California's latest survey of snow levels in the Sierra Nevada shows the state continuing to make progress against a severe drought that appeared poised to extend into a fourth straight year in December.
The state Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducted its third snow survey of the season Friday at Phillips Station in El Dorado County in the Central Sierra.
The survey measured 116.5 inches of snow with a snow and water equivalent of 41.5 inches, which is 177 percent of average for the date of March 3, according to DWR.
Additionally, data collected from 130 snow sensors across the state shows that the statewide snowpack is currently at 190 percent of average with a snow water equivalent of 44.7 inches.
“There was a good indication that it was going to be the fourth year of drought,” state climatologist Michael Anderson said at a news conference Friday. “Then, after Christmas, something interesting happened: We started to see a pretty surprising set of a family of atmospheric rivers.”
Fred Greaves/California Department of Water Resources via Bay City News
In the three weeks following December 25, the state was hit by nine massive storms that struck particularly hard from the Bay Area to San Diego and across the central and southern Sierra Nevada.
A dry period then settled over the West until about a week ago, when the state again saw a “massive amount of precipitation” from a series of unusually cold storms coming out of the Gulf of Alaska, Anderson said.
The result is that, in addition to a snowpack that is second only to the record set in 1982-1983, the state is enjoying reservoir levels that are about 95 percent of normal for this time of year.
"Most are doing pretty well," said Jeanine Jones, DWR's interstate resources manager.
Conditions have improved so much, in fact, that the U.S. Drought Monitor still considers only about half the state to be in severe or moderate drought conditions, a big change from late January.
Improved hydrologic conditions prompted state water managers in February to set delivery forecasts of 35 percent of requested water supplies for the 29 public water agencies that draw water from the State Water Project, which serves 27 million people and 750,000 acres of agricultural land.
That's an increase of just 5.0 percent of the requested supplies for 2022.
In addition, the federally run Central Valley Project set deliveries for most urban and industrial water users at 75 percent of historical use, up from just 25 percent last year.
"Obviously, this is the year of the snow, so to speak," Jones said.
Still, he cautioned that while many reservoirs are performing well, Shasta and Trinity in the Northern Sierra are still below average and the Colorado River basin, which helps supply much of its water to Southern California, is drier than average, as are many of the state's important groundwater aquifers, particularly in the Central Valley.
“Where we’re not getting that recovery right away is in groundwater,” Jones said. “It just takes a long time for that to recover and for that data — about groundwater levels — to filter through.”
Researchers at Stanford Medicine have successfully transformed cancer cells into immune cells, which are able to teach the body's immune system to fight and attack the very cancer the cells came from.
"This approach could open up a completely new therapeutic avenue for treating cancer," said Dr. Ravi Majeti, professor of hematology and senior author of the study, which was published March 1 in Cancer Discovery.
Some of the most promising cancer treatments use a patient's own immune system to attack the disease, often by dampening immune responses to cancer or teaching the immune system to recognize and attack cancer more vigorously.
T cells, part of the immune system that learns to identify and attack new pathogens such as viruses, can be trained to recognize cancer-specific antigens, which are proteins that generate an immune response.
It would therefore be better to train T cells to recognize cancer through processes that more closely mimic the way things happen naturally in the body – such as the way a vaccine teaches the immune system to recognize pathogens.
T cells learn to recognize pathogens because special antigen-presenting cells (APCs) collect pieces of the pathogen and display them to the T cells in a way that says, “This is what the pathogen looks like, go for it.”
A similar approach in cancer would be for APCs to pick up the many antigens that characterize a cancer cell. That way, instead of T cells being programmed to attack one or a few antigens, they would be trained to recognize many cancer antigens and would be more likely to mount a multipronged attack on the cancer.
Now that researchers have become adept at transforming one type of cell into another, Majeti and his colleagues had a hunch that if they turned cancer cells into a type of APC called macrophages, they would naturally become adept at teaching T cells what to attack.
“Our hypothesis was that perhaps cancer cells reprogrammed into macrophages could stimulate T cells because those APCs carry all the antigens of the cancer cells they came from,” explained Majeti, who is also director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine.
