El Observador January 6th, 2023.

Walters CalMatters

California, particularmente el norte de California fue golpeado por una gran tormenta de nieve y lluvia invernal la semana pasada y los meteorólogos esperan que los altos niveles de precipitación continúen durante al menos otra semana.

A pesar de algunos daños y al menos una muerte por inundaciones locales y fuertes vientos que derribaron árboles, la tormenta y las predicciones de más por venir son un alivio bienvenido de lo que parecía ser una sequía prolongada.

Hay lecciones que aprender de esta ola acuosa, si los californianos y los políticos que han elegido prestan atención, a saber:

—A pesar de los grandes avances en tecnología y recolección de datos, el pronóstico del tiempo es todavía una ciencia imperfecta. Hasta que llegó la tormenta, los meteorólogos esperaban que un fenómeno conocido como La Niña continuara impidiendo que los frentes del Pacífico llegaran al estado y, por lo tanto, continuara la sequía.

Dicho esto, no hay garantía de que la temporada 2022-23 sea húmeda. Hace un año tuvimos una precipitación similar, pero no continuó hasta la primavera.

—La precipitación errática hace que sea muy difícil para los administradores de embalses decidir cuánta agua liberar y cuánta retener para uso futuro. Por ejemplo, el lago Folsom, cerca de Sacramento, apenas estaba lleno en un tercio cuando golpeó la tormenta, pero la Oficina de Reclamación triplicó las descargas a 24,000 pies cúbicos por segundo, preocupados por la capacidad del embalse para absorber la escorrentía en la cuenca del río American Sierra.

—El aumento de las emisiones de Folsom es otra indicación de que California carece de almacenamiento de agua suficiente para hacer frente a los ciclos de precipitación que se están volviendo menos predecibles debido al cambio climático. Si hubiéramos construido el almacenamiento adicional que los administradores del agua habían propuesto durante mucho tiempo (por ejemplo, la presa Auburn aguas arriba de Folsom), habría significado menos conjeturas cuando surgieron oportunidades para capturar agua de fuertes tormentas.

La construcción preliminar había comenzado en Auburn Dam cuando, durante la década de 1970, se detuvo abruptamente. Otros proyectos de almacenamiento han estado en la mesa de dibujo durante décadas, como Sites Reservoir en el lado oeste del Valle de Sacramento. Si los sitios fueran una realidad hoy en día, absorberían el exceso de flujo del río Sacramento, acumulando agua para cuando se necesite en el futuro.

—El “río atmosférico” que ahora riega California subraya la vulnerabilidad del estado a inundaciones catastróficas.

El año pasado, se publicó un estudio masivo que sugería que el cambio climático crea un riesgo cada vez mayor de megainundaciones que causarían muertes y destrucción incalculables.

Es la última actualización de los estudios que se originaron a partir de las inundaciones históricas que azotaron a California durante el invierno de 1861-62, cuando California había sido un estado durante apenas una década.

Como señaló el estudio: “Este evento, que se caracterizó por secuencias de tormentas invernales que duraron semanas, produjo inundaciones catastróficas generalizadas en prácticamente todas las tierras bajas de California, transformando los valles interiores de Sacramento y San Joaquín en un mar interior temporal pero vasto de casi 300 millas de longitud e inundando gran

parte de la llanura costera ahora densamente poblada en los actuales condados de Los Ángeles y Orange”.

Si un diluvio tan prolongado volviera a ocurrir, escribieron los investigadores Xingying Huang y Daniel Swain, “probablemente produciría inundaciones catastróficas generalizadas y, posteriormente, conduciría al desplazamiento de millones de personas, el cierre a largo plazo de corredores de transporte críticos y, en última instancia, a casi 1 billón de dólares en pérdidas económicas generales”.

Una vez más, la situación del American River ilustra la amenaza. Las autoridades dicen que la capacidad de Folsom Lake, casi un millón de acres-pies, es demasiado pequeña para proteger a Sacramento de tal desastre. Una de las razones por las que Auburn Dam había sido proporcionar otra capa de protección contra inundaciones.

¿Prestarán atención los políticos a las lecciones del período actual de precipitaciones prolongadas o continuarán como de costumbre?

Walters CalMatters

phenomenon known as La Niña would continue to block Pacific fronts from reaching the state and thus continue the drought.

That said, there’s no guarantee that the 2022-23 season will be a wet one. A year ago we had a similar spurt of precipitation, but it did not continue into the spring.

—Erratic precipitation makes it very difficult for reservoir managers to decide how much water to release and how much to retain for future use. For example, Folsom Lake near Sacramento was scarcely a third full when the storm hit, but the Bureau of Reclamation tripled releases to 24,000 cubic feet a second, worried about the reservoir’s ability to absorb runoff in the American River’s Sierra watershed.

California,

particularly Northern California, was walloped by a major winter rain and snow storm last week and meteorologists expect that high levels of precipitation will continue for at least another week.

Despite some damage and at least one death from local flooding and tree-toppling high winds, the storm and the predictions of more to come are welcome relief from what had appeared to be a prolonged drought.

There are lessons to be learned from this watery wave, if Californians and the politicians they have elected pay attention, to wit:

—Despite great advances in technology and data collection, weather forecasting is still an imperfect science. Until the storm hit, meteorologists had expected that a

—Folsom’s increased releases are another indication that California lacks enough water storage to cope with precipitation cycles that are becoming less predictable due to climate change. If we had built the additional storage that water managers had long proposed – Auburn Dam upstream from Folsom, for example – it would have meant less guesswork when opportunities arose to capture water from heavy storms.

Preliminary construction had begun on Auburn Dam when, during the 1970s, it was abruptly halted. Other storage projects have been on the drawing board for decades, such as Sites Reservoir on the west side of the Sacramento Valley. Were Sites a reality today, it would be absorbing excess flow from the Sacramento River, banking water for when it would be needed in the future.

—The “atmospheric river” now watering California underscores the state’s vulnerability to catastrophic flooding.

Last year, a massive study was released, suggesting that climate change creates an ever-increasing risk of megafloods that would cause untold death and destruction.

It is the latest update to studies that originated from the historic flooding that struck California during the winter of 1861-62, when California had been a state for scarcely a decade.

As the study noted: “This event, which was characterized by weeks-long sequences of winter storms, produced widespread catastrophic flooding across virtually all of California’s lowlands – transforming the interior Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys into a temporary but vast inland sea nearly 300 miles in length and inundating much of the now densely populated coastal plain in present-day Los Angeles and Orange counties.”

If such a prolonged deluge occurred again, researchers Xingying Huang and Daniel Swain, wrote, it “would likely produce widespread, catastrophic flooding and subsequently lead to the displacement of millions of people, the long-term closure of critical transportation corridors and ultimately to nearly $1 trillion in overall economic losses.”

Again, the American River’s situation illustrates the threat. Officials say that Folsom Lake’s capacity, nearly one million acrefeet, is too small to protect Sacramento from such a disaster. One rationale for Auburn Dam had been to provide another layer of flood protection.

Will politicians heed the lessons from the current period of prolonged precipitation or continue disengaged business as usual?

Dan

Dan

NFL CASE PROMPTS REMINDERS ABOUT CPR TRAINING

CASO DE LA NF L SOLICITA RECORDATORIOS DE ENTRENAMIENTO DE RCP

Moen Public News Service

Lifesaving measures are getting a lot of attention this week after an NFL player went into cardiac arrest during a game, and Minnesotans are being reminded about the importance of CPR training.

Medical staff applied CPR and a defibrillator shock to Buffalo Bills' player Damar Hamlin, after he collapsed on the field.

Dr. Robin Germany, cardiologist and chief medical officer for ZOLL Respicardia, hopes the broader public is inspired to take on CPR training, noting medical emergencies can happen at any time, in any location.

"For every minute that adequate CPR isn't given, we're going to lose 10% of patients," Germany pointed out. "Getting CPR to a patient very quickly is very, very important."

The statistic to which she referred is about cardiac emergencies in out-of-

hospital settings. Germany, also a board member of the American Heart Association of Minnesota, added bystanders should know the important steps. They include calling 911, beginning CPR and then using an AED device, if available and necessary. On its website, the Heart Association has a search tool to find local CPR training opportunities.

Germany explained depending on the situation, a person in cardiac arrest will need a defibrillator to put their heart back into rhythm once CPR is applied. She encouraged building owners and operators to have them on hand, and for people to notice them when walking through a public setting. Germany noted the devices are user-friendly.

"The nice thing about the AEDs today is, all you have to do is put the patches on," Germany emphasized. "There are really nice instructions, they'll even talk to you. And they'll tell you if that patient needs that electrical shock. You don't

have to know anything."

The Heart Association said the rate of bystander CPR in North America is estimated at only around 40%, so having more bystanders who know CPR can boost survival numbers.

Moen Public News Service

Las medidas para salvar vidas están recibiendo mucha atención esta semana después de que un jugador de la NFL sufriera un paro cardíaco durante un juego, y se les recuerda a los habitantes de Min-

Reuniones Públicas de la Junta Directiva de VTA 2023

Está

Jueves, 12 de enero.........................5:30 pm

Viernes, 20 de enero (Reunión del taller de la Junta) .........9:00 am

Jueves, 2 de febrero.........................5:30 pm

Viernes, 17 de febrero (Reunión del taller de la Junta) .........9:00 am

Jueves, 2 de marzo..........................5:30 pm

Visite vta.org/board para con rmar las fechas y lugares delas reuniones, ver la agenda y demás información relevante. Secretaría de la Junta Directiva: (408) 321-5680 board.secretary@vta.org

nesota la importancia del entrenamiento en RCP.

El personal médico aplicó RCP y una descarga de desfibrilador al jugador de los Buffalo Bills, Damar Hamlin, luego de que colapsara en el campo.

El Dr. Robin Germany, cardiólogo y director médico de ZOLL Respicardia, espera que el público en general se sienta inspirado para recibir capacitación en RCP, y señala que las emergencias médicas pueden ocurrir en cualquier momento y en cualquier lugar.

"Por cada minuto que no se administre una RCP adecuada, perderemos un 10 % de los pacientes", señaló Germany. "Hacer RCP a un paciente con prontitud es muy, muy importante".

La estadística a la que se refirió es sobre emergencias cardíacas en entornos fuera del hospital. Germany, también miembra de la junta de la American Heart Association of Minnesota, agregó que los transeúntes deben conocer los pasos importantes. Incluyen llamar al 911, comenzar la RCP y luego usar un dispositivo AED, si está disponible y

es necesario. En su sitio web, la Heart Association tiene una herramienta de búsqueda para encontrar oportunidades locales de capacitación en RCP.

Germany explicó que, dependiendo de la situación, una persona en paro cardíaco necesitará un desfibrilador para que su corazón vuelva a latir una vez que se aplique la RCP. Animó a los propietarios y operadores de edificios a tenerlos a mano y a que las personas los ubiquen cuando caminen por un lugar público. Germany señaló que los dispositivos son fáciles de usar.

"Lo bueno de los AED hoy en día es que todo lo que tienes que hacer es poner los parches", enfatizó Germany. "Hay muy buenas instrucciones, incluso te hablarán. Y te dirán si ese paciente necesita esa descarga eléctrica". No tienes que saber nada".

La Heart Association dijo que la tasa de RCP por parte de los transeúntes en América del Norte se estima en solo alrededor del 40%, por lo que tener más transeúntes que conozcan la RCP puede aumentar los números de supervivencia.

Mike

Mike

ENGLISH ESPAÑOL

Roughly 70% of cardiac arrests that don't happen in the hospital occur in homes, meaning a friend or family member is mostly likely to be the person who needs to take action. Health experts say that is why

important to get CPR training. Photo Credit: Adobe Stock

Photo Credit: Keith Johnson / Pixabay

Q&A: JULIA NICOLE HUNTER AND THE

HOPE-FILLED WORLD OF “ANNIE ”

Arturo Hilario El Observador

Thetimeless lyrics to “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie proclaim that hope and a better future are just a day away.

“The sun'll come out Tomorrow / So ya gotta hang on / 'Til tomorrow / Come what may”

The story of Annie, much like the music, is also a timeless tale which reminds audiences that even in rough times there is hope. The new North American tour of the beloved musical is set to arrive to San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts from January 10-15, 2023.

Recently we had the opportunity to speak to one of the actors in the show, Julia Nicole Hunter, about her experiences with the show and her character, Grace Farrell. Her previous credits include: The title role of Nina for In the Heights at the Walnut Street Theatre, Nettie in The Color Purple, and Principal Vocalist for Burn the Floor.

