September 20, 2019

20Sep

POLICY & POLITICS


North SJ Valley:


Attorney for Ceres, two other cities is running for Stanislaus County board seat

Modesto Bee

Former State Sen. Anthony Cannella set the stage for a race in District 5 last month when he reversed a decision to run for the seat held by Supervisor Jim DeMartini for almost 15 years. DeMartini, a former longtime chairman of the Republican Central Committee, is retiring and plans to move to Nevada.


Stanislaus seniors are forced out by crushing rents. Is rent control the answer?

Modesto Bee

Renting an apartment without assistance is now virtually impossible for Modesto seniors like Carol Gilbert, whose income is less than $1,000 a month. The monthly rent for her one-bedroom was $650 when she moved into Stardust Villa Apartments about 10 years ago. Following gradual increases, the rent jumped from $950 last year to $1,300 per month.


Central SJ Valley:


Fresno City Council Votes To Support DACA Cases Going Before The Supreme Court

KVPR
The Fresno City Council voted Thursday to be listed in the Amicus brief that supports the plaintiffs in the DACA cases. Gary Bredefeld was the only council member to vote against the resolution and argued the program isn’t legal because it was created by executive order, instead of Congress. 


The Future is Fresno: Valley to Valley connection key to California’s economic future

CA FWD
You're invited to a special convening with leaders from the Governor’s Office and the Fresno area as they discuss connections between Silicon Valley and the Central Valley. The Bay Area Council Economic Institute will also present findings from its newly-released Valley to Valley report, detailing how a high-speed-rail connection can facilitate future economic growth in Fresno.


South SJ Valley:


New state bill could close Mesa Verde and end private prisons throughout California

Bakersfield Californian

A new bill passed by legislators earlier this month would end the use of private prisons throughout the state, and could lead to the closure of the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield within a year, advocates say.


GET ridership falls by nearly three percent as population turns to cars

Bakersfield Californian

Ridership for Golden Empire Transit decreased by nearly 3 percent over the last fiscal year, following declines in bus use nationwide. A good economy combined with relatively cheap gas contributed to the decline, said GET Spokesperson Jill Smith.


State:


These California pension and perk bills had broad support. Why didn’t they reach Newsom?

Fresno Bee

Three bills that would change California law to benefit public workers received broad support in the Legislature over the last year, but at the last minute didn’t reach Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.


Automakers defy Trump, stick with California in climate change standoff

Fresno Bee

California officials, teeing up an​​ epic fight with President Donald Trump’s​​ administration over climate change and air pollution rules, have potentially powerful allies in their corner: four of world’s largest automakers.

See Also:


Trump says feds will punish San Francisco over filth, needles and pollution. City leaders fight back

Los Angeles Times

President Trump ratcheted up his attacks on California over its homeless crisis, threatening San Francisco with some type of violation notice for what he described as environmental pollution. He said “tremendous pollution” was flowing into the ocean because of waste in storm sewers, specifically citing used needles. 


Advocacy group calls for criminal investigation into state insurance commissioner

San Diego Union-Tribune

The Los Angeles advocacy group responsible for making the state insurance commissioner an elected office is calling on the California Attorney General and regional district attorneys to open a criminal investigation into sitting commissioner Ricardo Lara.


Column: In landmark session, the California Legislature shows what progressive lawmaking looks like

Los Angeles Times

California is often identified as one of the most liberal states in the union — perhaps the most liberal. In the session just ended, its Legislature showed its willingness to live up to that standard.


EDITORIAL: Keep your promise to our Valley, Governor Newsom

Modesto Bee

Governor Gavin Newsom must honor his promise to veto legislation whose unintended consequences would significantly harm our Central Valley economy.


OPINION: The Union and Lawyer State

Wall Street Journal

Despite political howling about corporate power, California is demonstrating that private businesses are no match for unions and plaintiff attorneys. Witness the crush of anti-business and charter-school legislation that Democrats in Sacramento passed last week.


Federal:


Judge halts California law forcing Trump to release tax returns

Fresno Bee

President Donald Trump won’t have to release his tax returns for California voters to see his name on their ballots next year, at least not yet.  A federal judge on Thursday temporarily suspended a new California law that was intended to force Trump to release five years of tax returns ahead of the state’s March 3, 2020 primary.

