latimes--2020-10-26--'Pretty awful.' Two Bay Area counties halt COVID-19 test program run by Google offshoot

Amid fanfare in March , California officials celebrated the launch of a multimillion-dollar contract with Verily — Google ’ s health-focused sister company — that they said would vastly expand coronavirus testing among the state ’ s impoverished and underserved communities .
But seven months later , San Francisco and Alameda counties — two of the state ’ s most populous — have severed ties with the company ’ s testing sites amid concerns about patients ’ data privacy and complaints that funding intended to boost testing in low-income Black and Latino neighborhoods instead was benefiting higher-income residents in other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among at least 28 counties , including Los Angeles , where California has paid Verily to boost testing capacity through contracts collectively worth $ 55 million , according to a spokesperson for the California Governor ’ s Office of Emergency Services .
About half ohave received coronavirus tests through six mobile units that travel among rural areas .
Gov .
Gavin Newsom has heralded the investment as a game-changer in addressing persistent inequities in access to testing across the state that tend to fall along lines of ethnicity and income .
The goal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ six new Verily testing sites , was to “ make sure we ’ re truly testing California broadly defined , not just parts of California and those that somehow have the privilege of getting ahead of the line.
” Yet the roadblocks for getting underrepresented populations to use the program soon became apparent to Alameda County officials .
In a June letter to California Secretary of Health Mark Ghaly , Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and other members of the county ’ s COVID-19 Racial Disparities Task Force raised numerous concerns about the Verily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ signing up for a test through Verily had to do so online , using an existing or newly created Gmail account ; the sign-ups were offered only in English or Spanish ; and participants were asked to provide sensitive personal information , including their home address and whether they were managing chronic health conditions such as diabetes , obesity or congestive heart failure , which could expose their data to third-party use .
“ It is critical in this crisis that we continue to build trust between government and healthcare providers and vulnerable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote .
Verily had two sites in Alameda County , and one was shuttered by May .
The second , located at an Oakland church , closed in August and is set to reopen using a different testing vendor .
Alameda County testing director Dr. Jocelyn Freeman Garrick said that while the Verily sites helped the county reach testing goals in terms of raw numbers , they were phased out because of long wait times of a week or more for results , and because the tests were not reaching the residents in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the tests used at its California sites .
It contracts with major corporations such as Quest Diagnostics and Thermo Fisher Scientific to provide the test kits and perform the lab work .
What Verily provides is a digital platform where people are screened for symptoms , schedule testing appointments at participating sites and check back for test results .
Dr. Noha Aboelata is CEO of Roots Community Health Center , an East Oakland clinic that serves mostly African Americans and is one of the original Verily sites in Oakland .
Her experience with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of two lines .
In May , Aboelata worked with Verily to establish a walk-up site at her clinic , rather than the drive-thru model the company typically uses .
There would be two lines : one for people who scheduled their appointments through Verily ’ s online portal ; and a second for people who had not preregistered with Verily .
Roots would staff both lines , and Verily would supply test kits and personal protective equipment including masks , which were “ like gold ” at the time , Aboelata said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
People were suspicious of the requirement that they sign up with a Gmail account and the request for personal information , such as health status and risk factors .
“ You don ’ t necessarily want to share that with Google , ” Aboelata said .
Then there was the language in the privacy policy that allows for sharing data with third parties .
“ That always is going to raise suspicion and concern in our community , ” she said .
The people who ended up in the Verily-registered line @ @ @ @ @ @ @ white and to come from wealthier ZIP Codes outside East Oakland .
And because Verily never changed the website language describing Roots as a drive-thru site , many were angry at having to walk up .
“ We had people coming from all over the Bay Area who were frustrated that they had to park in Oakland , where they had probably never been and didn ’ t seem to want to be , ” she said .
“ They were creating quite a scene , and some were saying , ‘ I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” She had to ask a few people to leave .
“ One of them was saying , ‘ This is so Oakland , and I hope you all get the virus.
’ It was pretty awful.
” The Roots line for clients who did not register through Verily , on the other hand , was made up mostly of people of color from the community who long had come to the clinic for medical care , she said .
When Aboelata looked at the data , the disparities were obvious : 12.9 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ line were positive for the coronavirus , while just 1.5 % of people tested in the Verily-registered line were positive .
For Aboelata , it was clear that the two lines were testing two entirely different populations .
After just six days of testing , Aboelata asked Verily to leave .
“ From where we sit , this is an old story , ” she said .
“ Corporations that are not really invested in the community come helicoptering in , bearing gifts , but what they ’ re taking away is much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Aboelata believes , are the data Verily requests from everyone who signs up for a test .
In San Francisco , Verily mobile testing clinics have also been sidelined .
County officials declined to provide an explanation .
However , multiple people with knowledge of the testing efforts said the Verily registration process proved chaotic for homeless people and others in the Tenderloin district , one of the city ’ s poorest neighborhoods .
Kenneth Kim , clinical director of Glide , an outreach center that helped run the Tenderloin site , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing had Gmail accounts , as Verily required , but could not remember their passwords .
When staffers at the testing site tried to help them retrieve their passwords , they found that Google ’ s two-factor authentication process required users to have the same phone number as when they signed up , which few of the homeless participants did .
Dr. Jonathan Fuchs , who leads San Francisco County ’ s testing strategy at the Department of Public Health , confirmed that the partnership with Verily was “ currently on hold.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In response to questions , Verily spokesperson Kathleen Parkes said the program requires users to register with Gmail accounts because Google ’ s authentication procedures safeguard sensitive data and protect “ against unknown individuals sending or receiving information with serious consequences for health or well-being.
” Conversations with San Francisco and Alameda remain “ active , ” Parkes said .
The company did not respond to specific questions about the testing disparities cited by community leaders .
Verily ’ s role in coronavirus testing has been shadowed by controversy since President Trump told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in March that “ Google ” was developing a screening website and testing tool .
“ Google has 1,700 engineers working on this right now , ” he said .
“ They ’ ve made tremendous progress.
” At the time , tests were in short supply and Trump was under pressure to increase capacity as infections ballooned in California , New York and other states .
But Google was not building such a website .
Instead , Verily , another Alphabet Inc. subsidiary focused on life sciences , was in the early @ @ @ @ @ @ @ triage people in need of testing , Google clarified in a tweet .
It planned to unveil a pilot program in two Bay Area counties .
Days later , Newsom announced a California partnership with Verily that so far has paid the company $ 55 million to establish both mobile and brick-and-mortar testing sites .
In addition , Verily has partnered with Rite Aid to manage testing at approximately 300 sites in multiple states under a $ 122.6 million federal contract between the pharmacy chain and the U.S. Department of Health and Human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are in place through Nov. 30 ; the HHS contract is set to expire in January .
Participants in the Verily initiative sign an authorization form that says their information can be shared with multiple third parties involved in the testing program , including unnamed contractors and state and federal health authorities .
“ While the form tells you that Verily may share data with ‘ entities that assist with the testing program , ’ it doesn ’ t say who those entities are .
If one of those unnamed and unknown entities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , you have no way to know and no way to hold them accountable , ” said Lee Tien , senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation , a nonprofit that advocates for digital privacy .
The policy states Verily will not use the data collected for its own research or meld it with other Google products without the user ’ s permission .
But it notes participants may be invited to share their data for such research , and the testing portal prominently features links inviting participants to sign up for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as of Oct. 8 , the Verily sites had processed an average of 1,583 patient samples per day over the prior seven days , according to the California Department of Public Health .
Verily , the state health department and Alameda County all declined requests to provide race and ethnicity data by testing site .
Dr. Kim Rhoads , a UCSF professor and former colorectal surgeon who leads a COVID testing project for Black communities , said Aboelata ’ s experience with Verily is emblematic of widespread racial disparities in the testing and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t keep talking about the consequences being unintended , ” Rhoads said .
“ We are six months into this pandemic and anyone who is surprised by the repetitive findings of inequity in testing , the spread of virus and COVID-19 mortality just isn ’ t paying attention.
” In an interview , Ghaly , California ’ s health secretary , said he believed the state ’ s partnerships with Verily and other companies continue to be a national model for addressing problems with testing disparities , including setting up venues for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in counties in northern parts of the state , sometimes the only regular testing available was through mobile testing set up under the program , he said .
“ I think there ’ s lots of success and lots of lessons learned and we continue to apply them , ” Ghaly said .
“ Until the entire effort is completed , I always look at where we are as part success and part opportunity to keep learning.
” In a September response to the Oakland COVID-19 disparities task force , Ghaly outlined @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would take in response to the concerns , including having Verily update its platform to include additional languages and work with testing vendors on alternative methods for data collection to address privacy concerns .
“ Some of the things we learned specifically in our experience in Alameda and other parts of the Bay Area is language matters , ” Ghaly told KHN .
After working with the homeless for 25 years , Dr. Margot Kushel , director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative , said she wasn ’ t surprised to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Verily .
“ It turns out that in public health , the highest-tech solution is usually not the right one , ” she said .
To bring COVID cases down , she explained , requires a “ laser focus ” on the highest-risk communities .
And people in those communities often don ’ t want to turn over the protected information Verily asks for , whether because of fears about their immigration status or a history of mistrust of the medical establishment and policing .
“ You can imagine a million and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it , ” Kushel said .
“ The very structure of this is set up to fail .
And by failing the communities who need it most , we fail everybody.
” KHN ( Kaiser Health News ) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues .
It is an editorially independent program of KFF ( Kaiser Family Foundation ) that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente .

