POLICY & POLITICS
Deadline February 22nd: Wonderful Public Service Graduate Fellowship
The Maddy Institute
Applications for two $56,000 Fellowships Due Friday, February 22nd, 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.
abc30
It appears robots are taking over American jobs. That’s according to a report released on Thursday by Washington thinktank The Brookings Institution. Robots take over the tasks of warehouse workers and farmworkers.
See also:
● Automation and artificial intelligence: How machines affect people and places Brookings
North SJ Valley:
Harder: I came home to listen, and here’s what I heard
Modesto Bee
Farmers and veterans. Town Halls and town squares. Hard hats…and robots. These are just some of the sights, sounds and people I encountered as I kicked off my First 100 Days Listening Tour last weekend.
‘That’s a blatant lie.’ Rift on Modesto Irrigation District board grows deeper
Modesto Bee
Whether a majority of Modesto Irrigation District leaders are angling to part with some river water seems to be at the core of an increasingly bitter power struggle on the board.
Central SJ Valley:
Could Measure P still pass? Proponents say yes, and are asking Fresno mayor to act
Fresno Bee
Fresno park advocates want the mayor to reverse their loss at the ballot box by instituting a sales tax that failed to gain a two-thirds majority in the November election. Fresno Building Healthy Communities contends in a letter to Mayor Lee Brand that the sales tax initiative, Measure P, didn’t need a super majority to win.
Fresno and Merced Mayors Attending U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington DC
KMJ
Fresno and Merced mayors join hundreds of bipartisan mayors in Washington D.C. for the U.S. Conference of Mayors to address critical issues.
South SJ Valley:
Kern County’s Opioid Users Lack Access To Much Needed Treatment
VPR
Although California is not at the epicenter, the San Joaquin Valley has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic. And the problem has reached a crisis point nationwide.
See also:
· Listen: ‘Death Certificate Project’ Aims At Opioid Crisis, But Doctors Cry Foul Kaiser Health News
State:
California Republican Party gets even smaller: A GOP lawmaker defects to the Democrats
Sacramento Bee
California Republicans suffered yet another loss Thursday when one of their Assembly members defected to the Democrats. Democrats celebrated with a victorious news conference Thursday morning, grinning and cheering as Assemblyman Brian Maienschein of San Diego announced his decision.
See Also:
● San Diego Republican Assemblyman Brian Maienschein switches parties and joins Democrats Los Angeles Times
● California GOP Lawmaker Switches Parties, Criticizes Trump Capital Public Radio
● Still more evidence of the GOP collapse in California: A legislator switches parties CALmatters
Capitol Chat: PG&E Bankruptcy Updates And California’s Response To The Shutdown
Capital Public Radio
As PG&E moves closer to declaring bankruptcy and the federal government remains shut down, Capitol Bureau Chief Ben Adler share some lawmakers’ responses.
How the shutdown is hitting federal courts and law enforcement in California
Los Angeles Times
Private criminal defense lawyers appointed to defend the poor in federal courts in California have not been paid since Christmas Eve. If the federal government shutdown continues into next month, federal jurors in California may not receive their pay or be reimbursed for expenses until the government reopens.
California governor appoints first-ever surgeon general
NBC News
The pediatrician, entrepreneur and CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco, has been appointed as the state’s first-ever surgeon general.
EDITORIAL: Allegations of sexual harassment should close Capitol doors to Ridley-Thomas
Sacramento Bee
Legislators should say “bye” if former Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas comes knocking in his new role as a lobbyist. The former Los Angeles legislator resigned suddenly last year and it turns out he was facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment.
Federal:
First the Senate rejected two spending bills. Then McConnell went to work
Fresno Bee
Senate Republicans are hopeful that now Senate Majority Leader is more engaged in the talks to end the longest-ever government shutdown that there can be progress.
See Also:
● Kushner floats deal of permanent protections for 1.8 million dreamers, LULAC chief says Fresno Bee
● Senate rejects rival Dem, GOP plans for reopening government Fresno Bee
● On Day 34, Senate to vote on competing bills to end shutdown abc30
● Two GOP senators expected to vote for Dems’ bill Visalia Times Delta
● Out of touch? Trump aides struggle with shutdown empathy Sacramento Bee
● Trump, GOP embrace amid political fallout from shutdown Sacramento Bee
● Immigration advocates to meet with Kushner on deal to protect Dreamers, end shutdown Sacramento Bee
● In first vote since shutdown, Senate defeats two competing bills to reopen the government Los Angeles Times
● EDITORIAL: There’s a word for forcing people to work for untold weeks without paying them Los Angeles Times
Trump makes rare cave on State of the Union speech
Fresno Bee
President Donald Trump’s decision to postpone his State of the Union address under pressure from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi surprised allies, contradicted top aides who had been working on an alternative speech plan and left all of Washington trying to determine whether it signaled new willingness by Trump to make a deal to reopen the government.
