TOP POLITICAL STORIES
Local/Regional Politics:
Los Angeles Times
At Old Salle Cafe, near the northern outskirts of this deeply conservative farming city, Archie Harrison said he did not know much about his congressman, Devin Nunes, nor did he need to know more.
See also:
· Trump says Devin Nunes ‘may someday’ be viewed as a hero Los Angeles Times
· Devin Nunes’ Trumpian media strategy CNN
· The Nunes fiasco grows more preposterous by the hour The Washington Post
· For privacy advocates, Nunes’ criticism of the FBI brings mental whiplash Los Angeles Times
· The Nunes Memo vs. the Schiff Memo The Sacramento Bee
California judge: Baker can refuse same-sex wedding cakes
Madera Tribune
A California judge has ruled a bakery owner can continue to refuse to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples because it violates her Christian beliefs. The lawyer for Tastries Bakery argued that owner Cathy Miller’s right to free expression of religion trumps the argument that she violated a state anti-discrimination law.
See also:
· Business owners, organizations respond to Tastries ruling Bakersfield Californian
· Robert Price: Of sugar, flour, eggs and free speech Bakersfield.com
Current trustees across the state in similar sized districts regularly collect about $750 per month for their work, however Kern High School District trustees have stood by a policy since 2009 that asserts board service is a voluntary contribution to the community. They take no compensation.
City to provide budget update at City Council meeting
The Bakersfield Californian
The City of Bakersfield will provide a mid-year budget update the City Council meeting on Wednesday.
The Bakersfield Californian
Hall Ambulance has overcome a lot in its nearly five decades of existence but the challenge it is facing now could be the most substantial in years. Kern County Emergency Medical Services, a division of the Kern County Department of Public Health Services, reported to county supervisors Tuesday on serious breaches of performance standards by Hall throughout much of 2017.
Planada students call for peace after deadly shootings
The Fresno Bee
Some said prayers quietly in Spanish while others walked somberly with candles in hand during a vigil Tuesday meant to mourn the deaths of two young men while calling for peace in the tiny rural town. Several Le Grand High School students organized a candlelight vigil, march and moment of silence for 22-year-old Diego Gallardo and 27-year-old Pedro Lua, the two men killed in what authorities said was a gang-related shootout near Highway 140.
2018-19 City of Clovis Budget Input Needed
City of Clovis
Online survey.
Want to see where Merced is going? Then start looking up!
Merced Sun-Star
Last year was a good year for the city of Merced, and this year is looking to be as good, or better. Our economy is healthy, our residents are getting good jobs and more and more businesses are finding that not only is Merced a “City on the Rise,” but our time is now.
Merced is betting you’ll vote for weed-based taxes in June. Here’s why
Merced Sun Star
Merced city leaders on Monday took steps toward asking voters to approve a special tax on marijuana-related businesses and purchases on the June ballot.
Politics invade Highway 99 scenery in Modesto
Modesto Bee
A week before Valentine’s Day, a box of chocolates-themed billboard attacking Rep. Jeff Denham’s vote for the controversial tax bill went up along Highway 99 in Modesto. “This year, Jeff Denham gave you higher taxes,” the billboard reads, with letters spelling “tax hike” emerging from the heart-shaped gift box.
Council votes to move forward on homeless czar, affordable housing issues
Stockton Record
Staying true to the priorities it set for itself recently, the Stockton City Council unanimously approved several initiatives that focus on homelessness and lack of affordable housing in the city.
Stockton Record
Monkeys having sex. Donkeys and women. And scads of emails depicting hardcore, XXX-rated sex between people. A shelf on an adult video store? No, the Stockton office of the state Department of Transportation, where a state employee “porn exchange ring” used state computers on the taxpayer’s dime.
The Fresno Detention Facility ICE Doesn’t Want You To Know About
Valley Public Radio
Government buildings are usually pretty easy to spot, with big signs featuring their names and logos. Even agencies with some of the most sensitive information share their whereabouts. But in downtown Fresno, one government office flies so far under the radar that most who walk past would never know what’s behind its mirrored glass windows. The secretive nature of this office is drawing concern from immigration lawyers and advocates.
