July 5, 2018

05Jul

 

 

 

 

 

 

POLICY & POLITICS

 

Valley:

 

Kern County supervisors maintain medical marijuana dispensary ban

Bakersfield Record

The current ban on medicinal marijuana dispensaries will remain in place in Kern County for the time being after the Kern County Board of Supervisors took no action on a proposal that could have led to the establishment of seven legal medicinal dispensaries throughout the county at a meeting June 26.

 

Steven Montes announces plans to run for Madera City Council

Madera Tribune

Lifelong Madera resident Steven Montes has announced his candidacy for District 3 on the Madera City Council. His name will be on the ballot in the November General Election.

 

Stockton’s young mayor giving city’s youth more opportunities

PBS NewsHour

Stockton, California has come a long way since 2012, when it became the largest U.S. city to declare bankruptcy. Now that it’s solvent, Mayor Michael Tubbs, who was sworn in as the youngest and first-ever black mayor last year, says that using philanthropy and other resources to fight inequality could help secure the city’s financial status. NewsHour Weekend's Ivette Feliciano reports.

 

State:

 

Feinstein and De León enter round two in fight over California Democratic Party endorsement
Los Angeles Times

Though California primary voters supported U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein by a huge margin,

state party insiders are readying for a fight over choosing a favorite in her general election race against fellow Democrat state Sen. Kevin de León.

 

Gas tax, cage-free chickens and a chopped-up California top fall ballot

San Francisco Chronicle

California voters aren’t just picking a governor — they’ll also be making decisions on that range from rolling back a gas-tax increase intended to pay for road improvements to specifying how much room agribusiness must provide for hens, pigs and calves.

See also:

     Opinion: Some thoughts about the next election coming up, in November Madera Tribune

 

Audio: Sorry, businesses: California high court rules Yelp can’t be forced to remove negative reviews

89.3 KPCC

Online review site Yelp.com cannot be ordered to remove posts against a San Francisco law firm that a judge determined were defamatory, a divided California Supreme Court ruled Monday.

 

Travis Allen’s big news: It’s not an endorsement of John Cox

San Francisco Chronicle

Orange County GOP Assemblyman Travis Allen, who finished a distant fourth in the June primary for California governor, promised for days that “a major announcement” was coming Tuesday. Allen’s big announcement turned out to be that he is forming a political action committee.

 

Skelton: Year-round daylight saving time? More dark mornings is just one downside  

Los Angeles Times

We’d be better off on the Fourth of July if daylight saving time were eliminated. It would get darker earlier, and we wouldn’t have to wait so long for the fireworks shows. But the sun would rise the next day at a ridiculously early 4:47 a.m. in Los Angeles. Forget that.

 

EDITORIAL: Californians beware. Industry is using our ballot system for blackmail
Los Angeles Times

California’s direct democracy system’s glaring if unavoidable flaw is that it allows any person, industry or special interest with a few million dollars to spare to propose new laws that serve their own needs, whims and interests.

See also:

     Walters: Genteel extortion cancels three ballot measures CALmatters

     How a Rich Californian Hijacked the Legislature Wall Street Journal

 

Federal:

 

'It looks all-American': Trump wants the whole package in Supreme Court nominee
Politico

The search process is playing out like a political campaign, as the president considers a candidate’s appearance as well as the look and feel of his or her family.

See also:

     Trump’s Supreme Court search unleashes fierce politicking Politico

     Trump’s golden Supreme Court opportunity ABC

     Two Judges Exemplify the Choice Trump Faces in a Supreme Court Pick New York Times

     When it comes to the Supreme Court, voters aren’t with the hard-liners Washington Post

     The Trump Supreme Court pick who’d pose the biggest danger to abortion rights Washington Post

     Liberal Democrats mount campaign against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee by targeting two Republican senators  Washington Post

     Key GOP senator: I won’t support any Supreme Court nominee that has shown ‘hostility’ to Roe v. Wade The Hill

     Why Roe v. Wade is likely not in grave danger no matter whom Trump nominates ABC

     Poll: Americans Support Roe v. Wade Decision by 2-to-1 Margin Roll Call

     What Mitch McConnell said about Supreme Court confirmations in election years PolitiFact

     Want to overturn Roe, Republicans? Get ready for what comes next. Washington Post

     Fact Check: Did Amy Barrett Side With a 'Separate-But-Equal' Arrangement Against a Black Worker? Weekly Standard

