October 5, 2017

05Oct

TOP POLITICAL STORIES​​​​​​​

Local/Regional Politics:

California Republicans (Denham and Valadao) who co-sponsored Democrats’ Dream Act not going to help force a vote

LA Times

California Reps. Jeff Denham and David Valadao co-sponsored Democrats’ legislative fix to address expiring protections for young immigrants, but they don’t plan to join the effort to force a vote on it.

New ads criticize Valadao, Denham on Health Care

The Fresno Bee

Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, is one of two San Joaquin Valley congressmen being targeted in a new Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ad campaign that focuses on health care.

Pence coming to Bakersfield for fundraiser

bakersfield.com

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will visit Bakersfield next week, according to KGET Channel 17 News.

Heads of county, 2 cities talk vagrants, SR 99, other common issues

Madera Tribune

In a first-of-it’s kind workshop, members of the Madera County Board of Supervisors, mayors and members of the Madera and Chowchilla city councils and their staffs gathered to discuss shared challenges such as homelessness, ground water sustainability, high-speed rail, and jointly lobbying the state for expansion of State Route 99 into three lanes.

City and School District work in tandem

Clovis Roundup

On Sept. 18, Clovis Unified hosted the annual joint city council school board meeting at its technology service center. For the first time in the meeting’s history, which dates back to 2003 and was started under the leadership of then Mayor Lynne Ashbeck, all council and board members were present to share their thoughts and ideas on the state of the community.

State Politics:

PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Their Government

Public Policy Institute of California

Key findings from the current survey.

Poll: Majority opposes repealing gas tax increases in California

LA Times

The first poll on a proposed ballot measure indicates 53.9% of California residents oppose repealing a new gas tax and vehicle fee hike. 

The education of Antonio Villaraigosa

The Sacramento Bee

Antonio Villaraigosa speaks about struggles as a high school student.

See also:

·       What labor unions are saying about Antonio Villaraigosa

New Lawsuit by Ed Blum Attacks Constitutionality of California Voting Rights Act

Election Law Blog

Here is the complaint and here is the press release.

Gov. Jerry Brown says no to increasing penalty for secret ‘body shaming’ photography 

Los Angeles Times

The proposal, Senate Bill 784 by Sen. Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton), was intended to deter the type of “body shaming” that occurs when someone mocks another person’s appearance by surreptitiously taking pictures of them.

Federal Politics:

See stories on Cong. Denham and Valadao, above (under “Local”)

Trump pushes for Senate intel panel probe of ‘Fake News Networks’ in U.S. POLITICO

President Donald Trump urged Congress Thursday morning to launch an investigation of the news media, wondering online “why so much of our news is just made up.”

Tax Reform:

·       Poll: 48 percent approve of Trump’s tax proposal POLITICO

·       Can’t guarantee tax cut for entire middle class: Mnuchin  Reuters

·       Benefits of GOP-Trump Framework Tilted Toward the Richest Taxpayers in Each State  ITEP

·       Tax reform in the age of inequality  Brookings Institution

·       Conservatives hate deficits … except when they finance tax cuts  CNN Money

·       Officials fight to keep the state and local tax deduction  Marketplace

·       Reagan’s Argument for Eliminating the State and Local Tax Deduction National Review

·       Which companies use repatriated profits to reinvest?  Marketplace

·       Why is corporate interest a flashpoint for tax cutters? Marketplace

What’s at Stake in Current Federal Budget Proposals: Fact Sheets by Congressional District

California Budget & Policy Center

A number of current proposals at the federal level, put forth by the Trump Administration and congressional leaders, call for deep spending cuts to many important public services and systems that improve the lives of individuals and families across California. These cuts are proposed at a time when both President Trump and leaders in the House of Representatives have signaled support for major tax cuts that would largely benefit the wealthy and large corporations.

Other: 

Valley Resident Provides First-Hand Account Of Las Vegas Shooting

Valley Public Radio

Law enforcement in Las Vegas, Nevada are putting together the pieces of what lead to the most deadly mass shooting in modern American history. But already, the impacts are being felt here in the Central Valley.

Escape from Las Vegas Strip shooting — RAW VIDEO

Las Vegas Review-Journal

Horrific. Rapid gunfire and the harrowing night on film.

