Maddy Institute – February 15, 2019

15Feb

POLICY & POLITICS

Deadline EXTENDED:

Wonderful Public Service Graduate Fellowship

The Maddy Institute

Applications for two $56,000 Fellowships

Due Friday, March 15, 2019.

North SJ Valley:

MID board member’s outburst implicates ex-Turlock mayor in investigation

Modesto Bee

Gary Soiseth has not been Turlock mayor for two months, but he continues making news headlines. It’s now clear that the one-term mayor was the target last fall of separate investigations, one at City Hall and the other by his former employer, the Modesto Irrigation District.

Modesto makes a big buy-in to inclusive Awesome Spot Playground planned for Beyer Park

Modesto Bee

The Modesto mom behind the effort to build a so-called inclusive playground at Beyer Community Park said she feels “a renewed sense of excitement” since winning strong financial backing from the city and Stanislaus County.

Will ‘basic income’ become the California norm? Stockton starts $500 no-strings payments

Sacramento Bee

After months of planning, Stockton is sending debit cards loaded with $500to a select group of residents starting Friday as part of a closely watched experiment in universal basic income, the first led by a U.S. city.

Central SJ Valley:

Downtown Fresno sees drop in crime, by 50% in some cases. Here’s how it happened

Fresno Bee

According to statistics from the department’s Downtown Policing Unit, crime was down in several key categories in 2018 — and by large margins. Vehicle burglaries, for example dropped by 55.4 percent.

Parks vs. affordable housing: City Council wonders why Fresno can’t have both

Fresno Bee

The Fresno City Council expressed concern that Community Development Block Grant funding was redirected from parks projects in southwest Fresno to a senior housing project in Fancher Creek.

Is Granite Park still cursed? Fresno DA reviewing audit tied to congressman, developer

Fresno Bee

Personal loans, missing documents, spending that appeared “not ethical” and a lot of unaccounted money were all issues raised by a recent Fresno audit into a nonprofit charged with rehabilitating Granite Park. That nonprofit has ties to a newly-elected congressman and a high-profile developer.

EXCLUSIVE: Fresno County creates ambulance ‘no-fly list’ to save millions of dollars

abc30

Fresno County is saving millions of taxpayer dollars by not picking up some people who call for an ambulance. Those callers aren’t being neglected. They’ve been identified as “regulars” who abuse the ambulance system.

Fresno Janitors Sue Employer, Alleging Continued ‘Rape on the Night Shift’

KQED

Three women janitors from Fresno have filed a lawsuit claiming that the nation’s largest janitorial company, ABM, fostered a sexually hostile work environment, emboldening supervisors to sexually harass and assault employees.

South SJ Valley:

Tejon Ranch announces second distribution center to relocate to commerce center

Bakersfield Californian

Tejon Ranch announced the lease for a new distribution center Thursday, saying the company will set up shop in a new 580,000-square-foot building the ranch is developing with Majestic Realty.

Judge freezes assets of allegedly fraudulent Bakersfield health plan operator ‘on the verge of collapse’

Bakersfield Californian

A federal judge all but shut down a Bakersfield-based health-plan operator after a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the U.S. Department of Labor accused the company of operating a sham insurance company that allegedly put thousands of insurance subscribers at risk of not getting the medical coverage they paid for.

Tulare gives hospital $9 million lifeline, ends Carlton Jones’ ‘paralysis of government’

Visalia Times Delta

After months of indecision, the Tulare City Council voted to give the troubled Tulare Regional Medical Center a $9 million lifeline.

Chicano Movement, Social Justice, Latinx: LA Art Exhibit Comes To Bakersfield

VPR

Self Help Graphics and Art, an organization in Los Angeles that intersects art and social justice, is celebrating its legacy of producing art prints by Latinx, Chicana, and Chicano artists with an exhibit called Entre Tinta y Lucha: 45 Years of Self Help Graphics and Art.

Trump needn’t ‘grab money’ for wall from California, House GOP leader McCarthy says

San Francisco Chronicle

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, a close ally of President Trump, says the president doesn’t need to take money from California flood control projects to build his wall.

