March 29, 2019

29Mar

POLICY & POLITICS

North SJ Valley:

Federal legalization of hemp creates quandary for US police

Stockton Record

Truckers, now free to haul hemp from state to state, have been stopped and sometimes arrested by police who can’t tell whether they have intercepted a legal agricultural crop or the biggest marijuana bust of their careers.

EDITORIAL: Farmers market heads home in Turlock

Modesto Bee

If you like happy endings to local political war stories, keep reading. Turlock Certified Farmers Market, having thrived in three years of self-imposed exile at the Stanislaus County Fairground, will return to its downtown roots this season.

Central SJ Valley:

After Mueller, Devin Nunes demands Adam Schiff step down

Fresno Bee

Rep. Devin Nunes and other Republicans on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence sent a letter to Chairman Adam Schiff Thursday morning calling on him to resign his post.

See also:

South SJ Valley:

Assemblymember Salas welcomes Corcoran’s young scientists to State Capitol

Visalia Times Delta

Monday, Assemblymember Salas (D-Bakersfield) welcomed seventh graders from Corcoran’s John Muir Middle School to the California State Capitol.

State:

DMV audit reveals list of issues contributing to botched Real ID launch

abc30

A scathing audit of the California DMV is out, and it reveals what many of us already know. The agency’s launch of a new ID program last year ended in utter disaster. “It is a damning audit. It concludes the DMV is in failure mode,” said Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno).

See also:

U.S. sues California over river flow standards

Los Angeles Times

The U.S. Department of the Interior, which manages California’s largest irrigation supply project, argues that the flow standards will interfere with its operation of the New Melones Dam and reservoir on the Stanislaus River.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s agenda gets high marks in new poll

San Francisco Chronicle

Gov. Gavin Newsom has solid backing from California voters and his plans to deal with many of the state’s problems also have support, according to a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Diminishing returns: Is California running out of ways to lead voters to the polls?

CALmatters

This Tuesday, voters in Long Beach turned out to elect a new state senator. Odds are that’s news to you—even if you happen to live in Long Beach. A preliminary tally indicates that less than a measly 7 percent of the district’s registered voters cast a ballot.

Inside the Capitol: California News and Analysis

CALmatters

Where to find news about how the California Capitol works—the players, the policies that affect how state government affects you.

OPINION: Commentary: Why changing California’s motor voter law hurts disenfranchised

San Diego Union-Tribune

Yet there have always been artificial barriers to voting. Often these barriers are intentionally created to keep groups of folks — women, people of color, poor citizens — from having equal access to the ballot. Some obstacles are in place without much thought to the obstacles, but they leave many people disenfranchised, nonetheless.

Federal:

Dems turn up pressure for Mueller’s full 300 pages

Fresno Bee

Democrats intensified their demands for Robert Mueller’s full report after learning the special counsel’s findings from his Trump-Russia investigation run to more than 300 pages, while President Donald Trump boasted of total exoneration based on a four-page summary by his attorney general.

See also:

Trump surprises his aides and allies with abrupt decrees

Fresno Bee

A series of announcements by Trump in a 72-hour span last week upended planning on three of the administration’s most important foreign policy initiatives.

Trump’s pick for Justice Department’s No. 3 job withdraws

Fresno Bee

President Donald Trump’s pick for the Justice Department’s No. 3 position has withdrawn her name from consideration after encountering opposition on the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee because of her past membership in a lawyers’ group that has supported abortion rights.

Facing protests, Trump backs off Special Olympics cuts

Fresno Bee

President Donald Trump says he is backing off his budget request to eliminate funding for the Special Olympics, reversing course on a proposal that was unlikely to be approved by Congress after days of bipartisan criticism.

See also:

Senators clash over criticism of Interior secretary nominee in confirmation hearing

abc30

Republicans and Democrats clashed over criticism of President Donald Trump’s nominee to take over the Interior Department during his confirmation hearing Thursday.

Senators press Interior secretary nominee David Bernhardt on offshore drilling

Los Angeles Times

Lawmakers seeking assurance that the Trump administration will exempt their states from offshore drilling plans received no such promise during Thursday’s confirmation hearing of the president’s pick to run the Interior Department.

