TOP POLITICAL STORIES
Local/Regional:
Maddy Scholar PAID Internship deadline Friday, September 8th
The Maddy Institute
We are looking for highly self-motivated, energetic and organized individuals who are interested in learning the dynamics of working in a legislative office while making an impact in their community.
All majors are eligible! Katie Ramirez, for example, was a Summer 2017 Maddy Scholar Intern in State Senator Andy Vidak’s Hanford District Office. She is a Health Science major with a concentration in Community Health, and planning to graduate in 2018. She has an interest in the policy issues surrounding Public Health, Education, and Veteran Affairs. Recently, Katie told us ““I’m excited to serve my hometown community by applying my knowledge and background of the Central Valley to the everyday operations of the Hanford District Office, while gaining a better understanding of the legislative process.”
Maddy Interns support legislative staff with special events, constituent services, and special projects related to the office’s general administrative duties. Help us grow the Valley’s future leaders and encourage those you know to apply!
Commercial Shops Hoping To Sell Recreational Pot Dealt Blow By Fresno Council
KMJ
Commercial and retail shops hoping to sell recreational marijuana will not be allowed in Fresno. After City Council’s 4-3 vote Thursday, the amendment will be back in council for a second reading and final approval mid September.
Senator Tom Berryhill’s Bill Helping Disabled Veterans Heads to Governor
Sierra Sun Times
Lawmakers on Thursday approved a bill by Sen. Tom Berryhill of Modesto, which would give much-needed assistance to disabled veterans in California.
Piedmont’s embattled ex-mayor to leave city council
The Bakersfield Californian
The former mayor of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area says he will step down from the city council because he has become a distraction for the city after posting what he calls “inflammatory or insulting” remarks on Facebook.
State:
Hundreds of bills face Sacramento’s ‘suspense file’ deadline
LA Times
On Friday, lawmakers make final decisions about which of the year’s most costly bills will get a full vote in both houses, with clearing of the “suspense file” in appropriations committees of both houses — lists that include 472 pieces of legislation.
See also:
Opinion: AB 1250 is vivid lesson in unintended consequence
East Bay Times
That’s the case with AB 1250. This legislation has a purportedly noble goal: to protect employment security for public employees. But in actuality, it constructs an elaborate system that locks out the nonprofits and medical specialists that ensure that some of our community’s most vulnerable residents receive care. The bill would require all county contractors — many of whom are nonprofit Community Benefit Organizations (CBOs) — to spend a significant portion of their modest budgets on expensive audits, burdensome paperwork and administrative overhead.
Gov. Jerry Brown will attend economic conference in Russia next week
LA Times
After a trip to China in June, he’s jetting to Russia next week, his office announced. Brown will speak to international government and business leaders about the need to combat climate change at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
Garcetti isn’t ruling out a 2018 run for governor or senator in California
Politico
Eric Garcetti started the week toying with a 2020 presidential run on a trip to New Hampshire, but the Los Angeles mayor is still keeping his options open for a 2018 run closer to home.
Commentary: Supreme Court Defends Local Initiatives, But May Threaten Taxpayer Protections
PublicCEO
A California Supreme Court decision makes it easier to raise some local taxes. But how much easier remains to be seen.
Fox: A Late Bargaining Chip and Other Capitol Thoughts
Fox & Hounds
History is not on the side of Assembly Republicans who want to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to protect the two-thirds vote for special taxes following the California Supreme Court case announced this week that may have eviscerated that taxpayer protection.
Special Districts: Improving Oversight & Transparency
Little Hoover Commission
In this report, the Commission calls for special district reforms and recommends several measures to strengthen oversight of California’s 2,071 independent special districts.
National:
Los Angeles Times
At a time when the Democratic base is more restive than it has been in decades, Sen. Dianne Feinstein ignited a firestorm earlier this week when she refused to back the impeachment of President Trump and instead called for “patience” over his presidency.
See also:
- No Reason to Believe Trump Will Change: Sen. Kamala Harris KQED
- Whalen: Kamala Harris can’t measure up to Dianne Feinstein on substance The Sacramento Bee
Kristin Olsen: Denham, Congress must act to keep America’s promise to the Dreamers
The Modesto Bee
From top to bottom, our country’s broken immigration system is in dire need of reform. Among the most immediate challenges is the unresolved status of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – or DACA program. Though DACA is a federal program, its benefits touch every walk of public life – from our country’s global competitiveness all the way to the social fabric of neighborhoods in Stanislaus County. Congress must safeguard DACA before it is too late.
