February 9, 2018

09Feb

TOP POLITICAL STORIES​​​​​​​

 

Local/Regional Politics:

 

State air board loses ruling over how it regulated diesel trucks and their pollution

Fresno Bee

A Fresno County judge was right to rule that a state regulator violated the California Environmental Quality Act by allowing small trucking companies to delay compliance with diesel air-quality regulations, an appellate court said. Fresno attorney Timothy Jones, who represented John R. Lawson Rock & Oil Inc., a Fresno-based plaintiff in a lawsuit against the California Air Resources Board, called the Fifth District Court of Appeal’s 43-page ruling a victory for clean air.

See also:

·       Coke Hallowell:  Why isn’t the air district protecting the Valley?Fresno Bee

·       Stockton air quality, early spring ‘devil’s mix’ for breathing KCRA Sacramento

·       Nationwide study of U.S. seniors strengthens link between air pollution and premature death  Harvard School of Public Health

·       Study on fertilizer and smog is alarmist  Sacramento Bee

 

These Valley residents are ‘tired of being forgotten’

Fresno Bee

Approximately 1,500 people rallied at the Capitol on Thursday asking legislators to end health disparities in California’s breadbasket, which has some of the highest child poverty rates and the worst air quality in the state. Nearly 4 million people live in the San Joaquin Valley, and many still lack access to health care, clean water and food, according to the Sierra Health Foundation, an organizer of the rally.

See also

Local legislators request grant to fund Valley Fever research, outreach 

ABC23

Senator Jean Fuller, Assemblyman Vince Fong, and Assemblyman Rudy Salas of Bakersfield submitted a request for a $3 million budget for a grant to fund Valley Fever research and outreach. The request was made to the Senate and Assembly Budget Committee.

Where do the most educated millennials live?

Brookings

Several Valley towns rank in the bottom ten nationwide.

Resisting the resistance: anti-liberal rage brews in California’s right wing

The Guardian

In California’s Central Valley an unexpected item is popping up for sale in souvenir stores: Confederate flags. There’s a growing market for the hate symbol. “There’s been an atmosphere of comfort for folks that were holding these very extreme conservative views,” said Angel Garcia, an activist in Tulare County, an agricultural region where Confederate imagery has become commonplace in immigrant communities

Report of man armed with gun at south Bakersfield business prompts school lockdowns

Bakersfield Californian

A report of a man armed with a gun in south Bakersfield prompted the lockdown of three nearby schools and a search of several businesses, according to sheriff’s officials.

Parents fear school shooting as police dispel rumors\

Visalia Times-Delta

A social media post threatening a shooting at Valley Oak Middle School has parents scared. Police are trying to calm fears, but parents continue to be cautious as school began Friday morning. There were at least four officers assigned to the campus Friday morning. The post went viral after a parent posted about a rumor regarding a school shooting. Visalia police, though, say the rumor is based on a threat made in another city.

Visalia City Council to talk Measure N, homelessness

Visalia Times-Delta

Visalia City Council will meet Friday for the annual strategic planning meeting to discuss Measure N and homelessness, among other things. The all-day meeting will review and realign the vision for the city in an attempt to anticipate and analyze future opportunities and challenges that the city will face, according to city officials.

Kaweah Delta pitches second tent, gives relief to local EMTs Visalia Times-Delta

Kaweah Delta Medical Center has officially opened its second temporary tent to help with the number of patients flooding into the emergency department. The flu season has taken hospitals around the country by storm and it didn’t skip over Tulare County. Kaweah Delta has seen an average of 500 positive flu cases each week.

See also:

Fresno City Council approves Grizzly Fest for Woodward Park

ABC30

Promoters have held the rap and hip-hop music event at the downtown baseball stadium, but this year’s plan is to make it a two-day event. They can add carnival rides and other attractions in the park and be closer to the fans. “Most of the people buying tickets live in Northeast and Northwest Fresno and so the promoters want a venue close to where the people are buying their tickets,” said Mayor Lee Brand.

 

Volunteer group takes on effort for southeast Fresno park

The Fresno Bee

An organization’s pledge to adopt a former U.S. Department of Agriculture research site and maintain it as a future park could represent a significant step toward providing more recreation area for park-poor southeast Fresno. The Southeast Fresno Regional Park and Soccer Complex Authority is entering an adopt-a-park agreement with the city of Fresno to care for 18 acres of a larger 49-acre property on the east side of Peach Avenue between Butler and Church avenues.

 

Fresno Unified votes to ratify teachers’ agreement, with hopes of not taxing residents

Fresno Bee

The Fresno Unified school board on Wednesday voted 6-1 to ratify an agreement with the Fresno Teachers Association, effectively ending more than a year of negotiations and the threat of a teacher strike. Trustee Brooke Ashjian was the only member to cast a dissenting vote, although some trustees hesitated on a single part of the agreement – how the district will work on decreasing class sizes without taxing residents.

