latimes--2020-04-21--These California communities say it's safe to start reopening. Will Newsom allow it?

Some California communities have asked for permission to begin easing stay-at-home restrictions , saying they have made enough progress against the coronavirus to justify reopening their areas .
The requests reflect how some smaller counties are beginning to see coronavirus cases decline more dramatically than some larger counties , raising hopes that they might be able to relax restrictions before others .
In Los Angeles County , where more than 100 coronavirus deaths were recorded over the weekend , L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said allowing stay-at-home rules to end too soon could worsen the situation .
“ I know many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when we ’ ll be able to lift the Safer at Home order .
But lifting the restrictions too soon could risk lives .
My promise to the people of L.A. is that evidence and medicine will continue to guide us through this crisis , ” the mayor said on Twitter .
At a news conference Monday , San Luis Obispo County officials said they have bent the coronavirus curve and were beginning to craft a “ phase two ” that would allow some businesses to reopen .
“ This is not to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the community to where it was in January , said county public health officer Penny Borenstein .
Rather , officials are working to implement gradual changes .
Supervisor Bruce Gibson said that any changes would be guided by science and would need the approval of Gov .
Gavin Newsom .
The county , which has reported 132 cases and one death , asked Newsom on Monday to grant it the “ authority to implement a phased reopening of our local economy.
” That request came just days after Ventura County officials modified a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reopen and some gatherings to take place .
Officials in San Luis Obispo County noted that their coronavirus infection rate has been declining because residents have been diligent in adhering to stay-at-home orders and practicing social distancing .
But with businesses shut down and so many people out of work , the county faces a perilous financial outlook .
As a result , officials requested approval to “ begin a science-based , thoughtfully phased reopening of our economy.
” “ We have asked our residents to take these desperate measures because of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by this virus so that we can flatten the curve and allow our healthcare capacity to catch up , ” they said in a letter to the governor .
“ Now we need to move to the next phase , which is economic recovery.
” Placerville , in El Dorado County east of Sacramento , has not lifted any stay-at-home orders , but the City Council last week voted to send a letter to Newsom asking when the city could reopen .
City leaders say their town should be able to reopen before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the outbreak .
“ The city needs to advocate [ for opening stores sooner ] because we have a very low infection rate — even though I got it , ” Vice Mayor Dennis Thomas Thomas recently recovered from COVID-19 .
Members of the Sutter County Board of Supervisors have also reached out to Newsom , urging him to allow rural areas like theirs to reopen sooner than big cities .
“ We ’ d like the governor to know that we expect to be treated somewhat differently than Los Angeles and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ little different situation than we are , ” Board of Supervisors Chairman Ron Sullenger told KOVR-TV in Sacramento .
Newsom said Monday that , while areas across the state have been affected differently by the pandemic , the “ virus knows no jurisdiction , knows no boundaries ” and could easily spread into neighboring counties if restrictions are eased prematurely .
It ’ s critical to the collective well-being of all Californians to have a statewide , health-based strategy to return to some sense of normalcy , he said .
“ None of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or , rather , go further backward than the state guidance , ” Newsom said during his daily COVID-19 briefing on Monday .
Newsom said he expects many more requests similar to the one from San Luis Obispo County .
He promised that his administration will discuss each request with local officials “ to make sure it ’ s a health-based decision .
Not any other type of decision making .
Health first , science and data .
Everything else follows from that.
” rolled out by Ventura County on Saturday , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allows some businesses that don ’ t serve the public to operate using no more than 10 employees .
Gatherings of up to five people are now permitted , as are gatherings in vehicles .
Golf courses and bike shops can reopen , and in-person sales of vehicles are now permitted .
Officials also reopened county-run parks at 5 p.m. Friday .
Residents are still required to stay home as much as possible and practice social distancing when visiting essential businesses .
Leaving home to exercise is permitted , but gyms will remain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was allowing golf courses to reopen -- but with restrictions .
“ Play is being cautiously reopened for observation , ” Dr. Cameron Kaiser , Riverside County ’ s public health officer said in a statement , stressing that social distancing guidelines remain in effect .
• Play shall be limited to foursomes .
The players will be required to observe a six-foot separation at all times .
• No large gatherings , including fundraisers or tournaments , will be permitted before June 20 .
• Face coverings , such as scarves , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worn by players and workers .
• No in-person dining will be allowed at clubhouses .