Amid fanfare in March, California officials celebrated the launch of a multimillion-dollar contract with Verily — Google’s health-focused sister company — that they said would vastly expand coronavirus testing among the state’s impoverished and underserved communities.
But seven months later, San Francisco and Alameda counties — two of the state’s most populous — have severed ties with the company’s testing sites amid concerns about patients’ data privacy and complaints that funding intended to boost testing in low-income Black and Latino neighborhoods instead was benefiting higher-income residents in other communities.
San Francisco and Alameda are among at least 28 counties, including Los Angeles, where California has paid Verily to boost testing capacity through contracts collectively worth $55 million, according to a spokesperson for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. About half have received coronavirus tests through six mobile units that travel among rural areas.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom has heralded the investment as a game-changer in addressing persistent inequities in access to testing across the state that tend to fall along lines of ethnicity and income. The goal, he said in April, touting six new Verily testing sites, was to “make sure we’re truly testing California broadly defined, not just parts of California and those that somehow have the privilege of getting ahead of the line.”
Yet the roadblocks for getting underrepresented populations to use the program soon became apparent to Alameda County officials. In a June letter to California Secretary of Health Mark Ghaly, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and other members of the county’s COVID-19 Racial Disparities Task Force raised numerous concerns about the Verily protocols.
Among their complaints: People signing up for a test through Verily had to do so online, using an existing or newly created Gmail account; the sign-ups were offered only in English or Spanish; and participants were asked to provide sensitive personal information, including their home address and whether they were managing chronic health conditions such as diabetes, obesity or congestive heart failure, which could expose their data to third-party use.
“It is critical in this crisis that we continue to build trust between government and healthcare providers and vulnerable communities,” the task force members wrote.
Verily had two sites in Alameda County, and one was shuttered by May. The second, located at an Oakland church, closed in August and is set to reopen using a different testing vendor. Alameda County testing director Dr. Jocelyn Freeman Garrick said that while the Verily sites helped the county reach testing goals in terms of raw numbers, they were phased out because of long wait times of a week or more for results, and because the tests were not reaching the residents in greatest need.
Verily does not manufacture the tests used at its California sites. It contracts with major corporations such as Quest Diagnostics and Thermo Fisher Scientific to provide the test kits and perform the lab work. What Verily provides is a digital platform where people are screened for symptoms, schedule testing appointments at participating sites and check back for test results.
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Dr. Noha Aboelata is CEO of Roots Community Health Center, an East Oakland clinic that serves mostly African Americans and is one of the original Verily sites in Oakland. Her experience with Verily is best described as a tale of two lines.
In May, Aboelata worked with Verily to establish a walk-up site at her clinic, rather than the drive-thru model the company typically uses. There would be two lines: one for people who scheduled their appointments through Verily’s online portal; and a second for people who had not preregistered with Verily. Roots would staff both lines, and Verily would supply test kits and personal protective equipment including masks, which were “like gold” at the time, Aboelata said.
Problems emerged almost immediately, she said. People were suspicious of the requirement that they sign up with a Gmail account and the request for personal information, such as health status and risk factors. “You don’t necessarily want to share that with Google,” Aboelata said.
Then there was the language in the privacy policy that allows for sharing data with third parties. “That always is going to raise suspicion and concern in our community,” she said.
The people who ended up in the Verily-registered line, she said, tended to be white and to come from wealthier ZIP Codes outside East Oakland. And because Verily never changed the website language describing Roots as a drive-thru site, many were angry at having to walk up.
“We had people coming from all over the Bay Area who were frustrated that they had to park in Oakland, where they had probably never been and didn’t seem to want to be,” she said. “They were creating quite a scene, and some were saying, ‘I want to talk to the manager.’” She had to ask a few people to leave. “One of them was saying, ‘This is so Oakland, and I hope you all get the virus.’ It was pretty awful.”
The Roots line for clients who did not register through Verily, on the other hand, was made up mostly of people of color from the community who long had come to the clinic for medical care, she said.
When Aboelata looked at the data, the disparities were obvious: 12.9% of people tested in the non-Verily line were positive for the coronavirus, while just 1.5% of people tested in the Verily-registered line were positive. For Aboelata, it was clear that the two lines were testing two entirely different populations.
After just six days of testing, Aboelata asked Verily to leave.
“From where we sit, this is an old story,” she said. “Corporations that are not really invested in the community come helicoptering in, bearing gifts, but what they’re taking away is much more valuable.” That thing of value, Aboelata believes, are the data Verily requests from everyone who signs up for a test.
In San Francisco, Verily mobile testing clinics have also been sidelined. County officials declined to provide an explanation. However, multiple people with knowledge of the testing efforts said the Verily registration process proved chaotic for homeless people and others in the Tenderloin district, one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods.
Daniel Hom, 77, on Monday in San Mateo arrives for testing at a private screening by Verily at the county event center. (Daniel Hom/Daniel Hom)
Kenneth Kim, clinical director of Glide, an outreach center that helped run the Tenderloin site, said many homeless residents coming in for testing had Gmail accounts, as Verily required, but could not remember their passwords. When staffers at the testing site tried to help them retrieve their passwords, they found that Google’s two-factor authentication process required users to have the same phone number as when they signed up, which few of the homeless participants did.
Dr. Jonathan Fuchs, who leads San Francisco County’s testing strategy at the Department of Public Health, confirmed that the partnership with Verily was “currently on hold.” He declined to provide further details.
In response to questions, Verily spokesperson Kathleen Parkes said the program requires users to register with Gmail accounts because Google’s authentication procedures safeguard sensitive data and protect “against unknown individuals sending or receiving information with serious consequences for health or well-being.” Conversations with San Francisco and Alameda remain “active,” Parkes said. The company did not respond to specific questions about the testing disparities cited by community leaders.
Verily’s role in coronavirus testing has been shadowed by controversy since President Trump told reporters at a Rose Garden news conference in March that “Google” was developing a screening website and testing tool. “Google has 1,700 engineers working on this right now,” he said. “They’ve made tremendous progress.”
At the time, tests were in short supply and Trump was under pressure to increase capacity as infections ballooned in California, New York and other states. But Google was not building such a website. Instead, Verily, another Alphabet Inc. subsidiary focused on life sciences, was in the early stages of developing a website to help triage people in need of testing, Google clarified in a tweet. It planned to unveil a pilot program in two Bay Area counties.
Days later, Newsom announced a California partnership with Verily that so far has paid the company $55 million to establish both mobile and brick-and-mortar testing sites. In addition, Verily has partnered with Rite Aid to manage testing at approximately 300 sites in multiple states under a $122.6 million federal contract between the pharmacy chain and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. California’s Verily contracts are in place through Nov. 30; the HHS contract is set to expire in January.
Participants in the Verily initiative sign an authorization form that says their information can be shared with multiple third parties involved in the testing program, including unnamed contractors and state and federal health authorities.
“While the form tells you that Verily may share data with ‘entities that assist with the testing program,’ it doesn’t say who those entities are. If one of those unnamed and unknown entities violates your privacy by misusing your data, you have no way to know and no way to hold them accountable,” said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for digital privacy.
The policy states Verily will not use the data collected for its own research or meld it with other Google products without the user’s permission. But it notes participants may be invited to share their data for such research, and the testing portal prominently features links inviting participants to sign up for other Verily research.
In California, as of Oct. 8, the Verily sites had processed an average of 1,583 patient samples per day over the prior seven days, according to the California Department of Public Health. Verily, the state health department and Alameda County all declined requests to provide race and ethnicity data by testing site.
Dr. Kim Rhoads, a UCSF professor and former colorectal surgeon who leads a COVID testing project for Black communities, said Aboelata’s experience with Verily is emblematic of widespread racial disparities in the testing and treatment of COVID-19. “We can’t keep talking about the consequences being unintended,” Rhoads said. “We are six months into this pandemic and anyone who is surprised by the repetitive findings of inequity in testing, the spread of virus and COVID-19 mortality just isn’t paying attention.”
In an interview, Ghaly, California’s health secretary, said he believed the state’s partnerships with Verily and other companies continue to be a national model for addressing problems with testing disparities, including setting up venues for minority and rural populations. For example, in counties in northern parts of the state, sometimes the only regular testing available was through mobile testing set up under the program, he said.
“I think there’s lots of success and lots of lessons learned and we continue to apply them,” Ghaly said. “Until the entire effort is completed, I always look at where we are as part success and part opportunity to keep learning.”
In a September response to the Oakland COVID-19 disparities task force, Ghaly outlined several actions the state had taken or would take in response to the concerns, including having Verily update its platform to include additional languages and work with testing vendors on alternative methods for data collection to address privacy concerns.
“Some of the things we learned specifically in our experience in Alameda and other parts of the Bay Area is language matters,” Ghaly told KHN.
Tracking the coronavirus in California The latest maps and charts on the spread of COVID-19 in California.
After working with the homeless for 25 years, Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said she wasn’t surprised to learn some community leaders ran into problems with Verily.
“It turns out that in public health, the highest-tech solution is usually not the right one,” she said. To bring COVID cases down, she explained, requires a “laser focus” on the highest-risk communities. And people in those communities often don’t want to turn over the protected information Verily asks for, whether because of fears about their immigration status or a history of mistrust of the medical establishment and policing.
“You can imagine a million and a half reasons why people would distrust it,” Kushel said. “The very structure of this is set up to fail. And by failing the communities who need it most, we fail everybody.”
California correspondent Angela Hart contributed to this report.
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.


