POLICY & POLITICS
Valley:
FBI, DA search home of former Tulare hospital CEO
Visalia Times-Delta
FBI agents and DA investigators seized numerous items during a search at the former Tulare hospital CEO’s Visalia home. Investigators sought the warrant to help tie Dr. Benny Benzeevi and his company, Healthcare Conglomerate and Associates, toTulare Regional Medical Center and Southern Inyo Hospital, they said in court records.
Selling Evolutions may be key to reopening Tulare hospital
Visalia Times-Delta
Tulare hospital board members are working every angle possible to open the shuttered hospital they promised the community would be operating by now. But, since the hospital doors were closed, they’ve remained that way. As the public gets antsy, the board is looking to get creative.
Why $4 million in fines not fixing problem with ambulance response times in county
Modesto Bee
In the past five years, ambulance companies in Stanislaus County have been assessed more than $4 million in fines for slow response times and failing to meet other standards for emergency services.
Brooke Ashjian’s term on the school board has so far cost Fresno Unified $2.7 million
Fresno Bee
Fresno Unified paid more than $2.7 million because of trustee Brooke Ashjian’s conflicts of interest with local construction companies during his first and only term on the school board, according to district documents.
Land acquisition for college creates mistrust
Fresno Bee
Fresno developer Terance Frazier thought he was helping a west Fresno neighborhood by donating land to State Center Community College District for its proposed west Fresno campus. But then Frazier found out that State Center later gave another developer the right of first refusal to buy his land when that developer also sold land to the district for the campus.
Tulare Sheriff deputies won’t become federal immigration agents
Visalia Times-Delta
Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux and some Hispanic community leaders are at odds over California’s newest immigration bill. At the core of the debate is how much leeway the sheriff plans to give federal immigration agents looking for criminals in the county.
New UC Merced buildings expected to open this fall
ABC30
Construction is moving quickly, so quick that the UC Merced campus is already getting ready to open the first three buildings of the 2020 Project in just a few months.
More trains, more planes mean more options for Fresno travelers
Fresno Bee
For travelers from Fresno, the expansion of Amtrak train service and the launch of new service by an airline returning to the market means more options for getting out of town.
Fresno councilman Luis Chavez’s Support Small Business pilot
The Fresno Bee
Fresno City Councilman Luis Chavez is launching a small business incentive pilot program for one of the most impoverished areas of the city, and other council members hope the program, if successful, can be used to boost other struggling areas of the city.
How Devin Nunes Turned the House Intelligence Committee Inside Out
New York Times
In Late August 2016, Donald Trump paid a visit to Tulare, Calif., a small city in the agricultural Central Valley and an unlikely stop for a Republican presidential campaign. Trump had one very good reason for visiting Tulare: It is the hometown of Representative Devin Nunes.
State:
Meet the Applicants – CALmatters 2018 Election Guide
CALmatters
If you’re a registered voter in the state of California, you have a few decisions to make. As a member of one of the world’s largest hiring boards, you and 8 to 15 million of your fellow Californians will decide who ought to run our state.
Governor of California – CALmatters 2018 Election Guide
CALmatters
California voters are looking for a highly organized go-getter to serve as our state’s next chief executive. This is a four-year contract position with the possibility of a one-time extension.
Where candidates for California stand on single-payer health care
Sacramento Bee
As the state contemplates major changes as to how health care will be financed and delivered, California gubernatorial candidates have outlined their positions.
Also See:
● Will California fail financially without single-payer health care? Candidates for governor disagreeSacramento Bee
Gavin Newsom says he learned from affair, other past mistakes
Sacramento Bee
In 2007, Gavin Newsom said he quit drinking and would seek professional help for “problems with alcohol.” Though he didn’t say explicitly at the time that he went to rehab, it was widely interpreted that he did.