Alex Wigglesworth, Phil Willon, Colleen Shalby

Isabella Leader, 15, counts how many flags have been left for World War II veteran Lt. Col. Sam Sachs who was celebrating his 105th birthday at the Mom & Dad’s House, an assisted living facility, in Lakewood. Lt. Col. Sachs appealed to the public for birthday cards after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of a big celebration and wound up receiving thousands, including a letter and photo from President Trump. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Denise Young looks on as her daughter, Allison, 9, a fourth-grader at EARThS (Environmental Academy of Research Technology and Earth Sciences) Magnet School in Newbury Park, receives a Chromebook. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
With all Los Angeles schools closed until further notice, LAUSD buses sit idle in Gardena. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Medical assistant Zoila Villalta works with Rosie Boston, 32, of Glendale, who is donating blood for her first time at L.A. Care Health Plan downtown. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Artist Corie Mattie paints a mural on the side of a pop-up store as a man takes a picture in West Hollywood. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Hayley, CEO and founder of Love My Neighbor Foundation, right, dances with Crystal Armster, 51, while she and her colleagues continue to feed the homeless on skid row amid the pandemic. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Juan Diaz Jr., a lifelong Dodgers fan, prays that the season will start by May in front of Dodger Stadium on what would have been opening day. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
The JW Marriott at L.A. Live is sharing a message of hope with red lights in 34 windows, creating a 19-story display on the hotel’s north side. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Venice residents Emily Berry and Gavin Kelley take a break at Venice Beach. Berry, a cocktail waitress at Enterprise Fish Co., lost her job due to the coronavirus outbreak. Kelley, a manager at a performing arts school with a focus on music, said that he still has a job and that classes at the school will resume online this coming Monday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Protesters drive by the Getty House, the home of L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, in Hancock Park. Tenant advocates are demanding a total moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus crisis. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
A lending library had some additional useful items, including a roll of toilet paper and cans of beans and corn, in a Hermosa Beach neighborhood. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Shauna Jin, of Los Angeles, with her dog, Bodhi, practices social distancing with John Kiss, of Los Angeles, at the entrance of Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Kristen Edgerle, of Victorville, collects information from a blood donor before drawing blood at The Richard Nixon Presidential Library blood drive during the coronavirus pandemic in Yorba Linda. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Healthcare workers gather outside UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center to call for further action from the federal government in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The Iron City Tavern in San Pedro tries an incentive to lure takeout customers. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Raquel Lezama and daughter Monica Ramos collect meals for their family at Manual Arts High School. Lezama was laid off from her $17.76-an-hour job at a Beverly Hills hotel. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
A runner jogs past the Pottery Barn in Pasadena. Some businesses in the area have boarded up their stores. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Grace Carter, 15, of Riverside, practices a dance routine at home after dance classes and school were canceled. She has to use the Zoom app on her iPhone to practice with her dance group. “It’s hard,” she said. “My bedroom is a smaller space. I miss all my friends at the studio.” (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Juliann Hartman, center, and her husband, Butch, wave signs they created to cheer up people on Calabasas Road in Calabasas during the pandemic. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Cassidy Roosen, with Beach Cities Health District, holds up a sign that says, “We’re All in This Together,” while waiting to direct cars at a drive-through, appointment-only coronavirus testing location at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
A person who wishes to remain anonymous strikes from her car to support McDonald’s employees who are demanding the company cover healthcare costs of any worker or immediate family member who gets sick from COVID-19 in Los Angeles. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
A woman shows a notice from her doctor that allows her to obtain a test for coronavirus at a new drive-up testing site in a parking lot at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Nurses pose for a fun photo during a break in drive-through public testing for the coronavirus at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Hippie Kitchen in Los Angeles hands out food, water and toiletries to homeless people and residents of skid row. Additionally, masks were offered to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
A specimen is turned in at the new mobile testing site for people with symptoms of the coronavirus at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Patients are removed from Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center after 39 tested positive for the coronavirus and nursing staff was not showing up to work. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Women wear masks as they stroll along Highland Avenue in Hollywood. Wearing masks while outdoors is mandatory in the city of Los Angeles. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
The Wilshire Grand Center display blue lights and a heart to show support for healthcare workers and first responders. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
People are silhouetted in a window of an apartment building in Hollywood, where a stay-at-home order remains in effect to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
As a late season storm continues to make its way across the Southland, a young basketball player dribbles along an alley through an Elysian Park neighborhood in Los Angeles. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
After being indoors for several days because of rainy weather and coronavirus stay-at-home orders, Olivia Jacobs, 4, and her mom, Cia Jacobs, enjoy a warm and sunny afternoon making chalk drawings on the sidewalk in front of their home in West Hills. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Alex Herron and nurse Mercy Pineda at a blood drive sponsored by USC athletics and the American Red Cross at USC’s Galen Center. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
A jogger runs on a closed trail past dozens of pieces of caution tape, torn off by hikers and mountain bikers at El Escorpion Canyon Park in West Hills. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Stuart Reyes and his sister, Stephanie, sell masks for $5 each on the 3000 block of West Century Boulevard in Inglewood. Stuart Reyes said he is selling masks to support his mother. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Billy Budd, 55, of Hollywood, walks along Hollywood Boulevard with a protective face covering. Budd is a scenic artist for movies and television who is currently out of work due to the coronavirus outbreak. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
UC Irvine Medical Center health care workers return their gratitude as about 25 Orange County first responder vehicles participate in a drive-by parade of gratitude as they battle COVID-19 at the hospital. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Life around Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard and Soto Street has slowed down as California officials extended stay-at-home orders into May and residents entered Easter weekend with unprecedented limits on their movements. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
A face mask seller in colorful dress appears to be part of a mural behind a bus stop on Soto Street in Los Angeles. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Daniel Rogerson wears a vintage military gas mask while riding a bike along the beach path in Santa Monica, which is closed to enforce social distancing because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Businesses are shuttered and pedestrians are few and far between on Hollywood Boulevard. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The Tyrannosaurus rex overlooking the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue wears a protective mask while practicing social distancing. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Jonte Florence, a freestyle dancer, does a handstand on a mostly empty Hollywood Walk of Fame. Florence said he normally performs for hundreds of tourists along the busy street. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
A pedestrian wearing a protective mask passes a mural on a store on Melrose Avenue in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Cedar Mountain Post Acute Rehabilitation staff member Navi Cavaltera waters a flower pot put up by the community to show their support for the nursing staff of the facility in Yucaipa. Eighteen of 20 coronavirus-related deaths in Yucaipa were residents of the skilled nursing facility. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
A group of protesters cheer on cars during a vehicle caravan protest to call on state and local officials to reopen the economy in downtown Los Angeles. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Counter-protesters attend a protest to call on state and local officials to reopen the economy in downtown Los Angeles. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Neighbors practice social distancing while enjoying the nice weather near The Strand in Hermosa Beach. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
Medical staff, wearing protective gear, work inside a COVID-19 isolation area inside the emergency department at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, where patients with the virus are being treated. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Protesters stand along Mission Blvd. in Pacific Beach during A Day of Liberty rally on April 26. The protesters were against the government shutdown due to the coronavirus. (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune)
Tom Sean Foley pauses on a walk with his kids, Cathelen Claire, “C.C.,” 3, and Timothy Joseph, 4, to take a photo in front of the “Love Wall,” mural by artist Curtis Kulig, outside of Smashbox Studios in Culver City. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Norm and Tracy Kahn enjoy eating dinner outside on a small cafe table sitting in blue chairs on their side yard during the coronavirus pandemic on April 27 in Riverside. “During this pandemic, eating outside offers us an opportunity to change surrounding and appreciate the calmness of being outdoors among trees, scents from nature and the sounds of birds,” she said. Also adding, “Mixing up where we eat puts variety into our days and takes away the sameness of feeling trapped at home.” (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Carson residents Kaeli Burks, 3, left, and her cousin Bailey Watson, 5, look out the window of their car after their mothers helped them with self-testing at a new drive-up testing site for COVID-19 in Carson. Free COVID-19 testing is available to all city residents thanks to a partnership between the city and US Health Fairs. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Healthcare workers celebrate as Claudia Martinez is discharged from the ICU after she recovered from COVID-19 at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Chula Vista. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Shuttered storefront businesses in the garment district of Los Angeles. California’s unemployment rate has skyrocketed since the statewide coronavirus shutdown took effect. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Senior Mason Wise, left, helps his sister, Mackenzie, a sophomore, clean out her PE locker at El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills. School officials were allowing no more than five students at a time on campus to take home their belongings. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Aerial view of over 100 vehicles lined up at the West Valley COVID-19 testing center at Warner Center in Woodland Hills. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Tenants and their supporters from across Los Angeles gather at city hall to call on L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, the L.A. City Council and California Gov. Gavin Newsom to cancel rent and mortgage payments during the COVID-19 crisis. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
Gregory Kuhl, 69, heads home after a shopping trip in Hollywood on April 28. Big cracks in the street, cars parked in driveways blocking sidewalks and uneven pavement levels make navigating his route difficult. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Mostly masked commuters keep their distance from one another on a Metro bus in downtown Los Angeles on April 29. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
Grocery store workers, joined by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 770 representatives and community members, hold a rally in support of strict social distancing on May 1 at a Ralphs store in Hollywood where 19 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Tango instructor Yelizaveta Nersesova leads a Zoom tango event from her Los Angeles home April 27 that brought together hundreds of dancers from around the world. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Beaches including Harbor Cove Beach were open but beachgoers were not supposed to be sitting on the sand. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
The majority of golfers are wearing masks while hitting balls on the driving range at Van Buren Executive Golf Course in Riverside. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Cody Purcell of Redondo Beach rides a wave, glowing from the bioluminescence, in Hermosa Beach, CA, after midnight Friday morning, May 8. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
Dominique Barrett, center, known as “King Vader” to his 2.4 million TikTok followers, prepares to shoot a video on April 30 in Glendora. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Socially distanced bikers and walkers, against a backdrop of the Queen Mary, make their way along pedestrian and beach bike path on the first day that Long Beach reopened the path on Monday May 11, 2020. The city of Long Beach eased a few of its public health restrictions, allowing under certain guidelines the reopening of pedestrian and beach bike paths, tennis centers and courts. Beach bathrooms are also reopening, but the parking lots and beaches still remain closed. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Some California communities have asked for permission to begin easing stay-at-home restrictions, saying they have made enough progress against the coronavirus to justify reopening their areas.
The requests reflect how some smaller counties are beginning to see coronavirus cases decline more dramatically than some larger counties, raising hopes that they might be able to relax restrictions before others.
In Los Angeles County, where more than 100 coronavirus deaths were recorded over the weekend, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said allowing stay-at-home rules to end too soon could worsen the situation.
“I know many of you are feeling frustrated or wondering when we’ll be able to lift the Safer at Home order. But lifting the restrictions too soon could risk lives. My promise to the people of L.A. is that evidence and medicine will continue to guide us through this crisis,” the mayor said on Twitter.
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At a news conference Monday, San Luis Obispo County officials said they have bent the coronavirus curve and were beginning to craft a “phase two” that would allow some businesses to reopen.
“This is not to be a light switch” that returns the community to where it was in January, said county public health officer Penny Borenstein. Rather, officials are working to implement gradual changes.
Supervisor Bruce Gibson said that any changes would be guided by science and would need the approval of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The county, which has reported 132 cases and one death, asked Newsom on Monday to grant it the “authority to implement a phased reopening of our local economy.”
That request came just days after Ventura County officials modified a stay-at-home order to permit some businesses to reopen and some gatherings to take place.
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Officials in San Luis Obispo County noted that their coronavirus infection rate has been declining because residents have been diligent in adhering to stay-at-home orders and practicing social distancing. But with businesses shut down and so many people out of work, the county faces a perilous financial outlook.
As a result, officials requested approval to “begin a science-based, thoughtfully phased reopening of our economy.”
“We have asked our residents to take these desperate measures because of the unique risks posed to the broader community by this virus so that we can flatten the curve and allow our healthcare capacity to catch up,” they said in a letter to the governor. “Now we need to move to the next phase, which is economic recovery.”
Placerville, in El Dorado County east of Sacramento, has not lifted any stay-at-home orders, but the City Council last week voted to send a letter to Newsom asking when the city could reopen. City leaders say their town should be able to reopen before bigger cities that have been hit harder by the outbreak.
“The city needs to advocate [for opening stores sooner] because we have a very low infection rate — even though I got it,” Vice Mayor Dennis Thomas told the Mountain Democrat. Thomas recently recovered from COVID-19.
Members of the Sutter County Board of Supervisors have also reached out to Newsom, urging him to allow rural areas like theirs to reopen sooner than big cities.
“We’d like the governor to know that we expect to be treated somewhat differently than Los Angeles and San Francisco since they are in a little different situation than we are,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Ron Sullenger told KOVR-TV in Sacramento.
Newsom said Monday that, while areas across the state have been affected differently by the pandemic, the “virus knows no jurisdiction, knows no boundaries” and could easily spread into neighboring counties if restrictions are eased prematurely. It’s critical to the collective well-being of all Californians to have a statewide, health-based strategy to return to some sense of normalcy, he said.
“None of these local health directives can go further or, rather, go further backward than the state guidance,” Newsom said during his daily COVID-19 briefing on Monday.
Newsom said he expects many more requests similar to the one from San Luis Obispo County. He promised that his administration will discuss each request with local officials “to make sure it’s a health-based decision. Not any other type of decision making. Health first, science and data. Everything else follows from that.”
The updated order rolled out by Ventura County on Saturday, which is in place through May 15, allows some businesses that don’t serve the public to operate using no more than 10 employees. Gatherings of up to five people are now permitted, as are gatherings in vehicles.
Golf courses and bike shops can reopen, and in-person sales of vehicles are now permitted. Officials also reopened county-run parks at 5 p.m. Friday.
Residents are still required to stay home as much as possible and practice social distancing when visiting essential businesses. Leaving home to exercise is permitted, but gyms will remain closed.
Riverside County announced Monday it was allowing golf courses to reopen --but with restrictions.
“Play is being cautiously reopened for observation,” Dr. Cameron Kaiser, Riverside County’s public health officer said in a statement, stressing that social distancing guidelines remain in effect.
Health officials released the following guidelines:
• Play shall be limited to foursomes. The players will be required to observe a six-foot separation at all times.
• No caddies are permitted.
• No large gatherings, including fundraisers or tournaments, will be permitted before June 20.
• Face coverings, such as scarves, bandannas and neck gaiters, shall be worn by players and workers.
• No in-person dining will be allowed at clubhouses.