Find out more below on how Hunter portrays this updated version of Grace, what her most memorable stage memories are, and why the show continues to delight audiences generation after generation.

Hello Julia, to start off, I wanted to ask you if you could walk us through a little bit in terms of how you got your start in the arts and what led you on to that career path.

Definitely. So I started since the age of three. I was doing Christmas plays at my grandma's church, and that's where I found my love for singing and Christmas, as well as my favorite holiday. It started at a very young age, but I did mostly classical music up until about halfway through my high school year. And then I kind of started getting into musical theater, and I realized that I had a passion for musical theater in probably my junior year of high school. And then that's when I decided to go to college in New York, and I went to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, and I studied musical theater there, and yeah. Then the rest is all history. That's when I started In the Heights and Color Purple and cruise ships, and now I'm here.

Can you talk a little bit about your character, Grace for all, and how you ended up, like, interpreting the role and how you brought that character to life on your way?

So, honestly, Grace Ferrell was not really a role that I had on my radar as, like, a must play role. But then our choreographer, Patti Wilcox, reached out and she was like, "I think you would be perfect for this role. Audition, submit." And so I did. And then initially, I feel like I connect to Grace. She's got this nurturing, loving side to her, a very soft side, and that part was easy

to find throughout the rehearsal process and bringing that part out because it's so much a part of me that was easy to find.

But then our director, Jenn Thompson, she wanted to bring this grittier side to Grace. She's the gatekeeper for Warbucks. She kind of helps keep everybody in line when Warbucks isn't around and she does have this tougher side that I think most people don't realize. So that was fun to kind of

That's a good question. I think I'd have to say, well, for starters, I love working with children. It's always been one of my passions outside of musical theater. I taught preschool briefly before performing, and so kids are a passion. And so when working with these beautiful and talented children is exciting and wonderful. I also love animals, so working with the two dogs is a huge highlight. And then throw Christmas in there. Getting to sing about Christmas

And what is your favorite song or performance in Annie?

I think my favorite performance is probably we do this beautiful transition into Christmas where the house gets all decorated and the curtain comes up and there's the Christmas tree and the big grand staircase and everything. And I think I love that number, and that's what it's the start of "I Don't Need Anything But You", so that song is probably my favorite.

For folks that I have not seen the show yet, could you talk about what may be the difference from what people have seen with the film adaptations?

Yeah, I think the one thing that Jenn really wanted to make sure that we brought to this production was just the truthfulness of the characters, because they are obviously fictional characters, but they're all characters that people can relate to.

As you watch experiences that they've had, people in the audience will be able to relate to and kind of feel. And I think right now more than ever, we just need this message of hope and optimism for people. Annie brings this, she brings out the best in people, and she really is just so hopeful and optimistic. And honestly, I think that that is just something that everybody needs right now more than ever.

And I think that people walk away from this show feeling. They'll have laughed, they'll have cried, they'll feel joy, and at least I hope so by the end. And so I just really think that through Jenn just wanting us to be so truthful in the characters and speaking that truth, that's what makes us different, and that's what makes this show so special.

dive into and bring out a little bit more, with the help of Jenn Thompson.

Throughout the show, [Grace] progresses and she kind of lets her guard down as Warbucks falls in love with Annie and she gets to watch him kind of open up, and she realizes it's okay for her to open up and let her guard down.

She kind of becomes this quirkier, funnier, light hearted woman towards the end of the show as well. She can let that side come out, too. So she's got all these beautiful layers, and it's been really fun finding those.

So what would you say is one of your favorite parts about working on the show, whether it be on stage, backstage or watching it?

every night all year round is wonderful. But I think probably a little backstage gem, I'd have to say, is throughout the process, you get to see this beautiful relationship that Warbucks and Annie have on stage. And obviously they're acting up there, but watching them offstage, they have all these moments in this relationship that they've developed that are so genuine because they really love each other offstage that they can bring that to the stage.

So they have, like, these little handshakes that they do on the side stage, and I'll be waiting in the wings getting ready to go on, and I'll just glare out of the corner of my eye and I'll see them doing a silly dance together. Their pre scene rituals and stuff. I love watching that because I think it's really heartwarming and I love that.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add?

I think Annie is such a loved show. It's always been a beloved show for people, and a lot of people think it's a kids show, and it absolutely is. It's for the kids, but it's just as much for the adults. And I think that a lot of people who know Annie from their childhood get to walk down memory lane and have this beautiful, nostalgic experience. And yeah, I think it's just as much for the adults as it is for the kids. There's something for everybody, and I hope that everybody comes to see it.

Annie is at San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts from January 10–15, 2023. Tickets and info are available at broadwaysanjose.com.

Actress of North American Tour of Tony Award-winning Musical Gives Us a Behind the Scenes View at the Iconic Show and What She Cherishes About It

Actress Julia Nicole Hunter, who plays Grace Farrell in Annie, playing at San Jose’s Center for the Performing Arts from January 10-15, 2023. Photo Credit: Julia Nicole Hunter / Annie

Annie brings this, she brings out the best in people, and she really is just so hopeful and optimistic. And honestly, I think that that is just something that everybody needs right now more than ever.

-Julia Nicole Hunter

LAS LEYES MÁS INTERESANTES QUE VIENEN PARA CALIFORNIA EN 2023

CalMatters

En 2022, la Legislatura de California aprobó casi 1,200 proyectos de ley, y casi 1,000 se convirtieron en ley con la firma del gobernador Gavin Newsom.

Muchas de las nuevas leyes son correcciones menores a leyes que los legisladores y el gobernador promulgaron anteriormente. Otras son más bien reducidas o específicas de una determinada industria. Otros más se introducirán gradualmente con el tiempo.

Newsom tiene sus propias favoritas, incluida una ley que limita a los fiscales el uso de letras de rap y videos musicales en los tribunales y otra que requiere que las compañías petroleras publiquen sus ganancias (el gobernador también convocó una sesión especial sobre su plan para imponer una multa a las refinerías de petróleo por exceso de beneficios).

Y luego hay un grupo selecto de nuevas leyes que entrarán en vigencia el 1 de enero de 2023, y que podrían tener un impacto inmediato o notable en la vida cotidiana de los californianos, o en la dirección de la política del estado.

Aquí hay nueve de ellos:

¿Detendrá esta ley el sesgo de género en los precios?

Los compradores pueden haber notado que los champús y otros productos de cuidado personal comercializados para mujeres a veces cuestan más que versiones muy similares para hombres.

Ya no más. Con la ley AB-1287 se prohibirá que las tiendas cobren un precio diferente según el género, y podrían estar en la mira de la oficina del fiscal general por violaciones. Los grupos de defensa dicen que acabar con el “impuesto rosa” (Pink tax) es otro paso en la lucha de la equidad de género.

¿Cuánto

paga ese trabajo?

Es impredecible qué tanto pueden averiguar los solicitantes de trabajo sobre cuánto paga un empleo. Y los defensores dicen que eso permite disparidades injustas en los salarios.

La nueva ley SB-1162 traerá un poco más de transparencia a los lugares de trabajo de California al exigir que las empresas con al menos 15 empleados incluyan rangos de salarios en las ofertas de trabajo. Pero la intensa oposición empresarial

bloqueó las disposiciones que habrían significado la publicación de datos salariales desglosados por puesto, género y raza.

¿Es esta ley un regreso a las recompensas del Viejo Oeste?

En los años 1800s, el gobierno de los EE.UU. ofreció recompensas para evitar que el Ejército de la Unión fuera engañado. En 2021, Texas aprobó una ley que restringe los abortos y ofreció $10,000 por cada infracción a cualquiera que presentara una demanda para ayudar a hacerla cumplir.

Para no quedarse atrás, el gobernador Gavin Newsom y la Legislatura aprobaron SB-1327, la nueva ley que permite a los ciudadanos recaudar $10,000 al demandar a quienes fabrican o venden “armas fantasma” o armas de asalto ilegales. Sin embargo, la Corte Suprema de EE.UU. podría anular la ley de Texas y otras similares, incluida la de California. Pero eso resulta estar muy bien con el gobernador y los legisladores.

¿Esta ley detendrá la propagación de mentiras de COVID?

En nuestro mundo COVID, una de las muchas preocupaciones es la desinformación que puede tener consecuencias peligrosas, incluso mortales. Incluso algunos médicos han difundido mitos o mentiras sobre el virus y la mejor forma de tratarlo.

AB-2098, respaldada por la clase dominante en la industria médica de California, facilita que la junta de médicos estatal pueda castigar a los médicos que

deliberadamente difunden información errónea. Pero algunos médicos ya han demandado para detener la ley, diciendo que viola sus derechos de libertad de expresión.

¿Podría esta ley corregir la historia de California?

La historia de California es complicada, sobre todo porque es un estado muy diverso de inmigrantes, pero también porque aquí habitaron tribus nativas americanas mucho antes de los exploradores europeos o que llegara la fiebre del oro.

La ley AB-1703 alienta a los distritos escolares a trabajar con las tribus para desarrollar lecciones de historia para brindarles a los estudiantes una comprensión más completa. La legislación también tiene como objetivo aumentar la tasa de graduación y cerrar la brecha de rendimiento para los estudiantes nativos americanos. ¿Ayudará esta ley a detener el tráfico sexual?

Los legisladores dieron sus últimos pasos en su lucha contra la trata de personas al enfocarse en lo que las fuerzas del orden dicen que son lugares frecuentes donde sucede. Los grupos de libertades civiles, sin embargo, dicen que más aplicación de la ley es un enfoque equivocado.

Una nueva ley, AB-1788, exige multas y sanciones civiles contra los hoteles si los supervisores saben sobre el tráfico sexual pero no notifican a la Policía, a una línea directa nacional o a un grupo de defensa de las víctimas. Otra nueva ley, AB-1661, agrega salones de belleza, peluquería y

lugares de manicure a esos negocios, así como aeropuertos y estaciones de autobuses, que deben publicar información sobre la trata de personas, incluida la forma de contactar a las organizaciones sin fines de lucro en el campo.

¿Podría esta ley vaciar el corredor de la muerte?

California no ha ejecutado a nadie desde 2006. Aunque los votantes quieren mantener la pena de muerte, una moratoria de 2019 impuesta por el gobernador Gavin Newsom impide las ejecuciones.

Los defensores también buscan limitar cuándo se aplica la pena capital. AB-256 tiene como objetivo a los 674 reclusos que ya están en el corredor de la muerte, dándoles una forma de impugnar sus sentencias de muerte por prejuicios raciales.

¿La vivienda triunfará sobre el medio ambiente?

California tiene una escasez severa y persistente de viviendas asequibles, lo que el gobernador Newsom incluso llama el “pecado original” del estado.

Estas leyes están diseñadas para aumentar la oferta, en parte pasando por alto algunas revisiones ambientales. AB2011 permite el desarrollo a lo largo de los centros comerciales, siempre que los trabajadores de la construcción obtengan salarios sindicales. Una segunda ley está diseñada para aliviar la escasez de viviendas para estudiantes al eximir a los dormitorios de la Ley de Calidad Ambiental de California.

¿Harán una diferencia más protecciones para el aborto?

En gran medida en respuesta a que la Corte Suprema de EE.UU. anuló Roe v. Wade, los legisladores de California aprobaron una serie de garantías adicionales para el acceso al aborto, además de incluir una enmienda constitucional en la boleta electoral de noviembre, que los votantes aprobaron abrumadoramente.

Una de las más destacadas entre las nuevas leyes es la de AB-2223, que protege a las mujeres de ser enjuiciadas si interrumpen un embarazo, incluso si es autoinducido o fuera del sistema médico. La nueva ley también pone fin al requisito de que los médicos forenses investiguen los mortinatos, después de que dos mujeres del condado de Kings fueran acusadas después de dar positivo por drogas.

Photo Credit: Illustration by Miguel Gutierrez Jr. / CalMatters; iStock

WHAT ARE THE MOST INTERESTING

NEW LAWS FOR CALIFORNIA IN

2023?

CalMatters

In 2022, the California Legislature passed nearly 1,200 bills — and nearly 1,000 became law with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.

Many of the new laws are minor fixes to laws that legislators and the governor previously enacted. Others are rather narrow or specific to a certain industry. Still others will be phased in over time.

Newsom has highlighted several, including a law limiting prosecutors from using rap lyrics and music videos in court and another requiring oil companies to publicly post their profits (the governor has also called a special session on his plan to impose a penalty on oil refiners for excess profits.)

And then there’s a select group of new laws that took effect on Jan. 1, 2023 — and that could have a noticeable impact on the daily lives of Californians, or on the policy direction of the state.

Here are nine of them:

Will this law stop gender bias in prices?