latimes--2020-10-26--Many California farmworkers fear a winter of hunger and homelessness amid the pandemic

In a year without pandemic , fire and extreme heat , Jose Luis Hernandez by now would have saved enough money picking summer fruit from California fields to make it through the slow winter months ahead .
This year , he is in debt to a friend and does not know how he will provide food and shelter for his wife and three sons as the final grapes are taken from the vines .
“ I haven ’ t saved anything , ” he said , sitting on the walkway of an aging five-plex in south Stockton , one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ valley city , where he pays $ 675 a month for an apartment with taps that sometimes spew black water .
“ You have a puzzle , electricity or your refrigerator is empty , ” he said .
“ I am worried.
” Hernandez , said other agricultural laborers and advocates , is one face in an imminent crisis confronting the state ’ s farmworkers here illegally .
Though they have been declared essential for the state ’ s multibillion-dollar agriculture industry , they often don ’ t qualify for safety nets such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aid that have become lifelines for many as they weather a crushing year of disasters .
Familiar with the seasonal nature of farm work , most field laborers conserve earnings from earlier months to plan for the cold season when fewer people are needed for tasks such as pruning .
But this year , there has not been enough work and many are dreading a winter of scarcity .
Already , the coronavirus has sickened many agricultural workers , and sent others home to quarantine , often without pay despite new rules offering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ families scrambling to meet unexpected childcare costs , or forced some to quit jobs to say home with young children .
Fires in Napa and Sonoma , where many San Joaquin workers including Hernandez commute , left laborers rushing to save what they could of harvests under orange skies .
But there too , work was cut short by weather and danger .
The effects of the pandemic and wildfires were worsened by months of record-breaking heat that raised electricity bills as window air conditioners strained to keep triple-digit temperatures at bay and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the afternoon .
Now , with few protections and little government aid , many are afraid the worst is yet to come .
“ It ’ s not looking good for families here in the valley , ” said Elvira Ramirez , executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Stockton .
“ These families are going to be in big trouble.
” A Times analysis found the San Joaquin Valley remains hard hit by the coronavirus even as other parts of the state see risk levels drop , and Latinos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to test positive for the virus as white counterparts .
Statewide , about 61 % of cases and 49 % of deaths are among Latinos , though they make up about 39 % of the state ’ s population .
Essential Latino workers here illegally also remain some of the hardest hit economically .
Nearly 80 % of California ’ s workers without legal status are in jobs deemed essential , according to a UCLA study released earlier this year — and about 50 % of farmworkers lack legal status .
On average @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their wages between February and April — more than any other demographic of employees .
Little has improved over the summer , according to interviews with workers and advocates , even as some communities begin to reopen .
So far , the crisis facing farmworkers hasn ’ t yet triggered a dip in agricultural output .
Although some sectors , including wine and dairy , have racked up losses , fruit and vegetable production in California is on par with last year ’ s quantities , according to a survey of U.S. Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said some experts , should translate to the same amount of work for laborers — though in recent years , employers have turned to more temporary visa holders and mechanization , both trends accelerated by the coronavirus .
“ The expectation at the beginning was labor shortage , labor shortage , labor shortage — that did not come to pass , ” said Philip Martin , professor emeritus of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis and author of the survey .
“ It ’ s not as if there ’ s much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The peach trees are already planted and they are either going to pick them or not.
” But for those on the ground in San Joaquin , the statistics do not match their experience .
The Rev .
Nelson Rabell-González , the regional leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America , has collected and distributed more than $ 800,000 in direct cash in the San Joaquin Valley since the pandemic started , giving hundreds of families checks of up to $ 1,500 .
The money usually doesn ’ t cover even a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and taking it often means families disqualify themselves for some of the scant other options for aid .
Yet he receives calls every day from workers growing increasingly desperate as they are unable to pay for basic necessities , he said .
He has given out about 770 checks so far and said it ’ s “ the same story over and over : Food , rent , bills.
” Amalia Ortiz Santana , a farmworker currently working in sweet potato fields , recited that list in Spanish — comida , la renta @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her worries are for the winter .
“ There is no extra help , ” she said .
Santana is currently working near the town of Livingston in Merced County , where hundreds of workers in a Foster Farms meat processing plant contracted the coronavirus and county health officials said nine died .
Santana took herself off the job for four weeks because she thought she had the virus earlier this summer , and now “ owes a lot of money , ” she said , waiting in front of a run-down white-steeple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Next in line to Santana was Janette Jimenez and her daughter Janely , 5 .
Hernandez was cleaning houses , but now stays home to care for her four kids .
Her husband tested positive for the virus not long ago , along with two of the children , though she has continued to test negative .
Though her husband has recovered , “ he feels different .
He feels like he is not the same , ” she said .
They are behind on rent and their electricity bill , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weekly .
This winter is “ going to be even worse , ” she said .
René Lopez , a grape picker , came soon afterward .
His cousin was hospitalized with COVID-19 , and Lopez knows “ it ’ s not a game.
” He said he has lost about half of his typical hours this year and has been unable to continue to send money home to support his parents in Mexico .
He lent his cousin some money , but wishes he could do more , he said .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1,000 rent and his family has been forced to reduce the amount of food they buy .
In April , Gov .
Gavin Newsom allocated $ 75 million in state funds to give up to $ 1,000 to 150,000 immigrant families here illegally .
That aid was largely exhausted by July .
Recently , Newsom signed a package of bills to provide further help for agricultural workers , including education about access to paid time off and workers ’ compensation , and quarantine housing in hotels for exposed workers .
But the recent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ direct financial aid , and with the Legislature largely done for the year and a budget shortfall forcing cuts , more state money is unlikely .
California Assemblyman Robert Rivas ( D-Hollister ) , the grandson of a farmworker and chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee , said the state “ woefully underfunded ” its response to workers in the country illegally .
“ It just wasn ’ t enough , ” he said .
“ We need to do better.
” Rivas and others have been pushing Newsom to create a system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers here illegally , increase access to Medi-Cal and offer families without legal status access to the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income families .
Many workers here illegally pay taxes despite their immigration status , he said .
Without those “ basic social safety net ” items , Rivas said , “ it ’ s going to get much , much worse.
” Ramirez , from Catholic Charities , said the state needs to be more flexible with cash payments to reach workers without legal status .
They are often fearful of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a gray economy devoid of leases , bank accounts and other official pathways that offer citizens both stability and protection , she said .
When her organization first received state money for workers , it asked recipients for landlords ’ contacts to send money directly to owners .
But some clients balked , afraid of angering landlords who were renting under the table , she said , or rocking the boat on already tenuous living situations .
The same was true of free hotel rooms — she found mistrust to be a barrier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the mixed immigration status , ” she said .
“ The pandemic has uncovered a lot of the problems that were already there.
” Farmworkers are also in danger of seeing their wages fall next year .
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced that , for the first time in decades , it will not do a fall wage survey for agricultural workers , a metric used to set wages for the coming year for migrant visa holders .
The change could mean some workers would see their hourly wage drop to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that could mean a loss of between 77 cents and $ 1.77 an hour for some farm labor .
Last week , the United Farm Workers sued the USDA in federal court in Fresno , hoping to force the government to conduct the survey .
Diana Tellefson Torres , executive director of the UFW Foundation , called the federal decision “ a slap in the face to farmworkers ” to whom “ every cent makes a difference.
” For Hernandez , the Stockton father of three who has worked in the fields since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the bills is a matter of pride .
He wants to set a good example for his sons , he said , and teach them that “ it ’ s important to pay the rent through the pandemic.
” He just doesn ’ t know how he will do it .
He has been turned away from aid agencies with no explanation , he said .
When wildfire smoke canceled an end-of-harvest party at his last job , he asked if the workers could have the event money as a bonus .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ baseball cap celebrating the vineyard ’ s 50th anniversary .
“ There are too many obstacles , ” he said , as a candle burned on an altar just inside his front door .
“ My family , the family Hernandez , they are not receiving help .
”

