TOP POLITICAL STORIES
Bruce Freeman captures Ward 5 Bakersfield City Council seat
| The Bakersfield Californian | – 8 hours ago |
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Political observers said the make-up of Ward 5, where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats substantially, was more welcoming to Freeman, whose business background and criticisms of city employee pension costs plays well with local …
Well-known attorney says Sheriff’s Office damaged his reputation. Does he have a case?
Fresno Bee
Fresno attorney Anthony “Tony” Capozzi plans to file a defamation lawsuit against the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office for issuing a news release that said he was under investigation, but never explained why he was in trouble.
From sidewalks to Meals on Wheels, Trump cuts could hurt
| Fresno Bee |
Fear of losing Community Development Block Grants, the federal program that helps pay for libraries, home repair services, sidewalks, after school programs and other urban needs, is motivating cities such as Sacramento, Fresno and others all across …
California Governor Says China a Rising Power on the Move
| Bloomberg |
California Governor Jerry Brown speaks with Bloomberg’s Tom MacKenzie about the U.S. taking a reduced role in clean technology investment with President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the U.S.
Election fight between Bauman and Ellis splits California Democratic …
| The Mercury News |
FILE – In this Saturday, May 20, 2017 file photo, Eric Bauman addresses FILE – In this Saturday, May 20, 2017 file photo, Eric Bauman addresses the California …
Internal Affairs: California Democratic Party feud turns uglier
| The Mercury News |
FILE – In this Saturday, May 20, 2017 file photo, Eric Bauman addresses FILE – In this Saturday, May 20, 2017 file photo, Eric Bauman addresses the California Democratic Party annual convention as he seeks their vote for chairman in Sacramento, Calif.
Just how far can Donald Trump fall in liberal California?
| Sacramento Bee |
Far more said they believe Comey’s firing had more to do with Trump wanting to slow the FBI’s investigation into Russian involvement (48 percent) than the former director’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s use of her private email server while secretary …
Poll: Californians divided by party on Russia-Trump investigation
San Jose Mercury
Californians are also so locked into their political prisms that 57 percent of Republicans believe that President Donald Trump fired Comey because of the way he handled the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, according to a poll released Tuesday by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies. Only 4 percent of Democrats said that was the reason.
Rural Californians seek to take Los Angeles and its ‘tyranny of the majority’ down a notch
| Sacramento Bee |
Think of it as the Congress-ization of the California Legislature, elevating rural north state voters and Central Valley agricultural communities in the Senate while leaving proportional representation intact in the Assembly.
What Will It Take For California Voters To Change Their Minds?
| Fox and Hounds Daily |
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Has California reached a tipping point? Seemingly it has, then why do voters keep electing the same Democrats, and allow the Republican Party to fade away into oblivion?
California Republicans nominate Reagan for governor, June 7, 1966
| Politico |
On this day in 1966, California Republicans nominated Ronald Reagan, a former actor who had never held public office, as their gubernatorial candidate.
Special election and measures up for vote in CaliforniaCity, Kern River Valley
| Bakersfield Now |
FILE — The Kern Valley Hospital is seen Friday, May 5, 2017, in Mt. Mesa, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX photo/Carol Ferguson). AA. BAKERSFIELD, Calif.
California House contest tests Latino, Korean influence
| The Bakersfield Californian |
LOS ANGELES (AP) – California state legislator Jimmy Gomez can count a lot of advantages in his bid to claim a vacant U.S. House seat Tuesday, including the blessing of the state Democratic establishment and a political committee inspired by Bernie …
California politics updates: Robert Lee Ahn concedes LA congressional race to Jimmy Gomez
| Los Angeles Times |
By defeating former L.A. city planning commissioner Robert Lee Ahn, Gomez can claim the congressional seat vacated when Xavier Becerra was appointed California’s attorne
Sen. Kamala Harris set to play unique role at Comey hearing
| San Francisco Chronicle |
Kamala Harris will get a blockbuster debut in the national spotlight Thursday when former FBI Director James Comey testifies to Congress for the first time since being fired a month ago by President Trump, a spectacle that is drawing live coverage from …
Opinion: Dianne Feinstein not too old for U.S. Senate seat
| The Mercury News |
Senator Dianne Feinstein holds a town hall meeting at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center on April 17 in San Francisco. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group).