See also:

·       ‘I’ll see you in heaven,’ Laurie Beaton told her dying husband after he shielded her from Vegas gunman bakersfield.com

·       Friend recounts tense hours as family learns of Bailey Schweitzer’s death in Las Vegas  bakersfield.com

·       House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy travels to Las Vegas with president to meet victims, first-responders bakersfield.com

·       Valley residents who survived deadly Las Vegas shooting return to Fresno, rejoin families The Fresno Bee

·       Survivors from California recount their terrifying escape from danger in Las Vegas LA Times

·       Majority of Las Vegas shooting victims were from Calif.  SFGate.com

·       More Americans killed by guns since 1968 than in all U.S. wars, columnist Nicholas Kristof writes  PunditFact

·       Dianne Feinstein pushes for tighter gun control laws The Fresno Bee

·       Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose daughter almost went to Vegas concert, proposes ban of ‘bump stock’ gun modifications  LA Times

·       Key GOP senators open to ‘bump stock’ ban POLITICO

·       Republicans Open to Banning ‘Bump Stocks’ Used in Massacre NYTimes.com

·       Pelosi: GOP Congress beholden to NRA, other gun interests PBS News Hour

·       The gun lobby: See how much your representative gets Politico

·       How is a ‘mass shooting’ defined? PolitiFact California

·       Misinformation Is the New Normal of Mass Shootings POLITICO

·       No, gun silencers wouldn’t have worsened the Las Vegas shooting PolitiFact

·       Fact Check: Is Chicago Proof That Gun Laws Don’t Work? NPR

·       What More Is There to Say on Gun Laws? Bill Moyers

·       The Psychological Ripple Effects of Mass Shootings Bill Moyers

·       After Las Vegas mass shooting, Chris Young takes solace on stage The Fresno Bee

·       Creating a Stockton movement against gun violence recordnet.com

·       Candlelight vigil memorializes shooting victim bakersfield.com

·       Authorities probe Las Vegas gunman’s weapons stockpiling Reuters

·       George Skelton: Hey, NRA – Stop assuming everyone who’s a good guy will never become a bad guy  LA Times

·       Mass Shootings, Gun Control, and Shark Attacks  National Review

·       Las Vegas Shooting: How to Stop the Next Mass Shooter National Review

·       Nothing More Sharply Divides Americans Than Politics. It Wasn’t Always Like This  NPR

·       Las Vegas Shooting: Five reasons US gun control won’t happen BBC News

EDITORIALS

California Democrats should have let Shapiro speak

The Fresno Bee

The First Amendment can be so messy, as Senate Democrats surely must see.

Convening the first of multiple hearings into the rise of white supremacy in California, the Senate Judiciary Committee, controlled by Democrats like all of Sacramento, invited an august panel of speakers.

Editorial: Don’t cave to Big Ag; veto wasteful water rights bill

The Mercury News

Few things are as important to California’s 39.5 million residents as the quality and allocation of the state’s water.

Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley rail service is an old idea whose time has come again

The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento is, at heart, a rail city, though over the decades, trains became a thing of a bygone era. We didn’t know what we were giving up.

Our View: Does media coverage inspire new killers?

Bakerfield Californinan

With every violent man-made tragedy of national significance, we’ve come to expect a short list of inevitable questions. Are our gun laws strong enough? Do we adequately understand and address the more violent manifestations of mental illness? Has the amoral brutality of television, movies and computer games diminished our humanity? Have we forsaken God and he us?

The gun industry’s drive to circumvent gun laws helped make the Las Vegas massacre worse

LA Times

The non-gun-lovers among us — and maybe even a few gun lovers — have learned a couple of new terms over the last few days: “bump stock” and “trigger crank.” Without getting into the technical details, they are devices designed to let shooters fire semiautomatic rifles, which are generally legal to own, as though they were automatic rifles — machine guns — which generally are not legal to own. In other words, the bump stock, trigger crank and similar pieces of equipment dodge federal gun laws intended to keep most people from getting their hands on guns that fire bullets continuously and rapidly with a single pull of the trigger.