State:

Newsom offers something for everyone — except Trump

San Francisco Chronicle

The new governor who loves the word “audacious” included a liberal dose of audaciousness in his first State of the State address.

EDITORIAL: Your data is worth billions. Can Newsom make tech giants like Facebook and Google pay up?

Sacramento Bee

Jaron Lanier thinks you need to get paid. Specifically, he thinks massive tech companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google – which make billions of dollars by selling information they collect from you – should cut you in on the deal.

California’s Supreme Court has thrown cities—and citizens—into chaos over local taxes

CALmatters

Late last year, the city of Oakland put a new land parcel tax on the books, after 62 percent of voters turned out to boost funding for public education. Now a local business group is suing the city, arguing that the new tax needed two-thirds of the vote—just over 66 percent— to pass.

Coupal: Defending Direct Democracy, Defending Taxpayers

Fox & Hound

Political elites hate the initiative process. From their perspective it allows the great unwashed and unsophisticated to deal with matters such as taxation, victims’ rights, insurance and most importantly political reform. These are issues over which politicians strongly desire to exercise a legislative monopoly.

My Turn California votes will be wasted in 2020 presidential primary. Here’s why

CALmatters

By the time the polls open for the California presidential primary election in March 2020, hundreds of thousands of Democrats will already have voted by mail for candidates who no longer are in the race.

Federal

Trump will sign border deal; but will declare emergency

Fresno Bee

Congress has easily approved a border security compromise that will clear Congress and get President Donald Trump’s signature.

● Trump to declare national emergency for border wall. We’re already under 31 others Merced Sun-Star

● White House scrambles to find pots of money to use for wall Merced Sun-Star

● Trump will sign border bill, declare national emergency Visalia Times Delta

● Senate OKs border deal; Trump will sign, declare national emergency for wall Hanford Sentinel

● Trump declares national emergency to build border wall Bakersfield Californian

● Trump’s real border crisis is the overwhelmed asylum system, experts say Politifact

● Emergency Declaration For Border Wall Could Tap Military Funds Capital Public Radio

● Congress passes bill to avert shutdown as Trump vows to declare national emergency to build wall Los Angeles Times

● Trump’s ‘national emergency’ just played the Democrats for suckers Los Angeles Times

● Trump plan to declare national emergency to build wall may survive challengesSan Francisco Chronicle

● White House: Wall funds would be ‘back-filled’ in 2020 budget request Roll Call

● Republicans have concerns about Trump’s emergency declaration, too Roll Call

● Could Donald Trump declare a national emergency for a border wall? Here’s what we know Politifact

● If Trump Declares An Emergency To Build The Wall, Congress Can Block Him NPR

● Why Trump’s national emergency plan could present a ‘major constitutional test’ PBS

● Congress passes spending bill to avoid shutdown, sends it to Trump for his signature USA Today

● Trump to Declare National Emergency After Signing Spending Bill Wall Street Journal

● Trump Plans to Allot Billions in Additional Wall Funds, Bypassing Congress Wall Street Journal

● ‘Off the rails’: Inside Trump’s attempt to claim victory in his border wall defeat Washington Post

● An emergency declaration by Trump will lead to lawsuits. Lots of them. Washington Post

● Trump’s border emergency: Pelosi, Schumer call declaration ‘unlawful’ Washington Post

● House Democrats to challenge Trump’s emergency declaration; Republicans divided on action Washington Post

● Trump’s Face-Saving Way Out of Crisis Raises Fears Over Rule of Law New York Times

● Opinion: Trump’s Political Emergency Wall Street Journal

● Opinion: If Trump declares a national emergency, Pelosi can jam Republicans. Here’s how.Washington Post

● Opinion: Trump’s fixation on a wall looks juvenile. Democrats should learn from his mistakes. Washington Post

● Opinion: We have a national emergency, all right. Its name is Donald Trump. Washington Po

‘False choice:’ Kamala Harris among Democrats voting against deal to keep government open

Fresno Bee

Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker voted against a bill that avoids a government shutdown. All four are Democrats who plan to run for president in 2020 against Donald Trump.

