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Political Briefs
Top stories
Sen. Boxer vows no more ‘secret’ talks on California drought bill — Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer on Wednesday set down some markers on California water legislation, denouncing “secret negotiations” and stressing the importance of seeking statewide support. While dismissing as “absurd and ridiculous” Republican charges that she single-handedly sank last year’s anti-drought efforts, Boxer said she’d strenuously fight this year if she must. Her declarations underscore the complications facing the Central Valley lawmakers and others now preparing another bill. McClatchy Newspapers article; San Francisco Chronicle article
California lawmakers introduce ‘death with dignity’ bill – Flanked by the family of a brain cancer patient who left California to end her own life, state lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a bill to allow doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to terminally ill people who want to die. Sacramento Bee article; LA Times article; San Francisco Chronicle article; AP article
Statewide politics/Ballot Measures
Hispanics angry at DC Democrats – Back in California, a backlash is brewing among Latinos, who say the Democratic establishment’s quick embrace of Harris threatens to deny a Hispanic candidate a fair shot at the state’s first open Senate seat in more than two decades. Latinos are an outsize force in California politics. Politico article
Barbara Boxer has no shortage of visitors as race to replace her nears – Barbara Boxer may have no plans to endorse any of the potential candidates clamoring to replace her in the Senate, but that isn’t stopping them from lining up at her door. LA Times article
Joe Mathews: Will top two ruin our Senate fun? — The retirement of a four-term Senator should open a breath of fresh air into California politics. But the stench of the top two system is fouling things up. Mathews in Fox & Hounds
Joel Fox: Where will business turn in all-Dem Senate final? — Anthony York’s conjecture in his Grizzly Bear Project column that the 2016 U.S. Senate primary could deliver two Democrats in the general election begs the question, in such a circumstance, which Democrat would most likely pick up Republican and business support? Fox in Fox & Hounds
Swalwell rejects Senate run, endorses Harris — East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell, who strongly hinted he was considering a 2016 run for Sen. Barbara Boxers’s seat, has instead endorsed Kamala Harris for the job, adding to the growing ranks of Democrats backing the California Attorney General. San Francisco Chronicle article
Republican Wyman mulls run for Boxer’s U.S. Senate seat — Tehachapi Republican Phil Wyman, a former state legislator who unsuccessfully ran last year for state attorney general, is now considering a campaign for the U.S. Senate held by Barbara Boxer, who will retire at the end of her term next year. Fresno Bee article
Redistricting panel prepares U.S. Supreme Court filing — California’s voter-approved commission that draws the boundaries for legislative and congressional districts is going to the U.S. Supreme Court to support a similar commission in Arizona, which is locked in a power struggle with its Legislature. Capitol Weekly article
Immigration
GOP response to Obama speech includes immigration, but only in Spanish — Spanish- and English-speaking audiences received different messages Tuesday night during the official Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address. Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who delivered the Spanish-language response, advocated working on immigration reform. Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst left that issue out of her remarks in English entirely. LA Times article
Other areas
Supreme Court rules for TSA whistle-blower in Orange County – The Supreme Court extended whistle-blower protection Wednesday to an Orange County man who had disclosed that the government was about to remove armed air marshals from overnight flights to save money on hotels. LA Times article
Supreme Court asked to scale back landmark fair housing law – The Supreme Court signaled Wednesday it may be about to chip away at another 1960s-era civil rights law. At issue is the Fair Housing Act of 1968, passed a week after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. The law makes it illegal to refuse to rent or sell housing units based on race. LA Times article
George Skelton: Winner-take-all electoral system is a loser for democracy – What I’m griping about is the undemocratic general election winner-take-all system used by all but two states — Nebraska and Maine — of awarding electoral votes. The Founding Fathers never set it up this way. The Constitution doesn’t even mention the words Electoral College. Skelton column in LA Times
FBI’s Ferguson shooting inquiry complete; civil rights charges not expected – The Justice Department has not yet announced whether it will file a federal civil rights charge against former Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson. But officials and experts have said such a prosecution would be highly unlikely, in part because of the extraordinarily high legal standard federal prosecutors would need to meet. LA Times article