CalMatters politics intern Ariel Gans summarizes the new “pink tax” law.

Shoppers may have noticed that shampoos and other personal care products marketed to women sometimes cost more than very similar versions for men.

No longer. With AB-1287, stores will be banned from charging a different price based on gender — and could be in the crosshairs of the attorney general’s office for any violations. Advocacy groups say that ending the “pink tax” is another step in the cause of gender equity.

How much does that job pay?

CalMatters economics reporter Grace Gedye outlines the new pay transparency law.

It’s hit and miss how much applicants can find out about how much a job pays. And advocates say that allows for unfair disparities in salaries.

The new law named SB-1162 will bring a little more transparency to California workplaces by requiring companies with at least 15 employees to put salary ranges into job postings. But intense

business opposition blocked provisions that would have meant publication of pay data broken down by position, gender and race. And some specialists question how much difference the law will make.

Is this a return to Wild West bounties?

Back in the 1800s, the U.S. government offered bounties to stop the Union Army from getting cheated. In 2021, Texas passed a law restricting abortions and dangled $10,000 per violation to anyone who sued to help enforce it.

Not to be outdone, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature passed SB-1327, a law that allows private citizens to collect $10,000 by suing those who make or sell illegal “ghost guns” or assaultstyle weapons. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, could throw out the Texas law and ones like it, including California’s. But that would be just fine with the governor and lawmakers.

Will this law stop spread of COVID lies?

In our COVID world, one of many concerns is disinformation that can have dangerous, even deadly, consequences. Even some doctors have spread myths or lies about the virus and how best to treat it.

AB-2098, supported by California’s medical establishment, makes it easier for the state medical board to punish physicians who deliberately spread misinformation. But some doctors have

already sued to stop the law, saying it violates their free speech rights.

Could this law correct state history?

CalMatters education reporter Joe Hong discusses a new law on Native American history.

The history of California is complicated, not least because it’s such a diverse state of immigrants, but also home to Native American tribes here well before European explorers or the Gold Rush.

AB-1703 encourages school districts to work with tribes to develop history lessons to give students a fuller understanding. The legislation also aims to raise the graduation rate and close the achievement gap for Native American students.

Will this law help stop sex trafficking?

California Divide reporter Wendy Fry talks about the latest effort to combat sex trafficking.

Lawmakers took their latest steps in their fight against human trafficking by targeting what law enforcement says are frequent places where it happens. Civil liberties groups, however, say more law enforcement is the wrong approach.

One new law, AB-1788, calls for fines and civil penalties against hotels if supervisors know about sex trafficking but fail to notify law enforcement, a national hotline or victim advocacy group. Another new law, AB-1661, adds beauty, hair and nail salons to those businesses, as well

as airports and bus stations, that must post information on human trafficking, including how to contact nonprofits in the field.

Could this law empty death row?

CalMatters political reporter Alexei Koseff discusses the potential impact of a new law on racial bias in death sentences.

California hasn’t executed anyone since 2006. Even though voters want to keep the death penalty, a 2019 moratorium imposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom prevents executions.

Advocates are also seeking to limit when capital punishment is applied. AB256 is aimed at the 674 inmates already on death row, giving them a way to challenge their death sentences as racially biased. A disproportionate number of the condemned inmates are Black.

Does housing trump environment?

California has a severe and persistent shortage of affordable housing — what Gov. Newsom even calls the state’s “original sin.”

These laws are designed to increase the supply, in part by bypassing some environmental reviews. AB-2011 allows development along strip malls, as long as construction workers get union wages. A second, SB-886, is designed to ease the student housing crunch by exempting dorms from the California Environmental Quality Act.

Will more abortion protections matter?

In large measure in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, California lawmakers passed a slew of additional safeguards for abortion access, as well as putting a constitutional amendment on the November ballot, which voters overwhelmingly approved.

A headliner among the new laws is AB2223, which shields women from prosecution if they end a pregnancy, even if it’s self-induced or outside the medical system. The new law also ends the requirement that coroners investigate stillbirths, after two Kings County women were charged after testing positive for drugs.

Student Gracie Semmens attends a rally in support of Proposition 1 at UC Berkeley on Nov. 4, 2022.

Photo Credit: Martin do Nascimento / CalMatters

HOW NEW TITLE IX RULES COULD AFFECT CALIFORNIA’S TRANSGENDER AND NONBINARY STUDENTS

Zaeem Shaikh CalMatters

It took Xander nearly a decade to try community college again.

The incoming American River College student first attempted higher education in North Carolina in 2013. But navigating campus as a man who is transgender was a nightmare, said Xander, who’s now 30 and asked to use his first name only because he did not want to publicly reveal that he is trans.

In the classroom, he said, people refused to call him Xander. Classmates misgendered him, deadnamed him — using his former name from before he transitioned — and told him he was in the wrong bathroom. He never knew when a confrontation might escalate to violence. Eventually, he said, he began living a double life, taking on different personas inside and outside the school walls.

“I was out to my friends, but at school I gave up with letting people deadname me and misgender me, like it wasn’t worth the fight anymore,” Xander said. “And it wasn’t worth the risk.”

Xander’s experiences mirror those of other transgender students in the U.S.; according to an April survey by The Williams Institute, a think tank at the UCLA School of Law, more than a third of transgender people report experiencing bullying or harassment in college.

President Joe Biden’s administration aims to protect students who identify as transgender and nonbinary from discrimination under new rules proposed in June and now making their way through the Education Department’s lengthy rulemaking process. If finalized, the changes to Title IX, the 50-year-old civil rights law, would clarify that its ban on discrimination on the basis of sex extends to sexual orientation and gender identity.

So what impact will the expanded protections have on college campuses in California, a state that has already passed laws barring discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression?

Legally, not so much, say civil rights lawyers. But the proposed guidelines will remove ambiguity about what Title IX covers and put more responsibility on schools to address discrimination, they say. Students and college employees who advocate for LGBTQ rights told the CalMatters College Journalism Network that while they applaud the change in federal policy, campuses must go beyond the letter of the law to ensure that they are safe and welcoming places for transgender and nonbinary people to learn.

“What we see is that queer and trans students generally feel less welcome on their college campuses and more concerned about their physical safety, but also their emotional safety,” said Emilie Mitchell, dean of social and behavioral sciences at Cosumnes River College and coorganizer of an annual LGBTQ+ summit for the state’s community colleges. “Are they going to be mistreated in a classroom? Is their identity going to be a class topic for debate?” The new rules are reassuring, she said, because they give “a lot less wiggle room to people who might want to behave in really destructive ways towards the queer and trans community.”

Among other changes, the guidelines require colleges to monitor their campuses for gender discrimination and “take prompt and effective action” to fix it — stronger language than the previous requirement to be “not deliberately indifferent.” And by explicitly writing in protections, they

ensure that anti-LGBTQ discrimination can be handled under Title IX instead of being rerouted to other disciplinary processes, said Kel O’Hara, a staff attorney at Equal Rights Advocates, a legal and advocacy organization specializing in gender issues.

The new rules also could lead the federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to investigate more gender discrimination complaints against schools, said Carly Mee, a civil rights attorney at Trister, Ross, Schadler & Gold, PLLC.

“It’s important to have an external mechanism where you can go and file that complaint and say, ‘My school is not protecting my rights,’” she added. “That will be a big deal for trans and nonbinary students.”

“While on paper, trans students are certainly protected in our schools, we don’t always experience that.”

-ELI

ERLICK, UC SANTA CRUZ DOCTORAL STUDENT AND CO-FOUNDER OF TRANS STUDENT EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

The Education Department has already issued informal guidance saying that Title IX protections apply to gender and sexual orientation, but a federal judge in July temporarily blocked the department from enforcing that interpretation in 20 states that sued, saying the advice conflicted with anti-trans laws they’d already passed.

Controversy has erupted in a number of states over whether transgender students should be allowed to participate on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity; the Biden administration has said it will issue a separate Title IX rule specifically addressing athletics.

Attorneys with the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation argued in a September op-ed in The Hill that the new rules would “pose a severe threat to free speech” by censoring viewpoints such as that of a professor who “declines to use a student’s preferred pronoun because of her religious beliefs.”

In California, a new law took effect this year requiring public colleges to update records for students who have legally changed their names, including as a result of a gender transition, and allowing graduates to request an updated copy of their diploma for free. Starting with the next academic year, colleges must allow students to self-identify their names on diplomas even without documentation of a legal name change.

The state’s public university systems say they are reviewing the impact the Title IX changes could have for their respective campuses, with University of California spokesperson Stett Holbrook saying they “represent a great improvement over the regulations issued by the previous administration in 2020, many of which UC opposed.”

UC campuses are also rolling out a gender recognition policy that goes beyond the state law to ensure people are identified by their accurate gender identity and name in all their interactions with the university. Another state law will require the community colleges to do the same, starting next fall.

Transgender and nonbinary students say policies alone aren’t enough.

“While on paper, trans students are certainly protected in our schools, we don’t always experience that,” said Eli Erlick, a doctoral student at UC Santa Cruz who co-founded Trans Student Educational Resources, a national organization led by trans youth.

Erlick said it’s crucial to have campus sup-

New Title IX rules barring gender discrimination could put more responsibility on colleges to protect transgender and nonbinary students. But those students say creating welcoming campuses will require more than just policy

Student Gracie Semmens attends a rally in support of Proposition 1 at UC Berkeley on Nov. 4, 2022. Photo Credit: Martin do Nascimento / CalMatters

port networks built by and for trans people.

When she co-founded the organization, she said, “this was the idea: to help people understand their rights, know their choices and opportunities and know what they can do to protect themselves.”

At UC Santa Cruz, Fénix López, a fourth-year undergraduate, has built their own community on campus. Lopez, who identifies as queer and nonbinary, helps run the Lavender Club, a queer undergraduate group, and is a resident assistant for the LGBTQ-themed floor in their college residence hall.

“As a queer person, I feel like I have to make my own spaces,” they said. This year, those spaces include a “Queersgiving” event that the club hosted.

“The point was to kind of celebrate not Thanksgiving but gathering with your friends, having a meal with your found family, because I know that the holidays can be rough for a lot of queer individuals,” López said.

Universities need to pay more attention to meeting transgender and nonbinary students’ basic needs, López said, which include not just housing and food but “making sure you have a community, that you feel that you have that sense of belonging.”

“What we see is that queer and trans students generally feel less welcome on their college campuses and more concerned about their physical safety, but also their emotional safety.”

-EMILIE MITCHELL, CO-ORGANIZER, CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES LGBTQ+ SUMMIT

Despite the protections California transgender and nonbinary students have, campus staff who work with those students say they still regularly hear reports of misgendering and other negative experiences on campus.

delfín bautista, director of the Lionel Cantú Queer Resource Center at UC Santa Cruz, said that while California was more welcoming to transgender and nonbinary students than Florida and Ohio, where they previously lived, “students do feel invisible, and they don’t feel necessarily embraced and affirmed.”

Per California law, all single-stall restrooms on the UC Santa Cruz campus are gender neutral – but they are in short supply, said bautista, who lower-cases their first and last name. And while UC Santa Cruz policy says that athletes can use whatever locker room they identify with, that doesn’t mean they always feel safe doing so, bautista said.

At UC Berkeley, graduate students often tell Em Huang, the campus’s director of LGBTQ+ Advancement and Equity, that the professors they work with misgender them or call them by an incorrect name. It can be easier for that to happen in small labs, Huang said, where there are fewer people around to speak up and the student feels isolated.

O’Hara, the Equal Rights Advocates attorney, said that when representing students in Title IX proceedings, they have been misgendered by Title IX coordinators and so have their clients.

“If you’re trying to seek safety and protection and resolution on campus, but the people you’re interacting with barely understand you, that doesn’t feel safe, that doesn’t feel OK,” O’Hara said.

At American River College, where Mitchell used to work, a 2019 survey found that nearly onethird of about 1200 students felt it was necessary to hide their gender identity from fellow students, with an equal number saying they hid it from their professors.

While the college has a Pride Center, Mitchell es-

timated that fewer than a dozen of the state’s 115 community college campuses have such a center with at least one paid staff person.

“There are a lot of campuses that rely on unpaid volunteer staff or advocates,” Mitchell said.

“When you’re talking about institutional support, right, an institution saying, ‘We’re really interested in providing high-level services to our queer and trans students,’ I don’t know how you do that when you rest all those efforts on the shoulders of the committed but unpaid.”

The state Legislature allocated $10 million last year to the California community colleges to support LGBTQ students; Melissa Villarin, a spokesperson for the Chancellor’s Office, said colleges are using the funds for LGBTQ-focused centers and curriculum, professional development and mental health care, among other services.