See Also:
● Gavin Newsom says alcohol isn’t a problem anymore: ‘A little wine’ is fine San Francisco Chronicle
California governor candidate says pot users should be hospitalized
San Diego Union-Tribune
Businessman John Cox of Rancho Santa Fe, a Republican running for California governor, says that marijuana users should be hospitalized. He said that California should implement a system akin to the one in Portugal, where people who are found with small amounts of drugs can receive mandatory medical treatment but aren’t charged with a crime.
Skelton: Calif. candidates for governor don’t talk about taxes much. They need to start
Los Angeles Times
Modernizing California’s archaic, unstable tax system is one of the most important tasks the next governor will face — or should. But it’s not a burning topic on the campaign trail.
EDITORIAL: The California governor’s race has its own version of Trump. Let’s not let history repeat itself
Los Angeles Times
Before launching his campaign for governor last year, Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) was a fairly ordinary legislator. Republican, but not in a rabble-rousing kind of way, and seemingly willing to work across the aisle to get things done. But now he’s running for governor and he’s changed.
EDITORIAL: In a tight attorney general primary, Becerra and Jones are clear top two picks
Sacramento Bee
For an era in which an attorney general must be as much a general as an attorney, the June 5 primary ballot offers two solid options in incumbent Attorney General Xavier Becerra and outgoing Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones.
California initiative would make it harder to raise taxes
The Sacramento Bee
Business groups are prepared to spend tens of millions of dollars this year on a California initiative that would make it more difficult to raise state and local taxes.
Rich dude with more money than sense launches another campaign to break California up
Los Angeles Times
Silicon Valley venture capitalist and Bitcoin evangelist Tim Draper has revived his proposal to carve our fabulous state into smaller parts. His current proposal, Cal 3, is a minor improvement over his 2014 scheme, which was to break the state into six parts.
See also:
California Today: How Does a Republican Win an Election Here?
New York Times
John Cox is a businessman and a Republican with a shot, after the June primary, of being one of the two candidates on the November ballot for governor. California Today has been doing occasional question-and-answer sessions with candidates for office.
Feinstein leads de Leon in the CA U.S. Senate race
Probolsky
There is little doubt that incumbent U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein and CA State Senator Kevin de León will advance to the November General Election as the top two vote getters. With that in mind, we chose to look ahead to see how the race is shaping up so far.
Sen. Kamala Harris spurns corporate PAC donations, joining other 2020 hopefuls
Washington Post
Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) said Monday that she will no longer accept donations from corporate political action committees, a shift in her public position from just a few weeks ago.
Federal:
EDITORIAL: Was the California Medical Association’s endorsement of Newsom tactical — or cynical?
San Diego Union-Tribune
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the frontrunner to replace Gov. Jerry Brown in November, depicts himself as a gung-ho supporter of Senate Bill 562. Last week, however, the California Medical Association — the politically powerful state doctors’ lobbying group — endorsed Newsom despite being among SB 562’s harshest critics.
Trump’s Message to Congress: New Nafta or No Nafta
WSJ
The Trump administration is pushing hard to finish talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement over the next two weeks and is considering bare-knuckle tactics to get Congress to approve a new deal.
Other:
‘Year of the woman’? Not so much in California
Sacramento Bee
The numbers are eye-popping. On Monday, EMILY’s List, a political organization dedicated to electing Democratic women to office, announced that over 36,000 women had contacted them about running for office since Donald Trump was elected president in Nov. 2016. By comparison, just over 900 women reached out to the group over the entire course of the 2016 election cycle, EMILY’s List said.
For the first time, Facebook spells out what it forbids
Los Angeles Times
If you’ve ever wondered exactly what sorts of things Facebook would like you not to do on its service, you’re in luck. For the first time, the social network is publishing detailed guidelines to what does and doesn’t belong on its service — 27 pages worth of them, in fact.
MADDY INSTITUTE PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAMMING
Sunday, April 29, at 9 a.m. on ABC 30 – Maddy Report: “Fake News & Info Illiteracy” – Guests: Senator Bill Dodd (D); Renée Ousley-Swank, President Elect – CA School Library Association; John Myers,Sacramento Bureau Chief – LA Times; and Dan Walters, Reporter of the Sacramento Bee. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.