San Francisco supervisor London Breed calls out black community on gun crime — San Francisco Board of Supervisors President London Breed has a pointed message for the African American community regarding gun crime: “When you know your kids are involved in this violence, let’s turn them in.” San Francisco Chronicle article
Gun-control group moves to curb Internet sales of weapons — The Internet has changed the way everyone shops by making goods and services far more accessible to far more people. That is often an acceptable thing, except when it comes to the hotly debated area of gun control. LA Times article
Apple boosts lobbying spending to a record $4.1 million — Apple Inc., which has been increasing its presence in Washington, boosted its spending on lobbying in the U.S. Capitol to $4.1 million last year, a new milestone for the company that has traditionally shied away from politics. San Francisco Chronicle article
Local Democratic ATM machine getting ‘Ready for Hillary’ — It’s a year before the first votes will be cast in the 2016 presidential election, but the Democratic bastion of the Bay Area is already getting “Ready for Hillary” — as a crowd of deep-pocketed donors prepare a major fundraiser next month to set the stage for the former secretary of state’s expected entry into the Democratic presidential contest. San Francisco Chronicle article
House GOP abruptly drops plans to debate abortion bill — In an embarrassing setback, House Republicans abruptly decided Wednesday to drop planned debate of a bill criminalizing virtually all late-term abortions after objections from GOP women and other lawmakers left them short of votes. AP article
California Government Today:
News Briefs
Top Stories
Brookings Report: Employment growth fuels Fresno’s 2014 global economic ranking – A new report released Thursday by the Brookings Institution indicates that Fresno was among the fastest-growing large economies in the world last year, buoyed primarily by a significant year-over-year increase in the number of people who were employed. Fresno Bee article
State court rules jail for drug use on parole violates Prop 47 – A California law allowing ex-felons to be sent to county jail for using drugs while on supervised release violates a voter-approved right to drug treatment, a state appeals court has ruled. San Francisco Chronicle article
Jobs and the Economy
Amazon, California move past online sales tax battle – When Governor Jerry Brown first tried to close California’s $25 billion budget deficit in 2011, one of his targets was Amazon. At the time, the Internet retail giant didn’t collect sales tax on California purchases – and didn’t pay California taxes itself. Three-and-a-half years after the sides struck a deal, both Amazon and the state appear to be reaping benefits. Capital Public Radio report
Park Service says controversial Yosemite contract bidding is now closed – Without fanfare or much explanation, the National Park Service on Wednesday announced the close of bidding for the controversial contract worth $2 billion to run the concessions at Yosemite National Park. Federal officials would only say that there were bids, opting not to reveal company names or even the number of bidders. Fresno Bee article
Modesto survey: Property owners willing to pay for better downtown – Downtown Modesto property owners appear to be willing to spend their own money to improve downtown, according to a recent survey. Modesto Bee article
Bakersfield council hires staff, talks 24th Street – Anticipating $645,000 more than expected in development fees through June, the Bakersfield City Council approved spending more than $200,000 to hire four city staffers to speed up building permitting and inspections. Bakersfield Californian article
Heat melts Sierra snow economy – The state’s billion-dollar ski industry is baffled, to the point that some ski resorts have taken the unthinkable step of shutting down midseason. Others are getting by with only a handful of skiable runs. San Francisco Chronicle article
Hanford prepares for budget challenges – As the Hanford City Council began crunching numbers Tuesday in preparation for the upcoming budget year, they appear to be facing many of the same challenges as they did in 2014. During a study session, the council touched on a number of capital projects that it may need to tackle in the coming year. Those included the proposed expansion of Hidden Valley Park. Residents demanded the project early last year after the council considered selling the vacant property located west of the existing park. Hanford Sentinel article
Ports of LA and Long Beach see best year since before recession – Analysts said the cargo increase at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach — coming despite severe problems moving cargo off the docks and uncertainties over a new dockworker contract — shows that the U.S. economy is kicking into a higher gear. LA Times article