latimes--2020-04-21--Former UCLA soccer coach Jorge Salcedo to plead guilty in college admissions scandal

Jorge Salcedo , the former UCLA soccer coach charged with endorsing the fraudulent admission of two students for $ 200,000 in bribes , will plead guilty to conspiring to commit racketeering , according to a plea agreement unsealed Tuesday .
In his plea agreement , which Salcedo signed Sunday , prosecutors from the U.S. attorney ’ s office in Boston said they would recommend a sentence at the low end of a guideline range that calls for 24 to 30 months in federal prison .
Salcedo agreed to forfeit $ 200,000 , the sum he pocketed from two families whose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soccer players , prosecutors alleged .
Salcedo ’ s attorney , Thomas Frongillo , declined to comment .
In 2016 , Salcedo helped William “ Rick ” Singer , the Newport Beach consultant at the center of the admissions scandal , ensure the daughter of a wealthy Bay Area couple was admitted to UCLA , forwarding the girl ’ s fabricated soccer credentials to his colleagues on the women ’ s soccer team , according to a series of indictments handed up by grand juries in Boston last year .
The couple , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 250,000 for the deal , $ 100,000 of which went to Salcedo , the indictments charged .
The Isacksons have pleaded guilty to fraud , money laundering and tax charges and are cooperating with the government .
In 2018 , Salcedo ensured the son of another of Singer ’ s clients — Xiaoning Sui , a Chinese national living in British Columbia — was admitted to UCLA as a recruit for the men ’ s soccer team , the indictments charged .
Sui ’ s son was approved for admission and awarded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the fact the boy did not play soccer .
Sui has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit fraud and international money laundering .
Salcedo , a graduate of UCLA who led the men ’ s soccer program for 15 seasons , was arrested in March 2019 and charged with conspiring to commit racketeering .
He resigned from his post at UCLA a week later .
He was subsequently charged with conspiring to commit fraud and bribery , although prosecutors agreed in his plea agreement to dismiss those counts .
Prior to agreeing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extract from his former employer some documents that his attorneys claimed would demonstrate UCLA was not a victim of a money-for-admissions scheme , but in fact was its “ architect and orchestrator.
” The school ’ s athletic department , they alleged in asking a judge to issue a subpoena , routinely endorsed the unqualified children of wealthy families in exchange for donations .
Salcedo ’ s attorneys said they intended to show at trial that various administrators had pressed UCLA coaches to endorse their children or otherwise intervened in the admissions process @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when a supervisor “ pressured ” Salcedo to recruit his son to the soccer team , they claimed .
UCLA ’ s attorneys asked a judge to reject the requested subpoena .
Salcedo , they argued , was trying to conflate university fundraising with a bribery scheme that enriched no one but himself , selling off university benefits — two admissions slots and a partial athletic scholarship — that “ were not Salcedo ’ s to give away for his own.
” His subpoena , they said , “ would serve no purpose @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at hand.
” A judge did not rule on the subpoena before Salcedo signed his plea agreement .
No change of plea hearing has been scheduled ; both Salcedo and the government asked that it take place in person , rather than through a video conference , as has been necessitated during the coronavirus pandemic .
If U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani accepts his plea , Salcedo will become the sixth person to admit wrongdoing of the dozen college coaches , test administrators and their alleged accomplices charged with conspiring to commit racketeering @

Jorge Salcedo, the former UCLA soccer coach charged with endorsing the fraudulent admission of two students for $200,000 in bribes, will plead guilty to conspiring to commit racketeering, according to a plea agreement unsealed Tuesday.
In his plea agreement, which Salcedo signed Sunday, prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston said they would recommend a sentence at the low end of a guideline range that calls for 24 to 30 months in federal prison. Salcedo agreed to forfeit $200,000, the sum he pocketed from two families whose children were admitted to UCLA as phony soccer players, prosecutors alleged. Salcedo’s attorney, Thomas Frongillo, declined to comment.
In 2016, Salcedo helped William “Rick” Singer, the Newport Beach consultant at the center of the admissions scandal, ensure the daughter of a wealthy Bay Area couple was admitted to UCLA, forwarding the girl’s fabricated soccer credentials to his colleagues on the women’s soccer team, according to a series of indictments handed up by grand juries in Boston last year.
The couple, Bruce and Davina Isackson, paid Singer $250,000 for the deal, $100,000 of which went to Salcedo, the indictments charged. The Isacksons have pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering and tax charges and are cooperating with the government.
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In 2018, Salcedo ensured the son of another of Singer’s clients — Xiaoning Sui, a Chinese national living in British Columbia — was admitted to UCLA as a recruit for the men’s soccer team, the indictments charged. Sui’s son was approved for admission and awarded a 25% athletic scholarship, despite the fact the boy did not play soccer. Sui has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit fraud and international money laundering.
Salcedo, a graduate of UCLA who led the men’s soccer program for 15 seasons, was arrested in March 2019 and charged with conspiring to commit racketeering. He resigned from his post at UCLA a week later. He was subsequently charged with conspiring to commit fraud and bribery, although prosecutors agreed in his plea agreement to dismiss those counts.
Prior to agreeing to plead guilty, Salcedo had tried to extract from his former employer some documents that his attorneys claimed would demonstrate UCLA was not a victim of a money-for-admissions scheme, but in fact was its “architect and orchestrator.” The school’s athletic department, they alleged in asking a judge to issue a subpoena, routinely endorsed the unqualified children of wealthy families in exchange for donations.
Salcedo’s attorneys said they intended to show at trial that various administrators had pressed UCLA coaches to endorse their children or otherwise intervened in the admissions process, including one incident in 2008, when a supervisor “pressured” Salcedo to recruit his son to the soccer team, they claimed.
UCLA’s attorneys asked a judge to reject the requested subpoena. Salcedo, they argued, was trying to conflate university fundraising with a bribery scheme that enriched no one but himself, selling off university benefits — two admissions slots and a partial athletic scholarship — that “were not Salcedo’s to give away for his own.” His subpoena, they said, “would serve no purpose other than to distract from the charges at hand.”
A judge did not rule on the subpoena before Salcedo signed his plea agreement. No change of plea hearing has been scheduled; both Salcedo and the government asked that it take place in person, rather than through a video conference, as has been necessitated during the coronavirus pandemic.
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If U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani accepts his plea, Salcedo will become the sixth person to admit wrongdoing of the dozen college coaches, test administrators and their alleged accomplices charged with conspiring to commit racketeering.


latimes--2020-04-21--These are the latest coronavirus case numbers by community in L.A. County

Los Angeles County reported an additional 17 deaths linked to the coronavirus Monday after the county recorded more than 100 @ @ @ @ @ Officials also announced more than 1,400 additional cases of novel coronavirus , a huge number @ @ @ @ @ s backlog of nearly 1,200 positive test results that were conducted between April 7 and @ @ @ @ @ now recorded more than 600 deaths and more than 13,000 confirmed cases .
Here is @ @ @ @ @ community :

Kayla Le, center, and Nguyen Nguyen take orders April 20 at Brodard Restaurant in Fountain Valley.
Los Angeles County reported an additional 17 deaths linked to the coronavirus Monday after the county recorded more than 100 deaths over the weekend.
Officials also announced more than 1,400 additional cases of novel coronavirus, a huge number resulting from one laboratory’s backlog of nearly 1,200 positive test results that were conducted between April 7 and 14.
The county has now recorded more than 600 deaths and more than 13,000 confirmed cases.
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Here is a rundown of cases by community:
Long Beach 464
Glendale 339
Melrose 249
Santa Clarita 221
Pasadena 215
Torrance 204
Palmdale 192
North Hollywood 184
Inglewood 177
Sylmar 171
East Los Angeles 166
Carson 163
South Gate 154
Hollywood 146
Van Nuys 142
Burbank 141
Downey 137
Lancaster 132
Westlake 127
Santa Monica 124
Canoga Park 123
Compton 115
West Hollywood 114
Norwalk 114
Pico-Union 113
West Vernon 111
Reseda 111
Panorama City 109
Gardena 107
Hawthorne 106
Lynwood 103
Pacoima 100
Boyle Heights 97
Unincorporated - Florence-Firestone 97
Beverly Hills 94
Pico Rivera 94
Sherman Oaks 93
Bell 93
Silver Lake 92
Redondo Beach 91
Woodland Hills 90
Temple-Beaudry 89
Northridge 87
Pomona 82
San Pedro 82
Paramount 80
Montebello 80
Glassell Park 80
Palms 80
Koreatown 78
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latimes--2020-04-21--12 photos show skid row during pandemic — and the judge risking his life to help

As the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded , U.S. District Judge David O. Carter has been on a mission to force @ @ @ @ @ for the homeless people of L.A. At 76 , Carter knows he should be at @ @ @ @ @ , not outside leading a tour of the largest concentration of homeless people in the @ @ @ @ @ scenes from skid row in downtown Los Angeles .