Campus advocates say students often are confused about Title IX and what their rights are under the law. Some said universities should create and publicly post an LGBTQ bill of rights, and that the Department of Education should give schools specific examples of prohibited types of conduct unique to transgender and nonbinary students.

The new Title IX rules, said O’Hara, could also make a difference in cases like California State University’s Maritime Academy, where the Los Angeles Times reported that “claims of widespread sexual misconduct, homophobia, transphobia and racism” have roiled the campus. One cadet filed a Title IX report over messages in a group text chat where cadet leaders mocked LGBTQ classmates, according to the Times, but both the campus and the Cal State chancellor’s office found that the chat, which did not name any person, was protected speech under the First Amendment.

O’Hara, who is not involved in the case, said that their first question as a Title IX attorney would be, “OK, what else is going on?”

“Because if that’s how your classmates are talking about you in their private messages, chances are they’re doing other things to make you feel uncomfortable in your identity,” O’Hara said. The new rules’ affirmative monitoring requirement would put the responsibility on the school to gather that evidence, O’Hara said.

In addition to the challenges, transgender students also told the CalMatters College Journalism Network about times they felt supported on campus.

Erlick, who received her bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College, said there were a lot more resources there, and later at UC Santa Cruz, than in her hometown of Mendocino County. She found student groups that helped her thrive and learn in an academic environment that also incorporated queer and trans people, she said.

As Xander navigates the enrollment process at American River College, he said staff never mention his former name out loud if it appears in legal documents. Instead, to avoid outing him, they’ll show him the name on a computer screen or say the first initial, he said.

While working to have his name changed in the college’s system, he connected with a staff member who told him, “Oh, I understand. I’m nonbinary. I went through a name change.”

“I was like, wow, that’s super cool. Like knowing that there’s a trans person on staff,” Xander said. “And so that made me feel safer. It made me feel a lot better actually.”

Shaikh is a former fellow with the CalMatters College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. Network fellow Oden Taylor contributed reporting. This story and other higher education coverage are supported by the College Futures Foundation.

CÓMO LAS NUEVAS REGLAS DEL TÍTULO IX PODRÍAN AFECTAR A LOS ESTUDIANTES TRANSGÉNEROS Y NO BINARIOS DE CALIFORNIA

Las nuevas reglas del Título IX que prohíben la discriminación de género podrían poner más responsabilidad en las universidades para proteger a los estudiantes transgénero y no binarios. Pero esos estudiantes dicen que crear campus acogedores requerirá algo más que una política

Zaeem Shaikh CalMatters

AXander

le tomó casi una década volver a asistir a un colegio comunitario.

El estudiante entrante de American River College intentó por primera vez la educación superior en Carolina del Norte en 2013. Pero navegar por el campus como un hombre transgénero fue una pesadilla, dijo Xander, que ahora tiene 30 años y pidió usar su nombre de pila porque no quería revelar públicamente que es ‘trans’.

En el salón de clases, dijo, la gente se negaba a llamarlo Xander. Los compañeros de clase lo malinterpretaron, lo llamaron muerto, usando su nombre anterior antes de la transición, y le decían que estaba en el baño equivocado. Nunca sabía cuándo una confrontación podría convertirse en violencia. Eventualmente, dijo, comenzó a vivir una doble vida, asumiendo diferentes personajes dentro y fuera de los muros de la escuela.

“Ya había salido del closet con mis amigos, pero en la escuela dejé que la gente me insultara y me malinterpretara, como si ya no valiera la pena estar peleando”, dijo Xander. “Y no valía la pena el riesgo”.

Las experiencias de Xander reflejan las de otros estudiantes transgénero en los EE.UU.; Según una encuesta de abril realizada por The Williams Institute, un grupo de expertos de la Facultad de Derecho de la UCLA, más de un tercio de las personas transgénero informan haber sufrido intimidación o acoso en la universidad.

La administración del presidente Joe Biden tiene como objetivo proteger a los estudiantes que se identifican como transgénero y no binarios de la discriminación según las nuevas reglas propuestas en junio y que ahora se abren camino a través del largo proceso de elaboración de reglas del Departamento de Educación. Si se finaliza, los cambios al Título IX, la ley de derechos civiles de 50 años, aclararía que su prohibición de discriminación por motivos de sexo se extiende a la orientación sexual y la identidad de género.

Entonces, ¿qué impacto tendrán las protecciones ampliadas en los campus universitarios de California, un estado que ya aprobó leyes que prohíben la discriminación basada en la identidad de género y la expresión de género?

Legalmente, no tanto, dicen los abogados de derechos civiles. Pero las pautas propuestas eliminarán la ambigüedad sobre lo que cubre el Título IX y otorgarán más responsabilidad a las escuelas para abordar la discriminación, dicen. Los estudiantes y empleados universitarios que abogan por los derechos LGBTQ le dijeron a CalMatters College Journalism Network que si bien aplauden el cambio en la política federal, los campus deben ir más allá de la letra de la ley para garanti-

zar que sean lugares seguros y acogedores para que las personas transgénero y no binarias aprendan. .

“Lo que vemos es que los estudiantes ‘queer’ y ‘trans’ generalmente se sienten menos bienvenidos en sus campus universitarios y más preocupados por su seguridad física, pero también por su seguridad emocional”, dijo Emilie Mitchell, decana de ciencias sociales y del comportamiento en Cosumnes River College y co-organizador de una cumbre LGBTQ+ anual para los colegios comunitarios del estado. “¿Van a ser maltratados en un salón de clases? ¿Su identidad va a ser un tema de debate en clase? Las nuevas reglas son tranquilizadoras”, dijo, porque dan “mucho menos margen de maniobra a las personas que podrían querer comportarse de manera realmente destructiva hacia la comunidad ‘queer’ y ‘trans’ ”.

Entre otros cambios, las pautas requieren que las universidades controlen sus campus en busca de discriminación de género y “tomen medidas rápidas y efectivas” para solucionarlo, un lenguaje más fuerte que el requisito anterior de “no ser deliberadamente indiferente”. Y al escribir explícitamente en las protecciones, aseguran que la discriminación anti-LGBTQ se pueda manejar bajo el Título IX en lugar de ser redirigido a otros procesos disciplinarios, dijo Kel O’Hara, abogado del personal de Equal Rights Advocates, una organización legal y de defensa que se especializa en cuestiones de género.

Las nuevas reglas también podrían llevar a la Oficina de Derechos Civiles del Departamento de Educación federal a investigar más quejas de discriminación de género contra las escuelas, dijo Carly Mee, abogada de derechos civiles en Trister, Ross, Schadler & Gold, PLLC.

“Es importante tener un mecanismo externo al que pueda ir y presentar esa queja y decir: ‘Mi escuela no está protegiendo mis derechos’”, agregó. “Eso será un gran problema para los estudiantes trans y no binarios”.

“Si bien en el papel, los estudiantes ‘trans’ están ciertamente protegidos en nuestras escuelas, no siempre experimentamos eso”.

ERLICK, ESTUDIANTE DE DOCTORADO DE UC SANTA CRUZ Y COFUNDADOR DE TRANS STUDENT EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

El Departamento de Educación ya emitió una guía informal que dice que las protecciones del Título IX se aplican al género y la orientación sexual, pero un juez federal en julio impidió temporalmente que el departamento hiciera cumplir esa interpretación en 20 estados que demandaron, diciendo que el consejo estaba en conflicto con las leyes anti-trans que ellos ya habían pasado. Ha estallado controversia en varios estados sobre si se debe permitir a los estudiantes transgénero participar en equipos de-

-ELI

portivos que se correspondan con su identidad de género; la administración de Biden ha dicho que emitirá una regla del Título IX por separado que abordará específicamente el atletismo.

Los abogados de la conservadora Pacific Legal Foundation argumentaron en un artículo de opinión de septiembre en The Hill que las nuevas reglas “supondrían una grave amenaza para la libertad de expresión” al censurar puntos de vista como el de un profesor que “se niega a usar el pronombre preferido de un estudiante por sus creencias religiosas”.

En California, entró en vigencia una nueva ley este año que requiere que las universidades públicas actualicen los registros de los estudiantes que han cambiado legalmente sus nombres, incluso como resultado de una transición de género, y permite que los graduados soliciten una copia actualizada de su diploma de forma gratuita. A partir del próximo año académico, las universidades deben permitir que los estudiantes identifiquen sus nombres en los diplomas, incluso sin la documentación de un cambio de nombre legal.

Los sistemas de universidades públicas del estado dicen que están revisando el impacto que los cambios del Título IX podrían tener para sus respectivos campus, y el portavoz de la Universidad de California, Stett Holbrook, dijo que “representan una gran mejora con respecto a las regulaciones emitidas por la administración anterior en 2020, muchas de las cuales la UC se opuso”.

Los campus de la UC también están implementando una política de reconocimiento de género que va más allá de la ley estatal para garantizar que las personas sean identificadas por su identidad de género y nombre exactos en todas sus interacciones con la universidad. Otra ley estatal requerirá que los colegios comunitarios hagan lo mismo, a partir del próximo otoño.

Los estudiantes transgénero y no binarios dicen que las políticas por sí solas no son suficientes.

“Si bien en el papel, los estudiantes trans están ciertamente protegidos en nuestras escuelas, no siempre experimentamos eso”, dijo Eli Erlick, estudiante de doctorado en UC Santa Cruz, quien cofundó Trans Student Educational Resources, una organización nacional dirigida por jóvenes ‘trans’.

Erlick dijo que es crucial tener redes de apoyo en el campus construidas por y para personas ‘trans’.

Cuando cofundó la organización, dijo, “esta era la idea: ayudar a las personas a comprender sus derechos, conocer sus opciones y oportunidades y saber qué pueden hacer para protegerse”.

En UC Santa Cruz, Fénix López, estudiante de cuarto año, ha construido su propia comunidad en el campus. López, que se identifica como ‘queer’ y no binaria, ayuda a administrar el Lavender Club, un grupo de estudiantes universitarios ‘queer’, y es asistente residente para el piso con temática LGBTQ en la residencia universitaria.

“Como persona ‘queer’, siento que tengo que hacer mis propios espacios”, dijeron. Este año, esos espacios incluyen un evento de “Acción de Queers” organizado por el club.

“El punto era celebrar no el Día de Acción de Gracias sino reunirse con tus amigos, comer con tu familia encontrada, porque sé que las fiestas pueden ser difíciles para muchas personas ‘queer’”, dijo López.

Las universidades deben prestar más atención a satisfacer las necesidades básicas de los estudiantes transgénero y no binarios, dijo López, que incluyen no solo vivienda y comida, sino “asegurarse de tener una comunidad, que sientan que tienen ese sentido de pertenencia”.

“Lo que vemos es que los estudiantes ‘queer’ y ‘trans’ generalmente se sienten menos bienvenidos en sus campus universitarios y más preocupados por su seguridad física, pero también por su seguridad emocional”.

-EMILIE MITCHELL, COORGANIZADORA, CUMBRE LGBTQ+ DE LOS COLEGIOS COMUNITARIOS DE CALIFORNIA

A pesar de las protecciones que tienen los estudiantes transgénero y no binarios de California, el personal del campus que trabaja con esos estudiantes dice que todavía escucha regularmente informes de confusión de género y otras experiencias negativas en el campus.

delfín bautista, director del Centro de Recursos Queer Lionel Cantú de UC Santa Cruz, dijo que si bien California era más acogedora para los estudiantes transgénero y no binarios que Florida y Ohio, donde vivían anteriormente, “los estudiantes se sienten invisibles y no se sienten necesariamente abrazado y afirmado.”

Según la ley de California, todos los baños de un solo cubículo en el campus de UC Santa Cruz son de género neutral, pero escasean, dijo bautista, quien pone en minúsculas su nombre y apellido. Y aunque la política de UC Santa Cruz dice que los atletas pueden usar cualquier vestuario con el que se identifiquen, eso no significa que siempre se sientan seguros al hacerlo, dijo bautista.

En UC Berkeley, los estudiantes de posgrado a menudo le dicen a Em Huang, director de Promoción y Equidad LGBTQ+ del campus, que los profesores con los que trabajan los malinterpretan o los llaman por un nombre incorrecto. Puede ser más fácil que

eso suceda en laboratorios pequeños, dijo Huang, donde hay menos personas para hablar y el estudiante se siente aislado.

O’Hara, el abogado de Defensores de la Igualdad de Derechos, dijo que cuando representan a los estudiantes en los procedimientos del Título IX, los coordinadores del Título IX los han malinterpretado y también sus clientes.