● Democrats set polling, fundraising thresholds for first two presidential debates abc30

● Democrats demand detailed plans for defeating Trump in 2020 Sacramento Bee

Democrats demand detailed plans for defeating Trump in 2020

McClatchy

With the exception of a few tweets and barbed asides, the Democratic presidential candidates have spent the opening weeks of the 2020 campaign avoiding talking much about the man they aim to unseat, instead casting their own campaigns as forward-looking and positive.

GOP targets California’s new House Democrats

San Francisco Chronicle

In an all-out effort to show that their disastrous showing in the November elections was a one-time-only outlier, GOP leaders are targeting the seven California Democrats who flipped Republican-held congressional seats for defeat next year.

William Barr sworn in as attorney general, will oversee Mueller investigation

abc30

William Barr, confirmed by the Senate Thursday, is set to become attorney general and oversee the Mueller investigation.

See also:

● William Barr sworn in as attorney general Visalia Times Delta

● The Mueller investigation is getting a new overseer. The Senate has confirmed William Barr to be attorney general Hanford Sentinel

● Senate confirms William Barr as attorney general Los Angeles Times

Supreme Court weighs a Trump Census question that could undercut California’s power

Los Angeles Times

The Supreme Court meets behind closed doors Friday to weigh a question that could shape the political power of California for the decade ahead. At issue is the Trump administration’s plan to ask all households for the first time since 1950 whether occupants are U.S. citizens.

Supreme Court Issues Twin Rulings on Arbitration Agreements

AALRR

In December 2018, the United States Supreme Court issued two rulings affecting arbitration agreements entered into under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA.”).

AGRICULTURE/FOOD

NASA teams up with California farmers

Fresno Bee

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, visiting the World Ag Expo, talks about the increasing role the agency plays in helping farmers and water managers in maximizing “every drop of water,” and checking out the latest in drones from AeroVironment.

Top new products at World Ag Expo

Hanford Sentinel

The Top-10 New Products at this year’s World Ag Expo feature an impressive array of cutting-edge, cost-saving and resource-managing innovations that may change agriculture forever.

Kings County Food Safety “Silver Star” Award Winners Announced

Hanford Sentinel

The Division of Environmental Health Services of the Kings County Department of Public Health is pleased to announce the Food Safety Silver Star award recipients for calendar year 2018.

Combinations Of Pesticides May Prove Toxic For Honeybees

VPR
In 2014, however, beekeepers nationwide reported that almost half of all honeybee colonies had collapsed. It was a terrifying time for growers. But one recent study is helping to untangle the mystery: It may relate to the mixing of insecticides and fungicides during almond bloom. And thanks to an industry partnership, the research already appears to be changing how the crop is managed.

Source Of Fall Romaine Outbreak A Mystery, US Regulators Say

Capital Public Radio

The Food and Drug Administration says it wasn’t able to determine how a water reservoir on a Santa Barbara County, California, farm became contaminated with E. coli.

Opinion: America has a farm labor shortage. We need a better guest worker program

Los Angeles Times

In California, farmers and ranchers produce more than 400 commodities. That’s more than a third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of the country’s fruits and nuts. California farm receipts exceeded $50 billion in 2017.

Cannabis businesses stir mixed statements from Lindsay locals

Porterville Recorder

Tuesday night brought a lengthy yet exciting City Council meeting to Lindsay. Before the Council had taken their seats on the dais, the City Hall Council Chambers were filled to the brim, leaving only standing room for those in attendance.

EDITORIAL: The Canada-California cannabis connection

San Francisco Chronicle

While federal, state and even local governments in the United States hurtle in different directions on cannabis, our northern neighbor dispensed with much of the confusion by legalizing the drug at the national level last year.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE / FIRE / PUBLIC SAFETY

Crime:

Downtown Fresno sees drop in crime, by 50% in some cases. Here’s how it happened

Fresno Bee

Downtown groups roll out ‘block-by-block’ communications plan for addressing area’s challenges

Bakersfield Californian

Without speaking directly to the area’s struggles with crime, a pair of business organizations introduced a plan Thursday for coordinating communication on safety and other challenges facing downtown Bakersfield.

