October 24, 2017

24Oct

 TOP POLITICAL STORIES​​​​​​​

Local/Regional Politics:

Reopening of Fulton Street paves the way for new downtown Fresno

Fresno Bee

Sitting on a bench along Fulton Street, Rod De La Rosa took in the altered streetscape while gesturing to crowded sidewalks. Then he smiled. “I love it already,” the Madera resident said. “I’ve always loved cities, just the hustle and bustle. Just the feel you get from being in a vibrant downtown.”

Silicon Valley is getting know the Central Valley (finally)

Modesto Bee

Some of the most affluent and most impoverished zip codes in the country are separated by just a valley. Ironically, the problems of both might be solved by the solutions of the other. Recently, we hosted the first-ever Valley-to-Valley conference in Merced. The discussion brought together local leaders and industries from the Silicon Valley to discuss the future of technological innovation in the Central Valley.

Stockton airport, 83 miles away, looks to rebrand as a part of SF

San Francisco Chronicle

The people who run the airport in Stockton, a city 83 miles from San Francisco the last time anyone checked, don’t think such a minor detail ought to be held against them.

State Politics:

Walters: Jerry Brown 2.0 wins higher marks in crisis management

CALmatters

Not always fairly, history tends to judge political executives – presidents and governors, especially – by how they handle crises. Abraham Lincoln is rightly revered for his willingness to wage civil war rather than see the country disintegrate. Franklin Roosevelt is equally venerated for dealing with two immense crises, the Great Depression and World War II. John Kennedy’s presidency was highlighted by his nuanced response in the Cuban missile crisis, prevailing while avoiding nuclear war. Recent California governors likewise will be valued – or discounted – in large measure by their crisis management.

Will California’s gubernatorial candidates disagree on anything today?

Sacramento Bee

Another day, another candidate forum. Democrats campaigning for California governor will meet for the second time in three days at a lunchtime forum in San Francisco called “State’s Big Issues: Do Democrats Have the Ideas and the Resolve to Meet Them?”

See also:

Gavin Newsom calls for California to nearly quadruple its annual housing production

Los Angeles Times

Gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom says California officials should set a goal to help 3.5 million new homes get built by 2025 to stem the state’s housing problems. “Simply put, we’re experiencing a housing affordability crisis, driven by a simple economic argument,” the lieutenant governor said in a post on Medium outlining his housing plan. “California is leading the national recovery, but it’s producing far more jobs than homes. Providing adequate housing is fundamental to growing the state’s economy.”

Lawmakers hire firm to investigate sexual misconduct at Capitol

Visalia Times-Delta

The leader of the California Senate announced Monday that two outside firms will investigate allegations of sexual assault and harassment, including unwanted groping and sexual advances, and will review the chamber’s policies for responding to such misconduct.

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The Trumpification of the California Republican Party is well underway

CALmatters

From the minute you stepped into the carpeted ballroom foyer that separated the California GOP’s semi-annual convention from the rest of the Anaheim Marriott, you could see that something in the Republican party had changed. Trump stickers, Trump cardboard cutouts, the Grizzly bear on the the state flag sporting that unmistakable golden pompadour. While earlier party confabs have been dominated by the image of Ronald Reagan, this year the Gipper was downgraded to an iconographic, replaced everywhere with Donald Trump.

See also:

Universal Coverage Hearings Begin in California Assembly

Capital Public Radio News

A special Assembly committee convened for the first time Monday to identify gaps in California’s health care system and discuss how to cover the state’s uninsured residents. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon launched the committee in August, just two months after he shelved a major single-payer health care bill, SB562. It would have created one government insurance provider for all Californians.

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Federal Politics: 

‘Everything is at stake:’ California unions brace for a Supreme Court loss

Sacramento Bee

California labor leaders sound almost apocalyptic when they describe a looming Supreme Court case that many of them concede likely will cost them members and money. They’re alarmed by Janus vs. AFSCME, the Illinois lawsuit that challenges the rights of unions in 22 states to collect so-called “fair share” fees from employees who do not want to join bargaining groups but may benefit from representation. That practice has been legal and common since 1977, when the Supreme Court favored union arguments for fair-share fees in a lawsuit against the Detroit Board of Education.

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Trump promises 401(k) tax incentives ‘safe’ in tax plan

PBS NewsHour

President Donald Trump promised Monday there will be “no change” to tax incentives for the popular 401(k) retirement programs. “This has always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works, and it stays!” Trump tweeted.