     Facebook Ads Offer Peek at Looming Supreme Court Fight New York Times

     Trump Must Stick to His Supreme Court List National Review

     POLL: Most Americans Want a Vote on Trump’s SCOTUS Nominee Before Midterms National Review

     A Woman on the Supreme Court? What the polling says AEI

     Trump’s Supreme Court pick and what it means for 2020 AEI

     Trump Winnows Down Supreme Court Picks, Focusing on Three Wall Street Journal

 

In a Fox-Inspired Tweetstorm, Trump Offers a Medley of Falsehoods and Misstatements

New York Times

In the space of a few hours, President Trump on Tuesday took credit for averting a war with North Korea, charged without proof that President Barack Obama had secretly granted citizenship to thousands of Iranians as part of nuclear disarmament negotiations and appeared to suggest that customers of the motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson were psychic.

See also:

     Trump falsely claims Obama gave citizenship to 2,500 Iranians during nuclear deal talks Washington Post

 

Where and why has agency rulemaking declined under Trump?

Brookings

Deregulation has been hailed as one of the Trump administration’s top policy accomplishments. This begs the obvious question: how much deregulation has actually happened under Trump?

 

Progressives poised to shape agenda if Dems take back House

The Hill

Move over, House Freedom Caucus. Progressive lawmakers are poised to play a pivotal role in the next Congress if Democrats take back the House in November.

See also:

     Stop mourning, Democrats Washington Post

     Democrats can’t afford to fall for this Republican trick Washington Post

 

Will the GOP become the party of white backlash?

Washington Post

It is difficult to deny Trump’s strength in the base of the Republican Party, evidenced by the degree of political intimidation many elected Republicans feel. Is Trumpism a compelling ideological basis for the Republican Party in the future?

 

Other:

 

On Independence Day Americans aren’t feeling so proud

Washington Post

The Washington Post polling team is celebrating Independence Day the best way we know how: by combing through the latest surveys of what Americans say they think about their country and patriotism.

See also:

     America needs more patriotism Washington Post

     America is a nation of narcissists, according to two new studies Washington Post

     EDITORIAL: The real meaning of ‘America First’ Washington Post

 

One-third of the world’s population lives in a declining democracy. That includes the United States.

Washington Post

Many scholars have argued that democracy — particularly in the United States — is under threat. Our new report shows that democracy’s decline is gaining momentum: One-third of the world’s population lives in a backsliding democracy.

 

How Millennials today compare with their grandparents 50 years ago

Pew Research Center

The past five decades – spanning from the time when the Silent Generation (today, in their 70s and 80s) was entering adulthood to the adulthood of today’s Millennials – have seen large shifts in U.S. society and culture.

 

Urban-rural divide isn’t what it seems
AEI
As we head into the July 4th holiday, we might take solace in the empirical record, which suggests Americans may not be as divided as many studies and articles suggest.

 

Boot: I left the Republican Party. Now I want Democrats to take over.

Wall Street Journal

You used to belong to a conservative party with a white-nationalist fringe. Now it’s a white-nationalist party with a conservative fringe. If you’re part of that fringe, what should you do?

 

Authenticity, Politics & Anger -- Addiction to Authenticity Must Be Broken

National Review

Once upon a time, human beings strove not to be authentic — at least not in public. Self-control was predicated on the idea that our most authentic selves had to be overcome by reason and civility.

 

Born on the Fourth of July

National Review

This review of Storm Over the Constitution by Harry V. Jaffa was originally published in the November 22, 1999, issue of National Review.

 

EDITORIAL: The U.S. was born out of a monumental divorce. We can't let our arguments break us up again

Los Angeles Times

Arguing sometimes seems as though it divides the parties, yet it is actually what brings them together. If there comes a point at which either or both sides decide the discussion is no longer worth it, the end of the relationship may be near.

 

Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds

The New Yorker

The vaunted human capacity for reason may have more to do with winning arguments than with thinking straight.

 

Awakening the ‘sleeping giant’

The Hill

As Americans head off to Independence Day celebrations, it is hard to ignore that the United States, like much of the world, is experiencing significant upheaval when it comes to the rule of law, and the norms, principles, and values that underlie it.

 

EDITORIAL: A moment to reflect and remember 5 slain in Maryland newsroom

Stockton Record

Those who work in newspapers find that it is not a profession but a calling. People work long hours, they work hard and they work at a time when they see their profession changing and many of their colleagues leaving for other jobs.

