March 14, 2018

14Mar

TOP POLITICAL STORIES​​​​​​​

 

Local/Regional Politics:

 

Deadline THIS FRIDAY, March 16th, 2018 – $56,000 Wonderful Public Service Graduate Fellowship –  APPLICATIONS DUE

The Maddy Institute

Through the generosity of The Wonderful Company, San Joaquin Valley students will have the opportunity to become the next generation of Valley leaders throughThe Wonderful Public Service Graduate Fellowship. This program helps students obtain an advanced degree from a top graduate program, return home, and apply what they have learned to help make the Valley a better place.

 

Rep. David Valadao family’s dairy slapped with lawsuits, revealing financial trouble

Fresno Bee

Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, is named in two lawsuits against his family’s Triple V Dairy business for defaulting on nearly $9 million in agriculture loans and failing to pay an animal nutrition company for its goods.

 

Radanovich: Trump can end illegal immigration and protect food supply once and for all

The Fresno Bee

In the United States, as in many prosperous nations, foreign workers play a critical role in the production of our nation’s food supply. As Congress struggles with the contentious issue of illegal immigration, it is important that legislators consider the disastrous consequence of the Goodlatte immigration reform bill, if passed.

 

Who will oppose Denham for Congress in the June Primary?

Modesto Bee

An ever-changing list of people running for the 10th Congressional District — currently held by incumbent Jeff Denham — is at last finalized, with a couple of last-minute surprises.

 

Harder wrote of Trump on candidate statement. Stanislaus registrar told him to stop.

Modesto Bee

Josh Harder of Turlock, a Democratic candidate for Congress, said his younger brother’s need for health coverage was a big reason that he’s running in the 10th Congressional District. His candidate statement turned in last week at the Stanislaus County Elections Office said his brother, who suffers from effects of a premature birth, would lose his health care under President Trump’s plan to eliminate provisions in the Affordable Care Act.

 

Voters will have plenty to get fired up about on June’s primary ballot

Fresno Bee

It’s too soon to know if it’s going to be a warmer-than-normal summer in the Valley, but voters will at least be facing a hot ballot in some election races on the June 5 primary ballot.

 

Assemblymen Fong & Salas ask state for $7 million in fight against valley fever to fuel research, spread awareness

Bakersfield Californian

Bakersfield Assemblyman Vince Fong and Rudy Salas submitted a bipartisan $7 million budget proposal Monday to combatting valley fever, an insidious respiratory disease endemic to Kern County. If approved, it will be the largest amount of money the state has ever designated at one time to research and raise awareness of the orphan disease, which in 2017 infected at least 5,121 people in California, according to state data.

 

California Supreme Court, citing false evidence, overturns murder conviction that put Delano man on death row

Los Angeles Times

The California Supreme Court, citing false evidence, decided unanimously Monday to overturn the conviction of a Delano man sent to death row more than two decades ago for murdering and sodomizing a toddler. The action by the state high court, which upheld the man’s conviction and death sentence in 2005, was extremely rare.

 

Kern Co Supervisors fund new jail locks, approve easements for Swainson’s hawk

The Bakersfield Californian

About 448 vulnerable locks on jail cells in Lerdo Jail’s pre-trial facility that are being exploited by inmates will be replaced after Kern County Supervisors approved more than $1.7 million Tuesday.

 

Kern Co Supervisors hear plan to clear trees killed by drought, beetles

The Bakersfield Californian

Kern County Fire Chief Brian Marshall and fire department forester Jeff Gletne laid out the status of the county’s efforts to remove thousands of dead wildland pine trees killed by bark beetles in a report to the Kern County Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning.

 

City of Bakersfield sees increased sales tax revenue for 2017

The Bakersfield Californian

Bakersfield residents spent more money in 2017 than they did in 2016, according to data from the City of Bakersfield. Data shows that sales tax revenue went up 8.3 percent from October through December, totalling $18.6 million compared to $17.4 million last year. For the year, sales tax revenue went up 6.7 percent to $69 million from $64.6 million in 2016.

 

Video shows San Joaquin officer hitting detainee after Manteca arrest

The Modesto Bee

Prosecutors on Tuesday released a video showing a San Joaquin County Jail officer striking a cuffed detainee last August. Sheriff Steve Moore said he supported the filing of a misdemeanor assault charge against Correctional Officer Matthew Mettler by the District Attorney’s Office.

 

Price: It’s good police are listening, but who else might want to?

Bakersfield.com

The Bakersfield Police Department has a new hammer in its crime-fighting toolbox: digital ears that can detect gunshots, and noises that might be gunshots, with locational accuracy of within a few feet. The BPD’s ShotSpotter system, active since March 9, has already aided in the identification and apprehension of one homicide suspect.

