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ERROR: type should be string, got "https://apnews.com/article/pandemics-los-angeles-california-coronavirus-pandemic-0a2c9ac75b6a8c05706289bace1b4024\nCalifornia COVID-19: 2 million confirmed cases and counting\nBy JOHN ANTCZAK and DON THOMPSONDecember 25, 2020 GMT\nA pedestrian wears a face mask while walking past a car exiting the CityTestSF at Pier 30/32 COVID-19 testing site during the coronavirus pandemic in San Francisco, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)\nLOS ANGELES (AP) — California became the first state to record 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases, reaching the milestone on Christmas Eve as nearly the entire state was under a strict stay-at-home order.\nGov. Gavin Newsom warned that hospitalizations could soon double if people don’t change their behavior for the holidays.\nA tally by Johns Hopkins University showed the nation’s most populous state has recorded 2,010,157 infections since January. At least 23,635 people have died from the virus.\nThe first COVID-19 case in California was confirmed Jan. 25. It took 292 days to get to 1 million infections on Nov. 11.\nJust 44 days later, the number topped 2 million.\nThe California Department of Public Health separately tallied 2,003,146 cases and a one-day bump of 39,070 infections that was down from the one-day peak of nearly 54,000 cases at mid-month. The state’s death toll climbed by 351, also down from the record high set last week. Another 427 people were hospitalized, raising the total to 18,875. The 3,962 in intensive care units was a record high, as is the number of those hospitalized.\n“We’re projecting that our hospital number will double in just the next 30 days, and our projections have gotten much more solid,” Newsom said in a video posted on his social media pages from his home, where he remains in quarantine for the second time after a potential exposure. “I fear that, but we’re not victims to that if we change our behaviors.”\nCalifornia’s infection rate — in terms of the number of cases per 100,000 people — is lower than the U.S. average. But its nearly 40 million residents mean the outbreak outpaces other states in sheer numbers.\nThe crisis is straining the state’s medical system well beyond its normal capacity, prompting hospitals to treat patients in tents, offices and auditoriums.\n“In most hospitals about half of all of the beds are filled with COVID patients and half of all the ICU beds are filled with COVID patients, and two-thirds of these patients are suffocating due to the inflammation that’s in their lungs that’s caused by the virus,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.\n“They’re suffocating to the point that they can no longer breathe on their own, and they have to have someone put a tube down their throat, in order to oxygenate their organs. Many of these people will not live to be in 2021,” she said.\nThe county on Thursday reported new records for deaths — 148 in a single day — and hospitalizations, at nearly 6,500 people, 20% of whom were in ICU.\nThe state has seen its number of cases climb exponentially in recent weeks, fueled largely by people who ignored warnings and held traditional Thanksgiving gatherings, health officials say.\n“Our systems are being overwhelmed, and the virus is spreading everywhere,” a coalition of 10 neighboring Southern California local health departments said in what they termed an urgent holiday message. “We cannot continue on our current path without facing serious consequences.”\nLos Angeles’ Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels planned indoor Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Masses, with Archbishop José Gomez set to lead two of the four services despite advising in a letter to priests and pastors Wednesday that it is safer to keep celebrating Masses outdoors.\nDozens of physically spaced worshippers removed their masks only to take communion at arms’ length from clergymen, and there was none of the singing that health officials warned could increase the spread.\nFather David Gallardo held a copy of the children’s book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” in a midafternoon service as he taught that “darkness doesn’t win,” likening the coronavirus to the Grinch.\nMeanwhile, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to lift lower court orders blocking indoor Christmas services at churches in Pasadena and Chula Vista, though attorneys said they would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.\nLos Angeles County health officials said flatly in a statement that “attending an indoor service will result in transmission of COVID-19 ... that the healthcare system cannot handle at this time.”\nIt was among new warnings that the state’s medical system will be overwhelmed and unable to provide proper care if people don’t avoid gathering for the holidays or at least take precautions like meeting outside in masks at a safe distance or opening windows and turning on fans if they meet indoors.\nCalifornia Hospital Association president and CEO Carmela Coyle said the 2 million tally “means that thousands of Californians will spend this holiday season in a hospital. On Christmas Eve, Californians can still make a choice to avoid unnecessary travel and gatherings on Christmas Day.”