Food For People Giving Out Food Tomorrow In Eureka

 The last few months have presented challenges for many from increasing COVID cases to winter storms and road closures. To help our community, Food for People will host a Winter Drive-Through Food Distribution at the north parking lot of the Bayshore Mall on Thursday, January 27th from 11am-1pm. People can stock up nonperishable staples and fresh produce.   Those who would like to participate are asked to wear a mask and stay in their car, volunteers will load the food directly in the vehicles. Those without a vehicle can schedule an appointment the Food for People’s Eureka Food Pantry, located at 2112 Broadway, call 707-407-0447 for appointments.

What: Winter Drive-Through Food Distribution

When: Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 11am-1pm

Where: The parking lot at the north end of the Bayshore mall.

Food for People, the Food Bank for Humboldt County, provides vital emergency food resources for the community. Food for People works to alleviate local hunger and improve the health of the community through its 18 programs and strong community partnerships. These programs include a countywide network of emergency food pantries; mobile produce distribution to rural areas of the county; food assistance for children, seniors and homebound individuals; nutrition education; and local food recovery and gleaning efforts. Food for People distributes nearly 2 million pounds of food annually to the county’s most vulnerable members. For more information, go to www.foodforpeople.org.

Senator Mike McGuire’s Office On Eel River Coal Train

 Senator Mike McGuire’s legislation to stop one of the largest environmental threats California and the North Coast has seen in decades — a proposal from a secret, clandestine operation that wants to ship millions of tons of coal through Northern California — passed with overwhelming bipartisan support on the Senate floor Monday.

“The proposed toxic coal train is an environmental disaster in the making. The midwest coal would travel through the Sierras, across the Golden State through the heart of our thriving communities, ancient redwoods, and directly along the banks of the Eel and Russian rivers, which are the main drinking water source for nearly 1 million residents. It is crucial we stop this dangerous proposal – it transcends politics, and I’m grateful for the bipartisan support.”

SB 307 will protect California by preventing all state funding from initiating improvements on the now defunct North Coast rail line north of the City of Willits. Further, it bans state money from being spent on the buildout of any new potential bulk coal terminal facilities at the Port of Humboldt.

The bill passed in the Senate with 33-2 bipartisan vote. The bill will now be sent on to the Assembly for its committee process.

Budget Proposal To Hire More Than 1,000 Fire Fighters For Cal Fire

SACRAMENTO - Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) is co-sponsoring a bipartisan budget proposal with Senator Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) to increase the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s (CAL FIRE) staff in order to meet the national standard of three firefighters per engine.

 "We are in a pivotal time when it comes to preparing for wildfire season and that includes addressing the CAL FIRE staffing shortage,” said Senator Shannon Grove. “This legislation will serve as a critical down payment to support our firefighters while they protect life, property, and natural resources for all Californians.”

 The Fight for Firefighters’ budget proposal would increase staffing by hiring an additional 1,124 firefighters, including 356 full-time firefighters, and 16 additional seasonal hand crews. The bipartisan coalition will also be moving forward with a mandated CAL FIRE staffing study that would be submitted to the Legislature and the Governor. 

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Senator Shannon Grove represents California's 16th Senate District which encompasses large portions of Kern, Tulare and San Bernardino counties and including the cities of Bakersfield, Barstow, California City, Exeter, Frazier Mountain, Joshua Tree, Mojave, Needles, Ridgecrest, Rosamond, Taft, Tehachapi, Twentynine Palms, Tulare, Visalia, Yucca Valley and portions of the Kern River Valley. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

California Created 25% Of All US Jobs In December!

 Governor Newsom Statement on December Jobs Report 

Published: Jan 21, 2022

California created 25 percent of the nation’s jobs in December, added over a million jobs since February

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement regarding today’s jobs report showing that California created 25 percent of the nation’s new jobs in December, along with an unemployment rate decrease to 6.5 percent:

“California continues to create an outsized share of the nation’s new jobs, with 25 percent of the entire country’s job creation happening right here – part of the record 1 million new jobs that our state created throughout last year’s economic recovery. As we go forward this year, we’ll continue taking action to get more folks back to work and support our businesses hit hardest by the pandemic.”

Since February 2021, California has added 1,034,400 total nonfarm jobs, which averages out to be a gain of 94,036 jobs per month.

California has seen a year-over record 6 percent in nonfarm jobs for 2021, which is the largest calendar year increase in the official series data going back to 1990.

California’s December 2021 gain of 50,700 nonfarm jobs accounted for nearly 25.5 percent of the nation’s 199,000 overall jobs gain for the month.

The state has now regained 1,946,200, or nearly 72 percent, of the 2,714,800 jobs that were lost in March and April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Month-over, no industry sectors lost jobs for the first time since March 2021.

OSHA Responds To Supreme Court Ruling On Safety

 

Statement from Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh on Supreme Court ruling

on OSHA emergency temporary standard on vaccination, testing

 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued the following statement on the Supreme Court ruling on the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s emergency temporary standard on vaccination and testing:

 

“I am disappointed in the court’s decision, which is a major setback to the health and safety of workers across the country. OSHA stands by the Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard as the best way to protect the nation’s workforce from a deadly virus that is infecting more than 750,000 Americans each day and has taken the lives of nearly a million Americans.

 

“OSHA promulgated the ETS under clear authority established by Congress to protect workers facing grave danger in the workplace, and COVID is without doubt such a danger. The emergency temporary standard is based on science and data that show the effectiveness of vaccines against the spread of coronavirus and the grave danger faced by unvaccinated workers. The commonsense standards established in the ETS remain critical, especially during the current surge, where unvaccinated people are 15-20 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than vaccinated people. OSHA will be evaluating all options to ensure workers are protected from this deadly virus.