 

Tim Carroll named as new dean for University of the Pacific’s Eberhardt School of Business

Stockton Record

Pacific announced Monday that Tim Carroll, currently serving as associate dean for executive development at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, was named the new dean. “I am delighted that Tim will be joining Pacific,” Maria Pallavicini, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, said in a statement. “He is an energetic and visionary leader who will work with our faculty to position the Eberhardt School of Business for a strong future.”

 

What Is New At FAX – March 2018:  BRT live, Mobile App, Rate Restructuring and Unmet Needs Project Update

Fresno Area Express

On the morning of February 19, 2017 as much of the City was sleeping in for President’s Day, FAX launched Fresno’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).  Replacing routes 30 and 28 along Fresno’s main corridors of Blackstone and Ventura/Kings Canyon, Route 1, the Q runs 10 minute frequencies during peak hours and 15 minute frequencies the rest of the time up to 9:00 PM PST.  Thereafter, buses run every hour until ending at approximately 1:00 AM.

 

State Politics:

 

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich endorses John Cox in governor’s race

Los Angeles Times

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich endorsed John Cox’s California gubernatorial campaign on Monday. “As a lifelong conservative and taxpayer advocate, John Cox will put California on the road back to lower taxes, fiscal accountability and individual liberty,” Gingrich said in a statement. “He is the person we need to rescue California from decades of radical, left-wing policies.”

 

Who paid for ad attacking Gavin Newsom? A most unlikely source

CALmatters

An independent political action committee paid for an ad slamming Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom partly with money from groups that are backing his run for governor. Welcome to the wild ways of campaign money, circa 2018. The ad comes courtesy of the Asian American Small Business Political Action Committee, one of scores of campaign organizations that by law must be disconnected from candidates who may benefit from their spending.

 

New CA health care plan crafted as single-payer bill fades

The Sacramento Bee

California Democratic lawmakers are quietly working on a package of up to 20 health care bills that would soften the political blow from the all-but-certain deathof a single-payer universal care bill this year. Senate Bill 562 cleared the Senate last year but stalled in the Assembly when Speaker Anthony Rendon blasted it as “woefully incomplete.”

 

California panel rejects government-run health care

Sacramento Bee

State lawmakers studying improvements to California’s health care system on Tuesday rejected on a plan popular with Democratic activists to give everyone in the state government-funded health care, saying a “single-payer” plan would need extensive work to become viable.

See also:

·       Single-payer healthcare would take years to develop in California, legislative report says Los Angeles Times

●     Skelton: Single-payer health care is a pipe dream Modesto Bee

 

California attorney general ordered to rewrite description of cap-and-trade cash plan, Proposition 70

Los Angeles Times

The official title for Proposition 70, a ballot measure laying out rules for future climate change revenues collected by the state, must be rewritten after a Sacramento judge agreed with a Republican lawmaker that voters in June would otherwise be misled. Assemblyman Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley) filed the lawsuit last week calling the ballot title “both wrong and highly prejudicial” for the proposed amendment to the California Constitution.

 

Walters: Democrats allow Republicans to game California’s top-two primary

Fresno Bee

California’s Republican Party hasn’t shown much political acumen in recent years, which is one reason why it’s been, in the words of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, “dying at the box office.” However, the GOP may be pulling off one of history’s most audacious political coups, one that could save the seats of several embattled Republican members of Congress and potentially preserve the party’s control of the House.

 

Senate Republican Leader Bates Partners with Governor Brown and Legislative Leaders to Address the Impacts of Natural Disasters and Climate Change

Senate Republican Caucus

Following a year of devastating floods, fires, mudslides and other extreme weather, Senate Republican Leader Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) joined Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. and other legislative leaders: Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), Assembly Republican Leader Brian Dahle (R-Bieber) and Senate President pro Tempore-designate Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) in partnering on solutions this year that will make California more resilient against the impacts of natural disasters and climate change.

 

Wiener unveils revamped, “aggressive” net neutrality bill

San Francisco Chronicle

State Sen. Scott Wiener plans to amend his California net neutrality bill on Wednesday to make it as comprehensive as the policy the Federal Communications Commission recently voted to repeal.

 

California representatives sign letter backing work permits for H-1B spouses

San Francisco Chronicle

More than a quarter of California’s members of Congress have sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security urging the agency not to go forward with its plans to revoke work eligibility for spouses of H-1B visa holders.

 

‘Split roll,’ the ghost of Prop. 13, haunts 2018

Capitol Weekly

Months after President Trump slashed corporations’ federal tax rate, a coalition of progressive California groups is hoping to raise their property taxes. The Schools and Communities First Coalition, which includes the League of Women Voters, Evolve California and other organizations, is seeking signatures to put an initiative on the ballot that would institute a “split roll” property tax system.  The initiative would tax corporations with more than $2 million in property holdings at market rates, while maintaining Proposition 13 property tax limits for small businesses and residences.