See Also:
● Ending showdown with Pelosi, Trump postpones State of Union until shutdown ends Hanford Sentinel
● EDITORIAL: Pelosi wins a showdown with Trump, but shutdown goes on San Francisco Chronicle
Trump’s Commerce chief doesn’t ‘understand’ why furloughed workers using food banks
abc30
As the partial government shutdown stretches into day 34 and 800,000 federal workers are set to start missing their second paycheck starting Friday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is downplaying the effects on government employees and the overall economy.
See Also:
● Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross Downplayed Shutdown Hardships. Dems Raged Capital Public Radio
● Here’s why Wilbur Ross is dead wrong about borrowing money during financial hardship Los Angeles Times
Early 2020 Democratic field puts diversity in spotlight
Sacramento Bee
The early days of the Democratic primary campaign are highlighting the party’s diversity as it seeks a nominee who can build a coalition to take on President Donald Trump.
See Also:
● No lack of ambition in Kamala Harris Modesto Bee
● Teacher strike behind him, Garcetti refocuses on a White House bid Los Angeles Times
● Oakland employee’s email from Kamala Harris campaign may run afoul of ethics laws San Francisco Chronicle
● Kamala Harris shoots to top of progressive poll on 2020 Democrats San Francisco Chronicle
● Kamala Harris’ role in Trump resistance may matter more than her thin Senate record Sacramento Bee
● Black Women Voters Emerge as Top Target in 2020 Democratic Race Wall Street Journal
Both House leaders from California: They don’t share much else
San Francisco Chronicle
Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy are the leaders of their parties in the House and are both from California. That’s about all they have in common.
Trump Adviser Stone Charged as Part of Mueller Investigation
Wall Street Journal
Roger Stone appears in federal court in Florida and is released on $250,000 bond.
See also:
● Trump associate Stone arrested, faces obstruction charge Modesto Bee
● Who is Roger Stone? Longtime Republican confidant worked on campaigns from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump Visalia Times Delta
Wall Street Journal
Immigrants have become a casualty in a larger, more important argument about American identity.
Trump stands on shaky ground, new poll shows
Brookings
2019 is shaping up as a year testing the Trump presidency on every front: foreign policy, trade, a potentially slowing economy, and relations with the Democratic-controlled House and an increasingly fractious Senate—eleven of whose Republican members just joined forces with Democrats to vote against lifting sanctions on a Russian oligarch.
See also:
● For two years, Trump has been undermining American democracy. Here’s a damage report. Washington POst
EDITORIAL: Trump hid Russia talks from voters
Visalia Times Delta
Americans might soon learn what, if anything, special counsel Robert Mueller has found out about potential collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia. But there’s one Trump-Moscow link where the emerging evidence is already as damning as it is disturbing.
Other:
Wall Street Journal
How the bureaucracy takes power away from elected officials.
See also:
● New Study Examines 2020 Census Barriers, Attitudes, and Motivators census.gov
On Twitter, limited number of characters spreading fake info
Stockton Record
A tiny fraction of Twitter users spread the vast majority of fake news in 2016, with conservatives and older people sharing misinformation more, a new study finds.
Wall Street Journal
We need your information for operation and security, but you control whether we use it for advertising.
Google Urged the U.S. to Limit Protection For Activist Workers
Bloomberg
While Google publicly supported employees who protested company policies, it quietly asked the government to narrow the right to organize over work email.
MADDY INSTITUTE PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAMMING
Sunday, January 27, at 5 p.m. on ABC 30 –Maddy Report:“Retrospective with LAO Mac Taylor” – Guests: California’s former Legislative Analyst, Mac Taylor.Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.
Sunday, January 27, at 10 a.m. on Newstalk 580AM/105.9FM (KMJ) – Maddy Report – Valley Views Edition: Valley Views Edition: “New State Budget: Will Past Be Prologue?” – Guests: Scott Graves, Director of Research for the Calif Budget & Policy Center and California’s former Legislative Analyst, Mac Taylor. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.