See Also:


Trump defends himself against whistleblower complaint

Fresno Bee

President Donald Trump repeatedly defended himself Friday against an intelligence whistleblower's potentially explosive complaint, including an allegation of wrongdoing in a reported private conversation Trump had with a foreign leader.

See Also:


Trump picks former Jeff Sessions adviser for 9th Circuit Court vacancy in California

Sacramento Bee

President Trump is moving to fill the latest 9th Circuit Court vacancy in California with a controversial nominee who Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris have resisted in the past.


House passes short-term spending bill, punting shutdown fight to November

Washington Post

The House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to keep the government open through late November, setting up a huge showdown later this year over President Trump’s border wall that could force another shutdown before Thanksgiving.


Democrats and Republicans Aren’t Just Divided. They Live in Different Worlds.

Wall Street Journal

America’s political polarization is almost complete. Its two main political parties increasingly represent two different economies. And they barely overlap. Democrats can be found in educated cities and suburbs where professional jobs are plentiful. Republicans live in working-class and rural communities, home to agriculture and low-skill manufacturing.


Elections 2020:


New York Mayor Bill de Blasio drops 2020 presidential bid

Fresno Bee

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ended his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination on Friday after struggling to gain traction in a sprawling field of candidates.

See Also:


Trump runs against California as he steps up his campaign

Los Angeles Times

Republicans have used the country’s most populous state as a foil since the late 1990s, when California moved reliably out of their reach in national campaigns. But since the Civil War, no Republican has done as poorly in California as Trump, and if current trends hold, he’ll have trouble in his reelection bid even matching the 31.6% he won in 2016.

See Also:


Kamala Harris to hit campaign trail hard amid falling poll numbers

San Francisco Chronicle

Sen. Kamala Harris is reorienting her presidential campaign strategy to spend far more time in early primary states amid slipping polling numbers for the California Democrat, political aides said Thursday.


OPINION: How does President Trump get re-elected in 2020? With lots of help from California

Sacramento Bee

For many triggered and elite progressives, this is the ideal government they have always dreamed of. Labor unions are in complete control of the Capitol, charter schools are now on​​ the defensive and the state is free of any interference that would otherwise prevent it from single-handedly tackling climate change.


OPINION: Column: Think Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren aren’t electable? Talk to striking GM auto workers

Los Angeles Times

Next to the picket line outside the Flint, Mich., GM assembly plant three days into the strike, American cars were whizzing by, drivers honking like crazy to signal their support.


Other:


In wake of Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook says it has suspended ‘tens of thousands’ of apps

Stockton Recorder

Facebook said Friday that it has suspended “tens of thousands” of apps made by about 400 developers as part of an investigation following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

See Also:


The Future of Truth and Misinformation Online

Pew Research Center

In late 2016, Oxford Dictionaries selected “post-truth” as the​​ word of the year, defining it as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”


AGRICULTURE/FOOD


Chemical exposures in California’s vast cropland spark fear for growers and workers

Fresno Bee

Many nights this summer Mardonio Solorio woke up coughing blood and gasping for air.  The 45-year-old Fresno man felt like his lungs were burning. Solorio’s wife fixed home remedies she learned how to prepare in their native Mexico. She prayed. She lit candles and placed them at the foot of a Virgin Mary statue in their southeast Fresno apartment.

See Also:


Vineyards Facing An Insect Invasion May Turn To Aliens For Help

KVPR
Walking around a park near Allentown, Pa., I didn't even notice the bugs at first. Then​​ 
Heather Leach​​ arrived. She's an insect expert from Penn State University. She pointed me toward the trees, and suddenly I realized they were everywhere:​​ spotted lanternflies. An army of gray bugs, each one about an inch long, black spots on their wings, was climbing the trees' trunks.


Trump’s $28 Billion Bet That Rural America Will Stick With Him

Bloomberg

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue was fielding questions at a farm show in Decatur, Ill., in late August when his boss rang his cellphone. Perdue put the call on speaker and placed it next to the microphone so the crowd could hear​​ Donald Trump​​ speak.


CRIMINAL JUSTICE / FIRE / PUBLIC SAFETY


Crime:


New state bill could close Mesa Verde and end private prisons throughout California

Bakersfield Californian

A new bill passed by legislators earlier this month would end the use of private prisons throughout the state, and could lead to the closure of the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield within a year, advocates say.


Public Safety:


Cruz plan keeps guns away from ‘felons and fugitives.’ Some experts say it’s not enough.

