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California is known for having strict gun laws in the United States. There are more than 100-gun control laws, including about 10 passed last year.

Domestic violence criminals are prohibited from possessing firearms, and those who have been judged to be dangerous to others or themselves are not eligible to own firearms. Large-capacity magazines or silencers that reduce gunfire are illegal. Semi-automatic guns, also called ‘assault weapons’, are also banned.

However, mass shootings in California are continuing. It is said that there is a lot of gun control, but it is only slightly better than other US states with poor management.

The New York Times (NYT), through an article on the 30th, reported a series of mass shootings in California and the conflicting diagnosis and countermeasures of arguments in favor of and against regulations surrounding them.

Proponents of gun control point out that California’s gun laws are among the strictest in the country, but still have many loopholes, and argue that stronger measures should be implemented not only in California but throughout the country.

For example, under current California law, there is no way to take away the right to own a gun if it was legal at the time of purchase, even if the purchase is prohibited.

There are also cases in which the right to own a firearm is maintained because no report has been filed with the court or law enforcement agency even though the person has behaved to be considered a dangerous person.

There are many unregistered ‘ghost guns’, and illegal weapons are brought in from other neighboring states, where regulations are less regulated.

Because of these circumstances, California authorities are realizing that it is very difficult to strike a balance between safety and freedom through state law.

Opponents of gun control, on the other hand, argue that enacting more regulatory laws will not work, and that the only way to ensure that citizens are legally armed is the ultimate guarantee of safety.

Sam Pareders, president of the California Gun Owners Association, criticized attempts to tighten regulations, saying murder was already illegal, saying, “What are we going to do? Make it ‘more illegal’?”

However, California Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, who co-chairs the Legislative Working Group on Gun Violence Prevention, said the meeting had been moved forward to discuss additional gun control legislation.

Proposed legislation would include an excise tax on ammunition and firearms in California, an additional three-year limit on gun ownership for those with restraining orders for domestic violence, and a plan to protect unregistered ‘ghosts’. ’ These include making possession of a firearm a felony and allowing people experiencing mental health crises to put their names on the ‘No Guns Selling’ list.

There is also a campaign to spread the word about the existence of an injunction system to prevent gun violence.

In addition, as a federal Supreme Court precedent recognizing the right to carry a handgun in public places came out in June last year, the need to amend the law has been raised in more than six states, including California.

According to California police figures quoted by ABC News on the 29th, a total of six mass shootings occurred in the area from January 1 to 29 this year. According to the ‘Archive of Gun Violence’, a non-profit organization that tracks gun violence in the United States, there were 48 mass shootings across the United States during the same period. The group classifies “if there are four or more shooting casualties excluding the gunman” as a “mass shooting” and counts them.

Among them, a gunman killed 11 people at a dance school in Monterey Park near Los Angeles, California on the 21st, and a farm worker in Half Moon Bay near San Francisco killed 7 of his colleagues on the 23rd.

On the 28th, three people were shot dead and four were seriously injured in Beverly Crest, near Los Angeles.

The White House announced that it has already approved more than 16 million of the student debt relief applications it has received.

The White House announced on the 27th through the FACT SHEET, “A total of 26 million people in 50 states have applied for debt relief, and more than 16 million of them have completed the approval process.” According to the fact sheet, 26.26 million people applied and 16.486 million were approved.

By state, the number of student loans approved for forgiveness was 429,000 in Virginia (685,000 total applicants) and 323,000 in Maryland (522,000 total applicants). However, even if approval is granted, the benefits of indemnity are not immediately realized.

In August of last year, the Biden administration issued an executive order to forgive up to $20,000 for federal student loan debtors and began accepting applications in October.

However, it has not been implemented in practice as opposition lawsuits from the Republican side have been filed one after another.

In November of last year, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order barring the implementation of the student loan debt relief program in response to a lawsuit brought by six Republican states.

Then, in the same month, the Texas District Court ruled that President Biden’s administrative order for student loan relief was unconstitutional in response to a lawsuit filed by the conservative group’ Job Creation Network Foundation’ (JCNF), and even the application for student loan debt relief was suspended.

The Biden administration expressed its dissatisfaction with the successive court decisions, and eventually the Federal Supreme Court made the final decision on whether to implement student loan debt relief.

The Supreme Court plans to hear the student loan debt relief lawsuit on February 29. According to the Student Loan Forgiveness website (studentaid.gov), student loan repayment begins 60 days after the lawsuit is resolved.

President Joe Biden issued an executive order on August 24 of last year, saying that up to $10,000 will be forgiven when an individual earns an annual income of $125,000 and a couple earns less than $250,000. And he agreed to write off up to $20,000 for those receiving a Pell Grant for the poor.