Sens. Chuck Grassley, Dianne Feinstein Are Preparing A Bill With …
| NPR |
A bipartisan team of lawmakers has been drafting a bill that would create new sentencing guidelines for people who sell and distribute synthetic opioid drugs …
Efforts to protect Californians from government data breaches have stumbled in Sacramento for one simple reason
| Los Angeles Times |
In recent years, according to a state legislative analysis, security breaches have been reported in at least 10 California public agencies, including the California State University system, the Departments of Motor Vehicles, Social Services and …
The Josh Newman recall effort is all about retaliation
| Los Angeles Times |
One of the more troubling things happening in California politics right now is the signature-gathering effort to recall freshman state Sen. Josh Newman from … Newman did vote for the transportation package, but he was hardly “the deciding factor, “as …
This conservative super PAC is on a mission to keep California’s vulnerable GOP congressmen in office
| Los Angeles Times |
They’re setting up shop in the districts held by Reps. David Valadao (R-Hanford), Steve Knight (R-Palmdale), Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) and Ed Royce (R-Fullerton), and are hiring staff, renting office space and training volunteers to survey the targeted …
Efforts to protect Californians from government data breaches have stumbled in Sacramento for one simple reason
| Los Angeles Times |
Legislation to require state and local agencies to provide 12 months of identity theft protection for anyone affected by a government data breach – similar to what’s required of businesses – stalled in a fiscal committee in the Legislature amid …
EDITORIALS
Want jobs for the ‘forgotten man’? Finish California high-speed rail.
Fresno Bee
Disparaging California’s high-speed rail project as an overpriced boondoggle is a kind of received wisdom by now.
Self-styled protectors of taxpayers carp. Powerful congressional Republicans go out of their way to undermine the $64 billion project. It’s the “crazy train,” or the “train to nowhere.” Tesla founder Elon Musk says a hyperloop would be a smarter alternative. Advocates of driverless cars say they will be the answer.
Our View: Voters already addressed Trump’s budget
| The Bakersfield Californian |
But in a very real sense the Bakersfield City Council already has its marching orders. Kern County voters, and Bakersfield voters in particular, overwhelmingly elected the nominal author of this budget.
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AGRICULTURE/FOOD
Pistachio growers applaud ruling on Iranian nuts
| Fresno Business Journal |
According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, exports of California pistachios were worth $848 million in 2015, which represented a nearly 25 percent drop in value compared to 2014.
From farmworker fields to MIT: Gilroy family shares success story
| The Mercury News |
Their journey north marked the beginning of the Diaz’s migration story, one that would take the family from San Miguel de Allende in the Mexican state of Guanajuato to the agricultural fields of California’s Central Valley and finally, the Bay Area.
California City’s Measure A tax on marijuana getting strong support, Measure B failing
| The Bakersfield Californian |
Measure A was gaining strong support Tuesday when early results came in at 8:30 p.m., with about 74 percent of voters approving the measure, which allows the city to tax marijuana cultivation.
California City’s Measure A tax on marijuana passes, Measure B tax to support basic services fails
| The Bakersfield Californian |
California City is on its way to making some greenbacks from a burgeoning marijuana cultivation industry the city council issued permits for last year after voters approved a tax on growers Tuesday.
California has best cherry harvest in years – Orchards, Nuts & Vines …
| Capital Press |
Read California has best cherry harvest in years from Capital Press.
California FMMO would have significant implications
| Capital Press |
Finding no resolution to some of the lowest milk prices in the country, California dairy farmers have rallied around an effort to establish a federal milk marketing order for the state.
California, 6 other states challenge EPA over farm pesticide
| SFGate |
Attorneys general of California and six other states accused federal environmental chief Scott Pruitt on Tuesday of acting illegally and dangerously when he refused to ban a widely used farm pesticide that had been withdrawn from household use after …
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/PUBLIC SAFETY
Proposal limiting California rifle sales angers Merced gun owners
| Merced Sun-Star |
A local gun shop owner said a proposed California law seeking to limit gun sales to one in a month is just “one in a long line” of efforts aimed at gun dealers.
Officials: Prisons should pay for levee work
| Hanford Sentinel |
To relieve farmers and Corcoran homeowners of the burden of having to pay the full bill, officials at the Cross Creek Flood Control District want the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to pay about 60 percent, or $6.6 million, of …
California bill could ban owning guns for hate crime offenders …
| ABC10 |
A new California gun measure going through legislation would ban anyone from buying a gun who has been convicted of a hate crime.
