NEWSOM gives thumbs up to CA construction NAVY fires whistleblower carrier captain GRANDFATHER who attended TRUMP LA property party dies of Covid-19…

THE BUZZ WERE NOT NEW YORK: In California, theyre still building. New Yorks Gov. Andrew Cuomo had issued an executive order that shuttered most construction sites, and so did Boston mayor Martin Walsh in response to the Covid-19 crisis. But California which has taken some of the toughest and earliest measures to control the coronavirus pandemic is not going there.

Were not New York, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday, arguing that there are "very different conditions in the state of California'' than in other states and cities that have severely restricted most construction. Newsom's statements came days after Robbie Hunter, who leads the powerhouse Building and Construction Trades Council of California with a membership of 460,000 workers and 60,000 apprentices personally appealed to him on the matter.

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After seven Bay Area health officers issued updated stay-at-home orders that specifically prohibited most residential and commercial construction, Hunter spoke to Newsom about what he said are tough standards instituted since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak to protect workers including taking temperatures at work sites, sterilizing tools and equipment, banning food trucks, implementing strict measures to discourage gatherings and mandating strict social distancing.

On Thursday, Hunter spoke to POLITICO after giving a hard-hatted Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg a personal tour of the Sacramento Convention Center construction site to show him those measures. Newsom and Steinberg both said they were satisfied that the workers, and the public, were protected by the strict oversight.

HUNTER TELLS POLITICO: Weve trained our people to work in the Borax mines, in tunnels underneath the Bay and we build 80-story skyscrapers without losing a worker or even a serious injury. We are used to serious training for different scenarios and we have applied everything we've got on this. Heres the full story by Carla.

OTHER TAKEAWAYS:

NOT OUT OF THE WOODS, but hospital trends looking good: Newsom said it was the individual acts of tens of millions of Californians that allowed him to say that hospitalization numbers, while theyre growing, are not growing as significantly as youre seeing in other parts of the country. POLITICOs tracker shows California has fewer than one-tenth the number of coronavirus-related deaths as New York, which has half the population of the Golden State and where Cuomo says theyre just days away from running out of ventilators.

LOOKING AT OPTIONS ON PROPERTY TAXES: Newsom seems unlikely to delay property tax deadline, but may consider alternative relief, by POLITICOs Colby Bermel: April 10 is the biannual property tax deadline that's by far the biggest contributor to local government coffers. A coalition of groups representing cities, counties and school districts wrote Newsom last month urging him to keep the date in place.

"We're working with the counties ... and we're seeing if there's ways to soften this, Newsom said. He added, however, that governments have also made their revenue worries clear to him, and that we're going to see what our options are and see what we can do to help in this moment, but I don't want to overpromise in this space.

BUENOS DIAS, good Friday morning. Look for President Donald Trump to issue guidelines to Americans to start wearing masks outdoors, POLITICOs Dan Diamond reports following in the steps of Californias vanguard big cities and urban region, as POLITICOs Victoria Colliver reports.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "It's not that kids don't respect their parents. It's just that they don't respect them when it comes to educating them the way they do their teachers." Newsom opines on home schooling during the Covid-19 outbreak.

TWEET OF THE DAY: Riverside County Sheriff's Dept @RSO: We are saddened to announce the passing of one of our own RSO family members, Deputy Terrell Young. Terrell Young served this department for 15 yrs & is the 1st member to succumb to the COVID-19 virus. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones during this difficult time.

WHERES GAVIN? His daily #NewsomAtNoon briefing, to be livestreamed on @CAGovernor Twitter feed, will update COVID-19 news in California.

Sign up for POLITICO Nightly: Coronavirus Special Edition, your daily update on how the illness is affecting politics, markets, public health and more.

MUST READ Trump administration ended pandemic early-warning program to detect coronaviruses, by LATimes Emily Baumgaertner and James Rainey: Two months before the novel coronavirus is thought to have begun its deadly advance in Wuhan, China, the Trump administration ended a $200-million pandemic early-warning program aimed at training scientists in China and other countries to detect and respond to such a threat.

THE MAN WHO SAVED MAIN STREET Property owner waives rent for 65 retail tenants in Half Moon Bay, by the San Mateo Daily Journals Zachary Clark.

Navy captain of coronavirus-infected aircraft carrier relieved of command, by SF Chronicles Joe Garofoli, Tal Kopan and Matthias Gafni.

AFTER SF CHRONICLES SCOOP Navy fires aircraft carrier captain who raised alarm about virus outbreak, by POLITICOs Lara Seligman. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has fired the captain who raised the alarm about a spike in coronavirus cases onboard his aircraft carrier, which was sidelined in Guam last week, the Navy announced on Thursday.

