San Francisco eases mask, vaccination proof rules as omicron recedes
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco will ease its COVID-19 mask order for vaccinated gym members and office workers, and will relax rules requiring proof of vaccination when entering large indoor sports arenas, restaurants, bars and gyms, allowing unvaccinated people to enter if they show proof of a recent negative test.
The move comes as the omicron surge is flattening after weeks of record-setting infections.
The new rules, which take effect Tuesday, will say that gym members and office workers no longer need to wear a mask indoors as long as they are up to date on their vaccinations and booster shot, if eligible.
The rules will allow people who are vaccinated but not yet boosted to enter these gyms and offices that offer a mask-optional policy, as long as they wear a mask.
In addition, the city will begin allowing gyms and offices to allow unvaccinated people to enter who cite a religious belief exemption or a medical reason, but they need to show proof of a recent negative coronavirus test and wear a mask when not eating or drinking or showering.
—Los Angeles Times
4 House Republicans propose new State Department position to combat communism
WASHINGTON — Four Republican members of Congress introduced legislation this week to establish a new State Department position that would be tasked with combating communism and authoritarianism.
The proposed “Special Envoy to Combat Global Rise of Authoritarian Socialism and Communism” would be modeled after a similar State Department ambassador-level position that was created in 2004 to combat global antisemitism.
The legislation was led by Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a former Miami-Dade mayor who was born in Cuba and whose family immigrated to the U.S. in 1960 after the Cuban Revolution.
Gimenez was joined by fellow Florida Republican Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Maria Elvira Salazar, both of whom were raised by parents who had fled Cuba. They were joined by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, the sole Republican representing New York City, whose mother also fled Cuba.
The bill comes after Cuba’s crackdown against protesters in 2021 and after Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega began his fourth consecutive term in office following an election that saw the state arrest opposition leaders and target dissent.
“It is time for the United States to reaffirm its commitment to combating communism and authoritarianism around the world. As the leader of the free world, we must continue to stand up for the universal values of freedom, liberty, democracy, and peace,” Gimenez said in a statement to the Miami Herald.
—McClatchy Washington Bureau
California State strongly indicates it will permanently scrap SAT, ACT admission requirement
California State University trustees strongly indicated Wednesday they will permanently scrap SAT and ACT testing requirements for admission — a move that would align the nation's largest four-year higher education system with the University of California, which dumped the standardized exams it criticized as biased and of little value.
At a board meeting Wednesday, not one trustee on the 12-member educational policy committee voiced opposition to a recent recommendation by a systemwide admission advisory council to drop the tests. The council of students, faculty and administrators found the assessments less effective than high school grades in predicting college success, while producing disparate results for underserved students and creating undue stress.
The full Board of Trustees will vote on the proposal in March and, if approved, the council will craft a new admissions formula and suggest when to begin using it, with Chancellor Joseph I. Castro making the final decision.
"The issue of SAT and ACT testing has overwhelmed students and families for a long time," said Trustee Diego Arambula, a longtime public school and nonprofit educator. "To see that a GPA alone actually has better predictive power makes it abundantly clear to me that if we can clear this all off of the plates of young people and their families who are already going through such stressful times right now ... it's in the right interest of our communities."
—Los Angeles Times
Knesset speaker addresses German parliament on Holocaust Day
BERLIN — The speaker of the Israeli parliament recalled the crimes of the Nazi era in an address to the German parliament on Thursday and issued a call for democracy to be safeguarded.
"This is a place where humanity stretched the boundaries of evil, a place where loss of values turned a democratic framework into racist and discriminatory tyranny," Mickey Levy told the Bundestag to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
"So, it is here, within the walls of this house — which stand as silent witnesses of stone and steel — that we learn anew of the fragility of democracy and are reminded once more of our obligation to safeguard it," he added.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier were present in the Bundestag, which meets in the Reichstag building that housed the German parliament into the start of the Nazi era.
Keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive was a challenging task that each new generation had to take on, Levy said, making reference to the Wannsee Conference, which was held near Berlin 80 years ago this month. During the conference, Nazi officials and military officers planned the genocide of Europe's Jews.
—dpa
