September 29, 2017

29Sep
TOP POLITICAL STORIES​​​​​​​

Local/Regional Politics:

Before Fresno visit, Arpaio continues shooting from the hip

The Fresno Bee

Coming up on his Fresno visit, controversial former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio has doubled down on his law enforcement policies and right-wing mission.

Taking it to the streets: ACLU gives Sheriff Joe Arpaio a ‘civics lesson’

Fresno Bee

The ACLU is driving a mobile billboard around Fresno with a sharp message for former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio: “You violated the Constitution.”

Visalia mayor to challenge Mathis for state Assembly

Visalia Times-Delta

Visalia Mayor Warren Gubler has officially joined the race for the California State Assembly. Gubler will challenge current Assembly District 26 seat holder Devon Mathis, who he says has had an ineffective history in the Assembly since his election in November 2014.

The city spends what on what? You can look it all up online

Bakersfield Californian

The City of Bakersfield has created a new online tool aimed at making it easier for the public to understand and evaluate the city’s budget.

State Politics:

Supreme Court takes case that could hit California public employee unions

Sacramento Bee

California’s public sector unions are bracing for a Supreme Court decision that could lead to steep drops in membership and revenue.

Antonio Villaraigosa wants to bring back an urban renewal program to fund low-income housing

LA Times

California candidate for governor Antonio Villaraigosa wants the state to bring back an urban renewal program to fund low-income housing

California governor’s race: Let’s get substantive

San Francisco Chronicle

The gubernatorial election is more than a year away, but the leading contenders have been busily raising money, taking shots at one another on the margins and collecting early endorsements from key interest groups and prominent politicians.

Governor hopeful John Chiang looking to close visibility gap with Northern California tour

San Francisco Chronicle

John Chiang was wandering around Sonoma’s crowded town plaza on a recent evening, surrounded by photographers and video cameras as he did a politician’s stroll among the people out for a visit to the farmers’ market.

California regulator admits to anxiety as legal pot nears

AP

In about three months, recreational marijuana sales will kick off in California, yet no one knows exactly how the pot economy will work.

Federal Politics:

Will California Republicans in the House support a tax proposal that would hit their districts hard?

Los Angeles Times

One-third of Californian taxpayers could be forced to pay thousands more in federal taxes from the repeal of one deduction under a GOP proposal released Wednesday, setting up another political dilemma for California Republicans facing tough reelection battles next year as Democrats work to win back the House of Representatives.

See also:

·       Silicon Valley should support Trump’s tax reform plan San Francisco Chronicle

·       Make America Great Again: Don’t Cut Taxes The Weekly Standard

·       How Republicans Ditched Tax Reform for Tax Cuts  The New Yorker

·       2017 is no 1986 when it comes to tax reform  Marketplace

·       A $6.4 Billion Windfall Awaits Big U.S. Banks in Trump’s Tax Cut Bloomberg

·       Donald Trump’s dubious claim that his tax plan won’t benefit him  PolitiFact

·       Donald Trump’s Pants on Fire claim about the estate tax, small businesses and farms PolitiFact

·       Cohn: ‘The wealthy are not getting a tax cut’  POLITICO

·       Hiltzik: Don’t buy the spin: The new tax plan is a huge giveaway to the rich LA Times

California moves its presidential primary to March in push for electoral relevance

LA Times

Backing an effort for California to claim a bigger share of the attention from presidential candidates, Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill moving the state’s primary elections to early March.

See also:

·       How California could jolt the 2020 presidential race  POLITICO

·       Paul Mitchell: Probing the early primary  Capitol Weekly

·       Here’s why California’s early 2020 primary is destined to pick the next president. (Nah, not really)  LA Times

·       California’s past moves to earlier presidential primaries often flopped  San Francisco Chronicle

·       Early primary election may not benefit California  Orange County Register

·       Walters: Moving California’s presidential primary to March is a fool’s errand  CALmatters

Paul Mitchell: 2016’s Trump California Voters – what do they think now?

