Former presidential candidate Tom Steyer discusses the role of the task for he co-chaired in helping businesses during the pandemic.
"We had a very specific belief that the recovery could only happen in the way we were outlining once the health situation, the COVID pandemic, was under control. That, that had to be dealt with first," Steyer said.
Steyer says the task force spent months working on a framework and recommendation for the governor.
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) -- As the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine continues across California, expecting mothers are expressing mixed feelings about getting the shot when their turn comes up despite the CDC and healthcare providers recommending that taking the vaccine is the safest route while pregnant.
Adding to the confusion, an initial decision by the world health organization this week recommencing pregnant woman not take the Moderna vaccine -- now reversed after criticism.
A midwife says her clients are expressing mixed feelings about the shot but the CDC and doctors say it is the safest route for pregnant women, women who are lactating or breastfeeding and also for women who are thinking about getting pregnant.
"We're not only worried about the mother, we're also worried about the fetus as well," Dr. Warner Huh said.
Dr. Warner Huh heads the Department of Obstetrics at University of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham, a leading hospital for women's health.
He says many healthcare providers are recommencing pregnant or lactating women take the COVID-19 vaccine.
His pregnant patients recovered quickly from COVID but some became severely ill.
"They have difficulty breathing, oxygenating, and we have to be worried about the downstream consequences not only on the mother, but also on the fetus or the baby," Dr. Warner Huh said.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organization recommended pregnant women not take the Moderna vaccine unless they're a healthcare worker or have a preexisting condition.
While the CDC and most professional medical societies contend it is the safest route while pregnant and that any potential risks associated with taking the vaccine are minimal compared to catching the virus while pregnant.
On Friday, the WHO reversed its stance after criticism. The guidelines now closely aligns with the CDC.
Expecting mothers are urged to seek guidance from your healthcare providers.
Dr. huh added there's still more to learn.
"There's a lot we know about the vaccine, but there's a lot we don't know about the vaccine, but this is a once in a lifetime pandemic," he said. "We have seen nationally and internationally, pregnant women die as a consequence of COVID-19. You know it's our job to be able to provide what we think is the best prevention strategy for pregnant women."
While healthcare providers are not worried about pregnant women taking the vaccine, they are worried about when it will become available to them. At the moment, expectant mothers are not listed as a top priority in the state's COVID-19 vaccination plan.
PITTSBURG, Calif. (KRON) -- Pittsburg police responded to a commercial business Saturday regarding a man on top of the roof of the business, authorities announced.
When officers arrived to the 3700 block of Harbor Street, the man had already climbed off the roof and was standing next to a car in the parking lot.
Officers asked the man to stand where he was, but police say the man ignored their commands. The man then reportedly reached on top of the car's rear tire and picked up a handgun and ran the opposite way.
Another officer arrived to the scene and found the man and asked him to lay on the ground several times. The man also ignored this officer's commands, police say.
That's when the man ran behind another car and pointed the gun at the officer.
The officer shot the man in the arm one time, which made the man immediately drop his handgun and fall to the ground.
The man was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive.
Police say the man is 32-years-old and from Oakland. Further identification has not been released.
The Contra Costa County Officer Involved Incident Protocol has been enacted and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office will be completing an independent investigation into this incident.
The Pittsburg Police Department’s independent outside investigator is also conducting an independent investigation of the incident pursuant to department policy.
Body-cam footage will be released soon, along with the officer's name.
NEW YORK (AP) — Two men identified as members of the Proud Boys have been indicted on federal conspiracy and other charges in the Capitol riot as prosecutors raise the stakes in some of the slew of cases stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Dominic Pezzola, a former Marine who authorities say was seen on video smashing a Capitol window with a stolen Capitol Police riot shield, and William Pepe, who authorities said was photographed inside the building, were arrested earlier in the month on federal charges that included illegally entering a restricted building. The two, both from New York state, have now been indicted in Washington on charges that newly include conspiracy.
“The object of the conspiracy was to obstruct, influence, impede and interfere with law enforcement officers engaged in their official duties in protecting the U.S. Capitol and its grounds,” the indictment says, accusing Pezzola, Pepe and unnamed others of leading a group of Proud Boys and others to the Capitol and moving police barricades there.
Pezzola went on to snatch an officer’s shield and use it to break the window, according to the indictment, which was filed in court Friday.
Pezzola’s lawyer Michael Scibetta said Saturday he was researching the charges but hadn’t been able yet to discuss the indictment with his client, who is being held without bail. A lawyer for Pepe, Shelli Peterson, declined to comment.
Three self-described members of a paramilitary group were charged with conspiracy this month and accused of plotting the attack on the Capitol. But the new charges against Pezzola and Pepe appear to be the first conspiracy cases involving alleged members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group of self-described “Western chauvinists.”
Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney for Washington, said in a court filing Friday that Pezzola “showed perseverance, determination, and coordination in being at the front lines every step along the way before breaking into the Capitol,” and that his actions in shattering the window and allowing an initial group of rioters to stream through “cannot be overstated.”