Sunday, April 29, at 10 a.m. on Newstalk 580AM/105.9FM (KMJ) – Maddy Report – Valley Views Edition:“Information Illiteracy, Fake news and Real (California) Facts” – Guests: Senator Bill Dodd (D); Renée Ousley-Swank, President Elect – CA School Library Association; John Myers, Sacramento Bureau Chief – LA Times; Dan Walters, Reporter of the Sacramento Bee; and Mac Taylor, California Legislative Office. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.
Sunday, April 29, at 7:30 a.m. on UniMas 61 (KTTF) – El Informe Maddy: “Civic Engagement and Voter Registration” – Guest: Alex Padilla, Secretario del Estado de California. Host: Maddy Institute Program Coordinator, Maria Jeans.
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AGRICULTURE/FOOD
Podcast: GOP Farm Bill Targets Food Stamps, Heads for House Vote
Roll Call
On the heels of Republican leaders calling for cuts to entitlement programs, a GOP-written farm bill is headed to the House for a vote, angering Democrats who charge they were left out of the process and as a result millions of low-income people could lose food aid. CQ agriculture reporter Ellyn Ferguson explains those dynamics.
America and the World Need a Strong Farm Bill
Roll Call
Chris Adams manages many risks with his family on their farm in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Farmers understand that rain, drought, cold, heat, wind, insects and fickle markets are some of the challenges faced every day. But there are risks coming from 1,400 miles away in Washington, D.C., too.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE / FIRE / PUBLIC SAFETY
Crime:
California lawmakers say too many former felons are being denied professional licenses
Los Angeles Times
A trio of California Assembly members urged colleagues on Monday to pass legislation that would prohibit state commissions and agencies from rejecting a professional license for those who were once convicted of less serious crimes.
See also:
● California lawmakers want to make it easier for ex-cons to get job licenses San Francisco Chronicle
Public Safety:
Why $4 million in fines not fixing problem with ambulance response times in county
Modesto Bee
In the past five years, ambulance companies in Stanislaus County have been assessed more than $4 million in fines for slow response times and failing to meet other standards for emergency services.
Fire:
Edison, PG&E Seek Mercy From Courts Over Doomsday Fire Payouts
Bloomberg
Edison International and PG&E Corp. are trying to knock a hole in a California law that could put them on the hook for billions of dollars in damages for the worst wildfires in state history even if they did nothing wrong.
ECONOMY / JOBS
Economy:
To boost small businesses, Fresno council approves plan that cuts permitting costs
Fresno Bee
Fresno City Councilman Luis Chavez is launching a small business incentive pilot program for one of the most impoverished areas of the city, and other council members hope the program, if successful, can be used to boost other struggling areas of the city.
California tax revenues soar ahead of projections as economy booms
San Francisco Chronicle
Thanks to a booming economy and soaring stock market, California’s income tax revenue has continued to far exceed both projections and last year’s totals.
The US federal budget outlook is even crazier after all these years
Brookings
On balance, the medium-term (10-year) outlook has worsened over the past year. The 2017 tax cut, the 2018 spending deals, and higher projected interest rates raise projected deficits and debt, while expectations of a stronger economy (in large part attributable to the fiscal stimulus from policy changes) and lower health care spending work in the opposite direction.
Jobs:
California Employment Report for March 201
California Center for Jobs
The Labor Force data for March 2018.
Will robots and AI take your job? The economic and political consequences of automation
Brookings
In a preview of his new book, “The Future of Work,” Darrell West warns that the job-displacing effects of automation and artificial intelligence are likely to throw democracies and societies into chaos.
EDUCATION
K-12:
Brooke Ashjian’s term on the school board has so far cost Fresno Unified $2.7 million
Fresno Bee
Fresno Unified paid more than $2.7 million because of trustee Brooke Ashjian’s conflicts of interest with local construction companies during his first and only term on the school board, according to district documents.