Harris’ anti-lynching bill gets second chance

San Francisco Chronicle

Sen. Kamala Harris’ effort to make lynching a federal crime received new life Thursday when the Senate unanimously passed her bill to outlaw it.

EDITORIAL: Helping addicts stay alive shouldn’t be a crime

Los Angeles Times

It’s strange and unfortunate that the Trump administration is attacking a program that could help lower the number of opioid overdose deaths and fight HIV transmissions too. (These facilities provide clean needles, which are key to reducing infection rates among drug users.)

Public Safety:

Free-speech group sues California AG Xavier Becerra over new police records law

Fresno Bee

A free speech advocacy nonprofit sued California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Thursday over his refusal to release police misconduct records per SB 1421.

How California got tough on guns

CALmatters

The battle continues. New Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced “a gun lobby willing to sacrifice the lives of our children to line their pockets.” A National Rifle Association spokesman predicts the Trump-altered Supreme Court means “winter may very well be coming for gun laws in California.” So while Newsom and the Democratic Legislature try to add new restrictions, gun advocates are going to court to overturn existing ones.

Parkland massacre riveted us in anguish, yet we still don’t act

Miami Herald

The tragedy rocked the upscale community of Parkland, South Florida and the nation and sparked a movement lead by the surviving students who turned their shock and grief into outrage and action that launched an national political movement — anti-gun and pro get-out-the-youth vote.

● Parkland school turns to experimental surveillance software that can flag students as threats Washington Post

● EDITORIAL: ‘Naming and shaming’ firms that do business with the NRA is inane and dangerous Los Angeles Times

Fire:

Cal Fire damages your home or car? Good luck collecting money from the state

Fresno Bee

Cal Fire has denied millions of dollars in claims to California residents and businesses whose homes and cars were damaged during wildfires. Firefighters enjoy broad protection from lawsuits.

‘It’s been a roller coaster’: Gavin Newsom visits students displaced by Camp Fire

Fresno Bee

Gov. Gavin Newsom visited students affected by the Camp Fire in Magalia and Paradise to talk about emergency funding, taxes, rebuilding and disaster relief. The wildfire was California’s deadliest.

100 days after Paradise burned, the stories of the victims

Porterville Recorder

All around, fires were breaking out, and men and women — most of them elderly, many of them disabled — were doomed. It was just the start of a day that was almost unfathomable. An entire town was burned off the map of California. Nearly 14,000 homes were incinerated.

What Happens When The Next Big Wildfire Hits?

Capital Public Radio

As political pressure mounts with every disaster, California is scrambling to prepare for the coming fire season, from firefighting to utilities to the law.

PG&E says it’s still trying to limit power shutoffs

San Francisco Chronicle

While millions more PG&E customers could now have their power intentionally turned off as part of a wildfire-prevention effort, the utility is also taking steps to keep blackouts as limited as possible.

Should California buy disaster insurance?

CALmatters

Napa Democratic Sen. Bill Dodd, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Treasurer Fiona Ma announced Senate Bill 290, which would authorize the state to explore purchasing a policy to cover wildfires, earthquakes, floods and other disasters.

ECONOMY / JOBS

US, China hold 2nd day of talks with no tariff decision

Fresno Bee

U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators held a second day of talks Friday after President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser said he has yet to decide whether to escalate a technology dispute by going ahead with a March 2 tariff increase on imports from China.

Some businesses suffer due to rain

abc30

The recent string of storms has also impacted many local businesses and industries. Some car washes don’t even bother to open when it’s pouring outside. And lately, some construction workers have been forced to miss several days of work.

Tejon Ranch announces second distribution center to relocate to commerce center

Bakersfield Californian

A yet-to-named company has agreed to lease 390,000 square feet of space at the Tejon Ranch Commerce Center. It is the second company in six months to relocate from Los Angeles to Tejon.

Americans Tightened Their Belts And It Might Hurt Economic Numbers Important To Trump

Capital Public Radio

What started off as a strong holiday shopping season ended with a whimper, as December retail sales posted the sharpest drop in nine years. That could mean GDP growth will miss the president’s target.