The study builds on previous research from Majeti's lab showing that cells taken from patients with a type of acute leukemia could be converted into non-leukemic macrophages with many of the properties of APCs.
In the current study, the researchers programmed mouse leukemia cells to induce some of them to transform into APCs. When they tested their cancer vaccine strategy on the mouse immune system, the mice successfully cleared the cancer.
“When we first saw the data showing leukemia elimination in mice with functioning immune systems, we were astonished,” Majeti said. “We couldn’t believe it worked so well.”
Further experiments showed that cells created from cancer cells acted as antigen-presenting cells that sensitized T cells to the cancer.
“What’s more, we showed that the immune system remembered what these cells had taught them,” Majeti says. “When we reintroduced the cancer into these mice more than 100 days after the initial tumor inoculation, they still had a strong immune response that protected them.”
"We asked ourselves: if this works for leukemias, will it also work for solid tumors?" Majeti said. The team tested the same method on mouse fibrosarcoma, breast cancer and bone cancer.
“Transforming cancer cells from solid tumors was not as effective, but we still saw positive results,” Majeti said. With all three cancer types, creating tumor-derived APCs led to a significant improvement in survival.
Finally, the researchers returned to the original type of acute leukemia. When APCs derived from human leukemia cells were exposed to human T cells from the same patient, they saw all the signs one would expect if the APCs were really teaching the T cells to attack the leukemia.
“We showed that reprogrammed tumor cells could trigger a long-lasting, systemic attack on cancer in mice and a similar response with immune cells from human patients,” Majeti said. “In the future we might be able to extract tumor cells, transform them into APCs, and give them back to patients as a therapeutic cancer vaccine.”
“Ultimately, we might be able to inject RNA into patients and transform enough cells to activate the immune system against cancer without having to extract cells first,” Majeti said. “That’s science fiction at the moment, but it’s the direction we’re interested in moving in.”
Officers of the Police Department of San Mateo County SMPD arrested three men on Thursday, March 2, for criminal threats, conspiracy, and knife assault in San Mateo County.
On Thursday afternoon at approximately 2:49 p.m., SMPD officers were dispatched to the West Hillsdale Boulevard unit block on a report of a stabbing.
Officers quickly arrived on scene and located a male victim in the parking lot who had not been stabbed and did not require medical assistance. However, officers learned that a suspect, later identified as Anderson Lopez Guzman, and a friend of the victim were involved in a physical fight on Edison Street.
When the victim attempted to stop the fight, Guzman brandished a knife and said he would stab the victim and threatened to kill her. When the victim fled, two additional suspects, later identified as Andy Perez Juarez and Christian Lima, began chasing her. Juarez armed himself with a knife during the chase, but the victim managed to elude the suspects.
As SMPD continued to investigate the scene, Guzman returned to the scene. Officers took Guzman into custody after they located a knife that matched the description provided by the victim, who identified Guzman as one of the suspects.
Shortly after officers located the vehicle, officers observed Juarez and Lima returning to the vehicle and both were detained.
Ultimately, all three suspects were transported to the San Mateo County Jail.
Authorities reminded people that “if you see something, say something” and encouraged the community to use security cameras, which are especially useful for identifying suspicious activity in neighborhoods when they are oriented toward the street.
Tolling began Friday morning on the new express lanes on U.S. 101 in San Mateo County between South San Francisco and Sunnyvale.
The new lanes will operate on Highway 101 Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. between Interstate 380 in South San Francisco and North Mathilda Avenue in Sunnyvale.
Solo drivers wishing to use the express lane must have a standard FasTrak or FasTrak Flex toll tag, while carpool users and motorcycles must have the FasTrak Flex toll tag in the appropriate position to receive discounted travel.
Los carriles, construidos por Caltrans en colaboración con la Autoridad de Transporte del Condado de San Mateo y la Asociación de Gobiernos de la Ciudad/Condado del Condado de San Mateo, están destinados a fomentar el uso compartido de vehículos o el uso del transporte público, así como mejorar los tiempos de viaje y reducir la congestión en la carretera.