\nIn a rare ray of hope, a statistical model that state officials have been using to project hospitalizations predicts more than 71,000 patients in one month’s time — still an unsustainable four times the current number of patients but roughly 40,000 fewer than the same model had been projecting just days ago.\nThe transmission rate — the number of people that one infected person will in turn infect — has been slowing for nearly two weeks, and it is nearing the point that would bring fewer infections from each person who contracts the virus.\nIn addition, the rate of positive cases reached a new high of 12.4% over a two-week period, but it was starting to trend downward over the last seven days from a peak of 13.3% to 12.6%. The seven day rate was 12.1% on Thursday.\n“Some encouraging signs, in terms of it seems some stabilization in the rate of growth,” Newsom said Thursday. But he said that is counterbalanced by the soaring cases and deaths.\nNewsom on Wednesday credited stay-home orders for nearly the entire state that imposed an overnight curfew, shuttered many businesses and restricted most retail to 20% capacity. Restaurants may only serve takeout.\nPleas to avoid social gatherings for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays rang with special desperation in Southern California. Los Angeles County is leading the surge, accounting for one-third of the state’s COVID-19 cases and nearly 40% of deaths.\nLos Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti called Wednesday “maybe the darkest day in our city’s history,” as the county reported its highest single-day death toll and hospitalizations — 145 deaths and more than 6,000 people in hospitals. More than 9,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the county.\nIf LA County continues to see the same growth in COVID-19 infections in the next two weeks, hospitals may find themselves having to ration care because of a lack of medical staff, Garcetti said.\n“That means the doctors will be forced to determine who lives and who dies,” he said.\nThompson reported from Sacramento. Associated Press Writer Stefanie Dazio and AP Photographer Ashley Landis in Los Angeles contributed to this story."

ERROR: type should be string, got "https://apnews.com/article/utilities-honolulu-hawaii-04515d4186fd09de6ec046bad2096f74\nHawaiian Electric bills to decrease under new regulations\nHONOLULU (AP) — Residents in Hawaii are expected to see shrinking utility costs and growing renewable energy after the state changed the way Hawaiian Electric makes money.\nThe Hawaii Public Utilities Commission issued a 200-page decision last week, establishing a “performance-based regulation” framework that separates the profits from capital investments, or a “cost-of-service” approach, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Monday.\nBased on preliminary estimates using current sales, Commission Chairman James Griffin said the decision means typical customers on Oahu could see savings of $17 on their electrical bill next year, which could grow up to $25 by 2025. On Hawaii island those savings would grow from $23 to $33, and for Maui residents they would increase from $22 to $30.\nThe Hawaii state energy office said the monthly residential electric bill in Hawaii averaged $162 last year.\nRatepayers could save tens of millions of dollars a year under the performance-based regulation framework, and additional savings could occur as more renewable energy projects are expected to come online.\nThe performance-based regulation provides financial incentives for the utility to achieve customer and policy-oriented performance goals, such as increased savings for lower-income customers and the reduction of greenhouse gases.\nHawaii started moving away from the old cost-of-service business model in 2010 after establishing “decoupling” mechanisms that separate electricity sales from utility profits, the Star-Advertiser reported. Electrical companies previously earned more money if customers used more electricity, so there was no incentive to reduce consumption.\nWith decoupling, utilities are now more likely to take a neutral stance on efforts to increase energy efficiency or promote the installation of rooftop solar panels, which reduce electricity sales.\nIt will be difficult to determine how much renewable energy will grow under the new framework, but Griffin said there’s a “strong incentive” for the utility to add more.\nNo other state relies on petroleum products for energy as much as Hawaii, with only 11% of the state’s energy coming from renewable sources, officials said.\nGriffin said the problem was that there were no financial upsides from the programs, but now Hawaiian Electric will have financial opportunities to earn “rewards for exemplary and high-quality service.”\n“Hawaiian Electric will have much stronger financial interests to control their costs and achieve clean energy goals,” Griffin said. “We intend for this to be win-win for the public and utility.”\n“It’s been a long road, but the Commission’s bold decision puts ‘cost-plus’ regulation in the rear view mirror,” said Ron Binz, former chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and expert for Blue Planet Foundation. “This decision puts Hawaii in the lead nationally by reforming regulation to achieve a ‘win-win-win’ for customers, the utility, and the environment and climate.”"