Ralph Anthony to be sworn in as BCSD Trustee Tuesday
The Bakersfield Californian
Rev. Ralph Anthony — a black farm laborer of humble roots who dedicated himself to community work and religion at an early age — will be sworn in Tuesday as a trustee at Bakersfield City School District, helping to lead the very schools that segregated him from white classmates years ago.
Parents, students express concern following fight that hospitalized student
Bakersfield Californian
Rumors swirled with abandon following two unrelated fights at East High School last week, including one that hospitalized a student and led to seven arrests.
Charter schools are booming in California. Here’s where they are growing fastest
Sacramento Bee
California’s charter school enrollment continues to skyrocket, growing by more than 25,000 students during each of the past 10 years.
Parents Have High Educational Hopes for Their Children – Can California Keep Up?
Public Policy Institute of California
California has a long way to go in meeting demand for higher education, but there are signs of progress. The state has been reinvesting in public higher education, increasing undergraduate enrollment, and improving student outcomes—and the public education systems are increasingly willing to work together to streamline the higher education pipeline.
Higher Ed:
New UC Merced buildings expected to open this fall
ABC30
Construction is moving quickly, so quick that the UC Merced campus is already getting ready to open the first three buildings of the 2020 Project in just a few months.
Community colleges ramping up services for formerly incarcerated students
89.3 KPCC
For the last couple of years, staff at Glendale Community College has taken an ad hoc approach to helping students who enrolled after serving prison sentences.
EDITORIAL: California community college funding: Brown wise to link funding to results
The San Diego Union-Tribune
The California Community College system plays a vital role in the Golden State, helping more than 2 million students prepare for their futures at its 114 campuses. But the system has also frustrated policy makers because so many students who enroll don’t end up with a certificate or degree.
ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY
Grant to help restore ‘the forest below the bluffs’
The Bakersfield Californian
The Kern River Corridor Endowment has been awarded a $1.17 million grant from the California Natural Resources Agency, Urban Rivers Program for a 50-acre habitat restoration project, which will include educational and safety enhancements on the preserve.
Why the climate challenge needs congressional action
Brookings
After Trump unraveled several Obama-era environmental protections in his first year, Samantha Gross and Adele Morris argue the next Democratic president should avoid the temptation to pursue climate regulation through executive action and instead seek bipartisan legislation from Congress.
HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES
FBI, DA search home of former Tulare hospital CEO
Visalia Times-Delta
FBI agents and DA investigators seized numerous items during a search at the former Tulare hospital CEO’s Visalia home. Investigators sought the warrant to help tie Dr. Benny Benzeevi and his company, Healthcare Conglomerate and Associates, toTulare Regional Medical Center and Southern Inyo Hospital, they said in court records.
Selling Evolutions may be key to reopening Tulare hospital
Visalia Times-Delta
Tulare hospital board members are working every angle possible to open the shuttered hospital they promised the community would be operating by now. But, since the hospital doors were closed, they’ve remained that way. As the public gets antsy, the board is looking to get creative.
Where candidates for California stand on single-payer health care
Sacramento Bee
As the state contemplates major changes as to how health care will be financed and delivered, California gubernatorial candidates have outlined their positions.
Also See:
● Will California fail financially without single-payer health care? Candidates for governor disagreeSacramento Bee
Doctors fight CA bill requiring disclosure of probation
The Sacramento Bee
California would become the first state in the country to require doctors on probationary licenses to notify patients about their status under a legislative proposal opposed by the physicians’ lobby.
This bill will control health care costs and protect California patients
Sacramento Bee
We are co-sponsoring Assembly Bill 3087, the Health Care Price Relief Act, to institute new price controls and oversight to provide a fair, but not inflated, rate to doctors, hospitals and health plans – and to stop health care price-gouging. The bill, introduced by Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, is to be heard Tuesday by the Assembly Health Committee.