Other:
Chased out of Arkansas as a child, Shirley Weber won’t back down in California Capitol
CALmatters
When Shirley Weber and her siblings fled this place as children in 1951 on a midnight train bound for California, their destination seemed so distant and unfamiliar to the relatives who stayed behind that they called the state a foreign land.
Proposal to Slice California Into 3 States Already Has Haters
L.A. Weekly
The proposal by Silicon Valley money man Tim Draper mirrors in some ways an unsuccessful attempt in 2014 to slice the Golden State six ways. Draper, a onetime Republican who says he voted for President Obama, sunk $5 million into signature gathering and political consulting for the campaign known as Six Californias. But while more than enough voter signatures were turned in, officials said not enough were valid to meet a threshold necessary to make the ballot. At the time, the venture capitalist blamed an “archaic, system” and government “dysfunction.”
Want to influence the Legislature in the final weeks? A billboard might help
Sacramento Bee
Since the California Legislature returned from its summer recess, the web-surfing experience has taken on a political flavor.
Without unions, our middle class is vanishing. Without a middle class, we don’t have democracy
LA Times
How are you spending Labor Day? Dolores Huerta will be doing what she’s always done: laboring — for workers’ rights, immigrants’ rights, women’s rights. And this time she’ll also be barnstorming for a new documentary, “Dolores,” about her life and her work as the co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union. Nearly 25 years have passed since the death of the UFW’s other and better-known co-founder, Cesar Chavez…Sometimes, it feels to her like history is tilling the same ground that it did when the union began, in 1962. This May, several Central Valley farm workers harvesting cabbage were sickened after a “drift” from a nearby field of a pesticide that had been scheduled to be banned Under Obama administration rules; that action was reversed by the Trump administration. (Two growers have been fined by Kern County for violating pesticide rules.) But Huerta still reads hope in the faces of the young…
EDITORIALS
Republicans Denham and Valadao stand up for ‘Dreamers.’ They deserve applause
Fresno Bee
The two congressmen from the Central Valley signed a letter urging President Donald Trump to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects about 216,000 young people in California from deportation.
Jeff Denham is right about Dreamers, but what about budget, health care, the wall?
Modesto Bee
Standing up for young people who have done no wrong and who are doing well is right, but what about healthcare, public schools and that stupid wall?
President Trump is expected to end DACA. These Republicans say why he shouldn’t.
Sacramento Bee
Congressmen Jeff Denham and David Valadao from the Central Valley signed a letter urging President Donald Trump to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects about 216,000 young people in California from deportation.
How justices’ ruling shows death penalty law shouldn’t be decided by initiative
Fresno Bee
There won’t be an execution this year, and probably not next year. But the Supreme Court decision ensures the death penalty will be an issue in the 2018 race to replace Gov. Jerry Brown.
Billions of dollars thrown away
The Madera Tribune
It looks as though the state no longer will allow maintenance of levies in the Bay Delta, and let flood waters run where they may — just as it was in the good old days.
California deserves more campaign finance options
SF Chronicle Editorial Board
The influence of money in elections is a cornerstone issue for every democracy. Unfortunately, California just took a big step backward.
A win for majority rule on local finances
LA Times
In California, it takes just a simple majority of voters to elect a mayor, a governor or even a member of Congress. But it requires a supermajority — two-thirds of the vote — to pass a local tax to fund specific programs, such as street repairs, parks or libraries. This disparity is due to Proposition 218, a 1996 ballot measure designed to make it harder for local governments to raise taxes.
No more secret surveillance technology in local law enforcement
Los Angeles Times
In California today, a police or sheriff’s department could buy a fleet of drones or a set of surveillance cameras to monitor the community its employees have sworn to protect, yet not tell anyone — not even the local government. The secrecy, law enforcement officials argue, is crucial to the effectiveness of the technology in fighting crime.
What would it take to persuade you to buy an electric car?
Los Angeles Times
Even with up to $10,000 in federal and state incentives, only 4% of car buyers in California chose electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles last year. That’s a huge problem in a state with rising greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles, and with a goal to more than quadruple the number of zero-emissions vehicles on the road by 2025.
AGRICULTURE/FOOD
When it comes to buying pot for pleasure, Fresno won’t be on the recreational map
Fresno Bee
Retail marijuana dispensaries and other businesses related to recreational use of marijuana will be barred from setting up shop in Fresno after the City Council voted 4-3 Thursday to prohibit such establishments.