NASA’s JPL Using Fresno As A Test Bed For Air Quality Research
Valley Public Radio
A few weeks ago we told you how new high-tech, low-cost air quality sensors are helping valley residents monitor air pollution right outside their homes. But the devices aren’t just being used by homeowners, they’re also being adopted by some of the world’s top scientists. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is testing the devices here in the valley, in preparation for investigating pollutants from space.
Farmdale Elementary has alternative to detention
Los Banos Enterprise
Farmdale Elementary School officials said their new alternative to detention provides a better way for misbehaving students to deal with stress in their lives.
The Year Ahead for California’s Rural Counties
PublicCEO
I was recently sworn in as Chair of the Rural County Representatives of California, better known as RCRC. The core of RCRC’s mission is to improve the quality of life in California’s rural counties.
Los Angeles Times
Debate over sexual misconduct in politics and a comparison of conservative bona fides dominated a boisterous forum Tuesday among the three top Republican candidates for California governor.
See Also:
§ GOP candidates for governor tear into one another as they seek traction San Francisco Chronicle
§ Watch: California’s GOP candidates for governor discuss housing, healthcare at San Francisco forum Los Angeles Times
§ Newsom, Villaraigosa affairs ripped at GOP debate The Sacramento Bee
Single-payer emerging as key election issue
Hanford Sentinel
After the contentious, sometimes raucous first debate of this year’s primary election season, it became clear that issues like offshore oil drilling, affordable housing, President Trump’s tax changes, immigration and border control would likely not be the central themes of the campaign to succeed Jerry Brown as governor.
Is A Statewide Insurance Mandate Next For California?
Starting in 2019, Americans will no longer be required to carry health insurance. But Californians might — if a state insurance mandate becomes a reality.
Is California ready for a Proposition 13 overhaul?
The Mercury News
A new ballot initiative that takes aim at how commercial properties are taxed under California’s Proposition 13 could raise $6 to $10 billion more each year for schools and and other programs and services, according to a new analysis by the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
See Also:
· Prop. 13 fight looming over how California taxes business properties Sacramento Bee
· Split roll property tax measure challenges CA’s Proposition 13 The Sacramento Bee
· Bid to hike commercial property taxes in California could raise $6 billion to $10 billion a year, analysis finds Los Angeles Times
California lawmaker tries again to increase taxes on legal, accounting and other services
Los Angeles Times
A state senator from Los Angeles wants to increase taxes on legal, consulting, accounting and other service work and use the money to cut other taxes and upgrade state infrastructure. State Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) has introduced versions of the legislation for years in a bid to help insulate the state from boom-and-bust cycles in revenue drawn from relying heavily on income tax payments from the wealthiest Californians.
Californians won’t get to vote for 12,000 elected officials in 2018
Sacramento Bee
Republican John Cox’s bid to overhaul California’s Legislature by adding thousands of elected officials came to a sputtering end Tuesday on the announcement that he failed to collect enough signatures.
State water grab will cause economic calamity, DeMartini says
Modesto Bee
Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jim DeMartini breezed through a “State of the County” speech Tuesday until he reached the section on water. That’s when the fourth-term supervisor reverted to a characteristic blunt tone of voice.
No more delay on Delta tunnels hearings
Stockton Record
State officials declined late Tuesday to further delay key hearings on the proposed Delta tunnels, overriding opponents’ arguments that illegal meetings have taken place and that the project soon may be altered anyway. The State Water Resources Control Board found that the meetings were legal.
Los Angeles Times
California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra joined a coalition Monday to oppose a U.S. Department of Labor proposal governing tips, arguing the new rules could result in workers losing billions of dollars each year. Becerra, along with 16 other attorneys general, filed a letter of opposition with the department on the last day of public comment for a proposal that would rescind portions of a 2011 Obama rule that mandated workers receive the tips given to them.
California’s first judicial recall in 86 years to appear on Santa Clara County ballot
The Mercury News
Santa Clara County supervisors Tuesday placed the recall of Judge Aaron Persky on the June 5 ballot, setting the stage for voters to decide whether to oust a sitting judge in California for only the fourth time in more than a century.
Walters: Nuclear plant deal leaves several loose ends
The Mercury News
One of California’s most complex and unusual financial/political/legal conflicts was settled last week, but the deal left a couple of mysteries. The two Southern California utilities that own the now-shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant agreed to modify a 2014 Public Utilities Commission decree that had saddled their customers with two-thirds of $4.7 billion in decommissioning costs.