Consumers should have the right to go to court when they’re defrauded

LA Times

It’s bad enough that Wells Fargo employees, pressured by unrealistic sales goals, fraudulently opened as many as 3.5 million new bank and credit-card accounts without their customers’ knowledge or approval. The first time many of those customers realized what had been done in their names 

The Supreme Court must guarantee due process for noncitizens

LA Times

This week the Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases that pose the question of whether noncitizens should be afforded at least some of the due process of law that Americans take for granted. The answer in both cases should be a resounding yes.

AGRICULTURE/FOOD

Medfly infestation triggers quarantine in portion of Solano County

Central Valley Business Times

A quarantine has been declared due to a Mediterranean fruit fly infestation in Solano County, the California Department of Food and Agriculture says.

A total of four adult males and one unmated female have been detected. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Solano County Agricultural Commissioner, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture are working on this project.

Valley growers consider new hemp crop

KFSN-TV

Southern California’s Lawrence Serbin has traveled the world to bring hemp fiber products to Americans.

 

California marijuana grow houses account for 75 percent of U.S. indoor plants seized 

Sacramento Bee

California’s illegally grown marijuana, once largely produced in national forests and other outdoor locations, is increasingly found indoors, federal statistics show.

San Diego legalizes local supply chain for marijuana

The San Diego Union-Tribune

San Diego finalized its legalization of marijuana cultivation and manufacturing on Tuesday, becoming one of the few cities in the state to have a fully regulated supply chain for the drug.

Grandma’s guide to grass: State’s pot website cuts through cannabis haze

Orange County Register

Every day, Anna Denny encounters people who know their way around a joint.

Hundreds applied to be on California’s pot advisory committee. Here’s who got picked 

Los Angeles Times

With just three months left to draft new rules for marijuana sales in California, the state on Wednesday appointed a panel of industry members, health experts, law enforcement officials and union leaders to provide advice during the effort.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE​ ​/​ ​FIRE​ ​/​ ​PUBLIC SAFETY

Crime:

For stories on Las Vegas mass shooting, See: “Top Stories – Other,” above 

Acting Police Chief appointed in Tulare

Visalia Times Delta

Barry Jones, Tulare police’s longest-tenured officer, was named to lead the department after Police Chief Wes Hensley was placed on paid administrative leave late last week.

Fire:

Wildfires Put State Budgets Under Pressure

Pew

The wildfires that tore through over a million acres of Montana this year damaged homes, cloaked communities in smoke, and burned a hole in the state budget.   

Public Safety:

Quake warnings saved thousands in Mexico, but California might need private money to build similar system 

Orange County Register

When the Big One hits California – and seismologists say it’s not if, but when – there might not be blaring sirens or vibrating phones giving people a precious few seconds to prepare. At least, those warnings won’t come if a quake hits in the foreseeable future. California’s earthquake warning system, long discussed and partially built, remains incomplete and in limbo. And if the Trump administration has its way, it might be unfunded too.

ECONOMY / JOBS

Economy:

Want to pull Californians out of poverty?  Consider the EITC

CAFWD

California is a state that was once synonymous with economic opportunity. But in 2017, upward mobility is harder and harder to come by for those not born into privilege. Our state’s middle class is shrinking, and the pathways to reach it are drying up fast. We used to take it for granted that each generation would do better than the one before. Now, many young Californians would feel lucky just to do as well as their parents.

CalChamber Executive Team Announcement

CalChamber Advocacy

Jeanne Cain, CalChamber’s Executive Vice President of Policy, has announced that she will be leaving the organization effective February 1.  Cain, a 16-year veteran of the Chamber, will be devoting more time to her responsibilities as President of Fairview Farms, Inc., and will continue as a board member for California Women Lead.  She plans to add other projects in the public policy arena in the coming months.

Beyond HQ2: How should local economic development officials respond to Amazon?

Brookings Institution

Amazon’s recent announcement that it is soliciting bids from metro areas to establish a second headquarters site in North America has set off a predictable feeding frenzy within the economic development community. Hefty incentives are sure to be involved, and while these always merit deep skepticism and scrutiny, this is one of those unique cases where some level of creative incentives may be justified due to the highly competitive nature of the project and the expected economic impact. (Although as our colleagues Amy Liu and Mark Muro point out, Amazon’s RFP signals that it cares as much, if not more, about real investments in talent, quality infrastructure, and placemaking.) Whatever ultimately motivates Amazon’s decision, the HQ2 project represents a once in a lifetime opportunity that will be transformational for the city that is fortunate enough to win.