Bakersfield City Council approves budget amendments

Bakersfield Now

The Bakersfield City Council on Wednesday gave approval to three topics pertaining to safety concerns. The first was an agreement between the city manager and the Bakersfield Bicyclist and Pedestrian Safety Plan, which identifies areas of improvement for bicycle lanes throughout Bakersfield.

Jones criticizes fellow council member Sigala after Sacramento trip

Visalia Times-Delta

Tulare Mayor Carlton Jones criticized Councilman Jose Sigala, who said he was the city’s representative for a recent trip to Sacramento to support an audit request into Tulare hospital’s finances.

Former general manager of community services district in Tehachapi charged with misappropriation of public funds

Bakersfield Californian

Prosecutors filed felony charges Thursday against the former general manager of the Mountain Meadows Community Services District in Tehachapi who they say misappropriated more than $140,000 of public funds. Richard E. Williford is charged with 18 felony counts of unlawful appropriation of public funds and six felony counts of entering into contracts with the district in which he had a personal financial interest, according to the District Attorney’s office.

As Madera falls deeper into debt, city employees’ salaries come into question

KMPH FOX 26

People in Madera now want answers when it comes to city employees’ salaries.Especially since the city is estimated to be about $1.8 million in debt.

Regional support for homeless ‘czar’ grows

Stockton Record

The push to hire a homeless “czar” to coordinate efforts across the county appears to be gaining regional support, with the city of Lodi agreeing to pay its share this week despite earlier reservations.

Farmersville’s Innovative Dual Roundabouts Welcome Visitors

PublicCEO

Farmersville, a rural city of 11,248 residents located a few miles from Visalia, faced major circulation challenges at its main entrance from Highway 198. Traffic often backed up at multiple stop signs. Pedestrians lacked sidewalks to reach businesses and restaurants. The substandard conditions discouraged developers from investing in potential industrial and commercial sites.

 

State Politics:

 

Newsom, Villaraigosa Emerge From Pack In New California Governor Poll

capradio.org

Two Democrats in this year’s race for California governor have emerged as the clear favorites in the June primary, according to a new Public Policy Institute of California poll. It shows Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa locked in a virtual tie.Newsom tops the seven-candidate field at 23 percent of likely voters — right where he was in the last PPIC surveyconducted in mid-November. Villaraigosa gained ground — up from 18 percent in November to 21 percent now — thanks to modest surges in support among Democrats and Latinos.

 

GOP Voters Could Decide Governor’s Race

Fox and Hounds Daily

The Public Policy Institute of California poll revealed a tight race for governor between Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa with nary a Republican in sight. Yet, in the end it may be Republican voters who could choose the next governor because of California’s top two primary system.

 

Assemblywoman leading #MeToo movement at California Capitol accused of sexual misconduct

Sacramento Bee

An outspoken California lawmaker who has been at the forefront of the Capitol’s anti-sexual harassment movement is herself under investigation for allegedly groping a former legislative staff member.

See also:

·       California Assembly speaker says allegations against assemblywoman are under investigation Los Angeles Times

·       Female California lawmaker behind #MeToo push is accused of groping male staffer Washington Post

·       Californians are paying attention to how the Capitol handles its harassment scandals — and they’ve got mixed reviews Los Angeles Times

 

 

Federal Politics:

 

Trump Signs Spending Package, Ending Short Shutdown

Roll Call

President Donald Trump on Friday signed a six-week stopgap spending bill featuring a sweeping budget deal following a holdup in the Senate that sent ripples waves across the country and briefly shuttered the government. But he slammed Democrats for insisting it include “much waste.” “Just signed bill,” Trump tweeted around 8:45 a.m.

See also:

·       California’s senators vote against spending bill to keep the government open Los Angeles Times

·       Relief for California in Bipartisan Budget Deal Fox and Hounds Daily

 

Trump Likely Has Authority To Extend DACA Deadline, Experts Say

Roll Call

Legal experts dispute a claim from some senior Trump administration officials that President Donald Trump lacks the legal authority to extend his own deadline for ending an immigration program that protects nearly 700,00 people from deportation. Senior White House and Cabinet officials in recent days have sent mixed messages about whether Trump could merely amend a September executive order that gave Congress until March 5 to legalize the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

 

False claim GOP tax plan “nothing more than a middle-class tax increase”

PolitiFact California

Like many California Democrats, Assemblyman Phil Ting is no fan of the Republican tax plan signed by President Donald Trump. He has likened it to a tax giveaway for big corporations. The San Francisco lawmaker has proposed a surcharge on large companies in California, to claw back some of the billions of tax dollars that would be lost to the state under the plan. Such a bill, Ting said, would “help blunt the impact of the federal tax plan on everyday Californians.”