See also:

     Trump orders U.S. flags lowered to honor slain journalists PBS

     Civic engagement declines when local newspapers shut down Journalists Resource

 

“I Was Devastated”: Tim Berners-Lee, The Man Who Created The World Wide Web, Has Some Regrets

Vanity Fair

Berners-Lee has seen his creation debased by everything from fake news to mass surveillance. But he’s got a plan to fix it.

See also:

     How Google and Facebook Are Monopolizing Ideas Wall Street Journal

 

Repeal of Open Internet Rule enables monopoly networks

Brookings

Though consumers may not see changes quickly, the shift on net neutrality undermines the nation’s history on network regulation, creating a new era in how these networks operate in America.

 

Podcast: Will Mexico’s new president challenge Trump?

Brookings

Senior Fellow Vanda Felbab-Brown elaborates on some of the challenges facing Mexico’s new president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador, including cracking down on corruption, tackling violence in the country, and dealing with President Trump.

See also:

     Don't let Ocasio-Cortez’s win fool you. Democrats should keep calm and cater to the center Los Angeles Times

 

MADDY INSTITUTE PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAMMING  

 

Sunday, July 8, at 10 a.m. on ABC 30 – Maddy Report“Fighting Fire with Fire: Rethinking Forest Management” – Guest: Pedro Nava, Chair of California Little Hoover Commission. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.

 

Sunday, July 8, at 10 a.m. on Newstalk 580AM/105.9FM (KMJ) – Maddy Report​​ ​​ - Valley Views Edition“How Prepared is California for Natural Disaster, Generally and Forest Fires, in Particular?” – Guests: Christina Curry, Cal OES Deputy Director of Planning, Preparedness and Prevention and Pedro Nava, Chair of California Little Hoover Commission. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.

 

Sunday, July 8, at 7:30 a.m. on UniMas 61 (KTTF) – El Informe Maddy: “Fighting Fire with Fire: Rethinking Forest Management”  Guest: Little Hoover Commission Representative, Julissa Delgado. Host: Maddy Institute Program Coordinator, Maria Jeans.

 

Support the Maddy Daily HERE.

 

Thank you!

 

AGRICULTURE/FOOD

 

Want your sweet corn fix? You'll have to leave town

Visalia Times-Delta

Now that summer is in full swing, the smell of backyard barbeques can be found wafting through Central Valley homes practically every weekend. But what used to be a quick drive down the road to pick up some fresh sweet corn has turned into a 30-minute drive.

 

Farm groups worry about ‘touch-back’ proposal before Congress

Bakersfield Record

Congressmen from other states contend that allowing undocumented farmworkers to stay in the country amounts to amnesty. But California farmers argue that the 45-day “touch-back” proposal will cost the state too many workers, and that the measure would also be unfair to longtime undocumented laborers who have no home to return to in any other country.

 

Trump’s Tightening Immigration Policies Threaten Valley Ag

Valley Public Radio

President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance policy has been affecting more than just border communities. In the San Joaquin Valley, the agriculture business is taking the blow, an industry many economies depend on.

See also:

     The Federal Farm Bill Could Affect CalFresh Public Policy Institute of California

 

SNAP work requirements could increase deep poverty for some

Sacramento Bee

Designed to boost the earnings and job prospects of low-income Americans, proposed work requirements for food stamp recipients could have another unexpected effect: causing deep poverty rates to spike among those who lose their benefits and can’t find work.

 

Victims blame FDA for food-recall failures
Politico

“If I had heard about the problem even one week earlier and stopped then, I might have been able to avoid the disease completely, and life today would be very different,” Ebb said.

 

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

 

Crime:

 

Fresno County uses pepper spray on detained teens. A new report calls it 'dangerous'

Fresno Bee

Fresno County should stop using pepper spray on children and teenagers serving time at the Juvenile Justice Campus and address other issues that affect their physical and mental health, a report fromDisability Rights California recommends.

 

Thousands of pounds of marijuana seized from Merced County warehouse

Merced Sun Star

Thousands of pounds of clipped marijuana buds were seized Wednesday from a warehouse in Livingston, an operation authorities described as "a large-scale business with clear ties to organized crime."

 

SF federal judge schools FBI on who can approve search warrants

San Francisco Chronicle

California law prohibits state and local courts from issuing warrants to federal officers — a fact that was apparently unknown to the agent, the FBI, and possibly even to the judges who approved the warrants.

