Maddy Institute – November 8, 2019

08Nov

POLICY & POLITICS

The Maddy Institute Legislative Intern Scholar Program San Joaquin Valley Spring/Summer 2020 And D.C. And Sacramento Summer 2020

Qualify for a scholarship of up to $6,000

DEADLINE IS TODAY NOVEMBER 8TH

The Maddy Scholar Intern Program’s goal is to prepare the next generation of political, governmental, business, non-profit leaders for the San Joaquin Valley through internship opportunities in local, state and federal government offices in Washington, D.C., Sacramento and throughout the region.

North SJ Valley:

Investigation clears Modesto officials but reveals City Hall turmoil

Modesto Bee

An investigation of the Modesto city clerk’s allegations — including that she had been called a liar, excluded from meetings and subjected to crude sexual gestures — substantiated little but revealed political turmoil at the top levels of city government.

Norovirus outbreak in California state prison sickens 70

Modesto Bee

About 70 inmates at a California state prison in Chino have received treatment for a virus that causes diarrhea, vomiting and nausea, according to California Correctional Health Care Services. Several inmates at the California Institute for Men in Chino reported gastrointestinal symptoms at the end of October, CCHCS spokeswoman Elizabeth Gransee said in an email.

Central SJ Valley:

‘Snitches get stitches.’ Fresno council gets first look at penalty on City Hall leakers

Fresno Bee

A proposed ordinance that would criminalize anyone who leaks attorney-client privileged documents from Fresno closed-door meetings was introduced Thursday to the City Council, drawing both skepticism and support.

See Also:

Fresno city leaders propose new ordinance to prevent closed session information from being leaked to public abc30

Fresno mayor, councilman agree on new transparency process for selecting police chief

Fresno Bee

Mayor Lee Brand and Councilmember Nelson Esparza announced Thursday they’ve come to a compromise on how the next police chief will be selected. The agreement does away with legislation proposed by Esparza last week called the “Chief Selection Accountability Act.”

Report: Central Valley The Land Of Low-wage Workers

Business Journal

Central Valley cities do not rank well in percentages of low-wage workers, according to a new study.

South SJ Valley:

Kern farmland values begin to stabilize as investors absorb groundwater restrictions

Bakersfield Californian

A new report shows market conditions in local agriculture are generally stabilizing — though not improving much — as investors in Kern County farmland take in the bad news about upcoming restrictions on groundwater pumping and, to a lesser degree, lower commodity prices and a continuing labor shortage.

Future of planned Bakersfield homeless shelter uncertain following City Council meeting

Bakersfield Californian

The future of a new homeless shelter in Bakersfield is uncertain after the City Council voted to delay the purchase of a property that could have served as the location.

State:

Economic Summit starts with a bang: Group announces plan to attract $4.2B investment in Fresno

Fresno Bee

The Central Valley Community Foundation announced a plan to attract $4.2 billion in investments to revitalize Fresno at the eighth annual California Economic Summit on Thursday. Over 800 civic and business leaders from across the state met in downtown Fresno for the first day of the two-day summit organized by California Forward.

See Also:

Economic Summit Opens with Investment in Service Opportunities in the Central Valley California Economic Summit
California Economic Summit attendees collaborate on state’s pressing challenges California Economic Summit
EDITORIALS: ‘Rise together’ is the California Economic Summit’s theme. Fresno should embrace it, too Fresno Bee

Gavin Newsom: Getting Things Done?

CALmatters

On the campaign trail, the Democratic former mayor of San Francisco offered a big vision for California: the creation of a single-payer health care system, a “Marshall Plan” for housing, universal preschool and more. Now that he's taken the reins of a state government that historically has been resistant to sweeping change, his promises and his worldview are making for a mighty long to-do list.

California's new loan law, explained in 1 minute

CALmatters

CalMatters.org's Ben Christopher explains California's new law against predatory loans in less than 1 minute. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2010.

Blackouts, Fires, High Gas Prices: Who Wants to Live in California Today?

Wall Street Journal

On the fourth morning without power, Carolyn Summers lay as still as possible in bed, trying to delay the moment when she ran out of oxygen. Her power generator, which she had hoped would run her oxygen compressor, wouldn’t start. The local hospital said it couldn’t give her an extra tank.

