Maddy Institute – March 9, 2018

09Mar

TOP POLITICAL STORIES

Local/Regional Politics:

Deadline Fast Approaching – $56,000 Wonderful Public Service Graduate Fellowship – Applications Due Friday, March 16th, 2018

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.

Downtown Fresno swoons as college district buys landmark for new HQ

Fresno Bee

State Center Community College District is moving its headquarters to downtown Fresno so a new math and science building can be built at Fresno City College. The move should eventually create 325 additional parking spaces at the central Fresno campus.

Fresno City Council votes to sign resolution opposing expansion of Millerton Lake

ABC30

The Fresno City Council has voted to sign a resolution opposing the possible expansion of Millerton Lake State Recreation Park. Under a bill introduced by Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, the expansion would include the San Joaquin River Parkway and 5,900 acres along the river between Friant Dam and Highway 99. The Fresno County Board of Supervisors has already voted to send a letter stating their concerns as well.

Tulare county parks get improvements and upgrades

Visalia Times-Delta

Tulare County administrators are looking at ways to get more people into the 10 county-run parks that cover hundreds of acres. The first step — make parks easier to access and more appealing. County administrators will add a new community outreach position and seek to make improvements to the reservations system as part of a plan to attract more visitors to the parks.

Fresno County sheriff goes on Fox news show, praises ‘hard-working’ ICE agents

Fresno Bee

Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims went on national TV and criticized California laws that protect illegal immigrants. Mims appeared Wednesday evening on the FOX Business Network and said she hopes the White House administration’s lawsuit against California will help eliminate the state’s so-called sanctuary laws.

Data on financial worth of Congress members show Denham near top, Valadao still at bottom

Fresno Bee

California’s congressional delegation includes 20 millionaires, but where do the representatives in the central San Joaquin Valley fit in a delegation worth at least $439,000,000? The Los Angeles Times ranked each of California’s 55 members of Congress according to 2014-16 financial disclosure data collected by Roll Call.

Orosi student arrested after threatening to harm classmates

Visalia Times-Delta

Another Valley student has been arrested for making threats against classmates, Tulare County sheriff’s deputies said. According to deputies, an Orosi High Schoolstudent made threats to harm classmates during school hours on Wednesday. “It came to our attention yesterday late at night about some social media posts that were made,” said Yolanda Valdez, Culter-Orosi Joint Unified School Districtsuperintendent. “We immediately informed law enforcement.”

He was just re-elected to Modesto council. Now, he eyes Stanislaus supervisor seat.

Modesto Bee

Modesto Councilman Tony Madrigal has pulled nominating papers to run for the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors in the June 5 primary. This comes as Madrigal was re-elected in November to his second and final four-year term on the council. He represents downtown and south and west Modesto.

Justin Mendes, staffer for Congressman David Valadao, to challenge Assemblyman Rudy Salas

The Bakersfield Californian

Republican Hanford City Councilman Justin Mendes announced he will run against Assemblyman Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield in this year’s election. Salas’ District 32 is staunchly Democratic and Latino. But Mendes, the son of Portuguese dairy farmers, could represent a significant challenge to the Bakersfield Democrat.

See also:

● Mendes announces bid for state Assembly Hanford Sentinel

EPA to give $20,000 to replace older diesel school bus in Arvin as part of nationwide program

Bakersfield Californian

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is awarding $20,000 for the replacement of an older diesel school bus in the Di Giorgio Elementary School District in Arvin. A total of $8.7 million is being given nationwide to replace or retrofit 452 older diesel school buses, according to an EPA news release. Applicants replacing buses with engine model year of 2006 and older receive rebates between $15,000 and $20,000 per bus through Diesel Emission Reduction Act funding.

Bullet train plan to show updated cost, timeline

Modesto Bee

California’s bullet train project will likely require more time and money to complete than last estimated, but its new chief executive is promising more transparency with the public about its challenges. “It’s going to be bumpy,” said Brian Kelly, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

‘You can make over $100,000’ – trucking program brings lucrative job opportunity to high school

Modesto Bee

Ricky Beltran, a senior at Patterson High School in Patterson, practices on a truck-driving simulator Wednesday. The Patterson high school has one of the few high school truck-driving programs in the nation. Dave Dein, CDL program coordinator/instructor, center, goes over pre-trip inspections on a big rig with students at Patterson High School in Patterson on Wednesday. Patterson High School has one of the few high school truck driving programs in the nation.