Benjamin Oreskes, Photography by the staff of the Los Angeles Times

As the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter has been on a mission to force changes in the living conditions for the homeless people of L.A. At 76, Carter knows he should be at home and away from people, not outside leading a tour of the largest concentration of homeless people in the country.
Here are the scenes from skid row in downtown Los Angeles.
Herb Smith, far left, chief executive of the Los Angeles Mission, is joined by staff and volunteers to assemble 150 bags of food and hygiene products for distribution to homeless people on skid row. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter tours skid row with Los Angeles Police Officer Deon Joseph in early April. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Herb Smith, right, chief executive of the Los Angeles Mission, helps Juanita Glover as she receives bags of food and hygiene products. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Robert Taylor, a participant in the Fresh Start program at the Los Angeles Mission, has his temperature taken by security guard Angel Jurado on skid row. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Brent Kostanski, who is homeless and living on skid row, enjoys a sandwich from a food distribution package. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Members of the Love My Neighbor Foundation help feed the homeless on skid row. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Prince Thomas III, who is homeless, stands by tents on skid row. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Crews clean an area along 7th Street in downtown Los Angeles. (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / Los Angeles Times)
Bags of food and hygiene products that will be distributed to homeless people on skid row. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles Mission Chief Executive Herb Smith gives face masks to Juanita Glover, left, and Carmen Santiago. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Ralph Sutton of the Los Angeles Mission hands out food and hygiene products on skid row. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
California 20 heartwarming photos show gratitude for healthcare workers Firefighters and law enforcement officers from L.A. to Laguna Beach express their gratitude to healthcare workers for their efforts in fighting COVID-19.


latimes--2020-04-21--Coronavirus brings new levels of misery to impoverished California trailer park

Even before the coronavirus struck , the Oasis Mobile Home Park was like a patient with underlying health issues .
Decrepit trailers .
Piles of garbage .
Arsenic in the water .
So when the outbreak swept through Southern California , the patient didn ’ t stand a chance .
The owner of the park in Thermal was supposed to provide bottled water for the 1,900 residents to drink and cook with .
But virus-fueled panic buying made the precious commodity hard to find .
So were farmworking jobs , as agricultural employers cut the size of their crews in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distance apart and because of decreased demand for produce .
Throughout the eastern Coachella Valley , the coronavirus pandemic has only amplified the daily struggle for the overwhelmingly immigrant and working-class people who call this place home .
Farmworkers are losing their jobs .
The demand for food assistance has nearly tripled .
Esperanza Sanchez ’ s last paycheck — a little more than $ 100 for harvesting onions a month ago — won ’ t cover her $ 575 rent , let alone leave anything to live on .
In April , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to not pay the rent .
“ How am I going to do it ?
” the 61-year-old asked .
A tear trickled down her careworn face , dampening the faded bandanna she wore for protection from the virus .
On Monday morning , the pajama-clad Sanchez pushed a five-gallon water bottle in a pink Minnie Mouse stroller from a water tender on 70th Avenue to her home in the Oasis Mobile Home Park , where she ’ s lived for the past 22 years .
She would use it to bathe her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It was clean — poison-free — unlike what flows from the taps in her peeling red-and-white trailer , which sits on Torres Martinez tribal land .
Last year , the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found arsenic contamination at up to 10 times the allowable limit in the water residents had been using .
Although the park is not connected to the Coachella Valley Water District , the district has temporarily placed a water tender near the mobile homes , funded through non-rate revenue .
It ’ s a small way to help @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of whom — like others across the state — are undocumented , lack health insurance and don ’ t qualify for unemployment insurance or federal COVID-19 relief .
“ You think that would be bad enough , ” said Castulo Estrada , vice president of the board of the CVWD , “ but these folks on a daily basis have to come and live in an area where they can ’ t even have access to clean water.
” In normal times , Sanchez would have been out before 6 a.m. , heading @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Instead , she wheeled the stroller — squeaking under its water weight — down the dirt road leading home , navigating around feces left behind by stray dogs that roam the park .
Like Sanchez , other residents were home on a day they should have been working .
Gabriela Reynaga , who was raised in this mobile home park , ushered her three children past La Chicanita Market and across the street to catch a bus to Indio .
She ’ s been working two days a week , if that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York .
But everything is closed , she said , which means less produce and fewer jobs .
Mobile service isn ’ t great , so her 11-year-old , 13-year-old and 17-year-old struggle to do their homework .
Even before the coronavirus outbreak , money to pay for internet access was scarce ; now , with no income , being able to pay to keep her children connected to the outside world has become even harder .
Farmworkers in California make $ 26,000 a year , on average , according to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the farmworker communities of Mecca , Thermal , Oasis and North Shore , more than a third live below the poverty line , according to census data .
In Mecca , the nonprofit Galilee Center has long provided food , clothing and basic needs for families , including farmworkers .
In the last month , the center has seen a tremendous increase in demand .
The number of those turning up on Thursdays for the center ’ s food drive has jumped from about 250 to 700 .
On a recent week , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least three miles .
“ It was too many people , ” said Gloria Gomez , co-founder of the Galilee Center .
“ We had to stop at one point ; we couldn ’ t do it anymore.
” Last Friday , staff took 60 meals to Oasis Mobile Home Park .
In less than 10 minutes , the meals were gone .
The demand for goods needed by seniors , like Depend undergarments and Ensure nutritional drinks , has jumped 50 % , Gomez said .
Meanwhile , she said , typically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apply for rental assistance ; two weeks into April , the organization had received 30 applications .
With that help , Maria Corrales was able to pay rent on her Mecca home .
Since 2018 , the single mother had worked in a date-packing house starting at 6 a.m. and finishing in time to pick up her three children from school in the afternoon .
Then , the schools closed because of the pandemic .
She put her 12-year-old , 9-year-old and 7-year-old in daycare , but on March 16 , that closed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 , the daycare owner said in a letter , the facility would not open “ until the health sector indicates the community is safe.
” “ Sorry for any inconvenience , ” the letter stated .
Corrales didn ’ t want to leave her children alone at home , so she made the difficult decision to stop working .
Her last paycheck totaled about $ 185 for two days of work .
She knows the same is happening to others across the area .
Before , not everyone would go for food @ @ @ @ @ @ @ everywhere .
Her family has waited three and a half hours at a church for food .
Of Corrales ’ five siblings living in the area , only one is still working , although with only a couple of construction jobs per week .
Another brother , a foreman in the chile fields , told Corrales the harvest would begin soon , but he ’ d been instructed to recruit fewer workers than usual in order to maintain social distancing .
“ There ’ s not going to be a lot of work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Our Lady of Guadalupe Shelter , which is run by the Galilee Center , Maria Canales took out the trash on a recent morning , the blue bandanna around her face billowing with each exhale .
A farmworker , Canales had planned to leave for Northern California earlier this year for work , but there was a lot of “ sickness ” there .
Scared , the 66-year-old decided to stay , knowing she ’ s at high risk if she contracts the coronavirus .
She has kept busy at the Mecca shelter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But every time she calls , a foreman tells her , “ We ’ re full.
” Because of the lack of work , the shelter waived its $ 3 daily fee and allowed farmworkers to stay there throughout the day for their protection .
Staff log their temperatures and keep their sleeping cots a safe distance apart .
They ’ ve only once had to use the gray , makeshift isolation room , for a farmworker who was coughing .
Canales has watched as other farmworkers in the shelter returned to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scared off by the virus .
Those who stayed hadn ’ t worked in at least a month , passing the time playing cards , listening to music and swapping stories , their voices muffled by masks .
Often , they worry about family back in Mexico , who are waiting on financial support as they also shelter in place .
The same is happening across California .
In some cases , farmers have been destroying their crops because distributors are not buying amid closures .
As a result , farmworkers are being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re going to stay here until we work , ” said Javier Gonzalez , as he sat with three other men outside the shelter , careful to keep a distance between their bodies .
The 47-year-old has four kids in Mexico to think about .
At the Oasis Mobile Home Park , the desert heat weighed heavily , like a blanket .
A slight breeze provided almost no relief but kicked up dust along the dirt roads and rippled the skirts , jeans and shirts strung up on clotheslines in front yards .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ filtered out from a mobile home tucked behind a chain-link fence .
Sanchez sat on her ramshackle porch , beneath a “ Happy Birthday ” Minnie Mouse sign and more than a dozen pink balloons .
The family had celebrated Elida Paz turning 1 year old with a piñata and a small cake .
It had already been a tough year for the family , she said , as she leaned her small frame against her trailer .
A month ago , Sanchez ’ s husband died of a brain bleed .
Now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and her children worry about her going out because of the risk .
With Gov .
Gavin Newsom ’ s recent announcement of a $ 125-million relief effort to help Californians without legal immigration status , Sanchez hoped her burden would lighten .
But if nothing changed , Sanchez said , they would do what they have always done : keep fighting .