California lobbyists could receive a four-year ban for sexual harassment under new legislation
Los Angeles Times
Any California registered lobbyist found to have committed sexual harassment could be banned from similar work for up to four years under a plan introduced on Tuesday at the state Capitol.
California legislative staff get whistleblower protections
Madera Tribune
California legislative staff members on Monday applauded the passage of a bill granting whistleblower protections to legislative staff members who say they are badly needed to ensure sexual misconduct and other misbehavior can be reported without fear of retaliation.
Senate GOP Leader Bates Urges Governor to Sign Legislative Employee Whistleblower Protection Act
Senate Republican Caucus
Today, Senate Republican Leader Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) issued the following statement after Assembly Bill 403 (link is external), authored by Republican Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) and amended in the Senate to include an urgency clause, passed on the Assembly Floor. The bill now goes to Governor Brown for his signature.
See also:
· Walters: Sex harassment document dump isn’t enough Calmatters
Federal Politics:
Trump, GOP Congress Are Hurting California’s Republican House Members
The California Report – KQED News
New data back up what many have assumed: Republican members of Congress in California are being weighed down by the unpopularity of President Trump and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Two Berkeley IGS polls found voters in the districts of Steve Knight (R-Palmdale) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) are disinclined to re-elect them. By a margin of 56-38 percent, Knight’s voters are disinclined to re-elect him, while voters in Rohrabacher’s coastal Orange County district by 51-41 percent also say they want someone new.
See also:
· California Democrats have raised nearly two times as much money as the Republicans they are trying to oust Los Angeles Times
Trump calls for shutdown if Congress doesn’t pass border-security measures
POLITICO
President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for a government shutdown if Congress does not pass what he considers adequate border-security measures.
See also:
· At White House, a Day of Contradictions Roll Call
· Trump advocates a government shutdown as Congress faces another deadline on spending Los Angeles Times
· House Democrats to Leverage Budget Caps Support for Immigration VoteRoll Call
· House Leaders Face Threats of Intraparty Rebellion on Budget Deal Roll Call
· House GOP passes stopgap bill to avoid shutdown POLITICO
California sues Trump administration over water protection
CALmatters
California has joined a group of states suing two federal agencies for suspending a 2015 rule that extended the definition of streams and wetlands entitled to protection under the Clean Water Act.
See also:
· California joins other states to sue Trump administration over suspension of clean water rule Los Angeles Times
Tax Reform Could Raise Car Insurance Rates
RAND
When the tax reform bill was signed into law in December it probably didn’t occur to most Americans that it could inflate the cost of their car insurance, a potential development that may seem puzzling at first glance. But the bill also reformed the Affordable Care Act by repealing the individual mandate that requires most Americans to have health insurance, a move expected to significantly grow the pool of people without health insurance. Recent research demonstrates strong links between health insurance and a much broader array of insurance products, meaning that the effects of the new tax law may ripple out to non-health insurers.
Other:
Valerie Schultz: Why do women march? We want to change the world
The 2018 Women’s March is now history, amid doubts regarding the usefulness of our efforts. Why do it again? What is our point? Why must we shrill witches turn our issues into an annual event? What are we even marching for, anyway?
Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong reaches deal to buy LA Times, San Diego Union-Tribune
Los Angeles Times
Biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong has agreed to purchase the Los Angeles Times from its parent company Tronc, restoring local ownership and perhaps ending a turbulent period for the storied 136-year-old institution.
See also:
· LA Times sold to local billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong 89.3 KPCC
California Lawmaker Hopes Bot Bill Sheds Light On Fake Social Media Accounts
Social media companies such as Twitter would be required to identify automated accounts, known as bots, under a new bill scheduled to be introduced in the California Legislature this week. Democratic state Sen. Bob Hertzberg of Los Angeles said his bill would not ban bots. Instead, it would shed light on the fake accounts that simulate real people and spread waves of false information across their platforms, the lawmaker said.
Liberals Don’t Share or Believe Fake News As Much As Right-Wingers, Study Finds
Newsweek
Fake news published in the U.S. was overwhelmingly consumed and shared by right-wing social media users, a new study from the University of Oxford has revealed. Research from Oxford’s “computational propaganda project” investigated into the sources of “junk news” shared in the three months leading up to President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address last month.