 

California Lawmakers Eye New Gun Bills After Parkland Shooting

capradio.org

As students across the country prepare to walk out of class to protest for tighter restrictions on firearms, California lawmakers and policy advocates are preparing their own responses after the Parkland shooting. Bills introduced or being considered in the Assembly would tackle a variety of gun control issues, from raising the minimum purchase age for all firearms to 21-years-old to making it easier to rapidly issue gun violence restraining orders.

 

Federal Politics:

 

Trump continues slinging barbs at California during his visit to the Golden State

Los Angeles Times

Any hope that President Trump’s first visit to California could soothe tensions between the White House and a state dead set on defying his administration’s policies evaporated quickly early Tuesday. Of course, it happened via a tweet. “California’s sanctuary policies are illegal and unconstitutional and put the safety and security of our entire nation at risk,” the president tweeted about 8:30 a.m., as he flew toward San Diego aboard Air Force One. “Thousands of dangerous & violent criminal aliens are released as a result of sanctuary policies, set free to prey on innocent Americans. THIS MUST STOP!”

See also:

●      A combative Trump has busy day in California San Francisco Chronicle

●      Trump finally comes to California — to see donors and border wall prototypes, keeping protesters at a distance Los Angeles Times

●      Trump arrives in California without the usual lawmakers in towLos Angeles Times

●      ‘Bridges are still better than walls,’ says Gov. Jerry Brown in a tweet jabbing back at Trump Los Angeles Times

●      In California, Trump Attacks Jerry Brown and ‘Sanctuary Policies’ New York Times

●      California Today: President Trump’s Visit to California New York Times

●     Trump’s visit to California sparks protests, rallies AP

·       Trump runs for reelection against CA ‘sanctuary cities’ The Fresno Bee

●     Trump examines prototypes for border wall amid protests Madera Tribune

●     A day of passionate voices, pro and con, on Trump’s wall San Diego Union-Tribune

●        Politifact CA: No, Mr. President, California is not ‘begging’ for a wall  Politifact CA

●     Fact-checking Kamala Harris’ claim about cost of Trump’s border wall PolitiFact California

●     Omnibus Unlikely to Defund ‘Sanctuary’ Cities Roll Call

 

For Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, the fight with Trump is personal

Washington Post

When Xavier Becerra’s father was a young man in California, restaurants barred people like him. Businesses would post signs with the words “No dogs or Mexicans allowed.”

 

EPA chief signals a showdown with California over fuel economy rules for automakers

Los Angeles Times

The Trump administration’s chief environmental regulator signaled a coming showdown with California, warning that the state won’t dictate the future of ambitious automobile fuel economy regulations enacted by the Obama administration.

See also:

·       ‘A declaration of war’: Trump eyes fight with California over car pollution Sacramento Bee

·       EPA Administrator Pruitt says ‘California is not the arbiter’ of the nation’s emission standards Washington Postdd

 

John McEntee, Trump Aide, Is Forced Out Over Security Issue, but Joins Re-election Campaign

New York Times

John McEntee, who has served as President Trump’s personal assistant since Mr. Trump won the presidency, was forced out of his position and escorted from the White House on Monday after an investigation into his finances caused his security clearance to be revoked, officials with knowledge of the incident said.

 

Gina Haspel, Trump’s Choice for CIA, Played Role in Torture Program

New York Times

Just over a year after the Sept. 11 attacks, the C.I.A. dispatched the veteran clandestine officer Gina Haspel to oversee a secret prison in Thailand. Shortly after, agency contractors in the frantic hunt for the conspirators waterboarded a Qaeda suspect three times and subjected him to brutal interrogation techniques.

 

‘It was a different mind-set’: How Trump soured on Tillerson as his top diplomat

Washington Post

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was asleep in his Nairobi hotel room early Saturday morning fighting a stomach bug when White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly called to wake him around 2 a.m. to relay a terse message from President Trump: The boss was not happy.

 

After Tillerson, embattled VA secretary could be next, Trump’s advisers say

Washington Post

President Trump is souring on his embattled Veterans Affairs secretary, David Shulkin, and telling aides he might replace him as part of a broader shake-up of his Cabinet, according to three advisers to the president.

 

Trump administration stops collecting information it doesn’t like, Public Citizen

McClatchy Washington Bureau

The Trump administration has halted a new policy that would have required large companies to report what they pay their employees by race and gender. It has stopped a study of serious health risks for people who live near coal mine sites in Central Appalachia. And it has collected less crime data from across the nation than previous years. In a new report to be released Tuesday, watchdog group Public Citizen outlined 25 ways President Donald Trump and federal agencies have conducted a so-called war on information over the last 14 months, largely eliminating data it finds inconvenient.

 

Other:

 

California Lawmakers Eye New Gun Bills After Parkland Shooting

Capital Public Radio

Bills introduced or being considered in the Assembly would tackle a variety of gun control issues, from raising the minimum purchase age for all firearms to 21-years-old to making it easier to rapidly issue gun violence restraining orders.