See also:

Rep. Jim Jordan: House GOP Tax Bill Expected to Be Released Next Week

Roll Call

A House Republican tax bill is expected to be released next week, marked up the following week and brought to the floor the week after that, Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan said Monday night. The former Freedom Caucus chairman said he and other members of the hard-line conservative caucus will support the Senate budget resolution that the House is expected to vote on Thursday, thanks to assurances that the tax bill will move under that accelerated timetable.

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President Donald Trump, who has used Twitter to lash out at senators of his own party, comes to talk taxes at lunch with Senate Republicans

Fresno Bee

Like a feuding family that still shares a dinner table, President Donald Trump will join Senate Republicans at lunch Tuesday in the ornate Mansfield Room at the U.S. Capitol. Pass the gravy and a side of awkward. But any discomfort is expected to dissipate quickly, thanks to a dish every Republican senator can savor: A tax rewrite. That’s expected to be Trump’s main topic. The House later this week is expected to pass legislation that will push the effort forward, and the next, more crucial, step will involve filling in details.

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Federal judge appears unlikely to block Trump’s action on Obamacare

Los Angeles Times

A federal judge in San Francisco suggested Monday there was no need for a court to step in and block President Trump’s order that cut off healthcare subsidies that have been a center of political debate.The subsidies, which reimburse insurers for reducing out-of-pocket costs for lower-income Americans, are key to keeping health insurance markets stable and preventing premiums from rising sharply, insurance officials and state regulators say.

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US tells court: Block records bid in young immigrants’ cases

San Francisco Chronicle

The Department of Justice told a court on Monday that it shouldn’t have to turn over records related to President Donald Trump’s decision to end a program protecting some young immigrants from deportation.

Donald Trump: King of Deregulation?

The Weekly Standard

In a speech on October 11 promoting his tax-reform plan, Donald Trump spoke rosily of America’s economic revival, crediting himself for having cleared the way for growth. “Since January of this year, we have slashed job-killing red tape all across our economy,” the president said. “We have stopped or eliminated more regulations in the last eight months than any president has done during an entire term. It’s not even close.”

Other:

New report outlines recommendations for transparency in who pays for political ads

CAFWD

When you see or hear a political ad, you might wonder who the heck is paying for it. The innocuous sounding names of the organizations behind the ads don’t really make it clear. They like it that way.And in the wake of the 2016 election, we’ve learned that some online advertising was actually linked to a Russian propaganda company. If you had known that, chances are you wouldn’t have taken the particular ads seriously.

New rules on political ads won’t solve social media’s “biggest problem”

CBS News

Lawmakers are taking steps to require Facebook and other online platforms to disclose who buys political ads on their sites. Facebook recently revealed Russian agents bought roughly 3,000 ads for about $100,000 during the 2016 campaign and Google sold nearly $5,000 in ads to Russian operatives. Federal law bars foreign groups from spending money to influence American elections.

After Nevada hosts a gun show, California sees sharp rise in gun violence.

Los Angeles Times

In the two weeks after a gun show is held in Nevada, injuries and deaths involving firearms jump by 69% — in neighboring areas of California. However, when gun shows occur in California, the state does not experience an increase in firearm-related trauma over the next fortnight.

See also:

2-Party System? Americans Might Be Ready For 8

NPR

There is a political crackup happening in America. There remain two major political parties in this country, but there are stark fissures within each. There seem to be roughly at least four stripes of politics today — the pragmatic left (think: Obama-Clinton, the left-of-center establishment Democrats), the pragmatic right (the Bush-McCain-Bob Corker Republican), the populist right (Trump’s America) and the populist left (Bernie Sanders liberals).

EDITORIALS

Don’t blame Kate Steinle’s death on sanctuary cities. Here’s what matters in the trial

Fresno Bee

The Steinle family deserves the facts – and that means a case that’s tried the court of law, not in the conservative echo chamber.

The beginning of the end of big, climate-changing power plants in California

Los Angeles Times

Plans to build a new natural-gas-fueled power plant on the Ventura County coast had been in the works for years, and the project seemed like an all-but-done deal just a few short weeks ago. The Puente Energy Project, to be built and operated by NRG Energy, had obtained most of the necessary approvals and was preparing for the final go-ahead from the California Energy Commission. It was a project similar to other recently approved plants in Huntington Beach and Carlsbad.