Modly's decision to relieve Capt. Brett Crozier of command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt comes days after an impassioned letter Crozier wrote to Navy leaders pleading for additional help to combat the outbreak was leaked to the press. It appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Crozier's hometown paper.

via the Washington Post: California man who died of coronavirus was among those who tested positive after attending party at Trumps L.A. golf club Bert Argo, 75, died on Friday, his daughter Melanie Young said. She said Argo and his wife had visited the presidents golf club in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., on the evening of March 8 for a birthday party for Susan Brooks the towns former mayor.

BATTLE OF THE TITANS! RECODEs Kara Swisher taking on Sean Hannity and Fox News fake contagion. My brother, a doctor working on the front lines of the crisis in San Francisco, called the misinformation magical thinking and wishful ignorance that persists because none of us ever wants to believe the worst. He finds it happens a lot when it comes to dire health information. If Mom does not want coronavirus to be true, pablum from Fox News makes it easier, he told me.

NO HOLMES AT HOME? Judge, defense clash in Theranos case over shelter-in-place orders, by POLITICOs Josh Gerstein: With a trial for [Elizabeth] Holmes looming at the end of July, her defense team this week petitioned the judge overseeing her case for the right to defy shelter-in-place orders in the Washington, D.C., area, the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere by continuing to meet to pore over exhibits in the case, interview witnesses and serve subpoenas.

H2O STAYS ON Newsom orders moratorium on water shutoffs for residents, critical businesses, by POLITICOs Debra Kahn: Today's order explicitly prohibits water systems from suspending residential service due to nonpayment and orders them to restore any residential services that they have suspended since March 4, when Newsom first declared a state of emergency. (Pro link)

SMALL BUSINESS RELIEF Newsom announces sales tax relief for small businesses, by POLITICOs Jeremy B. White: Newsom likened the reprieve to a bridge loan worth up to $50,000 for businesses that have been devastated as the coronavirus pandemic chokes off customers and closes businesses. (Pro link)

Here is the latest list of L.A. County communities with coronavirus cases, by the LA Times Hannah Fry.

Santa Clara is Bay Areas first county with more than 1,000 COVID-19 cases, by the Mercs Kerry Crowley.

STAY HOME California could see 5,000 coronavirus deaths a week if social distancing eases too soon, by the LA Times Rong-Gong Lin: That would mean 600 deaths a week from the disease known as COVID-19 in the central San Francisco Bay Area, and 100 to 200 deaths a week in Contra Costa County, he said.

STAGGERING California unemployment claims top 878,000 as coronavirus pushes US jobless to new high, by McClatchys David Lightman: Nationally, more than 6.6 million people filed for the first time in the week that ended Saturday.

"California resumes disclosing how many health workers have coronavirus," by the SF Chronicle's Mallory Moench.

With the help of The COVID Tracking Project a volunteer-run accounting of every coronavirus test conducted in America POLITICO is monitoring how many Americans have been tested in all 50 states. Our live tracker will continue to update with the latest numbers across the country as they come in.

HER NEXT MOVE Pelosi forms new select committee to oversee $2 trillion coronavirus relief package, by POLITICOs Heather Caygle, Kyle Cheney and Melanie Zanona: The committee is Pelosis most aggressive effort yet to streamline the Houses efforts to hold President Donald Trump accountable for his implementation of the massive coronavirus response law, as well as to ensure that recipients of the historic taxpayer bailout use funds the way Congress intended.

California sues student loan servicer over records on federal aid program for teachers, by POLITICOs Michael Stratford.

FOCUS ON THE GOVERNORS Trump Is Politicizing the Pandemic. Governors Can Fight Back, by Eric Posner and Emily Bazelon in NYT: Unwilling to take the blame for shutting down the economy when he thought there was little public support for the move, [Trump] sparred with governors like [Andrew] Cuomo and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan while also hiding behind them.

Trump's federal coronavirus quarantine isn't happening (for now). But what can states do? by Jessica Levinson for NBC: In one corner, we have the states, armed with their power to protect the health, safety and welfare of their residents. In the other corner, we have the federal government, charged with regulating interstate commerce and protecting federal constitutional rights like the right to travel.

Ro Khanna: 'This is not some large bailout for the startups,' by Protocols Sofie Kodner.

EDITORIAL in his hometown paper, the Fresno Bee: Devin Nunes of Tulare CA has dangerous views on coronavirus: he should keep them to himself.

CALIFORNIA CANDIDATE? Biden says hell put a black woman on Supreme Court. This California justice is a leading candidate, by the LA Times David G. Savage.

SIDERS TAKE How the coronavirus is shaping the 2024 presidential race, by POLITICOs David Siders: People who do not follow politics are tuning into livestreams of their governors for the first time and learning the names of governors of other states.

INVITES ARE OUT to Joe Bidens virtual fireside chat hosted by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Jed Katz, via Recodes Teddy Schleifer. See the invite here.