Business owners receive permission to close alley after uptick in crime

The Bakersfield Californian

Business owners near an alley east of downtown Bakersfield have been given permission by the city to close off the alley after a recent uptick in crime. On Wednesday, the City Council voted to allow business owners to secure the entrances to the alley with lockable gates. The 20-foot alley, running east to west, is bounded by Sumner, Sonora, East 21st and Sacramento Streets.

Saving Swenson the hard way

Stockton Record

Is this trip necessary? The question arises after Wednesday’s meeting of the Save Swenson group of northsiders all afire to halt the city from building homes on money-losing Swenson Park Golf Course.

Lemoore heads toward solving water problems

Hanford Sentinel

After a seven-year battle with contaminants, Lemoore is moving toward a solution. The city of Lemoore’s water has not been in compliance with the state’s drinking water by-products, specifically because of total trihalomethanes (TTHM), standards since 2011.

State Politics:

Candidates for California governor take on housing crisis

The Bakersfield Californian

Six leading candidates for California governor agreed Thursday that it’s too hard to build new homes in California and offered wide ranging solutions to rein in exploding housing costs and rising homelessness. The candidates spoke separately at a conference in Sacramento organized by Housing California, an advocacy group.

· Stronger rent control supported by just one major candidate for California governor Sacramento Bee

New guard of Democrats must push single-payer health care

Sacramento Bee

As gubernatorial candidates gear up for the 2018 race, the issue of health care stands to divide the Democratic Party in an exciting and necessary way. At thestate party convention last month, four candidates, including Gavin Newsom and Delaine Eastin, called out their peers for not supporting single-payer health care, especially considering Trump administration rollbacks could strip health insurance from millions of Californians.

Gavin Newsom’s file

PolitiFact California

Gavin Newsom is a former mayor of San Francisco and current lieutenant governor of California. He is a Democratic candidate in the 2018 California governor’s race.

California teens are pre registering to vote, and taking a pass on political parties

Los Angeles Times

California’s relatively new system in which 16- and 17-year-olds can preregister to vote has been used by 88,700 teenagers during its first months in existence, with most of them declining to identify as Republicans or Democrats. The data released by Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Thursday cover the first 18 months of a law designed to encourage teenagers to begin thinking about the voting process before they actually become eligible.

● Non-citizens will start voting soon in San Francisco OCRegister

Is California becoming America’s Taiwan?

Sacramento Bee

Taiwan is an independent nation – in its ambitions, its economy, its democracy. But many countries refuse to recognize it as a separate country, deferring to mainland China, which claims Taiwan as a possession and responds with threats when Taiwan goes its own way. California shares aspects of this conundrum.

New legislation aims to increase the purchase age of long guns to 21 in California

abc30.com

The deadly Florida school shooting that involved a 17-year-old could soon have an impact on gun laws here in California. “People under age 21 still don’t have full judgment capabilities. Which is why we then prevent them from buying alcohol, from using tobacco, from using other things,” said Democrat Berkeley Senator Nancy Skinner. This morning in Sacramento three state lawmakers announced a bill that would raise the age limit for purchasing rifles and shotguns from 18 to 21, the same as for handguns.

No More Hugs: California Sen. Bob ‘Huggy Bear’ Hertzberg Disciplined After Investigation

Capital Public Radio News

The California state senator known as “Huggy Bear” has been ordered to refrain from initiating any more hugs — but he will be allowed to keep his job. Southern California Sen. Bob Hertzberg has been officially reprimanded by the Senate for hugging or otherwise touching three people who work in the building, including two female lawmakers.

California on verge of creating retirement plan for private-sector workers

San Francisco Chronicle

More than four years in the making, California’s effort to create a state-run retirement plan for private-sector workers whose employers don’t offer one is suddenly on the fast track to fruition, despite concerns about participant fees and possible legal liabilities for companies.

For Gov. Jerry Brown, it’s check out time at the Hotel California

OCRegister

Everyone knows that at a quarter to 11 a.m. on the last day of your stay is when you need to check out of your hotel. There are a million possibilities why you may not want to leave; you could have hit the hotel bar a little bit too hard the night before, you could be dreading the thought of going through the litany of indignities associated with airline travel, or you may be just having such a good time that you don’t want the party to end.