“Si está tratando de buscar seguridad, protección y resolución en el campus, pero las personas con las que interactúa apenas lo entienden, eso no se siente seguro, no se siente bien”, dijo O’Hara.

En American River College, donde solía trabajar Mitchell, una encuesta de 2019 encontró que casi un tercio de aproximadamente 1,200 estudiantes sintieron que era necesario ocultar su identidad de género a sus compañeros, y un número igual dijo que se la ocultaban a sus profesores.

Si bien la universidad tiene un Pride Center, Mitchell estimó que menos de una docena de los 115 campus de universidades comunitarias del estado tienen un centro de este tipo con al menos un miembro del personal remunerado.

“Hay muchos campus que dependen de personal voluntario o defensores no remunerados”, dijo Mitchell. “Cuando hablas de apoyo institucional, una institución que dice: ‘Estamos realmente interesados en brindar servicios de alto nivel a nuestros estudiantes queer y trans’, no sé cómo haces eso cuando descansas todos esos esfuerzos sobre los hombros de los comprometidos pero no remunerados”.

La Legislatura estatal asignó $10 millones el año pasado a los colegios comunitarios de California para apoyar a los estudiantes LGBTQ; Melissa Villarin, vocera de la Oficina del Canciller, dijo que las universidades están utilizando los fondos para centros y currículos enfocados en LGBTQ, desarrollo profesional y atención de salud mental, entre otros servicios.

Los defensores del campus dicen que los estudiantes a menudo están confundidos acerca del Título IX y cuáles son sus derechos según la ley. Algunos dijeron que las universidades deberían crear y publicar

públicamente una declaración de derechos LGBTQ, y que el Departamento de Educación debería dar a las escuelas ejemplos específicos de tipos de conducta prohibidos exclusivos para estudiantes transgénero y no binarios.

Las nuevas reglas del Título IX, dijo O’Hara, también podrían marcar la diferencia en casos como el de la Academia Marítima de la Universidad Estatal de California, donde Los Angeles Times informó que “las denuncias de conducta sexual inapropiada generalizada, homofobia, transfobia y racismo” han perturbado el campus. Un cadete presentó un informe del Título IX sobre los mensajes en un chat de texto grupal donde los líderes de los cadetes se burlaron de los compañeros de clase LGBTQ, según el Times, pero tanto el campus como la oficina del rector de Cal State descubrieron que el chat, que no nombraba a ninguna persona, estaba protegido bajo la Primera Enmienda.

O’Hara, que no está involucrado en el caso, dijo que su primera pregunta como abogado del Título IX sería: “Está bien, ¿qué más está pasando?”.

“Porque si así es como tus compañeros de clase hablan de ti en sus mensajes privados, es probable que estén haciendo otras cosas para que te sientas incómodo con tu identidad”, dijo O’Hara. El requisito de monitoreo afirmativo de las nuevas reglas le daría a la escuela la responsabilidad de recopilar esa evidencia, dijo O’Hara.

Además de los desafíos, los estudiantes transgénero también le contaron a CalMatters College Journalism Network sobre los momentos en que se sintieron apoyados en el campus.

Erlick, quien recibió su licenciatura de Pitzer College, dijo que había muchos más recursos allí, y más tarde en UC Santa Cruz, que en su ciudad natal del condado de Mendocino. Encontró grupos de estudiantes que la ayudaron a prosperar y aprender en un ambiente académico que también incorporó a personas ‘queer’ y ‘trans’, dijo.

Mientras Xander navega por el proceso de inscripción en American River College, dijo que el personal nunca menciona su nombre anterior en voz alta si aparece en documentos legales. En cambio, para evitar sacarlo del closet, le mostrarán el nombre en la pantalla de una computadora o dirán la primera inicial, dijo.

Mientras trabajaba para cambiar su nombre en el sistema de la universidad, se conectó con un miembro del personal que le dijo: “Oh, entiendo. Soy no binario. Pasé por un cambio de nombre”.

“Yo estaba como, wow, eso es genial. Como saber que hay una persona ‘trans’ en el personal”, dijo Xander. “Y eso me hizo sentir más seguro. De hecho, me hizo sentir mucho mejor”.

Shaikh es un antiguo becario de CalMatters College Journalism Network , una colaboración entre CalMatters y estudiantes de periodismo de todo California. El compañero de la red, Oden Taylor, contribuyó con este reportaje. Esta historia y otra cobertura de educación superior cuentan con el apoyo de College Futures Foundation.

Photo Credit: Redd F / Unsplash

CAPRICORNIO Y SUS DESIGNIOS EN EL AMOR

Mario Jiménez Castillo El Observador

Capricornio con Aries

La inconstancia y la indisciplina que muestra en ocasiones el típico nativo del signo Aries, podría convertirse en un factor de desaliento para el recto y cauteloso nativo de Capricornio. En la intimidad se desenvolverán como buenos amantes. Esta relación puede llegar a feliz termino si Aries, aprende a ser más responsable en sus acciones y sobre todo más estable en sus emociones. Por su parte Capricornio precisará de una dosis extra de flexibilidad.

Capricornio con Tauro

Son signos de tierra que comparten muchas afinidades tanto románticas, sentimentales como financieras. Ambos luchan para lograr la seguridad económica que les permita vivir una vida acomodada y segura. Aunque esta relación luce prácticamente asegurada, los dos deberán estar siempre en busca de lo novedoso para evitar caer en la monotonía y en el desencanto que provoca frecuentemente la convivencia diaria.

Capricornio con Géminis

Ambos comparten la motivación, la imaginación, el deseo de sobresalir y la vocación al éxito profesional. Géminis con su inspiración y sus ideas geniales podrá encandilar al metódico y disciplinado Capricornio. Esta pareja alcanzará la felicidad y la estabilidad en todos los sentidos, a medida que cada uno se aleje de las características negativas de sus respectivos signos. Si así sucede, la dicha que les una será duradera.

Capricornio con Cáncer

Capricornio se siente totalmente dichoso cuando la pareja respeta sus opiniones, su independencia y su libertad. Cáncer es tierno, romántico pero puede ser celoso, muy intenso emocionalmente y un tanto posesivo. Se les recomienda tratarse por un tiempo prudencial para conocerse. Pueden llegar a consolidar una relación llena de dicha si son capaces de aceptar y sobre todo tolerar todos los detalles de ambas personalidades.

Capricornio con Leo

Aunque conforman dos maneras totalmente diferentes de ver la vida, ambos necesitan un constante reconocimiento y respaldo, lo que podría unirlos o separarlos desde un primer momento. Sexualmente podrán realizar todas sus fantasías sin limitaciones. Si se apoyan con el fin de lograr un bien común y deciden progresar juntos, vivirán un eterno romance. Si no sucede así, entonces, optarán por tener una muy buena amistad.

Capricornio con Virgo

No comparten criterios en detalles cotidianos, pero en general tienen los mismos gustos, deseos de salir adelante e ideales. Será un amor fiel, discreto y muy apasionado. Virgo sabrá como estimular el deseo sexual y las fantasías secretas de Capricornio. Si logran equilibrar sus tendencias y aprenden a ceder de vez en cuando, entonces conformarán un romance que les hará vivir la vida con total plenitud y felicidad abundante.

Capricornio con Libra

Capricornio se mostrará más atrevido y romántico cuando se lance a la conquista del corazón del romántico nativo de Libra. El hijo de la balanza tendrá que ser más decidido y emocionalmente más estable para inspirarle confianza y seguridad a Capricornio. La atracción entre ambos será inminente, aun así, deberán conocerse a fondo para comprobar si son verdaderamente compatibles en lo sentimental y especialmente en la intimidad.

Capricornio con Escorpión

Capricornio desde un principio llegará a sentir un gran amor, admiración y respeto por todas las cualidades físicas, sentimentales y emocionales que posee Escorpión. Por su lado Escorpión, deberá estimular y apreciar los logros profesionales de Capricor-

nio, de lo contrario el amor que éste sintió en un primer momento, puede desvanecerse. Poniendo atención a los pequeños detalles la vida en pareja puede tornarse extraordinaria.

Capricornio con Sagitario

Capricornio tiende a ser serio y reservado, y de vez en cuando necesita que alguien encienda una chispa de humor, pasión y aventura en su vida. Sagitario es un ser sumamente apasionado y es experto en levantarle el ánimo a los demás, por lo tanto flechará profundamente a Capricornio desde el primer momento. Si Sagitario decide ser más estable y menos derrochador, esta unión estará garantizada.

Capricornio con Capricornio

Comparten el mismo estilo de vida, suelen tener las mismas opiniones, el deseo de formar una familia y los mismos deseos de superación personal y profesional. Juntos pueden lograr rápidamente la posición social y económica que tanto desean, pero el amor en esta relación será comparable a una mata delicada a la que habrá que proteger y atender diariamente para que crezca, florezca y se mantenga con vida.

Capricornio con Acuario

Capricornio sentirá realizadas todas sus aspiraciones personales al observar las proyecciones hacia el futuro que tiene Acuario. Disfrutarán de la vida en familia, los hijos, los viajes y los retos; hasta puede ser que juntos se dediquen a realizar actividades filantrópicas. La felicidad se hará presente si dejan a un lado los enfados por celos frecuentes y las heridas en el corazón provocadas por relaciones del pasado.

Capricornio con Piscis

Capricornio experimentará la paz interior que necesita al estar en compañía del soñador y tierno nativo del signo Piscis. Por su parte Piscis, admirará la entrega y determinación que Capricornio muestra en todos los aspectos de la vida. Tienen que sincerarse el uno al otro desde un principio para que la relación marche sobre ruedas. Con una buena dosis de confianza, pasión y buena comunicación, éste puede llegar a ser un amor afortunado.

Red Line does not print. It represents the 3” safety area. Please verify critical elements are within the safety area.

Photo Credit: Vedrana Filipović / Unsplash

Otro impulso a la lucha contra el hambre

Apoyamos el bienestar de la comunidad y duplicamos las donaciones de los empleados.

Bank of America se enorgullece de seguir apoyando la salud y seguridad de nuestros empleados mientras aborda la inseguridad alimentaria en nuestras comunidades locales, la cual suele aumentar durante el invierno. Nuestros empleados están tomando medidas para apoyar la importante labor de los bancos de alimentos locales. Por aquellos que nos informen que recibieron una vacuna de refuerzo contra el coronavirus y/o una vacuna contra la influenza, donaremos $50 por cada una a una organización local dedicada a combatir el hambre. Además, los empleados pueden duplicar el impacto de sus donaciones personales en la lucha contra el hambre con nuestro programa de igualación de donaciones. A través de estos esfuerzos, donaremos más de $8 millones para abordar la inseguridad alimentaria en nuestras comunidades locales.

El equipo aquí en el Área de la Bahía entregó un cheque recientemente por $50,000 a Second Harvest of Silicon Valley. Esta contribución se suma a nuestro prolongado apoyo filantrópico para ayudar a combatir el hambre y la inseguridad alimentaria en todo el país. Estamos orgullosos de poder ayudar a nuestra comunidad mientras trabajamos juntos para seguir adelante.

¿Qué quiere lograr? ®

Conozca más en bankofamerica.com/siliconvalley (solo se ofrece en inglés).

Las donaciones en cada mercado reflejan $50 por cada empleado que haya reportado su refuerzo de la vacuna, $50 por cada empleado que haya reportado una vacuna contra la influenza y una contribución adicional de la empresa. Obtener el refuerzo de la vacuna y reportarlo es voluntario. Bank of America, N.A. Miembro de FDIC. Igualdad de oportunidades de crédito. © 2022 Bank of America Corporation. Todos los derechos reservados.