Farmworker Jose Luis Hernandez spends time with his sons, Carlos, 2, Jose, 6, and Luis Angel, 9, outside their Stockton apartment. In normal times, Hernandez would have saved enough money from picking summer fruit to make it through the slow winter months, but because of the pandemic, his wages were cut.
In a year without pandemic, fire and extreme heat, Jose Luis Hernandez by now would have saved enough money picking summer fruit from California fields to make it through the slow winter months ahead.
This year, he is in debt to a friend and does not know how he will provide food and shelter for his wife and three sons as the final grapes are taken from the vines.
“I haven’t saved anything,” he said, sitting on the walkway of an aging five-plex in south Stockton, one of the poorest neighborhoods in this San Joaquin valley city, where he pays $675 a month for an apartment with taps that sometimes spew black water.
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“You have a puzzle, electricity or your refrigerator is empty,” he said. “I am worried.”
Hernandez, said other agricultural laborers and advocates, is one face in an imminent crisis confronting the state’s farmworkers here illegally. Though they have been declared essential for the state’s multibillion-dollar agriculture industry, they often don’t qualify for safety nets such as unemployment, eviction moratoriums or stimulus aid that have become lifelines for many as they weather a crushing year of disasters.
Familiar with the seasonal nature of farm work, most field laborers conserve earnings from earlier months to plan for the cold season when fewer people are needed for tasks such as pruning. But this year, there has not been enough work and many are dreading a winter of scarcity.
Already, the coronavirus has sickened many agricultural workers, and sent others home to quarantine, often without pay despite new rules offering it.
Schools closed, leaving many families scrambling to meet unexpected childcare costs, or forced some to quit jobs to stay home with young children.
Fires in Napa and Sonoma, where many San Joaquin workers including Hernandez commute, left laborers rushing to save what they could of harvests under orange skies. But there too, work was cut short by weather and danger.
The effects of the pandemic and wildfires were worsened by months of record-breaking heat that raised electricity bills as window air conditioners strained to keep triple-digit temperatures at bay and left fields unsafe during the hottest parts of the afternoon.
Now, with few protections and little government aid, many are afraid the worst is yet to come.
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“It’s not looking good for families here in the valley,” said Elvira Ramirez, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Stockton. “These families are going to be in big trouble.”
Potato farmworkers wait in line outside a small office at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Livingston, Calif., to receive a $1,000 check to help cover expenses. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Latino workers hard in the San Joaquin Valley. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
A Times analysis found the San Joaquin Valley remains hard hit by the coronavirus even as other parts of the state see risk levels drop, and Latinos are more than three times as likely to test positive for the virus as white counterparts. Statewide, about 61% of cases and 49% of deaths are among Latinos, though they make up about 39% of the state’s population.
Essential Latino workers here illegally also remain some of the hardest hit economically.
Nearly 80% of California’s workers without legal status are in jobs deemed essential, according to a UCLA study released earlier this year — and about 50% of farmworkers lack legal status. On average, those workers lost 25% of their wages between February and April — more than any other demographic of employees. Little has improved over the summer, according to interviews with workers and advocates, even as some communities begin to reopen.
So far, the crisis facing farmworkers hasn’t yet triggered a dip in agricultural output. Although some sectors, including wine and dairy, have racked up losses, fruit and vegetable production in California is on par with last year’s quantities, according to a survey of U.S. Department of Agriculture data. That yield, said some experts, should translate to the same amount of work for laborers — though in recent years, employers have turned to more temporary visa holders and mechanization, both trends accelerated by the coronavirus.
“The expectation at the beginning was labor shortage, labor shortage, labor shortage — that did not come to pass,” said Philip Martin, professor emeritus of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis and author of the survey. “It’s not as if there’s much less work to do out there. The peach trees are already planted and they are either going to pick them or not.”
But for those on the ground in San Joaquin, the statistics do not match their experience.
The Rev. Nelson Rabell-González, the regional leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has collected and distributed more than $800,000 in direct cash in the San Joaquin Valley since the pandemic started, giving hundreds of families checks of up to $1,500. The money usually doesn’t cover even a month of expenses, he said, and taking it often means families disqualify themselves for some of the scant other options for aid. Yet he receives calls every day from workers growing increasingly desperate as they are unable to pay for basic necessities, he said.
He has given out about 770 checks so far and said it’s “the same story over and over: Food, rent, bills.”
Amalia Ortiz Santana, a farmworker currently working in sweet potato fields, recited that list in Spanish — comida, la renta, las facturas — when asked what her worries are for the winter.
“There is no extra help,” she said.
Santana is currently working near the town of Livingston in Merced County, where hundreds of workers in a Foster Farms meat processing plant contracted the coronavirus and county health officials said nine died. Santana took herself off the job for four weeks because she thought she had the virus earlier this summer, and now “owes a lot of money,” she said, waiting in front of a run-down white-steeple church where Rabell-González was passing out checks.
Next in line to Santana was Janette Jimenez and her daughter Janely, 5. Jimenez was cleaning houses, but now stays home to care for her four kids. Her husband tested positive for the virus not long ago, along with two of the children, though she has continued to test negative. Though her husband has recovered, “he feels different. He feels like he is not the same,” she said. They are behind on rent and their electricity bill, and have been going to a food bank weekly.
This winter is “going to be even worse,” she said.
René Lopez, a grape picker, came soon afterward. His cousin was hospitalized with COVID-19, and Lopez knows “it’s not a game.”
He said he has lost about half of his typical hours this year and has been unable to continue to send money home to support his parents in Mexico. He lent his cousin some money, but wishes he could do more, he said. He is two months behind on his $1,000 rent and his family has been forced to reduce the amount of food they buy.
In April, Gov. Gavin Newsom allocated $75 million in state funds to give up to $1,000 to 150,000 immigrant families here illegally. That aid was largely exhausted by July. Recently, Newsom signed a package of bills to provide further help for agricultural workers, including education about access to paid time off and workers’ compensation, and quarantine housing in hotels for exposed workers. But the recent round of bills did not include more direct financial aid, and with the Legislature largely done for the year and a budget shortfall forcing cuts, more state money is unlikely.
California Assemblyman Robert Rivas (D-Hollister), the grandson of a farmworker and chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee, said the state “woefully underfunded” its response to workers in the country illegally.
“It just wasn’t enough,” he said. “We need to do better.”
Rivas and others have been pushing Newsom to create a system of regular payments during the pandemic for workers here illegally, increase access to Medi-Cal and offer families without legal status access to the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income families. Many workers here illegally pay taxes despite their immigration status, he said.
Without those “basic social safety net” items, Rivas said, “it’s going to get much, much worse.”
Ramirez, from Catholic Charities, said the state needs to be more flexible with cash payments to reach workers without legal status. They are often fearful of authorities and deportation, and function in a gray economy devoid of leases, bank accounts and other official pathways that offer citizens both stability and protection, she said.
The Rev. Nelson Rabell-González blesses farmworker Cristobal Rodriguez after Rodriguez received a $1,000 check to help cover expenses. Rabell-González
is the regional leader of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and has collected and distributed more than $800,000 in direct cash in the San Joaquin Valley since the pandemic started. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
When her organization first received state money for workers, it asked recipients for landlords’ contacts to send money directly to owners. But some clients balked, afraid of angering landlords who were renting under the table, she said, or rocking the boat on already tenuous living situations. The same was true of free hotel rooms — she found mistrust to be a barrier.
“There is the complexity of the mixed immigration status,” she said. “The pandemic has uncovered a lot of the problems that were already there.”
Farmworkers are also in danger of seeing their wages fall next year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced that, for the first time in decades, it will not do a fall wage survey for agricultural workers, a metric used to set wages for the coming year for migrant visa holders. The change could mean some workers would see their hourly wage drop to the state minimum. In California, that could mean a loss of between 77 cents and $1.77 an hour for some farm labor.
Last week, the United Farm Workers sued the USDA in federal court in Fresno, hoping to force the government to conduct the survey.
Diana Tellefson Torres, executive director of the UFW Foundation, called the federal decision “a slap in the face to farmworkers” to whom “every cent makes a difference.”
For Hernandez, the Stockton father of three who has worked in the fields since he was 17, taking care of the bills is a matter of pride. He wants to set a good example for his sons, he said, and teach them that “it’s important to pay the rent through the pandemic.”
He just doesn’t know how he will do it.
He has been turned away from aid agencies with no explanation, he said. When wildfire smoke canceled an end-of-harvest party at his last job, he asked if the workers could have the event money as a bonus. He received no answer, just a blue baseball cap celebrating the vineyard’s 50th anniversary.
“There are too many obstacles,” he said, as a candle burned on an altar just inside his front door. “My family, the family Hernandez, they are not receiving help.”


latimes--2020-10-26--'What will happen?' Among an anxious electorate, some plan to move, others buy guns