Prop. 47 funding to fight criminal recidivism has finally arrived — right on time
| Los Angeles Times |
The funding – which is due for final approval Thursday – is welcome, especially in Los Angeles County, the state’s most populous region and the original home of about a third of California’s inmates. Cities and counties had to compete for the money, …
Is money bail here to stay in California?
| Sacramento Bee |
Supporters of the bills argue that the current system discriminates against the poor, with repercussions for those stuck in jail because they cannot afford steep bail rates, while the wealthy are able to buy their way out for more serious crimes …
Let’s change old laws that harm young Californians: Ricardo Lara and Holly Mitchell
| LA Daily News |
Many of our criminal laws are stuck in the past when it comes to children. It’s time for those laws to grow up. Miranda rights are familiar to many … All of these bills were approved by the state Senate in May and sent to the Assembly. Whether …
EDUCATION
Middle school yearbook with KKK and Confederate symbols is being reprinted
Fresno Bee
This year’s Computech Middle School yearbook is being reprinted after an eighth-grade teacher’s page was decorated with Confederate flags and a Ku Klux Klan symbol.
Fresno Unified said Monday the page was created by students who did not realize the symbols’ meanings, and that the teacher was not involved in the design.
Yosemite High principal named new superintendent of Bass Lake school district
Sierra Star
Randy Seals, principal of Yosemite High School, has been selected as the new superintendent of Bass Lake Joint Union Elementary School District, officials announced in a release Monday.
Their roads led to a love of teaching children
Vida en el Valle
A man whose father came illegally to the United States and arrived with only $20 in his pocket.
A woman from Clovis West who developed a love for Spanish-language literature.
California to feds: Speed up loan forgiveness for Corinthian students
| The Mercury News |
California’s top law enforcement officer is calling on the federal government to discharge the student loans of thousands of former students of Corinthian Colleges who have already been approved for loan forgiveness before they are forced to start …
DeVos questioned on discrimination, missing ACT scores, Oakland’s choice: What’s new in education today
| Los Angeles Times |
“Where law is unsettled, this department will not be issuing decrees,” DeVos said. When she gave the answer she kept repeating again, Merkley said he wanted the public to know that DeVos refuses to affirm that she would prevent discrimination.
| School Vouchers: A Survey of the Economics Literature |
| Journal of Economic Literature 2017, 55(2), 441–492 |
California gets an F for college completion
| The Mercury News |
Latinos outnumber whites in California, but they are less likely to attend a good high school or to earn a degree, and more likely to struggle to pay for higher education. “They want to go to college, but they haven’t necessarily been prepared to …
Higher Education Seeks Answers to Leaner Years
| New York Times |
And that is not happening anymore,” said James A. Hyatt, associate director of the Center for Studies in Higher Education and former vice chancellor for budget and finance at the University of California, Berkeley. On top of that, public universities …
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Essential California: Gov. Jerry Brown talks global warming with China’s president
| Los Angeles Times |
Reducing the burden: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to eliminate the $50 “registration fee” that the public defender’s office and other court-appointed counsel may charge defendants before providing them with legal services.
As Trump Steps Back, Jerry Brown Talks Climate Change in China
| New York Times |
In a meeting packed with symbolism – and one that seemed at once to elevate the California governor and rebuke Mr. Trump – President Xi Jinping of China met with Mr. Brown, at the governor’s request, at the very moment China prepares to take a more …
For sustainable climate policy, California needs a balanced approach
| Fox and Hounds Daily |
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California has been described as “the leader of the resistance,” and the “de facto climate negotiator for the United States.” These titles reflect a … The system designed a statewide cap across industries that would slowly decline, allowing .
Brown Meets With China’s President Xi Jinping
Capital Public Radio
California Governor Jerry Brown says Chinese President Xi Jinping is welcoming the opportunity for their governments to partner in the fight against climate change.
California, China sign climate deal after Trump’s Paris
AP
With President Donald Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, China and California signed an agreement Tuesday to work together on reducing emissions, as the state’s governor warned that “disaster still looms” without urgent action.
California regulators weigh whether the state needs more power plants
Los Angeles Times
California energy officials are, for the first time, rethinking plans to build expensive natural gas power plants in the face of an electricity glut and growing use of cleaner and cheaper energy alternatives.