Farmed abalone emerges as a local, sustainable seafood choice
San Francisco Chronicle
Tiny green specks swim through clear seawater in dozens of white buckets. They look like algae but they’re actually 2-day-old red abalone larvae, which Tom Ebert breeds by the millions at American Abalone Farms. The portion that survive will reach a market size of 3 inches in about three years.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/PUBLIC SAFETY
Crime:
Moving toward a Pawsitive Change with inmates training dogs
Hanford Sentinel
Positive change is what some of the prisoners in California State Prison Corcoran are looking for after partnering with nonprofit organization Marley Mutts Dog Rescue.
State assemblywoman shelves legislation to make ‘stealthing’ punishable as rape in California
Los Angeles Times
A state Assemblywoman has shelved her bill to make “stealthing,” or tampering with a condom during sex, a form of rape under California law, saying it did not have enough support to win approval this year.
California Supreme Court decision could end secrecy over police capture of license plate images
Los Angeles Times
The California Supreme Court decided Thursday that data from millions of vehicle license plate images collected by the Los Angeles police and sheriff’s departments are not confidential investigative records that can be kept from public disclosure.
Who carries out more terror attacks on US soil: Right wing or Islamic extremists?
PolitiFact
Following the deadly violence at a white nationalist rally and counter protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, politicians across the United States strongly condemned what’s been called an act of domestic terrorism.
Fire:
UPDATE: Battles against Springville, Yosemite area fires continue
Visalia Times-Delta
Crews continue to battle multiple fires in and around Central Valley national parks as temperatures remain in the triple digits.
Highway 41 remains closed, Fish Camp intact, and other key points from Railroad Fire meeting
Sierra Star
At least 300 people, and likely many more, crowded into Oakhurst Community Center Thursday night for an update on efforts to put an end to the growing Railroad Fire in Fish Camp. By Thursday night, the Railroad Fire was at 2,185 acres and 0% contained. Efforts look good on the western, southwestern and northern portions of the fire, officials said, in the Westfall, Fish Camp, and Hogan’s Mountain areas.
See also:
- Yosemite Railroad Fire doubles in size overnight due to wind shifts abc30
- Sierra National Forest issues Railroad Fire update Clovis Roundup
- Mandatory evacuation ordered for Big Sandy Campground Sierra Star
- Firefighters make progress on California wildfire despite heat Reuters
- Railroad Fire battalion chief killed in crash on Highway 41 in Kings County Fresno Bee
Fewer prison inmates signing up to fight California wildfires
San Francisco Chronicle
Thomas Rohl adjusted the 30-pound pack strapped to his back and hopped into a nearby fire rig. He was in a remote part of Solano County, on his way to help put out a grass fire smoldering a few miles to the west. It’s backbreaking, dangerous work. But it beats prison.
See also:
- California Today: Firefighters, at Less Than $2 an Hour New York Times
- The Incarcerated Women Who Fight California’s Wildfires New York Times
ECONOMY / JOBS
Economy:
California’s economy depends on the future, but labor here is stuck in the past
Sacramento Bee
In 1983, just after Gov. Jerry Brown’s second term ended, private unions had 1.6 million members, comprising 18 percent of the workforce. Those numbers have dropped to 1.2 million and 9 percent.
What to buy (and skip) in September
Los Angeles Times
September brings a new school year, a new season — and new sales. Before you embark on fall shopping, consult this guide on what you should buy as the days grow shorter and what you should leave on the shelf.
Allegiant Airlines Has Some Florida Real Estate It Wants to Sell You
Bloomberg
After 18 years flying as an airline for the price conscious, Allegiant Travel Co. wants to add real estate development to its list of corporate activities. The company is embarking on an audacious plan to build a 22-acre resort compound with a hotel, condominiums, bars, and restaurants on the Florida Gulf Coast in Port Charlotte. The real estate offshoot, called Sunseeker Resorts, will have a 75-room hotel, along with about 720 condo units, ranging from $650,000 to $1.1 million based on size. The property, when finished in late 2019 or 2020, will also include North America’s largest private-resort swimming pool.
Jobs:
Essential California: Behind a $13 shirt, a $6-an-hour worker
Los Angeles Times
Before dawn six days a week, Norma Ulloa left the two-bedroom apartment she shared with four family members and boarded a bus that took her to a stifling factory on the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles.