Four months ago , as protesters marched through the city demanding justice for George Floyd , Vena Petty was standing at a market in Burbank when she spotted an older white man glaring at her .
“ It ’ s all your fault !
” he hissed , adding an expletive .
Petty — who is Hawaiian , Black and Chinese — was standing quietly by herself at the time , so she ’ s confident he targeted her as a woman of color .
She tucked the memory away , but it resurfaced after President Trump during a debate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hate group , to “ stand back , and stand by , ” and again two weeks later , when Sen. Lindsey Graham made a comment , which he later said was sarcastic , about “ the good old days of segregation.
” By then , Petty was convinced .
That afternoon , the 56-year-old , who was laid off from her temporary job at a film studio in March , visited Redstone Firearms in Burbank , determined to start the process of buying her first gun — something small , she said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She hoped she would never need to use it , but believed that having a gun might give her some comfort in a world that felt increasingly out of control .
“ Who knows what will happen ?
” While the days leading up to most presidential elections carry a certain frenzied , exhausted energy fueled by attack ads and nonstop robocalls , this election cycle has felt abnormally anxiety-inducing for many Americans .
“ We ’ re certainly in the middle of a perfect storm , ” said Dr. Esther Sternberg , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona .
Humans respond physiologically to stress — we sweat , our hearts race — and those responses , Sternberg said , are essential for our survival .
“ It gives you the energy to fight or flee.
” And , in a sense , that ’ s precisely what some Americans are now doing .
Some voters — those with the means and flexibility to do so — have channeled their pre-election stress into finalizing plans to move out of the country depending on who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up their campaigning efforts and some , like Petty , have spent recent weeks researching the steps behind buying a gun .
Thousands of Californians , including many first-time buyers , — a spike attributed to fears over the pandemic , but also , in part , to people ’ s fears of “ government collapse , ” according to a recent survey conducted by researchers at UC Davis .
And the worries are bipartisan .
In the days after Kamala Harris was announced as Joe Biden ’ s running mate , Google @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden wins ” spiked , and after the first presidential debate , searches jumped for “ Will Biden take away guns.
” In produced by the Young Turks , a progressive news outlet with a massive YouTube following , a couple wearing red MAGA hats said that if Biden wins , they plan to move to Panama .
If Trump wins , a company executive who lives in L.A. County and asked to be identified only by her first name , Michele , said she plans to move to southern Portugal .
She @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the prospect of a second Trump term sped up her process , she said , adding that part of her feels bad , as if she ’ s abandoning the U.S. She believes the nation ’ s checks and balances have begun to erode , and she worries about what could happen in the days after polls close .
“ I do see a lot of chaos potentially , from both sides , ” she said .
“ I just don ’ t want to go through four more years of chaos.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Erendira Abel , who founded Baja Expat Services , a company that helps Americans with the process of relocating to Mexico , said that while she doesn ’ t bring up politics with her clients , a few of them , including Maria Denzin , 75 , have cited it as one factor in their decision for moving south .
Denzin , who worked for Boeing for years , recently rented out her home in Palm Springs .
She and her husband are now building a new place in Rosarito , Mexico , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the meantime .
The main motivation for their move was monetary — their savings will go much further in Mexico — but for Denzin , a self-described “ old hippie ” who marched for civil rights decades ago , it was also about the man in the Oval Office .
“ If , in fact , Trump wins the election , we will never return to the United States.
” Earlier this year , before Biden ’ s lead widened in the polls , Denzin turned to her husband , panicked over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I agree , ” he said , and the couple hatched a backup plan : If things didn ’ t work in Mexico , they would move to Canada , where her husband has dual citizenship .
“ The shine has really dimmed on America for me , ” Denzin said , adding that she has gotten more set in her ways in recent years .
She dropped contact with a couple of people after learning they intended to vote for Trump again — something she doesn ’ t think she would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do Facebook and I have my friends and it ’ s all about Dump Trump , ” she said .
“ I ’ m much more one-sided .
I don ’ t think that ’ s a good thing , by the way , but I get physically sick .
I watch Fox News and I feel ill. ” Back in L.A. County , Raquel Derfler , who lives in Palmdale , has spent much of her recent free time campaigning for Biden and congressional candidate Christy Smith .
The 51-year-old mother says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was elected in 2016 .
She began volunteering for an immigrants ’ rights group , and in recent months she has text-banked and sent postcards about Biden to potential voters .
She now uses her rare outings — trips to the grocery store — to urge women she recognizes from the community to register to vote .
Unless Biden wins by a landslide , Derfler worries that Trump will refuse to concede .
“ My fight instinct has kicked in , ” she said .
“ I ’ m fighting to save democracy.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Redstone Firearms , the shop Petty visited , Geneva Solomon — who owns the gun shop with her husband , Jonathan — zipped around the room with an iPad .
She greeted a man through the door and took down his number , telling him they ’ d text him when they were ready .
Wait times at the shop these days are sometimes as long as three hours , she said , noting that sales have more than doubled since March , spurred by a combination of fears , she believes , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a gun law recently signed by Newsom that called for some firearm models to be removed from the state ’ s safe-for-sale list .
Although the shop makes a point of not being political — she doesn ’ t want customers to feel like they have to choose sides , she said — Solomon , 38 , said customers sometimes share their views .
Some people vent frustrations with Democratic politicians , saying they fear it will eventually be almost impossible to buy a gun in California , and others tell her that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wondered whether the police could truly protect them and their homes .
In recent months , Solomon said , she has met several new customers , many of whom are Black , who told her that they ’ d never considered owning a gun before , but now wanted to learn more .
One of those customers was her niece , DeJonaé Shaw .
For a long time , the 31-year-old nurse , who lives in Upland , was afraid of guns , but her fears slowly faded after visiting the range with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She considered buying but put it off .
Then , early in the pandemic , while in line at the supermarket , she watched as someone ran a cart over a child in a rush to buy hand sanitizer .
It felt lawless , she said , and people were treating each other like dirt .
“ I never thought I ’ d see that , ” she said .
“ Living in America , we ’ ve become complacent , with a façade of protection our government gives us.
” A few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ & Wesson handgun and although she hopes not to need it , it ’ s a comfort to have , she said , especially as election day nears .
Like Petty , she was struck by Trump ’ s comment about the Proud Boys during the first debate , and by his statement urging his supporters to “ watch very carefully ” at the polls .
It made her think about the long history of voter disenfranchisement and oppression of the Black vote in America .
This election cycle has been disappointing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who said her views don ’ t align with the party ’ s on all issues .
A Bernie Sanders fan who also liked Elizabeth Warren and Marianne Williamson , Shaw said she now intends , somewhat begrudgingly , to vote for the Biden-Harris ticket .
“ How are we in this situation again ?
” It would be another lesser-of-two-evils decision , she said , after eight of the most stressful , anxiety-filled months of her life .

Vena Petty visits Redstone Firearms in Burbank to start the process of buying her first firearm.
Four months ago, as protesters marched through the city demanding justice for George Floyd, Vena Petty was standing at a market in Burbank when she spotted an older white man glaring at her.
“It’s all your fault!” he hissed, adding an expletive.
Petty — who is Hawaiian, Black and Chinese — was standing quietly by herself at the time, so she’s confident he targeted her as a woman of color.
She tucked the memory away, but it resurfaced after President Trump during a debate told the Proud Boys, a far-right hate group, to “stand back, and stand by,” and again two weeks later, when Sen. Lindsey Graham made a comment, which he later said was sarcastic, about “the good old days of segregation.”
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By then, Petty was convinced.
That afternoon, the 56-year-old, who was laid off from her temporary job at a film studio in March, visited Redstone Firearms in Burbank, determined to start the process of buying her first gun — something small, she said, to keep in her home. She hoped she would never need to use it, but believed that having a gun might give her some comfort in a world that felt increasingly out of control.
“Who knows what will happen?”
Geneva Solomon, right, works through a crush of paperwork for gun purchasers at Redstone Firearms in Burbank. Solomon runs the store with her husband Jonathan. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
While the days leading up to most presidential elections carry a certain frenzied, exhausted energy fueled by attack ads and nonstop robocalls, this election cycle has felt abnormally anxiety-inducing for many Americans.
“We’re certainly in the middle of a perfect storm,” said Dr. Esther Sternberg, research director at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. Humans respond physiologically to stress — we sweat, our hearts race — and those responses, Sternberg said, are essential for our survival.
“It gives you the energy to fight or flee.”
And, in a sense, that’s precisely what some Americans are now doing.
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Some voters — those with the means and flexibility to do so — have channeled their pre-election stress into finalizing plans to move out of the country depending on who wins in November. Others have ramped up their campaigning efforts and some, like Petty, have spent recent weeks researching the steps behind buying a gun. Thousands of Californians, including many first-time buyers, purchased firearms in 2020 — a spike attributed to fears over the pandemic, but also, in part, to people’s fears of “government collapse,” according to a recent survey conducted by researchers at UC Davis.
And the worries are bipartisan.
In the days after Kamala Harris was announced as Joe Biden’s running mate, Google searches for the phrase “Move if Biden wins” spiked, and after the first presidential debate, searches jumped for “Will Biden take away guns.”
In a viral video clip produced by the Young Turks, a progressive news outlet with a massive YouTube following, a couple wearing red MAGA hats said that if Biden wins, they plan to move to Panama. If Trump wins, a company executive who lives in L.A. County and asked to be identified only by her first name, Michele, said she plans to move to southern Portugal.
She long hoped to retire abroad, but the prospect of a second Trump term sped up her process, she said, adding that part of her feels bad, as if she’s abandoning the U.S. She believes the nation’s checks and balances have begun to erode, and she worries about what could happen in the days after polls close.
“I do see a lot of chaos potentially, from both sides,” she said. “I just don’t want to go through four more years of chaos.”
And she’s not alone.
Erendira Abel, who founded Baja Expat Services, a company that helps Americans with the process of relocating to Mexico, said that while she doesn’t bring up politics with her clients, a few of them, including Maria Denzin, 75, have cited it as one factor in their decision for moving south.
Denzin, who worked for Boeing for years, recently rented out her home in Palm Springs. She and her husband are now building a new place in Rosarito, Mexico, she said, and renting there in the meantime.
The main motivation for their move was monetary — their savings will go much further in Mexico — but for Denzin, a self-described “old hippie” who marched for civil rights decades ago, it was also about the man in the Oval Office.
“If, in fact, Trump wins the election, we will never return to the United States.”
Earlier this year, before Biden’s lead widened in the polls, Denzin turned to her husband, panicked over the possibility that Americans might reelect Trump.
“I’m so embarrassed.”
“I agree,” he said, and the couple hatched a backup plan: If things didn’t work in Mexico, they would move to Canada, where her husband has dual citizenship.
“The shine has really dimmed on America for me,” Denzin said, adding that she has gotten more set in her ways in recent years. She dropped contact with a couple of people after learning they intended to vote for Trump again — something she doesn’t think she would have done years ago.
“I do Facebook and I have my friends and it’s all about Dump Trump,” she said. “I’m much more one-sided. I don’t think that’s a good thing, by the way, but I get physically sick. I watch Fox News and I feel ill.”
Raquel Derfler, left, and daughter Sophia Derfler, in front of their home in Palmdale. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Back in L.A. County, Raquel Derfler, who lives in Palmdale, has spent much of her recent free time campaigning for Biden and congressional candidate Christy Smith.
The 51-year-old mother says she became more politically active after Trump was elected in 2016. She began volunteering for an immigrants’ rights group, and in recent months she has text-banked and sent postcards about Biden to potential voters. She now uses her rare outings — trips to the grocery store — to urge women she recognizes from the community to register to vote. Unless Biden wins by a landslide, Derfler worries that Trump will refuse to concede.
“My fight instinct has kicked in,” she said. “I’m fighting to save democracy.”
On a recent weekday afternoon at Redstone Firearms, the shop Petty visited, Geneva Solomon — who owns the gun shop with her husband, Jonathan — zipped around the room with an iPad. She greeted a man through the door and took down his number, telling him they’d text him when they were ready.
Wait times at the shop these days are sometimes as long as three hours, she said, noting that sales have more than doubled since March, spurred by a combination of fears, she believes, about the pandemic, civil unrest and a gun law recently signed by Newsom that called for some firearm models to be removed from the state’s safe-for-sale list. Although the shop makes a point of not being political — she doesn’t want customers to feel like they have to choose sides, she said — Solomon, 38, said customers sometimes share their views.
Some people vent frustrations with Democratic politicians, saying they fear it will eventually be almost impossible to buy a gun in California, and others tell her that during the shutdowns and recent protests they wondered whether the police could truly protect them and their homes. In recent months, Solomon said, she has met several new customers, many of whom are Black, who told her that they’d never considered owning a gun before, but now wanted to learn more.
One of those customers was her niece, DeJonaé Shaw.
DeJonaé Shaw, a 31-year-old nurse who lives in Upland, recently bought her first firearm at Redstone Firearms in Burbank. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
For a long time, the 31-year-old nurse, who lives in Upland, was afraid of guns, but her fears slowly faded after visiting the range with her aunt and taking safety courses. She considered buying but put it off.
Then, early in the pandemic, while in line at the supermarket, she watched as someone ran a cart over a child in a rush to buy hand sanitizer. It felt lawless, she said, and people were treating each other like dirt.
“I never thought I’d see that,” she said. “Living in America, we’ve become complacent, with a façade of protection our government gives us.”
A few days later, she purchased a Smith & Wesson handgun and although she hopes not to need it, it’s a comfort to have, she said, especially as election day nears. Like Petty, she was struck by Trump’s comment about the Proud Boys during the first debate, and by his statement urging his supporters to “watch very carefully” at the polls. It made her think about the long history of voter disenfranchisement and oppression of the Black vote in America.
This election cycle has been disappointing, said Shaw, a registered Democrat, who said her views don’t align with the party’s on all issues. A Bernie Sanders fan who also liked Elizabeth Warren and Marianne Williamson, Shaw said she now intends, somewhat begrudgingly, to vote for the Biden-Harris ticket.
“How are we in this situation again?”
It would be another lesser-of-two-evils decision, she said, after eight of the most stressful, anxiety-filled months of her life.