See also:

Stephen Moore, who once ran a political group fined $350,000, wants to take the Fed in a direction Trump supports

Washington Post

Stephen Moore, President Trump’s new pick to join the Federal Reserve, took a highly unusual step this week for a nominee to serve on a central bank, which takes pains to distance itself from politics.

See Also:

How Donald Trump inflated his net worth to lenders and investors

Washington Post

For instance, Trump’s financial statement for 2011 said he had 55 home lots to sell at his golf course in Southern California. Those lots would sell for $3 million or more, the statement said.

But Trump had only 31 lots zoned and ready for sale at the course, according to city records. He claimed credit for 24 lots — and at least $72 million in future revenue — he didn’t have.

Elections 2020:

PolitiFact California: Kamala Harris Is Wrong, Trump Isn’t ‘Raiding Money’ From Military Pensions

Capital Public Radio

PolitiFact California fact checks California Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ claim about President Donald Trump’s plans to divert military funds to pay for a border wall.

Pete Buttigieg, suddenly a hot Democratic ticket, draws a crowd in SF

San Francisco Chronicle

Democratic voters are discovering Pete Buttigieg. What is it about the 37-year-old gay mayor of a small Indiana city that makes people think he can be president?

Why so much dystopia from the Democratic candidates?

Los Angeles Times

From his opening campaign declaration that “the American dream is dead,” to his creatively capitalized warning just last month that “without strong Borders we don’t have a Country,” Donald Trump has proven again and again that an apocalyptic style works in contemporary American politics.The president’s 2020 challengers, alas, have followed Trump’s lead.

Other:

California board votes to limit whips in horse racing

AP

The California Horse Racing Board voted Thursday to severely limit the use of whips on horses in racing statewide and approved medication changes on a smaller scale following the deaths of 22 horses at Santa Anita Park.

Former Gov. Jerry Brown’s days filled with grazing cows, drawing well water at Colusa ranch

San Francisco Chronicle

Former Gov. Jerry Brown’s days are now filled with drawing water from a well on his rural Colusa County ranch and watching his neighbor’s cows grazing on the sprawling land.

The FCC Has Fined Robocallers $208 Million. It’s Collected $6,790.

Wall Street Journal

America’s telecommunications watchdogs have levied hefty financial penalties against illegal robocallers and demanded that bad actors repay millions to their victims. But years later, little money has been collected.

How the Algorithm Rewards Extremism

Literary Hub

I could say, again, that software is eating the world, though it might be more accurate at this point to say it’s “digesting” it. But what’s noticeable also is the fact that size matters. These days, some of the biggest civic impacts come from the truly titanic, globe-spanning tech companies that sit in the midst of our social and economic life. “Big Tech,” as the journalist Franklin Foer dubs it.

AGRICULTURE/FOOD

Federal legalization of hemp creates quandary for US police

Stockton Record

Truckers, now free to haul hemp from state to state, have been stopped and sometimes arrested by police who can’t tell whether they have intercepted a legal agricultural crop or the biggest marijuana bust of their careers.

Can you buy CBD at your local CVS or Walgreens? It depends on where you live

Modesto Bee

Two of the biggest drugstore chains in the United States, Walgreens and CVS, will start selling CBD products in select states, according to media reports.

Bill to ban sale of flavored tobacco products advances

San Francisco Chronicle

California would become the first state in the nation to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products if a bill advanced by state lawmakers Wednesday becomes law.

Food Waste Is a Major Problem. Confusing Date Labels Are Making It Worse.

PEW
A bill that would establish federal standards for the labels, first introduced in 2016, has gone nowhere in Congress. Meanwhile, 43 states have their own rules, but they vary widely.

Can Food Choices Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

Pacific Standard

As more Americans seek to decrease their carbon footprint, red meat has become a popular target.

Cannabis control could become costly

The Hub

More funding is needed to fight unlicensed cannabis shops, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday. Budgetary increases for illegal cannabis enforcement could go from around $3 million this year to around $30 million in the next city budget.