Federal:

Devin Nunes is mostly silent at closed impeachment hearings, transcripts show

Fresno Bee

Congressional rules put Rep. Devin Nunes in a seat to be one of President Donald Trump’s top defenders against impeachment, but newly released transcripts show the California Republican has been turning that power over to other GOP lawmakers.

Elections 2020:

Adelsons plan to hold off donations backing Trump until late in 2020 election cycle

Fresno Bee

Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, the largest Republican donors in 2016, plan to hold off on significantly contributing to President Donald Trump’s reelection effort until well into the 2020 election cycle, sources said.

Bernie Sanders opens campaign office in Fresno. Will it help him secure the Latino vote?

Fresno Bee

The Bernie Sanders presidential campaign has opened an office in Fresno. The office at 1250 Fulton Street will participate in Thursday’s Art Hop, and the campaign is planning an opening celebration soon. Sanders appears to be the first presidential contender to open a campaign office here. It’s his fifth in California.

Democrats Expand Voter Registration Edge In California As 2020 Looms

Capital Public Radio

With the 2020 elections approaching, California voter registration figures released Wednesday tell a familiar story: Democrats are expanding their ranks, Republicans are struggling, and the fastest-growing group remains those voters aligned with no party at all — independents.

Michael Bloomberg takes steps toward a 2020 presidential campaign

Los Angeles Times

Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York, is opening the door to a 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, signaling his dissatisfaction with the current crop of candidates vying to take on President Trump.

See Also:

Michael Bloomberg Preparing to Enter 2020 Democratic Race Wall Street Journal
Opinion: Michael Bloomberg can beat Donald Trump, but can he beat Elizabeth Warren? Los Angeles Times

Andrew Yang: If you think tech is under siege now, just wait

California Sun

California and Silicon Valley may have created much of today’s America. But according to tech entrepreneur and presidential candidate Andrew Yang, the impacts are only just beginning. While we worry about Facebook and social media, we’re overlooking larger threats on the horizon and the “techlash” that will result from artificial intelligence and automation.

Sandberg Says U.S. 2020 Election Is Facebook’s Highest Priority

Bloomberg

Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said the U.S. presidential election is the company’s “highest priority“ for 2020. The social-media company faced intense criticism after Russian state-backed actors manipulated voters during the 2016 campaign. Next year will be “a massive test for us,” Sandberg said Thursday at Bloomberg’s The Year Aheadconference in New York.

Election 2020: Cory Booker Discusses His Criminal Justice Reform Record

Wall Street Journal

As part of a series of Wall Street Journal interviews with Democratic 2020 candidates, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker sits down with WSJ’s Eliza Collins to discuss his criminal justice reform record and his future plans to offer clemency to thousands.

The Voting Blocs Propelling Biden, Warren and Sanders in the 2020 Race

Wall Street Journal

Bernie Sanders draws support from lots of young men. Joe Biden has a dominating share of African Americans. Elizabeth Warren is winning the heart of the Democratic Party’s progressive core—voters who call themselves both “strong Democrats’’ and “very liberal.”

Buttigieg Barnstormers Flock to Iowa to Boost Candidate

Wall Street Journal

Wearing their team’s colors of blue and yellow, they arrived here from around the country at their own expense to support the Democratic presidential bid of Pete Buttigieg. Barnstormers for Pete, a grass-roots effort organized online, helped give the mayor of South Bend, Ind., one of the biggest cheering sections at a closely watched Democratic Party event Friday. Members of the group are planning to show up again in Iowa and other states early on the nomination calendar.

OPINION: Don’t count out Kamala Harris quite yet

San Francisco Chronicle

By any measure, Sen. Kamala Harris has not a good run lately in her quest for the Democratic nomination. Her fundraising has been lackluster and her poll numbers have been stuck in the single digits, and her recent staff shakeup is a telltale sign of a troubled campaign. Yet it’s way too early to count her out. The Iowa caucuses remain nearly three months away.

OPINION:Has Elizabeth Warren Wrecked the Left?

Wall Street Journal

The fallout from the release of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Medicare for All plan is the biggest event so far in the 2020 presidential campaign. It’s big enough that Sen. Warren’s campaign may have buckled beneath the weight of her plan’s fantastic details. But it might be bigger than that.