MADDY INSTITUTE PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAMMING
Sunday, February 11, at 10 a.m. on ABC 30 – Maddy Report: 2017: The Year That Was – Guests: John Myers (LA Times) and Dan Walters (CalMatters). Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.
Sunday, February 11, at 10 a.m. on Newstalk 580AM/105.9FM (KMJ) –Maddy Report: “State Politics: The Year Past & the Year Ahead” – Guests: John Myers (LA Times) and Dan Walters (CalMatters). Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.
Sunday, February 11, at 7:30 a.m. on UniMas 61 (KTTF) – Informe Maddy:2017: The Year That Was – Guest:Liam Dillon with LA Times. Host: Maddy Institute Program Coordinator, Maria Jeans.
Support the Maddy Daily HERE.
Thank you!
Topics in More Detail…
AGRICULTURE/FOOD
California citrus: Short crop long on flavor
Sacramento Bee
No matter how you slice it, this has been an odd year for California citrus growers. In particular, king-sized navel oranges look and taste spectacular. But there’s not enough of them. “This is one of the smallest (navel orange) crops in the last 20 years,” said Joel Nelsen, president of the California Citrus Mutual, which represents about 75 percent of the state’s commercial citrus growers. “There’s much less fruit on the trees.”
CRIMINAL JUSTICE / FIRE / PUBLIC SAFETY
Crime:
Safe Streets partnership sees reduced gang violence in targeted neighborhood
Bakersfield Californian
The 2-square-mile neighborhood has seen more than its share of gunplay and bloodshed. Sandwiched between California Avenue and Brundage Lane, Chester Avenue and Washington Street, this relatively small patch of homes and parks, churches and schools, saw 24 gang-related shootings in 2015. The following year, that number rose to 26.
Lerdo jail is now under control following riot in housing unit involving 90 inmates
KERO 23ABC News
Kern County Sheriff’s deputies rushed to Lerdo jail after reports of a large-scale riot. It started just before 10:00 p.m. Tuesday night. Officials said inmates in a pod were refusing to lock down. The disturbance started in one housing unit and immediately spread to two other units, involving approximately 90 inmates.
Public Safety:
Bust highlights backlog in California system to seize guns
Merced Sun-Star / Fresno Bee
Authorities seized more than two dozen guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition from a California man, nearly five months after a judge barred him from having firearms, highlighting a backlog in a state system meant to seize guns from those who aren’t allowed to have them.
The Bakersfield Californian
Hall Ambulance has overcome a lot in its nearly five decades of existence but the challenge it is facing now could be the most substantial in years. Kern County Emergency Medical Services, a division of the Kern County Department of Public Health Services, reported to county supervisors Tuesday on serious breaches of performance standards by Hall throughout much of 2017.
ECONOMY / JOBS
Economy:
California Today: How a Market Tumble Affects California
New York Times
“Sell off!” “Crash!” Investors bracing for “uncertainty.” After plummeting early this week, Wall Street rallied on Tuesday, recovering some, but not all, of what had been lost. What implications does the drop have specifically for California?In an interview on Tuesday afternoon, Annette Vissing-Jorgensen, a professor of finance at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, put the market decline in context for the Golden State.
Jobs:
Solar jobs drop in California, after years of growth
San Francisco Chronicle
California’s solar power industry, a source of steady job growth since the depths of the great recession, has started to shrink. The number of solar jobs in the state fell more than 13 percent in 2017, an annual survey released Wednesday found, as issues ranging from regulatory changes to a long, wet winter stunted sales.
See also:
· US solar industry lost nearly 10000 jobs in 2017 Reuters
The flu is awful, a lack of sick leave is worse
Brookings
On February 5, 2018, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) celebrates its 25th anniversary. As the first (and still only) piece of federal legislation enabling workers to care for a new child, an ill family member, or a serious personal illness without jeopardizing their employment, it was a critical first step. However, the FMLA only provides workers with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for these purposes, and it only applies to those in firms with 50 or more employees.
EDUCATION
K-12:
Current trustees across the state in similar sized districts regularly collect about $750 per month for their work, however Kern High School District trustees have stood by a policy since 2009 that asserts board service is a voluntary contribution to the community. They take no compensation.