 

Golden State Killer case ushers in new era of fourth-party consent
Brookings

News of the apprehension of one of the most notorious serial killers in history, the Golden State Killer, was nearly upstaged by the innovative means police used to discover his identity.

 

Public Safety:

 

Corcoran Explorers visit Washington D.C.

Hanford Sentinel

Members of the Corcoran Police Department Explorers team and some advisers visited the nation’s capital recently and made the most out of the trip, visiting many historical monuments.

 

How much all-seeing AI surveillance is too much?

Washington Post

As these prying AI “eyes” find new applications in store checkout lines, police body cameras and war zones, the tech companies developing them are struggling to balance business opportunities with difficult moral decisions.

 

Having more control over your data doesn't mean it's safe

CNN

California's new data protection law gives consumers sweeping control over how much personal information companies can collect. But none of that guarantees any of that data is safe.

 

Fire:

 

County Fire grows to 86,000 acres; some evacuations lifted as crews make progress
Sacramento Bee

The County Fire torching grasslands east of Lake Berryessa reached 86,000 acres but was 27 percent contained as of Wednesday evening, up 12 percent from the day before.

See also:

     El Dorado County fire burns 200 acres, 70 percent contained Sacramento Bee

     Here's the air quality outlook for July 4 and beyond, amid Northern California wildfires Sacramento Bee

     Northern California wildfires are burning much earlier this summer. Here's why. Sacramento Bee

 

Where there's fire and fireworks, there's harmful smoke to breathe

Fresno Bee

A yellow haze of smoke from the County Fire near Napa Valley is filling the central San Joaquin Valley with small particles of soot and ash that can make the air unhealthy to breathe. And the smoke from the fire couldn't be drifting into the Valley at a worse time.

 

Illegal fireworks light up the sky, Visalia firefighters work to save homes

Visalia Times-Delta

On Wednesday, firefighters were called to several incidents across the city. One of the larger fires was reported just before 10 p.m. near Houston Avenue and Cain Street.

 

ECONOMY / JOBS

 

Economy:

 

The US-China trade war is about to get real

CNN

On Friday, the world's top two economies are due to exchange fire by hitting $34 billion of each other's exports with steep new tariffs, the first moves in what may become a devastating cycle of retaliation.

See also:

     Trump’s trade war with China is finally here — and it won’t be pretty, analysts say Washington Post

     Some U.S. companies operating in China think the trade war may have already started Los Angeles Times

     Here's Where China Stands as Hour of U.S. Tariffs Approaches Bloomberg

     In Tariff Fight With Trump, China Scraps Plan to Strike First Wall Street Journal

     Growth in Trade Is Already Starting to Slow Wall Street Journal

     US-China tariffs: What’s behind them, who stands to be hurt? Washington Post

     EDITORIAL: Trump wants to wield tariffs like a weapon. But who will he actually wound? Los Angeles Times

 

What to Watch in the Federal Reserve’s June Meeting Minutes

Wall Street Journal

The Federal Reserve on Thursday will release the minutes of its June 12-13 meeting, providing more details of policy makers’ outlook for the second half of the year.

 

Jobs:

 

The economy is hot, yet many U.S. workers feel left behind. A new report sheds some light

Los Angeles Times

In particular, the report shows the United States’ unemployed and at-risk workers are getting very little support from the government, and their employed peers are set back by a particularly weak collective-bargaining system.

See also:

     Is it great to be a worker in the U.S.? Not compared with the rest of the developed world. Washington Post

     Poor wage growth down to ‘superstar’ tech firms, OECD says CNBC

     Blame 'superstar' tech firms for slow wage growth: OECD Reuters

     In This Economy, Quitters Are Winning Wall Street Journal

 

Podcast: Minimum wage hike comes to some LA County cities: How will it impact workers and businesses?

89.3 KPCC

Listen to Minimum wage hike comes to some LA County cities: How will it impact workers and businesses? from AirTalk in Podcasts.

 

CVCF launches $1-million investment

Business Journal

Applications are now open for the Central Valley Communities Organized for Resident Empowerment (CORE) Initiative, a $1-million investment program aimed at providing financial support and leadership development to strengthen nonprofit organizations and community enterprises that are improving the ability of working residents to make positive changes in impoverished neighborhoods.

 

When robots take California jobs, what happens next?

Sacramento Bee

Technology has always been a driving force of economic and social change, but those advances are often accompanied by severe disruption in the job market. Even while California enjoys record-low levels of unemployment, readers responding to our California Influencer series express concerns for the future of the state’s changing economy.

