump outperform pollsters’ expectations and brought the US election down to a nail-biting finish. While ballots are still being counted, that performance probably shows the continued resonance of anti-lockdown rhetoric in an election where, especially for Trump voters, economic health came first. (Glenza, 11/4)

Politico: Biden Plans For Covid Task Force During Transition 
With President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force sidelined, Joe Biden is planning to create his own task force to help grapple with the country's surge in cases should he win tonight's election, according to plans obtained by POLITICO. The task force would include former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler, New York University’s Dr. Celine Gounder, Yale’s Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, former Obama White House aide Dr. Zeke Emanuel and former Chicago Health Commissioner Dr. Julie Morita, who is now an executive vice president at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In line with Biden’s repeated campaign pledges to “listen to the scientists” if elected, the team features well-respected, veteran public health experts, some of whom ran agencies under the Obama and Clinton administrations. (Miranda Ollstein, Meyer and Thompson, 11/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Election Day Hangover: Bay Area Turns To Therapy, Apps And Cannabis To Cope With 2020 Stress
Even leading up to election day, there were plenty of reasons to be stressed. Millions of people would be voting during a deadly pandemic. Dozens of ballot measures would decide everything from the future of affirmative action in California to the future of the state’s gig-work economy. Oh, and President Trump had hinted he might not accept the legal outcome. Then, Florida was called for Trump and any hope of going to bed knowing the winner was pretty well washed away. So, all around the Bay Area (and, of course, across the country), people woke up with something of an election hangover. (Kost, 11/4)

Bay Area News Group: Two California Counties Move Backwards In Reopening System As COVID-19 Cases Rise
Two California counties moved backwards in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s economic reopening system Wednesday as coronavirus cases rise statewide, prompting a top health official to urge extra caution going into the holiday season. Shasta County moved backwards from the second-lowest red or “substantial” tier to the lowest purple or “widespread” tier, while Plumas County likewise moved from the highest yellow or “minimal” tier to the second-highest “moderate” tier. Colusa County was the only county to progress ahead in the reopening process, landing in the orange tier. California Health and Human Services Director Dr. Mark Ghaly acknowledged that the state has seen recent increases in both new infections and hospitalizations, stressing that even as pandemic fatigue takes over — and the excitement of the holidays loom — Californians ought to remain vigilant about social distancing and mask-wearing. (Kelliher, 11/4)

Sacramento Bee: Coronavirus Cases Are Rising In The Sacramento Region. Business Closings May Be Coming
With coronavirus cases again on the rise, Sacramento County’s top public health chief put out a plea Wednesday for families to think twice before gathering in groups for Thanksgiving, holiday dinners or other celebrations. The Sacramento region and California as a whole are still faring far better than most states at the moment, and far better than during the state’s summer COVID-19 surge when hospital intensive care units nearly filled, county health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson said. But with rates rising and more people heading indoors, where virus transmission happens more easily, Beilenson warned of a potential winter surge. (McGough and Bizjak, 11/4)

LA Daily News: Los Angeles Remains In Purple, Or Widespread, Coronavirus Tier
Los Angeles County remains mired in the most restrictive tier of the state’s coronavirus reopening plan thanks to an uptick in cases, with the county on Wednesday, Nov. 4, reporting the highest daily number of new COVID-19 infections in more than two months. The county reported 1,843 new cases of COVID-19 and 22 additional deaths Wednesday. The new case number was the highest figure not associated with a testing backlog that the county has reported since late August, according to the county Department of Public Health. It continues a steady rise in daily cases that began in early October. (11/4)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Allows Businesses To Turn Away Patrons Without Masks
The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to authorize businesses to refuse to admit or serve patrons not wearing a face covering. The proposal was first introduced by Councilman Herb Wesson in July. “Small business owners and their employees are risking their lives to stay afloat in the midst of this economic and public health crisis,” Wesson said at the time. “Wearing a mask saves lives, and this simple, common-sense law will save lives and allow us to beat this virus sooner rather than later.” (Smith, 11/4)