Labor Day lesson: US workers can get better pay via better training
The Hill
The earnings of Americans with a high school education or less have declined over the past several decades, and they have fallen far behind those with college degrees. To remedy this problem, President Trump has embraced barriers to trade and immigration, even though these would do much more harm than good to the U.S. economy. Others on the political left argue for dramatic increases in the minimum wage — up to $15 or higher — which could create large job losses.
Column: Robots won’t steal all our jobs, if employers and workers adapt
PBS NewsHour
The unemployment rate may be descending towards its natural level. But that hasn’t stopped many economists and workers from worrying about the future of the job market, and the long-term impacts of automation. Work is gradually disappearing, the argument goes. Robots will steal our jobs.
Occupational-Licensing Reform a Big Help to Low-Income & Military Families
National Review
Occupational licensing, the requirement that people get a government permission slip to work, hurts millions of Americans in their efforts to make a living and support themselves. But licensing laws disproportionately harm two groups in particular: those trapped in poverty and military families. Groups as politically diverse as President Obama’s White House and the House Freedom Caucus agree on these points, and this bipartisan consensus has led to real reforms at the state level.
U.S. labor board files complaint against Tesla over worker rights
Reuters
The U.S. agency in charge of enforcing labor law on Thursday filed a complaint against electric carmaker Tesla Inc. (TSLA.O), saying it found merit to workers’ complaints about unfair labor practices.
See also:
- Tesla Faces Complaint From U.S. Labor Board The Wall Street Journal
Tesla workers allege sloppy chemical training at Fremont plant
SF Chronicle
As the United Automobile Workers union seeks to organize Tesla’s Fremont car factory, some employees say they never received proper training to handle hazardous chemicals they blame for causing rashes, dizziness, nosebleeds and, in one case, eye damage — an accusation the company calls “completely false.”
Silicon Valley on edge as lawmakers target online sex trafficking
Los Angeles Times
After a sustained assault from lawmakers, investigators and victims groups, the website Backpage.com agreed early this year to shut down its lucrative adult page, which had become a well-known sex-trafficking hub.
EDUCATION
K-12:
California schools not prepared for campus gun violence, audit finds
Sacramento Bee
Despite the risk posed to students and staff, many California schools fail to include active shooter scenarios in state-required safety plans, according to a new audit.
Summertime is back-to-school time in state’s largest districts
EdSource
For millions of California children attending schools in the 30 largest districts in the state, summertime is back-to-school time.
Higher Ed:
EdSource
Easing overcrowding and curbing the costs of attending California’s three systems of public higher education were among the issues on the table as state legislators Thursday opened a lengthy process to update the state’s Master Plan for Higher Education.
New crisis text line identifies California college student homelessness as big issue
89.3 KPCC
Last May, the California Community College system partnered with Crisis Text Line – a free service funded by grants and donations – to give students an all-hours, anonymous counseling service for mental health emergencies.
| Trump wants to cut college work study amid calls to boost job aid to public campuses
EdSource |
While remembered fondly by past generations of former college cafeteria workers and campus tour guides, the $990 million-a-year program now faces much scrutiny and an uncertain future. The Trump administration’s proposal to cut funding by about half has triggered strong debate and supporters of work-study are using that attention to call for curtailing advantages private colleges enjoy in garnering the aid.
How online college courses affect academic success
American Economic Review
Online college courses are a rapidly expanding feature of higher education, yet little research identifies their effects relative to traditional in-person classes. Using an instrumental variables approach, we find that taking a course online, instead of in-person, reduces student success and progress in college. Grades are lower both for the course taken online and in future courses. Students are less likely to remain enrolled at the university. These estimates are local average treatment effects for students with access to both online and in-person options; for other students, online classes may be the only option for accessing college-level courses.
Vocational Ed:
After decades of pushing bachelor’s degrees, U.S. needs more tradespeople
PBS NewsHour
California is spending $6 million on a campaign to revive the reputation of vocational education, and $200 million to improve the delivery of it.
Trump gets something right: Apprenticeships and social mobility
Brookings Institution
In policy wonk circles, there is a something of a knee-jerk reaction to a Trump proposal. The President proposed it, ergo it is a bad idea. As a general principle this heuristic has some value: there are almost laughably bad policies flowing out of the White House. But be careful: there are some good ones, too. Take President Trump’s recent executive order to expand “industry-recognized” apprenticeships in the United States.
ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY
Environment:
Gov. Jerry Brown lays out his plan for cap-and-trade spending
Los Angeles Times
Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled on Thursday his plan for spending cap-and-trade revenue, prioritizing cleaner vehicles and improving air quality.
California governor traveling to Russia to discuss climate
Washington Post
California’s governor is traveling to Russia next week to discuss collaborating with Pacific nations on climate change at an economic forum hosted by the Russian government and featuring a talk by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Inoculations Give Endangered California Frog a Shot at Life
AP
Endangered California frogs are getting an immunity boost from scientists who are scooping them up from remote Sierra Nevada ponds and sending them to big city zoos for inoculation, giving them a fighting chance to beat extinction, officials said Wednesday.
Energy:
Chart: The sharp drop in US crude oil inventories this year
Business Insider
Now here’s a chart that will undoubtedly get the oil bulls excited. From Vivek Dhar, mining and energy commodities analyst at the Commonwealth Bank, it shows the change in US crude oil inventory levels on a per day basis, comparing what’s happening this year compared to prior years.
HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES
Valley Children’s Hospital hit with fine over patient’s death
Fresno Bee
The California Department of Public Health has fined Valley Children’s Hospital $71,962.50 in the death of a patient two years ago. The state says a delay in communicating the results of a chest X-ray and scan resulted in a delay in medical treatment and surgery, resulting in the potentially avoidable death of the young man who died from a bleeding aneurysm.
Drug Pricing Bill Faces Crucial Committee Vote
Hernandez’s new measure, SB17, aims to create greater transparency between drug manufacturers, health plans and consumers. He introduced a similar bill last year, but it was hijacked in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. This week, it goes to a vote in that same committee.
California: Bill to ease permits for cell phone towers could affect health
The Mercury News
A bill co-authored by a Bay Area assemblyman that would block the ability of cities and counties to control the installation of microwave radiation antennas is doing more than alarming many local officials.
Drug Pricing Bill Faces Crucial Committee Vote
Capital Public Radio
An ongoing drug pricing battle between Democratic Senator Ed Hernandez and the pharmaceutical industry comes to a head Friday in the California Legislature.
Trump administration cuts funding for Affordable Care Act sign-up programs
PBS NewsHour
Health and Human Services officials say advertising will be cut to $10 million for the 2018 open enrollment season. That’s down from $100 million for the 2017 sign-up season. Funding for consumer helpers called “navigators” will also be cut, from $62.5 million for 2017, to about $36 million for next year.
This bipartisan health care plan could stabilize markets, two governors say
PBS NewsHour
A bipartisan governor duo is urging Congress to retain the federal health care law’s unpopular individual mandate while seeking to stabilize individual insurance markets as legislators continue work on a long-term replacement law.
See also:
- Governors Offer Plan to Keep Obamacare and Fund It More The Weekly Standard
- Govs. Hickenlooper and Kasich discuss bipartisan proposal to stabilize health insurance market AEI
Welfare Reform Work Requirement Should Be Preserved
National Review
President Trump and this administration believe in promoting work, not dependency, and in building on the success of the bipartisan 1996 welfare-reform law, not dismantling it.
IMMIGRATION
Immigration policy on center stage in Stockton
Stockton Record
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra vowed to defend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program during a round-table discussion organized by Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs that was heavily focused on immigration and public safety.
Trump’s expected repeal of Dreamer program draws fire from business
Reuters
President Donald Trump is expected to rescind an Obama administration policy that protects from deportation nearly 800,000 immigrants who as children entered the country illegally, setting the stage for a fight with U.S. business leaders and lawmakers over tough immigration policy.
See also:
`Sanctuary state,’ gender identity, renewable energy bills face rapid-fire decisions Friday
The Mercury News
losely watched legislation on immigration, health care and renewable energy are among hundreds of bills that will face a lightning round of votes in the Capitol on Friday, with fiscal committees in the Assembly and Senate deciding in rapid succession whether the measures will advance to a final vote or face a quick death.
See also:
- Texas & Sanctuary Cities — Federal Judge Blocks State Law National Review
Border wall prototype contractors selected
KQED
After months of delay, the Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday that it had selected four vendors to build prototypes of their proposed concrete walls in the San Diego area. Up to four selected proposals for alternative building materials will be announced later.
See also:
LAND USE/HOUSING
Land Use:
Elk Grove tribal casino gets OK from state Legislature
Modesto Bee
The state Assembly gave final legislative approval Thursday to a compact between the state of California and Wilton Rancheria, which wants to build the first tribal casino in Sacramento County.