See also:

●      Grenade launchers, guns seized through unique California program San Jose Mercury

 

What you need to know about the #Enough National School Walkout

ABC30

The #Enough National School Walkout, calling for Congress to pass tighter federal gun laws, will take place on March 14, exactly one month after the tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The protest, organized by the same group behind the Women’s March, calls for students, teachers, parents and school administrators to walk out of their schools at 10 a.m. local time across the country. The walkouts will last for 17 minutes in honor of the 17 lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

See also:

●     At a Fresno middle school, students can’t mention guns during gun violence protest  Fresno Bee

●     Fitzgerald: Our kids deserve better politics Stockton Record

●     National School Walkout: Live Updates New York Times

●     Ready, set, walk out: Schools prepare for expected student protests on Wednesday Los Angeles Times

●     How School Walkouts Test Student Rights And School Responsibilities capradio.org

●     To students considering joining the gun walkout: Go ahead. You’ll be glad. Washington Post

●     Sacramento Mayor encourages students to stage anti-gun walkout The Sacramento Bee

●     The Latest: Students take part in walkout despite warnings The Fresno Bee

●     What Does Donald Trump Have to Say to the Parkland Parent Lori Alhadeff? New Yorker

●     U.S. protests over gun violence Reuters

●     Students rally in solidarity to end gun violence ABC News

Teacher accidentally fires gun during safety lecture at Monterey County high school

San Jose Mercury News

A teacher at a Monterey County high school accidentally fired a gun in a classroom Tuesday afternoon during a lecture on “public safety awareness,” authorities said. 

See also:

●     California teacher accidentally discharges firearm during public safety lesson TheHill

‘Genius is so fine and rare.’ Hawking’s admirers grapple with the death of a giant 

Modesto Bee

When he was first diagnosed with the neuromuscular disease that kept him confined to his signature wheelchair, he was told he had but a few years left to live. Instead, possessed with what his daughter Lucy said was an “inability to accept that there is anything he cannot do,” Stephen Hawking lived another five decades, contributing to scientific breakthroughs and becoming the public face of theoretical physics in a way few others have ever begun to reach.

See also:

     Stephen Hawking, best-known physicist of his time, has diedStockton Record

 

The Many Colors of Matrimony: How Interracial Marriage is Increasing Across America

National Geographic

Marrying across racial and ethnic lines has become more common, and more accepted, in the 50 years since a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

 

MADDY INSTITUTE PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAMMING  

 

Sunday, March 18, at 10 a.m. on ABC 30 – Maddy Report: Governor’s Brown’s Last Budget: Caution Despite Surplus​ – Guests: Mac Taylor, California Legislative Office; John Myers with L.A. Times; and Dan Walters, Calmatters. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.

 

Sunday, March 18, at 10 a.m. on Newstalk 580AM/105.9FM (KMJ) –Maddy Report: “Proposed State Budget: Implications for the Valley” –Guests: Mike Dunbar, Modesto Bee & Merced Sun Star and Prof. Ivy Cargaly CSU Bakersfield. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler. 

 

Sunday, March 18, at 7:30 a.m. on UniMas 61 (KTTF) – Informe Maddy:2018: The Political Forecast  Guests: Alexei Koseff, Sacramento Bee and Jazmine Ulloa, LA Times. Host: Maddy Institute Program Coordinator, Maria Jeans.

 

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Topics in More Detail…

 

AGRICULTURE/FOOD

 

California Almonds Are Back After Four Years of Brutal Drought

Bloomberg

This year’s California almonds have had their share of turmoil. Frost and high winds at the end of February damaged parts of the crop, grown throughout the state’s Central Valley. Farmers tried to limit the losses, running water to heat the ground and, in some cases, flying helicopters over trees to keep cold air from settling. The full impact won’t be known until later this month.

 

Most of America’s Fruit Is Now Imported. Is That a Bad Thing?

New York Times

It’s obvious to anyone who visits an American supermarket in winter — past displays brimming with Chilean grapes, Mexican berries and Vietnamese dragon fruit — that foreign farms supply much of our produce.

 

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

 

For stories on ”gun control and school shootings,” See: “Top Stories – Other Politics,” above

 

Crime:

 

Video shows San Joaquin officer hitting detainee after Manteca arrest

The Modesto Bee

Prosecutors on Tuesday released a video showing a San Joaquin County Jail officer striking a cuffed detainee last August. Sheriff Steve Moore said he supported the filing of a misdemeanor assault charge against Correctional Officer Matthew Mettler by the District Attorney’s Office.

 

Price: It’s good police are listening, but who else might want to?

Bakersfield.com

The Bakersfield Police Department has a new hammer in its crime-fighting toolbox: digital ears that can detect gunshots, and noises that might be gunshots, with locational accuracy of within a few feet. The BPD’s ShotSpotter system, active since March 9, has already aided in the identification and apprehension of one homicide suspect. The system, which for now covers just a 3-square-mile area of east central Bakersfield, uses 70 dispersed, mounted sensors to triangulate sound waves and pinpoint their origin.

