LAKE COUNTY
Bird Identification is topic of upcoming Redbud Audubon Zoom program
The Redbud Audubon Society will present a comprehensive Bird Identification program on Thursday Dec. 16, starting at 7 p.m. The program will be presented on Zoom by Doug Prather, who is a well-known Lake County naturalists and birding expert.
The program will consist of extensive images with discussion centering on distinguishing features of birds that are often seen in Lake County and expect to be seen during Redbud’s annual Christmas Bird Count that is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 18.
To register for the program, click on the registration link on the homepage at www.redbudaudubon.org. and a link will be sent on the day of the presentation.
—Submitted
Newsom: Schools should ‘fine-tune’ vaccine mandates to keep kids in school
Gov. Gavin Newsom made in a Wednesday appearance on “Good Morning America” to promote his new children’s book. Newsom said Los Angeles Unified School District should adjust its vaccine mandate so the 34,000 students at risk of not meeting the January inoculation deadline won’t be kicked out of the classroom and back into online learning.
The governor also stressed that his first-in-the-nation student COVID-19 vaccine mandate — which isn’t set to go into effect until next year at the earliest and is more lenient than some district mandates — “includes personal exemptions, not just religious and/or medical exemptions, so there’s plenty of latitude for families to make decisions.”
The remarks suggest that Newsom, who’s facing reelection next year, is aware of the political liability inherent in banning tens of thousands of kids from campus not long after schools reopened for in-person instruction — and shortly after the U.S. Surgeon General warned of an impending youth mental health crisis.
But by emphasizing the personal belief exemption, Newsom also put himself on a possible collision course with Democratic state lawmakers, some of whom are considering legislation to remove the exemption when they return to Sacramento in January.
And he added to the myriad challenges facing Alberto Carvalho, the Miami-Dade schools chief who on Thursday was named the next superintendent of Los Angeles Unified. Also on the plate of Carvalho and school leaders across the state: an uptick in campus violence that many educators chalk up to the lingering effects of the pandemic.
—Emily Hoeven, CALMatters