EDITORIAL: Farmers market heads home in Turlock

Modesto Bee

If you like happy endings to local political war stories, keep reading. Turlock Certified Farmers Market, having thrived in three years of self-imposed exile at the Stanislaus County Fairground, will return to its downtown roots this season.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE / FIRE / PUBLIC SAFETY

Crime:

A look back: Visalia and gang violence

Visalia Times Delta

Twenty years after a series of shocking crimes, Visalia is still fighting the threat of gang violence. Gang violence peaked in 2006 and 2007, Visalia Police Chief Jason Salazar said. The city was seeing 10 to 12 murders a year — most of them gang-related.

California Supreme Court justices question state’s death penalty

San Francisco Chronicle

Citing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent moratorium on executions, two state Supreme Court justices called California’s death penalty law “expensive and dysfunctional” in a published opinion Thursday and said an initiative approved by the voters in 2016 won’t fix it.

See also:

Arrests in California’s Counties

PPIC
California’s arrest rate was 3,428 per 100,000 residents in 2016. However, smaller, rural counties tended to have higher arrest rates than larger, urban counties.

Public Safety:

How many of your Fresno County neighbors have assault weapons? The number may surprise you

Fresno Bee

Rural California, including chunks of the central San Joaquin Valley, enjoys its guns. But while Fresno County is among the counties with the highest number of residents with permits to carry concealed weapons, it’s got nothing on some of its more rural counterparts.

Supreme Court won’t stop Trump administration’s bump stock ban

abc30

The Supreme Court will not stop the Trump administration’s ban on bump stocks from going into effect, it was announced on Thursday.

New nonprofit aims to create home for domestic abuse survivors and homeless women

Bakersfield Californian

The nonprofit was started by five local women in 2014, and is in the process of raising around $4 million to purchase a house in Bakersfield, and create an endowment that will fund activities at the house.

Police kill Latinos disproportionately. Latino legislators must stand up for reform

Sacramento Bee

Police violence and brutality are nothing new for communities of color and other marginalized people. It has only been in recent years that we, as a society, have begun to awaken to the fact that more than a few police officers abuse their power.

Supreme Court won’t stop enforcement of Trump administration’s bump stock ban

Los Angeles Times

The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to stop the Trump administration from enforcing its ban on so-called bump stock devices, which allow semiautomatic weapons to fire like machine guns.

Fire:

Fresno County holds emergency response exercise

abc30

California has seen catastrophic wildfires and Fresno County wants to be as prepared as possible for any emergency.  On Thursday several different county departments came together for an emergency response exercise.

This determined Paradise fire victim will be first to rebuild: ‘It’s time to move on.’

Sacramento Bee

A celebratory crowd around him, lifelong Paradise resident Jason Buzzard stepped to the counter at Town Hall on Thursday to become the first Camp Fire victim to pull a building permit for a new home on the fire-ravaged hillside.

In Butte County, officials struggle to identify remains of last 11 Camp Fire victims

San Francisco Chronicle

Four months after California’s worst wildfire swept through Butte County, authorities there have positively identified 74 of the 85 people killed — and are still working to get the last 11 victims identified.

ECONOMY / JOBS

Economy:

SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans now available to small businesses

Porterville Recorder

Small nonfarm businesses in Tulare and several other counties are now eligible to apply for low‑interest federal disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. These loans offset economic losses because of reduced revenues caused by the drought  that occurred in the following California counties.

Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan steps down as bank struggles to get past scandals

Los Angeles Times

Wells Fargo & Co.’s embattled chief executive, Tim Sloan — who has struggled to get the giant San Francisco bank past a seemingly endless series of customer abuse scandals — retired suddenly Thursday.

Cargill’s Protein Push Helps It Navigate Mounting Trade Turmoil

Bloomberg

Cargill Inc. Chief Executive Officer Dave MacLennan’s bet on a rising appetite for protein is helping the agribusiness giant return to profit growth even as global trade disruptions mount.

On Thursday, America’s biggest closely held company posted an increase in earnings for the first time since its fiscal quarter ended May 31, 2018.

NAFTA to USMCA: What is Gained?