See also:

· Retail Sales Declined in December at Fastest Pace Since 2009 Wall Street Journal

EDUCATION

K-12:

Staff shortage forces special needs students in Fresno Unified to get speech lessons by video

Fresno Bee

Fresno Unified will spend nearly $1 million to offer speech and language lessons for students with special needs by video chat. Brian Beck, FUSD assistant superintendent for special education, said the first and best option would be to have district speech language pathologists and assistants in the classroom with students, but staffing shortages have made that impossible.

California Is Juggling More Teacher Misconduct Cases Than Ever

Voice of San Diego

The state agency that reviews instances of teacher misconduct has more cases on its plate than at any point in at least a decade. “The system was not designed to manage this kind of volume,” the head of the agency said late last year. “It just wasn’t.”

PUSD brings flight simulators to military academy

cbc30

A new elective for students is ready to take off at Porterville Military Academy. Porterville Unified School District has partnered with Edwards Air Force Base and a company called STEMPilot to bring flight simulations to ninth and tenth-grade cadets.

Tierra Del Sol, Vista High named model continuation schools

Bakersfield Californian

The California Department of Education has announced its model continuation high schools for this year, and two Bakersfield schools made the list.

Database: California’s lowest-performing schools in 2018-19

EdSource

As required by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, California has identified 781 district, county and charter schools for ‘comprehensive support and improvement’ (CSI). Of these, 481 are schools receiving Title I federal funds and selected on the basis of poor performance on several indicators on the California School Dashboard. In the database below, we label these schools as CSI Low Perform in the column headed Assistance Type.

Higher Ed:

Deadline FAST APPROACHING: Wonderful Public Service Graduate Fellowship

The Maddy Institute

Applications for two $56,000 Fellowships Due Friday, February 22^nd, 2019. Through the generosity of The Wonderful Company, San Joaquin Valley students will have the opportunity to become the next generation of Valley leaders through The Wonderful Public Service Graduate Fellowship. The Maddy Institute will award two $56,000 Fellowships to Valley students who are accepted into a nationally ranked, qualified graduate program in the fall of 2019.

Dreaming of building a Tulare County university

Visalia Times Delta

A newly formed nonprofit group wants to bring a four-year university to Tulare County by 2030, but two existing public higher education institutions serving local college students seem cool to the idea.

Ruling affirming the rights of students accused of sexual misconduct roils California colleges

Los Angeles Times

Colleges and universities across California are scrambling to revise the way they handle sexual misconduct cases after a state appellate court ruled that “fundamental fairness” requires that accused students have a right to a hearing and to cross-examine their accusers.

Bills give more financial aid to California college students

San Francisco Chronicle

More relief for the heavy costs of college — fees, books, food and housing — could become available for California students under two bills introduced Thursday in the Legislature.

ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY

Environment:

EPA ‘moving forward’ to regulate toxic chemicals, but critics call it too slow

abc30

Acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler says the agency is moving to regulate toxic chemicals, known as PFAS, in drinking water in an exclusive interview with ABC News Live.

EPA’s Top Leaders Stymied Research Unit, Report Finds

Wall Street Journal

An Environmental Protection Agency research unit tasked with evaluating chemicals’ health risks has had its work hindered by the agency’s top leadership, according to a government watchdog.

Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously

National Review

California’s new governor, the prim and grim Gavin Newsom, announced that the project would be taken off its $650-million-a-month life-support apparatus and euthanized. The end of the project leaves Californians with no way to travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco except a 90-minute, $149 flight.

Energy:

Fresno official: ‘All of our people are out’ as storm winds cause numerous power outages

Fresno Bee

Winds driving a storm front through the central San Joaquin Valley Thursday knocked down trees and caused numerous power outages, authorities reported. Mark Standriff, a spokesman for the City of Fresno, said city workers were checking streets for trouble areas and were responding to numerous active calls.

● Power outages: PG&E reports 41,000 customers in the dark San Francisco Chronicle

California’s ‘smart’ energy future glows on the horizon. How do we get there?

Merced Sun-Star

California faces a future where the state has shed fossil fuels and relies on electricity. The advanced electric system will involve appliances with the prefix “smart.”

