(AP) California's eviction moratorium ends Friday. But tenants with unpaid rent can still stay in their homes beyond that date if they apply for assistance from the state. California is using billions of federal dollars to pay off up to 18 months of most people's rent dating back to April 2020. That was the first full month of the state's stay-at-home order in response to the pandemic. As of Monday, more than 309,000 households have asked for nearly $3 billion in rental assistance. The state has paid nearly $650 million to about 55,000 households and has approved another $950 million.

Blue Shield of California is making a $1 Million Donation to help expand youth mental health services across the state's school system The money is part of Blue Shield's BlueSky initiative, a multi-year effort that builds on existing work with the Department of Education to train educators to recognize and address mental health concerns in young people. According to a 2019 UCLA research study, nearly half of California teens say they've recently struggled with mental health issues.

THE GOVERNOR SIGNED TWO MEASURES INTO LAW WEDNESDAY....MEANT TO PROTECT THE PRIVACY OF ABORTION PROVIDERS AND THEIR PATIENTS. ONE LAW MAKES IT A CRIME TO FILM PEOPLE WITHIN A HUNDRED FEET OF AN ABORTION CLINIC FOR THE PURPOSE OF INTIMIDATION. THE OTHER LAW MAKES IT EASIER FOR PEOPLE ON THEIR PARENTS' INSURANCE PLANS TO KEEP SENSITIVE MEDICAL INFORMATION SECRET. DURING THE SIGNING CEREMONY, THE GOVERNOR SAID IT'S CRUCIAL FOR STATES LIKE CALIFORNIA TO DO THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT STATES LIKE TEXAS ARE DOING WITH TIGHTENING ABORTION RESTRICTIONS.

(AP)California will be the first state to bar mega-retailers from firing warehouse workers for missing quotas that interfere with bathroom and rest breaks. The legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom grew from Amazon's drive to speed goods to consumers. The measure also prohibits disciplining workers for following health and safety laws and allows employees to sue to suspend unsafe quotas or reverse retaliation. It applies to all warehouse distribution centers, though proponents were driven by Amazon's dominance. Amazon didn't comment. But business organizations objected that California is home to thousands of warehouse distribution centers that provide quality jobs to hundreds of thousands of working-class Californians.

California is one of three states where transmission of the Coronavirus is dropping. Even though the numbers have climbed significantly over the last month California is seeing positive cases drop along with Vermont and Delaware. The three states have one thing in common......strict and stringent masking guidelines in public places. California is also seeing high vaccination rates in certain urban areas. Butte County reports that the total population fully vaccintated now almost 53% Three weeks ago Butte County saw 949 positive cases....two weeks ago the numbers dropped to 845 and last week there were 647 cases. The Butte County Health Department says 89 percent of positive cases are the highly contagious Delta variant. 9 Butte County residents have died from COVID in the past month 221 since pandemic began

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has emphatically defeated a recall aimed at kicking him out of office. Newsom bolted to a quick victory Tuesday boosted by healthy turnout in the overwhelmingly Democratic state. He cast it as a win for science, women's trights and other liberal issues. It ensures the nation's most populous state will remain in Democratic control as a laboratory for progressive policies. Newsom overcame Republican criticism of COVID-19 restrictions that shuttered schools and businesses. The outcome was being watched nationally with the 2022 midterm elections on the horizon, when control of Congress again will be at stake.

(AP) — President Joe Biden is set to campaign for California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the final days of a recall campaign. Biden will join the Democratic governor in the Southern California city of Long Beach on Monday. Voting ends Tuesday. Biden is the latest in a string of prominent Democrats who have helped Newsom during a campaign that's trying to kick him out of office. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is from California, urged voters to reject the recall during an appearance in the state Wednesday. Biden's stop is part of a two-day trip that also will take him to Idaho and Colorado. He's set to tour wildfire damage in Northern California.

(AP) — California lawmakers have approved more than $2 billion in new spending aimed at preventing wildfires and addressing the drought. The votes on Thursday mark the end of lawmakers' work on the state's $262.5 billion operating budget this year. New approved spending brings the state's wildfire prevention budget to more than $1.5 billion. Lawmakers also approved $1.2 billion to address the drought and climate change. Republicans bemoaned the lack of funding for more water storage projects. And lawmakers from both parties complained about pay raises for commissioners on the Public Utilities Commission. The budget bills now go to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk

(AP) The Los Angeles Unified School District has ordered that students age 12 and older must be vaccinated before they can return to classrooms next year. The board of the nation's second-largest school district voted Thursday to require vaccinations for roughly 630,000 students. Those who can't show proof of full vaccination will have to study remotely. Some parents opposed the mandate, arguing that they should have the final say on vaccinating their child but the board overwhelmingly approved the measure as a way of keeping classrooms safely open. Public health officials say that between mid-August and Sept. 7, nearly 8,000 student cases of COVID-19 were reported in LA County, most of them in Los Angeles Unified.

Covered California announced a special-enrollment period for Californians who will soon be losing the federal financial help that is allowing them to continue receiving health insurance through the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, better known as COBRA. Under one provision of the American Rescue Plan, Californians have been eligible for financial help that pays 100 percent of their COBRA premiums from April 1 through Sept. 30.

Highway 99 was closed for several hours Thursday morning in Tehama County after a deadly head-on crash involving a wrong-way driver and a tanker truck. The crash happened just before 12:30 a.m. Thursday on Highway 99 just south of South Avenue in the Vina area of Tehama County. The CHP said a wrong-way driver in an SUV went northbound in the southbound lanes slamming head-on into a tanker truck. The driver of the SUV was killed. The CHP said he is a 28-year-old man from Red Bluff

The California Senate has voted to make sure all active registered voters will get a ballot in the mail at least 29 days before every election. A majority of California voters have been voting by mail for years. But they had to ask for a ballot in the mail. California temporarily changed the rule for the 2020 and 2021 elections to mail all active registered voters a ballot during the pandemic. Thursday, the state Senate voted to make that permanent. The state Assembly must vote on the bill one more time before sending it to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk.

A group of election security experts is calling on California's top election official to take an additional step to protect the upcoming gubernatorial recall. This comes after copies of systems used to run elections across the country were released at an event last month sponsored by a key ally of former President Donald Trump. The experts sent the letter Thursday to the California secretary of state calling for a rigorous type of post-election audit to be conducted statewide that can help detect malicious attempts to interfere. The letter says such an audit would provide "strong public evidence" to counter any effort to discredit the outcome.