 

Californians rally against Trump’s offshore oil drilling proposal

CALmatters

Protestors wearing dolphin, shark and polar bear costumes joined the throngs who descended on Sacramento Thursday to speak out against the Trump administration’s proposal to expand oil drilling in federal waters off the California coast.

See also:

·       Federal ‘open house’ on oil drilling angers activists in Sacramento San Jose Mercury News

 

Trump picks California lawyer to head IRS

Washington Post

President Trump said Thursday he will nominate California tax attorney Charles Rettig to lead the Internal Revenue Service as it puts the Republican tax overhaul into practice. Rettig, who has been with Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Hochman, Salkin, Rettig, Toscher & Perez for 35 years, would succeed IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. If confirmed by the Senate, Rettig would join the agency as it struggles with limited resources and a possible restructuring by Congress. The term is seven years, the White House said in a statement.

 

Clendaniel: How California governor’s race could impact 2020 presidential election

The Mercury News

I didn’t fully appreciate the importance of this year’s California race for governor until my conversation Wednesday with Stanford political science Professor Bruce Cain. My focus had been on the critical decision of who would best drive the state’s future. I’ve been looking for someone with a bold, innovative vision for solving California’s most pressing issues. Someone who would build on Gov. Jerry Brown’s work bringing economic stability back to the state budget.

 

Two California GOP seats moved in Democrats’ favor by election prognosticator

Los Angeles Times

Following last week’s campaign finance reports, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report is saying Democrats have a better chance of winning two Republican-held seats in California. Rep. Tom McClintock’s Northern California seat, was moved to likely Republican, down from solid Republican.

 

Commentary: What’s really wrong with US infrastructure? The feds are standing in the way

Hanford Sentinel

In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump described the goal of his infrastructure plans: to cover the nation with “gleaming new roads” built with “American grit” — to emulate the great projects of the past, such as the Empire State Building.

 

Supreme Court’s conservatives appear set to strike down union fees on free-speech grounds

Los Angeles Times

Paying union dues and baking a wedding cake may not seem like classic examples of free speech—except perhaps at the Supreme Court. This year, the high court is poised to announce its most significant expansion of the 1st Amendment since the Citizens United decision in 2010, which struck down laws that limited campaign spending by corporations, unions and the very wealthy.

See also:

·       What Janus v. AFSCME means for California OCRegister

 

Other:

 

What do you want to know about California government?

CALmatters

What the heck does a lieutenant governor do? Why is my rent so incredibly high? How come I could only choose between two Democrats in the last U.S. Senate race? At CALmatters, we’re focused on chasing stories that you want covered. Your questions are important to our editorial process: We’ll curate your ideas, assign them to reporters and create stories and videos to explain how our state’s government really works.

 

Opinion: March Fong Eu blazed trail of political diversity

Mercury News

Last month, I attended the funeral of trailblazing California politician March Fong Eu, who died in December at the age of 95. Eu, born in 1922 in Oakdale in Stanislaus County, where her parents ran a hand-wash laundry, became the first Asian American woman to hold an elected constitutional statewide office in the United States.

 

Truth Decay: An Initial Exploration of the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life

RAND

Over the past two decades, national political and civil discourse in the United States has been characterized by “Truth Decay,” defined as a set of four interrelated trends: an increasing disagreement about facts and analytical interpretations of facts and data; a blurring of the line between opinion and fact; an increase in the relative volume, and resulting influence, of opinion and personal experience over fact; and lowered trust in formerly respected sources of factual information.

 

 

 

MADDY INSTITUTE PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAMMING

 

Sunday, February 11, at 10 a.m. on ABC 30 – Maddy Report: 2017: The Year That Was​ – Guests: John Myers (LA Times) and Dan Walters (CalMatters). Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.

 

Sunday, February 11, at 10 a.m. on Newstalk 580AM/105.9FM (KMJ) –Maddy Report: “State Politics: The Year Past & the Year Ahead” – Guests: John Myers (LA Times) and Dan Walters (CalMatters). Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler. 

 

Sunday, February 11, at 7:30 a.m. on UniMas 61 (KTTF) – Informe Maddy:2017: The Year That Was  Guest:Liam Dillon with LA Times. Host: Maddy Institute Program Coordinator, Maria Jeans.

 

 

Support the Maddy Daily HERE.

Thank you!

 

 

Topics in More Detail…

 

AGRICULTURE/FOOD

 

This is a tractor lover’s dream. Five things to know about the World Ag Expo

Fresno Bee

The World Ag Expo, the biggest farm equipment and technology show of its kind, is on its was back to Tulare. From Feb. 13-15, the grounds of the International Agri-Center will be invaded by more than 100,000 people and 1,500 vendors. Visitors come from all over the world and nation. Last year, people from 43 states and 70 countries attended.