La representante Judy Chu, demócrata de California, y Dominic Ng, designado por el presidente Joe Biden como presidente de la Cooperación Económica Asia-Pacífico ‒APEC‒, han sido acusados de tener vínculos con el Partido Comunista Chino y de ser antipatrióticos.
Photo: mig.com vía Ethnic Media Services
A los líderes de la comunidad de AAPI les preocupa que las tensiones entre Estados Unidos y China, que se han aumentado en las últimas semanas por las acusaciones de espionaje chino, haya provocado una nueva ola de xenofobia a medida que políticos asiático-estadounidenses de alto rango se convierten en blanco de ataques republicanos.
La representante Judy Chu, la primera mujer chino-estadounidense elegida para el Congreso, es acusada de ser «antipatriótica» por el representante Lance Gooden, republicano por Texas, debido a su apoyo a Dominic Ng, designado por el presidente Joe Biden como presidente de Asia- Cooperación Económica del Pacífico ‒APEC‒. Gooden y otros cinco republicanos de la Cámara acusan a Ng de tener vínculos con el Partido Comunista Chino.
Chu, una demócrata de California, es la presidenta del Caucus Americano del Pacífico Asiático del Congreso ‒CAPAC‒ y quizás uno de los miembros de la AAPI más conocidos de la Cámara. Californiana de segunda generación y nativa de Los Ángeles, también es hija de un veterano de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
«Pura Bufonería»
«Esto es absolutamente alarmante, pero no sorprendente, dadas las partes involucradas», dijo John C. Yang, presidente y director ejecutivo de Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC, a Ethnic Media Services. «Gooden ha cuestionado el patriotismo de Chu, que es repulsivo, censurable e imperdonable».
«La congresista Chu es una verdadera patriota. Cualquier acusación de ser comunista es pura bufonería», dijo Yang.
«Sugerir que Dominic Ng es de alguna manera un espía es ridículo y va en contra de la decencia común», agregó.
Yang señaló que cada vez que China entra en la conversación nacional como adversario, hay un aumento palpable en los ataques racistas. «Tenemos diferencias geopolíticas con China, pero también una guerra caliente con Rusia, pero nadie está perfilando a los estadounidenses de origen ruso».
La Casa Blanca debería emitir una declaración sobre cómo los estadounidenses de origen chino han contribuido al bienestar de la nación, sugirió Yang.
«Aumentando la xenofobia»
Manjuusha Kulkarni, directora ejecutiva de AAPI Equity Alliance y cofundadora de Stop AAPI Hate, dijo a EMS que estaba muy desanimada por los ataques contra Chu y Ng. «Los ciudadanos respetables que son líderes en nuestra comunidad están siendo atacados solo por su origen étnico», dijo, y agregó que no le sorprendería ver un aumento en los delitos de odio contra la comunidad AAPI. «Estamos intensificando la xenofobia una vez más», dijo.
«Los estadounidenses de origen chino no son responsables de los globos espía y no hay evidencia de que estén participando en actividades peligrosas. Muchos inmigrantes chinos están en contra del PCCh, y puede ser por eso que emigraron: para buscar una nueva vida y una forma de gobierno diferente».
Kulkarni dijo que está alarmada por la cantidad de proyectos de ley en las legislaturas estatales de todo el país que parecen estar alimentados por la xenofobia. De particular preocupación para ella es la SB 147 de Texas, que, en su forma original, habría prohibido a los ciudadanos chinos comprar casas en el estado. El proyecto de ley ha sido modificado, después de una andanada de preocupaciones sobre el racismo.
Lealtad y competencia de Chu en cuestión
En una entrevista con Jesse Waters de Fox News el 22 de febrero, Gooden declaró que Ng tenía vínculos con el Partido Comunista Chino. Continuó diciendo que Chu debería ser investigado, junto con Ng.
«Cuestiono su lealtad y competencia», dijo Gooden. «Si ella no se da cuenta de lo que está pasando, entonces está totalmente fuera de contacto con uno de sus electores principales».
