President Biden’s new actions to reduce gun violence lauded

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom has applauded President Joe Biden’s visit to Monterey Park and his announcement of federal executive actions to reduce gun violence.

“California is grateful for resident iden s efforts today to strengthen our gun laws and make our streets, schools, and communities safer,” said Governor Newsom.

“Simply put, it’s the right thing to do,” Newsom said. “While some Republican leaders are focused on endangering our children and making law enforcement’s job harder, California and the Biden Administration have worked to save lives and end the epidemic of gun violence that has plagued our nation for too long.”

“Now, it’s time for Congress to step up and do their job,” Newsom said.

With gun violence claiming the lives of over 110 Americans a day, California’s nation-leading gun safety laws serve as a valuable blueprint for other states and Congress to save lives.

Newsom said California’s gun safety laws work. In its most recent scorecard, California ranked as the #1 state for gun safety by the Giffords Law Center, and in 2021, the state saw a 37% lower gun death rate than the national average.

According to the CDC, California’s gun death rate was the 44th lowest in the nation, with 8.5 gun deaths per 100,000 people – compared to 13.7 deaths per 100,000 nationally, 28.6 in Mississippi, 20.7 in Oklahoma, and 14.2 in Texas.

Building on California’s decades of leadership, Governor Newsom has taken historic action to reduce gun violence.

Last summer, the Governor signed a package of gun safety laws, making it easier for Californians to sue manufacturers of illegal assault weapons and those spreading them, allowing lawsuits against irresponsible gun industry members, strengthening prohibitions on ghost guns, and restricting marketing to minors.

Newsom said California has also launched an 18-month campaign to promote gun violence restraining orders red ag laws that allow law enforcement, family, coworkers or friends to petition a court to temporarily remove weapons from people deemed dangerous to themselves or others.

Editorial

A third domino must not fall

The fall of Silicon Valley Bank may have been shocking, but it was not completely unexpected. It was the suddenness of SVB’s fall that caused concern because the bank had become the favored depository of the funds of tens of thousands of individual depositors, as well as all kinds of tech sector businesses, which was the primary market of SVB.

The fall of SVB makes it the second biggest collapse of a US bank in history. This alone is reason enough for emergency action to be taken by the federal government, as SVB does business both nationwide and globally. ignature ank which also collapsed is a different atter, as it is both smaller and newer than SVB. Signature also allied itself too closely to cryptocurrency and the greater risks involved in the industry, which overheated last year.

In both cases, however, the management was at fault. No ifs and buts here. They knowingly or unknowingly caused their financial institution to fail.

That President Joe Biden assured the American public that they money deposited in either bank is safe should offer a ittery public so e relief. fter all, bigger banks have collapsed in the not too distant past, to be sure, leading to the Great Recession of 2008.

The president stressed that not only are the funds of depositors safe, but that the American banking system is strong, much stronger today than 15 years ago.

There will, however, be a price to be paid by the investors who knew that any business involves risk, and the possibility of shutting down is always present, albeit to varying degrees. The stockholders of both banks must pay the price. They had a say on who manages the bank, and how. Their chosen executives were clearly not up to par. ank-and-file e ployees, eanwhile, will naturally be off the hook. ut they will now have to start looking for e ployment.

Thus, the banks themselves will have to pay for their mismanagement. There will be no bailout for them.

But the question must be asked: Why did the collapse happen at all?

The simple answer is, it’s complicated. But the long and the short of it is the skyrocketing interest rates set by the Federal Reserve played a key role, but by no means the only role in the twin collapse.

The collapse has also been blamed on what is being called a “Twitter-fueled bank run.” This is because information – and in many cases misinformation – is passed around very quickly today, and one rumor can be enough to spread to so many depositors that they will all want to withdraw their funds immediately.

The classic bank runs of the past can now happen at a far greater pace and it is possible that banks that are otherwise solid can fall victim to fake news.

Since the collapse of SVB and Signature took place late last week, the action to be taken at the federal level this week will determine if only those two dominos will fall. For more banks to fail is the worst thing that can happen to the US economy.

opefully, the iden ad inistration will be up to the task, di cult as it may seem.