 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE / FIRE / PUBLIC SAFETY

 

Crime:

 

California DMV worker used driver’s license records to steal identities, federal government says

Sacramento Bee

A worker at California’s Department of Motor Vehicles, which is the subject on an ongoing federal bribery probe into the misuse of department computer files, has been accused of using driver’s license records in an elaborate mail and identity theft case.

 

Better justice through local funding control

OCRegister

It’s no secret that California’s clogged courts are seriously underfunded. Gov. Brown recently augmented his proposed budget for next year with $75 million in discretionary funding for the state’s trial courts, and an additional $47.8 million for trial court operations. In theory, that’s a good start. But only if applied in ways that directly address some of the most pressing issues currently facing our courts.

 

Public Safety:

 

Parents fear school shooting as police dispel rumors

Visalia Times-Delta

A social media post threatening a shooting at Valley Oak Middle School has parents scared. Police are trying to calm fears, but parents continue to be cautious as school began Friday morning. There were at least four officers assigned to the campus Friday morning. The post went viral after a parent posted about a rumor regarding a school shooting. Visalia police, though, say the rumor is based on a threat made in another city.

 

Report of man armed with gun at south Bakersfield business prompts school lockdowns

Bakersfield Californian

A report of a man armed with a gun in south Bakersfield prompted the lockdown of three nearby schools and a search of several businesses, according to sheriff’s officials. No person matching the description of the man was found. The incident began at about 9:15 a.m. Thursday when deputies were dispatched to a business in the 200 block of White Lane to a report of a man with a gun, according to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office. The suspect was described as a Hispanic man in his mid-20s, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt.

 

California Today: Earthquake Insurance Sales Spiked in 2017

New York Times

For years, scientists have warned that we are due for a major earthquake. But getting Californians to buy earthquake insurance was a difficult sell — only around 10 percent of households in the state have it.

 

ECONOMY / JOBS

 

Economy:

 

US stocks waver a day after entering a ‘correction’

Fresno Bee

U.S. stocks wavered between small gains and losses in morning trading Friday, giving up some of a big jump that came right after the opening bell. The strong open came a day after the market entered a “correction” for the first time in two years.

See also:

·       Stocks Plunge as Market Enters ‘Correction’ Territory The New York Times

 

Jobs:

 

Though Valley economy seems healthy, some jobs lost in the Great Recession are still gone

Fresno Bee

In 2007, more people in Fresno County had jobs than at any previous point in the county’s history. The central San Joaquin Valley’s economy was relatively healthy, and the county’s annual unemployment rate was 8.6 percent – higher than the state average but the third-lowest measurement of any year since 1990.

 

Don’t make it more difficult for workers to recover stolen pay

Sacramento Bee

It’s hard to feel optimistic about the future when your boss steals the wages you earned picking vegetables in the blazing sun, doing back-breaking construction work, sweating over a garment factory sewing machine around the clock or pulling 12-hour shifts in a restaurant kitchen that pays no overtime. Yet the California Chamber of Commerce has ironically proposed to “help” Californians by allowing fewer workers to recover their stolen pay.

 

State Supreme Court unanimous ruling allows big fines for unsafe workplaces

San Francisco Chronicle

California prosecutors can seek substantial fines against employers whose workplaces are unsafe, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday in the case of a Southern California plastics factory where an explosion killed two workers in 2009.

 

Be wary of bonuses: They’re going straight onto nation’s credit card

Modesto Bee

Last month, when the CEO for Alaska Airlines announced he would give surprise $1,000 bonuses to all his employees, he portrayed the money as a sort of manna from heaven. “There are moments in life – and in the history of a company – when you receive unexpected benefits,” CEO Brad Tilden wrote, citing the new tax-cut law passed by Congress. “This is one of those times, and we want to share some of this benefit with you.”

 

GrubHub drivers are independent contractors — not employees — under California law, judge rules

Los Angeles Times

In a significant court decision on the status of “gig economy” workers, a federal judge ruled drivers for GrubHub Inc. are independent contractors and not employees. The ruling may have far-reaching implications for other sharing economy companies, including Uber Technologies Inc., whose business models are built on pairing customers with products and services through apps and typically avoid the costs of traditional employment.

 

Solar jobs down 14% in California, 3.8% nationally

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Solar jobs in California were down 14 percent in 2017, dragging down national numbers for the industry, according to an annual report.