Farmdale Elementary has alternative to detention
Los Banos Enterprise
Farmdale Elementary School officials said their new alternative to detention provides a better way for misbehaving students to deal with stress in their lives.
A California Couple Abused Their 13 Kids—and Weak Homeschooling Rules Helped Them Do It
Mother Jones
David and Louise Turpin’s children were found in the filthy, stucco house, some shackled to beds, all 13 of them malnourished. They lived in “horrific” conditions,according to Riverside County prosecutors, and were beaten. Not until one of the children, a 17-year-old girl, escaped from the Perris, California, house and called 911 last month did anyone seem to know what was transpiring inside the house.
Governor wants California school districts to give more detail on use of state funds in budgets
EdSource
In an effort to make it easier to see how school districts in California are spending their funds to improve education outcomes, Gov. Jerry Brown wants to require school districts to publish in their annual budgets a summary of the funds they plan to spend on low-income children, English learners and other high-needs students.
Higher Ed:
How Can California Produce More College Graduates?
Public Policy Institute of California
Hans Johnson, director and senior fellow at the PPIC Higher Education Center, testified today, February 6, 2018, before the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance and the Assembly Higher Education Committee. The master plan defined a strategy to meet the state’s education needs in 1960—but today, California faces new challenges. The topic of today’s hearing: how to meet the state’s future economic need for more college graduates. Here are his prepared remarks.
A partnership that could get a lot more kids into college: CSU, meet YMCA
Sacramento Bee
I write this as the first flurry of acceptances have begun to reach hopeful applicants to our California State University campuses. These admission notifications represent the aspirations of thousands of prospective students who recognize the transformative power of a CSU degree.
A Serious Push for Free College in California
The Nation
A ballot initiative campaign to restore tuition-free college in California is gaining momentum for the November election, a model other states could follow. Put free college on the November ballot,” urges Estuardo Mazariegos to a student walking by. “Make California higher education free again, like it was in the 1970s.”
Despite low tuition, California college students take on debt for other costs
OCRegister
California colleges and the state’s financial aid system have done a good job of keeping tuition costs manageable, but other expenses such as housing, food and textbooks are pushing students into debt and hurting their ability to go to college.
A college education: Is it worth it?
Capitol Weekly
From housing to college, Californians are complaining about affordability. In a recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, 56 percent of adults say college affordability is a big problem and 62 percent believe current funding for public colleges and universities is not enough.
A library without books? Universities purging dusty volumes
AP
A library without books? Not quite, but as students abandon the stacks in favor of online reference material, university libraries are unloading millions of unread volumes in a nationwide purge that has some print-loving scholars deeply unsettled. Libraries are putting books in storage, contracting with resellers or simply recycling them. An increasing number of books exist in the cloud, and libraries are banding together to ensure print copies are retained by someone, somewhere. Still, that doesn’t always sit well with academics who practically live in the library and argue that large, readily available print collections are vital to research.
Apprenticeships:
Why We Desperately Need To Bring Back Vocational Training In Schools
Forbes
Throughout most of U.S. history, American high school students were routinely taught vocational and job-ready skills along with the three Rs: reading, writing and arithmetic. Indeed readers of a certain age are likely to have fond memories of huddling over wooden workbenches learning a craft such as woodwork or maybe metal work, or any one of the hands-on projects that characterized the once-ubiquitous shop class.
ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY
Environment:
Climate change is either upon us or it isn’t. California cities want it both ways
Sacramento Bee
If you live in Oakland, brace yourself. In the city’s lawsuit with six other California municipalities and counties against petroleum companies, Oakland states that man-made global warming is an ongoing threat that will culminate in 66 inches of sea level rise by century’s end, threatening the local economy with as much as $38 billion in property damage.
NASA’s JPL Using Fresno As A Test Bed For Air Quality Research
Valley Public Radio
A few weeks ago we told you how new high-tech, low-cost air quality sensors are helping valley residents monitor air pollution right outside their homes. But the devices aren’t just being used by homeowners, they’re also being adopted by some of the world’s top scientists. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is testing the devices here in the valley, in preparation for investigating pollutants from space.