Federal Politics:

Some of the California ‘sanctuary’ laws targeted by feds could be vulnerable, legal experts say

Los Angeles Times

California’s three new “sanctuary” laws, challenged in court this week by the Trump administration, face different hurdles and have varying vulnerabilities, legal experts said Wednesday. Law professors who read the lawsuit filed by Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions generally described it as a credible challenge that presents complex legal questions that might wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

● California Disagrees With Justice Department’s Immigration Lawsuit NPR

● Sessions: Someone needs to stand up to ‘radical’ California TheHill

● Explaining The Trump Versus California Immigration Lawsuit Capital Public Radio

● Immigration Lawsuits, State’s Rights, and Why People Hate Politics Fox and Hounds Daily

● Quinn: The War California will Lose Fox and Hounds Daily

● It’s the US vs. California – who’s got the winning case? Sacramento Bee

Harvard economists: Tax law costs $1.2T after accounting for economic growth

TheHill

The tax law President Trump signed in December costs about $1.2 trillion over 10 years after accounting for its economic effects, two Harvard University economists with different opinions of the law estimated in a new paper. The findings in the paper, which is published in a Brookings Institution journal, contrast with claims some Republicans have made that the new law will pay for itself through increased economic growth.

Trump tariffs bump up costs for California businesses

San Francisco Chronicle

Most of the aluminum Claudia Wentworth’s company uses to make rooftop solar panel racks in Walnut Creek comes from the United States. It is precisely the kind of American product that President Trump’s new tariffs on imported aluminum and steel are designed to protect. But while the tariffs, imposed by orders that Trump signed Thursday, may benefit domestic metal producers, they will raise costs for Wentworth’s company, Quick Mount PV. Aluminum prices, she said, are already rising.

● Ignoring GOP Pleas, Trump Sets Tariffs In Motion Roll Call

● Trump’s Steel Tariffs — Steel & Aluminum Industry National Review

● ‘A serious attack’ — Major US trading partners blast Trump’s tariffs CNN | Money

● Will Trump’s tariffs lead to trade war? Brookings

● Little Evidence Supports Trump’s Claims Against China on Tariffs and TradeThe New York Times

● How much steel does the U.S. import from China? PolitiFact

● Trump’s Steel Tariffs — Steel & Aluminum Industry National Review

● Trump steel tariff could destroy 45,000 auto jobs: study TheHill

● Has automation driven job losses in the steel industry? PunditFact

● U.S. stocks suffer massive outflows as Trump risks trade war: BAML Reuters

Torlakson and top California teachers tell Trump: ‘We do not need guns in the classroom’

Los Angeles Times

California’s top education official and more than 60 of the state’s top teachers have sent a message to President Trump: Guns do not belong in schools. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and the large group of California Teachers of the Year wrote an open letter to Trump on Thursday, telling him that arming teachers is not the answer to school violence.

· Here’s How To Prevent The Next School Shooting, Experts Say NPR Ed

· In Search of Common Ground: Expert Judgments on Gun Policy EffectsRAND

US judge questions whether Trump can block Twitter users

Reuters

A federal judge on Thursday expressed skepticism about whether U.S. President Donald Trump can constitutionally block Twitter users whose views he does not like from following and responding to his own Twitter account.

US appeals court in San Francisco will hear net neutrality appeal

Reuters

A federal judicial panel said on Thursday that challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of the Obama era open internet rules will be heard by an appeals court based in San Francisco.

Kamala Harris keeps ’em guessing

Politico

One year into her term, the Democratic rising star has cut a complex profile in the Senate. And no one — including her — seems to know what’s next.

Democrats scramble for candidates in one of top California Congressional seat targets

San Jose Mercury News

At first glance, the congressional district covering a swath of Central Valley farmland from Fresno to Bakersfield looks like fertile ground for Democrats.

Opinion | Right-to-Work Laws Have Devastated Unions — and Democrats

The New York Times

Next week’s special congressional election in southwestern Pennsylvania will test whether, deep in Trump country, union support can help elect a Democrat running on a middle-class economic agenda. A victory would remind Democrats of the electoral power of organized labor. Even though it has relied on unions’ electoral muscle for nearly a century, the party has often failed to shore up labor’s diminishing strength. Our research demonstrates what an enormous electoral mistake that has been.