latimes--2020-10-26--New poll shows tight races for California propositions to change app-based driver rules, business pr

New poll shows tight races for California propositions to change app-based driver rules, business property taxes

A new statewide poll finds a sharp decline in the number of voters undecided on Proposition 22 , an effort to designate drivers who work for app-based companies as independent contractors , but provides no clear hint at the outcome as election day nears .
The poll also offers little certainty about Proposition 15 , the plan to loosen California ’ s long-standing limits on commercial property taxes .
A plurality of voters back both proposals in the poll released Monday by UC Berkeley ’ s Institute of Governmental Studies , but the lead is relatively narrow — and in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the level of support remains unchanged since last month .
“ It looks close on both of them , ” said Mark DiCamillo , the poll ’ s director .
“ Voters are deciding on these propositions late.
” The online poll of 5,352 likely voters found 46 % said they would vote in favor of Proposition 22 , while 42 % would vote against it .
The number of undecided voters fell by 13 percentage points since the institute ’ s mid-September poll as support and opposition grew in roughly equal amounts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would require a reassessment of higher-value commercial and industrial properties , remained the same — 49 % — as it was in September .
The level of opposition , however , rose to 42 % .
Fewer than 1 in 10 voters in the poll , which was conducted between Oct. 16 and 21 , were undecided .
The survey results also suggest two other ballot measures are headed for defeat : Proposition 16 , an effort to remove California ’ s ban on affirmative action policies , and Proposition 21 , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In both contests , opposition has risen sharply since the UC Berkeley institute ’ s September poll : 49 % of likely voters would now vote against Proposition 16 , and only 38 % would vote for it .
Opposition to Proposition 21 has grown by 11 percentage points to 48 % while support remained stagnant at 37 % of those surveyed .
“ Trend lines are really important for propositions , ” DiCamillo said .
The four proposals are perhaps the most closely watched of the 12 propositions on the Nov. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Propositions 15 , 21 and 22 — are the focus of sprawling and expensive political battles .
The clash over Proposition 22 is the most expensive ballot measure campaign in state history , with current contributions topping $ 218 million .
More than 90 % of that has come from app-based companies seeking to rewrite the state ’ s worker classification law .
“ The voters understand the stakes are enormous for the nearly 1 million drivers who need Prop .
22 to save their jobs and for the millions of California families @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deliveries and transportation , ” said Geoff Vetter , a spokesman for the campaign in support of the ballot measure .
The app-based companies are waging simultaneous fights in the courtroom and on the campaign trail .
A state appeals court last week upheld an order for the companies to classify their drivers as employees , entitling gig-economy workers to an array of state-mandated benefits .
Proposition 22 would block that effort while providing a less generous package of benefits .
Regardless of the election outcome , the business operations of the companies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a spokesman for the labor-backed campaign against Proposition 22 , accused the app-based companies of spending record amounts of money to finance a “ barrage of threats and deceit ” and said voters should focus on the extra pay and benefits drivers would receive as company employees .
“ Prop .
22 doesn ’ t help ride-share drivers , it hurts them , ” Roth said .
In Proposition 15 , voters will decide whether to increase property taxes on commercial and industrial holdings valued at more than $ 3 million .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ revision to date of Proposition 13 , California ’ s landmark rollback of property taxes approved by voters in 1978 .
Supporters outnumber opponents in the poll , but their ranks have not grown since September .
The Berkeley poll released Monday found evidence that a key accusation made by Proposition 15 opponents has gained traction with voters — namely , that the measure is a first step toward eventually rescinding Proposition 13 ’ s homeowner property tax limits .
The proposed constitutional amendment explicitly states it would not change residential property tax @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters either somewhat or strongly agreed those changes could be on the horizon .
Among Proposition 15 opponents , 72 % said they have some belief in that possibility .
“ Proposition 13 is still very popular , ” said Michael Bustamante , a spokesman for the campaign against Proposition 15 , who also noted voters are skeptical that the new taxes will actually help schools .
“ Folks have grown weary of all these promises.
” Forty-eight percent of voters in the poll said they believe that schools and local governments need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 pandemic , an argument made by some Proposition 15 supporters .
And 40 % of undecided voters agreed , at some level , with that sentiment .
DiCamillo said Propositions 15 and 22 should not be written off , as voters inundated with news about the pandemic and the presidential contest have only now focused on ballot measures .
“ I don ’ t think the past rules of thumb are necessarily as important this time , ” he said about the two propositions .
“ Whatever decision voters make on these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by a large margin.
” The hill to climb is much steeper for Proposition 16 , favored by fewer than 4 in 10 likely voters , which seeks to reinstate affirmative action programs in California .
Placed on the ballot by the Legislature , it would repeal Proposition 209 , a 1996 measure approved by voters prohibiting government bodies , including the UC and California State University systems , from granting preferential treatment to any individual or group based on race , sex , color , ethnicity or national origin .
Proposition 16 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ college admissions and government employment and contracting decisions .
DiCamillo noted that Latino voters were almost evenly split on the effort to reinstate affirmative action policies .
“ That ’ s not a good sign for Prop .
16 , ” he said .
“ It would need much stronger support among Latinos.
” The poll found weak support for Proposition 21 , which would expand rent control across California by allowing cities and counties to pass stricter limits on rents than under current state law .
In 2018 , voters a similar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to limit rents on apartments built more than 15 years ago , on some single-family home and condominium rentals and when new tenants move in — all of which is currently prohibited .
Like in 2018 , total fundraising for the initiative has topped $ 100 million , with the campaign against Proposition 21 — predominately funded by large landlord interests including Essex Property Trust , Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities — outraising supporters .
Nearly all the money in favor of Proposition 21 comes from the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Times staff writers Liam Dillon and Phil Willon contributed to this report .