 

Got a pot charge on your record? After Prop. 64, the county can help you with that

Sacramento Bee

Yolo County’s district attorney and public defender are collaborating to help people purge their records of pot-related offenses. In addition to legalizing recreational marijuana use in California, Proposition 64 retroactively reduced penalties for many marijuana-related crimes.

 

California Supreme Court, citing false evidence, overturns murder conviction that put Delano man on death row

Los Angeles Times

The California Supreme Court, citing false evidence, decided unanimously Monday to overturn the conviction of a Delano man sent to death row more than two decades ago for murdering and sodomizing a toddler. The action by the state high court, which upheld the man’s conviction and death sentence in 2005, was extremely rare.

 

Fear over MS-13 gang is overreaction, says Cal State Fullerton researcher

OCRegister

To most people, it’s a scary prospect: gang leaders in El Salvador sending recruits into the United States to spread violence. In his State of the Union in January, President Donald Trump called out the gang – known as MS-13 – for importing violence into the country and introduced the parents of two teen girls killed by MS-13 members on New York’s Long Island in 2016.

  

Public Safety:

 

Grenade launchers, guns seized through unique California program

The Mercury News

State officials announced Tuesday the recovery of an array of illegally owned weapons — including three grenade launchers — under a one-of-a-kind California program that’s gained more attention in recent months amid a wave of mass shootings across the country.

 

Fire:

 

Kern Co Supervisors hear plan to clear trees killed by drought, beetles

The Bakersfield Californian

Kern County Fire Chief Brian Marshall and fire department forester Jeff Gletne laid out the status of the county’s efforts to remove thousands of dead wildland pine trees killed by bark beetles in a report to the Kern County Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning.

 

Audio: New housing grows fastest in SoCal’s most fire-prone areas

89.3 KPCC
New houses are being built fastest in the places where they are most likely to burn: the wild fringe of urban areas, where neighborhoods are surrounded by canyons, hills or other open land covered in flammable vegetation. That’s the finding of a new study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

ECONOMY / JOBS

 

Chart of the day: US trade deficits vs. US household net worth – they’ve risen together over the last half century

AEI

The chart shows the annual US trade deficit and the annual dollar value of US household net worth from 1970 to 2017.

 

EDUCATION

 

For stories on ”gun control and protests over school shootings,” See: “Top Stories – Other Politics,” above

 

K-12:

 

Palo Verde school board recall moves forward

Visalia Times-Delta

Election officials said it would take 187 verified registered voters to kick-start a recall election of Palo Verde Union School District board members. Paperwork has been pulled by supporters who want a new board overseeing the rural single-school district.

 

California presses ahead with color-coded school reporting plan despite a dig from DeVos

Los Angeles Times

When Betsy DeVos spoke to a group of education leaders in Washington last week about her dissatisfaction with states’ efforts to satisfy a major education law, she gave California a subtle shout-out.

 

Video: Implementing New K–12 Science Standards

Public Policy Institute of California

California’s K–12 schools are implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to improve the way science is taught. The standards, adopted in 2013, represent a paradigm shift for science education. Although awareness of the new standards is high, implementation has been uneven, according to a new PPIC report.

 

Higher Ed:

 

Tim Carroll named as new dean for University of the Pacific’s Eberhardt School of Business

Stockton Record

Pacific announced Monday that Tim Carroll, currently serving as associate dean for executive development at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, was named the new dean.

 

UC students aim to ‘shut down the vote’ on tuition increase for nonresidents at regents meeting

Los Angeles Times

University of California students from across the state plan to converge on the Board of Regents meeting Wednesday at UCLA to protest a proposal to raise tuition on out-of-state students.

 

UCLA posts video with heckling of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin

Los Angeles Times

UCLA has posted video of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin being heckled by an audience at the university, footage that Mnuchin previously had demanded be kept under wraps. The incident at the campus last month might have attracted little attention had Mnuchin not refused to allow the university to post a video of his appearance.

 

Gov. Brown’s plan to change community college funding to promote student success faces scrutiny

EdSource

Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to link over $3 billion in funding for California’s community colleges to the number of low-income students they enroll and to student outcomes in general is coming under increasing scrutiny — and is likely to face more in the coming months.

 

For Aspiring Doctors With Disabilities, Many Medical Schools Come Up Short

NPR

Being a medical student or resident is hard enough, but what if you have a disability that adds to the challenge? One medical resident with a physical disability was about a year and a half into training when the medical institution finally installed an automatic door he needed. Another student faced frustrations when arranging accommodations for taking tests, with it seeming like the medical school was “making up rules along the way.”