Sunday, January 27, at 7:30 a.m. on UniMas 61 (KTTF) – El Informe Maddy: “Nuevas Leyes y Legislacion futura” – Guests: Alexei Koseff, Reportero de Sacramento Bee. Host: Maddy Institute Program Coordinator, Maria Jeans.
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AGRICULTURE/FOOD
As Fresno’s cannabis industry evolves, will people of color be locked out?
Fresno Bee
Fresno has not seen the last of the cannabis debates – and whether the city’s nascent pot industry will be inclusive of people of color remains a top unresolved issue.
Marijuana’s New Crop of Consumers, by the Numbers
New York Times
Nobody said it’d be easy, exactly. But nobody anticipated it’d be quite this hard to get Californians to buy legal weed.
Valley farmers relieved after local USDA office reopens despite shutdown
abc30
The USDA has recalled about 9,700 employees to provide financial assistance to farmers and ranchers.
When almond trees have to go, it’s not as bad as it looks
Bakersfield Californian
When he’s at work in local almond orchards, passers-by often stop to ask Hank Gorman whether the property owner know he’s knocking over their trees. And every time he gives the same answer: “The farmer called me.”
What’s Healthy At The Grocery Store? Shoppers Are Often Confused, Survey Finds
Capital Public Radio
A survey finds shoppers would like a symbol to help them identify healthy foods at a time when many hear conflicting advice. But creating a symbol that works for all foods is fraught with challenges.
Federal workers react to Trump’s grocery remarks: ‘That’s not how supermarkets work’
San Francisco Chronicle
Thanks for the advice Mr. President, said his furloughed workforce, but here on planet Earth they make you pay for your groceries.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE / FIRE / PUBLIC SAFETY
Crime:
For teens in juvenile hall, a new book club is a place to relax – and an opportunity
Fresno Bee
The teenage detainees at the Juvenile Justice Center in Fresno don’t have a lot of choices – certainly not about what time they wake up to begin their day with stretches and push-ups, nor how long they can linger over breakfast before they go to classes, nor, on weekends, whether they clean up their cells. But once a month, 10 of them choose to discuss literature.
See also:
● Is Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Juvenile Justice Reform Substantial Or Symbolic? Capital Public Radio
● In California, Criminal Justice Reform Offers a Lesson for the Nation New York Times
‘Human trafficking will not be tolerated.’ Fresno police arrest massage parlor clients
Fresno Bee
Clients of Angel Massage in Fresno were arrested Jan. 23, 2019 on suspicion of soliciting prostitution. Three workers were also arrested. “Human trafficking will not be tolerated,” police and FBI said.
UC Merced Professor’s Research Chronicles How Religion and Politics Can Rehabilitate Ex-Cons
VPR
A UC Merced professor spent 18 months examining how religion mixed with political advocacy helped people who were formerly incarcerated reintegrate into society. Edward Orozco Flores explores these issues in his new book, “Jesus Saved an Ex-Con.”
EDITORIAL: Gov. Newsom’s impulse on juvenile justice good, but state needs real reform
San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing a big change for California’s troubled juvenile prisons. He wants to shift control of the youth prisons from the state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to its Health and Human Services Agency.
Public Safety:
Police transform used Tesla into stealthy patrol car in California
Fresno Bee
Police in Fremont, CA, where Tesla makes its expensive electric vehicles, are testing a used Model S 85 to see if it works as a patrol car as part of the city’s goal to cut emissions. It will also save on gas.
Lemoore Police offering Citizens Academy
Hanford Sentinel
Starting Wednesday, March 27th, 2019 @ 6:30 PM the Lemoore Police Department will be offering another Citizens’ Academy. Classes (or sessions) are held each Wednesday evening from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM for a total of eight weeks.
This California fairground banned gun shows. Now it’s getting sued
Sacramento Bee
A group of firearm dealers and Second Amendment advocates is suing a California county fair board, alleging that its decision last year to ban gun shows restricts the Constitutional rights of gun owners. The lawsuit against the Del Mar Fairgrounds of San Diego County was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom makes aggressive, early moves on his gun control agenda for California
Los Angeles Times
Gavin Newsom won the governorship in part by touting his leadership on gun control as the architect of Proposition 63, a 2016 initiative that put him at loggerheads with the National Rifle Assn.