Reuters and CBS reported citing related sources that the federal government is piloting a system that allows citizens’ personal sponsorship to expand refugee entry.

According to sources, the program is a system in which five or more people residing in the United States form a “Welcome Corps” to raise $2,275 per refugee, pass background checks, and submit a support plan for entrants, which the government approves. to be. So far, refugees who have entered the United States have gone through the process of settling with the help of nine federally funded non-profit organizations.

For the first time in history, this system, which uses individual sponsorship for refugee entry and settlement, can bring about a dramatic change in US refugee policy, CBS predicted. Reuters evaluated the system to encourage refugee entry while reducing government costs.

Under this program, government-approved individual sponsors provide refugees with the assistance they need to resettle in the United States, including housing, food, medical care, education, and public welfare, just as traditional settlement agencies have done.

Finding sponsors for 5,000 refugees by the end of this fiscal year in September is a priority for the US government, Reuters reported. At the beginning of the ‘Welcome Group’ program, refugees selected through the United Nations and U.S. embassies will be brought in.

The Joe Biden administration set the upper limit for refugee permits for fiscal year 2023, which began in October of last year, at 125,000, but the number of refugees who entered the country between November and December last year was only 6,750. Since former President Donald Trump drastically reduced refugee acceptance, the size of federal permits has not recovered to previous levels, Reuters reported.

Officially institutionalized in 1980, the U.S. refugee program has provided safe haven to more than 3 million refugees fleeing armed conflict, ethnic persecution and other forms of violence. Refugees undergo interviews, security screenings, and health screenings over several years before coming to the United States.

The number of victims of a mass shooting that occurred on the 21st in Monterey Park near Los Angeles (LA) has increased to 11 people.

The medical center said the victim suffered “extensive wounds” after being shot. The sex and specific identity of the deceased were not known.

The death toll from an indiscriminate shooting at Star Dance Studio, a dance school in Monterey Park, has risen to 11.

Ten people which include five women and five men, were shot dead at the scene by gunman Huu Can Tran.

But the death toll could rise as LAC+USC Medical Center said there were three more victims with severe injuries.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said two of the 10 people killed at the scene were My Nhan, 65, and Lilan Li, 63. Nationality unknown.

While the investigative authorities focused on finding a motive for the crime, it was found that the gunman Tran aimed at some victims and fired a gun.

According to the New York Times (NYT), an official from the investigative authorities said that based on the testimony of witnesses, it is believed that Tran aimed and fired a gun at some victims.

The official said the gunman appeared to have specifically targeted some of the dead and then randomly opened fire on others.

However, it is not known who the specific victims he was targeting were.

In addition, there were testimonies that the rampage was a regular at the dance school where the incident occurred, and that he hated the people at the school.

According to her friends, Tran was a regular at the dance school, informally tutoring others and meeting her ex-wife.

His ex-wife said he met Tran here 20 years ago and they divorced her in 2005. After her divorce, he reportedly never remarried and never had a girlfriend.

There were also testimonies that the rampant was quick-tempered and distrustful of the people at the training center.

His ex-wife told CNN that Tran taught her how to dance for free. “Tran wasn’t violent, but he would quickly get angry if he stumbled a step while dancing,” his ex-wife told CNN.

“He’s hot-tempered, aggressive and doesn’t trust people,” Adam Hood, who said he spoke often, told Reuters.

He added, “He was mad at the people in the studio, and he distrusted them.”

CNN, citing an unnamed friend, said Nansha-beom was unhappy that dance instructors had “said bad things” about him, and that he was hostile towards many people in the studio.

Exemption from face-to-face interviews for issuance of non-immigrant visas necessary for study in the United States or employment will be extended until the end of next year.

The Federal State Department said in a press release on the 23rd that “consuls can waive face-to-face interviews on a case-by-case basis for certain categories of visas until December 31, 2023.”

Visas that can be exempted from face-to-face interviews include H-2 for unskilled temporary workers, F and M visas for international students, and J visas for exchange students.

In addition, H-1B for high-skilled workers, H-3 for job training, L for expatriates of multinational companies, O for those with exceptional abilities in fields such as science and art, and H-3 for athletes, artists, and entertainers. P and Q visas for international cultural exchange program participants may also be exempted for some applicants.

The State Department also said face-to-face interviews for applicants applying for renewal of the same visa within 48 months of the visa expiry will be waived until further notice.

“Nearly half of the approximately 7 million nonimmigrant visas issued in fiscal 2022 were processed without face-to-face interviews,” the State Department said. “Embassies and consulates may still request face-to-face interviews depending on individual circumstances,” he added.