International Monetary Fund

The United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement (USMCA) uses a global, multisector, computable-general-equilibrium model to provide an analytical assessment of five key provisions in the new agreement, including tighter rules of origin in the automotive, textiles and apparel sectors, more liberalized agricultural trade, and other trade facilitation measures.

Trump’s North American trade deal at risk of stalling in Congress

Washington Post

President Trump’s effort to rework a major trade deal with Canada and Mexico is showing increasing signs of faltering on Capitol Hill, straining under a variety of angry complaints from lawmakers of both parties who won’t commit to backing the plan.

Jobs:

Caltrans must pay $3 million after losing appeal in worker’s perfume allergy lawsuit

Fresno Bee

Caltrans lost an appeal in a workplace harassment lawsuit filed by a state worker who was allergic to perfume and cleaning products. California must pay John Barrie $3 million.

Californians worry about public pensions, but not as much as they used to

Sacramento Bee

Sixty-three percent of adults said the amount of money state and local governments are spending on public employee pensions is either a big problem or somewhat of a problem, according to poll results released Wednesday.

California agency is exposing millions of people to identity theft, audit finds

Los Angeles Times

The Employment Development Dept. is mailing millions of documents containing full Social Security numbers.

EDUCATION

K-12:

Campaign raising money for state-of-the-art Ag complex for Sanger Unified

abc30

A two-acre piece of land near Shields and Greenwood Avenues will be the future site of the Fairmont AG Complex. The property is right next to Fairmont Elementary, a school that has a rich tradition in science.

‘He helped us believe in ourselves.’ Former school leader in Merced County remembered Merced Sun-Star

Mollart retired as superintendent in 2015 but continued his commitment to education. He was president-elect of the Merced County Board of Education and also the treasurer and a consultant to the local unit of the Association of California School Administrators.

Turned off: Sprint shuts down cell tower at Ripon school over parents’ cancer concerns

Merced Sun-Star

Sprint has turned off a cell phone tower at a Ripon elementary school that parents suspect was the cause of cancer cases among students and teachers.

Students at Modesto school celebrate being among those to watch

Modesto Bee

Students at Modesto’s Norman N. Glick Middle School took part in a celebration Thursday after their campus was recognized as one of the “California Schools to Watch” by the California League of Middle Schools.

Assemblymember Salas welcomes Corcoran’s young scientists to State Capitol

Visalia Times Delta

Monday, Assemblymember Salas (D-Bakersfield) welcomed seventh graders from Corcoran’s John Muir Middle School to the California State Capitol.

Local students show off their creative side at TCOE’s Poetry and Prose

Porterville Recorder

Students all over Tulare County from kindergarten through eighth grade participated in the 35th annual Tulare County Office of Education Poetry and Prose on Stage event from Tuesday, March 19 to Friday, March 28, at the TCOE Administration.

‘Too much, too soon.’ Families rally at Capitol against sex education and LGBT curriculum

Sacramento Bee

More than 200 protesters rallied Thursday outside of the state Capitol to protest the state’s push for comprehensive sex education and lessons on gender fluidity in California public schools.

Small districts reap big profits by approving charter schools with little oversight

Los Angeles Times

In the aftermath of the Great Recession, as tax revenue plummeted, small school districts across California quickly felt the pain. Many were already lean, where administrators did the work of two or three, and students were counted in tens, not thousands. The economic collapse threatened their very existence.

California’s broken charter school law has defied reform. Can Newsom break the gridlock?

Los Angeles Times

Since the Charter Schools Act of 1992 was passed more than a quarter-century ago, a political standoff in Sacramento has made it almost impossible to repair even the parts of the charter law that no one disputes are broken.

Testimony: Special Education Finance in California

PPIC
The AB 602 formula provides about $500–600 in state special education funds per student in each district, based on average daily attendance (ADA). The number of students with disabilities in a district does not affect state funding amounts. Each year, that amount is increased by the change in ADA and by a cost-of-living adjustment.

Career & Technical Education: Just enjoying its 15 minutes?

AEI

Career and Technical Education is enjoying a moment. Governors talk about it, and advocates celebrate it. But is CTE a passing fad, or something more? AEI’s Frederick M. Hess explains.