Scamming Grandma: Financial Abuse of Seniors Hits Record
Wall Street Journal
Banks report 12% increase of suspected cases as they step up efforts to detect and stop fraud.
Fire:
Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa caused by private electrical system, not PG&E, Cal Fire says
Fresno Bee
For more than a year, lawyers representing wildfire survivors have been suing PG&E over the Tubbs Fire. On Thursday, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was exonerated, a rare victory for a utility facing bankruptcy over a staggering number of wildfire lawsuits.
See Also:
● Investigators say wildfire in Northern California was not caused by PG&E abc30
● Homeowner equipment caused California wine country fire Merced Sun-Star
● CalFire: Pacific Gas & Electric did not spark 2017 wildfire Visalia Times Delta
● Cal Fire Finds PG&E Not Responsible For Tubbs Fire Capital Public Radio
● Private utility lines, not PG&E, caused fire that killed 22 Los Angeles Times
● Tubbs Fire: In recovering Coffey Park, shock over news of blaze’s cause San Francisco Chronicle
Capital Public Radio
About a month after the Camp Fire sparked near Paradise, some 500 people piled into the Nevada County government headquarters. Although the blaze occurred 50 miles away, it was on the minds of many residents of the Sierra Nevada foothills.
See Also:
● News Network: Escaping The Flames Capital Public Radio
Newsom names three to California wildfires panel
San Francisco Chronicle
Gov. Gavin Newsom named his three appointments to a newly formed commission tasked with studying the costs of California wildfires associated with electric utilities.
Lawmakers Say No PG&E Bailout for 2018 Wildfires
KQED
The controversial law, SB 901, allowed utilities to issue bonds to help pay for their wildfire liability costs, enabling those costs to be passed on to ratepayers, among other things. But now that PG&E says it is filing for bankruptcy protection, the state’s top two assemblymen overseeing utilities tell KQED News that the plan to extend that law to 2018 is off the table.
See also:
● Map: A History Of California Wildfires Capital Public Radio
● PG&E Says Federal Judge’s Safety Plan Is Not Feasible and Too Expensive Capital Public Radio
Meet California’s next wildfire lookout: You, thanks to an online network of cameras
Sacramento Bee
A growing network of remote cameras feeding video online helps California fire officials — and ordinary citizens — watch for the state’s next devastating wildfire, proponents say.
ECONOMY / JOBS
Economy:
Stocks waver as chipmakers jump and drug companies dip
Los Angeles Times
Stocks finished mostly higher Thursday as another day of mixed trading showed the market’s recent rally losing some strength. Chipmakers rose, while drugmakers fell.
Washington Post
The Commerce Department’s federal credit union is charging furloughed employees almost 9 percent interest on emergency loans to cover their missing paychecks, despite Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross saying Thursday that financial institutions were offering “very, very low-interest-rate loans to bridge people over the gap.”
Joyless growth in China, India, and the United States
Brookings
Despite robust economic growth, the strain of suppression in China, inefficiency in India, and political polarization in the United States has rendered these countries “superficially healthy but deeply stressed,” Indermit Gill writes.
CEOs of Six Top Banks to Testify Before Congress
Wall Street Journal
Wall Street giants expected to testify before House Financial Services Committee in March or April.
Jobs:
Campaign workers demand minimum wage, progressive culture from 2020 Dems
Fresno Bee
Democratic strategists push presidential candidates to implement progressive working conditions on their campaigns, from unionizing and paying interns $15 an hour to ensuring time off and salary transparency.
There’s a 48 per cent chance robots will take over Fresno jobs: Study
abc30
It appears robots are taking over American jobs. That’s according to a report released on Thursday by Washington thinktank The Brookings Institution. Robots take over the tasks of warehouse workers and farmworkers.
See also:
● Automation and artificial intelligence: How machines affect people and places Brookings
Many of California’s Highly Educated Workers Are Retiring
PPIC
As California’s population ages, record numbers of people are now going into retirement. Because so many of these recent retirees are highly educated, this trend has important implications for workforce needs in the state. Replacing these highly educated retirees will require large increases in college enrollment and completion among young Californians.
EDUCATION
K-12:
Selma High School holds groundbreaking ceremony for new stadium
abc30
Selma High School is getting a new stadium, and on Thursday they held a groundbreaking ceremony. It’s been nearly 30 years in the making.