The buck doesn’t stop with bureaucrats. Here’s who is to blame for homelessness in Sacramento

Sacramento Bee

Getting homeless people into care and housing comes down to leadership. We need more of it from Sacramento’s supervisors.

Project Labor Agreement in San Jose shouldn’t stifle competition for work

San Jose Mercury News

Policies to promote access to work and fair treatment of workers shouldn’t preclude nonunion competition for city projects

AGRICULTURE/FOOD

California broccoli recall affects Walmart, Trader Joe’s customers

Visalia Times-Delta

Salinas-based Mann Packing is recalling minimally processed vegetable products, including broccoli, because they may be contaminated with Listeria.

See also:

Entrepreneurship Forum is Biggest in Valley – California Agriculture News

California Agriculture

The Central Valley Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum will be held in Clovis on Nov. 15th. This forum should be the largest event for innovation and entrepreneurship in the Central Valley. Industry leaders, angel investors, entrepreneurs and business owners will be there to share advice and strategies on how to make it in today’s economy.

To pot or not to pot: Kern supervisors must weigh morality vs. pragmatism in today’s vote

Bakersfield Californian

Tuesday’s Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting will be one of those tough ones. Ban marijuana cultivation and sales?

Or permit and regulate it? Supervisors must balance their roles as leaders of Kern County’s conservative communities with the need to deal with the realities of a new state law that legalizes recreational pot. Do they go with their moral gut and say no to pot?

Marijuana business comes to Woodlake

Visalia Times-Delta

As the city of Woodlake embarks on the long journey into the marijuana business, residents have mixed feelings on the new venture. Monday was El Charro Cafe’s last day in business. Rumors began circulating around the reason for the closure — the business’s lease wasn’t renewed because the city had approved the location as a dispensary.

Farmers voted heavily for Trump. But his trade policies are terrible for them.

Washington Post

Rick Hammond said he wasn’t worried. In more than 30 years of working his wife’s fifth-generation farm in York County, Neb., and steadily acquiring more acres to leave to their kids, he had seen it all: the high inflation and rapid land devaluation of 1980s, the consolidation of farms that followed those bankruptcies, the steady depopulation of rural populations ever since. But he wasn’t worried about a repeat of history. Despite falling grain prices, stalled land values and mounting farm debt, his family was more than equipped to weather a bad year. “Now, if we see sub-four-dollar corn for two more years,” Hammond continued, “yeah, you’ll see some people going broke.

Expelling Immigrant Workers May Also Send Away the Work They Do

New York Times

Few American industries are as invested in the decades-long political battle over immigration as agriculture. Paying low wages for backbreaking work, growers large and small have historically relied on immigrants from south of the Rio Grande. These days, over one-quarter of the farmhands in the United States are immigrants working here illegally.

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

For stories on Las Vegas mass shooting and ”gun control,” See: “Top Stories – Other,” above 

Crime:

Trump blames her death on an immigrant. But why did her killer have a gun in the first place?

Los Angeles Times

For more than two years, I have puzzled over the tragic death of Kathryn Steinle at the hands of an illegal immigrant named Jose Ines Garcia Zarate. You may not remember Garcia Zarate’s name, but you surely remember Steinle, a joyful and well-traveled 32-year-old California native who became the unwitting face of the border security hysteria that drove so much of the last Republican presidential campaign.

America Is Waking Up to the Injustice of Cash Bail

The Nation

n any given morning, some 20 people in orange jumpsuits sit in a pen in a courtroom at the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court in New Orleans, Louisiana. Most rest their handcuffed wrists in their laps; a chain connects the cuffs to shackles around their waists and ankles. They’ve been arrested for allegedly committing a range of offenses, from possessing drugs to stealing a girlfriend’s car to strangling a domestic partner. But at this point, none of these people have been formally charged with a crime, let alone convicted of one. As far as the law is concerned, they’re innocent.

Fire:

California launching fire clean-up ‘for the record books’

AP

Government officials outlined plans Monday for what they say will be the largest fire clean-up in California history, aimed at removing hazardous substances and ash from 8,400 homes and other structures burned in Northern California wildfires.