Other:

False news 70 percent more likely to spread on Twitter: study

Reuters

False news stories spread much more quickly and widely on Twitter than truthful ones, an imbalance driven more by people than automated “bot” accounts, researchers said on Thursday.

The Perils of Truth Decay: Q&A with Three RAND Leaders

RAND

“Truthiness” was still a punchline when Merriam-Webster named it the word of the year in 2006. Comedian Stephen Colbert had coined the term as an eye-roll at the march of bias and opinion over facts. There’s less to laugh at now: the Oxford word of the year for 2016 was “post-truth.”

MADDY INSTITUTE PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAMMING

Sunday, March 11, at 10 a.m. on ABC 30 – Maddy Report: Charter Schools– Guest: State Auditor Elaine Howle. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.

Sunday, March 11, at 10 a.m. on Newstalk 580AM/105.9FM (KMJ) –Maddy Report: “Are Education Reforms & Charter Schools the Answer?” –Guests: California State Auditor Elaine Howle, Laura Hill with the Public Policy Institute of California, & Dan Walters with CalMatters. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.

Sunday, March 11, at 7:30 a.m. on UniMas 61 (KTTF) – Informe Maddy:Governor’s Brown’s Last Budget: Caution Despite Surplus – Guests: Edgar Cabral, Analista Oficina de Analisis Legislativo y Alexei Koseff, Sacramento Bee. Host: Maddy Institute Program Coordinator, Maria Jeans.

Support the Maddy Daily HERE.

Thank you!

Topics in More Detail…

AGRICULTURE/FOOD

Farmers take a hit after recent statewide cold snap

KFSN-TV

It is the middle of harvest, and Farmer Joe Del Bosque is now starting to see the aftermath of a statewide cold snap. “This little guy here, he has the dark color. He’s got some splits in here so it’s not going. These asparagus are going to be losses for us,” said Del Bosque.

From strawberries to apples, a wave of agriculture robotics may ease the farm labor crunch

CNBC

Some farmers are responding to the worsening farm labor shortage by turning to automated harvesting equipment and other advanced technology that perform tasks such as pruning, seeding and weeding.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE / FIRE / PUBLIC SAFETY

For stories on ”gun control,” See: “Top Stories – Federal Politics,” above

Crime:

President Trump Has Blamed Video Games for School Shootings. Science Isn’t So Sure

Time

Less than a month after America’s deadliest school shooting in five years, President Donald Trump on Thursday met with members of Congress, video game executives, conservative media watchdog Brent Bozell and a mother from the Parents Television Council to “discuss violent video-game exposure and the correlation to aggression and desensitization in children,” according to a statement from White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters.

ECONOMY / JOBS

For stories on ”tariffs and trade wars,” See: “Top Stories – Federal Politics,” above

Economy:

How California’s gold rush forged the path for today’s tech innovators

89.3 KPCC

This founding myth enshrines risk-taking as a key part of the California Dream. Most miners did not find great wealth, but the Gold Rush shaped California’s early economy, putting it on a path to becoming the world’s sixth largest today. And that acceptance of failure continues to attract the kind of entrepreneurs who keep the state’s economy growing.

Jobs:

‘You can make over $100,000’ – trucking program brings lucrative job opportunity to high school

Modesto Bee

For the Middle Class, the California Dream Has Become a California Joke

KQED

Stratospheric housing costs, the exit of key companies and the failure to replace the jobs that left with them have downsized the state’s middle class.

U.S. Added 313,000 Jobs in February; Wage Gains Slow to 2.6%

Bloomberg

The U.S. economy enjoyed the biggest hiring spree since mid-2016 in February as workers streamed in from the sidelines of the labor force, but inflation pressures remained muted amid signs the pay gains that spooked financial markets last month haven’t taken hold. Payrolls rose 313,000 in February, compared with the 205,000 median estimate in a survey of economists, and the two prior months were revised higher by 54,000, Labor Department figures showed Friday. The jobless rate held at 4.1 percent, the fifth straight month at that level. Average hourly earnings increased 2.6 percent from a year earlier following a downwardly revised 2.8 percent gain.

February jobs report: 4 things to know

CNN | Money

The US economy added 313,000 jobs in February. That was much stronger than economists expected and the biggest gain since July 2016, according to Labor Department figures published Friday. “The headline number is pretty outstanding,” says Cathy Barrera, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, a job recruitment site. The unemployment rate stayed at 4.1%, the lowest in 17 years.