Higher Ed:

2008 vice presidential nominee, activist Rosa Clemente inspires CSUB students to get involved

Bakersfield Californian

Activist Rosa Clemente stopped by campus as part of her “Truth Be Told” tour to speak to students about societal problems seen throughout her career and encourage them to become activists. The talk was part of the CSUB Interdisciplinary Studies’ lecture series.

College Admissions Scandal Sparks Sweeping Reform Proposals By California Lawmakers

Capital Public Radio

Five state Assembly members introduced more than a handful of actions on Thursday, including efforts to stop preferential treatment for prospective students, phase out the SAT and ACT tests, and audit of the UC’s admissions process.

See also:

EDITORIAL: California should get tough on for-profit colleges

San Francisco Chronicle

If Trump won’t, then California will. That’s this state’s go-to approach with nearly every political challenge from Washington, and now it includes reining in low-performing for-profit colleges that pile on student debt.

Apprenticeships:

ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY

Environment:

Glacier Point Road And Surrounding Trails To Remain Open

Sierra News

Yosemite National Park is pleased to announce that Glacier Point Road and the surrounding trails will remain open for winter recreational use through Sunday, Apr. 14, conditions permitting.

See also:

With Tropical Forest Standard, California can think globally and act locally

Sacramento Bee

Californians may not spend much time thinking about Brazil’s new leader Jair Bolsonaro, but he has declared war on the forest peoples of Brazil, CA is ideally positioned to counter his disastrous agenda.

A nemesis of California environmentalists gains new powers, but also new foes

Sacramento Bee

California Democrats are well-positioned to push back on Trump’s Department of Interior, which may soon be led by David Bernhardt, an old foe of the state’s environmentalists.

Where Disease-Carrying Mosquitoes Will Go In The Future

Capital Public Radio

Disease-bearing mosquitoes are on the move. Scientists have been pretty sure of that for decades. As temperatures rise in certain parts of the world, warmth-seeking mosquitoes will invade, making themselves at home in previously inhospitable patches of the globe.

Energy:

‘California deserves better.’ Gavin Newsom rips PG&E plan that would ‘prioritize’ profits

Sacramento Bee

Gov. Gavin Newsom accused PG&E Corp.’s top executive Thursday of paying lip service to public safety, saying the troubled utility is planning to stock its board of directors with hedge-fund managers and others interested only in “prioritizing quick profits.”

See also:

California gas prices spike after refinery problems

San Francisco Chronicle

Gas is expensive in California, especially San Francisco. But it’s even more costly than usual following the temporary shutdown of the Valero refinery in Benicia.

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

Health:

Warning issued after measles exposure reported in Stanislaus County

Fresno Bee

Stanislaus County health officials said people attending basketball games at Turlock High School last week were possibly exposed to measles from someone also at the showcases.

EDITORIAL: Mr. President, the real national emergency is fentanyl

Los Angeles Times

In 2017, the most recent year for which we have good data, more than 70,000 Americans died from drug overdoses. Nearly 50,000 of those deaths involved opioids.

EDITORIAL: Sacramento must keep fighting the anti-vaccine forces

San Francisco Chronicle

Sacramento started the battle against anti-vaccine forces by insisting on an end to “personal belief” exemptions. It has to finish the job against medical exemption fraud with SB276.

Human Services:

Turlock clinic offers services for the homeless

Modesto Bee

United Samaritans Foundation held a mobile clinic outside its offices in Turlock on Thursday, offering basic primary care, health education, wellness checks and other services for the homeless and those at-risk for homelessness.

Collect unemployment in California? The state has exposed you to potential identity theft

Sacramento Bee

Millions of Californians who collect unemployment or disability have had their identities potentially compromised by the state, a new report found.

Two Women Retrofit Bus To Offer Showers For Homeless Residents In Stockton, Lodi

Capital Public Radio

Two women are planning to provide showers to hundreds of homeless people each week in Stockton and Lodi. Mary Jarrard and Kelly Hanisch have a 20-passenger bus and a vision called “Showered with Love.”