Cap and trade is looking more and more like a tax
OCRegister
The veneer that keeps everybody from seeing that the cap-and-trade program is really just a tax is coming unglued. Last weekend, Mayor Eric Garcetti blasted out an email newsletter happily announcing that the Jordan Downs public housing development in Watts will be refurbished with money from the hidden tax you’re paying for gasoline and electricity.
Calmatters
The Bay Area city of Richmond recently made an unlikely move that got the attention of its largest employer and taxpayer, Chevron.
Energy:
Gas prices on the rise in California, again
Visalia Times-Delta
The price of gas seems to be going up at pumps across the nation. Locals continue to seek out go-to spots around town ensuring they get the most bang for their buck. The average price of gas in California rose 11 cents from last week to $3.37 making it the second highest in the country. In Tulare County, the average price for gas is $3.21.
It’s time we ask: What do we do when the lights go out?
TheHill
One day it could happen and how will you respond? If you are at home, will you be ready? If you are away from home, how will you get back? What will you do when the lights go out? Crandall, Parnell and Spillan look at a crisis as some sort of an unexpected event that could have a tremendous impact on an organization and lead to negative results. A crisis can occur to an individual, a group, an organization, a whole city or even an entire nation.
HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES
Health:
Despite Trump attacks, Obamacare sign-ups hold steady, new numbers show
Los Angeles Times
Almost 12 million Americans signed up for 2018 health coverage through marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act, according to a new tally that indicates nationwide enrollment remained virtually unchanged from last year despite President Trump’s persistent attacks on the 2010 health law.
Is A Statewide Insurance Mandate Next For California?
Starting in 2019, Americans will no longer be required to carry health insurance. But Californians might — if a state insurance mandate becomes a reality. Democratic state Sen. Ed Hernandez, chairperson of the Senate Health Committee, said he’s reaching out to consumer groups, health plans and the administration about the possibility of a statewide individual insurance mandate to replace the federal requirement that was eliminated by Republican lawmakers late last year.
These legal hurdles could trip up universal health care in California
89.3 KPCC
On Wednesday, the State Assembly’s Select Committee on Health Care Delivery Systems and Universal Coverage wraps up hearings assessing possible paths the state could follow to get to universal care for all Californians. On Monday, the panel considered some of the federal and state legal hurdles California lawmakers could face if they pursue a radical revamp of the health care system.
See also:
· Audio: 3 paths to universal health care in California 89.3 KPCC
· Single-payer hasn’t worked elsewhere, won’t work here The Mercury News
· Nurses association support of single-payer is self-serving The Mercury News
Community health centers caught in ‘Washington’s political dysfunction’
OCRegister
With lawmakers facing another deadline this week for legislation to keep the federal government open, one of the outstanding issues is long-term funding for a key health care program serving low-income people. The Community Health Center program helps provide care for 27 million people at nearly 10,000 nonprofit clinics nationwide, almost all of which are in poor rural and urban areas.
Adventist Health to offer free cancer screenings for veterans
Bakersfield.com
Adventist Health Bakersfield is offering free cancer screenings for veterans from 5-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at the AIS Cancer Center, located at 2620 Chester Ave. The hospital is offering free prostate, breast and lung screenings.
Coffee in California may soon come with a spoonful of cancer warnings
Washington Post
“I’ll have the double espresso with human carcinogen.” Okay, Starbucks will probably develop more subtle language if a California judge decides that coffee shops, convenience stores and other places that sell hot caffeinated beverages have violated a state law that requires businesses to provide “clear and reasonable warning” about chemicals known to cause cancer.
Human Services:
CalWORKs Grants Are Overdue for a Significant Investment
California Budget & Policy Center
The California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program is a critical component of California’s safety net for families with low incomes. CalWORKs supports about 860,000 children throughout the state by providing families with modest monthly cash grants, while helping parents overcome barriers to employment and find work.
IMMIGRATION
The Fresno Detention Facility ICE Doesn’t Want You To Know About
Valley Public Radio
Government buildings are usually pretty easy to spot, with big signs featuring their names and logos. Even agencies with some of the most sensitive information share their whereabouts. But in downtown Fresno, one government office flies so far under the radar that most who walk past would never know what’s behind its mirrored glass windows. The secretive nature of this office is drawing concern from immigration lawyers and advocates.