Modesto Bee

Sen. Ted Cruz is pushing his own version of gun control legislation in the Senate, but gun violence researchers said it’s unclear whether his plan will help prevent mass shootings.

See Also:


Fire: 


‘Game-changer:’ PG&E takeover fight ramps up as wildfire victims team with hedge funds

Fresno Bee

In a jolt to PG&E Corp., a group​​ representing wildfire victims​​ Thursday teamed with up a consortium of Wall Street hedge funds trying to execute a hostile takeover of the utility.


Your PG&E bill is about to go up. Here’s why and how much California customers will pay

Fresno Bee

PG&E Corp. bills are going up next month, mainly to cover the utility’s costs from major wildfires and storms in recent years. However, PG&E said Thursday the rate hike won’t pay for any of the billions of dollars in liabilities generated by​​ the disastrous wildfires​​ of 2017 and 2018. Those liabilities drove PG&E into bankruptcy in January.


ECONOMY / JOBS


Economy:


Clint Olivier’s New Gig Is With BizFed Central Valley

GV Wire

BizFed Central Valley has hired former Fresno City Councilman Clint Olivier to lead efforts to promote legislation and public policy boosting the region’s economy.


House votes to end forced arbitration in business disputes

Fresno Bee

The House has approved a bill to end forced arbitration clauses that prevent workers and consumers from filing lawsuits in disputes with companies over employment practices, billing or civil rights.


America has two economies - and they’re diverging fast

Brookings

We’ve been​​ harping​​ for a while on the stark economic​​ divides​​ that define American life in the Donald​​ Trump​​ years. To be sure, racial and cultural resentment have been the​​ prime factors​​ of the Trump backlash, but it’s also clear that the two parties speak for and to dramatically different segments of the American economy. 


2019 California Economic Summit Registration Opens

CAFWD

Registration has opened for the​​ 2019 California Economic Summit, which will take place in Fresno on November 7-8. The Summit, produced by​​ California Forward, marks the eighth annual gathering of private, public and civic leaders from across California’s diverse regions committed to creating a shared economic agenda to expand prosperity for all.


COMMENTARY: For California to thrive, Latinos must be included, and right now they’re too far behind

CALmatters

The good news is that the last decade has been better economically for Latinos living in California. But challenges persist. While Latino poverty rates are shrinking, Latinos still make up the largest ethnic group in the state who live in poverty.

See Also:


Jobs:


California company refused to hire ‘non-Hispanics,’ feds say. It will now pay $2 million

Fresno Bee

Marquez Brothers, a company that manufactures Mexican-style cheese and other food products, has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed more than two years ago over alleged racial discrimination.


Nurses to hold strike at Modesto, Turlock hospitals, citing patient safety issues

Modesto Bee

A one-day strike involving registered nurses at Doctors Medical Center in Modesto and Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock is scheduled for Friday. The walkout will affect hospitals in California, Arizona and Florida owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. About 5,400 registered nurses work at those facilities.


California job growth was healthy in August, but the labor force is shrinking

Los Angeles Times

California’s record job expansion accelerated in August across broad sectors of the economy and unemployment remained low as the state weathered the challenges of slowing global growth.


Labor had a banner year in California — now will workers unionize?

CALmatters

Last summer, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled public sector unions couldn’t compel fees from nonunion workers, the talk was that​​ organized labor had been hit hard, was facing a​​ mass exodus, and was playing defense​​ even in pro-labor California.   


Easily “Shocked”? At Least for Wage Claims, California Supreme Court Lowers Standard for Unconscionability in Arbitration Agreements

Littler

In OTO, L.L.C. v. Kho, the California Supreme Court refused to enforce an employee’s arbitration agreement on the basis that it was unconscionable.  Unconscionability has long been a common-law defense to contract enforcement. What makes OTO v. Khoproblematic for employers is the court’s weakening of the traditional “Does the agreement shock the conscience?” standard.


Now What? Practical Tips for Navigating California Post-A.B. 5

Littler

On September 18, 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law sweeping legislation—Assembly Bill 5 (A.B. 5)—that will dramatically reshape the contours of California’s workforce and economy, and potentially reclassify two million independent contractors—roughly 10% of the state’s workforce—as “employees” for purposes of state labor laws. 


EDUCATION


K-12:


Trustee doesn’t care about censure as Fresno school board looks to beef up bylaws

Fresno Bee

Fresno Unified trustees on Wednesday night discussed adopting two new bylaws that would set the way censures are handled. Trustee Keshia Thomas said that after the August​​ censure of board member Terry Slatic, a subcommittee took a look at existing bylaws and realized they hadn’t been updated since 2012.