Capitol Weekly

Throughout the 2016 election cycle, Capitol Weekly conducted several polls. Two of them, one during the primary and the other during the general, were targeted to voters right after they had mailed in their ballots.

Congressmen McCarthy, Valadao react to Scalise’s return

KERO 23ABC News

Months after he was gunned down while practicing on a softball field, Congressman Steve Scalise made his return to the House to applause and standing ovations from both sides of the aisle.

Some Worry About Judicial Nominee’s Ties to a Religious Group

New York Times

One of President Trump’s judicial nominees became something of a hero to religious conservatives after she was grilled at a Senate hearing this month over whether her Roman Catholic faith would influence her decisions on the bench.

Other: 

American Legion trains custodians at Fresno Unified Elementary schools proper way to fold American flag

abc30.com

Custodians at Webster and other Fresno Unified Elementary schools are learning the proper way of folding the American flag.

The legislator who stares down a recall with a smile — and a bear costume

San Francisco Chronicle

Sitting in an Orange County cafe a few blocks from his home, state Sen. Josh Newman appears remarkably calm, often funny, for someone who is likely facing a recall less than a year after being elected.

Padilla accepts Latino leadership award in Texas

Sacramento Bee

Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s parents immigrated to the United States with an elementary education and raised a son who graduated from one of the top ranked universities in the world.

How Occupy Democrats Was Launched by Mexican-American Twins Omar and Rafael Rivero

L.A. Weekly

Omar Rivero stands cross-armed in his light-filled Los Angeles pool house and urges one of his employees to finish a meme about the “Republican Hypocrites of the Year” when the news breaks: The president has just signed a memo banning transgender people from the military.

EDITORIALS

Republicans’ ‘death tax’ fixation tells you all you need to know about their concern for the working class

Los Angeles Times

Speaking Thursday to an assembled crowd at American Axle and Manufacturing, a vehicle parts manufacturer midway between Detroit and Flint, Mich., Vice President Pence stressed that the tax cuts proposed by GOP leaders were aimed at the very sorts of people who drew the plant’s paychecks.

Trump tax plan drives up cost of owning California home

San Jose Mercury News

President wants to end federal tax deduction that most benefits high-tax blue states.

Is Newhall Ranch a new model of sustainable sprawl? Absolutely not

Los Angeles Times

The massive Newhall Ranch project in northern Los Angeles County may be one of the most environmentally friendly suburban developments ever planned in California.

Here’s how Jerry Brown can help protect vulnerable people in nursing homes

Sacramento Bee

If nursing home operators alter evidence and are caught, they ought to be made to pay a price.

AGRICULTURE/FOOD

Pot meeting a bust

bakersfield.com

Thursday’s marijuana meeting — a forum for one of the biggest decisions on the Kern County Planning Commission’s docket this year — was canceled just minutes after it began.

California regulator admits to anxiety as legal pot nears

AP

In about three months, recreational marijuana sales will kick off in California, yet no one knows exactly how the pot economy will work.

AP Exclusive: Inside the scary cash dash of paying pot taxes 

AP

Jerred Kiloh’s eyes narrowed as he checked his mirror again. The black Chevy SUV with tinted windows was still behind him. It had been hanging off Kiloh’s bumper ever since he nosed out of the parking lot behind his medical-marijuana dispensary with $40,131.88 in cash in the trunk of his hatchback.

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

ICE arrests hundreds of immigrants in ‘sanctuary cities’ around the nation, California

Los Angeles Times

Immigration officials on Thursday announced hundreds of arrests in an operation targeting communities where police and elected officials have refused to fully cooperate on enforcing federal immigration laws.

Bold Criminal Justice Reforms Go Nowhere in California Legislature

PublicCEO

The 2017 session of the California Legislature may be remembered as when the criminal justice reform movement in America’s largest state lost its momentum.