See Also:

Elizabeth Warren’s Health-Care Hara-Kiri Wall Street Journal
Senate Democrats skeptical of Warren’s ‘Medicare for All’ push Roll Call

OPINION: Why Black Democrats Favor Joe Biden

Wall Street Journal

Your typical black Democratic primary voter is likely to be middle-aged and female, and right now Joe Biden is her guy. But who’s her second choice? There is general agreement that black voters, while a small percentage of all voters, could again play an outsize role in determining the Democratic presidential nominee and the outcome of next year’s election.

OPINION: Universal Health Care Makes Politics Sick

Wall Street Journal

Elizabeth Warren is making socialized health care her signature campaign issue. Were British politicians not embroiled in their own election season, they might be weighing in with a question about this: Is she insane?

Other:

Fresno Bee Print Shakeup Reflects The Times

Business Journal

The Fresno Bee is still going strong, but the same can’t be said for its Saturday print edition.

How Google Edged Out Rivals and Built the World’s Dominant Ad Machine: A Visual Guide

Wall Street Journal

Nexstar Media Group Inc., the largest local news company in the U.S., recently tested what would happen if it stopped using Google’s technology to place ads on its websites. Over several days, the company’s video ad sales plummeted. “That’s a huge revenue hit,” said Tony Katsur, senior vice president at Nexstar. After its brief test, Nexstar switched back to Google.

Powerful Coalition Pushes Back on Anti-Tech Fervor

New York Times

The movement to reinterpret or change antimonopoly laws is running headlong into a legal community and interest groups just as invested in defending the status quo.

Facebook considering limits on targeted campaign ads

Politico

Facebook is considering restricting politicians' ability to use highly detailed demographic and personal information to narrowly target would-be voters with ads, policy chief Nick Clegg confirmed Thursday in an interview with POLITICO — in a possible shift in the social network's broadly permissive policy on political advertising.

AGRICULTURE/FOOD

Restaurant inspections in Fresno County: How many were shut down in October?

Fresno Bee

Only one restaurant was ordered to close last month by Fresno County health inspectors, but not because of an infestation of roaches or rodents, faulty refrigeration or any of the other usual – and unsettling – reasons.

Kern farmland values begin to stabilize as investors absorb groundwater restrictions

Bakersfield Californian

Nearly 400 California marijuana business licenses suspended, injecting fresh uncertainty into state’s cannabis industry

Marijuana Business Daily

California has suspended nearly 400 marijuana business permits, temporarily paralyzing roughly 5% of the state’s legal cannabis supply chain ranging from retailers to distributors. Those companies must cease all sales transactions until their licenses are reinstated to “active” status, leading one prominent trade group to criticize the state for temporarily reducing the number of legal shops.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE / FIRE / PUBLIC SAFETY

Crime:

June arrests of Hells Angels in Modesto are part of crackdown celebrated by feds

Modesto Bee

Federal officials talked Wednesday about a two-year crackdown that got about 1,600 firearms off California streets and broke up an alleged Hells Angels drug ring in Modesto. U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott held a news conference in Sacramento highlighting efforts in the inland region from the Oregon border to Kern County.

Major Sacramento County jail project stalls after inmate advocates rally against expansion

Sacramento Bee

Major expansion plans for one of Sacramento County’s jails stalled at a Board of Supervisors meeting this week, after dozens of inmate advocates protested the creation of new facilities. In August, the county received bids for $89 million worth of construction for medical, rehabilitation and support services next to the existing Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove.

Public Safety:

NRA drops lawsuit over San Francisco's 'terrorist' label

abc30

The National Rifle Association has withdrawn its lawsuit against San Francisco over the city's resolution labeling the gun-rights group a "terrorist organization." Lawyers for the NRA filed a notice of dismissal Thursday in U.S. District Court of Northern California.

Homicides more common in childhood gun deaths in California than rest of nation, data show

Sacramento Bee

Homicides are more common in childhood gun deaths in California than in the rest of the U.S., according to new data published by Everytown, a nonprofit that advocates for reducing gun violence.

Fire:

PG&E Says Power Outage Credits Cost The Utility $65 Million

Capital Public Radio

Pacific Gas & Electric reported another huge loss on Thursday as the fallout from catastrophic wildfires blamed on its outdated transmission lines drive the bankrupt utility into a deeper hole.