 

EDUCATION

 

K-12:

 

Vidak, Berryhill, Bigelow, and Other Legislators Call on California State Superintendent to Fill FFA Advisor Position

Sierra Sun Times

State Senator Andy Vidak (R-Hanford) and ten other legislators on Tuesday called on State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson to fill the Superior Region Supervisor/Future Farmers of America (FFA) Advisor position.

 

Fresno Unified settles second lawsuit over bleach in a student's feeding tube for $250K

Fresno Bee

Fresno Unified paid $250,000 to settle a lawsuit with the family of a second Addicott Elementary student who was allegedly tube-fed bleach at the school in 2016. The district paid $575,000 in April to settle a lawsuit brought by another family whose child was involved in the same incident, for a total of $825,000 in settlements.

 

How girls are giving themselves a place in Modesto to grow stronger in STEM

Modesto Bee

A STEM center and maker space for Girl Scouts is being built in Modesto. And, putting their GIRL (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk taker, Leader) acronym into action, the young women are doing a lot of the work themselves.

 

Teachers Seek Return of Union Fees in Wake of SCOTUS ‘Janus’ Decision

The Recorder

A class action suit filed this week in the Central District of California is among the first filed since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its pivotal ruling on union fees.

 

‘Educator spring’ spawns wave of teacher candidates

Politico

Angry educators are flooding down-ballot races in the wake of recent red-state teacher strikes, accelerating the Democratic Party’s rebuilding process at the statehouse level and raising the prospect of legislative gains after years of decline.

 

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos appears ready to sign California’s education plan

EdSource

Next week, the State Board of Education will likely approve yet another set of revisions to California’s plan to comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act — and this time state officials are “very optimistic” that the plan will finally get U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s signature.

 

How education philanthropy can accidentally promote groupthink and bandwagonism

AEI

One of the nice things about summer is that it’s a good time for reflection. One thing I found myself thinking about is the role philanthropy plays in the work we do, especially in the aftermath of RAND’s harsh evaluation of Gates’ Effective Teacher Initiative.

 

Millions Learning Real-time Scaling Labs
Brookings

Millions Learning, a project of the Center for Universal Education (CUE) at the Brookings Institution, addresses the question of how to scale quality education for all children and youth.

 

Higher Ed:

 

Bakersfield College gets $1 million to create, expand Career Technical Education programs

Bakersfield Californian

Bakersfield College is receiving $1 million as part of the 2018-19 state budget to help fund Career Technical Education programs next school year, and all will go toward expanding services for students outside of the Bakersfield campus.

 

2 California universities rank among top 5 in the world

KCRA 3

Two California schools were again named among the cream of the crop, beating out the likes of Oxford, Princeton and Cambridge in a prestigious survey of world universities. Palo Alto's Stanford University came in at No. 2, while California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, took the No. 4 spot in the world.

 

How the lawsuits against student loan servicer Navient could affect you

Washington Post

Navient, the country’s largest student loan servicer, is facing several lawsuits by attorneys general accusing the company of, among other things, steering borrowers to payment options that cost them more money.

 

ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY

 

Environment:

 

Some Move For Work Or Family. These Fresno Residents Want To Escape The Air

Valley Public Radio

When buying a house, everyone’s motivation is different. Today, we report on a people who move out of the Valley for an entirely different reason—one that’s related to the Valley’s ozone concentrations, which have been creeping higher as the temperature has risen.

 

The Giants of California: How Redwoods and Whales Got So Big

KQED

It isn’t happenstance that California and the waters off our coast are home to these giants. Bigness emerges partly from the particulars of life here – the ocean currents and our famous fog.

 

Pruitt aides reveal new details of his spending and management at EPA

Washington Post

Two of Scott Pruitt’s top aides provided fresh details to congressional investigators in recent days about some of his most controversial spending and management decisions, including his push to find a six-figure job for his wife at a politically connected group, enlist staffers in performing personal tasks and seek high-end travel despite aides’ objections.

 

Surf And Turf: To Reduce Gas Emissions From Cows, Scientists Look To The Ocean

NPR

A recent experiment from the University of California, Davis suggests that adding seaweed to cattle feed can dramatically decrease cows’ emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane.

 

Red-hot planet: All-time heat records have been set all over the world during the past week

Washington Post

From the normally mild summer climes of Ireland, Scotland and Canada to the scorching Middle East, numerous locations in the Northern Hemisphere have witnessed their hottest weather ever recorded over the past week.

