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DAILYREPUBLIC.COM | Well said. Well read.
Gas money: Is it better to send out checks or suspend a tax? Grace Gedye CALMATTERS
California is flush with cash – the state has an estimated budget surplus of $21 billion – and, separately, gas prices are way up. Those two facts combined have lawmakers tripping over themselves with spending proposals to help people with rising costs. Last week, a cohort of Assemblymembers proposed giving every California taxpayer $400 to offset new, higher prices for goods and especially gas. A few days later, the Los Angeles Times reported details of another proposal, this one from Democratic leaders in the Legislature: $200 to each taxpayer, plus $200 for each kid for families making up to $250,000, and a grant program with the same benefits for people who don’t file income taxes. On Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom threw yet another idea into the mix which, among other things, would give car and truck owners $400 per vehicle via debit cards, for up to two vehicles per person. The governor’s proposal does not have an income cap “in order to include all Californians who are facing higher prices due to the cost of oil,” the administration said in a statement. The plans to send cash to Californians directly come on the heels of Republican calls to temporarily suspend the state’s gas tax of roughly
Lauren Justice for CalMatters
Angela Vázquez, shown at her Los Angeles home, has been suffering from symptoms of long Covid for almost two years.
‘An enormous disabling event’
Long Covid could have inequitable impact on Californians
See Money, Page A8
Ana B. Ibarra CALMATTERS
I Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters
A Valero gas station in Sacramento, Feb. 22.
t’s been two years since Angela Meriquez Vazquez was infected with Covid-19, but some of her most debilitating symptoms remain. Migraines, fatigue, brain fog, heart palpitations, insomnia and sometimes even a fever are among the symptoms that disrupt her day-to-day life. Lisette Duarte still needs an inhaler eight months after her Covid-19 infection, and damage to her voice box occasionally leaves her struggling to speak. She can’t
return to work, so she relies on Medi-Cal for her health coverage. Long Covid is a mysterious, debilitating and difficult-to-diagnose compilation of post-infection problems that have affected perhaps millions of Californians. And health experts fear that the toll will be especially harsh for Latinos, African Americans and low-income residents, who already face a disproportionate impact from Covid-19 as well as less access to quality health care. At least 20 specialized, postCovid programs have been set up at medical centers in California to
help treat these long-haul patients. But they already are overburdened, and experts fear that long Covid could go largely unaddressed or misdiagnosed in people who have few resources. “What we know is that because the greatest amount of exposure happens in low-income communities, they will have the highest burden of long Covid,” said Dr. Neeta Thakur, a pulmonary and critical care doctor at UC San Francisco. Long Covid patients often need a team of specialists because cardiac, See Covid, Page A8
Blinken: US isn’t seeking regime change in Russia Ukraine leader says the West lacks courage Tribune Content Agency LVIV, Ukraine — Removing Russian President Vladimir Putin from power is not on Washington’s agenda, the top U.S. diplomat said Sunday as Ukraine’s leader accused the West of lacking courage for failing to commit fighter jets and tanks to his nation’s war against invading Russian forces. President Joe Biden’s
dramatic Saturday declaration – “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” a reference to Putin – has prompted a frantic effort from U.S. officials to walk back what appeared to be a White House endorsement of pushing the Russian leader out of office. “We do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia, or anywhere else, for that matter,” Secretary of State Antony J.
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Blinken told reporters in Jerusalem on Sunday. “In this case, as in any case, it’s up to the people of the country in question, it’s up to the Russian people.” Biden’s off-the-cuff remarks in Warsaw at the finale of a rousing, proUkrainian speech have prompted a firestorm of criticism at a moment when some fear the war in Ukraine could escalate into a larger, even more catastrophic conflict. Now in its second month, the war has turned into a grinding ordeal as Russian forces expand their reach across the north and south while Ukrainian counter-
offensives have pushed Russian soldiers back from advancing on the capital, Kyiv. Biden’s comments “made a difficult situation more difficult and a dangerous situation more dangerous,” Richard Haass, a veteran U.S. diplomat and chairman of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, wrote on Twitter. “This is obvious. Less obvious is how to undo the damage,” he added, suggesting that Biden’s team make it clear that they are indeed willing to deal with the current Russian leadership.
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The concern is that Biden’s remarks played into Putin’s worldview that the West – with its NATO expansion and economic sanctions – wants to
destroy Russia. In Jerusalem, Blinken said Biden’s comments were not meant to suggest that the Russian See Regime, Page A8
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