App-based driver Teresa Mercado, right, joins members of the Mobile Workers Alliance, which consists of Uber and Lyft drivers, protesting at the home of Uber co-founder Garrett Camp in Beverly Hills in 2019.
A new statewide poll finds a sharp decline in the number of voters undecided on Proposition 22, an effort to designate drivers who work for app-based companies as independent contractors, but provides no clear hint at the outcome as election day nears.
The poll also offers little certainty about Proposition 15, the plan to loosen California’s long-standing limits on commercial property taxes. A plurality of voters back both proposals in the poll released Monday by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, but the lead is relatively narrow — and in the case of the tax increase, the level of support remains unchanged since last month.
“It looks close on both of them,” said Mark DiCamillo, the poll’s director. “Voters are deciding on these propositions late.”
The online poll of 5,352 likely voters found 46% said they would vote in favor of Proposition 22, while 42% would vote against it. The number of undecided voters fell by 13 percentage points since the institute’s mid-September poll as support and opposition grew in roughly equal amounts.
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Support for Proposition 15, which would require a reassessment of higher-value commercial and industrial properties, remained the same — 49% — as it was in September. The level of opposition, however, rose to 42%. Fewer than 1 in 10 voters in the poll, which was conducted between Oct. 16 and 21, were undecided.
The survey results also suggest two other ballot measures are headed for defeat: Proposition 16, an effort to remove California’s ban on affirmative action policies, and Proposition 21, which would expand rent control to more communities.
In both contests, opposition has risen sharply since the UC Berkeley institute’s September poll: 49% of likely voters would now vote against Proposition 16, and only 38% would vote for it. Opposition to Proposition 21 has grown by 11 percentage points to 48% while support remained stagnant at 37% of those surveyed.
“Trend lines are really important for propositions,” DiCamillo said.
The four proposals are perhaps the most closely watched of the 12 propositions on the Nov. 3 ballot. Three of them — Propositions 15, 21 and 22 — are the focus of sprawling and expensive political battles.
The clash over Proposition 22 is the most expensive ballot measure campaign in state history, with current contributions topping $218 million. More than 90% of that has come from app-based companies seeking to rewrite the state’s worker classification law.
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“The voters understand the stakes are enormous for the nearly 1 million drivers who need Prop. 22 to save their jobs and for the millions of California families who rely on app-based services for safe deliveries and transportation,” said Geoff Vetter, a spokesman for the campaign in support of the ballot measure.
The app-based companies are waging simultaneous fights in the courtroom and on the campaign trail. A state appeals court last week upheld an order for the companies to classify their drivers as employees, entitling gig-economy workers to an array of state-mandated benefits.
Proposition 22 would block that effort while providing a less generous package of benefits. Regardless of the election outcome, the business operations of the companies are likely to change.
Mike Roth, a spokesman for the labor-backed campaign against Proposition 22, accused the app-based companies of spending record amounts of money to finance a “barrage of threats and deceit” and said voters should focus on the extra pay and benefits drivers would receive as company employees.
“Prop. 22 doesn’t help ride-share drivers, it hurts them,” Roth said.
In Proposition 15, voters will decide whether to increase property taxes on commercial and industrial holdings valued at more than $3 million. Its passage would mark the most substantial revision to date of Proposition 13, California’s landmark rollback of property taxes approved by voters in 1978. Supporters outnumber opponents in the poll, but their ranks have not grown since September.
The Berkeley poll released Monday found evidence that a key accusation made by Proposition 15 opponents has gained traction with voters — namely, that the measure is a first step toward eventually rescinding Proposition 13’s homeowner property tax limits. The proposed constitutional amendment explicitly states it would not change residential property tax rules. But 56% of likely voters either somewhat or strongly agreed those changes could be on the horizon.
Among Proposition 15 opponents, 72% said they have some belief in that possibility.
“Proposition 13 is still very popular,” said Michael Bustamante, a spokesman for the campaign against Proposition 15, who also noted voters are skeptical that the new taxes will actually help schools. “Folks have grown weary of all these promises.”
Forty-eight percent of voters in the poll said they believe that schools and local governments need extra revenue as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, an argument made by some Proposition 15 supporters. And 40% of undecided voters agreed, at some level, with that sentiment.
DiCamillo said Propositions 15 and 22 should not be written off, as voters inundated with news about the pandemic and the presidential contest have only now focused on ballot measures.
“I don’t think the past rules of thumb are necessarily as important this time,” he said about the two propositions. “Whatever decision voters make on these measures, it probably will not be by a large margin.”
The hill to climb is much steeper for Proposition 16, favored by fewer than 4 in 10 likely voters, which seeks to reinstate affirmative action programs in California. Placed on the ballot by the Legislature, it would repeal Proposition 209, a 1996 measure approved by voters prohibiting government bodies, including the UC and California State University systems, from granting preferential treatment to any individual or group based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin. Proposition 16 would allow affirmative action efforts in public college admissions and government employment and contracting decisions.
DiCamillo noted that Latino voters were almost evenly split on the effort to reinstate affirmative action policies.
“That’s not a good sign for Prop. 16,” he said. “It would need much stronger support among Latinos.”
The poll found weak support for Proposition 21, which would expand rent control across California by allowing cities and counties to pass stricter limits on rents than under current state law. In 2018, voters decisively rejected a similar initiative. This year’s version would allow cities and counties to limit rents on apartments built more than 15 years ago, on some single-family home and condominium rentals and when new tenants move in — all of which is currently prohibited.
Like in 2018, total fundraising for the initiative has topped $100 million, with the campaign against Proposition 21 — predominately funded by large landlord interests including Essex Property Trust, Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities — outraising supporters. Nearly all the money in favor of Proposition 21 comes from the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which was also behind the 2018 initiative.
Times staff writers Liam Dillon and Phil Willon contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-10-25--Rapper Offset detained and another man arrested near Trump rally in Beverly Hills

Rapper Offset was detained and a second man was arrested after police stopped their vehicle while they were driving past a pro-President Trump rally in Beverly Hills on Saturday .
Offset , of the music group Migos , streamed part of the interaction on Instagram Live , which shows officers surrounding his vehicle as he declines to turn off the engine .
“ I ’ m not doing that , ” he says .
Officers then reach inside the window , unlock the driver ’ s side door and pull him from the vehicle .
Offset was released after questioning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 20 , was arrested on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a loaded firearm in public , police said .
Almanzar is reportedly a cousin of Offset ’ s wife , Cardi B , who also arrived at the scene at one point , according to videos posted to social media .
Beverly Hills police said in a statement that officers conducted the stop because they ’ d received a report that someone had pointed a weapon from a vehicle near Santa Monica Boulevard and Beverly Drive shortly after 5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ matched that provided by a witness .
A publicist for Offset , Derrian Perry , said in a statement that the rapper was detained “ following an attack by aggressive Trump supporters.
” “ Offset thanks his fans for their support and wishes everyone peace and safety during these trying times , ” the statement said .
“ He encourages everyone to get out and vote because nothing changes if nothing changes.
” Offset ’ s representatives emphasized he was not the aggressor and said he complied despite having guns drawn on him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Offset ’ s current focus is encouraging younger voters to get to the polls in order to keep incidents like this from continuously happening , ” a representative said .
The person who said they ’ d had a weapon pointed at them didn ’ t want to press charges , police said , but Almanzar remained jailed in lieu of $ 35,000 bail , jail records state .
Police estimated that more than 2,500 people attended Saturday ’ s pro-Trump rally , which started in the afternoon in Beverly Gardens Park @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rallies in Beverly Hills for months .
Though most have been peaceful , a couple have erupted in confrontations with counterprotesters .
Earlier this month , Beverly Hills police arrested two men on suspicion of battery at a rally at Beverly Gardens Park .
A video clip posted to Twitter showed police officers handcuffing a Trump supporter after he appeared to push a counterprotester .
Altercations have also been reported at rallies elsewhere in Southern California .
In Woodland Hills , police arrested a man on suspicion of pointing a rifle at cars @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 30 .
Although the Los Angeles Police Department initially said it got reports that someone had shot a weapon , the investigation found that the suspect ’ s rifle had not been fired , police said .
In Yorba Linda , a woman was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon after she allegedly drove her car into a crowd during a demonstration involving protesters against police brutality and counter-demonstrators last month .

Offset, of the music group Migos, livestreamed part of the interaction with police after his vehicle was stopped while driving past a pro-Trump rally Saturday.
Rapper Offset was detained and a second man was arrested after police stopped their vehicle while they were driving past a pro-President Trump rally in Beverly Hills on Saturday.
Offset, of the music group Migos, streamed part of the interaction on Instagram Live, which shows officers surrounding his vehicle as he declines to turn off the engine.
“I’m not doing that,” he says.
“Why not?” an officer asks.
“Because you’ve got guns out.”
Officers then reach inside the window, unlock the driver’s side door and pull him from the vehicle.
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Offset was released after questioning, but a passenger, Marcelo Almanzar, 20, was arrested on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a loaded firearm in public, police said.
Almanzar is reportedly a cousin of Offset’s wife, Cardi B, who also arrived at the scene at one point, according to videos posted to social media.
Beverly Hills police said in a statement that officers conducted the stop because they’d received a report that someone had pointed a weapon from a vehicle near Santa Monica Boulevard and Beverly Drive shortly after 5 p.m., and that the license plate matched that provided by a witness.
A publicist for Offset, Derrian Perry, said in a statement that the rapper was detained “following an attack by aggressive Trump supporters.”
“Offset thanks his fans for their support and wishes everyone peace and safety during these trying times,” the statement said. “He encourages everyone to get out and vote because nothing changes if nothing changes.”
Offset’s representatives emphasized he was not the aggressor and said he complied despite having guns drawn on him and receiving conflicting directions from police.
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“Offset’s current focus is encouraging younger voters to get to the polls in order to keep incidents like this from continuously happening,” a representative said.
The person who said they’d had a weapon pointed at them didn’t want to press charges, police said, but Almanzar remained jailed in lieu of $35,000 bail, jail records state.
Police estimated that more than 2,500 people attended Saturday’s pro-Trump rally, which started in the afternoon in Beverly Gardens Park.
Trump supporters have been holding weekend rallies in Beverly Hills for months. Though most have been peaceful, a couple have erupted in confrontations with counterprotesters.
Earlier this month, Beverly Hills police arrested two men on suspicion of battery at a rally at Beverly Gardens Park. A video clip posted to Twitter showed police officers handcuffing a Trump supporter after he appeared to push a counterprotester.
Altercations have also been reported at rallies elsewhere in Southern California.
In Woodland Hills, police arrested a man on suspicion of pointing a rifle at cars taking part in a pro-Trump caravan Aug. 30. Although the Los Angeles Police Department initially said it got reports that someone had shot a weapon, the investigation found that the suspect’s rifle had not been fired, police said.
In Yorba Linda, a woman was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon after she allegedly drove her car into a crowd during a demonstration involving protesters against police brutality and counter-demonstrators last month.


latimes--2020-10-26--Op-Ed: The West is choking on smoke. When will it penetrate the nation's consciousness?