 

Energy:

 

California Revives 100% Carbon-Free Energy Bill

Capital Public Radio

California lawmakers on Tuesday revived a long-stalled proposal to set a goal of generating 100 percent of the state's energy from carbon-free sources.

 

Why undermining fuel efficiency standards would harm the US auto industry

Brookings

The U.S. auto industry has rebounded well from its near collapse during the financial crisis. Central to all of this has been the creation of a single national standard for fuel economy—one that required the industry to meet increasingly stringent targets announced far in advance.

 

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

 

Health:

 

Adventist Health, Bakersfield Sikh Women’s Association to provide free cancer screenings

Bakersfield Californian

Adventist Health Bakersfield has partnered with the Bakersfield Sikh Women’s Association for the Kaur Care Women’s Health Preventative Cancer Screening program. Free breast​​ exams will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at Gurdwara Guru Dashmesh Darbar at 7000 Wilbe Road.

 

Two California families awarded $253 million in lawsuit against dialysis corporation

Fresno Bee

The family of a Chowchilla man who said he died of a cardiac arrest after treatment at a DaVita Inc. dialysis clinic has been awarded $127 million in damages by a federal jury.

California’s push to make people healthy—and save taxpayers money

CALmatters

Diana Dooley said what was basically wrong with the American health care system: “One of the biggest problems in health care,” Dooley said in an interview last week, “is we pay for treatment of illness but we don’t pay for the advancement of health.”

 

Junk-Food Havens: Vending Machines Don't Belong in the Workplace

RAND

In the middle of a nationwide obesity epidemic, a handy device dripping with temptation often lurks around the workplace corner—the vending machine.

 

California’s mandatory-vaccination law survives court test

San Francisco Chronicle

California did not violate freedom of religion or the right to an education when it required virtually all public and private school students to be vaccinated against contagious illnesses in 2016, a state appeals court says.

 

Study: HPV test better at detecting cancer than a Pap smear

Mercury News

A test for HPV detects precancerous changes of the cervix earlier and more accurately than the Pap smear, according to a large clinical trial published Tuesday.

See also:

     HPV Test Viable Alternative to Pap Smear for Women Over 30, Study Finds Newsweek

     Is the pap smear on the way out? UPI

     HPV test is better than Pap smear at detecting precancerous cervical changes, study says Washington Post

 

EDITORIAL: A Risky Drug Approval Lesson

Wall Street Journal

Some welcome news arrived recently for boys with a condition called Duchenne muscular dystrophy. A new therapy is showing promising results, and it raises a question for the Food and Drug Administration: What if society had missed this moment?

 

How to Treat Severely Mentally Ill Homeless People

Public CEO

A Senate committee significantly pared back legislation Tuesday intended to compel treatment for seriously mentally ill people who also suffer from severe physical illness.

 

Human Services:

 

Tulare Regional Medical Center Is Two Big Steps Closer To Reopening

Valley Public Radio

Plans to reopen a shuttered hospital in Tulare County took a big step forward last week. The board of the Tulare Local Health Care District voted to move ahead with a plan to reopen the Tulare Regional Medical Center under the operation of Adventist Health.

 

Senate bill is not a solution to dumping of homeless patients

Sacramento Bee

Sacramento County physician Sharad Jain correctly identified a major challenge facing those who provide medical care for the homeless: How to ensure that these vulnerable individuals stay on a path toward healing once they no longer need the services of a hospital.

Those who don't qualify for government aid aren't buying Obamacare plans

Washington Post

There’s an ever-growing chasm between the number of Americans who receive government subsidies -- meant to offset the cost of buying health insurance on the individual marketplaces -- and those who don’t under the 2010 law known as Obamacare.

See also:

     Obamacare Is Proving Hard to Kill New York Times

     Trump's own figures show that Obamacare is working well for the vast majority of enrollees Los Angeles Times

 

IQ Scores Are Falling Due to Environmental Factors, Study Finds

Time

IQ scores are on a decline, reversing a trend that saw scores rising at a steady rate during the 20th century, according to a new study. The cause of the IQ decline is due to environmental factors, and not genetics.

 

Gag clauses' mean you might be paying more for prescription drugs than you need to

Washington Post

Using your insurance plan isn’t always the cheapest way to buy prescription drugs. But your pharmacist might be banned from telling you that.

