What to know about two new measles cases in CA

From CalMatters health reporter Ana B. Ibarra:

California public health officials are closely monitoring two residents who recently tested positive for measles. Officials are on high alert given ongoing measles outbreaks in Texas, New Mexico and abroad. 

The Los Angeles and Fresno public health departments each disclosed a case on Tuesday. In both cases, the infected individuals had traveled internationally, officials said. So far this year, the California Department of Public Health has confirmed a total of five cases. No deaths have been reported here. Nationally, more than 250 cases have been confirmed, the vast majority out of West Texas, where last month one unvaccinated child died.

L.A. health officials in their announcement said the individual who tested positive for measles arrived at LAX on March 5 on a China Airlines flight. The city’s public health department is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to notify people who were on that flight and may have been exposed, department officials said. Last month, Orange County health officials confirmed a case of an infant who had also traveled through LAX.

Dr. Rais Vohra, Fresno County’s health officer, said on Wednesday that the unvaccinated adult who tested positive there had also recently traveled, but would not say where, noting the person was not infectious during the flight. 

Fresno’s public health department notified Madera health officials of the case because that person recently attended a large faith-based convention in Madera County. Dr. Simon Paul, Madera’s health officer, said his department has been working to notify eventgoers of the possible exposure. 

Health officials say the best protection is to get the two recommended doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. People who do not know if they have been vaccinated against measles can obtain a blood test to check for antibodies.

In California, which has some of the strictest vaccine rules in the country, about 97% of school-aged children are vaccinated against measles.

Vohra added vaccination is especially urgent for people planning international travel this spring and summer, as many other countries are currently experiencing outbreaks. Infants are typically at highest risk of falling ill because most do not get the first dose of the MMR vaccine until 12-15 months of age, according to the CDC.

• Vohra: “Measles is really contagious. … If people are not vaccinated against measles, that really puts them at high risk.”

Last year Gov. Gavin Newsom signed more than 20 laws related to artificial intelligence. This session state legislators — under a new federal administration — are advancing 30 bills to further regulate the technology in California, writes CalMatters’ Khari Johnson.

Some are reworked bills that failed last year, including one that would require AI developers to evaluate and disclose whether their AI tools perform decisions that could affect someone’s employment, housing and more. Another high-profile bill that Newsom vetoed in 2024 has been narrowed to protect AI whistleblowers.

But unlike last year — wherein President Joe Biden’s administration supported measures to limit AI-related bias and discrimination — President Donald Trump’s administration opposes regulation. On his first day in office, Trump withdrew a Biden executive order that set up guardrails on the technology. Major tech companies have also rolled back their own responsible AI principles. 

Read more here.

Price-gouging AI: Khari also took a look at bills that seek to protect customers from being fleeced by AI. Several retailers use “AI-driven surveillance” to determine different prices for customers, such as the travel site Orbitz reportedly setting higher hotel prices for Apple Mac users compared to non-Mac users. Of the five proposals this session, one bill, for example, would ban the use of algorithms to set rent prices. 

Read more here.

With a population of 271, the small agricultural town of Hood near the Sacramento River faces a huge looming problem: The proposed construction of the long-awaited Delta water tunnel.

As CalMatters’ Alastair Bland explains, the $20 billion project aims to divert more water from Northern California southward — bypassing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta — and deliver water to roughly 30 million people living mostly in Southern California, as well as farmland. 

The tunnel project still faces several legal, environmental and permitting hurdles, but state officials anticipate construction to start as soon as 2029, and take an estimated 13 years to build.

Two planned intake facilities that draw river water into the system will be stationed a few hundred yards north and south of Hood, rendering it the ground zero of the project’s main construction site. Construction will mean years of noise, air pollution, dust and traffic. The intake facilities, which are huge industrial complexes, will also cover the farmland area with fuel stations, septic systems, grout-mixing stations and more.

• Dan Whaley, a longtime Hood resident: “This will make our town uninhabitable. There will be so much heavy equipment and traffic and people going through town that the locals will be driven out.”

Read more here.

With wage theft claims taking years to process, California lawmakers are proposing bills to help workers get paid faster. CalMatters Capitol reporter Jeanne Kuang and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on legislation that seeks to ease the backlog as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.