 

Campus Intolerance of Free Speech Roots Revealed in Recent Study

National Review

Six years ago, my good friend Greg Lukianoff, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, coined the perfect phrase to describe the state of free speech in American education: “unlearning liberty.” Our educational system is at cross-purposes with the Bill of Rights, teaching students to believe that unalienable rights such as free speech and due process are a problem, especially when they conflict with the demands of social justice or political expediency.

 

ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY

 

Environment:

 

Around 100,000 San Joaquin Valley Residents Live Without Clean Water; Study Suggests Access Is Close

Capital Public Radio

These low-income communities, without city-government representation, live in eight San Joaquin Valley counties. But 66 percent of these people live within one mile of a system that could supply them clean water.

 

EPA chief signals a showdown with California over fuel economy rules for automakers

Los Angeles Times

The Trump administration’s chief environmental regulator signaled a coming showdown with California, warning that the state won’t dictate the future of ambitious automobile fuel economy regulations enacted by the Obama administration.

See also:

      ‘A declaration of war’: Trump eyes fight with California over car pollution Sacramento Bee

●     EPA Administrator Pruitt says ‘California is not the arbiter’ of the nation’s emission standards Washington Post

 

Senate Republican Leader Bates Partners with Governor Brown and Legislative Leaders to Address the Impacts of Natural Disasters and Climate Change

Senate Republican Caucus

Following a year of devastating floods, fires, mudslides and other extreme weather, Senate Republican Leader Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) joined Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. and other legislative leaders: Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), Assembly Republican Leader Brian Dahle (R-Bieber) and Senate President pro Tempore-designate Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) in partnering on solutions this year that will make California more resilient against the impacts of natural disasters and climate change.

 

Energy:

 

California Fuel Credits Suffer Blow Before Standards Are Relaxed

Bloomberg

A rally in the California fuel credit market is faltering as regulators weighs changes to a state program intended to cut carbon emissions. So-called Low-Carbon Fuel Standard credit prices fell as low as $74 per metric ton of carbon dioxide in a transaction on March 2, the lowest price paid for the credit since late December

.

Zinke: Oil and gas exploration off the Pacific coast might not happen

Washington Post

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke expressed doubt Tuesday that oil and gas exploration will happen off the Pacific coast as part of the Trump administration’s proposal to dramatically expand offshore leasing, saying California, Oregon and Washington have “no known resources of any weight” for energy companies to extract.

 

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

 

Health:

 

Assemblymen Fong & Salas ask state for $7 million in fight against valley fever to fuel research, spread awareness

Bakersfield Californian

Bakersfield Assemblyman Vince Fong and Rudy Salas submitted a bipartisan $7 million budget proposal Monday to combatting valley fever, an insidious respiratory disease endemic to Kern County. If approved, it will be the largest amount of money the state has ever designated at one time to research and raise awareness of the orphan disease, which in 2017 infected at least 5,121 people in California, according to state data.

 

Single-payer healthcare would take years to develop in California, legislative report says

Los Angeles Times

As progressive activists clamor for California to push ahead a sweeping single-payer health plan, a legislative report released Tuesday cautioned that such an overhaul would take years. The report, which marks the end of months of Assembly hearings on paths to achieving universal healthcare, lays out a number of options lawmakers can pursue in the near term to improve how Californians get and pay for healthcare.

See also:

●     Single-payer bill all but dead this year as California lawmakers craft new health package Sacramento Bee

●     Skelton: Single-payer health care is a pipe dream Modesto Bee

●     California panel rejects government-run health care Sacramento Bee

●     Lawmakers lay out incremental steps to CA health care reform 89.3 KPCC

As Surgery Centers Boom, Patients Are Paying With Their Lives

KQED

The surgery went fine. Her doctors left for the day. Four hours later, Paulina Tam started gasping for air. Internal bleeding was cutting off her windpipe, a well-known complication of the spine surgery she had undergone.

 

Check out these 8 medical deductions before doing your taxes

Sacramento Bee

It’s tax time and if you’ve racked up medical expenses in 2017, you may qualify for some lesser known medical deductions. These deductions can be claimed if your medical expenses are more than 7 ½ percent of your adjusted gross income, according to Internal Revenue Service’s Publication 502.

 

IMMIGRATION

 

For stories on “Border Wall & Sanctuary State” and immigration laws signed by Gov. Brown See: “Top Stories – Federal Politics,” above

 

ICE agents allegedly violated California law in San Francisco jails

KGO-TV

San Francisco’s Sheriff deputies are at county jails after ICE agents were allegedly allowed inside to conduct an interview with undocumented inmate, a direct violation of the city and state’s sanctuary laws.

 

U.S. appeals court upholds Texas law against ‘sanctuary cities’

Los Angeles Times

A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld the bulk of Texas’ crackdown on “sanctuary cities” in a victory for the Trump administration as part of its aggressive fight against measures seen as protecting immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans allows Texas to enforce what many consider the toughest state-level immigration measure since Arizona passed what critics called a “show your papers” law in 2010.