 

IMMIGRATION

 

Dolores Huerta Foundation calls on Kevin McCarthy to act on family separations at border

Bakersfield Record

The foundation hosted the news conference outside Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s Bakersfield office to pressure McCarthy, the House majority leader, into supporting legislation that would end the policy family separation of immigrants at the border.

See also:

     Immigration Debate Looms Large In California Republican’s Re-Election Bid CBS Sacramento

     Immigration storm bears down on Republicans Politico

 

How Trump is changing the face of legal immigration

Washington Post

As the national immigration debate swirls around the effort to discourage illegal immigration by separating families at the border, the Trump administration is making inroads into another longtime priority: reducing legal immigration.

See also:

     “The House Is Tired Of Getting Burned”: As The Border Crisis Festers, Republicans Fear Trump Will Betray Them On Immigration Vanity Fair 

Trump reiterates demand to deport undocumented immigrants, asylum-seekers without due process

Politico

President Donald Trump demanded on Thursday that Congress pass laws allowing undocumented immigrants and asylum-seekers to be deported without due process, which he characterized as a “long and costly” process that the U.S. is foolish to carry out.

 

Parents Facing Deportation Are Asked to Decide Whether Children Go Too
Wall Street Journal

Immigrants separated from their children after being arrested for illegally entering the U.S. at the Mexican border are being asked to choose between being deported alone or with their children.

 

These Democrats want to abolish ICE

CNN

More Democrats have joined the growing list of names who want to abolish US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more commonly known as ICE.

See also:

     Opinion: Who really wants to abolish ICE? Surely not the American people The Hill

For Trump and ‘Angel Families,’ a Mutually Beneficial Bond

New York Times

Thanks to the platform now afforded by President Trump, the group he calls “angel families” — relatives of people killed by undocumented immigrants — have grown into a political force, helping him justify the most unpopular aspects of his administration’s immigration crackdown

 

Some Contractors Housing Migrant Children Are Familiar to Trump’s Inner Circle

New York Times

Many of the groups watching over migrant children detained at the southwest border have been in this business for years — and they have a history of political connections, donating millions of dollars to Democrats and Republicans alike.

 

LAND USE/HOUSING

 

Land Use:

 

Grizzlies break ground on left-field addition

Business Journal

Under the July sun, the Fresno Grizzlies broke ground Tuesday on their first capital improvement project in the stadium under new ownership— replacing 1,000 seats in left field for a covered patio and social area.

 

Visalia art deco courthouse gets a facelift

Visalia Times-Delta

Visalia might soon have a darling hotel in the heart of downtown. Earlier this month, Visalia planning commissioners unanimously approved a conditional use permit submitted by Courthouse Square Ventures to remodel the old Tulare County Courthouse.

 

The Bakersfield Dome will be demolished to allow expansion of detention center

Bakersfield Californian

The Bakersfield Dome, one of the more notable event venues in the city's history, will soon be sold and demolished to make way for a planned expansion of the nearby Mesa Verde immigration detention center on Golden State Avenue, the property's owner said Tuesday.

 

Housing:

 

Sky-high California housing prices are forcing house hunters east

Marketplace

Home prices in California keep on rising. According to the California Association of Realtors, the median price of a single-family home in the state is now more than $600,000. Nationally, that number is closer to $260,000.

See also:

     Life in This Iconic Midcentury Suburb Shows How California Dreams Are Shrinking KQED

 

Video: How Fresno panhandlers and homeless differ

Fresno Bee

Local advocates in this video discuss how panhandlers differ from people living homeless and explain why people shouldn't give money to panhandlers. They contrast how homelessness and panhandlers have transformed Shaw Avenue over the decades.

 

California sees larger increase in homelessness than any other state since 2016

Desert Sun

California is struggling to confront its homelessness crisis: After big-city mayors up and down the state lobbied hard for more funding, state leaders agreed to spend an additional $600 million to help fight the problem.

See also:

     California’s homelessness crisis threatens tourism OC Register

When Extreme Wealth and Poverty Collide

New York Times

In an age of growing economic inequality, the well-off have been able to seclude themselves away from the impoverished. But that has changed over the years in Los Angeles, as the growth in the homeless population has forced the rich and poor to interact more often.

 

PUBLIC FINANCES

 

Chowchilla passes budget

Madera Tribune

The Chowchilla City Council has unanimously passed its City Budget for the next fiscal year.