See also:

ECONOMY / JOBS

Economy:

Responsible Economic Stimulus: A Better Future for All

CAFWD

Investment in socially responsible businesses big and small shows a different way to promote equity

Jobs:

We can dream can’t we? Bakersfield submits proposal for HQ2, Amazon’s new headquarters

Bakersfield Californian

Bakersfield has joined Fresno and scores of other cities across the nation vying to become the home of Amazon’s second U.S. headquarters by formally applying for HQ2. Yes, really. City Hall sent the online retail giant its proposal on Thursday, laying out the reasons why Bakersfield would be the ideal site for the new headquarters, citing location, affordability and other factors.

Developing a Skilled Workforce for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry: An Analysis of Employers and Colleges in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia

RAND

The challenge of connecting employers and educators to collaboratively plan for training future workers is an enduring one — particularly for jobs that are rapidly changing because of technological advancements. This report addresses this challenge as it pertains to employers and educators in the oil and natural gas industry located in and around the Utica and Marcellus shales.

EDUCATION

K-12:

FUSD, FTA go head to head over potential strike

Fresno Bee

As a strike looms, there’s still no sign of an agreement between Fresno Unified and the Fresno Teachers Association. Thousands of teachers voted earlier this month to authorize a future strike. The last time a strike occurred in Fresno schools was 1978, and it lasted eight days. Now the district and the union are headed to the “fact finding” stage of negotiations after more than a year of failed bargaining meetings about teacher pay and health benefits, smaller class sizes and long-term “systemic changes” involving discipline, special education and more.

Districts reorganize disciplinary policies after 2014-2015 data

Bakersfield Californian

The Kern High School District expelled Latino students for defiance and disruption in 2014-2015 more than any other district statewide, including school systems with larger enrollments, according to data released this week by UCLA’s Civil Rights Project.

Until poverty eliminated, schools won’t graduate 100 percent of students, expert says

EdSource

California has made higher graduation rates one of its key measures for assessing school performance as part of its new accountability system. Graduation rates have increased steadily in California in recent years, now reaching an average of 83.2 percent for the class of 2016.

Teacher diversity gaps hit close to home for nearly everyone

Brookings Institution

Last month, we kicked off a series focused on diversity in the public teacher workforce with an article looking at patterns and trends in the diversity gap across locales, school sectors, and teacher generations. This analysis showed, among other things, that the diversity gap is not monolithic, but varies across different places. We extend this analysis in today’s post by mapping the depth and breadth of gaps across the U.S.

Betsy Devos’ Education Department rescinds 72 guidance documents for disabled students

Fresno Bee

The Education Department has rescinded 72 policy documents that outline the rights of students with disabilities as part of the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate regulations it deems superfluous.

Higher Ed:

Cal State receives federal grant to prepare more Latinos to become teachers

EdSource

Numerous studies show black and Latino students do better in school when their teachers look like them, but across the country and in California, most teachers are white. A new $8.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to the California State University will fund efforts to prepare more Latinos to become teachers. The money aims to give the state’s largest student demographic group more opportunities to learn from a Latino or Hispanic teacher.

Reforming Math Pathways at California’s Community Colleges

Public Policy Institute of California

The goal of developmental education (also known as remedial or basic skills education) is to help students acquire the skills they need to be successful in college courses, but its track record is poor. In fact, it is one of the largest impediments to student success in California’s community colleges.

DeVos calls for another delay of rule to protect students from predatory colleges

Washington Post

Degrees of Opportunity: Lessons Learned from State-Level Data on Postsecondary Earnings Outcomes

AEI

Despite a national emphasis on the role of the bachelor’s degree for economic success, many associate and certificate programs provide valuable routes into the middle class. Majors matter a great deal to postcollege earnings—no matter the degree level—and skills-oriented programs in health, engineering, and other technical fields are usually more remunerative than programs in traditional academic fields.

ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY

Environment:

California and US regulators approve fix for 38000 Volkswagen diesels

Los Angeles Times

Federal and state officials said Monday that they have approved a fix for 38,000 Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche sport utility vehicles with diesel engines that were cheating on emissions tests.

Want the Sierra Club’s endorsement? Here are its standards

Los Angeles Times

The Sierra Club is setting some ground rules for California gubernatorial candidates that may want its endorsement. No. 1 on the list is independence from the oil industry, which has been a fault line in the Capitol during debates over climate change policies.