 

ICE spokesman resigns, citing fabrications by agency chief, Sessions about California immigrant arrests

Washington Post

A spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has resigned over what he described as “false” and “misleading” statements made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and ICE acting director Thomas D. Homan.

 

LAND USE/HOUSING

 

2008 anti-foreclosure laws in California saved nearly $500 billion and 124,000 homes

The Sacramento Bee

A decade after the mortgage crisis swept California, home prices are rising, far fewer borrowers are under water, and the state’s economy and government’s finances are strong. Two little-discussed anti-foreclosure laws deserve much credit for slowing the initial devastation and for helping to stabilize the housing market and the economy. The rapid response of Sacramento lawmakers to the mortgage crisis merits national consideration, too. The state’s policy was more effective than federal housing-relief programs enacted nationally.

 

Want Affordable Housing? Just Build More of It

Bloomberg

After years of dithering and hoping the problem would go away, California is finallytaking steps to address its housing crisis. In 2017 the state passed a series of billsdesigned to encourage the construction of new affordable housing — streamlining the regulatory approval process, providing more state funding and cracking down on local governments that fall short of their housing goals. Now, state Senator Scott Weiner is pushing a new more aggressive package of legislation.

 

PUBLIC FINANCES

 

US monthly deficit largest in 6 years

CNN Money

New Treasury Department numbers show that the US government racked up a $215 billion deficit in February — the largest monthly deficit in six years. It was also $23 billion higher than the deficit for the same month last year. Deficits are a measure of the gulf between what the government spends and what it collects in revenue. Last month, the federal government spent roughly $371 billion, up $7 billion from February 2017. Tax receipts, meanwhile, fell to $156 billion from $172 billion a year earlier.

 

‘Split roll,’ the ghost of Prop. 13, haunts 2018

Capitol Weekly

Months after President Trump slashed corporations’ federal tax rate, a coalition of progressive California groups is hoping to raise their property taxes.

 

As High Court Weighs Online Sales Taxes, States Get Ready to Pounce

Pew Charitable Trust | Stateline

With the U.S. Supreme Court weeks away from hearing arguments in a landmark case on online sales taxes, several states are readying laws that would allow them to begin collecting millions of dollars almost immediately if the court rules in their favor.

 

California’s Tax On Millionaires Yields Big Benefits For People With Mental Illness, Study Finds

Washington Post

A statewide tax on the wealthy has significantly boosted mental health programs in California’s largest county, helping to reduce homelessness, incarceration and hospitalization, according to a report released Tuesday.

 

TRANSPORTATION

 

What Is New At FAX – March 2018:  BRT live, Mobile App, Rate Restructuring and Unmet Needs Project Update

Fresno Area Express

On the morning of February 19, 2017 as much of the City was sleeping in for President’s Day, FAX launched Fresno’s first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).  Replacing routes 30 and 28 along Fresno’s main corridors of Blackstone and Ventura/Kings Canyon, Route 1, the Q runs 10 minute frequencies during peak hours and 15 minute frequencies the rest of the time up to 9:00 PM PST.  Thereafter, buses run every hour until ending at approximately 1:00 AM.

 

Electric Buses Are Coming… To Porterville?

Valley Public Radio

California has some of the highest-reaching goals in the nation when it comes to reducing carbon emissions. Our state is also where some of the most innovative clean technology is developed and manufactured. One electric bus company is setting up shop in California, and it’s already changing transit in one Central Valley town.

 

Fox: Looking to Trump the Cost of the Bullet Train

Fox & Hounds

It is more than a coincidence that Gov. Brown invited President Trump to see where the high-speed rail is being built days after a new business report states the cost of the train has soared.

 

EPA chief signals a showdown with California over fuel economy rules for automakers

Los Angeles Times

The Trump administration’s chief environmental regulator signaled a coming showdown with California, warning that the state won’t dictate the future of ambitious automobile fuel economy regulations enacted by the Obama administration.

“California is not the arbiter of these issues,” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said. California regulates greenhouse gas emissions at the state level, “but that shouldn’t and can’t dictate to the rest of the country what these levels are going to be.”

 

More pedestrians die in California than any other state, report finds

San Francisco Chronicle

Between January and June 2017, the earliest period for which data is available, 352 people were struck and killed by motor vehicles in California, the study by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) claims. By comparison, Hawaii and Wyoming experienced only one pedestrian fatality each during the same period.

 

Charging An Electric Vehicle Is Far Cleaner Than Driving On Gasoline, Everywhere In America

Forbes

Driving an electric vehicle (EV) has obvious climate benefits: zero tailpipe emissions. But because EVs are charged by power grids that burn fossil fuels, they aren’t necessarily zero-carbon.  An EV’s carbon footprint depends on whether its power comes from renewables or fossil, and quantifying exactly how clean EVs are compared to gasoline-powered vehicles has been tough – until now.