See Also:

PG&E falls deeper into the hole as wildfire costs grow Los Angeles Times

Lose power during the first PG&E shutoff last month? Here’s how much money you’re getting back

Sacramento Bee

PG&E Corp., reporting a $1.6 billion loss for the third quarter of 2019, said Thursday customers will receive bill credits totaling $90 million for the first of the widespread “public safety power shutoffs” last month.

‘Just like Paradise.’ Why California isn’t safer a year after the Camp Fire

Sacramento Bee

Chainsaws were humming and backhoes were beeping. Wood frames were being hammered into place. It was the sound of Paradise rebuilding, one nail at a time. “I love it up here — it’s beautiful,” said Holly Austin, watching from a camper as her husband and a small crew worked on their new garage on Paradise Avenue.

Alien grasses are making wildfires more frequent in the U.S., study finds

Los Angeles Times

For much of the United States, invasive grass species are making wildfires more frequent, especially in fire-prone California, a new study finds. Twelve non-native species act as “little arsonist grasses,” said study co-author Bethany Bradley, a University of Massachusetts professor of environmental conservation.

California Enjoys Respite From Fires, But More Danger Looms

Wall Street Journal

Just one week after multiple dangerous wildfires were burning on both ends of California, the state is basking under clear, nearly smoke-free skies again. But forecasters say it may be only a brief reprieve from potentially deadly blazes, particularly in the southern half of the state.

ECONOMY / JOBS

Economy:

Economic Summit starts with a bang: Group announces plan to attract $4.2B investment in Fresno

Fresno Bee

See Also:

Economic Summit Opens with Investment in Service Opportunities in the Central Valley California Economic Summit
California Economic Summit attendees collaborate on state’s pressing challenges California Economic Summit
EDITORIALS: ‘Rise together’ is the California Economic Summit’s theme. Fresno should embrace it, too Fresno Bee

Sears Owner Says It Will Close an Additional 96 Stores by February

Wall Street Journal

Another holiday season and another wave of Sears store closures. The owner of the struggling retailer said Thursday it will shut 96 more Sears or Kmart locations by February, as the country’s once dominant department store chain disappears from most American malls.

See Also:

Sears to leave Visalia after 80 years. Here's what we know Visalia Times Delta

Jobs:

City Of Madera Employees Picket For Wage Increases

KVPR
Madera City employees say they haven’t seen a cost of living increase in years, and tonight they’ll be picketing outside city hall, before the council’s meeting, in protest.

Modesto tech company moves downtown, hopes to lure more high-paying tech jobs to city

Modesto Bee

In a perfect world, downtown Modesto would work like that baseball field in the Iowa cornfield. If you build it, they will come. That’s what Datapath, a Modesto tech company specializing in managed IT services and network security, is hoping will happen with its move to J Street.

Report: Central Valley The Land Of Low-wage Workers

Business Journal

Central Valley cities do not rank well in percentages of low-wage workers, according to a new study.

As L.A. ports automate, some workers are cheering on the robots

Los Angeles Times

Day after day, Walter Diaz, an immigrant truck driver from El Salvador, steers his 18-wheeler toward the giant ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Will it take him half an hour to pick up his cargo? Or will it be as long as seven hours? He never knows.

For 53 million Americans stuck in low-wage jobs, the road out is hard

Los Angeles Times

Unemployment is hovering near a five-decade low, workforce participation is at the highest level in six years and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell recently called the labor market “strong.”

See Also:

Meet the low-wage workforce Brookings

The Uber/Lyft Ballot Initiative Guarantees only $5.64 an Hour

UC Berkeley Labor Center

Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have unveiled their ballot initiative to undo historic worker protections enshrined in AB5, California’s new law that tightens the criteria for worker classification. The initiative claims drivers will receive a guaranteed pay equal to 120% of the minimum wage (that would be $15.60 in 2021, when the California minimum wage will be $13).

US weekly jobless claims fall more than expected

CNBC

The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week. The data were consistent with strong labor market conditions and continued job growth. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell to 211,000 for the week ended Nov. 2, the Labor Department said.

EDUCATION

K-12:

FUSD trustees considering bond measure to update old facilities. Would voters support?