10 Merced parents were arrested because they didn’t send their kids to school, DA says
Merced Sun-Star
Ten Merced parents were arrested last week as part of a countywide truancy sweep targeting parents who are failing to send their children to school, the Merced County District Attorney’s Office reported.
Stepping up to the plate
Porterville Recorder
Pioneer Middle School hosted a full day of presentations Wednesday for Youth Day. With presenters from local organizations, companies and individuals from all over the Central Valley, the purpose of the event was to get students to participate in a variety of activities to inspire them to “step up to the plate”.
Stockton schools reach settlement with state over discrimination allegations
Sacramento Bee
Stockton Unified School District and its police department reached a settlement this week with the California Department of Justice over allegations that the district discriminated against students of color and students with disabilities.
Amid Shutdown, Schools Worry Meal Programs Will Run Out of Cash
Wall Street Journal
Funding for lunches and breakfasts is seen running out in March if impasse goes on.
Academic Progress for English Learners: The Role of School
PPIC
English Learners in middle and high school come from a variety of backgrounds and face unique challenges. The school’s language environment and course placement practices are two factors that may affect their academic and linguistic progress.
EDITORIAL: This was no bargaining ploy: LAUSD really is facing a financial cliff
Los Angeles Times
The teachers are off the picket lines, the kids are back at their desks and all is well with the Los Angeles Unified School District — for the moment.
Higher Ed:
Deadline FAST APPROACHING: Wonderful Public Service Graduate Fellowship
The Maddy Institute
Applications for two $56,000 Fellowships Due Friday, February 22nd, 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.
Fresno State gets $450K from Chevron. A big chunk will benefit rural communities
Fresno Bee
Fresno State received $450,000 from Chevron to support a variety of existing programs within the university, including the Community Health Mobile Unit. The largest portion of the money – $150,000 – will go to funding the health bus that provides free screenings and other health care for rural communities.
Fresno State Courses for Those Over 50
Fresno State News
Review the 2019 Spring Catalog
Hearing loss headlines annual Silent Garden lecture at FSU
Porterville Recorder
The free, public lecture is aimed at individuals struggling with decreased hearing in the workplace, couples with a partner experiencing hearing loss, family members dealing with a loved one’s hearing deficit and individuals coming to terms with their own hearing loss.
Quality of Life Speaker Series returns to CSUB next month
Bakersfield Californian
The Quality of Life Center Speaker Series is returning to Cal State Bakersfield on Feb. 4. The goal of the series is to promote projects that enhance the quality of life in Kern County, either directly or through influencing policy.
BC holding next Distinguished Speaker Series event next month
Bakersfield Californian
Bakersfield College is holding the next event in its Distinguished Speaker Series on Feb. 7.
Quality of Life Speaker Series returns to CSUB next month
Bakersfield Californian
The Quality of Life Center Speaker Series is returning to Cal State Bakersfield on Feb. 4.
Pacific President Pamela Eibeck announces retirement
Stockton Record
University of the Pacific President Pamela A. Eibeck has announced her retirement, effective July 1, the university announced this morning. Eibeck shared her decision earlier today with Pacific students, faculty and staff and the university’s extended community of alumni, donors and partners.
Colleges have been under pressure to admit needier kids. It’s backfiring.
Washington Post
Pressure has been building on colleges to stop chasing the same small subset of privileged, highly test-prepped applicants and start admitting needier kids. But new research suggests that the particular form this pressure has taken — including popular rankings based on Pell enrollment — has been at least partly backfiring.
ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY
Environment:
2 minutes to midnight: Doomsday Clock’s minute hand stays in ‘dangerous’ position
abc30
The minute hand of the Doomsday Clock has not moved any closer to midnight in 2019, but the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists wants everyone to know: This isn’t a good sign.
See Also:
● Jerry Brown launches back into public life with ‘doomsday’ warning Los Angeles Times
Government shutdown delays, disrupts environmental studies
Sacramento Bee
Environmental research projects across the country are being delayed and disrupted by the month long partial federal government shutdown — and not just those conducted by government agencies.
Energy:
PG&E just escaped blame for one huge disaster—but it’s still the utility California loves to hate
CALmatters
Mention Pacific Gas & Electric to Victor Porter, and the response is nothing like the bland non-opinion most Americans have of the companies that provide their electricity.