Gooden continuó diciendo: «Estoy realmente decepcionado y sorprendido de que alguien como Judy Chu tenga una autorización de seguridad y derecho a sesiones informativas confidenciales de inteligencia hasta que esto se resuelva». Pidió que la congresista fuera relevada de sus asignaciones en el comité.
«La lealtad no debe ser cuestionada»
Los demócratas y el republicano Mike Gallagher, republicano de Wisconsin, quien copreside el nuevo Comité Selecto de la Cámara sobre China junto con el demócrata Raja Krishnamoorthi de Illinois, denunciaron de inmediato las declaraciones de Gooden, diciendo que eran racistas. Gallagher y Krishnamoorthi aparecieron en Face The Nation con Margaret Brennan el 26 de febrero y condenaron el ataque a Chu.
«Desafortunadamente, uno de mis colegas atacó a Judy Chu, la primera congresista estadounidense de origen chino en el Congreso de los Estados Unidos, diciendo que de alguna manera no es leal a los Estados Unidos. Yo mismo lo encuentro ofensivo como asiático-estadounidense», dijo Krishnamoorthi.
Gallagher estuvo de acuerdo. «Bueno, déjame decirte que no debemos cuestionar la lealtad de nadie a los Estados Unidos. Creo que eso está fuera de los límites. Está más allá de los límites», subrayó.
FBI letter
El 15 de febrero, Gooden y cinco miembros republicanos del Congreso enviaron una carta al director del FBI, Christopher Wray, alegando los vínculos de Ng con el PCCh y pidiendo una investigación. La carta decía que entre 2013 y 2017, Ng se desempeñó como director ejecutivo de la Asociación de Intercambio en el Extranjero de China, que es una organización de fachada para el Departamento de Trabajo del Frente Unido, un servicio de inteligencia chino cuya misión es servir de enlace con los partidos políticos extranjeros, influir en las operaciones, y recopilar inteligencia.
Posteriormente, COEA se fusionó con la Asociación de Amistad de China en el Extranjero, que «siguió siendo un grupo de fachada para UFWD cuando el Sr. Ng comenzó un mandato de 5 años como director ejecutivo de COFA en 2019», declararon los miembros del Congreso en la carta.
«Organizaciones como el UFWD y sus grupos afiliados juegan un papel cada vez más importante en la política exterior china y permiten que actores políticos como el Sr. Ng ganen influencia en instituciones estadounidenses sensibles para defender los intereses de la China comunista. Esta táctica es empleada regularmente por el PCCh para infiltrarse en los gobiernos e influir en las políticas para obtener resultados orientados al PCCh», escribieron. «La Administración Biden ha permitido que el PCCh se infiltre en el sector de terceros y, en consecuencia, en los líderes políticos que tienen relaciones existentes con estos grupos y están al tanto de la inteligencia de EE. UU. No se pueden tolerar nuevas invasiones».
The letter was signed by Gooden and Reps. Tom Tiffany, R-Minnesota, R-Florida, Ben Cline, R-Virginia, Doug La Malfa, R-California, and Keith Self, R-Pennsylvania.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
Since December 2022, there has been a noticeable trend of Hyundai and KIA car theft throughout the city of Berkeley, the Local Police Department.
"We believe the increase may be due in part to a social media challenge that encourages theft," authorities said.
In a statement, the Berkeley Police Department said that since December, Hyundai and KIA vehicles have accounted for 38 percent of the total number of cars stolen in Berkeley.
However, the thefts not only include new models of both brands, but also those not equipped with an engine immobilizer.
According to a press release from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Hyundai and KIA have developed anti-theft software for vehicles lacking an immobilizer that can be provided free of charge.
Authorities have therefore encouraged owners of vehicles from South Korean brands to contact KIA or Hyundai dealerships to obtain their latest anti-theft software and consider using a steering wheel lock for their parked vehicle.
If you are unable to park in a garage, remember to find a well-lit, busy place to park your vehicle, and if you see someone who appears to be trying to steal a vehicle, report it as soon as possible.