 

Another bogus gender injustice claim made it in the Super Bowl

AEI

For the past two years, the Super Bowl has run ads promoting equal pay for equal work. A 2017 Audi ad showed a scrappy little girl in a box car race. Her worried father asks, “Do I tell her that despite her education, her skills, her drive, her intelligence, she will automatically be valued as less than every man she ever meets?” This year, a T-Mobile spot assured a group of adorable babies: “You will demand fair and equal pay. … You will be heard, not dismissed.”

 

Social Security Can’t Be a Piggy Bank for Parental Leave

Bloomberg

As you’d expect, the speaker of the House of Representatives and the vice president were seated behind President Donald Trump during the State of the Union address last month, nodding, clapping and rising to their feet. One moment, though, was different.

 

New Evidence on Cyclical Variation in Labor Costs in the U.S.

The National Bureau of Economic Research

Employer-provided nonwage benefit expenditures now account for one-third of U.S. firms’ labor costs. We show that a broad measure of real labor costs including such benefit expenditures has become countercyclical during 1982-2014, contrary to the conventional view that labor costs are procyclical. Using BLS establishment-job data, we find that even real wages, the main focus of prior literature, have become countercyclical.

 

EDUCATION

 

K-12:

 

Fresno Unified votes to ratify teachers’ agreement, with hopes of not taxing residents

Fresno Bee

The Fresno Unified school board on Wednesday voted 6-1 to ratify an agreement with the Fresno Teachers Association, effectively ending more than a year of negotiations and the threat of a teacher strike. Trustee Brooke Ashjian was the only member to cast a dissenting vote, although some trustees hesitated on a single part of the agreement – how the district will work on decreasing class sizes without taxing residents.

 

Opinion: Homeschools didn’t cause Riverside County child torture

The Sacramento Bee

Last month, a malnourished 17-year-old girl escaped a house in the inland Southern California town of Perris and called the Riverside County sheriff using a purloined cellphone. She reported her brothers and sisters were being held captive by their parents in squalid conditions. The girl was so diminutive, authorities didn’t believe at first the teen was as old as she said.

 

Greenfield Union School District kids try their hands at being chefs

Bakersfield Californian

Cooks were whipping up different dishes in the Ollivier Middle School cafeteria on Thursday night, but it wasn’t the normal kitchen staff that was cooking. Eight children from the Greenfield Union School District showed off their culinary skills in a Breakfast of Champions kids cooking contest at the school. One student from each grade level through seventh grade each made a breakfast dish, vying to win best recipe in the district.

 

California’s ambitious education reforms paying off in higher graduation rates and math scores, study finds

EdSource

California’s sweeping education reforms championed by Gov. Jerry Brown have resulted in higher graduation rates and especially significant gains in math among low-income students in the 11th grade, according to a new study.

See also:

·       Research shows California schools are narrowing achievement gaps  The Mercury News

 

Teacher unions kept from delivering complaints to DeVos

TheHill

The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association were among the groups that attempted to deliver more than 80,000 report cards to DeVos grading her performance during her first year in the job.However, the groups were blocked from entering the Education Department building because they did not have an appointment.

 

California would bar organized tackle football before high school under new bill –

Los Angeles Times

Just days after the Super Bowl, Assembly members Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) and Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) said they are introducing the “Safe Youth Football Act,” legislation that will be considered this year by state lawmakers.

 

Higher Ed:

 

A Community College online? Gov. Brown’s plan re-imagines cyber learning, but faces skeptics

CALmatters

Laticia Middleton perches in front of a computer at the Greater Sacramento Urban League’s job center, scanning employment ads. At 30, with two children, a high school diploma and a job at a call center, Middleton is the kind of student Gov. Jerry Brown has in mind as he pushes for a new online community college.

 

Community colleges move to improve training for entertainment, digital jobs

89.3 KPCC

Los Angeles and Orange County area community colleges are starting a push to improve the training they offer for middle-skill jobs in the entertainment and digital industries.

 

At Cal State, first-generation black students face the greatest need

Los Angeles Times

Cal State students who are African American and the first in their families to attend college struggle most with food and housing insecurity, including homelessness, according to a new survey by the nation’s largest public university system.

 

ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY

 

Environment:

 

State air board loses ruling over how it regulated diesel trucks and their pollution

Fresno Bee

A Fresno County judge was right to rule that a state regulator violated the California Environmental Quality Act by allowing small trucking companies to delay compliance with diesel air-quality regulations, an appellate court said. Fresno attorney Timothy Jones, who represented John R. Lawson Rock & Oil Inc., a Fresno-based plaintiff in a lawsuit against the California Air Resources Board, called the Fifth District Court of Appeal’s 43-page ruling a victory for clean air.