SPLIT ROLL DUST-UP: OPPONENTS REACTION coming in to the announcement by Schools and Communities First the coalition of education and labor groups that theyve collected 1.7 million signatures to get the split roll measure to revise Prop. 13 on the November ballot, as reported by POLITICO this week:

From California Business Roundtable president Rob Lapsley: After spending more than $3 million to qualify their first flawed property tax hike, proponents have spent millions more to qualify a second, equally flawed measure. Its clear that the public employee unions behind the largest property tax increase in state history are willing to spend and do whatever it takes to raise the cost of living for working families.

FRONT AND CENTER Nancy Pelosi plays familiar role in 2020 elections: GOP talking point, by SFChronicles John Wildermuth: Republicans are once again trying to tie California Democratic congressional candidates to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, arguing that anyone supporting the party leader is just too liberal to represent the states purple swing districts.

AND THERES THIS...Caltrain, battered by the coronavirus, pushes ahead with November sales tax measure, by the SF Chronicles Rachel Swan: [O]fficials are taking steps to put a one-eighth cent sales tax on the November ballot in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

POLITICO MAGAZINE The nations best and worst governors in COVID-19 response, by Bill Scher. Hint: none of them are Andrew Cuomo, one of them is Gavin Newsom.

PG&E customers to receive climate credit in April, by KRONs Alexa Mae Asperin: The credit totals $62.91 for PG&E residential customers receiving both natural gas and electric service.

WHERE TO GO? You cant move and you cant stay: Top Democrats say COVID renter protections wont work, by the Sac Bees Sophia Bollag: Two top Democrats in the California Legislature say Gov. Gavin Newsoms executive order temporarily protecting tenants who cant afford rent because of COVID-19 doesnt stop landlords from initiating eviction proceedings and could allow a wave of evictions once the order ends on May 31.

UC and Cal State relax admissions criteria due to coronavirus: What you need to know, by the LA Times Nina Agrawal and Teresa Watanabe.

Once-disputed Costa Mesa site will house non-coronavirus patients as part of surge effort, by POLITICOs Victoria Colliver.

SHELTER FOR THE VULNERABLE Inside L.A.'s scramble to open shelters and find hotel rooms for coronavirus patients, by the LA Times Doug Smith.

PRIORITIZING PEOPLE San Francisco to prioritize placing some homeless street-dwellers in hotels after much coaxing, by Mission Locals Joe Eskenazi: Mayor London Breed on Wednesday declared that homeless street dwellers over age 60 and suffering from underlying health conditions would be prioritized for vacant hotel rooms during the COVID-19 outbreak.

FORE! Deemed essential, Sacramento golf courses remain open - and crowded - during coronavirus, by the Sac Bees Theresa Clift, Joe Davidson and Michael Finch.

Oakland gets 91 trailers to house homeless during coronavirus outbreak, by The Mercury News Marisa Kendall.

Google revises COVID-19 ad ban after backlash, by Protocols Emily Birnbaum: The tech giant in a memo to advertisers on Thursday said it will allow some advertisements this week from government entities, hospitals, medical providers and NGOs who want to advertise about COVID-19, with guidance expected in the next few days for political advertisers specifically.

National Governors Association Partners with SF-based Nextdoor, per a statement: During this unprecedented time, the number of public agency posts on Nextdoor has tripled since the beginning of March.

SF-based Zoom booms as coronavirus pushes connection into the virtual world, by The Hills Alexandra Kelley: The spike in usage comes as the FBIs Boston office warned of Zooms privacy being compromised.

DiCaprio, others launch $12M coronavirus relief food fund, by The APs Jonathan Landrum: [Leonardo] DiCaprio serves as a co-founder of Americas Food Fund with philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs. Apple and the Ford Foundation are also providing money to help launch the new initiative.

Oprah Winfrey announces she is donating $10 million to assist Americans during COVID-19 pandemic, by the Daily Mails Christine Rendon.

Disney To Furlough Employees Whose Jobs Arent Necessary At This Time Starting April 19, by Deadlines Jill Goldsmith.

Santa Clara County bans in-store, curbside sales of recreational marijuana, by POLITICOs Alexander Nieves: The decision, issued Tuesday as part of a revised shelter-in-place order, still allows cannabis shops to make in-person sales to individuals with medical marijuana cards or on a doctors recommendation.

SILVER LINING? You can thank the coronavirus for plunge in robocalls, by the LA Times David Lazarus.

SURFS NOT UP Coronavirus at beaches? Surfers, swimmers should stay away, scientist says, by the LA Times Rosanna Xia.

San Francisco homeowners are pulling listings off the market by the hundreds, by the SF Business Journals Ted Andersen.

Can you fix ventilators? A fuel cell engineer figures it out, by The APs Adam Beam.

OP-ED via the LA Daily News: UTLAs latest shameful attack on charter schools

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NEWSOM gives thumbs up to CA construction NAVY fires whistleblower carrier captain GRANDFATHER who attended TRUMP LA property party dies of Covid-19...