ECONOMY / JOBS

Economy:

Businesses in California will be required to tell customers exactly how much their automatic renewal will cost 

Los Angeles Times

California will require online businesses that offer free trials to tell customers exactly how much an automatic renewal will cost under a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday. The law’s author, Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), thinks the bill, known as SB 313, will make it easier for customers to cancel service.

Thirteen facts about wage growth

Brookings Institution

The expectation of rising living standards, with each generation doing better than the one before, has long been a given. More recently, that expectation has diminished—and with good reason. One of the best measures economists use to determine Americans’ economic advancement is whether wages are rising, broadly and consistently. After adjusting for inflation, wages are only 10 percent higher in 2017 than they were in 1973, with annual real wage growth just below 0.2 percent.[1] The U.S. economy has experienced long-term real wage stagnation and a persistent lack of economic progress for many workers.

Jobs:

Southern California building boom adds 35700 construction jobs, tops in nation

Orange County Register

If Southern California was a state by itself, it would be the biggest creator of construction jobs in the nation. Construction bosses in the five-county region hired one-sixth of all new U.S. construction workers in the past year, and local pay hikes in the industry have easily doubled what’s handed out elsewhere.

Why Unions and the Private Sector Should Work Together as Partners in Job Creation

PublicCEO

Five million Californians earn less than $12.50 per hour whereas 2.5 million of us are members of a union. Ominously, for those who are concerned with economic justice, California union membership is expected to drop by over a half million people following next year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. Illinois, a case about membership obligations in public sector unions. Given that 53 percent of California’s union members are public sector employees, it is likely the effects of the Janus decision will include reducing the overall level of unionization in California from today’s 16 percent to about 12 percent by the end of 2019. Less than nine percent of private sector workers are currently members of unions and even that level of organization will be harder to maintain once overall union membership is reduce by a quarter.

EDUCATION

K-12:

Fresno teachers might strike | Here’s why

The Fresno Bee

Tensions are high at Fresno Unified, with teachers scheduled to take a vote next week on whether to strike.

See also:

·       If a strike hits Fresno Unified, it could pay to get a substitute teaching license  The Fresno Bee

Supreme Court poised to deal a sharp blow to unions for teachers and public employees

Los Angeles Times

The Supreme Court is poised to deal a sharp blow to the unions that represent millions of teachers and other public employees, announcing Thursday it will consider striking down the mandatory fees that support collective bargaining.

Borenstein: School bond secrecy lobby prevails again in Sacramento

The Mercury News

The school bond secrecy lobby prevailed again. Attempts to alert voters about the cost of school bonds have died in the state Legislature. Your school trustees would rather win than be transparent.

California voters want early childhood as priority issue, statewide poll shows

EdSource

Nearly 90 percent of California voters want the next governor of the state to commit to improving early childhood education by putting more money into programs for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, according to a new poll of 800 California residents.

Immigration crackdown taking heavy toll on California students

EdSource

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.

To Improve Teacher Training, States Try ‘Micro Credentials’

Pew Trusts

With a number of studies casting doubt on the value of traditional teacher training courses, a handful of states are experimenting with “micro credentials” designed to give teachers specific skills they can use in the classroom.

Higher Ed:

Big Picture Focus Needed for Higher Education

Fox and Hounds Daily

Almost six decades ago, California adopted the Master Plan for Higher Education that has produced the most successful public higher education system in the world.  The challenge is how we maintain and build on that success.

ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY

Environment:

Rockfall at Yosemite’s El Capitan ’10 times bigger’ than slide that killed tourist a day earlier, witness says 

Los Angeles Times

A massive hunk of rock fell off Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan on Thursday, a day after a rockfall in the same area of the granite monolith killed a British tourist and seriously injured his wife, park officials said.

Energy:

MID buys solar energy to sell elsewhere, meet mandate

Modesto Bee

Modesto Irrigation District leaders on Tuesday agreed to buy about $230 million-worth of power from solar farms in Southern California over two decades, even though none of that electricity will end up here.