Fresno Bee

Fresno Unified School District trustees are considering placing a multi-million dollar bond measure on the March 2020 ballot that could help attract and retain teachers, plus improve aging school facilities.

California is under-counting homeless K-12 students — and that’s hurting them, audit says

Sacramento Bee

California’s homeless K-12 students are being under-counted by several school districts, and also being neglected by the state Department of Education, according to a newly released report.

As California Spends Billions On High-Needs Students, Calls Grow For More Oversight

Capital Public Radio

Seven years after California started pumping billions of dollars into schools with the neediest students — an attempt to narrow a chronic academic achievement gap — a new state audit has found that the state’s landmark school funding law isn’t adequately ensuring that targeted money is actually going to the disadvantaged students it’s supposed to help.

California is failing its students. Where is the outrage?

CALmatters

There has been radio silence from California’s public education leadership after the recent release of the National Assessment for Educational Progress scores, otherwise known as the Nation’s Report Card.

Getting Serious About Equity in Dual Enrollment Programs

EdNote

College-in-high-school programs — such as dual enrollment, concurrent enrollment and early college high school — are popular and impactful. Across the country, states are turning to these models as tools to improve college access and success.

Higher Ed:

Fresno State looking at changing gym dress code policy, following sports bra controversy

Fresno Bee

Fresno State is reviewing its on-campus gym dress code policy after a female student complained earlier this year because staff asked her to “cover up” while working out.

Clovis Community College Celebrates First-Generation Students, Faculty and Staff

Clovis Roundup

Clovis Community College celebrated students who are the first-generation of their family to attend college on November 5. Faculty and staff from TRiO, a free federal program for first-generation, low-income, and students with disabilities were on campus commemorating the day.

University of the Pacific college will launch school for health sciences in Sacramento

Sacramento Bee

The University of the Pacific is launching a school of health sciences in 2020 on the same Sacramento campus that houses its law school, saying that four new programs are needed to meet the demands of a growing health care industry.

For better or worse, school construction bond on March 2020 ballot will be Prop. 13

EdSource

You don’t have to be superstitious to fear the number 13. Both supporters and opponents of a proposed $15 billion school and college construction bond headed for the March 2020 state ballot are somewhat apprehensive now that the Secretary of State has designated it Proposition 13.

Editorial: California’s poorest kids aren’t getting the school funding they’ve been promised

Los Angeles Times

A state audit released Monday has now made official what many education advocates have been arguing for years: Not all the extra funding intended by Sacramento for disadvantaged students is going to those kids.

ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY

Environment:

National parks are no place for Amazon deliveries. What’s next, a gondola up Half Dome?

Fresno Bee

Our national parks face a serious maintenance backlog, nearly $12 billion according to official estimates, so here’s an idea: Let’s allow a private company to build a gondola that whisks Yosemite National Park visitors from Mirror Lake to the top of Half Dome and charge everyone $100. I can practically hear the cash registers ringing.

They’ve managed the forest forever. It’s why they’re key to the climate change fight

Sacramento Bee

The first time Mandy Gull visited Canada's Broadback Forest, she was struck by the displays of delicate lichen. By the dense, ancient trees. By the moss-covered floor, which rose and fell like a rumpled green blanket.

Free entry to national parks and forests on Veterans Day 2019

Los Angeles Times

On Veterans Day, national parks, national forests and other federal lands that charge entry fees will be free. Monday’s free admission also applies to sites overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, Army Corps of Engineers and wildlife refuges run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Justice Department Issues Civil Subpoenas to Auto Makers in California Emissions Pact Probe

Wall Street Journal

The Justice Department has issued civil subpoenas to four auto makers that reached a tailpipe emissions deal this summer with the state of California, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest development in a federal antitrust investigation that has generated political controversy.

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

Health:

What harm does second-hand fumes from vaping cause to young lungs? Medical experts want to know

abc30

Health issues caused by second-hand smoke from cigarettes are well-documented. Now, researchers are looking into a potential new issue: lung problems caused by vaping. Young people we talked to didn't seem to be worried about breathing in second-hand vapors.