Economic development leader says Sacramento could be food center – Sacramento’s new economic development standard bearer said Wednesday the region could make strides as a hub for agriculture and water technology, carving out an identity for itself apart from other communities. Sacramento Bee article
Joel Kotkin: California’s rebound mostly slow, unsteady — California, after nearly five years in recession, has made something of a comeback in recent years. Job growth in the state – largely due to the Silicon Valley boom – has even begun to outpace the national average. The state, finally, appears to have finally recovered the jobs lost since 2007. In reality, however, California’s path back remains slow and treacherous. Kotkin in Fox & Hounds
New central Fresno Walmart Supercenter opens in former Mervyns — The new Walmart Supercenter in central Fresno opened Wednesday morning at Ashlan and Blackstone avenues in a former Mervyns. The store was more than in a year in the making as the retailer converted the building, which sat empty for years, into a supercenter with a grocery store. It employs 300 full- and part-time workers. Fresno Bee article
Gas expected to dip below $2 a gallon this week – The average price of a gallon of gas in the United States is projected to dip below $2 this week, according to a report from GasBuddy.com, which tracks gas prices. The last time gas was that cheap was March 25, 2009 (it was a Wednesday). LA Times article
Chukchansi casino closure drags on as fractures deepen in tribal leadership – A fourth tribal faction has emerged in the fight over leadership of the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians as another group seeks a new tribal election — a key step toward reopening Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in Coarsegold. Fresno Bee article
Silver Dollar Hofbrau closes after more than 35 years in Fresno – Silver Dollar Hofbrau closed its doors for the last time Tuesday night after more than 35 years in business. The Shaw Avenue property is being sold to an unidentified buyer who may turn it into an Asian restaurant or other business, said owner Truman Campbell, 87. Fresno Bee article; The Business Journal article
Lakers are most valuable NBA franchise, according to Forbes – They were declared the NBA’s most valuable franchise, worth $2.6 billion, according to Forbes’ annual rankings released Wednesday. LA Times article
Sacramento Kings now worth $800 million, Forbes says — It was a stunner when the Sacramento Kings were sold in 2013 in a deal valuing the franchise at $534 million, a record for the NBA. The team is now worth an estimated $800 million, Forbes magazine reported Wednesday. Sacramento Bee article
Will Comic-Com leave San Diego? Other cities are making pitches — Comic-Con International, San Diego’s lucrative four-day convergence of costumes and commerce, may be ready for a change of scenery. With an expansion of San Diego’s convention center stalled, other Southern California convention center operators are making a play to lure away that city’s biggest and most profitable convention. LA Times article
EBay to cut 2,400 jobs, spin off or sell enterprise unit – EBay plans to cut 2,400 jobs, or 7 percent of its staff, in the first quarter to simplify its structure and boost profit ahead of a planned separation of its business. The job cuts will fall across its marketplaces, PayPal and enterprise businesses. AP article; San Francisco Chronicle article
Sacramento economic forecast promising, but with some worries — The Sacramento Business Review says there are 85,000 more jobs in the region than in 2011. The average price of homes has also increased. But, Sacramento State Professor Sanjay Varshnay says he is concerned the new jobs won’t pay enough to keep up with increasing home prices. Capital Pubic Radio report
In China, the California name and connection are golden — Thousands of Beijingers wake up every day in Yosemite. Hordes more have moved to Palm Springs, not to mention Orange County and Silver Lake. They shop at UCLA and go to Hollywood for a bite to eat. All without leaving the Chinese capital. LA Times article
Bureaucrats take on bureaucracy – Think of hacking through a jungle with a butter knife and you’ll begin to appreciate the sheer fortitude five women exhibited over three long months last year as they picked their way through California’s tangled job classification system. Sacramento Bee article
Scores of new hires planned as LA revamps trash hauling — Revamping the way Los Angeles hauls commercial and apartment building trash will take scores of new employees, according to a plan set forward by the city’s sanitation bureau. Officials say the new workers will be paid out of fees collected from trash haulers granted city contracts, not revenues used for day-to-day services. LA Times article
Agriculture/Water/Drought
It’s awfully dry, so how do those reservoirs look? – The California Data Exchange Center, the go-to resource for state water data, publishes a daily summary of reservoir conditions, and that snapshot shows a collection of key state reservoirs at 61 percent of normal for this time of year. That’s better than things looked a month ago, and that’s good news. The bad news, naturally, is that the torrents that were pouring into the Northern California reservoirs a month ago have slowed to a relative trickle. KQED report