 

“We urge all employers to require workers to get vaccinated or tested weekly to most effectively fight this deadly virus in the workplace. Employers are responsible for the safety of their workers on the job, and OSHA has comprehensive COVID-19 guidance to help them uphold their obligation.

 

“Regardless of the ultimate outcome of these proceedings, OSHA will do everything in its existing authority to hold businesses accountable for protecting workers, including under the Covid-19 National Emphasis Program and General Duty Clause.”

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

There is a lot of information from our Attorney General to help combat Human Trafficking as well as help for victims in the links below the Press Release. 

On National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Attorney General Bonta Highlights Resources to Support Survivors of Human Trafficking

Urges businesses and members of the public across California to use available resources to help combat human trafficking 

OAKLAND – As part of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, California Attorney General Rob Bonta today highlighted resources available to businesses and members of the public to help combat human trafficking and support survivors. California law requires certain businesses and establishments to post notices that provide information and resources for survivors and the public regarding human trafficking. The Attorney General urges businesses and members of the public across the state to use these resources to help federal, state, and local authorities and community organizations combat human trafficking in California.

“Every year, there are thousands of reported human trafficking cases across the United States — including right here in California,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “Whether it’s for sex or labor, abusing power to force or coerce someone into doing something against their will is wrong. At the California Department of Justice, we’re committed to standing up for survivors, disrupting and dismantling human trafficking rings, and securing justice. However, it takes all of us to combat human trafficking. I urge businesses across the state to use the resources we’re sharing today to help put an end to trafficking in California. If you or someone you know has been affected by human trafficking, there are resources available to you. You are not alone.”

“Today we are raising awareness about a human rights violation that happens in neighborhoods across California every day of the year,” said Kay Buck, CEO of the Los Angeles-based Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. “I invite every resident of our state to join us in the fight against human trafficking and our work for systemic change to ensure the rights of survivors. As the state’s largest service provider, we need you as our partners.”

Human trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery where perpetrators profit from the control and exploitation of men, women, and children for sex or labor through force, fraud, or coercion. Human trafficking does not require movement across borders. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, there were more than 1,300 human trafficking cases reported in California in 2020 — more than any other state in the nation. In California, human trafficking is prevalent in the hospitality, commercial sex, domestic work, and construction industries. Victims of human trafficking are also found among migrant and seasonal agricultural workers, providers of residential care, and in California’s garment sector.

If you or someone you know is being forced to engage in any activity and cannot leave — whether it is commercial sex, housework, farm work, construction, factory, retail, or restaurant work, or more — you can get anonymous and confidential help 24 hours a day, seven days a week in more than 160 different languages. It is also important to remember that California law prohibits law enforcement authorities from asking individuals, including those who are reporting or are victims of potential crimes, about their immigration status, unless the information is necessary to certify the victim for a U visa (victim of crime visa) or T visa (victim of human trafficking visa). If you need help, you can reach out to local authorities and various organizations, including: 

Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST)

• Find them online at https://www.castla.org/; or
• Call 1-888-539-2373.

National Human Trafficking Hotline

• Find them online at https://humantraffickinghotline.org/ (Online Chat Available);
• Text 233-733 (Be Free); or
• Call 1-888-373-7888.

The Victims of Crime Resource Center

• Find them online at https://1800victims.org/ (Online Chat Available);
• Text or call 1-800-842-8467; or
• Email 1800VICTIMS@pacific.edu.

The California Department of Justice's Victims' Services Unit

• Find them online at https://oag.ca.gov/victimservices;
• Call 1-877-433-9069; or
• Email VictimServices@doj.ca.gov.

Additional Resources

Resources such as emergency food and shelter, legal services, and health services can be found on your city or county websites. For those who have been the victim of a violent crime, the California Victim Compensation Board can help cover related bills and expenses.

As a result of Senate Bill 1193 of 2012 and subsequent legislation, California law requires specified businesses and other establishments — including hotels, motels, and bed and breakfast inns — to post a notice informing the public and survivors of human trafficking of telephone hotline numbers to seek help or report unlawful activity. These notices include much of the information provided above. Each mandated business is required to post a notice in English and Spanish and, depending on the county, businesses may be required to post a notice in a third language. Businesses or establishments that are required to post these notices do not need to pay for them. The notices are available for free on the California Department of Justice’s website in English, Spanish, and roughly two dozen other languages. 

Through collaboration with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners and community organizations, Attorney General Bonta is committed to disrupting and dismantling human trafficking in California. As part of those efforts, the California Department of Justice operates two regional Human Trafficking and Sexual Predator Apprehension Teams (HT/SPAT) serving Northern and Southern California, the department serves as the lead agency on the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force (SDHTTF), and leads the prosecutions of complex, multijurisdictional, and criminal human trafficking cases across the state. For example, during 2021, HT/SPAT and SDHTTF, in partnership with law enforcement agencies across California, have taken action in nearly all phases of enforcement efforts, including through:

• Assisting in and directly securing hundreds of arrests related to human trafficking and other violations of California’s laws — leading to prosecutions across the state;
• More than 350 on-the-ground address checks of potential suspects and high-risk sex offenders;
• The development of hundreds of investigative leads, conducting suspect and survivor interviews in conjunction with law enforcement partners;
• The execution of more than 150 search warrants; and
• Offering services to hundreds of potential survivors, including juveniles, and engaging in direct outreach with non-profit organizations.

Additional information about and resources regarding human trafficking is available on the California Department of Justice’s website here.