Leads:
- Health officials in Sacramento County may end the mask mandate soon as COVID-19 rates continue to fall. Health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye told the County's Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that when COVID-19 cases are less than five per 100,000 the indoor face-covering requirement could be dropped for fully vaccinated individuals. Daily cases are still around 18 per 100,000 but if projections hold, Sacramento County could soon see those numbers drop to pre-Delta Variant levels.
- The U-S Department of State estimates more than 5,200 Afghans will eventually land in California, and that’s just the first phase of evacuations. Housing is the top challenge cited by resettlement agencies, and World Relief's Sacramento Director Kerry Ham explains refugees gravitate to areas where they have existing "community." About 9,700 Afghan people live in Sacramento County alone, more than any other county in the U.S.
- California is activating four temporary mobile emergency power generating units to safeguard the energy grid from extreme stress. The Department of Water Resources installed two units in Yuba City and two more in Roseville to generate 60 megawatts of power at each site. The units run on natural gas, but can run on a blend of up to 75% hydrogen. The move is designed to avoid power outages. DWR says the cost for the four temporary generators is $196 million, to be paid through emergency funds. The units will be available through 2023.
Extra Links:
- Two Days After the January Sixth Take Over of the Capitol... Speaker Nancy Pelosi Called the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.... General Mark Milley. Pelosi Told General Milley She Was Worried That President Trump May Try to Launch Nuclear Weapons. Here's How General Milley Described That Phone Call in His Opening Testimony at Yesterday's Congressional Hearing.
- When that bomb blast hit the airport in Kabul Afghanistan it took 13 American lives and wounded dozens more Americans and Afghans, including Tyler Vargas Andrews of Folsom. Here is the link to the family's go fund me account towards his recovery.
- World Relief Sacramento is working to house, feed, and help the thousands of Afghan refugees arriving in the Sacramento-area.