Pezzola was later seen on video inside the Capitol with a cigar, having what he called a “victory smoke,” and boasting that he “knew we could take this” over, Sherwin wrote. He argued the remarks showed Pezzola “invested a significant personal effort to take over the Capitol and that he did so in coordination with others.”
An unidentified witness told the FBI that Pezzola was with a group at the Capitol whose members said they would have killed anyone they got hold of, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Vice President Mike Pence, according to prosecutors. The witness added that people in the group said they’d return on the “20th” and kill everyone they could. The presidential inauguration was Jan. 20.
In a search of Pezzola’s home in Rochester, New York, FBI agents found a computer thumb drive with hundreds of files detailing how to make firearms, poisons or explosives, Sherwin wrote in arguing that Pezzola should continue to be held without bail.
Pezzola, 43, served six years stateside in the Marines as an infantryman and was discharged in 2005 at the rank of corporal, service records show. His lawyer has said his client is self-employed and a family man.
Pepe, 31, was photographed inside the Capitol and later identified as a Metro-North Railroad train yard laborer who had called in sick to go to Washington for a Jan. 6 protest by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, according to a Jan. 11 criminal court complaint. Pepe, who lives in Beacon in New York’s Hudson Valley, has since been suspended without pay from his job at the New York City-area commuter railroad.
At Trump’s urging, thousands of the protesters streamed to the Capitol. Some then stormed it, temporarily disrupting Congress’ certification of Democratic President Joe Biden’s victory over the Republican Trump in the November election.
Overall, federal authorities have charged more than 150 people in the Capitol siege.
The Justice Department said both Pepe and Pezzola have gone to Proud Boys gatherings and have tactical vests emblazoned with the group’s logo.
The group is known for violent confrontations with antifascists and other ideological opponents at protests. In a notable moment on the campaign trail last year, Trump told the group to “stand back and stand by” when asked at a September debate whether he would condemn white supremacist and militia groups that showed up at some protests last summer.
Shortly before the Capitol riot, the Proud Boys’ leader, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, was arrested in Washington and ordered to stay out of the city after being accused of vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church in December.
LOS ANGELES (KRON) -- The Detroit Lions are trading QB Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams for QB Jared Goff, two first round picks and a third round pick, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.
After being the No. 1 overall pick in 2009, Stafford's 12-season career in Detroit has come to an end.
The 32-year-old will now head to Southern California after completing 64.2 percent of his passes for 26 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and 4,084 yards last year.
Goff, from Novato, CA and a Cal Bear alum, was selected by the Rams with the first overall pick by the Los Angeles Rams in the 2016 NFL Draft.
This story will be updated
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has parted ways with his lead impeachment lawyers little more than a week before his trial, two people familiar with the situation said Saturday. The change injects fresh uncertainty into the makeup and strategy of his defense team.
Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, both South Carolina lawyers, have left the defense team in what one person described as a “mutual decision” that reflected a difference of opinion on the direction of the case.
The two people familiar with the legal team discussions insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations. One said new additions to the legal team were expected to be announced in a day or two.
Bowers and Barbier did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Trump is set to stand trial on the week of Feb. 8 on a charge that he incited the riot inside the U.S. Capitol. Republicans and Trump aides have made clear that they intend to make a simple argument: The trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office.
CNN was first to report the departure of the lawyers.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Law enforcement officials are investigating escalating threats of death and violence against California Gov. Gavin Newsom, his family and the wineries, shops and other businesses he founded.
A voicemail and emails provided to the Sacramento Bee contained graphic abusive language about Newsom, violent sexual threats against his wife and a reference to his children. The newspaper said one communication included a threat to burn down one of the wineries owned by PlumpJack Group, the hospitality company Newsom founded in 1992, with patrons inside.
Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for Newsom’s Office of Emergency Services, said he couldn’t answer specific questions about the threats but confirmed that law enforcement agencies are investigating.
“We can confirm that we are aware of these threats,” Ferguson wrote in a statement. “Any threats against elected officials, including public or private property, are taken seriously and closely monitored by the appropriate local, state or federal law enforcement.”
The Democratic governor is the subject of a recall effort pushed by political foes angered over his aggressive approach to the coronavirus outbreak. Newsom received wide praise when he issued the nation’s first statewide stay-at-home order last spring, but there has been growing public unrest over subsequent health orders that closed schools and businesses, and investigations continue into a massive unemployment benefits fraud scandal.
False rumors spread online that Newsom has given coronavirus aid money to his own businesses. In fact, PlumpJack Group received about $2.8 million in loans through the Paycheck Protection Program administered by the federal government, not California.
Newsom placed all of his businesses in a blind trust when he took office to reduce potential conflicts of interest. The trust legally bars him from being involved in the businesses’ day-to-day operations or participating in buy-and-sell decisions.