PG&E should get out of the energy sales business, local governments say

Los Angeles Times

A coalition of Northern California cities and counties is calling for state officials to remove Pacific Gas & Electric from the business of buying and selling electricity, which they say would allow the troubled company to focus on the safety of its poles and wires and reduce the risk of deadly fires.

California’s ‘smart’ energy future glows on the horizon—but how to get there?

CALmatters

The complex system that powers the world’s fifth-largest economy is at a turning point. Utility executives, policymakers and regulators are peering into a future where California has shed fossil fuels and is fully buzzing with electricity. Before the state completes its shift to a modern, safe, sustainable energy grid, it has to decide precisely how that should be accomplished.

Opinion: What to Do With the Revenue From a Carbon Tax

Bloomberg

The group recommends that a carbon tax be put in place and increased every year until goals for the reduction of emissions are met. A version of this proposal would begin with a $43 tax on every ton of carbon dioxide emissions. This translates to a tax of 38 cents per gallon of gasoline, and $18 for a barrel of crude oil, or about one-third of the 2017 average crude price in the U.S.

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

Health:

Racial Disparities In Cancer Incidence And Survival Rates Are Narrowing

Capital Public Radio

African-Americans still have the highest death rate and the lowest survival rate of any U.S. racial or ethnic group for most cancers. But the “cancer gap” between blacks and whites is shrinking.

Human Services:

Fresno County creates ambulance ‘no-fly list’ to save millions of dollars

abc30

Tulare gives hospital a $9 million lifeline

Visalia Times Delta

After months of indecision, the Tulare City Council voted to give the troubled Tulare Regional Medical Center a $9 million lifeline. Or at least two of the five city council members did. Mayor Jose Sigala and council member Terry Sayre voted yes on the loan package.

Judge freezes assets of allegedly fraudulent Bakersfield health plan operator ‘on the verge of collapse’

Bakersfield Californian

What California’s Transparent Hospital Prices Can And Can’t Tell Us About Actual Charges

VPR

We recently reported on a new federal law that aims to increase price transparency but doesn’t quite hit the mark. California, though, is ahead of the game—and it means we can actually compare prices at local hospitals around the San Joaquin Valley.

House progressives work on ‘Medicare-for-all’ as debate heats up

Sacramento Bee

House progressives are set to introduce a revised single-payer “Medicare-for-all” bill during the last week of this month, as Republicans sharpen their criticism of the policy and Democratic presidential hopefuls face questions about whether they support it.

Opinion: Will Republicans Start Winning on Health Care?

Wall Street Journal

Prices of health care products and services have been rising very slowly in the Trump era. Meanwhile the President’s opponents are embracing increasingly radical plans for the sector. The issue that enabled Democrats to take the House in 2018 may present a challenge for the party in 2020.

IMMIGRATION

ICE halts force-feeding of immigrant detainees

Fresno Bee

The U.S. government has suddenly stopped force-feeding a group of men on a hunger strike inside an El Paso immigration detention center, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday.

LAND USE/HOUSING

Land Use:

Modesto makes a big buy-in to inclusive Awesome Spot Playground planned for Beyer Park

Modesto Bee

Housing:

Will ‘basic income’ become the California norm? Stockton starts $500 no-strings payments

Sacramento Bee

California Housing Crisis Prolonged By Policymakers’ Inability To Shed Old Impulses

Fox & Hound

The latest ill-considered proposal picking up support would enact price-gouging laws to keep rental costs in check. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, and Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, have publicly endorsed the idea.

PUBLIC FINANCES

California watchdog agency says it needs more power to go after misuse of public funds

Los Angeles Times

California’s campaign watchdog agency is sounding an alarm that local prosecutors have failed to file charges in dozens of cases where officials have allegedly used public funds for political purposes.

TRANSPORTATION

What to do about the high-speed rail?

Visalia Times Delta

Governor Gavin Newsom, in his State of the State speech, put the brakes on the high-speed rail project reducing its size and scope but did not abandon it completely.