Peer Mental Health Workers Could Become State-Certified Under Proposed California Law

Capital Public Radio

Health advocates are hoping to build a workforce of people living with mental illness to help guide others in need of services toward care. Some people are already doing the work, but a new law would make it a billable service through Medi-Cal.

Trump’s group health plan rules struck down by judge

Los Angeles Times

The ruling is a victory for nearly a dozen Democratic state attorneys general who sued to block the policy.

See also:

Single-payer health care systems are no easier in the states

Roll Call

The hurdles for a government-run, single-payer health care system are amplified at the state level, where universal coverage ambitions are hampered by politics, costs and federal restrictions.

By striking at ACA, Trump could unravel his own drug pricing proposal

Roll Call

By backing the wholesale repeal of the Affordable Care Act, President Donald Trump could unravel his own plan on prescription drug prices and undermine his messaging on an important issue ahead of the 2020 election: the climbing cost of medicines.

Paid Leave, Now with More Flexibility

National Review

Senators Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney, and Representatives Ann Wagner and Dan Crenshaw, have unveiled a new plan to help more families with newborns. The basic idea, which I’ve defended from common conservative and liberal criticisms, is to allow parents to take some of their Social Security benefits when they have children.

OPINION: Meet the ObamaCare Bulls

Wall Street Journal

The odds that the Supreme Court will overturn ObamaCare are long, and at least one major health insurer is making a bullish bet on government health care. Witness Centene’s $17.3 billion acquisition of WellCare, which will make it among the nation’s largest providers of government-sponsored health plans.

OPINION: The Case for Medicare for All

Wall Street Journal

A single-payer health-insurance system can finance good-quality coverage for all U.S. residents while still reducing overall health-care spending by roughly 10%, according to a study I co-authored last November. All Americans would be able to get care from their chosen providers without having to pay premiums, deductibles or copayments.

IMMIGRATION

Fresno County violated state sanctuary law, study claims. Sheriff disputes findings

Fresno Bee

The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office is among 68 law enforcement agencies in California that were found to have violated the state’s sanctuary law, a new study found.

See also:

Border Patrol orders quick releases of families

Fresno Bee

The Border Patrol says the number of immigrant families traveling to the U.S. is now so high that the agency is immediately letting some go instead of transferring them to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for release.

California governor to visit El Salvador to talk immigration

Bakersfield Californian

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he will travel to El Salvador in April to discuss the poverty and violence that’s causing waves of migrants to seek asylum in the United States. It will be Newsom’s first international trip as governor.

See also:

Trump Extends Deportation Protection For Liberians In The U.S.

Capital Public Radio

The delay will give Congress time to work on a possible permanent pathway for thousands of Liberians to remain in the U.S.

Border Patrol Stops Prosecuting First-Time Border Crossers in Texas Region

Wall Street Journal

The Trump administration has curtailed a key component of its “zero tolerance” immigration policy, no longer charging first-time illegal border crossers with a crime along a busy stretch of West Texas.

Trump Threatens to Close Border If Mexico Doesn’t Stop Illegal Entries

Wall Street Journal

President Trump threatened Friday to close all or a portion of the U.S. southern border if Mexico didn’t immediately work to block all illegal immigrants from crossing.

Writing on Twitter, the president also said Mexico made a large amount of money from the U.S. while doing nothing to stop the migrants.

Despite Sanctuary Law, California Cops ‘Bend Over Backwards’ to Work With ICE

Rewire.News

Even as California lawmakers try to protect undocumented people against the president’s draconian anti-immigrant policies, state law enforcement officials are striving to be “politically aligned with Trump and ICE.”

The Trump Administration Asked To Restart Nearly 20,000 Suspended Immigration Cases — As It Faces An Existing Backlog

Buzzfeed

In the past two fiscal years, the Trump administration has requested restarting more than 18,000 deportation cases that immigration judges had suspended, according to statistics provided by the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts.

LAND USE/HOUSING

Land Use:

Housing:

Sundale Country Club’s prospective buyers explored housing options at golf course property

Bakersfield Californian

Prospective buyers of Sundale Country Club recently explored the possibility of developing housing at the site’s 18-hole golf course, a move allowed by the property’s deed starting in 2022 but opposed by members of the surrounding retirement community of Kern City.