EDUCATION

K-12:

Orosi student arrested after threatening to harm classmates

Visalia Times-Delta

Community College will sit on beautiful 30-acre site

Sierra Star

The $25 million permanent Oakhurst Community College Center will be located on a 30-acre site off Highway 49 and Westlake Drive, just west of the Madera County Sheriff’s sub-station. The funds for the new campus are from Measure C, the $485 million bond that nearly 65% of voters approved in June, 2016, to improve facilities in the district, including construction of the Oakhurst campus.

Reinventing Community College To Reach Millions Of Workers — Online

NPR

The workforce is changing dramatically and there’s a widespread recognition that new skills — and new ways of teaching adults those skills — are needed and needed fast. In California, the state’s 114 community colleges are facing the challenge of offering the credentials, classes and training that will help workers choose a career or adapt to a new one.

Apprenticeships:

‘You can make over $100000.’ Program brings lucrative job opportunity to high school

Modesto Bee

Part of the fun in high school is getting a drivers license and testing your first set of wheels on the streets. Some students at Patterson High School in western Stanislaus County are learning the basics of driving large commercial trucks and are aiming for big paychecks.

ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY

Instead of controlling toxics, state department is protecting industry

Sacramento Bee

In 2011, my family fled our home of five years in Wildomar in fear for our lives. There were no wildfires, or flood waters. We left because our house was built on soil so toxic that we struggled to breathe and suffered repeated bouts of pneumonia, bloody noses, tremors, bone and muscle pain, and more.

These Chinook almost went extinct during California’s drought. Can this $100 million plan save them?

Sacramento Bee

During the worst of California’s five-year drought, thousands of eggs and newly spawned salmon baked to death along a short stretch of the Sacramento River below Shasta Dam. The winter-run Chinook, already hanging by a thread, nearly went extinct.

High-speed rail could doom wildlife in Santa Cruz mountains, biologists say

The Mercury News

High-speed rail may end up connecting northern and southern California like never before, but biologists are worried it could cause the local extinction of mountain lions and other wildlife in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Current plans route the high-speed trains, travelling faster than 200 mph, through Coyote Valley, a hotly contested corridor of open space and bucolic farmland between San Jose and Gilroy.

Plan to aid salmon after winter run nearly went extinct

Modesto Bee

A winter-run Chinook salmon is seen on March 2. Approximately 29,000 endangered winter-run juvenile Chinook salmon were released into a tributary of the Sacramento River. Authorities say Battle Creek could prove a species-saving hideout against climate. During the worst of California’s five-year drought, thousands of eggs and newly spawned salmon baked to death along a short stretch of the Sacramento River below Shasta Dam.

Tourism is booming in California’s desert. So why is Trump opening it up to mining?

89.3 KPCC

Starting Friday, the Trump Administration is opening more than a million acres of desert lands in Southern California to possible new mining claims. The lands had formerly been set aside for conservation, and the move comes as the economy of the rural West is becoming less dependent on extracting natural resources and more on tourism.

Federal court will hold first-ever hearing on climate change science

McClatchy Washington Bureau

A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered parties in a landmark global warming lawsuit to hold what could be the first-ever U.S. court hearing on the science of climate change. The proceeding, scheduled for March 21 by U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup, will feature lawyers for Exxon, BP, Chevron and other oil companies pitted against those for San Francisco and Oakland — California cities that have accused fossil fuel interests of covering up their role in contributing to global warming.

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

California health insurance premiums could soar, analysis projects

San Francisco Chronicle

Across the country, people who buy health insurance on exchanges could see their premiums rise between 12 and 32 percent in 2019, according to an analysisreleased Thursday by Covered California, the state exchange that sells insurance to 1.2 million residents who don’t receive health coverage through their employers. Covered California did not break out 2019 projections for California. An analysis last month from the Urban Institute estimated that premiums in California will rise 18 percent in 2019.

● Premiums for ACA health insurance plans could jump 90 percent in three years Washington Post

IMMIGRATION

For stories on “Sanctuary State” and immigration, See: “Top Stories – Federal Politics,” above

Amid rising tensions between President Trump and California, LA honors the braceros

Los Angeles Times

Almost 80 years after the Mexican guest worker program was implemented, and in the middle of a tense standoff between California and the Trump administration over illegal immigration, Los Angeles is honoring these workers with a 19-foot monument that will be the centerpiece of a new plaza near Olvera Street. Still days away from his first visit to California as president, Trump felt very much present.