Usually the pictures are of the fire itself .
Flames are stunning and visceral , and draw the eye irresistibly .
They also occur — even when engulfing the forest canopy — at a roughly human scale .
This season ’ s outbreaks have served up a carnival of such images .
But the more enduring visual of the year ’ s successive conflagrations , including Monday ’ s Silverado fire in Irvine , is likely to be smoke .
Smoke in roiling vortices .
Smoke in towering plumes , capped by pyrocumulus clouds punching through the troposphere .
Smoke @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debris flows dense with embers rushing over the countryside .
The only comparable images might be of the dust storms that roiled the Great Plains in the 1930s .
The mega-fires blowing through the West today may prove as influential as the Dust Bowl then .
Even fire science has taken notice .
Ecology has begun to scrutinize smoke as it has fire , as an inevitable ecological presence , one that can stimulate the flowering of some plants and fumigate away pests .
Recently , it has spawned a new subfield , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plumes can waft microorganisms about the landscape , an atmospheric analogue to ocean currents .
Fire physics , too , has shifted from an obsession with flames to the role of convection in fire ’ s propagation .
For decades , fire behavior examined surface flames pushed along by winds and terrain .
But mega-fires have forced attention onto the dominant feature of a fire , its immense wind-blown or convective-rising plume many times larger in area and geometrically vaster by volume than the flaming zone .
Fires breathe .
Fires boil .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which after all are gases , swish and swirl in violent syncopation .
Those big fires produce smoke , and those smoke-laden plumes affect the flames .
Around the zone of combustion fire makes its own weather .
So , too , public perception of fire may be shifting .
Mega-fires are typically remote from cities and urban areas , laying special claim to faraway landscapes , rural enclaves , public lands and nature reserves .
But smoke has fouled the air of Sydney and San Francisco , Portland and Vancouver , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ direct threat to the health of hundreds of thousands this fire season .
Canberra shut down postal deliveries .
Denver advised residents to consider safe rooms to shelter against the dirty air .
Weather and fire forecasts now include smoke maps along with fronts and red-flag warnings .
Like the dust squalls that blew out of the Plains , the mega palls of today ’ s unbounded fires testify to a profound disruption between climate and land use .
In the 1930s , droughts were natural ; humans contributed the loosened soils and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ humans are aggravating both climate and land .
The big burns make undeniable the ways in which a legacy of unwise fire suppression , broken wildlands , careless urban sprawl and a climate ratcheting relentlessly toward greater flammability have colluded to spread havoc .
And yet , the fires have been unable to move the public to the kinds of reforms required .
The chronicle of mass burnings of houses matches in creepy fidelity that of mass shootings and suggests that the country is willing to absorb a lot of violence and pain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Both conundrums seem to resist a national response .
Because fire synthesizes its surroundings , it can ’ t be tied to a single propellant or a single solution .
So , too , the flames haven ’ t been enough by themselves to consolidate us .
Savage fires have swept into cities like Santa Rosa and Gatlinburg , Tenn. , and over towns like Paradise and Phoenix , Ore .
The flames have dislodged fire refugees in the tens of thousands .
They ’ ve galvanized media attention yet gathered little political @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of distress on the Great Plains before the disaster deepened enough to spark a national reaction .
Finally , the dust of the Dirty ’ 30s filtered down on distant cities , and when it was visible from the steps of the U.S. Capitol it got full attention as a national crisis .
It became for the New Deal both symbol and tangible expression of a broken system .
The 2020 fires are not quite there yet , but our “ dust , ” the apocalyptic pall of western fires , is no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to where the people are .
Some hopeful reformers , including Cal Fire ’ s director Thom Porter , have suggested that this fire season will have the galvanizing impact of the Great Fires of 1910 , which brought together a package of practice and policy for wildland firefighting that has defined our dominant relationship to fire for the past century .
More likely , if a new rally point emerges , the geodetic marker drawn from history will be the dust storms that boiled out of the parched and sod-busted grasslands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dust became the emblem of a cruel interplay of economics and environment , a national malaise in which American society and American land were profoundly out of whack .
Today , the smoke plumes tell much the same tale .
Then , apologists could point to bad luck , as a natural rhythm of droughts met a thoughtlessly advancing plow .
Now , even the worsening climate is our doing .
Let the Blowout of 2020 become American fire ’ s Dust Bowl moment .
Stephen J. Pyne is a professor emeritus at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ To the Last Smoke , ” a series of regional fire surveys , among other books .

Usually the pictures are of the fire itself. Flames are stunning and visceral, and draw the eye irresistibly. They also occur — even when engulfing the forest canopy — at a roughly human scale. This season’s outbreaks have served up a carnival of such images. But the more enduring visual of the year’s successive conflagrations, including Monday’s Silverado fire in Irvine, is likely to be smoke.
Smoke in roiling vortexes. Smoke in towering plumes, capped by pyrocumulus clouds punching through the troposphere. Smoke blanketing regions in biblical darkness. Smoke-like debris flows dense with embers rushing over the countryside. The only comparable images might be of the dust storms that roiled the Great Plains in the 1930s. The mega-fires blowing through the West today may prove as influential as the Dust Bowl then.
Even fire science has taken notice. Ecology has begun to scrutinize smoke as it has fire, as an inevitable ecological presence, one that can stimulate the flowering of some plants and fumigate away pests. Recently, it has spawned a new subfield, aeropyrobiology, committed to studying how fire-powered plumes can waft microorganisms about the landscape, an atmospheric analogue to ocean currents.
Climate & Environment Your questions about air quality answered The air around Southern California feels like smoke soup because of wildfires. What does that mean for your health and daily routines?
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Fire physics, too, has shifted from an obsession with flames to the role of convection in fire’s propagation. For decades, fire behavior examined surface flames pushed along by winds and terrain. But mega-fires have forced attention onto the dominant feature of a fire, its immense wind-blown or convective-rising plume many times larger in area and geometrically vaster by volume than the flaming zone. Fires breathe. Fires boil. Fires gush and suck, and flames, which after all are gases, swish and swirl in violent syncopation. Those big fires produce smoke, and those smoke-laden plumes affect the flames. Around the zone of combustion fire makes its own weather.
So, too, public perception of fire may be shifting. Mega-fires are typically remote from cities and urban areas , laying special claim to faraway landscapes, rural enclaves, public lands and nature reserves. But smoke has fouled the air of Sydney and San Francisco, Portland and Vancouver, and hundreds of smaller cities in a direct threat to the health of hundreds of thousands this fire season. Canberra shut down postal deliveries. Denver advised residents to consider safe rooms to shelter against the dirty air. Weather and fire forecasts now include smoke maps along with fronts and red-flag warnings.
Like the dust squalls that blew out of the Plains, the mega-palls of today’s unbounded fires testify to a profound disruption between climate and land use. In the 1930s, droughts were natural; humans contributed the loosened soils and put communities at risk. Today, humans are aggravating both climate and land. The big burns make undeniable the ways in which a legacy of unwise fire suppression, broken wildlands, careless urban sprawl and a climate ratcheting relentlessly toward greater flammability have colluded to spread havoc.
And yet, the fires have been unable to move the public to the kinds of reforms required. The chronicle of mass burnings of houses matches in creepy fidelity that of mass shootings and suggests that the country is willing to absorb a lot of violence and pain before it is prepared to act. Both conundrums seem to resist a national response. Because fire synthesizes its surroundings, it can’t be tied to a single propellant or a single solution. So, too, the flames haven’t been enough by themselves to consolidate us.
Savage fires have swept into cities like Santa Rosa and Gatlinburg, Tenn., and over towns like Paradise and Phoenix, Ore. The flames have dislodged fire refugees by the tens of thousands. They’ve galvanized media attention yet gathered little political traction. Similarly, it took years of distress on the Great Plains before the disaster deepened enough to spark a national reaction.
Finally, the dust of the Dirty ’30s filtered down on distant cities, and when it was visible from the steps of the U.S. Capitol it got full attention as a national crisis. It became for the New Deal both symbol and tangible expression of a broken system. The 2020 fires are not quite there yet, but our “dust,” the apocalyptic pall of western fires, is no longer a remote narrative; it is going to where the people are.
Some hopeful reformers, including Cal Fire director Thom Porter, have suggested that this fire season will have the galvanizing impact of the Great Fires of 1910, which brought together a package of practice and policy for wildland firefighting that has defined our dominant relationship to fire for the past century. More likely, if a new rally point emerges, the geodetic marker drawn from history will be the dust storms that boiled out of the parched and sod-busted grasslands of the Great Plains.
Then, dust became the emblem of a cruel interplay of economics and environment, a national malaise in which American society and American land were profoundly out of whack. Today, the smoke plumes tell much the same tale. Then, apologists could point to bad luck, as a natural rhythm of droughts met a thoughtlessly advancing plow. Now, even the worsening climate is our doing.
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Let the Blowout of 2020 become American fire’s Dust Bowl moment.
Stephen J. Pyne is a professor emeritus at Arizona State University and the author of “To the Last Smoke,” a series of regional fire surveys, among other books.