Bay Area News Group: Many Bay Area Students Still Masked As State Mandate Lifts
It was supposed to be mask-free Monday for California school kids, but you couldn’t tell from watching Willow Glen Middle School eighth grader Trish Ha as she darted off to her first class. Though San Jose Unified School District adopted the state’s new mask-optional guidance, Ha was having none of it. “I’m still going to wear my mask,” the 14-year-old said. “I don’t want to take it off because people might be a bit reckless.” (Woolfolk, Sulek Prieve and Kamisher, 3/14)

Los Angeles Daily News: Masks Still Required For LAUSD Students. Until When? It’s Hard To Say 
Across Los Angeles County, students in a number of school districts now have the option of ditching their masks while inside the classroom. But not so for Los Angeles Unified students. (Tat, 3/14)

The New York Times: How Californians Feel About The End Of School Mask Mandates 
Given the fierce debate, we asked readers how they felt about California’s school mask mandate ending. Polling suggests that Californians are pretty split on the issue, and your responses reflected that. You’ve been writing to me about your hesitations around taking off masks — what one reader described as akin to “not finishing a course of antibiotics.” Or you’ve worried that the change has come far too late, as students’ social development has already suffered irreparably over the past two years. I heard from hundreds of teachers, parents, students, school counselors and community members with plenty of opinions about school mask mandates. Here are some of their takes, lightly edited for clarity and brevity. (Karlamangla, 3/14)

Sacramento Bee: FAQ: What To Know As CA Ends Mask Mandate At K-12 Schools 
There are still some exceptions: masks remain mandatory in several settings including hospitals, nursing homes and on public transit. But K-12 schools are no longer on that list. Masks won’t come off at all schools, though. Some districts in the Sacramento area are waiting, keeping their face covering policies in place for at least a few more weeks. (McGough, 3/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Three City Workers Sue To Block San Francisco’s Employee Vaccine Mandate
Three city employees sued San Francisco on Monday for requiring them and their coworkers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying it violates their religious freedom and does not protect workers' health. The suit, like those filed elsewhere, claims the vaccine was “derived from stem cells from aborted fetuses, in direct contradiction to (their) Christian beliefs.” All three said they applied for religious exemptions, which the city says are available for the vaccine mandate, but were turned down. (Egelko, 3/14)

Los Angeles Times: COVID-19 Is Fading. But Ending the Health Emergency Could Leave Us Vulnerable
As the coronavirus releases its deadly grip on the United States and pandemic rules governing daily life fall away, is it time to declare the national public health emergency over? More than one-third of Americans think so, polls show. So do dozens of Republican members of Congress who have called on President Biden to “unwind” the emergency declaration “so our country can get back to normal.” (Healy, 3/14)

The Washington Post: CDC Lowers Coronavirus Warnings For Cruise Travel, Popular Caribbean Islands 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday moved several popular beach destinations — as well as cruise ship travel — into categories at lower risk of spreading the coronavirus. The public health agency reassigned travel warnings for nine vacation destinations in the Caribbean and Atlantic from Level 4 — which means a “very high” level of covid-19 — to Level 3, which means the level of the virus is merely “high.” They include Cuba, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos. (Sampson, 3/14)

Newsweek: Republican Lawmakers Sue CDC To End Airplane Mask Mandate
Republican lawmakers have sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to force an end to the requirement that face masks be worn on airplanes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, a group of 16 House members led by Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and joined by Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) filed a lawsuit to end what they described as an "illegal mask mandate for individuals traveling on commercial airlines." (Slisco, 3/14)

Los Angeles Daily News: LA County’s COVID Hospitalizations Slide To Under 500 
The number of COVID-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals continued to fall on Monday, March 14, dipping below the 500 mark to reach 491, according to state figures. That’s down from 537 on Sunday. The number of those patients in intensive care was 98, down from 107 on Sunday. (3/14)

Bloomberg: Are Covid Cases Going Back Up? Sewer Data Has Potential Warning 
A wastewater network that monitors for Covid-19 trends is warning that cases are once again rising in many parts of the U.S., according to an analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data by Bloomberg. More than a third of the CDC’s wastewater sample sites across the U.S. showed rising Covid-19 trends in the period ending March 1 to March 10, though reported cases have stayed near a recent low. The number of sites with rising signals of Covid-19 cases is nearly twice what it was during the Feb. 1 to Feb. 10 period, when the wave of omicron-variant cases was fading rapidly. (Armstrong and Tartar, 3/14)

USA Today: Federal Funeral Benefits For COVID-19 Victims Available, But Obscure
Minnesota resident George Campbell handled the 2021 California funeral arrangements for his parents, who died the same day at age 96, after 75 years of marriage. Barred from traveling by COVID-19 restrictions, he did the work by computer and phone. Then came the hard part, complicated by difficulties with his parents' estate – obtaining the Federal Emergency Management Agency's $9,000 death benefit for coronavirus deaths. That took roughly three months. (McCoy, 3/15)

Axios: Moderna President: 4th Vaccine Dose Only Necessary For Certain Groups
A fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will likely only be necessary for elderly and immunocompromised people but not for the general public, Moderna president Stephen Hoge told Business Insider on Monday. His words are in contrast to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla's comments on Sunday, who said that fourth doses will be necessary in order to maintain manageable levels of hospitalizations and mild infections. (Saric, 3/14)

Bloomberg: Do I Need A 4th Covid Shot? Pfizer, Moderna Executives Split Over The Need
Top executives at two of the biggest Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers are split over how necessary a fourth dose is for most of the world’s population. Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in a CBS interview on Sunday that protection from three shots will wane and a fourth dose is needed “right now”. Then, in an interview, Moderna Inc. President Stephen Hoge said a second booster is probably only necessary for older people or those who are immunocompromised, with the rest of the public able to be more selective about receiving the shot, Business Insider reported Monday. (Matsuyama, 3/15)