The U.S. government is expanding wastewater testing, including feces of passengers entering the U.S., to detect dangerous viruses such as the Corona 19 mutation at an early stage.

According to the US political media Politico on the 16th, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is strengthening the “travel agency genome monitoring” program to collect samples from international passengers arriving at US airports in preparation for the spread of Corona 19 in China.

First introduced in the second half of 2021, this program is useful in determining when and where what kind of virus is introduced by taking a sample from the nose of only volunteers among passengers entering the United States to check for infection, such as Corona 19.

This program served as a kind of early warning, identifying subvariants of Omicron BA.2 and BA.3 before they were discovered elsewhere in the United States.

The CDC introduced this program to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport late last year and Los Angeles International Airport earlier this year to expand sample collection for passengers arriving from China.

Currently, 500 flights arriving from 30 countries are subject to sampling, and 4,500 samples were obtained from 7 airports in the first week of January.

However, considering the total number of passengers, it is still a small number, and it is possible that the sample may not be representative as those who are more susceptible to COVID-19 are more likely to volunteer.

In response, the CDC is discussing with airlines and airports how to collect wastewater samples from long-distance international flights.

It is trying to expand the wastewater inspection program, which was piloted only at JFK Airport in New York, to several airports.

The CDC took samples of wastewater from aircraft arriving at JFK Airport from Europe in August and September of last year, and in the samples, a variant of Corona 19, which was mainly spreading in Europe, was detected.

The CDC expects that wastewater testing will help more accurately identify the virus’s entry route as more samples can be collected at a lower cost.

CDC wants to build a global system by working with other countries that run similar programs.

On the 4th, the European Union (EU) announced strengthened quarantine measures for inbound travelers from China, recommending wastewater testing for aircraft departing from China. It announced on the 9th that it decided to test for Omicron mutation and monkeypox virus.

Ginkgo, a partner of the US CDC, recently agreed to run a wastewater inspection pilot project with the Ukrainian government and is also developing aircraft wastewater inspection programs in Rwanda and Qatar.

While the Republican Party, which secured leadership in the House of Representatives, announced its policy to investigate the Biden government’s response to Corona 19, the US government further extended the Corona 19 public health emergency on the 11th.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today that it is re-extending the COVID-19 public health emergency for another 90 days.

The United States first declared a public health emergency in January 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and has since been extended in increments of 90 days.

If the state of emergency remains, COVID-19 tests, vaccines, and treatments can be provided free of charge to the public.

In the United States, based on the Public Health Act, in the event of an emergency due to a serious illness, the Secretary of Health and Welfare can declare a public health emergency for 90 days to mobilize resources necessary for response, and the period can be extended if necessary.

If it ends, it is expected that there will be big changes in medical insurance, drug approval, and telemedicine.

In this regard, the Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to give advance notice to hospitals 60 days before the end of the state of emergency.

Accordingly, if the US government decides not to extend the state of emergency further, it is expected that the related policy will be announced next month.

An official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare told the US media, “The decision to suspend the corona public health emergency will be made by the Minister of Health and Welfare based on data and science.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of the 4th, the number of confirmed cases per day in the United States was 67,000, and about 390 deaths were counted as corona-related deaths.

The Republican Party, which has criticized the Biden government’s corona quarantine policy, launched an investigation into the government’s corona response in the House of Representatives.

The House of Representatives, led by the Republican Party, formed a special subcommittee on the COVID-19 pandemic on the 9th.

The so-called is planning to investigate the theory of corona origin in China, vaccine development, quarantine measures such as school closures, and emergency funding from the federal government.

It is known that the subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing around February for former and current government officials regarding the response to Corona 19.

Due to the heavy rain in the atmosphere that started on the night of the 8th, damage such as flooding, road and school closures, and traffic congestion continued. The unfortunate death toll from this storm has risen to 16.

The San Lorenzo River in the Pelton Grove area of the Santa Cruz Mountains rose to more than 13 feet (4 meters) in 4 hours on the 9th and flooded, flooding several houses and roads. As a result, evacuation orders were issued in Pelton, Aptos Beach Flat, Soquel, and Paradise Park areas.

Mud slides along with the floods caused large trees to fall, closing several roads and leaving several residents stranded on flooded roads. The Pajaro Valley Unified School District in the county closed schools on the 9th, and schools in the evacuation zone canceled classes until the 10th.

In Gilroy, several homes were flooded, and sections of Highway 101 were closed. Evacuations have been ordered in the town of Walton, near the Kosumiz River in Sacramento County, as the river swelled rapidly. Monterey County issued an emergency evacuation order for residents near the Carmel River region, and Bay Area counties such as Santa Clara, Alameda, and Solano also issued evacuation orders as possible flooding was raised in some areas.