Even before the coronavirus struck, the Oasis Mobile Home Park was like a patient with underlying health issues. Decrepit trailers. Piles of garbage. Arsenic in the water.
So when the outbreak swept through Southern California, the patient didn’t stand a chance.
The owner of the park in Thermal was supposed to provide bottled water for the 1,900 residents to drink and cook with. But virus-fueled panic buying made the precious commodity hard to find.
So were farmworking jobs, as agricultural employers cut the size of their crews in an effort to keep workers a safe distance apart and because of decreased demand for produce.
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Throughout the eastern Coachella Valley, the coronavirus pandemic has only amplified the daily struggle for the overwhelmingly immigrant and working-class people who call this place home. Farmworkers are losing their jobs. The demand for food assistance has nearly tripled.
Esperanza Sanchez carries drinking water delivered by a Coachella Valley Water District truck. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Esperanza Sanchez’s last paycheck — a little more than $100 for harvesting onions a month ago — won’t cover her $575 rent, let alone leave anything to live on. In April, she decided she had no choice but to not pay the rent.
“How am I going to do it?” the 61-year-old asked. A tear trickled down her careworn face, dampening the faded bandanna she wore for protection from the virus.
On Monday morning, the pajama-clad Sanchez pushed a five-gallon water bottle in a pink Minnie Mouse stroller from a water tender on 70th Avenue to her home in the Oasis Mobile Home Park, where she’s lived for the past 22 years.
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She would use it to bathe her granddaughter and to make masa for tortillas.
Tracking the coronavirus in California The latest maps and charts on the spread of COVID-19 in California.
It was clean — poison-free — unlike what flows from the taps in her peeling red-and-white trailer, which sits on Torres Martinez tribal land. Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found arsenic contamination at up to 10 times the allowable limit in the water residents had been using.
Although the park is not connected to the Coachella Valley Water District, the district has temporarily placed a water tender near the mobile homes, funded through non-rate revenue.
It’s a small way to help the farmworkers who live here, many of whom — like others across the state — are undocumented, lack health insurance and don’t qualify for unemployment insurance or federal COVID-19 relief.
“You think that would be bad enough,” said Castulo Estrada, vice president of the board of the CVWD, “but these folks on a daily basis have to come and live in an area where they can’t even have access to clean water.”
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Daisey follows 13-year-old Carlos Castelano to a bus stop near Oasis Mobile Home Park, where difficult conditions are compounded by the coronavirus pandemic. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
In normal times, Sanchez would have been out before 6 a.m., heading to work in the nearby Thermal fields. Instead, she wheeled the stroller — squeaking under its water weight — down the dirt road leading home, navigating around feces left behind by stray dogs that roam the park.
Like Sanchez, other residents were home on a day they should have been working.
Gabriela Reynaga, who was raised in this mobile home park, ushered her three children past La Chicanita Market and across the street to catch a bus to Indio. She’s been working two days a week, if that, cutting vegetables that are sent to New York. But everything is closed, she said, which means less produce and fewer jobs.
Out-of-work farmworkers Salvador Gonzalez, left, and Osmar Caballero wear face masks as they gather for breakfast at Galilee Center. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Mobile service isn’t great, so her 11-year-old, 13-year-old and 17-year-old struggle to do their homework. Even before the coronavirus outbreak, money to pay for internet access was scarce; now, with no income, being able to pay to keep her children connected to the outside world has become even harder.
Farmworkers in California make $26,000 a year, on average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the farmworker communities of Mecca, Thermal, Oasis and North Shore, more than a third live below the poverty line, according to census data.
In Mecca, the nonprofit Galilee Center has long provided food, clothing and basic needs for families, including farmworkers. In the last month, the center has seen a tremendous increase in demand.
The number of those turning up on Thursdays for the center’s food drive has jumped from about 250 to 700. On a recent week, the line of cars stretched for at least three miles.
“It was too many people,” said Gloria Gomez, co-founder of the Galilee Center. “We had to stop at one point; we couldn’t do it anymore.”
Last Friday, staff took 60 meals to Oasis Mobile Home Park. In less than 10 minutes, the meals were gone.
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The demand for goods needed by seniors, like Depend undergarments and Ensure nutritional drinks, has jumped 50%, Gomez said. Meanwhile, she said, typically only a handful of people each month apply for rental assistance; two weeks into April, the organization had received 30 applications.
Maria Corrales had to stop working to stay home after the daycare facility that looked after her kids closed due to the pandemic. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
With that help, Maria Corrales was able to pay rent on her Mecca home. Since 2018, the single mother had worked in a date-packing house starting at 6 a.m. and finishing in time to pick up her three children from school in the afternoon.
Then, the schools closed because of the pandemic. She put her 12-year-old, 9-year-old and 7-year-old in daycare, but on March 16, that closed too.
Because of the situation with COVID-19, the daycare owner said in a letter, the facility would not open “until the health sector indicates the community is safe.”
“Sorry for any inconvenience,” the letter stated.
Corrales didn’t want to leave her children alone at home, so she made the difficult decision to stop working. Her last paycheck totaled about $185 for two days of work.
Advertisement
She knows the same is happening to others across the area. Before, not everyone would go for food distributions, but now there are lines everywhere. Her family has waited three and a half hours at a church for food.
Of Corrales’ five siblings living in the area, only one is still working, although with only a couple of construction jobs per week.
Another brother, a foreman in the chile fields, told Corrales the harvest would begin soon, but he’d been instructed to recruit fewer workers than usual in order to maintain social distancing.
“There’s not going to be a lot of work,” Corrales said.
Stuck without a job, farmworker Maria Canales, 66, sits at the Galilee Center, which provides hot meals and other services. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
At the Our Lady of Guadalupe Shelter, which is run by the Galilee Center, Maria Canales took out the trash on a recent morning, the blue bandanna around her face billowing with each exhale.
A farmworker, Canales had planned to leave for Northern California earlier this year for work, but there was a lot of “sickness” there. Scared, the 66-year-old decided to stay, knowing she’s at high risk if she contracts the coronavirus.
She has kept busy at the Mecca shelter as she waits to hear about work. But every time she calls, a foreman tells her, “We’re full.”
Because of the lack of work, the shelter waived its $3 daily fee and allowed farmworkers to stay there throughout the day for their protection. Staff log their temperatures and keep their sleeping cots a safe distance apart.
They’ve only once had to use the gray, makeshift isolation room, for a farmworker who was coughing.
Sandra Ibarra, 9, gets meal bags delivered by the Coachella Valley Unified School District bus in Thermal. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Canales has watched as other farmworkers in the shelter returned to Mexico, either tired of waiting or scared off by the virus. Those who stayed hadn’t worked in at least a month, passing the time playing cards, listening to music and swapping stories, their voices muffled by masks.
Often, they worry about family back in Mexico, who are waiting on financial support as they also shelter in place.
The same is happening across California. In some cases, farmers have been destroying their crops because distributors are not buying amid closures. As a result, farmworkers are being laid off early.
“We’re going to stay here until we work,” said Javier Gonzalez, as he sat with three other men outside the shelter, careful to keep a distance between their bodies. The 47-year-old has four kids in Mexico to think about.
“We need to make money.”
At the Oasis Mobile Home Park, the desert heat weighed heavily, like a blanket. A slight breeze provided almost no relief but kicked up dust along the dirt roads and rippled the skirts, jeans and shirts strung up on clotheslines in front yards.
Jesus Ramon carries water bottles filled at a water truck provided by the Coachella Valley Water District at the Oasis Mobile Home Park. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Mexican singer-songwriter Junior H’s lyrics filtered out from a mobile home tucked behind a chain-link fence.
Sanchez sat on her ramshackle porch, beneath a “Happy Birthday” Minnie Mouse sign and more than a dozen pink balloons. The family had celebrated Elida Paz turning 1 year old with a piñata and a small cake.
It had already been a tough year for the family, she said, as she leaned her small frame against her trailer. A month ago, Sanchez’s husband died of a brain bleed. Now, she struggled to find work, and her children worry about her going out because of the risk.
With Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent announcement of a $125-million relief effort to help Californians without legal immigration status, Sanchez hoped her burden would lighten.
But if nothing changed, Sanchez said, they would do what they have always done: keep fighting.


latimes--2020-04-21--Bats get blamed for the coronavirus. But bats face their own virus risk — from humans