Summit aims to prevent, end youth and rural homelessness

Stockton Record

Every night, more than 30 children sleep unsheltered on the streets, along the railroad tracks and far-flung waterways of San Joaquin County. Another 70 sleep in transitional housing while 100 are in an emergency shelter.

Solving California’s housing crisis demands action. These steps will help

CALmatters

The housing crisis gripping the Golden State threatens to permanently stymie economic growth and demands bold and innovative solutions.

During his State of the State speech earlier this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom boldly proclaimed: “If we want a California for all, we have to build housing for all.”

‘A Pileup of Inequities’: Why People of Color Are Hit Hardest by Homelessness

PEW
Poverty alone doesn’t account for the stark inequities, researchers say, because the number of black and Native people who are homeless exceeds their proportion of people living in deep poverty.

PUBLIC FINANCES

Buy stuff online? New California tax law takes effect Monday, but the rules might change

Fresno Bee

Pump the sales tax brakes. Out-of-state online retailers who make more than 200 transactions or $100,000 in California sales have four days before they must begin collecting and remitting state sales tax from shoppers.

Californians worry about public pensions, but not as much as they used to

Sacramento Bee

Fewer Californians appear concerned about public spending on pensions than in past years, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll.

California agency is exposing millions of people to identity theft, audit finds

Los Angeles Times

The California agency tasked with distributing unemployment, disability and parental leave benefits routinely puts recipients at risk for identity theft by including their full Social Security numbers and other personal information on millions of documents mailed each year, according to a state audit released Thursday.

Trump’s defense budget — too big, too little scrutiny

San Francisco Chronicle

When foreign interventions are scaling down, why does the Trump administration seek $100 billion more for overseas contingency operations?

The 4% Mortgage Is Back

Wall Street Journal

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 4.06% this week, its lowest since January 2018, according to data released Thursday by Freddie Mac, the mortgage-finance giant. The rate was down nearly a quarter point from a week earlier, its biggest drop in over a decade.

No, Half of Older Americans Aren’t Without Retirement Savings

Forbes

Not if you were the federal Government Accountability Office, which in an update to previous work declared this week that 48% of U.S. households aged 55 and over in 2016 “had no retirement savings.” That claim is factually incorrect, and the way it will be interpreted by politicians and the press will only make it less true.

Does Trump understand how the federal budget process works?

Roll Call

In a curious statement that defies the realities of the federal spending process, President Donald Trump declared Thursday that “the Special Olympics will be funded” because he has “overruled” his own staff who wanted to cut off the federal spigot to the charity.

Enough of our budget farce

Brookings

The Trump administration’s new budget is fake news. That isn’t because it fails to live up to its grandiose title: “A Budget for a Better America: Promises Kept. Taxpayers First.” Nor is it a function of any particular defect, though no doubt there are plenty. Rather, it is simply a reflection of what our budget process has become: all messaging, no planning.

TRANSPORTATION

Caltrans implements new plan to protect drivers in burn scar area

abc30

A new Caltrans plan could mean closing Highway 140 in Mariposa County, when crews don’t feel it’s safe during a storm.

These dangerous Fresno County intersections are getting 4-way stops after deadly crashes

Fresno Bee

A handful of dangerous intersections in Fresno County will become four-way stops, in the aftermath of tragic fatal crashes at those locations.

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved new stops at three intersections near Selma and Kingsburg.

Expanded Fresno-to-chicago Flights Start This Weekend

Business Journal

United Airlines is getting into the act, kicking off its daily nonstop flights from Fresno to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport beginning March 31. The flights will run through December.

Electric Bus Maker Delivers On Porterville Order, Where It Is Expanding

Business Journal

GreenPower Motor Company, Inc. delivered three all-electric commuter buses to the city of Portville on Wednesday.

High-Speed Rail construction update

Hanford Sentinel

The California High-Speed Rail Authority released and April construction update Thursday, which featured projects happening across Kings County.

Group against 24th Street widening project wins appeal, city to pay back court costs

Bakersfield Californian

A group of Bakersfield residents involved in the lawsuit that had halted work on the 24th Street Widening Project has won an appeal against the city of Bakersfield over court costs.