‘Let us do our job’: Anger erupts over EPA’s apparent muzzling of scientists

Washington Post

The Trump administration’s decision to prevent government scientists from presenting climate change-related research at a conference in Rhode Island on Monday gave the event a suddenly high profile, with protesters outside, media inside and angry lawmakers and academics criticizing the move.

Feds considering repeal of EPA emissions rule for trucks

TheHill

The Trump administration is considering repealing an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule limiting emissions from truck components. According to an Office of Management and Budget notice, the EPA is formally proposing to repeal the rule, something EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in August he would do. The regulation, an Obama administration effort to cut climate change-causing emissions from the transportation sector, aims to limit pollution from trucks.

Energy:

Valley residents are paying for other people’s power

Bakersfield Californian

I was shocked to learn that electricity customers in some parts of the state – including right here in the Valley — are paying for a portion of electricity originally purchased for customers in other parts of the state. Current law is supposed to prevent this from happening, but the regulation to protect customers from paying more than we should is broken. Some customers are paying as much as $150 extra a year for power purchased for others.

The beginning of the end of big, climate-changing power plants in California

Los Angeles Times

Plans to build a new natural-gas-fueled power plant on the Ventura County coast had been in the works for years, and the project seemed like an all-but-done deal just a few short weeks ago. The Puente Energy Project, to be built and operated by NRG Energy, had obtained most of the necessary approvals and was preparing for the final go-ahead from the California Energy Commission. It was a project similar to other recently approved plants in Huntington Beach and Carlsbad.

Developing a Skilled Workforce for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry: An Analysis of Employers and Colleges in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia

RAND

The challenge of connecting employers and educators to collaboratively plan for training future workers is an enduring one — particularly for jobs that are rapidly changing because of technological advancements. This report addresses this challenge as it pertains to employers and educators in the oil and natural gas industry located in and around the Utica and Marcellus shales.

Transparent Solar Panels Could Harvest Energy From Windows and Eventually Replace Fossil Fuels

Newsweek

A new generation of see-through solar cell technology could soon be used to harvest the massive energy potential of building and car windows, cell phones as well as other objects with a transparent surface.

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

For stories on California legislature discussions on ”single payer,” See: “Top Stories – State Politics,” above 

For stories on Federal ”repeal & replace Obamacare/ACA,” See: “Top Stories – Federal Politics,” above 

For stories on listeria recall, See: “Agriculture,” above 

Hiltzik: Gilead says drug profits must stay high to pay for ‘innovation,’ but 100% of its profits went to shareholders

Los Angeles Times

With high drug prices still in the political crosshairs on Capitol Hill, pharmaceutical industry bosses are at pains to explain why a cure for hepatitis-C has to cost a budget-busting $1,000 per pill, or a promising cancer treatment should carry a list price of $373,000.

States may roll back children’s health coverage without money from Congress

Politico

Federal funds for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) expired Sept. 30, leaving states to come up with short-term fixes to keep their programs going. CHIP, now in its 20th year, primarily covers children from low-income families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. The program has long had bipartisan support, but lawmakers — consumed by the fight over Obamacare — blew past a key funding deadline and have been slow to extend new money.

Dem pushes back on CHIP extension proposal

TheHill

Disagreements over how to pay for an extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) could result in a partisan bill reaching the House floor as soon as this week, a top House Democrat said Monday. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), the ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Republicans are insisting that the extension is paid for by cutting other health programs, adding that the bill could get a floor vote in the House on Thursday.

No evidence to prove Medicaid expansion is fueling the opioid crisis

PolitiFact

As Florida’s lawmakers grapple with the opioid crisis, one U.S. representative says there’s a correlation between states that expanded Medicaid through Obamacare and states affected the worst by the epidemic. Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz shared this factoid on Twitter on Oct. 17: “Opioid crisis the worst in ObamaCare expansion states!” Gaetz’s claim quoted a Tucker Carlson tweet that questioned if “big pharma” is responsible for Congress’ inaction toward the opioid crisis.

Dentists Treating Ever-Younger Patients | The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento Bee

To stave off a lifetime of dental problems and make sure parents learn how to prevent children’s tooth decay, babies should have their first exam when they get their first tooth, or no later than their 1st birthday, according to guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.

Global study reveals 72 gene mutations that lead to breast cancer

CNN

The genetic causes of breast cancer just got clearer. Researchers from 300 institutions around the world combined forces to discover 72 previously unknown gene mutations that lead to the development of breast cancer. Two studies describing their work published Monday in the journals Nature and Nature Genetics. The teams found that 65 of the newly identified genetic variants are common among women with breast cancer.