Raquel González Presidente de Bank of America en Silicon Valley

Multimedia Animator: M.S. in Interactive Entertainment plus 1year work experience required. Send resumes to: Striking Distance Studios, Inc., 6111 Bollinger Canyon Rd., Ste. 150, San Ramon, CA 94583, Attn: J. Yosenick

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

NO. 691097

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: 777 Automotive Locksmith 808 W. San Carlos St. Unit 729, San Jose, CA 95126, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Esteban Garcia Ureno, 808 W. San Carlos St. Unit 729, San Jose, CA 95126. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Esteban Garcia Ureno This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/27/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Elaine Fader, Deputy

File No. FBN 691097

January 06, 13, 20, 27, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

NO. 690891

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: KZ Janitorial, 3870 Glengrove Way, San Jose, CA 95121, Santa

Clara County. This business is owned by an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Karen Natalia Zepeda, 38780 Glengrove Way, San Jose, CA 95121. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 12/14/2022. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Karen Natalia Zepeda This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/14/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Elaine Fader, Deputy File No. FBN 690891

January 06, 13, 20, 27, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

NO. 690629

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: Spring Cleaning Maid Services, 1639 Waverly Ave, San Jose, CA 95122, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Norma Mary Coa, 4100 The Woods Dr. San Jose, CA 95136. The registrant began transacting business under

Notification of Grant Proposal, East Side Union High School District

El distrito de escuelas preparatorias del East Side Union está introduciendo una propuesta de subvención para uso de los fondos de aprendizaje del siglo XXI a nombre de las siguientes escuelas preparatorias: Andrew Hill, Yerba Buena, James Lick y WC Overfelt. Este es un proceso competitivo. Los beneficiarios de la subvención recibirán $250,000 por escuela durante 5 años para ser usados en programas extracurriculares y oportunidades de enriquecimiento.

the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 11/15//2018. This filing is a refile [Change(s) in facts from previous filing] of previous file #: “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Norma M Coa This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/02/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Patty Camarena, Deputy File No. FBN 690629

January 06, 13, 20, 27, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

NO. 691034

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: KC Cleaning Services, 3036 Shadow Springs Pl, San Jose, CA 95171, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Evangelina Perez, 3036 Shadow Springs Pl, San Jose, CA 95171. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 12/22/2022. This filing

is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Evangelina Perez This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/23/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Elaine Fader, Deputy File No. FBN 691034

January 06, 13, 20, 27, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

NO. 691307

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: Oaxaca Tamales Express, 2000 Bray Ave, Santa Clara, CA 95050, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by a married couple. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Belarmino Cipriano, 2127 Main St Apt 3, Santa Clara, CA 95050. Rufina Morales, 2127 Main St Apt 3, Santa Clara, CA 95050. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 01/02/2023. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this

Certified Caregiver for a 94 year old non ambulatory female with dementia. 6 to 7 days per week 10am to 10pm. Location: Los gatos. Salary commensurate with experience. Please call at (831) 655-3655.

Se busca Cuidador Certificado para una mujer de 94 años no ambulante con demencia. 6 a 7 días por semana 10am a 10pm. Lugar: Los gatos. Salario acorde a la experiencia. Llame al (831) 655-3655.

statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) /s/ Belarmino Cipriano This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 01/04/2023. Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Ronald Nguyen, Deputy File No. FBN 691307

January 06, 13, 20, 27, 2023

AMENDED ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV402113

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Amanda Halley INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Amanda Halley has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Luis Aaron Gonzalez to Aaron Nathaniel Mejia 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting

to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 02/21/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara. Dec 30, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

January 06, 13, 20, 27, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME

NO. 22CV403919

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Ana Cecilia Torres Montoya INTERESTED PERSONS: 1.

Petitioner(s) Ana Cecilia Torres Montoya has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Ana-Cecilia Torres-Montoya to (F)Ana (M)Cecilia (L) Torres-Montoya 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted.

Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 02/07/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Oct 04, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

January 06, 13, 20, 27, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV408433

Superior Court of Cali-

fornia, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Ashlyn Grace Contag INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Ashlyn Grace Contag has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Ashlyn Grace Contag to Ashlyn Reilly Snyder 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 04/11/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Dec 15, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

January 06, 13, 20, 27, 2023

CHANGE OF NAME

NO. 22CV409459

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Juan Gomez Gonora INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Juan Gomez Gonora has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Juan Gomez Gonora to Jonathan Michael Gomez 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 05/09/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Jan 04, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME

NO. 22CV404983

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Virginia Carol Cervantes INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Virginia Carol Cervantes has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Elijah Alxaiver Carabajal to Elijah Alxaiver Sagastume 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 02/21/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Oct 20, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo

Judge of the Superior Court

January 06, 13, 20, 27, 2023

Notice of Petition to Administer Estate of Chaitrali Sanjay Joshi, deceased Case No. 22PR193759

1.To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may be interested in the will or estate, or both, of Chaitrali Sanjay Joshi. 2. A Petition for Probate has been filed by Vinayak Agashe in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara. 3.The Petition for Probate requests that Vinayak Agashe be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. 5. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administer of Estate Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take any actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consent to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person Files and objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. 6. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: February 16, 2023, at 9:01am, Dept. 2, located at 191 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 7. If you object to

the granting of this petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. 8. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either: 1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or 2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. 9. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.

10. Attorney for Petitioner: Huma J. Ellahie 2542 S. Bascome Ave., STE 235 Campbell, CA 95008 (408)579.1282

Rune Date: January 06, 13, 20, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME

STATEMENT NO. 690711

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: Cascos Ligeros, 1009 E Capitol Expy #419, San Jose, CA 95121, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Joselyn Sapien, 2770 Othello Ave, San Jose, CA 95122. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) /s/ Joselyn Sapien This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/06/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder By: /s/ Sandy Chanthasy, Deputy File No. FBN 690711

December 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 20, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 691005

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: S.A. Landscape 12800 Sycamore Ave, San Martin, CA 95046, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Sabina Lopez Segundo, 12800 Sycamore Ave, San Martin, CA 95046. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above

on 5/21/2022. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) /s/ Sabina Lopez This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/21/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder By: /s/ Patty Camarena, Deputy File No. FBN 691005

December 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 20, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 690076

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: POSTAL ANNEX +4U 5655 Silver Creek Valley Rd, San Jose, CA 95138, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by a corporation. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Bay Area Logistics and Services Inc, 4989 Lyng Dr, San Jose, CA 95111. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 11/10/2021. This filing is a refile [Change(s) in facts form previous filing] of previous file #: FBN690242. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) /s/ Bikram Jeet Bay Area Logistics and Services Inc CFO Article/Reg#: 4852920 Above entity was

formed in the state of CA This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/20/2022. Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder By: /s/ Elaine Fader, Deputy File No. FBN 690976

December 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 20, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

NO. 690672

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: Willow Glen Hair Salon, 2306 Almaden Rd #102, San Jose, CA 95125, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Che, Tran Ngoc, 14025 Buckner Dr, San Jose, CA 95127. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 05/01/2022. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Che, Tran Ngoc

This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/05/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Corinne Vasquez, Deputy File No. FBN 690672

December 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 20, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

NO. 690961

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: CASAS TRANSPORT INC, 740 Dailey Ave, San Jose, CA 95123, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by a corporation. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): CASAS TRANSPORT INC, 740 Dailey Ave, San Jose, CA 95123.

The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This filing is a refile [Change(s) in facts from previous filing] of previous file #: FBN637493. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Jose Casas Avlla CASAS TRANSPORT INC Owner

Article/Reg#: 4583557

Above entity was formed in the state of CA This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/19/2022. Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Elaine Fader, Deputy File No. FBN 690961

December 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 20, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME

NO. 22CV404430

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Kiarash Ahi INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Kiarash Ahi has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of

this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Kiarash Ahi to Kevin Kiarash Ahi 2. THE

COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted.

Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 02/14/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Dec 28, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 20, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV409141

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Yuanteng Zhou

INTERESTED PER-

SONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Yuanteng Zhou has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Tank Yiyan Zhou to Hank Yiyan Zhou 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 05/02/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Dec 28, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 20, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV409035

Superior Court of California, County of

Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Be L Duong INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Be L Duong has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Be L Duong AKA Beluan Thi Duong AKA Be Luan Thi Duong to Beluan Duong 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 05/02/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara. Dec 27, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 20, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW

CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV409049

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Cheng Hsin Wang INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Cheng Hsin Wang has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Cheng Hsin Wang to Celia Chenghsin Wang 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 05/02/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara. Dec 27, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 20, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV403174

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Linda Hle Yang INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Linda Hle Yang has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Linda Hle Yang to Charley Hle Yang 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 01/24/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara. Sep 16, 2022

December 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 20, 2023

FICTITIOUS

BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 690959

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: ON STICK, 4636 Armour Dr, Santa Clara, CA 95054, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Ramon Perez, 4636 Armour Dr, Santa Clara, CA 95054. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Ramon Perez This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/19/2022. Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder By: /s/ Ronald Nguyen, Deputy File No. FBN 690959

December 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 690907

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: Isabel Cleaning Company 1344 Sandalwood Ct, San Jose, CA 95127, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by

an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Ma Isabel LozanoSolorio, 1344 Sandalwood Ct, San Jose, CA 95127. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Ma Isabel LozanoSolorio

This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/15/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Corinne Vasquez, Deputy File No. FBN 690907

December 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 690844

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: Roman King Remodeling, 3254 Fallen Oak Ct, San Jose, CA 95148, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Manuel Arenal Roman, 3254 Fallen Oak Ct, San Jose, CA 95148. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 12/12/2022. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or

she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Manuel Arenal Roman

This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/12/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Corinne Vasquez, Deputy File No. FBN 690844

December 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

NO. 690877

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: PHO HA NOI, 969 Story Road, Suite 6048, San Jose, CA 95122, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by a corporation. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): HANOI BISTRO, 969 Story Road, Suite 6048, San Jose, CA 95122. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 11/18/2015. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Harrison Ut Nguyen HANOI BISTRO President

Article/Reg#: 3844239

This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/14/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Ronald Nguyen, Deputy

File No. FBN 690877 December 23, 30,

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

2022; January 06, 13, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME

NO. 22CV408430

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Marieme Chang Bouguerba INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Jeffrey Bradly Bouguerba has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Jeffrey Bradly Bouguerda to Jake Bradley Bouguerba

2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 04/11/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Dec 15, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE

FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV407931

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Zahra Azimi Parsi INTERESTED PERSONS:

1. Petitioner(s) Zahra Azimi Parsi has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Zahra Azimi Parsi to Heeva Parsi

2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 04/04/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition

in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Dec 08, 2022 Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 2023

AMENDED ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV401867

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Pok Ye Kim INTERESTED PERSONS: 1.

Petitioner(s) Pok Ye Kim has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Pok Ye Kim to Pok Ye Chang 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 01/17/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at

least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Dec 06, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR

CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV403159

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Dominique Richie INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Domonique Richie has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Zyaire Richie to Zyaire Amari Richie b. Taraji Richie to Taraji Rechelle Richie 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 01/24/2023 at

8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara. Sep 15, 2022 Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV408428

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Mehdi Zandi Fard INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Mehdi Zandi Fard has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Mehdi Zandi Fard to Ash Zandi 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed,

the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 04/11/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara. Dec 15, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE

FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV403607

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Carolina Espinoza INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Carolina Espinoza has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Carolina Espinoza to Carolina Hernandez Espinoza 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must

appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 01/24/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Sep 29, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 13, 2023

Notice of Petition to Administer Estate of JACQUELINE LOPEZ Case No. 22PR192802

1.To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may be interested in the will or estate, or both, of JACQUELINE LOPEZ. 2. A Petition for Probate has been filed by ERNESTINE L. BELONG in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara. 3. The Petition for Probate requests that ERNESTINE L. BELONG be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. 4. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. 5. The petition

requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administer of Estate Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take any actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consent to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person Files and objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. 6. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: January 12, 2023, at 9:01am, Dept. 5, located at 191 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 7 If you object to the granting of this petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. 8. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either: 1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or 2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California

statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. 9. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.

10. Attorney for Petitioner: Gerald W. Cummings 1030 E. El Camino Real #426 Sunnyvale, CA 94087 (408)615-8930

December 23 and 30, 2022 and January 6, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 690805

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: ALPHA MOBILITY SPECIALIST, 1466 Jefferson St, Santa Clara, CA 95050, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Isaiah Plascencia, 232 Avenida Pinos, San Jose, CA 95123. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 12/03/2022. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is

guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Isaiah Plascencia

This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/09/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Patty Camarena, Deputy

File No. FBN 690805

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 690784

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: FONTIS GROUP 750 University Ave, Suite 275, Los Gatos, CA 95032, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by a corporation. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): OZOBON, INC, 750 University Ave Suite 275, San Jose, CA 95032.