Norovirus outbreak in California state prison sickens 70

Modesto Bee

Center for Healthy Communities

This health advisory seeks to inform the public about the imminent public health risks posed by vaping any product, including the use of electronic cigarettes (e‐cigarettes), as vaping has recently been linked to severe breathing problems, lung damage, and even death.

A New Strain of HIV Is Recorded Under Group That Caused Pandemic

Wall Street Journal

Scientists using advanced DNA sequencing technology have documented a previously unidentified strain of HIV under the group that is responsible for the vast majority of human infections. The previous strain in that group was documented in 2000.

Human Services:

Flavor Bans Multiply, But Menthol Continues to Divide

California Healthline

As states and communities rush to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products linked to vaping, Carol McGruder races from town to town, urging officials to include what she calls “the mother lode of all flavors”: menthol.

As states with legal weed embrace vaping bans, black-market risks linger

Roll Call

Cannabis shops around Washington state are now required to hang signs warning customers of “severe lung injuries” and “deaths” associated with vaping. Kevin Heiderich, a co-owner of one such shop, Tacoma House of Cannabis, argues the government response to vaping illnesses should focus instead on the black market.

IMMIGRATION

CSUB to host its first naturalization ceremony Tuesday

Bakersfield Californian

For the first time in Cal State Bakersfield's history, it will host a naturalization ceremony and swearing-in of 100 Central Valley residents on Tuesday. The ceremony begins at 11 a.m. at the Dore Theatre. The event is open to the public and parking lot C, to the east of the Dore Theatre, is reserved for ceremony guests.

U.S. border agents wrote fake court dates on paperwork to send migrants back to Mexico

Los Angeles Times

Asylum seekers who have finished their court cases are being sent back to Mexico with documents that contain fraudulent future court dates, keeping some migrants south of the border indefinitely, records show.

University of California heads to Supreme Court to defend protections for undocumented immigrants

EdSource

The court hearing is the final match over Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which currently provides temporary protection from deportation and permission to work for about 660,000 people who came to the U.S. as children, according to the most recent data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Just over 200,000 DACA recipients live in California, by far the largest number of any state, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

FORUM: Prop. 187 threatened CA immigrant families – and inspired a new generation of leaders

Sacramento Bee

It was 1994. Los Angeles picked itself up after the Northridge earthquake. Americans watched O.J. Simpson’s white Ford Bronco cruise up the 405 freeway. And California Gov. Pete Wilson, desperate to win re-election, shamelessly blamed immigrants for his own political shortcomings by putting Proposition 187 on the ballot.

See Also:

The city of Bakersfield punts on deciding on the site for a homeless shelter (again), Phillip Peters enters the race to succeed county Supervisor Mick Gleason and RIP Dennis Mullens, local water lawyer Bakersfield Observed

Sacramento County Eviction Protection Ordinance Falls One Vote Shy

Capital Public Radio

Landlords can still evict tenants without giving a reason in Sacramento County after an attempt to give renters temporary protection failed Tuesday. The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 for a temporary prohibition against evicting tenants without cause. But four votes were needed to pass the emergency ordinance.

Coastal cities give in to growth. Southern California favors less housing in Inland Empire

Los Angeles Times

In a dramatic shift to how Southern California cities plan to grow over the next decade, a regional agency decided Thursday to push for more housing in coastal rather than inland communities.

Bay Area homes are getting more affordable, closing gap with rest of state

San Francisco Chronicle

This may sound hard to believe if you’re house hunting, but Bay Area homes got significantly more affordable in the third quarter, thanks to a big drop in mortgage rates, rising incomes and lower home prices, according to a report issued Thursday by the California Association of Realtors.

Opportunity Zones' Social Impact On California's Housing Market

Forbes

California is positioned to take full advantage of an opportunity to breathe life into low-income neighborhoods throughout the state. An economic impact of hundreds of millions of dollars could significantly improve conditions in the state's 879 federally designated opportunity zones in low-income communities.

ROBERT PRICE: After 7 years of limbo, positive changes ahead for Homeless Center

Bakersfield Californian

Louis Gill recognized that the occasion was auspicious enough to demand precisely the right words, and those words weren't coming. "You mind if I walk? It helps," he said, and he spun out of his chair to pace and compose. Except his office was so jammed with furniture and files, he couldn't do much more than pivot in a circle.