Los Angeles Times: The Wellness Community’s Fight Over COVID Vaccine Misinformation
The vaccination selfie, showing a gloved hand holding a needle and a smiling face hidden behind a mask, looked like thousands of others posted to Instagram as the COVID-19 vaccine rolled out across the U.S. But the comments it drew did not. Sell out puppet, sneered one user in response to Dr. Michael Greger’s photo. Burning your book tonight in my fire pit, said a second. Another simply wrote: 👎💔💩. (Nelson, 3/14)

Reuters: Inside The Fight For A New Abortion Clinic In One California City
The fight over the Visalia clinic is a window into the complicated and emotional politics of abortion, even in a largely liberal state like California. Last week, in the face of fervent resistance, Planned Parenthood leaders said they would seek a different site in the city. Abortion proponents are scrambling to expand services in states such as California and Illinois, where reproductive rights are enshrined in local laws, while conservative states including Texas, Missouri and Florida move aggressively to limit access to the procedure. (Bernstein, 3/15)

Bay Area News Group: This New Housing Project In Palo Alto Is Aimed At People With Developmental And Intellectual Disabilities
A new affordable housing development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities has been initially approved by the Palo Alto City Council, with the aim of starting next spring. The 50-unit mixed-use development called Mitchell Park Place is set to be among the Bay Area’s first housing projects for people with developmental disabilities and will include office space for public social services as well as high-quality affordable housing for people earning about 80% of the area median income. (Toledo, 3/14)

Bay Area News Group: Walnut Creek: New Laws For Planned Parenthood Protests
As Friday afternoon stretched past closing time at the Planned Parenthood clinic, hardly anyone could be seen approaching or leaving the premises. But that didn’t discourage the three abortion protesters from hanging around looking for potential converts to their cause. That mission may become more difficult if the Walnut Creek City Council approves a proposed ordinance Tuesday that would require protesters to stay at least eight feet away from anyone entering or leaving the clinic at 1357 Oakland Blvd. without that person’s consent. (Mukherjee, 3/11)

Berkeleyside: Berkeley psychiatrist’s first play follows family living under the shadow of Huntington’s disease
Few hereditary disorders are more frightening than Huntington’s disease. With no cure, it causes the progressive degeneration of the brain’s nerve cells, impacts a person’s functional abilities and prompts movement, cognitive and psychiatric disorders. Each child of a Huntington’s patient has a 50% chance of inheriting the terminal disease, leaving them with a sword of Damocles hanging over their head as they await the fate that could announce itself at any time. First-time playwright and longtime Berkeley psychiatrist Alyosha Zim has personalized Huntington’s effect on families in the honest, heartfelt and well-acted Red Winged Blackbird, playing this week at the newly renovated theater in Live Oak Park. (Mendel, 3/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Fentanyl Test Strips Are In Demand At Bay Area Bars And Restaurants: ‘People Come In Just For The Strips’
On a Thursday afternoon, Alison Heller arrived at Rockridge Improvement Club in Oakland right when it opened at 4 p.m. But she wasn’t there just for fun — she was coming in to refill the bar’s supply of fentanyl test strips. “We just restocked yesterday, but I’m sure they need more,” Heller said, as she took the plastic lid off of the fishbowl in the bathroom. Sure enough, eight of the bowl’s 12 strips had already been taken. Heller promptly restuffed the bowl. (Echeverria, 3/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Mayor Breed Is Not Extending The Tenderloin Emergency For S.F. Drug Crisis. What Does That Mean For The Neighborhood?
Mayor London Breed is letting the 90-day state of emergency in the Tenderloin expire, but will continue daily operations in the neighborhood with street cleaning and outreach to get people who are homeless and using drugs into services and off the sidewalk. Breed will also keep open the city’s new linkage center at U.N. Plaza, opened as part of the emergency, which provides basic services such as food, laundry and showers to people on the streets and tries to connect them with housing and drug treatment. (Moench, 3/14)

Los Angeles Times: Why It's Been So Hard To Kill Article 34, California's 'Racist' Barrier To Affordable Housing
It’s been called a racist relic of California’s past, a rule that has stalled vital affordable housing developments for decades. But it’s been difficult for California to repeal Article 34, a state constitutional provision that requires cities to get voter approval before they build “low-rent housing” funded with public dollars. (3/14)

San Diego Union-Tribune: A Cabin Village For Homeless Moms Is Coming To San Diego County
A small cluster of cabins that will serve as a temporary home for young mothers is under construction in eastern San Diego County, and the little village someday could serve as a model for other communities seeking alternatives to homeless shelters. “We’ve been working so hard for so many years, and now we’re here,” said Lisa Kogan, treasurer of Amikas, a nonprofit that has organized the construction next to Meridian Baptist Church in El Cajon. “And we’re going to do it.” (Warth, 3/14)

Los Angeles Daily News: Bridge To Home Permanent Homeless Shelter Breaks Ground In Santa Clarita 
It was standing room only on Monday, March 14, in a dirt lot in the back of an industrial complex, as ground was broken for the projected Bridge to Home shelter, the first permanent facility for the homeless in the city of Santa Clarita. Bridge to Home is a non-profit homeless services provider that operates in the Santa Clarita area funded through government contracts, grants from private foundations, and donations from individuals and businesses. (Gutknecht, 3/14)

KQED: Reknitting The Safety Net: Help Pay The Rent
Falling behind on rent is the primary reason that people are evicted. So how do you keep people from falling behind in the first place? Help them pay their rent. In this final episode of the season, we’ll look at the promise, the problems and the history of Section 8, as well as the push for guaranteed income. (Baldassari and Solomon, 3/14)