PG&E’s other big problem: Regulators detail gas record falsification claims
San Francisco Chronicle
About a decade ago, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. allowed a dangerous trend to take hold: Its workers repeatedly filed false records about the company’s response to excavators who were trying to avoid striking underground pipelines, regulators say.
HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES
Health:
Start-up sells $80 used tissues to ‘train your immune system.’ Doctors don’t buy it.
Fresno Bee
Used tissues sold for $80 online allow people to choose when to get sick to fight off later ailments, a California start-up says. But doctors say that’s not how viruses work.
California legislators fast-track bill to ensure patients get pain medications
Fresno Bee
Concerned that patients are having trouble getting critically needed medications, state legislators devise a bill to delay implementation of changes to prescription forms.
Free CPR classes offered at four locations Feb. 26
Merced Sun-Star
Riggs Ambulance Service, Mercy Medical Center and Cal Fire said they are sponsoring free CPR classes for American Heart Month.
Kern County’s Opioid Users Lack Access To Much Needed Treatment
VPR
Although California is not at the epicenter, the San Joaquin Valley has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic. And the problem has reached a crisis point nationwide.
Human Services:
Can Tulare’s $9M loan save hospital?
Visalia Times Delta
In a move to protect the Tulare hospital from financial ruin, district board members took a step toward selling Evolutions Fitness Center in exchange for millions in taxpayer money.
‘I feel deeply ripped off.’ Steep hikes in long-term care premiums jolting many consumers
Sacramento Bee
Consumers around the country have seen steep increases in their premiums on long-term care policies. In a 2016 survey, the consulting firm Milliman found that regulators approved rate increases of 40 percent or more on about half the requests that insurers made.
Californians want leaders to expand access to mental health care, Kaiser survey finds
Sacramento Bee
In a survey released Thursday of 1,404 Californians, respondents want state leaders to put a priority on ensuring that people with mental health conditions can get access to treatment, with 49 percent saying it’s extremely important and 39 percent saying it’s very important.
60 hours, 50 abortions: A California doctor’s monthly commute to a Texas clinic
Los Angeles Times
The protesters are already positioned when she pulls up in her rental car. One lurches at women approaching the clinic, rosary beads dangling from her outstretched palm. Another hands patients tiny fetus dolls that match their skin color.
Listen: ‘Death Certificate Project’ Aims At Opioid Crisis, But Doctors Cry Foul
Kaiser Health News
On “All Things Considered” Thursday, KQED’s April Dembosky reports on the California medical board’s Death Certificate Project, which collected almost 3,000 death certificates of people who died of opioid overdoses, then cross-referenced those with the state’s drug prescription database.
IMMIGRATION
California’s Immigration Courts Buried Under Massive Backlog As Government Shutdown Grinds On
KQED
Green card holder Jasmine Ngo has waited nearly seven years to see an immigration judge. The single mother of two was supposed to have her day in court earlier this month in San Francisco. But her hearing was canceled, as most immigration judges remain furloughed during the ongoing federal government shutdown.
U.S. officials to start pushing asylum seekers back across the border
Los Angeles Times
U.S. border officials finalized plans Thursday to require asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are considered in the United States, the latest escalation of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
See also:
● U.S. to Begin Blocking Asylum Seekers From Entering Over Mexican Border New York Times
Immigration is Trump’s key issue, but he still has no idea how our ‘visa lottery’ works
Los Angeles Times
Trump has incorrectly implied that people seeking to immigrate to the U.S. somehow are being selected and sent by governments that use the process to shed themselves of bad actors. And not just Mexico.
Weber: A California solution to immigration policy
CALmatters
Have we had enough of the Washington gridlock on immigration issues?
Is $5.7 Billion a Lot for a Wall?
Wall Street Journal
Amount President Trump seeks is just 0.03% of GDP. Or, you could blow it all on a billion Big Mac meals.
LAND USE/HOUSING
Land Use:
Clovis aims to install bollards to improve pedestrian safety
Clovis RoundUp
Clovis city staff said the bollards will protect pedestrians when they walk on the sideways, particularly when there is heavy traffic during special events in Old Town Clovis.
abc30
The City of Fresno’s Graffiti Team removed more than 1.4 million square feet of graffiti in 2018, and they’re hoping to get even more off the street in 2019.
What happened when Oslo decided to make its downtown basically car-free?