Also See:
● Bill won’t control health care costs in California, but it will devastate hospitals Sacramento Bee
EDITORIAL: Give paramedics the power to make better choices on behalf of vulnerable people
Los Angeles Times
If a person is intoxicated or suffering from a mental health crisis, a crowded hospital emergency room may not be the right place to get treatment. Yet homeless people are often taken there when they may just need a place to sober up or be seen by a mental health professional.
Pain management rarely means opioids for San Diego jail inmates
Los Angeles Times
It wasn’t long ago that a complaint of pain at a San Diego County jail easily scored an inmate a prescription for an opioid. These days, the highly addictive, frequently abused painkillers have been largely swapped out for Tylenol and ibuprofen as part of a program to stem the cycle of opioid addiction behind bars.
Police Shooting Billboard Marks Shift In Public Health Conversation
Capital Public Radio News
It’s hard to miss The California Endowment’s latest billboard on Broadway in Sacramento. The billboard is part of an ongoing public health campaign that zooms in on violence, police shootings and other issues facing communities of color. Some of the group’s prior ads faced pushback for being too political, but leaders behind the movement say their message is about health.
IMMIGRATION
Tulare Sheriff deputies won’t become federal immigration agents
Visalia Times-Delta
Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux and some Hispanic community leaders are at odds over California’s newest immigration bill. At the core of the debate is how much leeway the sheriff plans to give federal immigration agents looking for criminals in the county.
California cities are rebelling against state sanctuary law, but how far can they go?
The Mercury News
What started late last month with a city council vote in the Southern California suburb of Los Alamitos has grown into a wave of dissent across Orange County that is sparking a new kind of resistance in the Trump era: Californians in revolt against their own state — not the Trump administration.
See also:
· Sanctuary cities don’t ‘breed crime.’ They encourage people to report crime. Washington Post
Thousands of unaccompanied kids are still being caught at the border. They need help
Sacramento Bee
Last year, more than 28,000 unaccompanied children were apprehended crossing the border from Mexico to the United States, fleeing gang violence, neglect, abuse, and extreme poverty. Thousands of children make this same journey yearly, many of them losing their limbs or their lives in the process.
See also:
· Remnants of Mexico migrant caravan closer to US border Washington Post
LAND USE/HOUSING
Land Use:
Land acquisition for college creates mistrust
Fresno Bee
Fresno developer Terance Frazier thought he was helping a west Fresno neighborhood by donating land to State Center Community College District for its proposed west Fresno campus. But then Frazier found out that State Center later gave another developer the right of first refusal to buy his land when that developer also sold land to the district for the campus.
Housing:
Rent control measure on its way to California ballot
Sacramento Bee
California voters this year will likely decide whether cities across the state should have more power to enact stronger rent control. Rent control proponents behind a proposed November ballot initiative that would allow cities and counties to pass strong rent control laws say they now have enough signatures to qualify the measure.
See also:
· CBRT President Issues Statement on Initiative Attempting to Repeal Costa-Hawkins California Business Roundtable
Los Angeles Times
A measure to spend $2 billion on housing homeless Californians could be on the November statewide ballot. State Sen. Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) is pushing the idea to deal with what he said was a “burgeoning humanitarian crisis whose epicenter is here in California.”
Southern California home prices jump to a record high
Los Angeles Times
Southern California’s median home price jumped 8.4% in March from a year earlier, setting a new all-time high, as hopeful buyers engaged in bidding wars over a limited supply of homes on the market.
Also See:
● Southern California house hunters hit big wall: Record high prices in March Orange County Register
PUBLIC FINANCES
California tax revenues soar ahead of projections as economy booms
San Francisco Chronicle
Thanks to a booming economy and soaring stock market, California’s income tax revenue has continued to far exceed both projections and last year’s totals.
The realities of California’s pension crisis
OCRegister
California’s public employee pension systems have immense gaps – called “unfunded liabilities” – between what they have in assets and what they will need to meet their obligations to retirees.