IMMIGRATION

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

How long can the Trump administration prevent a 17-year-old immigrant from getting an abortion? Case tests limit

Los Angeles Times

The ACLU asked a federal appeals court Sunday night to reenter the case of a 17-year-old pregnant immigrant in detention whose request for an abortion has been blocked by federal officials.

How S.F. Killing Became Part of the U.S. Immigration Debate

The California Report – KQED News

n July 1, 2015, a 32-year-old white woman was fatally shot while walking with her father along San Francisco’s waterfront. Within hours, police arrested a Mexican national in connection with her slaying — and suddenly, Kathryn Steinle’s tragic death morphed from a local murder into a national controversy.

See also:

As Sanctuary State, California Takes Deportation Fight to New Level

Pew Trusts

As more states and counties take immigration policy into their own hands, California is stepping up its fight to protect unauthorized immigrants by not only refusing to detain immigrants slated for deportation, but now also by declining to tell federal immigration officials when they will be released from local jails.

Expelling Immigrant Workers May Also Send Away the Work They Do

New York Times

Few American industries are as invested in the decades-long political battle over immigration as agriculture. Paying low wages for backbreaking work, growers large and small have historically relied on immigrants from south of the Rio Grande. These days, over one-quarter of the farmhands in the United States are immigrants working here illegally.

LAND USE/HOUSING

Gavin Newsom calls for California to nearly quadruple its annual housing production

Los Angeles Times

Gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom says California officials should set a goal to help 3.5 million new homes get built by 2025 to stem the state’s housing problems. “Simply put, we’re experiencing a housing affordability crisis, driven by a simple economic argument,” the lieutenant governor said in a post on Medium outlining his housing plan. “California is leading the national recovery, but it’s producing far more jobs than homes. Providing adequate housing is fundamental to growing the state’s economy.”

California housing advocates launch push for stronger rent control

Sacramento Bee

California housing advocates have filed paperwork to launch a 2018 ballot measure allowing cities and counties across the state to strengthen local rent control laws, a move they see as critical as California confronts a statewide housing shortage.

See also:

PUBLIC FINANCES

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

Trick or treat, your property tax bill is here

Orange County Register

Which is scarier showing up in your mailbox — Halloween movies from Netflix or your property tax bill? For homeowners, even “The Exorcist” can’t compare in terms of pure fright as the annual envelop from the tax collector’s office. Fortunately, however, homeowners are still able to count on Proposition 13 for protection.

How have Municipal Bond Markets Reacted to Pension Reform?

Center for Retirement Research

While most municipal analysts view pensions as a minor risk to the municipal debt markets, many state and local government officials express concern that poor pension finances greatly threaten their government’s ability to borrow at affordable rates.  Prior analysis by the Center supports the municipal analysts’ view, finding that pension finances had only a slight impact on state borrowing costs over the 2005 to 2009 period.

TRANSPORTATION

Stockton airport, 83 miles away, looks to rebrand as a part of SF

San Francisco Chronicle

The people who run the airport in Stockton, a city 83 miles from San Francisco the last time anyone checked, don’t think such a minor detail ought to be held against them.

California and US regulators approve fix for 38000 Volkswagen diesels

Los Angeles Times

Federal and state officials said Monday that they have approved a fix for 38,000 Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche sport utility vehicles with diesel engines that were cheating on emissions tests.

Why Dockless Bikes May Spell the End of the Old Bike-Share Model.

Pew Trusts

As bike-share’s growing popularity in the United States spurs private investment, cities that have considered starting their own municipal programs are beginning to ask: Why bother trying to round up millions of dollars when a private company will come in and do it for free?

WATER

Rebuilding Oroville Spillway, With the Rainy Season Just Around the Corner

KQED

November 1. That’s the deadline for the army of construction workers laboring to rebuild Oroville Dam’s main spillway to finish the first phase of the 18-month project — now expected to cost at least $500 million.

See also:

Repairs Begin For Levees That Suffered Critical Damage This Winter

capradio.org

The California Department of Water Resources and the Army Corps of Engineers are repairing 30 sites that suffered “critical” damage this winter and are preparing to fix another 10. Still, there are 100 locations that have been tagged as “serious” that will not be addressed this year.