Wednesday Morning News Roundup

After more than two years of virtual meetings, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors will return to in-person meetings in May, the county announced on Tuesday.

The next meeting on May 3 will take place at the board chambers, located at 400 County Center, Redwood City. But the meeting will still be streamed virtually and some supervisors will still attend remotely.

There will be limited capacity at the board chambers and seats will be spaced out to allow for social distancing. People will also be able to view meetings in the lobby outside the board chambers.

Board President Don Horsley said in a statement that they will assess this model of both in-person and virtual options to determine if they will continue hosting meetings with both options in the future.

Police in Palo Alto say a woman shopping Tuesday at Stanford Shopping Center recognized the woman accosting her, moments before the suspect and an accomplice robbed her of $2,500 worth of merchandise.

Officers responded to a 4:55 p.m. report of a strong-arm robbery inside the Nordstrom store. The victim, a woman in her 20s, had just made a purchase at a register when she was verbally accosted by another woman, according to a news release issued Tuesday night by the Palo Alto Police Department.

“The victim recognized the suspect as someone with whom she shared an acquaintance,” according to the news release.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the COVID-19 treatment remdesivir for children under age 12 this week, the first COVID treatment the agency has approved for pediatric patients.

The medication, which has the brand name Veklury and is developed by Gilead Sciences Inc., will now be available to children at least 28 days old and weighing at least roughly 7 pounds who are hospitalized with COVID or have tested positive and are at high risk of developing severe illness.

Prior to the FDA approving the medication for young children on Thursday, remdesivir had been approved for people ages 12 and older who had tested positive for the virus.

As a result of the FDA’s approval, remdesivir is now fully authorized for all age groups and the agency has rescinded its emergency use authorization for the medication.

Contra Costa County has the second-lowest COVID-19 death rate in the United States among counties with more than a million residents, county health director Anna Roth told the county board of supervisors Tuesday.

Showing the strength of what Roth called “the benefit of regional approaches,” Roth said Alameda County is number one. Santa Clara County is third.

As of April 20, there have been 1,297 COVID-related deaths in Contra Costa (three people have died in the county since April 20).

As of Tuesday, 82.2 percent of county residents were fully vaccinated, with another 57.9 percent receiving boosters. Total cases since the pandemic began have reached 193,709 with 2,159 cases currently active.

The California State Senate Public Safety Committee passed a bill Tuesday put forth by State Senator Scott Wiener and San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin that would prohibit law enforcement from retaining the DNA profiles of survivors of sexual assault in a searchable database that could be searched for reasons “entirely unrelated to sexual assault,” according to DA Boudin’s Office.

 Senate Bill 1228, Genetic Privacy for Sexual Assault Victims, unanimously passed its first hurdle and now moves to the senate appropriations committee.

SB 1228 would prohibit a victim’s DNA from ever being used for anything other than aiding and identifying a perpetrator, the DA’s office said. Law enforcement would be barred from searching not only the DNA database of sexual assault victims, but also their close consensual contacts, family, and housemates who may have provided DNA to differentiate from the perpetrator.

A Greenfield man who pleaded no contest to felony drunk driving and impersonating a police officer will receive a stipulated two-year prison sentence, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office announced on Tuesday.

Clemente Martinez, 27, admitted to having five prior convictions for driving under the influence, going back to 2012.

On March 6 of this year, Martinez equipped his vehicle with flashing red and blue lights and attempted to perform a traffic stop on the wrong guy: an off-duty Monterey County Sheriff Sergeant. The off-duty sergeant complied with the request to pull over but became suspicious when Martinez did not exit his vehicle, the DA said. Martinez abandoned his “traffic stop” and proceeded to drive away, allowing the sergeant to get a good look at his vehicle, which was clearly not law enforcement. The sergeant followed Martinez until Greenfield officers could pull him over.

Greenfield officers conducted a field sobriety test on Martinez, who was allegedly found to have a blood alcohol level of .10.

San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced Tuesday a lawsuit against three companies alleging they illegally dumped several tons of soil and other materials on Treasure Island in 2019.

The suit was filed against Tip Top Trucking, LLC, Neeve Engineering, Inc., and Neeve’s principal, Joseph Lawrence, seeking damages and penalties, after the city spent $200,000 to have the materials tested and removed, Chiu said in the statement.

The lawsuit alleges the defendants violated California’s Unfair Competition Law by violating the city’s illegal dumping ordinance, creating a public nuisance, and trespassing on City property.

The National Weather Service forecast for the San Francisco Bay Area calls for breezy and cool conditions Wednesday under mostly sunny skies. Highs are expected in the upper 50s on the coast and the mid to upper 60s throughout the region. Overnight lows will be in the mid to upper 40s.

High pressure is expected to bring a warming and drying trend

from Friday into the upcoming weekend.

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Copyright © 2022 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.