Swearengin talks water, chairs crime-fighting discussion at U.S. mayors’ conference – Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin on Wednesday talked water, transportation and crime-fighting while attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ annual winter conference. With snow falling part of the day, Swearengin met with officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to discuss the drought and water deliveries in the San Joaquin Valley. Fresno Bee article
Turlock Irrigation District braces for another tight water year – The Turlock Irrigation District could cap water deliveries at about 40 percent of the customary amount even if the rest of winter brings average rain and snow. The district staff on Tuesday night provided an initial look at the supply for 2015, which is looking to be a fourth straight year of drought. Modesto Bee article
Standards aim to cut down on salmonella in poultry — The government is pushing the poultry industry to make its chicken and turkey a little safer with new standards aimed at reducing the number of cases of foodborne illness by 50,000 a year. AP article
Honorees’ route to ranching not the typical dusty trail — Taking an active role in ranching doesn’t always require setting aside all other interests, giving up city life and spending every waking moment with livestock. In fact, judging by the career trajectories of this year’s Kern County Cattleman and CattleWoman of the Year, ranching can be a fall-back job, or even a side project that fits nicely with a daily schedule. Bakersfield Californian article
Sacramento backyard chickens at risk for catching ‘bird flu’ — UC Davis veterinarians are warning backyard chicken owners to take steps to protect their birds as particularly strong strains of avian influenza make their way into Northern California. Sacramento Bee article
Criminal Justice/Prisons
Local police say new rape definition could increase reported cases – Starting this year, law enforcement agencies are changing the way they report certain crimes to the FBI. Fm89’s Diana Aguilera explains why this could lead to an increase in reported cases of rape. KVPR report
Visalia names acting police chief — Visalia police Lt. Ed Lynn will serve as acting chief of the Visalia Police Department after Police Chief Colleen Mestas steps down this week, the city said Wednesday. Fresno Bee article; Visalia Times-Delta article
Sever sworn in as Hanford police chief — A swearing in ceremony was held at Tuesday’s Hanford city council meeting in honor of the city’s newly appointed Chief of Police Parker Sever. Sever, who began his 18-year long law enforcement career at the Hanford Police Department in 1997, had his first official day in office on Jan. 19. He succeeds former Police Chief Carlos Mestas. Hanford Sentinel article
Ida Jones: When grand juries fail, civil courts should hold cops liable — In this edition of Valley Public Radio’s commentary series The Moral Is Ida Jones, a professor of Business Law at Fresno State, argues that civil remedies may be the only recourse to reduce the number of police killings of young African American males when criminal indictments fail to do so. KVPR report
Education
Jerry Brown, Janet Napolitano form committee of two – Two months after Napolitano and UC’s governing board moved ahead with their funding demand – and two weeks after Brown rejected it in his annual budget plan – the two sides appeared Wednesday to inch nearer resolution. Without dissent, a panel of regents endorsed forming a committee consisting of two members – Brown and Napolitano – to consider cost reductions and other systemwide issues. Capitol Alert; Sacramento Bee editorial
UC regent wants to repeal tuition increase – Former Assembly Speaker and new UC regent John Perez wants to roll back the 5 percent annual tuition hikes the regents approved in November. At Wednesday’s UC regents meeting, Perez — a Jerry Brown-appointee and outspoken critic of the tuition increase — asked the board chairman to place a repeal of the unpopular vote on the March agenda. San Jose Mercury News article
UC regents push for stricter standards in new coach bonus policy – Concerns raised by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom about “lower-than-last” academic criteria in a new athletic coach bonus policy have prompted the University of California’s governing board to call for a vote on the proposal. Capitol Alert; San Francisco Chronicle article
California community colleges set record for degrees, certificates – The number of students who received a degree or certificate from a California community college hit a record high last year and more of them completed remedial math and English courses, officials announced this week. LA Times article
California watchdog agency recommends repeal of new school budget caps — California’s watchdog agency recommended on Wednesday that the legislature repeal a new law that caps the size of school district budgets, warning that over 91 percent of the state’s districts would have violated the new rules if they had been in place in 2014. Reuters article