Jobs:

Training program lifts up underserved in the Central Valley into construction careers

CAFWD

Beatrice Siaz already had plans to change her life when her husband threw her and their children out of their Corcoran home. She was about to start a pre-apprenticeship training program and nothing was going to stop her. 

Closing the gender pay gap: Bill would make salary questions off-limits to California employers

The Mercury News

California employers would be barred from asking job applicants about their prior salaries if Gov. Jerry Brown signs into law a new bill seeking to close the state’s gender pay gap.               

California Game Changers: Reimagining Job Benefits in a Gig World

Capital and Main

Today’s tech revolution is just as disruptive as the manufacturing boom of a hundred years ago that shifted work from farms to factories.

The Employment Effects of Mexican Repatriations: Evidence from the 1930’s

National Bureau of Economic Research

During the period 1929-34 a campaign forcing the repatriation of Mexicans and Mexican Americans was carried out in the U.S. by states and local authorities. The claim of politicians at the time was that repatriations would reduce local unemployment and give jobs to Americans, alleviating the local effects of the Great Depression. This paper uses this episode to examine the consequences of Mexican repatriations on labor market outcomes of natives. Analyzing 893 cities using full count decennial Census data in the period 1930-40, we find that repatriation of Mexicans was associated with small decreases in native employment and increases in native unemployment. These results are robust to the inclusion of many controls. We then apply an instrumental variable strategy based on the differential size of Mexican communities in 1930, as well as a matching method, to estimate a causal “average treatment effect.” Confirming the OLS regressions, the causal estimates do not support the claim that repatriations had any expansionary effects on native employment, but suggest instead that they had no effect on, or possibly depressed, their employment and wages. 

EDUCATION

K-12:

 

Teachers vote to authorize a strike against Fresno Unified

The Fresno Bee

Fresno teachers voted overwhelmingly this week to authorize a strike over their contract talks with the Fresno Unified School District. But that doesn’t mean a strike is imminent, or even a foregone conclusion.

See also:

·       Fresno Unified Tweets: “Committed To Keeping Schools Open” If Strike Occurs  KMJ

·       Fresno Unified preparing for potential teacher strike abc30.com

Most California voters polled back private school vouchers for low-income kids

EdSource

Most California voters agree that low-income families have few choices about where to send their children, and a large majority favor providing government support, through tax credits or vouchers, to send low-income kids to the public or parochial school of their choice, a new poll by BerkeleyIGS/EdSource found. Voters are much more divided, however, over whether the same tax subsidies should be available to all parents, regardless of income.

See also:

·       Are California voters warming up to school vouchers? Sacramento Bee

·       Poll: Californians lean toward school choice, away from testing  San Jose Mercury

·       New poll: ‘Safe and positive school environment’ more important than higher test scores  EdSource

Higher Ed:

Trustees want more details before making decision on location of Oakhurst Community College Center

Sierra Star

The decision on where the new Oakhurst Community College Center will be built could be at least 30 to 60 days away, and possibly longer.

As DACA ends, UC Merced students worry about future

Merced Sun-Star

The final day to apply for the Obama-era initiative that has shielded young undocumented immigrants from deportation arrives Friday, leaving advocates for undocumented immigrants calling for a fix.

New law, which targets UC, will punish interference with state audits

San Francisco Chronicle

Political discourse is full of hype, obfuscation and downright lying — which is why two independent authorities play such vital roles in the state Capitol.

Dan Walters: New law, born of UC scandal, will punish interference with audits

CALmatters

Political discourse is full of hype, obfuscation and downright lying—which is why two independent authorities play such vital roles in the state Capitol.

ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY

Trump’s pick as EPA air pollution chief won’t pledge to maintain California’s authority

LA Times

When California defied Washington a decade ago by launching aggressive action on climate change, one official at the Environmental Protection Agency emerged as a nemesis for state leaders time and again.

San Jose eyes ban on gas-powered leaf blowers

San Jose Mercury News

In response to requests from hundreds of San Jose residents, Councilman Don Rocha said last week he is renewing an effort to ban the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in residential neighborhoods.