Also, when you return to your vehicle, place your belongings so that you can quickly enter your vehicle, lock the door, and leave. Remain alert and aware of your surroundings.
If you meet someone for a trade, consider trading in a safe place or in a well-lit and well-trafficked place, if you see anything suspicious don't hesitate to report it.
And if you do become a victim of car theft, report the crime as soon as possible. You may also want to consider adding a way to track your vehicle, such as a LoJack-style system or an Airtag-style device hidden inside the vehicle.
In 2022, there were 15 reported carjackings in total. And so far this year, the Berkeley Police Department said it has had 6 reported vehicle thefts.
Most of the carjackings have occurred in the evening or early morning. In most cases, the people who have been kidnapped have been threatened with knives or guns.
El estado ha extendido las fechas de vencimiento de pago y presentación de impuestos en California hasta el 16 de octubre de 2023 para los californianos afectados por las tormentas de invierno registradas en diciembre y enero.
Así, los residentes y negocios en los condados de Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Inyo, Kings, Lake, Los Ángeles, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento y San Benito, tendrán una extensión para presentar sus impuestos.
Also, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, and Solano.
En tanto, los condados de Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura, Yolo y Yuba que han sido afectados por severas tormentas invernales, inundaciones, deslizamientos de tierra y lodo son elegibles para la desgravación fiscal.
«A medida que las comunidades de todo el estado continúan recuperándose del daño causado por las tormentas de invierno, California está trabajando rápidamente para ayudar a los californianos en recuperación a recuperarse», señaló el gobernador Gavin Newsom.
Con esta acción, el estado se alinea con la Administración Biden y extendiende el plazo de presentación de impuestos además de la desgravación fiscal anunciada a principios de este año.
En febrero, Newsom anunció una desgravación fiscal para las personas afectadas por las tormentas de invierno, dándoles la posibilidad de reclamar una deducción por pérdidas por desastres y extendiendo ciertos plazos de presentación.
Cabe destacar que este alivio se aplica a los plazos que caen a partir del 8 de enero y antes del 16 de octubre de 2023, incluidas las declaraciones de impuestos sobre la renta de personas físicas de 2022 que vencen el 18 de abril y los pagos trimestrales de impuestos estimados, que generalmente vencen el 17 de enero de 2023 y el 18 de abril de 2023.
Such payments were previously extended through May 15, 2023 for those affected by winter storms.
El IRS anunció alivio de impuestos para los californianos afectados por estas tormentas de invierno. Los contribuyentes afectados por estas tormentas califican para una prórroga hasta el 16 de octubre de 2023 para presentar declaraciones de impuestos individuales y comerciales y realizar ciertos pagos de impuestos.
This includes individuals whose tax returns and payments are due on April 18, 2023; quarterly estimated tax payments due January 17, 2023, April 18, 2023, June 15, 2023, and September 15, 2023; business entities whose tax returns are normally due on March 15 and April 18; PTE elective tax payments due June 15, 2023.
Sin embargo, los contribuyentes afectados por un desastre declarado por el presidente pueden reclamar una deducción por una pérdida por desastre al presentar una declaración de impuestos del año fiscal 2022 original o enmendada.
Al presentar su declaración, los contribuyentes deben escribir el nombre del desastre con tinta azul o negra en la parte superior de su declaración de impuestos para alertar a FTB.
Si presenta la declaración electrónicamente, los contribuyentes deben seguir las instrucciones del software para ingresar la información del desastre. Si un contribuyente recibe un aviso de multa por pago o presentación tardía relacionado con el período de aplazamiento, debe llamar al número que figura en el aviso para que se reduzca la multa.
Para conocer mayor información e instrucciones para Pérdida por desastre y cómo reclamar una deducción de impuestos estatales pueden acceder al sitio https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/misc/1034.pdf.
Las víctimas de desastres pueden recibir copias gratuitas de sus declaraciones estatales para reemplazar las perdidas o dañadas. Para hacerlo, deben usar el form FTB 3516 and write the name of the disaster in blue or black ink at the top of the application.