Brown, districts at odds over school construction bonds – Determined to shed long-term state debt, Gov. Jerry Brown wants the state to cease issuing K-12 school construction bonds, leaving school districts to pay the tab for building and renovating schools. A coalition of school districts and the building industry has responded with plans to go straight to voters with a $9 billion state school building bond in 2016. EdSource article; Dan Walters Daily in Sacramento Bee
More colleges under pressure to divest, though effect is debatable – Debates about divestment causes are rippling across college campuses nationwide and are particularly heated over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The movements also raise wider questions of whether selling off stocks helps achieve advocates’ goals, such as reducing climate change, and whether colleges’ financial leaders should seek to do anything but earn the highest possible returns. LA Times article
Group faults Stockton Unified teacher evaluations – A scathing report faulting state school districts for not complying with a decades-old teacher-evaluation law cites Stockton Unified, which has been mired in a lengthy stalemate over contract negotiations centered around the contentious issue. Stockton Record article
Ryan Smith: California’s public schools fail English learners – The executive director of The Education Trust-West writes, “Coming on the heels of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, we continue to hear calls to not just memorialize the civil rights movement in a holiday or movie, but to continue its legacy and mission. You don’t have to look further than our classrooms to see where injustice persists, particularly for students designated as English learners.” Smith op-ed in Sacramento Bee
College proposal gets mixed reaction — This month, President Obama announced his plan to make community college free for two years, with the federal government covering 75 percent of tuition costs and states paying the rest. Students would be required to maintain a 2.5 grade-point average or higher and go at least part-time. In Kings County, college administrators expressed mixed feelings about Obama’s proposal. Hanford Sentinel article
Fresno Unified building a new entrepreneurial high school – Giant red steel beams planted in dirt are all that hint at the new high school being constructed in central Fresno near Ratcliffe Stadium. Construction crews worked there in the gray afternoon light on Tuesday, drilling and digging on the bottom floor of what will be a two-story entrepreneurial high school by August. Fresno Bee article
UC Merced Connect: Atwater native first to earn prestigious physics scholarship — Jeremias Gonzalez fell in love with physics at a young age, but it almost stopped there. He didn’t think he was academically prepared for such a rigorous discipline and considered going in another direction. But instead of giving in to fear, the Atwater native decided to challenge himself – and he’s never looked back. UC Merced Connect in Merced Sun-Star
Denair school district likely to hire Storer for bus drivers — At a special meeting Thursday night, the Denair Unified School District board is expected to hire Storer Transportation Services of Modesto on a full-time basis to supply its bus drivers. Storer has been doing the job on an emergency basis since the first of the year. Modesto Bee article
Nan Austin: Top 10 teacher blogs, ranked without rubrics or state standards — A compilation billed as the best teacher blogs in the world caught my eye and got me Googling for others, like Scholastic’s Top 14 list of Teacher Blogs. There are lots more to choose from – it turns out even teachers’ work gets graded. Here is my edited, annotated and utterly unscientific top 10 list. Austin in Modesto Bee
Eighth-graders to choose career paths — Eighth-graders in Tulare County will have some big choices to make in the coming weeks when it comes to their high school education. Visalia Times-Delta article
Energy/Environment
California air regulators eye methane emissions from ag, oil – California’s air regulators are increasingly turning their attention to a greenhouse gas that has largely gone overlooked – methane. According to the U.S. EPA, when it comes to climate change, methane emissions have an impact 20 times greater than CO2 emissions, pound for pound. KVPR report
U.S. Senate says climate change real, but doesn’t agree on cause — The Republican-controlled Senate acknowledged Wednesday that climate change is real but refused to say humans are to blame. AP article
Energy retrofit program, launched in Sacramento, goes statewide — A novel program to encourage property owners to make their buildings more energy efficient, launched two years ago in Sacramento, is going statewide. Sacramento Bee article
New grant aims to save Valley’s tricolored blackbird — A federal grant announced Wednesday could give California dairy farmers incentive to help save the Tricolored Blackbird. As Amy Quinton reports from Sacramento, the population of the bird has plummeted in the last four years. Capital Public Radio report