Operation School Bell celebrates dressing 150,000 children in 63 years by helping even more kids

Bakersfield Californian

McFarland second-grader Ezequiel Avalos was quite excited Thursday morning while at Operation School Bell — he got to miss school for a few hours, shop for a new school uniform and get a free book. But one item stood out among the rest: He was going home with a toothbrush.


New safety protocol being implemented in Kern County school districts

Bakersfield Californian

A school shooting is a scenario no one wants to think of — let alone experience — but it's clear there is no hiding from the possibility anymore. As a result, local school districts have begun rolling out a new school safety initiative called the Standard Response Protocol with backing from Safer Schools Coalition of Kern.


Should Applying for College Financial Aid Be a High School Requirement?

PPIC
A majority (58%) of Californians consider affordability at the state’s public colleges and universities a big problem, according to​​ 
a 2018 PPIC Statewide Survey. Requiring all high school students to apply for financial aid could help more students pay for college.


Is education standing up to the task of climate action? 

Brookings

Despite the​​ evidence​​ that education,​​ especially of girls, has a strong role to play in both climate adaptation and mitigation, the global education community has done little to advance widescale education efforts for, by, or with K-12 children and youth in school settings around the world. 


Higher Ed:


Fresno State Ranks Among Nation’s Top Universities For Fourth Year

Fresno State News

With a focus on social mobility, service and research,​​ Washington Monthly​​ magazine announced on Monday that Fresno State placed No. 24 out of 395 public and private colleges on its annual list of top national universities.

See Also:


Castro Welcomes Back Robert Costa For President’s Lecture Series

Fresno State News

Robert Costa, a national political reporter with​​ The Washington Post​​ and moderator for PBS’s “Washington Week,” will return for the​​ President’s Lecture Series​​ at Fresno State, where he will offer insights on President Donald J. Trump, the U.S. Congress and the 2020 presidential election.


ASI and the Henry Madden Library will host Dogs for Democracy Week

ASI Fresno State

Associated Students, Inc.​​ (ASI) and the Henry Madden Library will host a week of events to increase civic engagement and voter registration, Dogs for Democracy Week, from 11 a.m. -1 p.m. on Sept. 23 - 27, in the Henry Madden Library. Students will have the opportunity to register to vote at mobile pop-up stations around campus.


NSF grants Valley CSU campuses $2.5M to improve STEM education

Bakersfield Californian

Cal State Bakersfield, Fresno State and Stanislaus State received a combined $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to form a regional team of science and math experts to think outside the box when it comes to teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics.


American Universities Are the Envy of the World

National Review

One of these days, I will make a list of all the people who have been right when they have told me: “You should know better.” There will be a couple of priests, several editors, and at least one police officer on that list, but I am afraid our friend George Leef must be excluded, at least for the moment.


Pay College Athletes? Here’s a Common Sense Way to Do It

Wall Street Journal

Greetings from the Dept. of Reasonable. Have you ever been to the Dept. of Reasonable? It’s a sensible, practical place. Nothing too crazy happens here. One glass of wine. Bed by 10 p.m. Lots of comfy sweaters and corduroys. You may hear some Coldplay.


ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY


Environment:


Automakers defy Trump, stick with California in climate change standoff

Fresno Bee

California officials, teeing up an​​ epic fight with President Donald Trump’s​​ administration over climate change and air pollution rules, have potentially powerful allies in their corner: four of world’s largest automakers.

See Also:


District Unveils Community Emissions Reduction Programs

Valley Air News

As required by Assembly Bill (AB) 617, the District has worked closely over the past year with community steering committee members, state and local agencies, and other organizations

to complete and publish Community Emissions Reduction Programs (CERPs) for Shafter and South Central Fresno.


Rare Paiute trout makes historic return to Sierra habitat

Stockton Recorder

For the first time in nearly a century, a rare California trout species will swim in a mountain creek that is its native habitat, marking a major milestone that conservationists hope will lead to a thriving population and removal of its threatened status.


The Global Climate Strike could make history. Here’s what you need to know

Merced Sun-Star

The Global Climate Strike is expected to be one of the largest environmental protests in history, and young people want to show they shouldn't be underestimated.