‘People are not wanting to go to work.’ ICE checks at Central Valley firms spread fear
Fresno Bee
At least 40 workers at Bee Sweet Citrus in Fowler lost their jobs after federal immigration agents began checking employee records last week, searching for people who are not legally allowed to work in the United States.
Key Facts on Individuals Eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
In September 2017, President Trump rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Without legislative or administrative action, individuals will lose their DACA status. Based on Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of Current Population Survey data, this fact sheet examines key characteristics of young undocumented individuals eligible for DACA.
See also:
· Most Americans want DREAMers to stay — and the wall to go, NPR poll finds NPR
Pants on Fire: Claim border wall would have prevented the opioid epidemic
PolitiFact
In his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Donald Trump proposed a stricter immigration system that he says would keep Americans safer and help address the country’s opioid epidemic.
Why Trump Talked About MS-13 Gang Violence in His State of the Union
FRONTLINE PBS
In September 2016, Kayla Cuevas, 16, and her friend, Nisa Mickens, 15, were murdered next to an elementary school in Brentwood, Long Island. The two girls were bludgeoned with baseball bats, authorities said, and hacked to death with machetes. The alleged culprits: members of the notorious MS-13 street gang.
Trump’s immigration demands and what’s at stake in 2018
MSN
Lawmakers are running out of time to come up with a solution for hundreds of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. In September 2017, the White House officially announced its plan to phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This Obama-era directive staved off immediate deportation for certain immigrants who were brought into the U.S. illegally as minors.
LAND USE/HOUSING
Land Use:
How sky-high housing costs make California the poorest state
CALmatters
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.
Housing:
Activist says he’s ready to fight city’s no-camping law
Fresno Bee
Social justice activist Dallas Blanchard informed a Superior Court judge on Tuesday that he plans to fight Fresno’s illegal camping ban, saying the new ordinance is unconstitutional because it “criminalizes homeless people based on their poverty status.”
PUBLIC FINANCES
City to provide budget update at City Council meeting
Bakersfield Californian
The City of Bakersfield will provide a mid-year budget update the City Council meeting on Wednesday. The city is proposing that adjustments be made to appropriate general fund money for the Recreation and Parks department to hire more staff as well as the public works and fire departments to cover an expected rise in electricity costs.
SpaceX had a big launch. California is taxing it
Sacramento Bee
California badly needs a fair and smart reform of its tax system – now more than ever after the giveaway to corporations and the wealthy in the new federal tax law. What the state doesn’t need are more gimmicks, such as soaking corporations with a tax surcharge.
Split roll property tax measure challenges CA’s Proposition 13
The Sacramento Bee
It has been a liberal dream for decades to undo parts or all of Proposition 13, the seminal California initiative limiting the property tax rate. Is that fight finally coming to the ballot box this fall? A coalition of civil rights and community organizations is expected to begin collecting signatures later this month for a measure to tax commercial properties at market value while leaving in place the Proposition 13 protections for homeowners, a concept known as “split roll.”
California payroll soars; pension hole gets even deeper
Modesto Bee
California’s annual state payroll grew by 6 percent in 2017, an increase of $1 billion and twice the rate of growth of the previous year. The reason? Generous new labor contracts for 13 of the states 21 employee bargaining units, representing more than 60 percent of California’s state workers, excluding university employees. Employee compensation is one of the largest components of the General Fund budget. In 2015-16, salaries and benefits accounted for about 12 percent of expenditures from the General Fund, or over $13 billion.
TRANSPORTATION
Gas prices on the rise in California, again
Visalia Times-Delta
The price of gas seems to be going up at pumps across the nation. Locals continue to seek out go-to spots around town ensuring they get the most bang for their buck.
California drivers are – believe it or not – putting down their cell phones
Sacramento Bee
Faced with a tough year-old cellphone law, more California drivers are putting their devices aside entirely when behind the wheel, a new study shows. The study by the state Office of Traffic Safety found that fewer than 4 percent of drivers appear to be picking up and using their cellphones, a notable drop from a year ago when the same analysis found that nearly 8 percent of drivers were on their cellphones.