Mystery deepens: Prime bird death suspect ruled out — The mysterious case of the bird-killing goo got a little more perplexing Wednesday when laboratory tests ruled out the prime suspect, a viscous compound blamed for sending thousands of birds in Europe to their graves. San Francisco Chronicle article
Health/Human Services
Disney measles outbreak: Resort asks staff for proof they’re protected — Disneyland Resort employees who had contact with measles-stricken coworkers have been asked to stay home unless they can show they’ve been vaccinated or take a blood test to show they’re immune, Disney officials told the Los Angeles Times. LA Times article
People not vaccinated for measles urged to avoid Disneyland — California public health officials say unvaccinated people and children too young to be immunized against measles should avoid Disneyland after new infections were linked to the theme park. AP article
Disneyland measles outbreak spreads to Bay Area – A large outbreak of measles that started at two adjacent Disney theme parks in December has now sickened people all over California, including a handful of Bay Area residents, and is prompting public health authorities to urge everyone to get vaccinated if they aren’t already. San Francisco Chronicle article; New York Times article
Michael Hiltzik: Disneyland measles crisis should wake up the anti-vaccination crowd — The rise of the anti-vaccination movement has shown that even affluent and well-educated parents can be dolts, and that school and public health officials can be inexcusably complacent. The Disneyland measles outbreak may finally give all these parties a much-needed jolt of reality. Hiltzik column in LA Times
Lab tests imply formaldehyde risk in some e-cigarette vapor — Using certain electronic cigarettes at high temperature settings could potentially release more formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical, than smoking traditional cigarettes does, new lab tests suggest. San Francisco Chronicle article
Doctors Medical Center agrees to settle infant salmonella case — Doctors Medical Center of Modesto has agreed to settle a Salida woman’s lawsuit, which claimed her newborn daughter was infected with salmonella in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. Modesto Bee article
Transportation
GET board chair Patricia Norris resigns – After more than 15 years as a board member for the Golden Empire Transit District, Patricia Norris resigned Tuesday during the agency’s regular meeting. Bakersfield Californian article
What is the Bay Area’s plan for 21st century transportation? — Moving more people around the Bay Area will require us to make better use of our current infrastructure, expand public transit, build dense housing around transit corridors and make the streets safer for people to bike and walk, according to three experts who study Bay Area transportation. KQED report
Other Areas
Quality of life scores run along racial lines in California – Latinos in Los Angeles County earn half as much as whites, with a median income of $21,314, compared with $44,929. An Asian American baby born in the L.A. area today can expect to live 11.3 years longer than an African American baby. Asian Americans score the highest quality of life index at 7.29 out of 10, while Latinos score the lowest at 4.11 out of 10. LA Times article
Livingston planning commissioner might be removed; officials cite conflict of interest – The Livingston City Council this week discussed ousting a planning commissioner because of a potential conflict of interest with his elected seat on the city’s school board. Merced Sun-Star article
San Diego tightens pot shop rules — The San Diego City Council approved tighter operating restrictions for medical marijuana dispensaries on Tuesday, but stopped short of regulating deliveries or creating stricter rules for smokeless products such as edibles and hash oil. U-T San Diego article
Two Cal Fire workers fired, one resigns, 13 others disciplined in Ione academy probe — Cal Fire on Wednesday fired two firefighters, accepted the resignation of a third and said it would discipline 13 others in connection with evidence of dishonesty, misuses of state equipment and other policy violations uncovered during a $2 million probe of allegations of misconduct leveled at the Fire Academy in Ione. Sacramento Bee article; AP article; LA Times article
Jeff Jardine: Can new bridge avoid being taggers’ easel? — Earlier this month, Stanislaus County and Modesto officials invited the public to weigh in on how the new Seventh Street Bridge should look. The bridge, dedicated with a splash of milk in August 1917, has outlived its usefulness. It needs to be replaced, but with what? Jardine column in Modesto Bee
Joe Mathews: Let’s set real goals for California — In today’s California, we set big, ambitious goals for improving energy efficiency, fighting climate change, and, well, not much else. Mathews in Fresno Bee
Valley Editorial Roundup
Fresno Bee – Give dying people a dignified way out.
Merced Sun-Star – Why should we subsidize a soda habit?
Modesto Bee – Why should we subsidize a soda habit?
Sacramento Bee – Small committee, big names, high stakes for UC; Sacramento can build on historic drop in homicides.