Gov. Jerry Brown signs bills reforming PACE energy-efficiency loan program 

Los Angeles Times

Gov. Jerry Brown signed two bills Wednesday that boost consumer protections for borrowers taking out PACE loans, a type of financing that funds energy-efficient home improvements.

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

Stories Of The Doctor Shortage, Mapped

Valley Public Radio

As part of our series Struggling For Care, we invited listeners to call in with their experiences trying to find doctors in the San Joaquin Valley. Some audio clips below are directly taken (with permission) from voicemails left on our tip line, others from more in-depth conversations. All highlight the frustration, helplessness and occasionally high stakes of a region with too few medical providers. This map was produced as a project for the USC Center for Health Journalism’s California Fellowship.

Can Tulare Save Its Hospital? TRMC Board Seeks Chapter 9 Bankruptcy Protection

Valley Public Radio

The future of the troubled Tulare Regional Medical Center is in doubt, as the elected board of the public hospital voted last weekend to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. It’s the latest chapter is a years-long fight for control of the hospital, which is run by a private company under contract with the district, Health Care Conglomerate Associates. 

Federal Court: TRMC faces ‘imminent risk of closure’

visaliatimesdelta.com

Amid controversy, dwindling patients and bankruptcy, Tulare Regional Medical Center is open.

Community Health Centers planning for worst, even as Congress attempts to bridge lapsed funding deadline

bakersfield.com

Even as Congress works to bring money to Community Health Centers after missing a critical funding deadline Saturday, those facilities are grappling with tough decisions to make up for a 70 percent reduction in federal funds that lapsed this weekend, health care leaders say.

California Bill Would Compel Drugmakers To Justify Price Hikes

NPR

Insurers, hospitals and health advocates are waiting for Gov. Jerry Brown to deal the drug lobby a rare defeat, by signing legislation that would force pharmaceutical companies to justify big price hikes on drugs in California.

Will Arizona’s Off-Label Drug Law Spur Changes Elsewhere?

Pew Trusts

When the Food and Drug Administration gives its OK for a new drug to be sold, it specifies the diseases or conditions for which the medicine has been approved. That does not mean doctors can’t prescribe that prescription drug for other diseases and conditions. They do. All the time. And it’s perfectly legal.

Two measures to boost Obamacare in California signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown

LA Times

Gov. Jerry Brown signed two measures Wednesday to help Californians who buy health insurance under Covered California, the state’s Obamacare marketplace. The measures ensure a longer enrollment period and continued treatment for some patients even if their insurer leaves Covered California. 

Turmoil in Washington adds uncertainty to health insurance enrollment

LA Times

Usually, the autumn ritual of selecting the right health plan for the coming year is quite predictable. The options are there on the table, and there is usually little thought that things might change dramatically after you make a decision.

Democrats: Senate budget cuts nearly $500B from Medicare

POLITICO

Senate Republicans are proposing to slash Medicare spending by $473 billion over a decade, once again diverging from one of President Donald Trump’s key campaign promises, according to Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee.

California Today: A Drug Crisis Proposal – The New York Times

New York Times

San Francisco’s drug problem is in your face. Walk around long enough and you may well kick a used syringe or see someone shooting up in plain view.

IMMIGRATION

California Republicans Denham and Valadao who co-sponsored Democrats’ Dream Act not going to help force a vote

LA Times

California Reps. Jeff Denham and David Valadao co-sponsored Democrats’ legislative fix to address expiring protections for young immigrants, but they don’t plan to join the effort to force a vote on it.

Immigration crackdown taking heavy toll on California students

The Mercury News

The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants is having a chilling effect in California’s classrooms, with schools reporting increased absenteeism and students having difficulty concentrating, even crying in class, teachers and administrators said.

As DACA ends, UC Merced students worry about future

Merced Sun-Star

The final day to apply for the Obama-era initiative that has shielded young undocumented immigrants from deportation arrives Friday, leaving advocates for undocumented immigrants calling for a fix.

AM Alert: Immigration advocates push California to limit ICE holds

Sacramento Bee

Gov. Jerry Brown in June signed a bill establishing a moratorium on any expansion of immigrant detention beds at public facilities across California, a move aimed at blunting the Trump administration’s statewide immigration crackdown.