Housing:
Housing Bills Could Come Up For Votes Friday
Capital Public Radio
California lawmakers could take the first steps Friday towards passing a package of bills that seek to reduce the state’s soaring housing costs, with up to a dozen different bills coming up for votes.
Mathews: A Huge Political Victory for Housing Advocates, A Long Wait for More Housing
Fox and Hounds Daily
Any fair analysis of the package of housing bills emerging in Sacramento should start by acknowledging the victory in getting this far.
Prevailing wage laws didn’t cause housing crisis. Attacks on them are about greed.
Sacramento Bee
As we celebrate Labor Day 2017, the same laws of construction industry math still apply. When contractors want to build the best in the least amount of time, they have to hire the best. Even if it costs you more on the front end, you make it up in added productivity and by not having to make costly fixes on the back end.
New Taxes, More Debt, and Higher Labor Costs Are Not the Solution to Our Affordable Housing Crisis
Fox and Hounds Daily
As the California Legislature moves to act on a series of bills dubbed the “Affordable Housing Package,”NFIB announced our opposition to three key bills in the package: Senate Bill 2 (Atkins); Senate Bill 3 (Beall); and Senate Bill 35 (Weiner) on behalf of our 22,000 dues-paying small business owners.
PUBLIC FINANCES
AP Exclusive: Taxpayer-funded mail aids California lawmakers
Merced Sun-Star
California Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez sent more than 200,000 pieces of mail to constituents last winter. One letter invited women to self-defense classes, another highlighted a bird-watching event, and a third promoted a tree adoption day.
TRANSPORTATION
Tulare County skips out on spiked gas prices for Labor Day weekend
Visalia Times-Delta
If you’re planning on heading out of town for Labor Day weekend, you might want to fuel up early. AAA is predicting the largest retail spike of 2017 through Labor Day weekend and into next week. Some of that is because of Hurricane Harvey, which has shut down refineries in Texas.
California Considers Extending Provisional Driver’s License Program For Those Under 21 Years Old
Capital Public Radio
California lawmakers are debating expanded safety requirements for young drivers. The state’s provisional driver’s license program now applies to people under 18. The proposal would extend it to new drivers under 21. Gov. Jerry Brown rejected another bill that sought to limit young drivers in 2013, calling it too restrictive.
Creating a utopia for self-driving cars? Start sharing the ride now!
Local Government Commission
Car manufacturers expect to have autonomous vehicles on the road within the next three to five years. Some experts predict that, with the rapid increase in adoption of new technology, there could be 10 million self-driving cars on the road by 2020, with one in four cars being self-driving by 2030. (Approximately 264 million cars were registered in the U.S. in 2015.). Research by UC Berkeley Director of Institute of Transportation Studies, Joan Walker has estimated that autonomous vehicles could increase vehicle miles traveled by 6% to 90%, depending on the percent of individually owned (versus shared) cars. More than one-half (52%) of people surveyed said they would use an autonomous vehicle, while only 20% said they would share. Survey respondents were willing to pay a $4,900 premium on average, which would be in the range of the added cost for an autonomous vehicle.
WATER
Bill could increase taxes, but provide safe water in Tulare County
Visalia Times-Delta
Supporters of a water bill making its way through the legislature are calling for complete backing for the proposed legislation as it nears a full vote in the Assembly.
See also:
“Xtra”
National Sikh organization stands before City Council, to rename local park after renowned hero
abc30
For many years a park in West Central Fresno has been known as Victoria West Park. It is a place where kids play on a hot summer day and a place Navkiran Kaur Khalara hopes will soon have new meaning.
Photographer Ron Sundquist humbled by Clovis chamber’s generosity
Fresno Bee
Ron Sundquist, a Clovis photographer and historian, was humbled by monetary gifts donated to him at the Clovis Chamber of Commerce, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. The money was offered to replace his camera equipment and cell phone which were stolen at a local casino. A longtime Clovis resident and fixture in Old Town Clovis, Sundquist does work for the Clovis Chamber of Commerce and the Clovis Roundup newspaper. The money was collected by a fund drive set up in his name on the chamber’s web site. As of Thursday, more than $3,000 was donated.
Kern County Museum names new executive director
McCoy, a Kern County native and career educator, will start Oct. 1, according to a press release from the museum. His hiring was announced at the Aug. 28 meeting of the foundation’s board of trustees, almost six months after the previous executive, Zoot Velasco, left the museum.