A.M. Brief: First Vaccine Shipment Could Arrive in L.A. Next Week

The first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine could arrive in Los Angeles as soon as next week, with hopes that we’ll be receiving a weekly allotment by the turn of the year. Also this morning: A proposed new law to up the educational requirements for police recruits, a new Metro project gets over a major hurdle, and a request to skip next year’s homeless count. Finally, what the hell is a “cop influencer?” Here is your news. Take it.

Morning News Rundown

84,000 vaccine doses could arrive in Los Angeles as early as next week. They would be distributed first to healthcare and front line workers. According to Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the county could get the second and third shipments later this month, with hopes for weekly deliveries by 2021. Officials estimate that the county will require 300,000 doses for healthcare workers and 175,000 doses for residents and employees at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. [L.A. Times]

Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) introduced a new proposal this week that would require anyone who wants to be a police officer in California to get a bachelor’s degree or turn 25 before starting their career. [CBS Sacramento]

The East San Fernando Light Rail Project passed a major milestone yesterday when the Metro Board certified its final Environmental Impact Report. Pre-construction could begin as early as next year on a proposed expansion that would create a 6.7-mile segment between the “G” Line (Orange) in Van Nuys to San Fernando Road in Pacoima. [The Source]

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a census of unsheltered homeless individuals during odd-numbered years as a condition of federal funding. Yesterday, the County Board of Supervisors voted to support a request from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to postpone the homeless count due to ongoing concern over the spread of COVID-19. [ABC 7]

COVID-19 is surging throughout the county right now, but the two areas getting hit the hardest are the San Gabriel Valley and South Los Angeles, according to a new data analysis by Crosstown LA. Mayflower Village, Hyde Park, Arcadia, and Temple City have all seen more than a 200% increase in new cases over the past two weeks. [Crosstown]

An LAPD “cop influencer” with nearly 100,000 fans on Instagram has been hawking products featuring LAPD iconography, a practice that appears to infringe on a city trademark. Toni McBride, the influencer in question, had deactivated her IG account earlier this year after she was involved in the fatal shooting of 38-year-old Daniel Hernandez following a multi-vehicle crash in South Los Angeles. [L.A. Taco]