‘I Am a Pawn’: Trump’s Immigration Fight With California Squeezes Those Caught in the Middle

New York Times

Three immigration agents showed up last month at Poindexter Nut Company, which processes walnuts for 300 growers in California’s Central Valley, demanding payroll records to verify whether its employees were authorized to work in the United States.

LAND USE/HOUSING

Land Use:

Retirement City Living: Boomers Choosing Urban Environment

AARP

Maddalena is among a growing number of boomers who are trading their suburban homes for smaller apartments in city centers across the country. Gone are the days when the golden years meant playing bridge in Boca Raton. Instead, these boomers are moving into neighborhoods that have been revitalized with a different demographic in mind: millennials.

Housing:

Tiny house business growing in Fresno

KFSN-TV

You only have one chance to make a first impression and the owners of Seabreeze Tiny Homes are hoping to make a big impression, despite a small space. Founder of Seabreeze Tiny Homes, Andrew Sturgill, said, “There’s a sense of freedom, people don’t have to work as hard to own and maintain a tiny home.”

Berkeley housing development first to seek fast-track under controversial new state law

The Mercury News

Developers who have been trying, and failing, for five years to get approval to build hundreds of housing units on a parking lot here went over city officials’ heads on Thursday — making them the first to make use of a controversial new state law aimed at fast-track municipal approvals of residential developments.

California housing crisis podcast: Why the state’s homeless population is booming

Los Angeles Times

California’s homeless population has grown to more than 130,000 people, an increase of nearly 14% over the last year. On this episode of Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Pod, we delve into some of the causes of the increase and discuss why a state-approved $2-billion bond to help finance new housing for the homeless is tied up in court.

Affordable housing projects are threatened as tax cuts undermine a source of funding

Los Angeles Times

On 1st Street in Santa Ana — not far from where authorities recently cleared a tent encampment along the Santa Ana River near Angel Stadium — developer Caleb Roope wants to build nearly 1,000 apartments that will be affordable for low-income seniors and families. But, despite a renewed push from the state to tackle its affordable housing crisis, Roope, chief executive of Pacific Cos., isn’t sure he can break ground on the two subsidized projects.

Data dig: Are foreign investors driving up real estate in your California neighborhood?

CALmatters

Scott and Erica Rothenberg thought the years of scrimping and saving had finally paid off. The three-bedroom house outside of Elk Grove—an upper-middle-class suburb of Sacramento—checked all of the boxes: quiet neighborhood, quality school district, ample space to start a family. But the couple knew competition for the house—like most houses in desirable California neighborhoods—would be cut-throat.

PUBLIC FINANCES

For stories on “tax reform” See: “Top Stories – Federal Politics,” above

Walters: California’s road taxes are needed, but benefits claim is overblown

The Mercury News

After decades of shameful neglect of California’s vital transportation network, Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature last year enacted a multi-billion-dollar package of new fees and fuel taxes. It was the right thing to do, and if it merits any criticism, it is that it took too long and may fall short of meeting the needs for repair and rehabilitation of roads, streets highways and other transportation facilities.

Is the Long-Looming Pension Crisis Already Here?

New York Times

David Crane, a lecturer at Stanford and a former adviser to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is the bringer of bad news. For more than a decade, Mr. Crane, a San Francisco Democrat and former investment banker, has been forecasting a disaster in California’s pension system. He was removed from the board of directors that oversees benefits paid to California’s teachers after repeatedly warning that the fund’s investment assumptions were too rosy, and since then has continued to scream about a coming financial reckoning.

Harvard economists: Tax law costs $1.2T after accounting for economic growth

TheHill

TRANSPORTATION

EPA to give $20,000 to replace older diesel school bus in Arvin as part of nationwide program

Bakersfield Californian

California bullet train plan to show updated cost, timeline

Merced Sun-Star

WATER

Lemoore heads toward solving water problems

Hanford Sentinel

An Alternative Approach to Managing the Delta

Public Policy Institute of California

The State Water Board is updating the water quality plan for the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. This plan sets flow and water quality standards for the Delta and its watershed, affecting water supply to more than 25 million Californians and millions of acres of Central Valley farmland. Parties that would be affected by this plan—water suppliers, fish and wildlife managers, environmental nonprofits—are negotiating voluntary agreements to present to the board for consideration.