As forensic virologists search to uncover the origins of COVID-19 , bats have been fingered as a likely source .
Genetic analyses show the virus is very similar to one harbored by Chinese horseshoe bats , and researchers think it ’ s possible it jumped from those winged mammals to people .
But some bat lovers and chiropterologists — scientists who study the flying mammals — are adamant there is no proof .
Instead , they ’ re wringing their hands about the reverse : That people with COVID-19 could spread the disease to their furry , nocturnal housemates .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ North American bat populations , which are being wiped out by white-nose syndrome , a disease caused by a deadly fungus .
There is no evidence indicating that bats can get the coronavirus from people , said Alice Chung-MacCoubrey , a bat biologist for the National Park Service , and an affiliate faculty at South Oregon University .
“ But it ’ s something we ’ re concerned about.
” On Saturday evening , hundreds of thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats streamed out from underneath the Yolo Bypass , a bridge spanning the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sacramento .
As darkness approached , a half-dozen amateur photographers appeared by the bridge , hoping to get good shots of the swarm .
A small debate ensued about whether it would be better to catch the bats with a wide-angle versus zoom lens .
Reports indicate that COVID-19 has the ability to jump from humans to other species , including pet cats and a Malayan tiger at the Bronx Zoo .
And because people can live in close proximity to bats — the flying mammals often live in attics and crawl spaces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to them too .
None of the photographers seemed concerned about passing the virus to the bats .
Or , for that matter , to one another .
Only one of them wore a mask .
However , Corky Quirk , program coordinator for the Yolo Basin Foundation , and a bat aficionado , wore a mask and gloves while she handled a few of her “ ambassador ” bats — injured bats that can ’ t be released back into the wild , but live within the comfort of her home .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wildlife Service sent out a directive advising scientists to suspend all bat studies , concerned that researchers could spread the disease to their already vulnerable study subjects .
And Chung-MacCoubrey said the Geological Survey has organized a team of experts to evaluate the risk and establish preventive measures .
They ’ re hoping to release a report by May .
It wouldn ’ t be the first time humans have introduced a disease to bats .
Although Pseudogymnoascus destructans , a cold-climate-loving fungus that causes the deadly white-nose syndrome in bat populations across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ originate in people , it is spread by them .
On a recent evening , in Siskiyou County ’ s Lava Beds National Monument , just south of the Oregon border , signs at the park and cave entrances directed visitors to be screened at the park center for the fungus , before descending into caves .
Because of the coronavirus outbreak , the park center was closed .
However , a reporting team from The Times had not been in any caves or mines outside the United States since 2006 — the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to determine access .
The caves were cold and dark , and no bats were seen , although there were signs of their presence — staining on the walls and guano on the floor .
The cruelty of the fungus , said Chung-MacCoubrey , is that it thrives on the bodies of hibernating bat species — whose body temperatures drop in the winter , as their bodies go into torpor .
Then , in bat species that are social , the fungus spreads as they interact — grooming and sleeping in giant colonies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ practice social distancing , like humans , she said , the virus wouldn ’ t be such a menace .
Although news reports have suggested the fungus has spread to California bats , Chung-MacCoubrey said researchers are still not sure .
The park service researcher said she surveyed roosts from two populations in the Northern California town of Chester in 2018 and 2019 .
And while she detected “ very , very small quantities ” of the fungus , “ there is much debate in the scientific community on how to interpret these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movement of the fungus in other states , she expects to see “ strong positives ” in Northern California soon — assuming she can continue her research .
“ Until we have a better understanding about the risk of transmitting the COVID-19 virus to North American bats , ” she said , the government is advising that “ wildlife researchers , rehabbers and wildlife control operators avoid handling or coming within close proximity of bats.
” COVID-19 is concerning , said Quirk , the bat rehabilitator , as she held a cranky , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it wriggling mealworms with a pair of tweezers .
But she said bats face bigger threats , such as habitat loss , the widespread use of agricultural chemicals , climate change and cats .
“ Bats are truly extraordinary , ” she said , extolling their incredible role in managing insect populations , including mosquitoes .
She noted the experience of one rice farmer who leases farmland in the Yolo natural wildlife preserve .
The farmer doesn ’ t need to use insecticides , she said , because the bats keep his crop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Giberson , two wildlife removers for Wildlife Command Center , a pest-control company in Sacramento , said they have grown a deep respect for bats since they began working in the business .
“ Humans just need to learn how to live together with them , ” said Starr , it ’ s OK not to want colonies living in your house or attic .
“ But outdoors , under bridges like this , ” he said , pointing at the Yolo bypass , “ they serve a vital function .
Bats are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re amazing.
” Los Angeles Times reporter Susanne Rust and photographer Carolyn Cole are embarking on a road journey throughout California .
They aim to give voice to those in remote parts of California as they grapple with the worst health and economic calamity of our lifetimes .

As forensic virologists search to uncover the origins of COVID-19, bats have been fingered as a likely source. Genetic analyses show the virus is very similar to one harbored by Chinese horseshoe bats, and researchers think it’s possible it jumped from those winged mammals to people.
But some bat lovers and chiropterologists — scientists who study the flying mammals — are adamant there is no proof. Instead, they’re wringing their hands about the reverse: That people with COVID-19 could spread the disease to their furry, nocturnal housemates.
They are particularly worried about already vulnerable North American bat populations, which are being wiped out by white-nose syndrome, a disease caused by a deadly fungus.
There is no evidence indicating that bats can get the coronavirus from people, said Alice Chung-MacCoubrey, a bat biologist for the National Park Service, and an affiliate faculty at South Oregon University. “But it’s something we’re concerned about.”
On Saturday evening, hundreds of thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats streamed out from underneath the Yolo Bypass, a bridge spanning the wetlands and flood-control channel just west of Sacramento.
1 / 5 At the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats live under the bypass and come out at dusk. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 5 A colony of Mexican free-tailed bats under the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 5 Corky Quirk is program coordinator for the Yolo Basin Foundation — and a bat aficionado. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 5 A Pallid bat at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 5 Thousands of bats from the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area take flight at dusk. Bats play a vital role by eating insects that destroy crops. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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As darkness approached, a half-dozen amateur photographers appeared by the bridge, hoping to get good shots of the swarm. A small debate ensued about whether it would be better to catch the bats with a wide-angle versus zoom lens.
Reports indicate that COVID-19 has the ability to jump from humans to other species, including pet cats and a Malayan tiger at the Bronx Zoo. And because people can live in close proximity to bats — the flying mammals often live in attics and crawl spaces — common sense suggests it could jump to them too.
None of the photographers seemed concerned about passing the virus to the bats. Or, for that matter, to one another. Only one of them wore a mask.
However, Corky Quirk, program coordinator for the Yolo Basin Foundation, and a bat aficionado, wore a mask and gloves while she handled a few of her “ambassador” bats — injured bats that can’t be released back into the wild, but live within the comfort of her home.
This month, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service sent out a directive advising scientists to suspend all bat studies, concerned that researchers could spread the disease to their already vulnerable study subjects.
And Chung-MacCoubrey said the Geological Survey has organized a team of experts to evaluate the risk and establish preventive measures. They’re hoping to release a report by May.
It wouldn’t be the first time humans have introduced a disease to bats.
Although Pseudogymnoascus destructans, a cold-climate-loving fungus that causes the deadly white-nose syndrome in bat populations across the United States, didn’t originate in people, it is spread by them.
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A sign at Lava Beds National Monument warns visitors that they must be screened before visiting the caves to prevent spreading any viruses to the resident bats. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
On a recent evening, in Siskiyou County’s Lava Beds National Monument, just south of the Oregon border, signs at the park and cave entrances directed visitors to be screened at the park center for the fungus, before descending into caves.
Coronavirus Journal Two Times journalists are embarking on a journey throughout California to cover the nation’s most populous and diverse state during the coronavirus crisis. More stories
Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the park center was closed. However, a reporting team from The Times had not been in any caves or mines outside the United States since 2006 — the criteria used by the National Park Service to determine access.
The caves were cold and dark, and no bats were seen, although there were signs of their presence — staining on the walls and guano on the floor.
The cruelty of the fungus, said Chung-MacCoubrey, is that it thrives on the bodies of hibernating bat species — whose body temperatures drop in the winter, as their bodies go into torpor. Then, in bat species that are social, the fungus spreads as they interact — grooming and sleeping in giant colonies with one another.
If bats could practice social distancing, like humans, she said, the virus wouldn’t be such a menace.
Although news reports have suggested the fungus has spread to California bats, Chung-MacCoubrey said researchers are still not sure.
Mexican free-tailed bats at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area. Researchers are worried about vulnerable North American bat populations, which are being wiped out by white-nose syndrome, a disease caused by a fungus. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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The park service researcher said she surveyed roosts from two populations in the Northern California town of Chester in 2018 and 2019. And while she detected “very, very small quantities” of the fungus, “there is much debate in the scientific community on how to interpret these low levels.”
However, following the movement of the fungus in other states, she expects to see “strong positives” in Northern California soon — assuming she can continue her research.
As part of Corky Quirk’s role as program coordinator for the Yolo Basin Foundation, she handles injured bats that can’t be released back into the wild. COVID-19 is concerning, Quirk says, but bats face bigger threats, such as habitat loss. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
“Until we have a better understanding about the risk of transmitting the COVID-19 virus to North American bats,” she said, the government is advising that “wildlife researchers, rehabbers and wildlife control operators avoid handling or coming within close proximity of bats.”
COVID-19 is concerning, said Quirk, the bat rehabilitator, as she held a cranky, female big brown bat, while feeding it wriggling mealworms with a pair of tweezers. But she said bats face bigger threats, such as habitat loss, the widespread use of agricultural chemicals, climate change and cats.
“Bats are truly extraordinary,” she said, extolling their incredible role in managing insect populations, including mosquitoes.
She noted the experience of one rice farmer who leases farmland in the Yolo natural wildlife preserve. The farmer doesn’t need to use insecticides, she said, because the bats keep his crop insect-free.
Chris Starr and U.B. Giberson, two wildlife removers for Wildlife Command Center, a pest-control company in Sacramento, said they have a deep respect for bats since they began working in the business.
“Humans just need to learn how to live together with them,” said Starr, it’s OK not to want colonies living in your house or attic.
“But outdoors, under bridges like this,” he said, pointing at the Yolo Bypass, “they serve a vital function. Bats are good. I mean, they’re amazing.”
A night scene at Lava Beds National Monument, which is closed due to the coronavirus outbreak. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles Times reporter Susanne Rust and photographer Carolyn Cole are embarking on a road journey throughout California. They aim to give voice to those in remote parts of California as they grapple with the worst health and economic calamity of our lifetimes.


latimes--2020-04-21--A nurse watched her father die of coronavirus in her hospital. She couldn't help him