See also:

·       Coke Hallowell:  Why isn’t the air district protecting the Valley?Fresno Bee

·       Stockton air quality, early spring ‘devil’s mix’ for breathing KCRA Sacramento

·       Nationwide study of U.S. seniors strengthens link between air pollution and premature death  Harvard School of Public Health

·       Study on fertilizer and smog is alarmist  Sacramento Bee

 

In rare Sacramento appearance, Schwarzenegger says Trump’s EPA chief needs to go

Los Angeles Times

California’s most well-known Republican didn’t mince words Thursday in assessing the record of President Trump’s chief environmental adviser, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “He is without any doubt the wrong person at that place,” former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said. “He does not represent the people. He only represents the special interests. He should be removed immediately.”

 

Chevron fights California cities’ climate-change lawsuits with ‘creative lawyering’

Los Angeles Times

If Chevron Corp. has caused climate change and needs to pay for its damage, so should pretty much every company that has ever explored for oil and gas near North America, as well as manufacturers of cars and equipment that burn fuel, plus consumers.

 

California Today: Earthquake Insurance Sales Spiked in 2017

The New York Times

For years, scientists have warned that we are due for a major earthquake. But getting Californians to buy earthquake insurance was a difficult sell — only around 10 percent of households in the state have it. Then came the natural disasters of 2017. Glenn Pomeroy, chief executive of the California Earthquake Authority, the nonprofit organization that oversees the insurance program, says that fires and mudslides in California, the flooding in Houston, and the earthquakes in Mexico all helped persuade many more Californians to sign up.

 

Energy:

 

PG&E’s federal tax break would go to customers under new bill

San Francisco Chronicle

The bill — SB 1028, from state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo — would apply to companies that provide electricity, gas, water or in some cases telephone services. It would require the California Public Utilities Commission, which oversees such companies, to adjust customers’ rates within 90 days of determining how much each utility will save.

 

Californians call federal public hearing on oil drilling ‘a sham’

San Francisco Chronicle

Those who traveled to the state capital to voice their opposition to President Trump’s plans to expand offshore oil drilling left a public hearing Thursday in anger and disbelief that there was no microphone or panel of federal officials to listen to their concerns.

 

California says will block crude oil from Trump offshore drilling plan

Reuters

California will block the transportation through its state of petroleum from new offshore oil rigs, officials told Reuters on Wednesday, a move meant to hobble the Trump administration’s effort to vastly expand drilling in U.S. federal waters.California’s plan to deny pipeline permits for transporting oil from new leases off the Pacific Coast is the most forceful step yet by coastal states trying to halt the biggest proposed expansion in decades of federal oil and gas leasing.

 

The Energy 202: Budget deal picks winners and losers in energy industry

Washington Post

Just after 5:30 a.m. Friday morning, Congress moved to end the blink-and-you-missed-it five-hour government shutdown. The deal sets spending levels for two years, including a massive increase in military spending and a significant boost to domestic programs. It also includes coveted tax breaks for the energy sector.

 

 

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

 

Health:

 

 

Covered California reports big jump in new enrollees

Sacramento Bee

Covered California finished 2018 open enrollment with 423,484 new enrollees signing up for coverage, so the agency’s leader isn’t worried about his agency’s continued existence. What worries Peter Lee is the fate of the roughly 800,000 Californians who don’t get financial help and who buy their insurance, not through Covered California, but on the individual market.

See also:

·       ACA’s state-run insurance exchanges fare better than the law’s federal marketplace The Washington Post

 

Kaweah Delta pitches second tent, gives relief to local EMTs

Visalia Times-Delta

Kaweah Delta Medical Center has officially opened its second temporary tent to help with the number of patients flooding into the emergency department. The flu season has taken hospitals around the country by storm and it didn’t skip over Tulare County. Kaweah Delta has seen an average of 500 positive flu cases each week.

See also:

·       It’s the first time this hospital has needed a second tent to handle flu patients Fresno Bee

 

State air board loses ruling over how it regulated diesel trucks and their pollution

Fresno Bee

A Fresno County judge was right to rule that a state regulator violated the California Environmental Quality Act by allowing small trucking companies to delay compliance with diesel air-quality regulations, an appellate court said. Fresno attorney Timothy Jones, who represented John R. Lawson Rock & Oil Inc., a Fresno-based plaintiff in a lawsuit against the California Air Resources Board, called the Fifth District Court of Appeal’s 43-page ruling a victory for clean air.

See also:

·       Coke Hallowell:  Why isn’t the air district protecting the Valley?Fresno Bee

·       Stockton air quality, early spring ‘devil’s mix’ for breathing KCRA Sacramento

·       Nationwide study of U.S. seniors strengthens link between air pollution and premature death  Harvard School of Public Health

·       Study on fertilizer and smog is alarmist  Sacramento Bee

 

Upsurge Of Suburban Poor Discover Health Care’s Nowhere Land

Washington Post

The promise of cheaper housing brought Shari Castaneda to Palmdale, Calif., in northern Los Angeles County, about nine years ago. The single mom with five kids had been struggling to pay the bills. “I kept hearing that the rent was a lot cheaper out here, so I moved,” she said.