Crowdsourcing to help DACA recipients renew their status

Marketplace

The deadline for people to temporarily renew their permission to stay in the U.S. under DACA, the program created by the Obama administration to shield undocumented immigrant children brought to the U.S. from deportation and allow them to receive work permits

As Trump administration begins phasing out ‘Dreamers’ program, Congress split over replacement legislation

LA Times

At midnight Thursday night, the Trump administration officially begins to unravel the Obama-era program shielding from deportation people brought to the United States illegally as children, accepting no new applications after that time.

Poll: Most Americans say ‘dreamers’ should be granted citizenship

PBS NewsHour

Most Americans think people who entered the United States as children and stayed as undocumented immigrants should be allowed to remain in the country with the parents who brought them. These survey findings come from a new poll by PBS NewsHour and Marist.

LAND USE/HOUSING

Land Use: 

Gaming compact officially ratified by governor

Porterville Recorder

Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed Assembly Bill 394, authored by Assemblyman Devon Mathis and co-authored by Senator Andy Vidak, which ratifies a tribal-state gaming compact between the State of California and the Tule River Indian Tribe. The compact allows the tribe to operate of Eagle Mountain Casino at the current location on the reservation. The previous compact would have sunset in 2020. 

Housing:

Mobile homes often trade in a ‘gray market.’ Owners now have a chance to avoid back taxes.

Sacramento Bee

Nearly 21,000 families in the four-county Sacramento region, and about a half-million across California live in homes that are theoretically mobile.  For many, buying a home that’s up on blocks is one of the last opportunities for single-family homeownership in a state with some of the highest housing costs in the nation.

Gov. Jerry Brown signs bills reforming PACE energy-efficiency loan program 

Los Angeles Times

Gov. Jerry Brown signed two bills Wednesday that boost consumer protections for borrowers taking out PACE loans, a type of financing that funds energy-efficient home improvements.

PUBLIC FINANCES 

For stories on “ta reform” See: “Top Stories – Federal Politics,” above

Gov. Jerry Brown signs bill allowing consumers to sue banks over bogus accounts 

Los Angeles Times

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Wednesday that protects the right of consumers to sue banks alleged to have created fraudulent accounts in their name. The legislation was prompted by the ongoing Wells Fargo & Co. scandal.

TRANSPORTATION

Poll: Majority opposes repealing gas tax increases in California

LA Times

The first poll on a proposed ballot measure indicates 53.9% of California residents oppose repealing a new gas tax and vehicle fee hike.

Uber, Lyft avoid fingerprint checks again under proposed California regulation 

San Francisco Chronicle

State regulators declined to require biometric background checks, such as fingerprints, for Lyft and Uber drivers, but plan to require annual checks, codifying something the companies already do.

Rules for disabled parking placards in California about to get tougher 

Los Angeles Times

Months after an audit found widespread problems with the program providing disabled parking placards in California, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday approved legislation aimed at preventing fraud.

More power for electric vehicles?

Capitol Weekly

It may soon become a lot easier for California drivers to get plugged in.

Banning gas-powered vehicles in California isn’t crazy at all

Sacramento Bee

Banning sales of internal combustion engine vehicles (“Ban cars that run on gas? That’s just crazy,” Forum, Oct. 1) could be exactly what California needs. An audacious move on transportation would address a looming climate policy challenge while providing an innovative opportunity for our economy.

Finally, Some Honesty from State Leaders on High-Speed Rail

Fox& Hounds

Jerry Brown wants to burnish his legacy with a high-speed rail line that would whip passengers up and down the state. But he’s more likely to be remembered as the governor who couldn’t make his fabulously over-cost train run on time.

California High-Speed Rail Meets Federal Funding Requirements, Generating Billions of Dollars in Economic Activity

California High-Speed Rail Authority

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) today announced it has met federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 requirements by fully investing the more than $2.55 billion granted to the State since 2009 to build the nation’s first high-speed rail system. These funds have helped to create thousands of new jobs and generated approximately $4 billion in economic activity in the Central Valley and across California.

Sacramento launches first ‘parking-protected bike lane’ downtown

The Sacramento Bee

The city of Sacramento opened its first “parking-protected” bike lane downtown Wednesday for a three-day trial and asked cyclists and others to check it out and offer feedback.

