Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, April 18, 2020

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 18, 2020 

SCHIFF PRESSES CALIFORNIA LABOR AGENCY TO OPEN 
APPLICATION FOR PANDEMIC UNEMPLOYMENT 

ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

New Program Extends Unemployment Compensation to Freelance, Contract 
and Gig Workers;

Benefits Retroactive to February

 

Washington D.C. – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) sent a letter to California Labor 
Secre-tary Julie A. Su urging the Employment Development Department (EDD) 
to prioritize mak-ing the application for the new Pandemic Unemployment Assistance 
(PUA) program pub-licly available as soon as possible. This federally funded 
program provides compensation to unemployed workers who are not eligible for 
regular state benefits—including self-employed, freelance, gig, and contract workers—
but EDD has not begun accepting PUA claims.

 

“I represent thousands of independent, freelance, contract, and gig workers—including 
many in the entertainment industry—who often do not fully qualify for 
standard unem-ployment benefits,” Schiff wrote in the letter. “The CARES Act, 
which was signed into law two weeks ago, dramatically expands unemployment 
coverage, and I led an effort in the House to extend this coverage to nontraditional 
and independent workers. As states are now working to implement these expanded 
federal benefits, I am hearing from many of my newly eligible constituents who are 
concerned because they are not yet able to apply and who are increasingly worried 
as their financial responsibilities continue to mount without anticipated income.”

 

Governor Newsom recently announced that workers who qualify for regular state 
bene-fits will receive the $600 CARES Act Pandemic Additional Compensation 
(PAC) payments beginning this Sunday. However, because the application for Pandemic 
Unemployment As-sistance is not yet available, thousands of self-employed, 
freelance, gig, and contract workers newly eligible for federally funded PUA payments 
under the CARES Act have not yet been able to apply.

 

“I recognize the extraordinary volume of claims that the EDD is now facing, and I 
am con-fident that you and your staff are working with all possible speed to process 
claims quick-ly, including those who the CARES Act made newly eligible for benefits,” 
Schiff’s letter continued.

 

Schiff also requested that the EDD update its coronavirus webpage daily so that 
workers awaiting new benefits know they are accessing up-to-date information. In 
addition, Schiff asked EDD to consider letting these workers create accounts and 
indicate their intent to apply so they can be notified as soon as the application is 
available. In doing so, EDD could ensure workers are fully informed and understand 
that benefits are available retroactive-ly to February 2, 2020 for work impacted by 
the pandemic, and they will not miss out on assistance due to delays in processing.

 

The State of California has processed 2.3 million unemployment insurance claims 
in the past four weeks. Applications for the most recent week were up 2400% over 
2019.

TABLE FOR TWO by Peter Dills

thechefknows@yahoo.com

OPEN IT NOW SAYS PETER DILLS

“Time in a Bottle” was a hit song by singer/songwriter 
Jim Croce. A question I am asked almost weekly basis is 
“does wine get better as it spends more time in a bottle?” 
Answer is “yes… and no”. Philipe Jeandet is a professor 
at University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne in France, 
and was lucky enough to discover a shipwreck that had 
quite a cargo. Gold? No, champagne. Jeandet and his 
crew brought all 168 bottles to the surface, and actually 
opened one on the spot. First tastes were fantastic. 
Given his knowledge of bubbles, his first guess was that 
they were at least 100 years old. The bottles had no boxes or labels, so after a few years of inspecting the 
corks and bottle engravings his group decided that the champagne was over 200 years old. It’s home at the 
bottom of the Baltic Sea provided total darkness and a temperature of 35 degrees, aided by the compression 
of depth for the discovery, perfect for storing wine.

Your home wine cellar provides somewhat different conditions than the bottom of the Baltic Sea, so getting 
back to the question above, does wine get better with age? Yes, wines that are expensive or rare will get 
better. No, most wine is produced to drink now. In fact, up to 90% of wines don’t actually get any better with 
ageing. Many of us will let our wines breathe, especially the reds, and that’s fine. I suggest using a large wine 
glass with enough room to swirl your wine around, watch the legs on the glass, and drink. Many of my class 
“A” sommelier friends contend that if it’s not ready drink, it isn’t ready to buy. I agree!!

As for champagne, my storage procedure (for a single bottle or case) is to simply leave it on the floor of my 
closet, laying each bottle sideways. Champagne, for many, is only for special occasions, whereas for me it 
is a weekly toast. You should only put champagne in the refrigerator when you are ready to serve it. Once 
opened it will only last a few hours, so make sure you have plenty of help to drink it. My bottom line on 
the subject is to let the supermarkets and wine shops take care of the storage for you. They have the right 
equipment, and it is a heck of job (and a lot of money) to build your own wine cellar. Check out the wine 
department at Vons on Coloradio, some rare finds that’s for sure

I have 15 spots left/open on my facebook friends account please follow me !! 


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