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

West Nile claims the life of MJC professor. ‘Dr. K’ inspired students from disadvantaged homes.

Modesto Bee

Kimberly Kennard, a human services professor at Modesto Junior College, died Tuesday following a prolonged battle with complications of West Nile illness. She was 53.

California rivaling Louisiana for rates of syphilis? No excuse for that

Modesto Bee

Let’s talk about sex. On the heels of yet another congressional effort to defund Planned Parenthood and roll back access to health care comes news that last year set national and state records for sexually transmitted disease. 

TRMC cash on hand at all-time low

visaliatimesdelta.com

Alan Germany, Health Care Compliance Association’s chief financial officer, delivered a bleak glimpse into Tulare Regional Medical Center’s finances during Wednesday’s board meeting.

CEO: ‘HCCA is no longer willing to fund’ Tulare hospital

visaliatimesdelta.com

The CEO of the company that runs Tulare Regional Medical Center said he’s done fighting with the board of directors and says he won’t play their “game” — essentially threatening to shut down the hospital.

California health clinics risk losing hundreds of millions if Congress doesn’t act

89.3 KPCC

Congress has a Saturday deadline to renew a federal program that funds community health clinics. If it fails to act, it will endanger more than $600 million for clinics in California, forcing many to consider cutbacks in their services

Absent federal action, states take the lead on curbing drug costs

Washington Post

Lawmakers in Maryland are daring to legislate where their federal counterparts have not: As of Sunday, the state will be able to sue drug companies over price spikes.

Poll: Californians like Obamacare more than ever but are divided on single-payer healthcare

LA Times

As the latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act fizzles, the law has reached its highest popularity in California in four years, according to a new poll released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California.

See also:

·       Obamacare: Five things left hanging, plus effect on California  Capitol Weekly

·       So Far, All GOP Health Proposals Would Mean More Decisions, Less Money for States Pew Charitable Trust | Stateline

The Ongoing, Quiet Repeal of Obamacare

The Atlantic

When Obamacare became law, many people didn’t know how it worked. Eight years later that’s still the case. As of February, one-third of Americans were unaware that it was the same thing as the Affordable Care Act.

See also:

·       The Trump Administration Is Pulling Out Of Obamacare Enrollment Events  buzzfeed.com

Complaint alleges harm to pregnant women in immigration detention centers

Los Angeles Times

When Jennye Pagoada Lopez arrived at the U.S. border post of San Ysidro in July seeking political asylum, she showed agents ultrasound images of her pregnancy and told them she was bleeding and needed immediate medical attention.

IMMIGRATION

Fearing Trump’s Policies, the Undocumented in California Go Underground

L.A. Weekly

Undocumented immigrants are facing not only a new round of federal sweeps under the administration of President Trump but a change in tone in the national conversation about those who cross our borders without permission.

ICE arrests hundreds of immigrants in ‘sanctuary cities’ around the nation, California

Los Angeles Times

Immigration officials on Thursday announced hundreds of arrests in an operation targeting communities where police and elected officials have refused to fully cooperate on enforcing federal immigration laws.

Immigration crackdown taking heavy toll on California students

EdSource

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.

Complaint alleges harm to pregnant women in immigration detention centers

Los Angeles Times

When Jennye Pagoada Lopez arrived at the U.S. border post of San Ysidro in July seeking political asylum, she showed agents ultrasound images of her pregnancy and told them she was bleeding and needed immediate medical attention.

Woman posing as an attorney stole immigrants’ cash and dreams, prosecutors say

Los Angeles Times

Maria Bejar-Mejia arrived at the Citizenship and Immigration Services office in downtown Los Angeles with high hopes. She had come to the U.S. illegally years before and her attorney, Jessica Godoy Ramos, told her she would receive a coveted green card at her appointment with immigration officials, authorities said in an account of the meeting. The $2,000 that Bejar-Mejia had paid the lawyer seemed like a small price to pay to cement her legal status in the country.