● Local Leader, transportation planner respond to Governor Newsom’s high speed rail plan KGET

● Newsom isn’t backing away from high-speed rail, after all Modesto Bee

● No, Gavin Newsom Didn’t Just Kill California’s High-Speed Rail ProjectCapital Public Radio

● Is Gov. Gavin Newsom Taking California High Speed Rail In A New Direction? Capital Public Radio

● Newsom blames the media, not his own words, for confusion over high-speed rail’s future Los Angeles Times

● Newsom is right to scale back the bullet train, and it’s good politics too Los Angeles Times

● Gavin Newsom’s High-Speed Gift to Republicans Politico Magazine

● Think of California High-Speed Rail as an $11 Billion Streetcar CityLab

● Newsom Puts Bullets in the Bullet Train and the Water Fix Fox & Hound

● Did dream of high-speed trains die in USA? No, it could still be a reality in California – and elsewhere USA Today

● California To Slow Down Plans For High-Speed Rail System NPR

● A Democratic governor just quashed Democrats’ dreams of high-speed rail in America Washington Post

● EDITORIAL: We still believe high-speed rail will carry us into the future Modesto Bee

● EDITORIAL: All aboard for … Merced? Bakersfield Californian

● Editorial: We still believe high-speed rail will carry us into the futureModesto Bee

● EDITORIAL: Abandoning high-speed rail would be a mistake for California, the country and the planetLos Angeles Times

WATER

Residents prepare to evacuate after PG&E warns Bass Lake may spill over

abc30

According to PG&E, the Bass Lake water level is now just six inches below the spillway. They are warning people downstream to be careful around waterways and follow the advice of law enforcement.

● Hail and rain pour down on Bass LakeSierra Star

Atmospheric river brings record rains, snow to California

abc30

The West Coast is feeling the effects of an atmospheric river, dumping record rain and snow from San Diego to San Francisco.

● Flooding from rain causes destruction, road closures in southern California Fresno Bee

● Flash Flood Warning For Parts Of Mariposa County Sierra News

● Bass Lake dam 6 inches away from spillage, possible flooding for nearby communities Sierra Star

● Highways in Merced, Mariposa counties reopen as rainstorm nears its end Merced Sun-Star

● Soggy conditions continue in Modesto, but there is an end in sight Modesto Bee

● More rain to come Porterville Recorder

● El Niño officially arrives: Rising rivers bring flood warnings to Sacramento, Yolo Sacramento Bee

● The World’s Largest Rivers Often Float Above California. They Bring Rain, Flooding, And Blizzards. Capital Public Radio

● Monster storm pummels California, prompting evacuations amid mudslides and flooding Los Angeles Times

Portions of California still in drought

Visalia Times Delta

Despite the rainfall and increased snowpack, 4.7 million residents remain in drought, which is 13 percent of the state’s population — 11 percent of California as a whole.

‘I Cannot Sleep Well’ – Governor Newsom On Unsafe Drinking Water During Visit To Parlier

VPR

Governor Gavin Newsom signed his first pieces of legislation into law on Wednesday, and he chose to sign them at a school where the water contains a carcinogen and kids can’t even use the drinking fountains.

Sites Reservoir is Sacramento Valley’s water project. But L.A. is taking a huge role

Sacramento Bee

As water projects go, Sites Reservoir has always been the Sacramento Valley’s baby – a multibillion-dollar reservoir conceived by Valley farmers, carved out of a ghost town an hour north of the Capitol. Around the Valley, “Build Sites Reservoir” signs dot the roads along mile after mile of orchards and rice fields.

“Xtra”

Get intimate with chocolate, or rock with Dierks Bentley this weekend

abc30

Don’t let a little rain put a damper on your weekend. Whether you want to sip on mimosas with your gal pals or go on a chocolatey run, we’ll help you find something sweet to do.

Downtown Business Association celebrates accomplishments

Bakersfield Californian

The city’s Downtown Business Association and its sister organization, the nonprofit Downtown Bakersfield Development Corp., held a breakfast Thursday. It is the 65th anniversary of the DBA.

How to Save Marriage in America

Brookings

American marriage is not dying. But it is undergoing a metamorphosis, prompted by a transformation in the economic and social status of women and the virtual disappearance of low-skilled male jobs.