Despite recent storm, California’s ‘drought map’ depicts same bleak outlook

SFGate

Despite the recent storm that pummeled the Sierra with snow and scattered rain in the valleys and along the coast, California remains unseasonably dry with 47 percent of the state experiencing at least “moderate drought” conditions, according to the federal government’s Drought Monitor.

● Despite rains, drought fears loom Capitol Weekly

How NASA, Lasers And New Technology Help Measure California’s Snowpack With Exceptional Accuracy

Capital Public Radio News

Frank Gehrke trudges through snow and ice, as he’s done for nearly four decades in the Sierra Nevada. He’s one of many state workers who takes monthly snow surveys, in the same spots, to figure out how much water is in the snowpack. And this old-fashioned way of measuring the snowpack is quite laborsome.

“Xtra”

New Biography Explores Fresno Roots Of Billionaire Investor Kirk Kerkorian

Valley Public Radio

A new biography of billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian tells the story of how a young boy from Fresno went on to become one of the richest businessmen in America. From airlines to film studios to the auto industry and casinos, Kerkorian was the consummate dealmaker, but he was also a quiet philanthropist, supporting Armenian causes through his Lincy Foundation. We recently spoke with journalist William C. Rempel, author of the new book The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History about how his early years in Fresno informed the rest of his life.

An Atlas That Paints Wild California With a Watercolor Brush

The California Report | KQED News

There’s a new book out about California that’s selling faster than Berkeley’s Heyday Books can print it. It’s called “The California Field Atlas,” and it’s a thick book of maps. Not road maps, but hand-drawn watercolor renderings of wild California, with descriptions and reflections on its mountains, rivers, and creatures. It’s a kind of love letter.

EDITORIALS

California would be a casualty of Trump’s trade war

Fresno Bee

Chaos in the Trump White House doesn’t usually directly affect Californians’ daily lives. But if President Donald Trump’s decision Thursday to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum lead to a trade war, it will cost jobs, raise prices and set back California’s economy.

Trump just started an unwinnable trade war

Los Angeles Times

President Trump wisely decided not to start a trade war this week with two of the United States’ closest commercial partners, Canada and Mexico. At least not right away, that is. Unfortunately, he went ahead and picked an unwinnable fight with everybody else.

Sessions, Trump won’t be able to bully California

Modesto Bee

It wasn’t until about 100 years ago that anyone cared who was crossing into California from Mexico, or vice versa. The Border Patrol didn’t exist until zealous teetotalers began worrying about Mexicans sneaking in prohibited hooch in the 1920s.

If Trump can’t welcome Laith Hammoudi, who does deserve to come to America?

Sacramento Bee

Laith Hammoudi and good people like him are getting shunted aside and their potential contributions to this country passed over, hostage to the harsh rhetoric and irrational fears that mar the U.S. immigration debate.

If we don’t plan for them, autonomous vehicles could make our car-dominated transit system even worse

Los Angeles Times

The prospect of self-driving robot cars has often seemed like a futurist’s dream, years away from materializing in the real world. Well, the future is apparently now. Actually, next month. The California Department of Motor Vehicles will begin issuing permits in April for companies to test truly self-driving cars on public roads.

Senate fellow harassment shows how bad Sacramento culture was

San Diego Union Tribune

One of the most dramatic moments in the far-reaching fallout from last fall’s revelations about Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s appalling history of sexual misconduct came on Oct. 16 with the release of a letter signed by more than 140 women who worked or had worked in Sacramento. The letter condemned a state Capitol in which men “leveraged their power and positions” to create a culture in which sexual harassment was taken for granted — all but a routine part of the job.

California’s housing crisis is on state Democrats

OCRegister

One of the big potential advantages to a federalist system of government is that states can function as so-called laboratories of democracy. Ideas that work well in some places might prove unsuitable to others, while policies that show great results in one spot can be adopted voluntarily by people living elsewhere.

California’s Mental Health Services Act a good idea poorly executed

OCRegister

Fourteen years after voters approved raising billions of dollars in funding for mental health services, California’s implementation of the law could use some work. In 2004, California voters approved Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Act. The aim of the initiative is to expand mental health service availability statewide, with funding coming from a 1 percent surtax on incomes above one million dollars.

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