PUBLIC FINANCES

American optimism, longevity, and the role of lost hope in deaths of despair

Brookings

The American Dream, which is essentially a story of optimism about the future, is fading for many. The signs are evident in our politics, in our deteriorating social cohesion, and, tragically, in our mortality rates. We are the only rich country in the world where mortality rates are going up rather than down. And that is driven by preventable deaths due to suicide, drug overdose, and alcohol related disease–so-called deaths of despair.

TRANSPORTATION

Construction Zone – When Will the Willow Widening Project Be Complete?

Clovis Roundup

The project to widen Willow Avenue to three lanes from Shepherd Avenue to just past International Avenue is about two months behind schedule. In June residents in the area were sent a mailer that said the goal was to have the project completed by November 29th, it now looks like it won’t be finished until the end of January 2020.

More two-way streets, bike lanes coming to downtown and midtown Sacramento

Sacramento Bee

The city of Sacramento is set to convert several heavily-traveled corridors in downtown and midtown from one-way-streets to two-way-streets, in order to add amenities for cyclists. The proposed changes, according to a city blog post, include: Converting Fifth Street from a one-way to a two-way from L Street to Broadway, and also from I to J streets, near Golden 1 Center.

EDITORIAL: A truck stop in Salida? Here’s why planners should tap the brakes on this proposal

Modesto Bee

A company wanting to build a truck stop in Salida might want to tap the brakes. As of Tuesday afternoon, 512 people had signed an online petition against a “travel plaza” just east of Highway 99 and south of the Stanislaus River, at Hammett Road. Opponents are worried about noise and light pollution from a 24-7 operation, and the potential for vagrancy and crime.

WATER

Saroyan Theater springs major leak, drenching crowd during Blue Man Group show

Fresno Bee

The Blue Man Group show was canceled Thursday after the Saroyan Theater sprung a major leak and drenched some members in the audience. A pipe in the ceiling of the popular downtown theater broke, causing water to come down about 20 minutes into the show.

Bakersfield Californian

For longtime local attorney Dennis Mullins, life was a banquet of knowledge and one of his greatest joys was filling himself up so he could help others. He was well-known for his ability to pare down and communicate complex issues, often in memorable ways.

Video: Preparing California’s Water System for Climate Extremes

PPIC
Climate change is stressing water management across California. This week the PPIC Water Policy Center hosted its annual half-day workshop in Sacramento to discuss how state and local leaders can help prepare California’s water system and ecosystems for greater climate volatility.

Interior proposes coveted deal to ex-client of agency head

Associated Press

The Interior Department is proposing to award one of the first contracts for federal water in perpetuity to a powerful rural California water district that had long employed Secretary David Bernhardt as a lobbyist.

COMMUNITY VOICES: Land and Water Conservation Fund is a key program for the Central Valley

Bakersfield Californian

Parks are a foundation of the Latino culture in the Central Valley — places where families can gather, celebrate milestones and deepen bonds. It is common to see on any given weekend a quinceañera being celebrated or a soccer game being played in a local park. I grew up in Delano, and these places were and are integral to my family and our broader community.

OPINION: Pinpointing water content in mountain snow will help California water management

Modesto Bee

This past legislative session, I worked hard with groups like the Turlock Irrigation District and the Friant Water Authority to pass Senate Bill 487, which would have authorized the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to create a statewide Aerial Snow Observatory (ASO) program. Despite unanimous support in every policy and fiscal committee, and in both the Assembly and Senate, Governor Newsom vetoed SB 487, indicating that the bill carried unbudgeted general fund costs.

“Xtra”

‘A great restaurant in a sketchy town.’ Joe Rogan raves about this Fresno food spot

Fresno Bee

Chef’s Paul Cafe is a place you need to check off your Fresno foodies list, if you judge by Yelp reviews. Or by the endorsements of celebrities like comedian Joe Rogan, who raved about the restaurant on the latest episode of his podcast. The impromptu review comes about 45 minutes into Rogan’s interview with fellow comedian Greg Fitzsimmons.

World championship boxing returns to Fresno for Veterans Day weekend

abc30

Fresno has long had the largest Veterans Day parade in the country but this weekend a boxing bout will be added to the festivities. Chukchansi Park will play host and the fight will be on ESPN+.