California lawmaker wants all Uber, Lyft cars to be electric by 2028
Los Angeles Times
A Bay Area lawmaker wants to require Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing companies to have all electric fleets by 2028. Senate Bill 1014 from Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) would set goals for the electrification of ride-hailing cars over the next decade, and set aside up to $300 million to help subsidize the purchase of electric cars by ride-hailing drivers.
Los Angeles Has the Worst Traffic in the World — Again
KQED
When you joke to your friends that L.A. has the worst traffic in the world, it’s actually true. For the sixth straight year, Los Angeles took the top spot on the Global Traffic Scorecard. That means the city is number one for congestion — out of more than 1,000 different cities. L.A. drivers spent 102 hours in gridlock last year during peak time periods, according to the transportation analytics firm Inrix.
WATER
What’s the chance for a ‘normal’ rain year now? Grim, if history is a gauge
San Jose Mercury
A review of more than 100 years of rainfall records of major cities in California — including San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Rosa, Redding and Fresno — shows that none have ever finished the rainy season with normal rainfall totals after ending January with the amount of rain they’ve had so far this winter.
See also:
· Don’t expect much more rain in California this season, expert says, based on 100 years of data OCRegister
Public Policy Institute of California
Alternative water sources―recycled wastewater, urban stormwater, and desalinated seawater and brackish water―now provide 2‒3% of the state’s urban and farm water supply, and they are growing rapidly. Recycled water use has more than doubled since the late 1980s to 700,000 acre-feet annually. Desalination capacity grew more than fourfold since 2006 to nearly 200,000 acre-feet in 2016. Much of this growth is due to investments by urban water agencies, particularly in Southern California. This trend is expected to continue.
“Xtra”
City to unveil five new banners at Clovis Heritage Walk
Clovis Roundup
The City of Clovis will pay tribute to five famous residents by unveiling cultural honoree banners in their honor Thursday at 10:30 a.m. along the Old Town Clovis Trail just north of Shaw and Clovis avenues.
Maya Cinemas celebrates Black History Month with free movies beginning Saturday
Bakersfield.com
Maya Cinemas is celebrating Black History Month with free screenings of some outstanding films.
California’s redwood coast is named №1 U.S. travel destination by Lonely Planet
The California Sun
Along California’s redwood coast, warm temperatures and plentiful rain and fog have given rise to the planet’s tallest living organisms: Sequoia sempervirens, or coast redwoods. To behold them is to be like a mouse at the foot of an elephant. They can have diameters in excess of 30 feet and heights above 300 feet. The oldest redwoods are believed to date to the time of Plato.
EDITORIALS
Air travel has become a real zoo
Visalia-Times Delta
Many people who fly would agree that airline travel has gone to the dogs. And in some cases, they mean it literally. In the past few years, too many passengers have stretched the meaning of service animals that do vital jobs for their owners to include all manner of odd or ill-behaved pets.
Trump has offered no valid reason for revising California’s desert plan
Los Angeles Times
The Interior Department gave final approval 17 months ago to a massive planning document that, among other things, designated nearly 400,000 acres of desert in Southern California for wind, solar and geothermal energy production. The plan capped eight years of work, nearly a dozen public meetings and consultations with a wide range of stakeholders to determine which parts of 10.8 million acres of federal land should be preserved for conservation, which for recreation, and which for development.
Will Mick Mulvaney be the end of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as we know it?
Los Angeles Times
White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney once likened government regulations to a “slow cancer,” an attitude he shares with many of President Trump’s appointees as well as the man himself. So it’s hardly surprising that, in his new part-time role as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Mulvaney wouldwaste little time pulling back on the agency’s rules and its authority. It’s yet another reminder, as if any more were necessary, that elections have consequences.
City-sponsored drug-injection sites can save lives
San Francisco Chronicle
The idea of a city-sponsored drug-injection site at first sounds baffling and dangerous. To some, providing comfortable quarters and needles to shoot up is the last thing a city should do to curb drug users sprawling across sidewalks and parks.
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The Kenneth L. Maddy Institute at California State University, Fresno was established to honor the legacy of one of California’s most principled and effective legislative leaders of the last half of the 20th Century by engaging, preparing and inspiring a new generation of governmental leaders for the 21st Century. Its mission is to inspire citizen participation, elevate government performance, provide non-partisan analysis and assist in providing solutions for public policy issues important to the region, state and nation.
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