The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 01/01/2022. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Bryan Russell CEO

OZOBON, INC

Article/Reg#: 3567826

Above entity was formed in the state of CA This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/09/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Corinne Vasquez, Deputy

File No. FBN 690784

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

FICTITIOUS

BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 690799

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: LA PESCA BLUE, 15529 Union Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95032, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by a corporation. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Alfa & Omega TS, INC, 17446 Belletto Dr, Morgan Hill, CA 95037. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 12/09/2022. This filing is a refile [Change(s) in facts from previous filing] of previous file #: FFBN670122. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Sergio Lopez Alfa & Omega TS, INC

President

Article/Reg#: 5170243

Above entity was formed in the state of CA This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/09/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Corinne Vasquez, Deputy File No. FBN 690799

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

FICTITIOUS

BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 690834

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: REVEAL BABY

3D CONCIERGE

ULTRASOUND, 109 Edelen Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Sandra Rocio Lopez, 109 Edelen Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 12/12/2022. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Sandra Rocio Lopez This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/12/2022. Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Ronald Nguyen, Deputy File No. FBN 690834

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

FICTITIOUS

BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 690826

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: IOX REALTY

MORTGAGE, 1754 Technology Dr Ste # 120B, San Jose, CA 95110, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by a corporation. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): IOX REALTY, 1754 Technology Dr Ste #120B, San Jose, CA 95110. The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on 11/11/2022. This filing

is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Cuong Ngo IOX REALTY Founder CEO Article/Reg: 5331809 Above entity was fomed in the state of CA This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/12/2022.

Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Elaine Fader, Deputy File No. FBN 690826

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT NO. 690760

The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: LILO + ZEE, LILO & ZEE, 1267 Johnson Ave, San Jose, CA 95129, Santa Clara County. This business is owned by an individual. The name and residence address of the registrant(s) is (are): Margot Kimura, 1267 Johnson Ave, San Jose, CA 95129.

The registrant began transacting business under the fictitious business name(s) listed above on N/A. This filing is a first filing. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

/s/ Margot Kimura This statement was filed with the Co. ClerkRecorder of Santa Clara County on 12/08/2022. Regina Alcomendras,

County Clerk Recorder

By: /s/ Corinne Vasquez, Deputy File No. FBN 690760

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME NO. 690797

The following person(s) has / have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name(s): Mariscos Xalos, 2650 Alum Rock, San Jose CA, 95116. Filed in Santa Clara County on 02/04/2020 under file no. FBN683197.

ANGELOUS TS ENTERPRISES INS, 17446 Belleto Dr, Morgan Hill CA, 95037. This business was conducted by: A Corporation. “I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct.” (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) /s/ Sergio Lopez This statement was filed with the Co. Clerk Recorder of Santa Clara County on 12/09/2022. Regina Alcomendras, County Clerk Recorder By: /s/ Sergio Lopez, Deputy File No. FBN690797

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

AMENDED ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV402083

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Isaac Barajas INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s)

Isaac Barajas has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Isaac AguayoMartinez Raymond to Isaac Raymond Barajas 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 1/17/23 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara. Dec 13, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV407748

Superior Court of California, County of

Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Kim Thuy Nguyen INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Kim Thuy Nguyen has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Kim Thuy Nguyen to Nubia Nguyen 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 03/28/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Dec 05, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR

CHANGE OF NAME

NO. 22CV408167

Superior Court of California, County of Santa ClaraIn the matter of the application of: Injung Kang INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Injung Kang has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Seungwon Han to Nathan Seungwon Han 2. THE COURT

ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING:

Date: 04/04/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Dec 12, 2022 Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Priya Devadasan INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Priya Devadasan has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Devika Vinuraj to Vaiga Vinuraj 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 02/21/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Oct 20, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV407931

Superior Court of California, County of Santa

Clara-In the matter of the application of: Zahra Azimi Parsi INTERESTED

PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Zahra Azimi Parsi has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Zahra Azimi Parsi to Heeva Parsi 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 04/04/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Dec 08, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME

NO. 22CV406825

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Gloria

Sanchez INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Sanchez has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Maria Gloria Cruz AKA

Gloria Cruz Esquivel AKA Gloria Sanchez to Gloria Sanchez 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 03/14/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Nov 17, 2022 Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME NO. 22CV408194

Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara-In the matter of the application of: Chul Min

Kang INTERESTED PERSONS: 1. Petitioner(s) Chul Min Kang has filed a petition for Change of Name with the clerk of this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Chul Min Kang to James Chulmin Kang 2. THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.

NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 04/04/2023 at 8:45 am, Probate Dept., located at 191 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95113. 3. A copy of the Order to Show cause shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in El Observador, a newspaper of general circulation, printed in the county of Santa Clara.

Dec 12, 2022

Jacqueline M. Arroyo Judge of the Superior Court

December 16, 23, 30, 2022; January 06, 2023

MEDI-CAL MANTENDRÁ MÁS PLANES DE SEGURO DESPUÉS DE SER PRESIONADO

Kristen Hwang & Ana B. Ibarra CalMatters

Enun cambio de postura significativo, el Departamento de Servicios de Atención Médica de California anunció que ha negociado con cinco planes de salud comerciales para brindar servicios de Medi-Cal en 2024, eliminando un proceso de licitación de dos años para los codiciados contratos estatales.

Esto anula los planes anteriores del estado de otorgar contratos a solo tres planes de salud. Significa que es probable que más afiliados a Medi-Cal conserven su aseguradora y sus médicos actuales, lo que evitará un proceso de reinscripción confuso para la mayoría de los afiliados y evitará interrupciones en la atención del paciente. También significa que el estado evitará una batalla legal prolongada en medio de amenazas de juicio por parte de aseguradoras que anteriormente se habían quedado fuera.

Los grandes ganadores: Blue Shield y Community Health Group obtendrán un contrato después de haber perdido ofertas inicialmente, y Health Net podrá conservar al menos algunos de sus afiliados de Los Ángeles.

“Para brindar certeza a los miembros, proveedores y planes, el Estado usó su autoridad para trabajar directamente con los planes para volver a trazar nuestra asociación y avanzar con confianza y rapidez hacia la implementación de los cambios que queremos ver”, dijo el departamento en un comunicado publicado el viernes por la tarde. El departamento no proporcionó respuestas a las preguntas de seguimiento antes de esta publicación.

“En cierto nivel, facilita la transición, pero queremos hacerlo mejor que el statu quo”, dijo Anthony Wright, director ejecutivo de Health Access, un grupo de defensa del consumidor. “Menos interrupciones es bueno, pero no queremos perder la razón del cambio, que es tener más responsabilidad sobre estos planes en el futuro”.

Medi-Cal brinda cobertura de salud a más de 14 millones de californianos de bajos ingresos, más de un tercio de la población del estado. En 2021, el Departamento de Servicios de Atención Médica, que supervisa el programa MediCal, se embarcó en un proceso de licitación que le permitiría modificar los contratos con los planes de salud comerciales de Medi-Cal. El objetivo del estado era reducir la cantidad de planes de salud participantes de los nueve actuales y seguir adelante con solo los planes más calificados, que se someterían a estándares más altos relacionados con los resultados de los pacientes, los tiempos de espera y la satisfacción, además de mejorar las disparidades de salud. En agosto del año pasado, el estado anunció que otorgaría tentativamente $14 mil millones en contratos de Medi-Cal a tres compañías: Health Net, Molina y Anthem Blue Cross. Esta decisión propuesta obligaría a cerca de 2 millones de afiliados a Medi-Cal a cambiar de seguro y probablemente encontrar nuevos proveedores. Algunos proveedores de salud criticaron la decisión del contrato original del departamento, alegando que habría causado una interrupción “inconmensurable” en la atención.

“Menos disrupción es bueno, pero no queremos perder la razón del cambio, que es tener más responsabilidad”.

-ANTHONY WRIGHT, DIRECTOR EJECUTIVO DE ACCESO A LA SALUD

Kaiser Permanente negoció un contrato especial con el estado a principios del año pasado, sin pasar por el proceso de licitación. Y la mayoría de los planes de salud comunitarios sin fines de lucro no tenían que competir por un contrato.

El anuncio de verano del estado rápidamente se convirtió en polémico ya que los planes de salud que quedaron fuera cuestionaron el proceso del estado para elegir a las tres aseguradoras, apelaron la decisión y demandaron al estado.

Este cambio de rumbo pone en entredicho el poder que pueden tener las aseguradoras para presionar con amenazas legales la acción estatal. Los defensores de la salud dicen que esperan que no siente un precedente. Wright en Health Access dijo que le gustaría que el departamento dejara en claro que el estado no retrocederá en el proceso de contratos competitivos en el futuro, ya que considera que es una herramienta clave para la rendición de cuentas.

Blue Shield, una de las compañías de seguros inicialmente excluidas, presentó una queja contra el Departamento de Servicios de Atención Médica, solicitando que el departamento divulgue todos los documentos utilizados en el proceso de selección.

El gigante de los seguros incluso lanzó una campaña en el otoño pidiendo a los californianos que hablaran en contra de la decisión del estado. La compañía argumentó que el estado no logró involucrar suficientemente a los afiliados y médicos de Medi-Cal en el proceso. “El mensaje de esta campaña es que no es demasiado tarde para que el estado cambie de rumbo y tome decisiones que promuevan la innovación y la equidad en la salud para todos”, dijo en un comunicado Kristen Cerf, presidenta y directora ejecutiva del plan Medi-Cal de Blue Shield. en octubre.

Según el acuerdo revisado, Blue Shield podrá seguir prestando servicios en el área de San Diego. Blue Shield rechazó una solicitud de entrevista y, en cambio, remitió a los periodistas a un comunicado publicado el pasado martes.

Mientras tanto, Health Net, que en el verano obtuvo tentativamente contratos en nueve condados pero perdió su contrato anterior y más

grande en Los Ángeles, también demandó al estado. Según el nuevo acuerdo, Health Net permanecerá en Los Ángeles y dividirá su parte de los afiliados a Medi-Cal en partes iguales con su contraparte comercial, Molina Healthcare. Health Net también mantendrá su membresía en Sacramento pero perderá el mercado de San Diego.

Centene, la empresa matriz de Health Net, dijo en un comunicado el martes que pondría fin a sus acciones legales contra el departamento de servicios de salud del estado.

La división equitativa de los miembros entre Molina y Health Net a través de un acuerdo de subcontratación es un “paso en la dirección correcta”, dijo Jim Mangia, presidente y director ejecutivo de St. John’s Community Health, que atiende a pacientes de bajos ingresos en el sur de Los Ángeles, pero mucho más permanece incierto.

“¿Quiénes serán el 50 por ciento que podrá permanecer en Health Net y quiénes serán el 50 por ciento que tendrá que mudarse?”, dijo Mangia. “No tenemos respuestas para eso, así que creo que es problemático porque todavía desplaza a una cantidad significativa de pacientes”.

Actualmente, Health Net administra más de 1 millón de pacientes de Medi-Cal en el condado de Los Ángeles. Casi una cuarta parte de los pacientes de St. John’s Community Health tienen Health Net, y el LA Care Health Plan, administrado públicamente, representa el resto. (La mayoría de los angelinos con Medi-Cal están inscritos y podrán continuar con LA Care, un plan operado públicamente).

Mangia dijo que la última decisión aún interrumpirá los servicios para los 12,500 pacientes solo en St. John’s que se verán obligados a cambiarse a Molina. Anticipa que la clínica necesitará contratar más personal para ayudar con la orientación de los pacientes, pero no hay dinero para eso.

“Obviamente fue un intento de rectificar la decisión inicial, pero no estoy seguro de que el impacto en los pacientes vaya a ser tan diferente. Esa es mi preocupación”, dijo Mangia. “Es esencialmente un mandato sin fondos”.

“¿Quiénes serán el 50 por ciento que podrá

permanecer en Health Net y quiénes serán el 50 por ciento que tendrá que mudarse?”

-JIM MANGIA, PRESIDENTE Y DIRECTOR EJECUTIVO DE ST. JOHN’S COMMUNITY HEALTH

Health Net y Molina Healthcare no respondieron a las solicitudes de comentarios, pero en una llamada con inversionistas el martes temprano por la mañana, el director ejecutivo de Molina, Joseph Zubretsky, calificó la decisión final del estado como “dar tres pasos adelante, dar un paso atrás” para la compañía, que originalmente había esperado triplicar su membresía de Medi-Cal bajo el premio tentativo anunciado en agosto.

Al analizar la decisión, Zubretsky y el director financiero Mark Keim aludieron a las negociaciones a puerta cerrada entre Molina, el departamento de servicios de atención médica del estado y las aseguradoras apelantes. Cuando se le preguntó si el estado alguna vez consideró reiniciar el proceso de licitación, Zubretsky dijo que los reguladores de California tenían “amplia autoridad discrecional” para adjudicar contratos y que las nuevas ofertas podrían haber tomado una cantidad significativa de tiempo.

“Con eso como entendimiento, pensamos que lo mejor para la compañía, para los miembros y para los inversionistas era participar en la negociación”, dijo Zubretsky.

