Stimulus check: Californians will get up to $1,050 in "inflation relief" checks
CBSN
About 23 million California residents will receive "inflation relief" checks of up to $1,050 after Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed a $308 billion state budget that includes the payments.
The checks are part of a $17 billion relief package that will also suspend the state's sales tax on diesel fuel and provide additional aid to help people with rent and utility bills, Newsom said in a statement. The inflation-relief checks are tax refunds that will send a total of $9.5 billion back to state residents.
The agreement comes as California drivers face the highest gasoline prices in the U.S., with the average price for a gallon of gas in the state at $6.27 on Friday — or about 29% higher than the national average. Earlier this year, Newsom had proposed sending stimulus checks of $400 per vehicle to state residents, with a cap of two vehicles. But other lawmakers had pushed for a plan that would provide bigger checks to people who earn less.
Two climbers were waiting to be rescued near the peak of Denali, a colossal mountain that towers over miles of vast tundra in southern Alaska, officials said Wednesday. Originally part of a three-person team that became stranded near the top of the mountain, the climbers put out a distress call more than 30 hours earlier suggesting they were hypothermic and unable to descend on their own, according to the National Park Service.
There's no making up for what Olympic hurdler Lashinda Demus lost on the day she finished .07 seconds behind a Russian opponent who, everyone later learned, was doping. What the American 400-meter hurdles champion will finally receive is a great day under the Eiffel Tower where she'll be presented with the gold medal she was denied 12 years ago at the London Olympics.