Opinion: Tax cuts were supposed to save the GOP from Trump. Oops.
Washington Post
Voters were meant to be distracted by all that extra pocket money. They weren’t
TRANSPORTATION
More trains, more planes mean more options for Fresno travelers
Fresno Bee
For travelers from Fresno, the expansion of Amtrak train service and the launch of new service by an airline returning to the market means more options for getting out of town.
Gas tax repeal gets more cash from California GOP
Sacramento Bee
California Congressman Kevin McCarthy doubled down on his fight to roll back California’s gas tax increase this year. Federal financial disclosures reveal McCarthy donated $100,000 in late February to the political group seeking to put a gas tax repeal measure to a vote in November.
CA120: Political intrigue: BOE’s redistricting and the gas tax
Capitol Weekly
Whether you liked it or not, the California Board of Equalization successfully blocked a gas tax increase last month. This saved Californians 4-cents per gallon at the pump, but handed Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers a $617 million hole in the state budget.
Stein: The Public Deserves Transparency of Pricing at the Pump
Fox & Hounds
Fuel prices in California are among the highest in the country, as a result of some of the highest taxes in the country, plus the costs associated with compliance with various State environmental laws, which trickle down to the consumer, resulting in Californian’s paying as much as $1 more per gallon than most folks in the country.
EDITORIAL: It’s time to bite the bullet and terminate the high-speed rail project
OCRegister
With every passing day, the California bullet train can only make sense if you’re making money off of it. At a board meeting of the High Speed Rail Authority on April 17, it was revealed that the body seriously underestimated the cost of utility relocations along Construction Project 1, a 29-mile stretch spanning from Madera County to Fresno County.
See also:
● High-Speed Rail Authority Daily Clips California High-Speed Rail Authority
WATER
Temperance Flat project persisting
Hanford Sentinel
Though the Temperance Flat Reservoir Project has been dealt another blow, proponents of the project are vowing not to give up on bringing more water storage to the Valley.
Climate change will make drought-flood cycle in Calif. more volatile, study finds
Fresno Bee
Californians should expect more dramatic swings between dry and wet years as the climate warms, according to a new study that found it likely that the state will be hit by devastating, widespread flooding in coming decades.
See Also:
● Buckle up, California. Some serious ‘precipitation whiplash’ predicted for the state Fresno Bee
● Wilder Weather Swings in California’s Future Could Spell Disaster KQED | Science
● Today: California’s Weather Whiplash Los Angeles Times
● California risks severe ‘whiplash’ from drought to flood: scientists Reuters
● Increasing precipitation volatility in twenty-first-century California Nature Climate Change
Drought Returns to Huge Swaths of U.S., Fueling Fears of a Thirsty Future
The Pew Charitable Trusts | Stateline
Nearly a third of the continental United States was in drought as of April 10, more than three times the coverage of a year ago. And the specter of a drought-ridden summer has focused renewed urgency on state and local conservation efforts, some of which would fundamentally alter Americans’ behavior in how they use water.
“Xtra”
Rabobank donates $20,000 to Community Food Bank
ABC30
The Community Food Bank in Fresno received a generous donation from Rabobank on Monday morning. Dan Stevens, the Chief Operating Officer, said they donated $20,000 and this is just one way for them to give back to the community.
Local SPCA asks public to help horses after found malnourished
ABC30
Several sick horses are on the road to recovery after investigators found them malnourished in Fresno County. According to officials, the horses will require extensive rehabilitation in order for them to return to a healthy condition.
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Maddy Institute Updated List of San Joaquin Valley Elected Officials HERE.
The Kenneth L. Maddy Institute at California State University, Fresno was established to honor the legacy of one of California’s most principled and effective legislative leaders of the last half of the 20th Century by engaging, preparing and inspiring a new generation of governmental leaders for the 21st Century. Its mission is to inspire citizen participation, elevate government performance, provide non-partisan analysis and assist in providing solutions for public policy issues important to the region, state and nation.
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