Chanell Jackson rubbed sanitizing gel on her hands and pulled a protective gown over her clothes as she had done so many times before .
As a nurse , she did this ritual to help deliver wailing babies and to wheel worried women into surgery .
But this was different .
This was her father .
It was Sunday , March 29 .
It had been 22 days since he had returned home from a ski trip in Idaho , 14 days since he had checked into Chanell ’ s West Los Angeles hospital with shortness of breath , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ come back positive .
She carefully pressed the edges of an N95 mask until it molded to her face and affixed a plastic shield to her forehead .
Then Chanell slipped a pair of gloves over her hands .
And another for added protection .
Charles “ Chuck ” Jackson lay in the hospital bed , sedated and hooked to a ventilator cranked to the max , forcing air into his stiff lungs .
Father and daughter had been in the same building for days , but unable to see each other .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ same room .
She could touch him , but couldn ’ t feel the warmth of his skin through her gloves .
Chanell told her father the grim prognosis even though he was sedated and she was unsure if he could hear her .
Doctors wanted Chanell and her brother , Nick , to take him off life support .
She was there to say goodbye .
Up until then , Nick had chronicled every heartbreaking development on social media .
With each post and every share , he hoped to raise awareness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people were somehow immune to the coronavirus when few knew that they getting sick and dying from COVID-19 in disproportionate numbers .
He hoped people might see his father ’ s face and see their own or the face of one of their relatives in need of protection .
He had hoped his story would not become theirs .
“ I won ’ t want somebody in this position , ” he said .
The beeping of machines filled the ICU as Chanell searched for signs of life — a flutter of an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
She saw none .
But she knew that her 64-year-old dad was a fighter .
He had pulled a 300-pound tuna from the Gulf of Mexico , guarded schools in L.A. ’ s toughest neighborhoods during the city ’ s most violent era , and crisscrossed the world to ski down steep slopes .
“ You ’ ve lived your life , ” she recounted later .
“ You ’ ve raised us well .
If you ’ re finished here , then you can go in peace.
” Though a bad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recent years , he always made the annual pilgrimage with the National Brotherhood of Skiers .
So , in late February , Chuck and more than 600 black skiers gathered on the mountain town of Ketchum , Idaho , and neighboring Sun Valley for a week of fun .
The Brotherhood , the world ’ s largest association of black men and women skiers and snowboarders , had much to celebrate .
Twice its members had unsuccessfully submitted the names of their founders , Art Clay and Ben Finley , to be inducted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hall of Fame .
The third time was the charm .
They danced in the streets , parading into the center of Ketchum as music blared .
Each ski club , from the Pasadena SnowBusters to the UK Nubians , donned matching parkas announcing each person ’ s alliance to their club .
A DJ shouted out the names of the dozens of black ski clubs .
The party continued inside Whiskey Jacques bar , where DJ Jazzy Jeff spun records late into the night .
Meanwhile , the coronavirus was silently creeping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up in Ketchum like an uninvited guest .
After the trip , about 130 people who returned to their respective cities got sick .
At least nine of them tested positive for the novel coronavirus .
And at least four from California died , including Chuck and two others in the Los Angeles area .
“ I feel like I ’ m in a nightmare , ” said Gale Frazier , president of the Blade Runner Ski Club , an affiliate of the Brotherhood .
“ I can ’ t believe it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to me.
” Frazier ’ s friendship with Chuck spanned years and continents .
They met 15 years ago on a ski club excursion in Paris .
Their bond grew over other group trips to music festivals , Brazil and the Caribbean .
They had a mutual love of skiing and a dedication to build up the next generation of black skiers .
Chuck would whisk a truck full of youngsters up to Big Bear , Mountain High and at resorts in Lake Tahoe .
He was dependable and happy to fill in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the kids could have a good time , Frazier said .
It was all part of the larger mission of the 47-year-old National Brotherhood of Skiers .
When Frazier and Chuck landed in Boise on Feb. 29 for the weeklong ski trip , they rented the biggest vehicle available — a Chevy Tahoe .
Chuck spent the trip chauffeuring his friends back and forth to the mountains .
He shared a condo with Curtis McClendon and Nate Jackson , two other members of the Blade Runners Ski Club .
Members of four California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Blade Runners , and Fire and Ice — attended every happy hour together .
Even though Chuck didn ’ t drink , they laughed together at comedy shows and dined on the mountaintop .
“ He didn ’ t miss a party , ” Frazier said .
“ It was so much fun to see everybody in so much laughter.
” Nick picked up his father at the airport on a Saturday , March 7 .
By Monday , Chuck was complaining of feeling lightheaded and nauseous .
He called in sick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chanell was visiting North Carolina with her 17-year-old son who was shooting a TV pilot .
She asked her father if he would be willing to move out east with her son if the show was picked up by a network .
The location was perfect , as it was on the water where Chuck could go fishing .
He told her that he wasn ’ t feeling well .
“ I hope you don ’ t have coronavirus , ” she remembered telling him .
“ Chanell , don ’ t joke @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Because I have never felt this way in my whole life.
” On Tuesday , he told Chanell that he was catching a cold .
The next day , he had a fever , but offered to pick her up from the airport anyway .
Then on Friday , he sent a text that stopped her in her tracks .
He told her he couldn ’ t keep food down .
He sounded winded like he was running on the treadmill and talking on the phone at the same time , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his South L.A. home .
At this point , Chanell went into nurse mode .
She ran down all her dad ’ s symptoms : shortness of breath , recent travel , fever .
She urged him to see a doctor .
He just needed a little rest , he told her .
He went to bed and woke up Saturday craving a steak .
“ I felt like he must be fine if he could eat a steak , ” Chanell recounted .
“ That was my thought process .
He ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have coronavirus.
” Then on Sunday , March 15 , Chanell was at the Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles campus , learning the new protocol on how to handle suspected coronavirus patients , when she received another unsettling text .
His friend was checking her dad into her hospital .
He was admitted to the emergency room and diagnosed with pneumonia in one lung .
He was breathing on his own and his vitals looked good .
They swabbed his nose .
He was in isolation on the fifth floor .
She cared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They talked by phone throughout the day .
But by his second day in the hospital — Tuesday , March 17 — it was hard for him to breathe and talk at the same time .
Meanwhile , Nate Jackson , one of his roommates on the ski trip , was in a different hospital in Southern California .
Chuck , squeezing the words out , said Nate had tested positive for the coronavirus and had COVID-19 , he told his daughter .
Chanell could tell he was scared .
“ Dad , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she said .
“ It doesn ’ t matter if you have it or not .
You can get better.
” But Chuck Jackson ’ s condition just kept getting worse .
By Saturday , March 21 — his sixth day in the hospital — the test he was given for the coronavirus came back positive .
The following night , the doctors started him on an experimental drug , remdesivir .
Over the course of the next week , his lung collapsed and his organs began to fail .
On Sunday , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Nick a choice that really wasn ’ t a choice .
Chanell knew he was in bad shape .
But it was her daddy .
The siblings decided to go with their hearts and keep him on life support .
Chanell said her goodbyes .
Two days later , on Tuesday , March 31 , they convinced the doctors to let Nick sit with his father one last time .
A few hours after that , Chuck died .
He had been in the hospital for 16 days .
“ I think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Chanell said .
That trip still haunts members of the Brotherhood .
Like in other mountain towns across the country , some year-round residents have blamed visiting skiers and snowboarders for bringing the coronavirus with them and causing an outbreak .
In Ketchum and Sun Valley , the group ’ s then-president , Peggie Allen , and the mayors of the two cities say otherwise .
“ There is no evidence as to when and how the virus first entered Sun Valley or Ketchum , ” they said in a joint statement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the coronavirus claimed the life of Nate Jackson , 76 , of Altadena on March 29 .
Charles Jackson , 64 , died two days later on March 31 .
An 81-year-old woman of Upland lost her battle two days after that on April 2 .
And Haymon Jahi , 71 , of San Jose died on April 9 .
Finley , the co-founder of the Brotherhood who is due to be inducted in the U.S .
Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame , even spent three days in the ICU at UCLA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There ’ s a certain amount of guilt , ” Finley , 81 , said .
“ Four people died .
It gets to you .
You wonder , ‘ How did I get out of this unscathed ?
’ ” Frazier , who never got sick , but whose doctors said she ’ s probably asymptomatic , is perplexed how this invisible beast took down her friends .
They were all in good health and active .
“ What happened ?
” The question keeps her up at night .
Chuck Jackson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Funeral Home in South L.A. last Wednesday under a cloudless , blue sky .
Black cloth masks covered their faces .
Shortly after 10 a.m. , they walked single file into the building , six feet apart , one at a time .
Then , more than a dozen men emerged from their cars .
Several of them donned yellow or blue Crenshaw High School shirts and masks on their faces .
They were the classes of ’ 72 and ’ 73 and they came to see their buddy off .
The chapel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sat in the pews .
Another 300 people watched online .
“ We can ’ t go in , but we can be here , ” Melroy Green shouted from six feet away .