Sacramento Testing Protected Bikeways Downtown

capradio.org

Sacramento is launching a test Wednesday of protected bikeways on one of the city’s busiest streets.

Governor Signs Legislation to Protect Motorcycle and Bicycle Riders

Sen. Jean Fuller

Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 672 authored by Senator Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield).  SB 672 will ensure that local transportation agencies will replace current traffic-actuated signals during the course of regular maintenance and upgrade cycles to adopt motorcycle-and bicycle-sensitive signals.

WATER

Brown’s Water Tunnels Plan Still Alive, But Obstacles Are Man

Public Ceo

With a seeming vote of confidence from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California – the giant agency that supplies water to about half the state’s 38 million residents – Gov. Jerry Brown appears set to soldier ahead with his $17 billion plan to build two 35-mile-long tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Supervisors call Twin Tunnels another high- speed rail money drain

Manteca Bulletin

With the California high-speed rail project now forecasting large cost overruns of 27% above its original estimate, San Joaquin County Supervisors are certain that a similar fate will occur with California WaterFix, Governor Brown’s proposal to divert water away from the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta will produce little additional water to resolve current water issues

Tulare County water alliance wants state funding for drought conditions visaliatimesdelta.com

The county has entered into a three-way partnership with the community services districts in Sultana and Orosi, forming the North Tulare County Regional Water Alliance. 

Urgency ordinance would halt reservoir construction

Hanford Sentinel

New and expanding water resource facilities for groundwater export or conveyance of surface water will face a 45-day moratorium in Kings County with a vote this week by the Board of Supervisors.

Oroville Dam: Spillway is 70 percent filled with one month to go

The Mercury News

The contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. remains on track to have the 3,000-foot spillway ready to pass flows of 100,000 cubic-feet per second by Nov. 1, said Jeanne Kuttel, chief of engineering for the state Department of Water Resources, in a media call on Wednesday morning.

Dams in California

Public Policy Institute of California

Dams play a crucial role in California’s water management.  California relies heavily on nearly 1,500 reservoirs for managing water supply. The state’s dry summers and frequent droughts require abundant storage to meet water demands. In an average year, roughly 70% of the water used by cities and farms comes from rivers, and dams play a key role in regulating this supply. Most dams and their reservoirs are owned and operated by local agencies and private companies. But state and federal agencies manage 240 large reservoirs that account for 60% of the state’s storage capacity.

 “Xtra”

First night of the Big Fresno Fair brought thousands of people to the fairgrounds

abc30

All night, Fresno Police if not walking alone were in groups of two or three–patrolling day one of the Big Fresno Fair.

Farming, Food, And Fascination At The Big Fresno Fair

KMJ

The big times are back as the Big Fresno Fair starts up again for 2017. Described as the 5th largest event of its kind in California, around 650,000 attendees are expected through the gates over the course of its 11 day run.

College of the Sequoias ‘Shakespeare in Hollywood’

visaliatimesdelta.com

If you’re a fan of movies from the Golden Era of Hollywood — the 1930s when people battered from the Great Depression sought some escapist entertainment in droves at movie theaters across the nation — then you’ll definitely want to head out to the College of the Sequoias’ production of “Shakespeare in Hollywood.”

Greek out at annual food festival

bakersfield.com

Just when you thought the good folks at St. George Greek Orthodox Church were ready to rest on their well-earned laurels for the annual Greek Food Festival, they decide to spice it up.

Ready to fall for art this First Friday

bakersfield.com

There are plenty of events vying for your attention Friday but for art lovers, downtown is still the place to be. Here’s a roundup of First Friday events.

Indigenous Peoples Day to replace Columbus Day in L.A. County

LA Times

Starting no later than 2019, the second Monday in October will be observed as Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day in Los Angeles County, according to a motion passed by the County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

SLO Council honors Indigenous Peoples Day not Columbus Day

The Tribune

San Luis Obispo will now celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day, the City Council declared Tuesday, honoring the native tribes who populated America over the Italian explorer who “discovered” it.

Gamechangers: USC, ASU, Independent Voting Partner to Challenge Two-Party Academia

Ivan

Arguably, academia is as guilty as the media, the politicians, and the two major parties themselves, of promoting partisanship.