Conclusion

MORE than multi-award winning singer-composer Burt Bacharach’s former cook, Daly City resident Rebecca uth o ue en oyed the privilege of the late star s mini concerts in his home he shared with then-wife Carole Bayer-Sager, his co-songwriter along with lyricist Hal David. s one of two housekeeping staff, o ue switched chores depending on the need. When she was not busy in the kitchen, she would babysit Bacharach’s son. Those were the times when the author of “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” would call her with his son into the music room.

“He would play the piano and sing for the baby,” Roque recalled a special benefit of her e ploy ent.

“He was very close to Filipinos,” she noted, and was “very proud to know Philippine culture.” hen the allentynes tour of duty ended in 1 , o ue had already signed up with a staffing agency frequented by show business moguls like the Bacharachs. In between she hosted a call-in radio program from midnight to 1 am on KAZN 1300. Eponymously called Christ for Every Home, most callers were nurses with whom she prayed for guidance, she says.

Prior to her yearlong employment at the Bacharach residence in Malibu, Roque had worked for Consul General Donald Ballentyne in 1985 at the UK diplomatic residence in Los Angeles, reporting to Ballentyne’s wife. She knew she had made the right decision when her employers met her children and welcomed them to stay with their mother.

Cooking for her British bosses was uncomplicated, she said. Meals consisted of breakfast and occasional dinner, sometimes with VIPs. She recognized Cary Grant and then-future King Charles, whose visit prompted her friends to rib her to learn the ‘royal wave,’” she tells Inquirer. net with a laugh.

DIVINE SIGN o ue thrived in preparing affordable lunches or what s called in the social service co unity as “congregate meals” for people beyond their golden age.

A few years after her tinseltown period, Roque heard from an aunt in San Francisco who was seeking a caregiver for a developmentally challenged adult. Roque embraced the prospect of meaningful service and has been tending to the same client for 23 years today.

Her live-in service requires her focus from 6-9 am and then 5-7 pm, giving her plenty of time for diversion. Yet Roque focuses her availability in service of older adults.

“I got a ticket parked on Taraval Street in San Francisco while visiting a friend. My options were to pay the fine or do co unity service at any of the organi ations listed. chose the one nearest me – Doelger Senior Center,” she traced the beginnings of her volunteerism.

Along the way she befriended the program director of Healthy Aging Response Team T , and signed up to be a volunteer at the o ce fielding callers seeking resources for older residents. One contact led to another and soon she was attending a training to become a peer counselor for older adults at the nonprofit eninsula a ily ervice.

Seven years later she continues to provide one-one-counseling with a contemporary who may be isolated because of a disability or suffers fro depression. he also fre uents the apihan, PFS weekly Filipino group meetings to promote socialization among adults 55 and older.

Last December Ruth Roque celebrated her 80th birthday. She has been serving older adults more than half of her life and she has no intention to stopping soon, invoking one of her former employer Burt Bacharach’s hits. Of his countless hits, “What the World Needs Now is Love” is among the most inspiring, after all. – Adapted from original reprinted with permission from INQUIRER.NET

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MARILYN B. KING

Vice President for Sales and Marketing

FRANCIS ESPIRITU

Publisher/President

THELMA L. CRUZ

Vice President for Operations & Promotions

NEIL GONZALES Chief Correspondent Northern California

LYDIA SOLIS Chief Correspondent Southern California

ANGELO LOPEZ Cartoonist

ELEANOR SMITH Office Manager GILDA PASION BALAN

NICK SAGMIT

GEORGE GANGE

RENE AVENIDO Photo Correspondents

ALFRED G. GABOT Editor-in-chief

FRANCO G. REGALA

ALI MACABALANG

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Manila Correspondents

VAL G. ABELGAS, HOMOBONO A. ADAZA, PERRY DIAZ, JOJO LIANGCO, JO ERLINDA G. NEBRES, ROY C. MABASA, ART G. MADLAING, FR. JOEPEL PADIT, RODEL E. RODIS, LOURDES TANCINCO ESQ, MELANDREW T. VELASCO, DANTES & CYNTHIA VELUZ, CRISTINA OSMENA, LUDY ONGKEKO. COLUMNISTS