 

WATER

 

Around 100,000 San Joaquin Valley Residents Live Without Clean Water; Study Suggests Access Is Close

Capital Public Radio

These low-income communities, without city-government representation, live in eight San Joaquin Valley counties. But 66 percent of these people live within one mile of a system that could supply them clean water.

 

New fees proposed to pay for California’s contaminated water problem

Sacramento Bee

As part of his final budget proposal, Gov. Jerry Brown wants new fees on water to provide clean and affordable drinking water to the approximately 1 million Californians who are exposed to contaminated water in their homes and communities each year.

 

Water and the public health crisis

Capitol Weekly

Many Californians know of the lead poisoning in the public water system in Detroit.  Very few know of the contaminated water crisis impacting more than 1 million Californians. After years of trying to resolve the failure of the State of California to address this public health challenge, advocates have reached a historic negotiated agreement.

 

In Sierra, snow storms evoke ‘March Miracle’

The Mercury News

At the Royal Gorge cross-country ski resort near Truckee, Bill Blaylock gratefully eyed Tuesday’s darkening skies and gusting winds. One of the driest Februaries on record had left a scant amount of snow scattered across the mountain terrain.

See also:

●      More ‘Miracle March’ storms? Tahoe and Mammoth ski resorts expect big snow this week Los Angeles Times

“Xtra”

 

My oh my, what a Pi Day for dining deals

The Bakersfield California

For the fifth year, Blaze Pizza is celebrating Pi Day (3/14) with a discount deal. On Wednesday, diners can build their own pie for just $3.14, in honor of the mathematical constant of the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

 

EDITORIALS

 

17 minutes: We see the value in this moment; let students lead the way to change

Fresno Bee

When high school students from Madera to Reedley to Fresno and Visalia walk out of their classrooms Wednesday morning at 10 a.m., they will be joining thousands of students coast to coast doing the same. We will be with them – in spirit if not in person.

 

Schools worried about the National School Walkout are missing the point of democracy

Sacramento Bee

When the clock strikes 10 a.m. Wednesday, students around the world, throughout the nation and across California will rise from their desks in the cause of political activism to join the National School Walkout to protest gun violence.

 

President Trump isn’t seeing the real California

Fresno Bee

As Donald Trump visited California on Tuesday for the first time as president, he limited his view to what serves his agenda – a border crossing in San Diego to inspect prototypes for his proposed wall, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar to speak to service members, and a private home in Beverly Hills for a $35,000-per-person fundraiser.

 

Approving the Sinclair-Tribune deal would be indefensible

Los Angeles Times

In 2004, Congress delivered what seemed to be an unmistakable message about ownership limits in the TV broadcasting industry. It ordered the Federal Communications Commission to institute a new cap: No company could own stations that collectively broadcast into more than 39% of U.S. homes.

 Mission impossible: Running stable foreign policy for an unstable president

Los Angeles Times

Rex Tillerson was the wrong person to run the U.S. State Department, and he has done deep damage to the organization — most notably by proposing a controversial restructuring planthat would have shrunk the department, triggering the resignations of more than half the senior career diplomats, and failing to fill top vacancies (the White House shares much of that blame). But given Tillerson’s role as one of the few sane heads in the upper echelon of the Trump administration, it doesn’t bode well for the country that the president canned him Tuesday morning in favor of Iran hawk and CIA chief Mike Pompeo.

 

ICE spokesman was right to quit rather than push “alternative facts”
San Francisco Chronicle

Citing “false” and “misleading” public statements by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Thomas Homan, the agency’s San Francisco spokesman, James Schwab, resigned on Monday.

 

California’s bullet train project should come to an immediate end

OCRegister

The California bullet train is expected to face even more delays and higher costs, according to a business plan released Friday. Already facing billions in cost overruns and years of delays, the High Speed Rail Authority’s new business plan for the project concedes it could cost tens of billions of dollars more and won’t be fully operational for several years later than last expected.

 

Proposition 47 opponents can’t handle the facts

OCRegister

Four years ago, California voters approved Proposition 47 to reduce a handful of low-level theft and drug possession crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and invest the savings from reduced incarceration into crime prevention and reentry programs. The latter part has started to happen.

San Diego Union-Tribune

Among the terrible traditions in California politics is attorneys general writing biased language for ballot measures to push voters to their side — knowing judges often defer to their judgment. For decades, attorneys general from both parties have blatantly put their thumbs on the scales of democracy.

 

 

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The Kenneth L. Maddy Institute at California State University, Fresno was established to honor the legacy of one of California’s most principled and effective legislative leaders of the last half of the 20th Century by engaging, preparing and inspiring a new generation of governmental leaders for the 21st Century. Its mission is to inspire citizen participation, elevate government performance, provide non-partisan analysis and assist in providing solutions for public policy issues important to the region, state and nation.

                                                     

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