FINANCES
Meet Paul Rosenstiel, Budget Center Board Chair
California Budget & Policy Center
Paul Rosenstiel is Chair of the California Budget & Policy Center’s board of directors and has served on the board since 2009. He is also a board member of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) and serves on the board of advisors of the Global Projects Center at Stanford University.
HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES
Denham healthcare bill addresses Valley’s doctor shortage
| The Turlock Journal |
In early May, Congressman Jeff Denham voted to pass the American Health Care Act – but hesitantly. He cited concerns that the … said Denham. “California’s low Medicaid reimbursement rates only exacerbate the Central Valley’s existing doctor shortage.”.
American Health Care Act is ruse to give tax breaks to rich
| Fresno Bee |
On May 22, The Fresno Bee published a commentary by Congressman David Valadao (CA-21), entitled “Why I Voted for the American Health Care Act.
California Budget and Policy Center
A new Budget Center Fact Sheet offers updated and in-depth data on Medi-Cal coverage in every California county, illustrating the deep, statewide harm that these cuts would cause. This analysis shows that Medi-Cal serves more than 13 million individuals, including over one-quarter of the population in 49 of California’s 58 counties. This coverage would be put in serious jeopardy if the US Senate joins the House and President Trump in backing the AHCA and its reductions to Medicaid.
Jerry Brown as Bill Russell
| Fox and Hounds Daily |
For Democratic legislators, the politics of the single payer health care plan is tricky. They have to satisfy the most activist members of their party who support the concept without putting forward a complex scheme that would break the state bank and …
Why are California liberals pushing so hard to get rid of health insurance?
| Sacramento Bee |
Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, are pushing a bill through the state Legislature that would replace Obamacare with a government-run system.
Kern Valley Hospital tax, Measure C, fails in special election
| The Bakersfield Californian |
Kern Valley Healthcare District CEO Tim McGlew heads into Kern Valley Hospital’s emergency room, a cramped facility in need of expansion and seismic retrofitting.
LOIS HENRY: Upping the bar for foster children
| The Bakersfield Californian |
Taken from his family at the age of 3, he and his two brothers bounced through a variety of homes and “residential treatment facilities” (basically holding tanks for kids without adoption prospects and who are too difficult for foster families) then …
Break the sad cycle of foster kids having foster kids
Fresno Bee
I entered foster care at the age of 2 when my parents became incarcerated, facing life sentences. I spent the next 18 years in foster care.
The foster care system put a lot of effort into stabilizing my placements and ensuring I stayed at grade level. But one notable gap was my health, specifically, my sexual and reproductive health.
What will your last words be? Legacy therapy helps dying patients tell their stories
Fresno Bee
Maureen Cleveland inhaled deeply as she recalled the scent of the fresh tomatoes that her father brought home each summer from the cannery where he worked. The thin 60-year-old woman, who’s battling late-stage breast cancer, talked for an hour in her Carmichael home, smiling almost constantly as she described picnic days with her family of seven and other scenes from her Bay Area childhood.
IMMIGRATION
Congress should protect Dreamers with path to citizenship
Fresno Bee
America. It’s the home of the brave and the land of the free. That’s what we are known for and why so many people immigrate to the United States. It is a country that was founded on the principle that every person has God-given rights. That power belongs to “we the people.”
Bill Offering Immigrants Protection Facing Little Opposition In California
| CBS Sacramento |
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Another California bill seeking stronger protections for illegal immigrants is sailing through the legislature with little opposition.
California lawmakers consider immigrant detention proposal in …
| Los Angeles Times |
California lawmakers are weighing a proposal to prohibit the expansion of facilities to detain immigrants and require new monitoring of…
How should California spend $180 billion-plus? Here’s what is under negotiation in Sacramento
| Los Angeles Times |
… assistance during deportation hearings for those in the U.S. illegally. One provision quietly tucked into the Senate’s budget plan would require the state Department of Justice to “monitor the treatment of immigrants being detained in California …
JOBS AND THE ECONOMY
Warehouses Promise Jobs, But What Happens When the Robots Come?
| KQED |
“It’s the conveyance,” said Ashley Robinson, an Amazon spokeswoman. I could barely hear her above the noise. What she calls conveyance, most people know as conveyor belts. “We’ve got miles of conveyance here in this facility,” Robinson said.