Eligible DACA recipients have one week to renew as extension hopes fade 

KPCC

Tens of thousands of eligible young immigrants with work permits and deportation protection under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program have a week to renew for two more years before DACA ends in March.

LAND USE/HOUSING

Land Use:

Santa Rosa on the rise here in California

Bakersfield Californian

Adjust your California maps: The little dot marking Santa Rosa needs to be bigger. Dramatic changes in housing, aging, transportation, and criminal justice are altering the Golden State’s geography, and no place in California stands to benefit more than Santa Rosa.

Housing:

How sky-high housing costs make California the poorest state

San Jose Mercury News

California leads the nation once again in a statistic no state wants to boast about. When the cost of living is factored in, the Golden State has the highest poverty rate in the country. More than 20 percent of its residents struggle to make ends meet, according to recently released Census figures.That’s nearly 8 million people.

California Will Strengthen “Anti-NIMBY Act” As Part Of Housing Package Being Signed Friday 

Capital Public Radio

Gov. Jerry Brown will sign a package of bills Friday that seek to address California’s exorbitant housing costs. One piece that’s flown below the radar would make it harder for cities and counties to evade state housing mandates. The legislation deals with a 35-year-old California law called the Housing Accountability Act – sometimes nicknamed the “Anti-NIMBY (Not In My Backyard)” Act.

Antonio Villaraigosa wants to bring back an urban renewal program to fund low-income housing

LA Times

California candidate for governor Antonio Villaraigosa wants the state to bring back an urban renewal program to fund low-income housing

Cities get ready for new housing rules—on their own terms

CALmatters

More than a dozen proposals to address California’s housing crisis recently arrived at the governor’s desk. Most are expected to survive his veto pen; then it will be up to cities and counties to begin faithfully (or maybe not so faithfully) enacting the state’s new housing agenda.

PUBLIC FINANCES

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

The city spends what on what? You can look it all up online

The Bakersfield Californian

The City of Bakersfield has created a new online tool aimed at making it easier for the public to understand and evaluate the city’s budget.

TRANSPORTATION

We Could Car Less: Driver’s ed is a good idea but not penalizing young people

The Salinas Californian

Assembly Bill 63, awaiting signature by Gov. Jerry Brown, would restrict new drivers and make some ordinary activities illegal.

California lawmaker wants to ban gas car sales after 2040 

Sacramento Bee

France and the United Kingdom are doing it. So is India. And now one lawmaker would like California to follow their lead in phasing out gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles. When the Legislature returns in January, Assemblyman Phil Ting plans to introduce a bill that would ban the sale of new cars fueled by internal-combustion engines after 2040.

USDOT to streamline environmental reviews for multimodal projects

Progressive Railroading

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has proposed regulatory change that would streamline the environmental review process for multimodal projects, U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced yesterday at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO) annual meeting in Phoenix.

WATER

Updated status on MID class-action lawsuit that would involve nearly all customers

Modesto Bee

A potential class-action lawsuit accusing the Modesto Irrigation District of overcharging electricity customers to subsidize farmers is on hold.

California Cities Will Flood, So Why Aren’t We Ready?

KQED Science

After big natural disasters like Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, federal officials often tighten up flood protection standards. That’s what happened in California after Hurricane Katrina twelve years ago.

Watershed conservation key to solving California’s water problems

San Francisco Chronicle

The California Water Fix/delta tunnels project is facing new challenges every day, most recently in regard to financing. Whether or not the state’s water suppliers support the plan, an essential piece is missing from the conversation: the potential of the state’s watersheds — the forests, meadows and streams that deliver water to our dams — to help solve California’s water problems.

 “Xtra”

Where to find your favorite Halloween fields of screams in the Modesto region

Modesto Bee

Ready to fall through the looking glass this Halloween? It’s just one way in the Modesto area to celebrate the season of scares and dares.

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