In CA: We will all vote by mail now, and Gerber's first adopted spokesbaby

Stores started reopening Friday, either too early or not fast enough. And over a million U.S. citizens may not get federal stimulus money because of an anti-immigrant clause in the law. Plus, I talked to one of our NorCal partners about the work it's been doing at a time the community needs real news the most.

It's Arlene Martínez, with news to close out the week.

But first, a Golden Stater is the new Gerber spokesbaby! Magnolia hails from Ross, loves sweet potato puree and Teether Wheels and is the first adopted baby to hold the post.

Join me in wishing this lil pumpkin an early Happy Birthday. She turns one on Saturday.

Stay safe and informed with news and resources from across the USA TODAY Network and beyond: Sign up for In California today (it's free!).

Let's start with some headlines:

Through 2024, the Golden State is looking at a $126 billion shortfall.

We're all vote by mail in November, after Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday orders ballots to be sent to each of the state’s 20.6 million registered voters.

Stores across the state began reopening Friday.

California's largest lake may not have come to be by an engineering miscalculation after all, new research suggests.

South Pasadena's elected leaders abandon a proposal to impose stricter requirements before residents can qualify for rent relief.

Quantum Corp., a publicly traded data archiving/storage company in San Jose with a market value of nearly $160 million, is one of several companies that's been asked to return a $10 million loan it got under a program designed to help small businesses.

Federal immigration officials are testing detainees for COVID-19 at a higher rate than the California prison system or the state as a whole. But testing is uneven.

We fact-checked a widely circulating claim that America’s super-rich have seen their wealth rise by $282 billion in three weeks of the pandemic. It's true.

Historians say the coronavirus may be remembered as the first pandemic that spread from the affluent to the poor.

In America, a clash when it comes to reopening

Jeff Gourley has drawn both heat and praise for welcoming patrons to Nomads Canteen in San Clemente. “I’m not a fool, I’m not unsympathetic,” the restaurant owner says. “But we can’t quarantine the healthy anymore.”

In Atlanta, Georgia public relations exec Jenny Moss isn’t ready to resume old habits. “My response is pretty simple,” she says. “In the time between when lockdown began and where we are now, nothing has changed. So I'm taking precautions."

The nation's disjointed approach to re-opening has revealed two Americas.

One is populated by those eager to reclaim freedom of movement and restart the economy, and another by people whose COVID-19 concerns keep them sheltering in place. And often they’re living side by side in a country rocked by 1.2 million coronavirus cases and 75,000 deaths.

Visalia reopens park amenities, playgrounds against public health officer's recommendation.

College admissions, AR and your COVID-19 questions, answered

Sorry, Lori Loughlin, not today: A judge won't dismiss charges against her in the college admissions bribery case.

This interactive story shows how airborne droplets travel and settle. Try it in the Augmented Reality section of the USA TODAY app.

Can I catch the coronavirus if I've had it? Not right away.

Also, we're still answering your coronavirus questions which you can ask through this form.

Over 1 million citizens may be ineligible for federal stimulus help due to marital status

As part of the CARES Act, the federal government is distributing stimulus checks to millions of Americans. Solo folks earning less than $75,000 get $1,200, while a couple making less than $150,000 that filed jointly gets $2,400.

But the law contains a caveat: It says couples who file taxes jointly must both have valid Social Security numbers in order to get a check. If a couple of mixed immigration status files jointly, with one spouse using a Social Security number, and the other using an Individual Tax Identification Number, they are ineligible for the money.

Of the estimated 11.3 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., about 1.2 million are married to a U.S. citizen. If they filed taxes together, the household gets nothing.

For a Riverside County family of four, in which both parents were working and paying taxes, the law means not only missing out on $3,400 in assistance (the law also gives $500 for each dependent child), but the entire $2,200 the family's three citizens would have otherwise qualified for.

What else we're talking about

Prodigal son Bob Dylan announces his first new album to come out in eight years.

In a surprise to exactly no woman, a new survey shows women are taking on a greater share of parenting responsibilities as of late and men tend to think they’re contributing more than they actually are.

She had amazing plans scheduled in 2020. She mourned then realized she's not going to wait for the "perfect" time ever again.

I don't know who needs to hear this, but now isn't the time to text your ex.

The quiche recipe I'd been looking for and 24 other make-ahead Mother's Day recipes.

In Redding, stories of defiance ... and fruit stockpiling

The Redding Record Searchlight covers the North State as part of the USA TODAY Network. The newsroom's staff is small but you wouldn't know that from the wide variety of impactful stories journalists have brought to readers, especially in recent weeks.

I asked Michael Chapman, a photojournalist at the Record Searchlight, to share about the work the newsroom has been doing.

If you're able, consider subscribing to them or your local media outlet so we can keep our vital work going, during the coronavirus and long after it's passed.

Here’s Mike:

“We didn’t know what lay ahead when we packed up our laptops, notebooks and in my case, suitcases of photo gear, and headed out the newsroom door in mid-March as part of our company’s work-from-home safety precautions.

Right off the bat some of our most popular stories for readers included telling them which restaurants were offering curbside pickup and takeout. It was sad to report, one by one, all the community events that were being canceled, such as the popular Kool April Nites car show and cruise, the Red Bluff Round-Up rodeo and the Redding Rodeo and accompanying parade.

We were able to keep on top of breaking news by listening to a police scanner app on our phones so, for example, reporter Matt Brannon could write about a group of Cinco de Mayo revelers whose raft was punctured by a snag in the Sacramento River and had to be rescued.

Reporter Michele Chandler was still reporting about local elected officials by watching their virtual meetings online. One of her popular stories was about a county supervisor who defied the governor’s stay-at-home order by getting a haircut from his favorite barber. One resident described the elected official as hypocritical – “not to mention a slap in the face of all the businesses that can't open and then flaunt it on Facebook.”

Sports reporter Ethan Hanson got a tip about a local jiu jitsu gym whose owner was fed up with state restrictions and reopened in a controversial move.

Online readers searched for articles, some several years old, written by our gardening columnist to learn more about planting tomatoes and tips for starting a healthy garden.

Readers also got to know the staff in a more personal way when reporters Alayna Shulman and Jessica Skropanic created videos of how they were sheltering in place.

Alayna showed 10 pounds of fruit in her freezer that she chopped up and stored in colorful containers for smoothies along with a “botched” loaf of bread she baked.

Jessica “geeked out” with her telescope and showed a picture she took of the moon. She stitched a quilt back together and said while she’s drinking less coffee, she’s eating more popcorn.

That'll do it from me this week. Until Monday, be well.

In California is a roundup of news from across USA TODAY Network newsrooms. Also contributing: South Pasadenan, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID-19, California, stimulus, media, elections, WFH: Friday news