Last October, the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, swore in the first class of the university's #CaliforniansForAll Scholars, comprised of more than 3,200 students who have committed to serving communities across the state while earning money to pay for college.
Joined by Chief Services Officer Josh Fryday and higher education leaders, Governor Newsom said, “#CaliforniansForAll demonstrates that you don’t have to be something to do something.”
“Leadership can be found anywhere, and this program creates a new pathway for students of all backgrounds to make a real impact in our communities while earning money for college. I am honored and proud to join these young leaders today and look forward to what they will accomplish on this journey,” Newsom said.
This first-of-its-kind initiative gives college students from 46 California colleges and universities the opportunity to earn $10,000 for committing to a year of service focused on three key issue areas for the state: K-12 education, climate action, and food insecurity.
Photo: California Governor's Office.
“In California, if you are willing to serve your community and give back in a meaningful way, we will help you pay for college. This is a win-win – helping pay for college, gaining valuable work experience, and making a meaningful impact on the community,” said Josh Fryday, California’s director of services.
In this first cohort, more than two-thirds of the grantees are Pell-eligible and 64 percent are first-generation college students. AB 540 CA Dream Act students are also eligible for college support through this program.
Approximately 13,000 students over the next four years will participate in one year of service, equivalent to six million hours.
College Corps Fellows will be placed in more than 600 community-based partner organizations across the state, with those focused on K-12 tutoring or mentoring public school students directly in the classrooms of school districts across the state, while others will support after-school programs run by nonprofit organizations.
Fellows addressing food insecurity will be placed at numerous food banks, as well as staff food pantries on their own college campus; while fellows focused on climate action will plant trees, assist with wildfire mitigation work, and support a variety of environmental education and community outreach efforts.
The #CaliforniansForAll University Corps is funded primarily through the California Comeback Plan and will support 3,250 students in the first year of this program.
This Thursday, March 2, 2023, is the deadline for San Mateo County residents who lost their jobs or businesses, or had their hours reduced due to the impacts of the severe storms that began in late December 2022. apply for Disaster Unemployment Insurance.
Benefits are available “to workers, business owners, and self-employed individuals who lost their jobs or businesses, or had their work hours reduced, due to impacts from the severe storms.”
Benefits are offered to victims of a federally declared disaster and are available to individuals who meet certain criteria.
San Mateo County applicants must file applications for benefits by today unless the person has good cause for filing a late application.
Disaster Unemployment Assistance applies to losses beginning the week of January 1, 2023 for claimants affected by the storms.
Interested parties can submit their application by phone from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.:
English: 1-800-300-5616
Spanish: 1-800-326-8937
Chinese (Cantonese): 1-800 -547-3506
Chinese (Mandarin): 1-866-303-0706
Korean: 1-844-660-0877
Tagalog: 1-866-395-1513
Vietnamese: 1-800-547-2058
Disaster Recovery Center to Reduce Hours and Services Next Week Beginning Monday, March 6, the Disaster Recovery Center open at the Events Center for residents affected by the January storms will reduce hours due to decreased attendance.
On Monday, hours change to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The center will be closed on Sunday. At the end of the business day on Tuesday, March 7, Cal OES will discontinue state services.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA and the Small Business Administration (SBA) will remain on site from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Tuesday, March 14, when the site will close permanently.
The deadline to apply for FEMA assistance is March 16, 2023.
Península 360 Press abre la convocatoria para participar en el tercer taller de periodismo comunitario. En esta ocasión el taller se llevará a cabo en modalidad híbrida y tendrá una duración de 20 horas repartidas en distintos días de la semana.
Los participantes del taller desarrollarán habilidades periodísticas escriturales y fotográficas, las cuales se desarrollarán en tres módulos con temáticas distintas.
Los temas de dichos módulos son: Stop The Hate, medio ambiente y una historia de experiencia personal.
El resultado de cada módulo tendrá como objetivo el realizar una exposición del trabajo de cada uno de los asistentes.