Niles Canyon Road, a section of SR-84 connecting Fremont and Sunnol, was found to be closed to traffic indefinitely following a mudslide on the 30th of last month and a storm this week. In addition, road closures due to flooding continued across the Bay, including in San Francisco, Pleasanton, Morgan Hill and Petaluma, and in St. Helena, Napa County, a 275-year-old oak tree was uprooted from strong winds and winds.

According to PG&E, as of 8:30 am on the 10th, 93,742 households in the Bay Area, including 52,911 households in the South Bay, 19,053 households in the Peninsula, 8,221 households in the East Bay, and 6,143 households in San Francisco, were affected by wind gusts exceeding 70 mph and lightning strikes. 4,100 employees are working to restore power.

In San Luis Obispo County, a 5-year-old boy went missing after being swept away by rapidly rising waters on the 9th. Around 8 am on this day, near Paso Robles, the truck the child and the mother were riding in was submerged in water due to road flooding. The fire department said it was highly likely that the child had fallen into the river, and after a 7-hour search, only the child’s shoes were found, and the search was stopped as the water level rose. Meanwhile, on the 9th, a tree fell, and two more people died, and on the 10th in the San Joaquin Valley, Central California, a tree fell on a pick-up truck, killing the driver and another driver who hit the tree, killing 12 deaths from this winter storm. increased from 16 to 16.

According to meteorologist Jen Nell, 12.37 inches of rain fell in San Francisco from the 26th of last month to the 9th of January, the third most rain in 15 days on record. The worst flooding occurred in 1862, with 19.77 inches of rain falling in just 15 days.

Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom, the governor of Gavin, declared a statewide state of emergency to respond to winter storms from the 4th, and President Biden approved federal disaster assistance, starting on the 8th, support for emergency response to storms in California.

Governor-elect Jash Green and Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiad pledged to work together to provide housing on Oahu.

It pointed out the illegal short-term rental business and announced that it would open the water for housing to Oahu residents instead of tourists.

Greene and Mayor Blangiad held a meeting on November 22 and promised $2.5 million in grants to Family Promises of Hawaii (FPH), a non-profit organization that helps homeless families with children.

FPH Director Ryan Catalina said half of the grant will be used to set up temporary shelters and support families staying in shelters.

The FPH subsidy will be paid from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ ‘2018 Bezos Day 1 Families Fund’. This is the highest amount of FPH subsidy ever.

According to the FPH, the percentage of households that are currently at high risk of becoming homeless is said to be increasing.

It is analyzed that the number of landlords participating in the state’s eviction mediation program has decreased since Proposition 57, which requires tenant eviction mediation, expired last August.

Proposition 57 was issued for a year to protect residents at high risk of eviction after Governor David Ige’s eviction ban, which lasted from April 2020 to August 6, 2021, ended.

According to Star Advertiser’s report, from August 7, 2021, to September 4, 2022, the Pacific Arbitration Center participated in a total of 3,047 eviction arbitrations.

However, in August, when Decree 57 expired, the number of arbitration cases fell by one-third compared to when the Decree went into effect.

The number of arbitration cases in August, September, and October of this year was 127, 115, and 128, respectively.

President-elect Greene and Mayor Blangiad agreed that there is a causal relationship between the homeless, low-income rental housing, and the illegal short-term rental business.

Blangiad pointed out that between 10,000 and 14,000 illegal short-term rental properties are operating across Oahu, which is causing parking shortages and overtourism.

Greene and Mayor Blangiad agreed that illegal short-term rental properties could be converted into rental housing and would help prevent over-tourism.

Mayor Blangiad announced on November 22 that Oahu’s Affordable Housing Strategic Project has hired Craig Hirai, State Director of Budget and Finance.

Green announced that he had hired Nani Medeiros, director of the nonprofit organization Hui Home Aid Hawaii, to serve as housing director for the governor’s office.

During Greene’s tenure as Lieutenant Governor, Medeiros built Hawaii’s first 100-square-foot home, Kauhale, in Kalalaeloa, helping to provide permanent housing for homeless and vulnerable residents.

New York has recently been ranked as the most expensive cities to live with the highest cost of living recorded.
According to the “2022 Worldwide Cost of Living” report released on the 1st by the British economic analysis agency The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), New York tied with Singapore as the city with the highest cost of living this year among 172 cities surveyed.
EIU ranks the cost of living in cities according to the World Cost of Living Index (WCOL index), which reflects the prices of over 160 goods and services, including food, clothing, housing, transportation, and tuition, based on New York prices (100 points). Singapore both scored the highest score of 100.
In addition to New York, a total of three American cities, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, made it into the top 10.