Google, San Jose plan search giant’s downtown expansion; up to 20,000 jobs possible
Mercury News
Google is in talks to create a massive tech campus in the heart of downtown San Jose’s Diridon Station area that could accommodate up to 20,000 jobs and transform the area into a transit-oriented tech village, city officials said Tuesday.
LAND USE/HOUSING
COIN: Building economic clout to fight neighborhood poverty
| Capitol Weekly |
Since then, a new bill—AB 778—has been introduced by Assemblymember Anna Caballero to extend the COIN Program until January 1, 2022.
California Democrats Should Retract Praise for Trump’s Fraudulent Infrastructure ‘Plan’
| Fox and Hounds Daily |
Among the supposedly wise folks of Sacramento, there has been much tut-tutting about the fervent anti-Trump opposition of so many Californians.
TRANSPORTATION
Fitzgerald: A bullet train to betterment
| Stockton Record |
… to the twin tunnels project. High-speed rail can change the regional inequality for the better. When it does, I guarantee you Bakersfield will roll out the welcome mat, too.
Rural communities in Fresno County get largest deployment of solar electric vehicle charging stations
Vida en el Valle
Fresno County is paving the way for clean air technology thanks to a multi-agency project that recently unveiled the country’s largest rural deployment of solar powered electric vehicle charging stations during a news conference and ribbon cutting ceremony at the Fresno County Library in Fowler.
Brown Looks To Lure Chinese Electric Car Companies
Capitol Radio
California Governor Jerry Brown is in China this week looking to strengthen ties in the fight against climate change. In reality that’s meant meetings heavy on formality and light on substance, which could open the way for more concrete agreements down the road. But the governor has a more specific goal, as well: Brown is pushing the Chinese to invest in batteries for California electric cars.
WATER
Gray’s bill looks to provide fair water rights
| The Turlock Journal |
California lawmakers took a step toward restructuring water rights hearings throughout the state last week when Assembly Bill 313, introduced by Assemblyman Adam Gray (D-Merced), overwhelmingly passed the Assembly, moving the bill which aims to fix …
Sen. Feinstein should study the facts before rejecting Cadiz’s desert water project
| Sacramento Bee |
While I was California Environmental Protection Agency secretary, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and I often worked collaboratively on important statewide water issues.
The Oroville Dam spillway failed miserably, so California is blowing …
| Washington Post |
The cause of one of the year’s most memorable weather disasters is getting the boom this month – the spillway on the Lake Oroville Dam in California.
Slow motion: Explosives demolish Oroville Dam’s primary spillway
| Washington Post |
The Oroville Dam’s damaged spillway, which threatened massive flooding in February, are now being demolished with controlled explosives.
Water saving efforts slipped in April, after drought ended | 89.3 KPCC
| 89.3 KPCC |
The east branch of the California Aqueduct, which imports water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. David McNew/Getty Images. 140484 full …
“Xtra”
We need the River West park and trail ASAP
| Fresno Bee |
Mayor Lee Brand, San Joaquin Conservancy Chair Andreas Borgeas and SJ Conservancy Board member Steve Brandau should be ashamed of their duplicity in professing support for expeditious development of the River West park and trail system, and then …
Mystery surrounds hiker seen falling into Merced River at Yosemite
| Fresno Bee |
Yosemite National Park rangers say they now know the name of a man who reportedly fell into the Merced River but have yet to find him.
Supervisors approve $6 million loan to the Kern County Fire Department
| The Bakersfield Californian |
Kern County supervisors approved a $6 million temporary loan to the Kern County Fire Department Tuesday to keep the agency afloat until the state and federal government reimburse it for fighting wildland fires.
New OID customers get sweetheart deals on annexation fees
| Modesto Bee |
The imbalance was revealed two years ago in The Modesto Bee, leading to a blistering Stanislaus County civil grand jury report in March.
Be prepared for wildfire emergencies
Sierra Star
In an effort to help Mountain Area residents prepare in case of a wildfire, Cal Fires offers the following guidelines on what to do before, during and after a fire.
Honoring veterans with a new memorial in Coarsegold Historic Village
Sierra Star
Drivers will soon spot a permanent salute to veterans as they pass the heavily traveled corner of Highway 41 and Road 415 in Coarsegold – the site of a future monument featuring the seals of the five branches of the U.S. Armed Forces: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, with donor names and organizations listed on the back.