Caltrans must pay $3 million after losing appeal in worker’s perfume allergy lawsuit

Sacramento Bee

Caltrans must abide by a jury’s decision to award $3 million to an employee who claimed his supervisors harassed him by ignoring his allergies to perfume and several cleaning products, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

Announcement of New Board Chairman for the High Speed Rail

California High Speed Rail Authority

The Authority is pleased to announce Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent appointment of Lenny Mendonca as Chairman of the Authority’s Board of Directors. Mendonca also serves as Newsom’s Chief Economic and Business Advisor and Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.   

High Speed Rail: Investing in California’s Economy

California High Speed Rail Authority

The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s most recent economic impact report (Fiscal Year 2017-2018 Impact Analysis Technical Supporting Document) provides an updated snapshot — both statewide and regionally in Northern California — of the economic benefits resulting from investments that took place from July 2017 through June 2018.

CEO Kelly Responds to FRA Threat

California High Speed Rail Authority

California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Brian Kelly’s March 4 response to the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) recent threat to rescind federal funds from the project calls on the agency to continue working with the Authority to deliver high-speed rail for the nation.

Northern California Project Section Update

California High Speed Rail Authority

In January, the Authority announced it will advance the next environmental milestone for the San Francisco to San Jose Project Section. The staff recommended Preferred Alternative (PA) has been moved up from December 2019 to September 2019 to be identified alongside the San Jose to Merced Project Section PA.

WATER

Snow survey says 178% of average in central Sierra. Here’s how PG&E determines that

Fresno Bee

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. hydrologists estimate the central Sierra Nevada snowpack is about 178 percent of average after several heavy winter and early spring storms. That was the call from PG&E’s latest monthly snow survey, part of the California Cooperative Snow Survey.

US sues California, says water policy violates state law

Bakersfield Californian

The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit in Sacramento federal court to block a contentious plan approved in December to increase river flows in the San Joaquin River and three tributaries to help revive dwindling salmon populations.

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California’s water infrastructure could be tested this spring as massive winter snowpack melts away

Washington Post

As waterlogged storms repeatedly pounded California this winter, social media was filled with variations on a distinct photo theme. The subject was a freshly plowed road wedged between towering white walls of snow measuring 10 or 20 feet tall. As long as vehicles had safe passage, a wintry trench would be fine — that snow had to go somewhere after all.

OPINION: The Salton Sea is a disaster in the making. California isn’t doing anything to stop it

Los Angeles Times

California’s largest internal body of water is steadily drying up, exposing a lake bed that threatens to trigger toxic dust storms and exacerbate already high levels of asthma and other respiratory diseases in Southern California.

“Xtra”

Take your kids to meet Elsa and Anna, or sample from food trucks this weekend

abc30

It’s feeling like spring. This weekend you’ll find there will be lots of sunshine. Take the kids to learn more about critters in Squaw Valley or spend some time with friends sipping on a brew.

Local preschoolers building dog houses for shelter dogs

abc30

Michelle Maher will tell you that it’s never too early to start building a future. She’s the preschool teacher at Duncan Polytechnical High School. The Fresno school on Garland Avenue features a building for preschoolers, where Maher teaches.

Which country star is coming to Save Mart Center now? A hint: Beer never broke his heart

Fresno Bee

If you’re Luke Combs, a country singer with a string of five consecutive No. 1 hits and a first-ever headlining tour, you could do worse than playing Fresno.

San Joaquin College Of Law Celebrates Golden Anniversary

Business Journal

The idea came from then-Fresno County Municipal Court Judge Dan Eymann, who believed that the growth of people and businesses in and around Fresno County merited the development of a law school, as the nearest one was more than 100 miles away, between Stockton and Sacramento.

Fresno Flats series to explore Great Sierra Mines

Sierra Star

Yes, gold has been found in “them thar hills” but silver was also mined in the Great Sierra Mines along the eastern border of Yosemite National Park.

Take me home! Animals available for adoption

Bakersfield Californian

These seven animals at Kern County Animal Services are looking for their forever homes. Can you help?