Fast Company
It was a huge success: Parking spots are now bike lanes, transit is fast and easy, and the streets (and local businesses) are full of people.
Housing:
How are cities handling the homeless population?
Visalia Times Delta
On Thursday, hundreds of homeless community members attended Project Homeless Connect. The project provides homeless with access to DMV services, social and medical services, mental health, clothes, blankets, haircuts and more than two dozen additional resources from vendors throughout Tulare and Kings counties.
See also:
● On sidewalks, in parks, even in a landlocked boat, volunteers count Stanislaus homeless Modesto Bee
● New bill introduces a cost effective start to addressing homelessness Porterville Recorder
At Gov. Newsom’s urging, California will sue Huntington Beach over blocked homebuilding
Los Angeles Times
In his latest effort to flex the state’s muscles over homebuilding, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that California was suing an Orange County city over what he said was its failure to allow enough new homebuilding to accommodate a growing population.
Bay Area partnership seeks to raise $540 million to develop affordable housing
San Francisco Chronicle
A new partnership of Bay Area businesses and foundations is planning to raise $540 million for two funds to help build and preserve affordable and workforce housing.
See also:
● $500 Million Pledge in Bay Area Supports Affordable Housing New York Times
● Can corporate money and altruism fix affordable housing? Curbed San Francisco
My turn: The missing ingredient to solve California’s housing affordability crisis
CALmatters
In California’s quest to produce affordable housing, much has been said about project streamlining, permitting, zoning and other regulatory reforms.
PUBLIC FINANCES
California retirees look for ‘independent’ voice in new CalPERS president
Sacramento Bee
The nation’s largest pension fund has a retiree as the president of its board of administration for the first time in recent memory. The CalPERS Board of Administration chose Henry Jones as its president this week, marking the first time in at least 25 years that a retired public employee has held the leadership role.
Sacramento might get a 29-story tower for long-suffering California tax collectors
Sacramento Bee
The CDTFA and BOE building at 450 N Street in Sacramento is in line for a renovation. California state tax workers would move to a proposed tower on Richards Boulevard.
Democrat Elizabeth Warren Proposes Wealth Tax on Rich Households
Wall Street Journal
The plan drives the tax-policy discussions within the Democratic Party further to the left.
Will Your 2019 Tax Refund Be Sweeter Than Usual?
Wall Street Journal
We use ice cream to break down how new tax laws could affect your refund, depending on your deductions
TRANSPORTATION
The government shutdown creates headwinds for airlines
Los Angeles Times
The nation’s airlines are blaming the partial federal government shutdown for putting another dark cloud in their path, with few federal workers and contractors taking to the skies and stalled federal agency approvals causing delays in expansion plans.
See also:
● Airlines Warn Shutdown Strains are Worsening Wall Street Journal
● FAA delays flights at New York’s LaGuardia airport, citing staffing shortages amid government shutdown Washington Post
Are Electric Cars Only for the Rich? Sacramento Is Challenging That Notion
New York Times
In the backyard of California’s Capitol sits Franklin Boulevard, a largely industrial area where many residents earn a living keeping old vehicles on the road. The state, which has been aggressively pushing toward an electric-car future, has made few such inroads in this working-class neighborhood.
WATER
‘That’s a blatant lie.’ Rift on Modesto Irrigation District board grows deeper
Modesto Bee
Whether a majority of Modesto Irrigation District leaders are angling to part with some river water seems to be at the core of an increasingly bitter power struggle on the board.
Storms transform rivers, lakes and peaks
San Francisco Chronicle
From your backyard to the boondocks, the storms over the past week have transformed the rivers, lakes and mountains of Northern California.
Daily News
Because of the potential of massive flooding, the Army Corps of Engineers is rushing to begin a $500-million repair project for Whittier Narrows Dam, classified as the highest priority of any of the 13 “high risk” dams in the country.
“Xtra”
Take me home! Animals available for adoption
Bakersfield Californian
These three animals at Kern County Animal Services are looking for their forever homes. Can you help?
Chamber accepting nominations for Greater Bakersfield Awards
Bakersfield Californian
The Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce is now accepting nominations for the 2019 Beautiful Bakersfield Awards on June 1.
Hanford Parks and Rec activities
Hanford Sentinel
The Hanford Parks & Recreation Department has some great activities lined up for the whole family. Register for these programs at 321 N. Douty, Suite B, Hanford, CA. 93230 559-585-2525.
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