The Bakersfield Californian: Kern Public Health: County Hits COVID-19 Red Tier Status Four Consecutive Weeks
The Kern County Public Health Services Department announced on Wednesday that the county remained in the red tier of the state’s COVID-19 economic reopening plan for the fourth consecutive week. In an emailed news release, the county said its testing positivity rate (4.2 percent) would allow Kern to qualify for California’s orange tier. However, the county’s adjusted case rate (6.4 of 100,000 residents) and health equity quartile testing positivity rate (5.4 percent) both fall short of the state’s threshold for entering the less-restrictive orange. (11/4)

Los Angeles Times: Elevated COVID-19 Case Rate Pushes San Diego County Ever Closer To The Purple Tier
An out-of-bounds score in the state’s weekly reopening report creates the possibility that San Diego County could fall to the most-restrictive tier in the COVID-19 ranking system next week. Released by the California Health and Human Services Agency on Wednesday, the weekly scorecard lists San Diego County with 7.4 coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents. That number is slightly greater than the limit of 7, the demarcation between the red and purple tiers of the state’s COVID-19 risk-ranking system. San Diego County is in the second-most restrictive — red — tier, where it has been since the state introduced the new levels in September. A second case rate score over 7 in next week’s report would send the region to the purple tier, the most restrictive level, where it would stay for at least two weeks. (Sisson, 11/4)

Bay Area News Group: San Jose: Outdoor Dining To Stay Open Late And Until Summer
In an effort to help businesses ride the ebbs and flows of the pandemic, San Jose is extending a new program allowing businesses to operate in public and private outdoor spaces through next spring and summer. Under the city’s Al Fresco program, downtown businesses can now stay open until midnight. The program, which launched earlier this summer to help businesses struggling from the economic fallout of forced closures and reduced operations, previously required businesses operating in public and private spaces outside of their establishments to close at 10 p.m. (Angst, 11/4)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Sonoma County Again Blocked From Reopening More Businesses Due To Coronavirus Spread
Plagued by continued widespread transmission of the coronavirus, Sonoma County failed again this week to advance from the most restrictive tier in the state’s four-part community reopening plan, local health officials said Wednesday. Since late August, Sonoma has been stalled in its ability to reopen more businesses and expand operations of others, because the area can’t get the virus spread under control. It’s the only Bay Area county and one of only 10 of California’s 58 counties still stuck in the first phase of the state’s reopening regimen. (Espinoza, 11/4)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Health Officials Considering Coronavirus Travel Advisory
Bay Area health officers are considering issuing an advisory ahead of the holiday season that would urge people who travel to places where the coronavirus is spreading widely to either quarantine for two weeks after they return home or get a negative test result before going back to work or school. No decision has yet been made about the advisory, and it may not apply to all of the Bay Area. The public health officials involved in the discussion are from the six “core” counties — Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara — that issued the first shelter-in-place orders in March, said Dr. Matt Willis, the Marin County health officer. (Allday, 11/4)

Associated Press: San Francisco Advises Self-Quarantine After Travel
Health officials in San Francisco said Wednesday that residents who travel outside the area during the upcoming holiday season may be asked to quarantine when they return home to try to prevent a spike in coronavirus cases. San Francisco officials said in a statement that they are recommending a two week quarantine for people who interact with individuals from outside their households at less than 6 feet (1.8 m) of distance and without wearing masks. They are discussing with five other Bay Area counties whether to issue a regional advisory. (Rodriguez and Taxin, 11/4)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Regional Transit Reports 2 More Bus Drivers Have Tested Positive For COVID-19
At least eight Sacramento Regional Transit District bus drivers have tested positive for COVID-19 after RT officials announced this week two more drivers contracted the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. RT officials said they received written notice of a SacRT bus driver’s positive test result Monday. They said the bus driver has not been at work or driven a bus since Oct. 29. RT officials also provided a list of the driver’s most recent routes. (Anderson, 11/4)

Los Angeles Times: Why Liberal California Keeps Saying No To Rent Control
In one of the most liberal states in the country, California voters have twice had an opportunity to expand rent control statewide amid a historic housing affordability crisis.And both times voters have given a resounding “no” to the idea. The decisive failure of Proposition 21 on Tuesday — like Proposition 10 before it in 2018 — shows that despite California’s reputation as a progressive bastion, voters here are far from willing to support one of the most well-known housing ideas championed by the left. (Dillon, 11/4)