Unrest over stay-at-home order + Rape accusation + Direct deposit for unemployment insurance?
Good morning and happy Monday!
PROFESSIONAL BEAUTY FEDERATION ISN’T HAPPY
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s triggered regional COVID-19 shutdowns have drawn their share of critics. Among them is the Professional Beauty Federation of California, which issued a statement Friday challenging the governor’s decision.
“The vast majority of this industry is made-up of women-owned and operated businesses,including a huge percentage of first generation immigrants and those from the LGBT community. What ‘data and science’ justify shutting down these quintessential small businesses… again? We are beginning to conclude that our small businesses, less financed and politically connected, have become the go-to sacrificial lambs to the COVID gods whenever the health officers are told by their elected bosses to aggressively address the latest spike. This has been ruinous for thousands of our establishments and the livelihood of tens of thousands,” the federation said in statement.
The federation said that state health experts “remain ignorant” of state-mandated education that hair, skin and nail professionals must complete before being licensed to operate
“Moreover, our licensed establishments have invested considerable resources into PPE and other COVID-compliant safety protocols, which the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) publicly endorsed back in July. Our own industry-compiled data show that we have not contributed to COVID’s spread,” the group said.
ASSEMBLYMAN BROUGH ACCUSED OF RAPE
Via Hannah Wiley...
In the latest accusation filed against against Assemblyman Bill Brough, a former legislative staffer has submitted a complaint to Sacramento County officials alleging the Dana Point Republican raped her in 2015.
Patricia Todd, a longtime Capitol staffer, said Brough assaulted her after a dinner in Sacramento five and a half years ago while she was working for Republican Sen. John Moorlach, according to a Thursday report by the Orange County Register.
After the attack, Todd said she was “left physically injured and alone,” and later suffered from depression and fear over retaliation from Brough should she come forward with her story, the report said.
“Would he show up at the house? Would he hurt my daughter?” Todd told the Register. “You never know what someone is really going to do when they’re cornered. So it’s a fear that has been always there.”
Todd said the assault occurred in her car in July of 2015 following a dinner the two had together at the Elephant Bar.
Todd said during the dinner, which she drove both of them to, Brough offered her a secretarial job working for the just-forming California Irish Legislative Caucus. The position, he said, according to Todd, would come with additional “perks.” Brough appeared intoxicated before the dinner, Todd said, and drank throughout the meal.
After rejecting his proposition and quickly ending the dinner, Todd said, the two began the drive back home. After Brough asked her to pull over, Todd claimed, he “attacked her” and “pinned her down,” according to the Register. Todd said she screamed for Brough to stop until she became hoarse. She said she wasn’t able to move or breathe during the assault.
After the incident, Todd said Brough asked her to drive him to another bar. She said she was bleeding on her way home to Elk Grove and immediately contemplated suicide.
The Sacramento Police Department confirmed to The Sacramento Bee that Todd had filed a complaint and it is investigating the allegations.
DIRECT DEPOSIT FOR UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE?
After hundreds of thousands of Californians reported problems accessing their debit card containing unemployment insurance, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, is proposing a bill to require that the state give workers ability to receive benefits via direct deposit.
“After too many Californians have already waited months for their unemployment benefits to be approved, widespread problems with debit cards have prevented countless families from putting food on the table or paying the bills,” Gonzalez said in a press release. “Making a direct deposit option available is a simple, commonsense solution to so many challenges we know California residents are facing.”
Many Californians have reported not being able to access their unemployment insurance after scammers rang up fraudulent charges on their debit cards. In the press release, Gonzalez’s office noted that the debit cards don’t have chips, making them more susceptible to scammers who can skim the data from the magnetic strips.
Gonzalez said her bill, which will officially be introduced Monday, will provide more security for those receiving unemployment insurance.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I am honored to have been chosen as Majority Leader and want to thank Speaker Rendon for his trust in me and his steadfast leadership in keeping the Assembly focused on delivering real results for the people of California.”
– Newly appointed Assembly Majority Leader Eloise Reyes, D-San Bernardino, in a statement.
Best of the Bee:
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California is closing state government offices in response to the stay-at-home order Gov. Gavin Newsom issued Thursday, according to an email sent to state departments, via Wes Venteicher.
Mary Nichols’ work as California’s top air-pollution and climate-change regulator has vaulted her onto the shortlist of candidates for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. But now an unlikely group of critics — from the environmental community — are calling on Biden to reject Nichols and pick someone else, via Dale Kasler.