 

Trump administration sends Tulare County a windfall in tax money

Visalia Times-Delta

Tulare County will receive more than $3.5 million in the Payments in Lieu of Taxes program, making it the state's highest recipient of the federal funding. The funding provides money to local governments that are unable to collect property taxes on federally-owned land.

 

Walters: Did Brown fix California’s budget mess? Nope

CALmatters

Jerry Brown signed the 16th and final state budget of his two-part gubernatorial career last week, and bragged a bit. However, he didn’t “fix California’s financial mess”—not by a long shot.

 

Audio: Checking in on the state of California film tax credit program after newly-inked 5 year extension

89.3 KPCC

Feature films and TV shows shot and produced in California will continue to qualify for tax breaks thanks to an extension to the state’s film and TV tax incentive program’s recent extension as part of the state budget Governor Jerry Brown signed into law last week.

 

Private equity sleight of hand makes so-so investments look superb, critics say

Los Angeles Times

Pension funds are taking aim at private equity firms for exploiting a financial sleight of hand that can make even mediocre investments look brilliant.

 

What you don’t know about Social Security could cost you

Washington Post

For so many, Social Security is the safety net they just cannot live without. But knowing when to collect your benefits and understanding the system’s complex rules can be very vexing.

 

The media’s coverage of retirement saving really is terrible

AEI

Americans worry about retirement, and understandably so. Not because there’s an actual retirement crisis in the making, but because Americans are everywhere told that there is.

 

EDITORIAL: The Supreme Court got its Internet sales tax ruling right

San Francisco Chronicle
The U.S. Supreme Court officially closed a loophole with a June 21 decision that allows individual states to require that online retailers collect and remit sales tax. The consequences of the decision could be enormous.

See also:

     Podcast: The future of corporate taxation in a digital world AEI

 

TRANSPORTATION

 

‘This is their Hail Mary’: California GOP bets on gas tax repeal

Politico

California Republicans are banking on a ballot measure this fall that the embattled state party believes can stave off a Democratic wave in November — and perhaps even spark a GOP revival in the run-up to 2020.

See also:

     Gas-tax hike repeal: Bankrolled by wealthy Republicans, favored by ordinary voters Los Angeles Times

     Skelton: Gov. Brown can largely blame himself if the state's gas tax increase is repealed in November Los Angeles Times

 

Get Ready for the Electric Scooter Invasion

LA Downtown News

Electric scooters and bicycles that can be rented for short-term trips have popped up in cities across the country. They are frequent sights on the streets everywhere from Washington, D.C. to Chicago to Santa Monica.

 

Volkswagen’s All-Electric Effort to Climb Out of Its P.R. Hole

Wall Street Journal
Three years after its ‘Dieselgate’ emissions scandal, VW is rebuilding its image with an electric supercar—one that shattered the Pikes Peak hill climb record. Dan Neil reports

 

WATER

 

Does your school have lead in its drinking water?

San Diego Union-Tribune

Eleven schools in San Diego County had unsafe levels of lead in drinking water last year, according to new data from the California State Water Resources Control Board, and more test results are expected soon as schools adhere to new legislation.

 

Opinion: The best place for California's water is underground

Los Angeles Times

Here’s a suggestion for decision-makers on the California Water Commission who are now finalizing the distribution of $7.5 billion in bond money for storage projects: Look underground.

 

“Xtra”

 

Patriotism on display in Modesto as crowds turn out for Fourth of July celebrations
Modesto Bee

Children waving flags, a long line of floats, marching bands and more highlighted Modesto's Independence Day celebration.

 

Who, what, when, where: A look at this year's Stanislaus County Fair

Modesto Bee

It's not every day that you can enjoy a massive carnival, an array of food and drink, concerts by national recording artists, livestock shows and cars slamming into each other just for the spectacle of it, all in one huge place.

 

Expect hot dogs with a side of nostalgia at the upcoming Graffiti Dogs in Modesto

Modesto Bee

Graffiti Summer may be over, but the Graffiti spirit — and flavor — will live on in downtown Modesto thanks to a new restaurant moving into Tenth Street Place.

 

Erna's daughter fired at Elderberry House. Changes at Valley's top restaurant, hotel

Fresno Bee

What happens when the Erna in Erna's Elderberry House – and now her daughter – are no longer part of the international award-winning restaurant, hotel and spa in Oakhurst? There are growing pains. Hurt feelings.

 

 

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Maddy Institute Updated List of San Joaquin Valley Elected Officials HERE.

 

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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