 

Human Services:

 

California Nurse Puts Face On Billboards to Push Back Against ‘Abortion Reversal’ Science

Capital Public Radio

A largely unstudied procedure intended to reverse pill-induced abortions is again causing an uproar between pro-choice and pro-life health care providers.

 

CalWORKs Grants Are Overdue for a Significant Investment

California Budget & Policy Center

The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program is a critical component of California’s safety net for families with low incomes. CalWORKs supports about 860,000 children throughout the state by providing families with modest monthly cash grants, while helping parents overcome barriers to employment and find work. Policymakers made a number of cuts to CalWORKs during and after the Great Recession, including reducing grant levels and eliminating the annual state cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Recent years’ budgets have incrementally increased CalWORKs grant levels, but this has not been adequate to restore cuts made in prior years.

 

IMMIGRATION

 

Employers, Immigrants Grapple With Uncertainty Over TPS Work Permits

KQED

Mariano Guzman has worked as a truck driver for a San Francisco Bay Area waste management company for 17 years. But last month, the 55-year-old Honduran immigrant got a major surprise when he showed up for his job south of San Francisco. Guzman’s employer said he couldn’t keep his job because his work authorization document had just expired.

 

Democrats’ Immigration Mistake: Radicalism Helps Trump

National Review

The president’s overly generous proposal on immigration, which provides an amnesty and pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million illegal aliens who were brought to America as children in exchange for ending chain migration and the diversity visa lottery and beginning to fund a border wall, was greeted with predictable howls of indignation on the left. But while Nancy Pelosi and her media enablers may see Trump’s immigration framework as “an act of staggering cowardice which attempts to hold the Dreamers hostage to a hateful anti-immigrant scheme,” it is Pelosi and her Democratic brethren who are dangerously out of touch with American public opinion.

 

Opinion: Trump’s immigration policies are a windfall for China and India

PBS NewsHour

During a visit to the United States in 2000, then-Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was offered high praise for the booming American economy and its ripple effect on the rest of the world. “Your successes have put India in a very positive light and have shown us what is possible in India,” Vajpayee to me in a one-on-one meeting during his visit. He also said he would love to see Indian-American entrepreneurs return home to help build India’s nascent technology industry.

 

LAND USE/HOUSING

 

Land Use:

 

There’s a shortage of parks in southeast Fresno. One group steps up with plans to help

Fresno Bee

An organization’s pledge to adopt a former U.S. Department of Agriculture research site and maintain it as a future park could represent a significant step toward providing more recreation area for park-poor southeast Fresno.

 

Housing:

 

Opinion: Easing building rules near transit key for needed housing

The Mercury News

California’s chronic and well-documented housing crisis has been generations in the making and will not be fixed overnight. But the days of legislative inaction or half measures may be nearing their deserved end. Last year, state lawmakers finally prioritized housing, sending a package of 15 bills to Gov. Jerry Brown to increase the affordability and supply of new housing.

 

PUBLIC FINANCES

Former general manager of community services district in Tehachapi charged with misappropriation of public funds

The Bakersfield Californian

Prosecutors filed felony charges Thursday against the former general manager of the Mountain Meadows Community Services District in Tehachapi who they say misappropriated more than $140,000 of public funds.

 

TRANSPORTATION

 

Union Pacific signals it will not make 2018 federal deadline to fully operate key crash-prevention system

Sacramento Bee

Union Pacific Railroad, the largest freight carrier in California and the West, revealed this week that it will not meet this year’s deadline to have a federally mandated crash-prevention system fully up and running.

 

Trump administration deals a big setback to Caltrain

SFGate

In the first big hit to the Bay Area from the Trump administration, newly minted Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has put the brakes on $647 million for Caltrain to go electric — and in the process pretty much killed hopes for high-speed rail coming to San Francisco anytime soon. “It puts the (electrification) project in serious jeopardy,” Caltrain spokesman Seamus Murphy said Friday.

 

California’s Golden Opportunity to Leverage Low Cost Sensors to Improve Street Maintenance

PublicCEO

We stand on the brink of a historic shift. A report commissioned by The Bloomberg Aspen Initiative on Cities and Autonomous Vehicles finds that Autonomous Vehicles will spread across the globe faster than the automobile in the 20th century. While this new frontier makes new demands on city streets, unfunded maintenance challenges public managers to do more with less.