Chanell Jackson rubbed sanitizing gel on her hands and pulled a protective gown over her clothes as she had done so many times before.
As a nurse, she did this ritual to help deliver wailing babies and to wheel worried women into surgery.
But this was different. This was her father.
It was Sunday, March 29. It had been 22 days since he had returned home from a ski trip in Idaho, 14 days since he had checked into Chanell’s West Los Angeles hospital with shortness of breath, and eight days since his coronavirus test had come back positive.
Nate Jackson, left, Charles “Chuck” Jackson, Gale Frazier and Curtis McClendon at the National Brotherhood of Skiers trip in Idaho in March. Nate and Charles died after contracting coronavirus during the ski trip. (Family photo)
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She carefully pressed the edges of an N95 mask until it molded to her face and affixed a plastic shield to her forehead. Then Chanell slipped a pair of gloves over her hands. And another for added protection.
Charles “Chuck” Jackson lay in the hospital bed, sedated and hooked to a ventilator cranked to the max, forcing air into his stiff lungs. Father and daughter had been in the same building for days, but unable to see each other. Now, they were finally in the same room. She could touch him, but couldn’t feel the warmth of his skin through her gloves.
Tracking the coronavirus in California The latest maps and charts on the spread of COVID-19 in California.
Chanell told her father the grim prognosis even though he was sedated and she was unsure if he could hear her. Doctors wanted Chanell and her brother, Nick, to take him off life support.
She was there to say goodbye.
Up until then, Nick had chronicled every heartbreaking development on social media. With each post and every share, he hoped to raise awareness, to dispel the myth that black people were somehow immune to the coronavirus when few knew that they getting sick and dying from COVID-19 in disproportionate numbers.
Charles “Chuck” Jackson, left, Chanell Jackson and Nick Jackson. Nick had chronicled every heartbreaking development on social media to raise awareness. (Family photo)
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He hoped people might see his father’s face and see their own or the face of one of their relatives in need of protection. He had hoped his story would not become theirs.
“I won’t want somebody in this position,” he said.
Column One A showcase for compelling storytelling from the Los Angeles Times. More stories
The beeping of machines filled the ICU as Chanell searched for signs of life — a flutter of an eyelash or a wiggle of a finger. She saw none.
But she knew that her 64-year-old dad was a fighter. He had pulled a 300-pound tuna from the Gulf of Mexico, guarded schools in L.A.’s toughest neighborhoods during the city’s most violent era, and crisscrossed the world to ski down steep slopes.
“You’ve lived your life,” she recounted later. “You’ve raised us well. If you’re finished here, then you can go in peace.”
::
Clarice Kavanaugh places a hand on her friend Charles Jackson’s casket at Inglewood Park Cemetery on April 15. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Chuck Jackson rarely missed a trip.
Though a bad back kept him off the slopes in recent years, he always made the annual pilgrimage with the National Brotherhood of Skiers. So, in late February, Chuck and more than 600 black skiers gathered on the mountain town of Ketchum, Idaho, and neighboring Sun Valley for a week of fun.
The Brotherhood, the world’s largest association of black men and women skiers and snowboarders, had much to celebrate.
Advertisement
Twice its members had unsuccessfully submitted the names of their founders, Art Clay and Ben Finley, to be inducted in the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. The third time was the charm.
They danced in the streets, parading into the center of Ketchum as music blared. Each ski club, from the Pasadena SnowBusters to the UK Nubians, donned matching parkas announcing each person’s alliance to their club.
A DJ shouted out the names of the dozens of black ski clubs. The party continued inside Whiskey Jacques bar, where DJ Jazzy Jeff spun records late into the night. Meanwhile, the coronavirus was silently creeping into communities across the country and showed up in Ketchum like an uninvited guest.
Brother-in-law Sammie Norfleet Jr., left, son Nick Jackson and grandson Ceyair Wright watch as Charles Jackson’s coffin is placed inside the hearse after a service at Angelus Funeral Home in Los Angeles on April 15. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
After the trip, about 130 people who returned to their respective cities got sick. At least nine of them tested positive for the novel coronavirus. And at least four from California died, including Chuck and two others in the Los Angeles area.
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“I feel like I’m in a nightmare,” said Gale Frazier, president of the Blade Runner Ski Club, an affiliate of the Brotherhood. “I can’t believe it. It still don’t feel real to me.”
Frazier’s friendship with Chuck spanned years and continents. They met 15 years ago on a ski club excursion in Paris. Their bond grew over other group trips to music festivals, Brazil and the Caribbean. They had a mutual love of skiing and a dedication to build up the next generation of black skiers.
Chuck would whisk a truck full of youngsters up to Big Bear, Mountain High and at resorts in Lake Tahoe. He was dependable and happy to fill in the gaps when money ran short so the kids could have a good time, Frazier said. It was all part of the larger mission of the 47-year-old National Brotherhood of Skiers.
When Frazier and Chuck landed in Boise on Feb. 29 for the weeklong ski trip, they rented the biggest vehicle available — a Chevy Tahoe. Chuck spent the trip chauffeuring his friends back and forth to the mountains.
Nick, center, picked up his father at the airport on a Saturday. Two days later, Chuck complained of feeling lightheaded and nauseous. He called in sick to his security job. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
He shared a condo with Curtis McClendon and Nate Jackson, two other members of the Blade Runners Ski Club.
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Members of four California ski clubs — Winter Fox, SnowBusters, Blade Runners, and Fire and Ice — attended every happy hour together. Even though Chuck didn’t drink, they laughed together at comedy shows and dined on the mountaintop.
“He didn’t miss a party,” Frazier said. “It was so much fun to see everybody in so much laughter.”
Nick picked up his father at the airport on a Saturday, March 7. By Monday, Chuck was complaining of feeling lightheaded and nauseous. He called in sick to his security job.
His daughter Chanell was visiting North Carolina with her 17-year-old son who was shooting a TV pilot. She asked her father if he would be willing to move out east with her son if the show was picked up by a network. The location was perfect, as it was on the water where Chuck could go fishing.
He told her that he wasn’t feeling well.
“I hope you don’t have coronavirus,” she remembered telling him.
“Chanell, don’t joke like that,” he told her. “Because I have never felt this way in my whole life.”
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Charles Shumake mourns the loss of his best friend, Charles Jackson. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
On Tuesday, he told Chanell that he was catching a cold. The next day, he had a fever, but offered to pick her up from the airport anyway.
Then on Friday, he sent a text that stopped her in her tracks.
“Call me please!!!!”
He told her he couldn’t keep food down. He sounded winded like he was running on the treadmill and talking on the phone at the same time, but he was lying in bed in his South L.A. home.
At this point, Chanell went into nurse mode. She ran down all her dad’s symptoms: shortness of breath, recent travel, fever. She urged him to see a doctor.
He just needed a little rest, he told her. He went to bed and woke up Saturday craving a steak.
“I felt like he must be fine if he could eat a steak,” Chanell recounted. “That was my thought process. He’s OK. He doesn’t have coronavirus.”
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Then on Sunday, March 15, Chanell was at the Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles campus, learning the new protocol on how to handle suspected coronavirus patients, when she received another unsettling text. His friend was checking her dad into her hospital.
Members of Crenshaw High School’s class of 1973 practice social distancing while gathered outside the funeral of classmate Charles Jackson at the Angelus Funeral Home in Los Angeles. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
He was admitted to the emergency room and diagnosed with pneumonia in one lung. He was breathing on his own and his vitals looked good. They swabbed his nose.
He was in isolation on the fifth floor. She cared for patients on the fourth floor.
They talked by phone throughout the day. But by his second day in the hospital — Tuesday, March 17 — it was hard for him to breathe and talk at the same time.
Meanwhile, Nate Jackson, one of his roommates on the ski trip, was in a different hospital in Southern California. Chuck, squeezing the words out, said Nate had tested positive for the coronavirus and had COVID-19, he told his daughter.
Chanell could tell he was scared.
“Dad, you just got to pray,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if you have it or not. You can get better.”
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But Chuck Jackson’s condition just kept getting worse.
By Saturday, March 21 — his sixth day in the hospital — the test he was given for the coronavirus came back positive. The following night, the doctors started him on an experimental drug, remdesivir. Over the course of the next week, his lung collapsed and his organs began to fail.
On Sunday, March 29, the doctors gave Chanell and Nick a choice that really wasn’t a choice.
Chanell knew he was in bad shape. But it was her daddy. The siblings decided to go with their hearts and keep him on life support. Chanell said her goodbyes.
Two days later, on Tuesday, March 31, they convinced the doctors to let Nick sit with his father one last time.
A few hours after that, Chuck died. He had been in the hospital for 16 days.
“I think he was waiting for my brother,” Chanell said.
::
The coffin of Charles Jackson at the Angelus Funeral Home. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
That trip still haunts members of the Brotherhood. Like in other mountain towns across the country, some year-round residents have blamed visiting skiers and snowboarders for bringing the coronavirus with them and causing an outbreak.
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In Ketchum and Sun Valley, the group’s then-president, Peggie Allen, and the mayors of the two cities say otherwise.
“There is no evidence as to when and how the virus first entered Sun Valley or Ketchum,” they said in a joint statement last month.
In the end, the coronavirus claimed the life of Nate Jackson, 76, of Altadena on March 29. Charles Jackson, 64, died two days later on March 31. An 81-year-old woman of Upland lost her battle two days after that on April 2. And Haymon Jahi, 71, of San Jose died on April 9.
Finley, the co-founder of the Brotherhood who is due to be inducted in the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, even spent three days in the ICU at UCLA Medical Center battling the virus.
“There’s a certain amount of guilt,” Finley, 81, said. “Four people died. It gets to you. You wonder, ‘How did I get out of this unscathed?’”
Frazier, who never got sick, but whose doctors said she’s probably asymptomatic, is perplexed how this invisible beast took down her friends. They were all in good health and active.
“What happened?” The question keeps her up at night.
::
Pallbearers including Nick Jackson, center, carry Charles Jackson’s coffin after the service. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Chuck Jackson’s closest relatives gathered outside Angelus Funeral Home in South L.A. last Wednesday under a cloudless, blue sky. Black cloth masks covered their faces.
Shortly after 10 a.m., they walked single file into the building, six feet apart, one at a time.
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Then, more than a dozen men emerged from their cars. Several of them donned yellow or blue Crenshaw High School shirts and masks on their faces. They were the classes of ’72 and ’73 and they came to see their buddy off.
The chapel could hold 250. Only 10 people sat in the pews. Another 300 people watched online.
“We can’t go in, but we can be here,” Melroy Green shouted from six feet away.