Molina acordó no protestar por la adjudicación final del contrato y subcontratará a Health Net en el condado de Los Ángeles en el “acuerdo negociado”, dijo Zubretsky. Molina duplicará su membresía de Medi-Cal, de 600,000 a 1.2 millones, para 2024 como resultado de este último contrato.

“Acordamos las asignaciones de membresía que el estado ahora ha articulado además de renunciar a otros tipos de derechos legales que uno normalmente tendría”, dijo Zubretsky a los inversionistas.

Community Health Group, el mayor proveedor de Medi-Cal en el condado de San Diego, también obtendrá un nuevo contrato en 2024. La aseguradora fue excluida en el anuncio original de verano, pero apeló la decisión del estado.

Community Health Group rechazó una solicitud de entrevista, pero durante el verano, el director de operaciones de la compañía, Joseph García, le dijo a CalMatters que la decisión del estado había sido impactante porque su compañía habitualmente superaba a otras aseguradoras.

Zara Marselian, directora ejecutiva de La Maestra Community Health Centers en San Diego, dijo que la nueva decisión del estado fue una grata sorpresa. Las clínicas de La Maestra atienden a pacientes de bajos ingresos en todo el condado y han trabajado con Community Health Group durante casi tres décadas. Alrededor del 26% de sus pacientes confían en Community Health Group para Medi-Cal, la mayoría de cualquier grupo de pacientes. Anteriormente, Marselian también había previsto tener que contratar más personal para ayudar a los pacientes a transitar la transición.

“Es realmente mejor para los beneficiarios de Medi-Cal que ahora no tendrán que transferirse a otro plan de salud y ver interrumpida toda la continuidad de su atención”, dijo Marselian. “Estoy muy agradecido sin embargo esto sucedió. Estoy muy agradecido en nombre de nuestros pacientes”.

Photo Credit: Sasun Bughdaryan / Unsplash

MEDI-CAL WILL KEEP MORE INSURANCE PLANS AFTER PUSHBACK

Kristen Hwang & Ana B. Ibarra CalMatters

In a significant course change, the California Department of Health Care Services announced that it has negotiated with five commercial health plans to provide MediCal services in 2024, scratching a two-yearlong bidding process for the coveted state contracts.

This upends the state’s previous plans of awarding contracts to only three health plans. It means more Medi-Cal enrollees will likely get to keep their current insurer and doctors, averting a confusing re-enrollment process for most members and preventing disruption to patient care. It also means that the state will avoid a protracted legal battle amid lawsuit threats from insurers who had previously been left out.

The big winners: Blue Shield and Community Health Group will get a contract after initially having lost bids, and Health Net will get to keep at least some of its Los Angeles enrollees.

“To bring certainty for members, providers and plans, the State used its authority to work directly with the plans to re-chart our partnership and move with confidence and speed toward the implementation of the changes we want to see,” the department wrote in a statement released Friday afternoon. The department did not provide answers to follow-up questions before publication.

“At some level it makes the transition easier, but we want to do better than the status quo,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a consumer advocacy group. “Less disruption is good, but we don’t want to lose the reason for the change, which is to have more accountability on these plans going forward.”

Medi-Cal provides health coverage to more than 14 million low-income Californians, more than a third of the state’s population. In 2021, the Department of Health Care Services, which oversees the Medi-Cal program, embarked on a bidding process that would allow it to rework contracts with commercial Medi-Cal health plans. The state’s goal was to reduce the number of participating health plans from the current nine and move forward with only the most qualified plans, which would be held to higher standards related to patient outcomes, wait times and satisfaction, as well as improving health disparities.

In August of last year, the state announced that it would tentatively award $14 billion worth of Medi-Cal contracts to three companies — Health Net, Molina and Anthem Blue Cross. This proposed decision would force close to 2 million Medi-Cal enrollees to switch insurance and likely find new providers. Some health providers decried the department’s original contract decision, claiming it would have caused “immeasurable” disruption to care.

“Less disruption is good, but we don’t want to lose the reason for the change, which is to have more accountability.”

Kaiser Permanente negotiated a special contract with the state early last year, bypassing the bidding process. And most nonprofit community-based health plans did not have to compete for a contract.

The state’s summer announcement quickly became controversial as health plans that were left out questioned the state’s process for choosing the three insurers, appealed the decision and sued the state.

This change of course calls into question the power that insurance companies can have in pressuring state action with legal threats. Health advocates say they hope it does not set a precedent. Wright at Health Access said he’d like for the department to make clear that the state is not backing away from the competitive contract process in the future, as he considers it is a key tool for accountability.

Blue Shield, one of the insurance companies initially left out, filed a complaint against the Department of Health Care Services, requesting that the department release all documents used in the selection process.

The insurance giant even launched a campaign in the fall asking Californians to speak out against the state’s decision. The company argued that the state failed to sufficiently engage Medi-Cal enrollees and doctors in the process. “The message of this campaign is that it’s not too late for the state to change course and make choices that will advance innovation and health equity for everyone,” Kristen Cerf, president and CEO of Blue Shield’s Medi-Cal plan, said in a statement in October.

Under the revised agreement, Blue Shield will get to keep serving the San Diego area. Blue Shield declined a request for an interview, instead referring reporters to a statement released Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Health Net, which in the summer was tentatively awarded contracts in

nine counties but lost its previous and largest contract in Los Angeles, also sued the state. Under the new agreement, Health Net will get to stay in Los Angeles and will divide its share of Medi-Cal enrollees evenly with its commercial counterpart, Molina Healthcare. Health Net will also keep its Sacramento membership but lose the San Diego market.

Centene, the parent company of Health Net, said in a Tuesday statement that it would end its legal actions against the state’s health services department.

The splitting of members evenly between Molina and Health Net through a subcontracting agreement is a “step in the right direction,” said Jim Mangia, president and CEO of St. John’s Community Health, which serves low-income patients in south LA, but much remains uncertain.

“Who’s the 50 percent that are going to be able to stay with Health Net and who are the 50 percent that are going to have to move?” Mangia said. “We don’t have answers to that, so I think it’s problematic in that it still displaces a significant number of patients.”

Currently, Health Net manages more than 1 million Medi-Cal patients in Los Angeles County. Nearly a quarter of St. John’s Community Health patients have Health Net, with the publicly run L.A. Care Health Plan accounting for the rest. (Most Angelenos with Medi-Cal are enrolled in and will be able to continue with L.A. Care, a publicly operated plan.)

Mangia said the latest decision will still disrupt services for the 12,500 patients at St. John’s alone who will be forced to switch to Molina. He anticipates the clinic needing to hire more staff to help with patient navigation, but there’s no money for that.

“It was obviously an attempt to rectify the initial decision, but I’m not sure the impact on patients is going to be all that different. That’s my concern,” Mangia said. “It’s essentially an unfunded mandate.”

“Who’s the 50 percent that are going to

be able to stay with Health Net and who are the 50 percent that are going to have to move?”

-JIM MANGIA, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF ST. JOHN’S COMMUNITY HEALTH

Health Net and Molina Healthcare did not reply to requests for comment, but in an early Tuesday morning call with investors, Molina CEO Joseph Zubretsky characterized the state’s final decision as “taking three steps forward, taking one step back” for the company, which had originally hoped to triple its Medi-Cal membership under the tentative award announced in August.

In discussing the decision, Zubretsky and CFO Mark Keim alluded to closed-door negotiations between Molina, the state health care services department and the appealing insurers. When asked whether the state ever considered restarting the bidding process, Zubretsky said California regulators had “broad discretionary authority” to award contracts and new bids could have taken a significant amount of time.

“With that as the understanding, we thought it best for the company, for membership and for investors to participate in the negotiation,” Zubretsky said.

Molina has agreed not to protest the final contract award and will subcontract with Health Net in Los Angeles County in the “negotiated settlement,” Zubretsky said. Molina will double its Medi-Cal membership — from 600,000 to 1.2 million — by 2024 as a result of this latest contract.

“We’ve agreed to the membership allocations that the state has now articulated in addition to waiving other types of legal rights that one would normally have,” Zubretsky told investors.

Community Health Group, the largest MediCal provider in San Diego County, will also get a new contract in 2024. The insurer was excluded in the original summer announcement, but appealed the state’s decision.

Community Health Group declined an interview request, but over the summer, the company’s chief operating officer, Joseph Garcia, told CalMatters that the state’s decision had been shocking because his company routinely outperformed other insurers.

Zara Marselian, CEO of La Maestra Community Health Centers in San Diego, said the state’s new decision was a welcome surprise. La Maestra’s clinics serve lowincome patients throughout the county and have worked with Community Health Group for nearly three decades. About 26% of its patients rely on Community Health Group for Medi-Cal, the most of any single patient group. Previously, Marselian had also predicted having to hire more staff to help patients navigate the transition.

“It’s really better for the Medi-Cal recipients that will not now have to transfer to another health plan and have their whole continuity of care disrupted,” Marselian said. “I’m really grateful however this happened. I’m really grateful on behalf of our patients.”

-ANTHONY WRIGHT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF HEALTH ACCESS

Nurse practitioner Surani Hayre-Kwan, right, speaks with patient Mary Valesano, left, and her caregiver Georgia Manolakos-Fraley, during a check-up at the Russian River Health Center in 2020.

Photo Credit: Anne Wernikoff / CalMatters

California News Service

Blackteenagers ages 15 to 17 are six times more likely to be searched by police compared with their white counterparts, according to a report from the California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board released this week.

The board crunched the numbers from more than 3 million traffic and pedestrian stops done in 2021 by 58 police agencies.

Melanie Ochoa, outgoing vice chair of the board and the director of police practices for the ACLU of Southern California, said about 94% of police stops were self-initiated, not in response to a call for service. And 87% of those are traffic stops.

"It's a low-hanging fruit," Ochoa contended. "It's easy to find someone who is potentially committing a traffic violation, when it's actually intended to do more basic searches without any evidence of other criminal activity being present at the time."

The data showed Black people were stopped at more than twice their percentage in the population, and Latinx people at 7% more, whereas white people were stopped at 4% less than their population level. The report recommended police agencies cease making what are called "pre-textual" stops, where there is no reasonable suspicion or probable cause of criminal activity.

Ochoa added research shows contact with law enforcement can be traumatic.

"Interacting with officers correlates with higher distress, anxiety, trauma, depression, increased risk of suicidal ideation, paranoia, post-traumatic stress and trauma-induced sleep deprivation, particularly for youth," Ochoa explained.

The Los Angeles Police Department revised its policies last year to reduce the number of pretextual stops. The report also recommended police agencies move to ban so-called consent searches, and instead limit searches to cases where there is probable cause.

Mantenerte cerca de tus raíces hace que tu salud lorezca

Potter California News Service

Losadolescentes negros de 15 a 17 años tienen seis veces más probabilidades de ser registrados por la policía en comparación con sus homólogos blancos, según un informe de la Junta Asesora de Perfiles Raciales y de Identidad de California publicado esta semana.

La junta procesó los números de más de 3 millones de detenciones de tráfico y peatones realizadas en 2021 por 58 agencias policiales.

Melanie Ochoa, vicepresidenta saliente de la junta y directora de prácticas policiales de la ACLU

del sur de California, dijo que alrededor del 94% de las detenciones policiales fueron por iniciativa propia, no en respuesta a una llamada de servicio. Y el 87% de esas son detenciones de tráfico.

"Es una fruta madura", sostuvo Ochoa. "Es fácil encontrar a alguien que potencialmente esté cometiendo una infracción de tráfico, cuando en realidad se trata de realizar búsquedas más básicas sin evidencia de otra actividad delictiva presente en ese momento".

Los datos mostraron que las personas negras fueron detenidas en más del doble de su porcentaje en la población y las personas latinas en un 7% más, mientras que las personas blancas fueron detenidas en un 4% menos que su nivel de población. El informe recomendó a las agencias policiales que dejen de hacer lo que se denomina paradas "de pretexto", donde no hay sospecha razonable o causa probable de actividad delictiva.

Ochoa agregó que la investigación muestra que el contacto con la policía puede ser traumático.

"Interactuar con los oficiales se correlaciona con mayor angustia, ansiedad, trauma, depresión, mayor riesgo de ideación suicida, paranoia, estrés postraumático y privación del sueño inducida por el trauma, particularmente en los jóvenes", explicó Ochoa.

El Departamento de Policía de Los Ángeles revisó sus políticas el año pasado para reducir la cantidad de paradas de pretexto. El informe también recomendó que las agencias policiales prohíban los llamados registros consentidos y, en su lugar, limiten los registros a los casos en los que exista una causa probable.

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Legislators are expected to introduce bills in the upcoming session to ban pretextual stops and consent searches. Photo Credit: Dusanpetkovic1 / Adobestock