 

Farmersville’s Innovative Dual Roundabouts Welcome Visitors

PublicCEO

Farmersville, a rural city of 11,248 residents located a few miles from Visalia, faced major circulation challenges at its main entrance from Highway 198. Traffic often backed up at multiple stop signs. Pedestrians lacked sidewalks to reach businesses and restaurants. The substandard conditions discouraged developers from investing in potential industrial and commercial sites.

 

San Francisco sues California over ride-hailing licenses

Sacramento Bee

A California law allowing Uber and Lyft drivers to have a single business license to drive anywhere in the state is depriving San Francisco of fees that could offset maintenance and traffic costs created by ride-hailing services, San Francisco officials said in a lawsuit filed Thursday against the state.

 

WATER

 

Oroville Dam crisis sparks $51 billion suit

The Sacramento Bee

The state got hit with another lawsuit over the Oroville Dam emergency, and this one is enormous. Butte County’s district attorney sued the Department of Water Resources on Wednesday for the environmental damage created by last February’s crisis. In particular, District Attorney Michael Ramsey said DWR should have to pay between $34 billion and $51 billion for the tons of concrete, rock and other debris that fell into the Feather River below the dam.

 

How dry is this winter? Sierra snowpack on pace to shatter record low of 2015

San Francisco Chronicle

There’s less snowpack in the Sierra Nevada now than on the same date three years ago, when the winter was the driest in recorded history. Forecasters see no major storms for at least the next 10 days

 

‘Ridiculously Resilient Ridge’, Climate Change and the Future of California’s Water

Water Education Foundation

Every day, people flock to Daniel Swain’s social media platforms to find out the latest news and insight about California’s notoriously unpredictable weather. Swain, a climate scientist at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, famously coined the term “Ridiculously Resilient Ridge” in December 2013 to describe the large, formidable high-pressure mass that was parked over the West Coast during winter and diverted storms away from California, intensifying the drought.

 

“Xtra”

 

Bakersfield College announces planetarium showings

Bakersfield Californian

Bakersfield College’s planetarium is holding shows starting this month. The first will be on Feb. 15 and will focus on black holes. There will also be shows on Feb. 22, March 15, March 23 and April 19 at the planetarium, located on the second floor on the northwest end of the Math-Science Building, Room 112 at the college, 1801 Panorama Dr. All shows run from 7:30-8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults or $8 for seniors and children under 12 years old. Here’s a breakdown of what each show will be about…

 

Take me home! Dogs available for adoption

Bakersfield Californian

These four dogs at Kern County Animal Services are looking for their forever homes. Can you help? Kern County Animal Services 3951 Fruitvale Ave., 868-7100, Facebook.com/KernCountyAnimalServices. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 2 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays. Visit any Wednesday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. for a weekly low-cost vaccination, licensing and microchipping clinic.

 

The Mountain Area offers up valentines events for all

Sierra Star

Valentine’s Day may be a curse for some or a day of joy for others but this year the Mountain Area offers up happiness for everyone. Whether you are in love or single, here are some local things to do.

 

Clovis Heritage Walk adds five more banners

Clovis Roundup

The City of Clovis honored five famous residents by unveiling cultural honoree banners in their honor Thursday morning along the Old Town Trail. The new banners, which are displayed on the Clovis Heritage Walk section of the trail, feature the images of rodeo champion Wilbur Plaugher, former Major League Baseball pitcher Mark Gardner, race car legend Michael “Blackie” Gejeian, Olympic gold-medalist Cathy Ferguson and former United States Ambassador Phillip Sanchez.

 

Valley Cultural Calendar

Valley Cultural Coalition

Great things are happening in the Valley. Here’s a list of VCC member offerings to keep you busy and entertained!

 

EDITORIALS

 

No matter who wins Waymo vs. Uber, everybody else will lose

Sacramento Bee

It’s hard to look away when billionaires collide – especially when one of those billionaires is the hard-charging former CEO of Uber, known for running over the little man in the name of “disruption” and higher corporate profits.?

 

Pelosi commands notice on immigration with an 8-hour speech

Los Angeles Times

An eight-hour speech on the floor of Congress grabs attention, but so should the subject and pressure-packed timing. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi turned in a full workday at the podium putting thousands of “Dreamers” at the center of a must-have budget deal.

 

Single-payer health care is still too costly for California

OCRegister

Sacramento’s push for statewide single-payer health care has taken another faltering step forward. Although state action on universal care is more consistent with America’s laboratory of democracy than an inescapable federal plan, it’s still unaffordable and unwise for the state to take it on.

 

State politicians can hide no longer on sexual harassment         

OCRegister

Four years running, pre-#MeToo, the California Legislature killed bills offered up by both a conservative Republican woman and a centrist Democratic man to extend whistleblower protections to legislative employees making complaints about sexual harassment.

 

 

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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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