See Also: 


OPINION: To protect California from Trump’s environmental genocide, Newsom must sign this bill

Sacramento Bee

As the traditional chief and spiritual leader of the​​ Winnemem Wintu Tribe, I represent an unbroken line of tribal leadership that has survived the​​ California Indian genocide, the Indian boarding schools and the construction of​​ Shasta Dam, which flooded our river and left us homeless.


OPINION: Letters to the Editor: Trump is bringing back 1950s air, so look at the hills while you can

Los Angeles Times

I don’t know about anyone else, but as someone who grew up playing outside in Los Angeles in the 1950s, I am not ready to breathe dangerously polluted air again. (“Trump plans to revoke a key California environmental power; state officials vow to fight,” Sept. 17)


Opinion: Why the youth climate strike has to take on racial justice

Los Angeles Times

Young people and their supporters across the country are staging multiple protests on Friday under the banner of the​​ U.S. Youth Climate Strike. For groups like the​​ Sunrise Movement, one of the climate strike’s instigators, the demand for action on climate change can’t be severed from the broad social justice framework of a Green New Deal.


Energy:


198 Fresno County residents cheated in solar power scam

abc30

A warning tonight to Fresno County residents who are thinking about putting in solar panels. Spanish-speaking residents in Parlier have been hit hard by solar fraud. Authorities are sending out 300,000 notices to Fresno County utility customers who may be considering solar.


Donald Trump’s complaints about light bulbs, fact-checked

PolitiFact

After his administration scrapped a rule that would have phased out incandescent light bulbs, President​​ Donald Trump​​ jokingly complained that newer bulbs make him look orange. His Energy Department’s move slows a yearslong push by Congress and past administrations to switch Americans to LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs and other lighting that uses less electricity.


HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES


Health:


Local, state tobacco prevention groups' plan to extinguish vaping epidemic

abc30

A day after​​ Tulare County reported its first e-cigarette related death, the warnings in the Central Valley are growing. Tuesday, several of anti-smoking groups said they are working hard to target certain ethnicities who have a higher rate of smoking than others.

See Also:


Health of Stanislaus County residents is more important than Trump’s ego

Modesto Bee

Always eager to hurt the state he hates, and to nullify any and all Obama-era progress, Trump’s administration this week snatched back California’s unique​​ power for setting standards on tailpipe emissions​​ that are higher than elsewhere in the United States.


Flailing On Fentanyl

Washington Post

As fentanyl tore across New England, Kelly Ayotte, then a U.S. senator from New Hampshire, introduced legislation to combat the powerful drug. It was September 2015, just months after the DEA issued a​​ “nationwide alert”​​ warning of a fentanyl surge and a spate of deaths in her state, as well as in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Missouri.


Purdue Led Its Opioid Rivals in Pills More Prone to Abuse

Wall Street Journal

Purdue Pharma LP’s bankruptcy filing this week punctuates a fall from its perch as one of the pharmaceutical industry’s most recognizable marketers of opioid pain pills. At its height, Purdue’s signature OxyContin product notched billions of dollars in annual sales, fueled in part by booming demand for high-dose pills.


Human Services:


Tennessee’s abortion wait period law faces court arguments

Fresno Bee

Four years after Tennessee passed a law requiring a 48-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions, abortion clinics are getting a chance to argue against it in court. Beginning Monday, attorneys for five of the state's seven abortion clinics will try to prove that the law harms the women it is supposed to help.


New family medical clinic opens in Porterville

Porterville Recorder

The newest medical clinic in Porterville, Family Medicine Clinic, cut the ribbon for their grand opening on Tuesday afternoon, in front of their location at 93 N. Villa Street.


IMMIGRATION


Trump administration reaches deal to send asylum seekers to El Salvador in an effort to deter migrants from entering the United States

Washington Post

The Trump administration has reached an accord that could allow the United States to turn away asylum seekers at the U.S. border and send them to El Salvador to seek refuge, pushing migrants into one of the most dangerous countries in the world. 


Senate Push to Speed Up Green Card Backlog Stalls

Wall Street Journal

A bipartisan bill in the Senate that​​ aimed to speed up employment-based green cards​​ for some Indian and Chinese immigrants caught in a yearslong backlog failed to pass Thursday.


LAND USE/HOUSING


Land Use:


Urban neighborhoods need trees for city health and safety. Help us plant more in Sacramento

Sacramento Bee

When you think of Sacramento, what stands out as iconic? Is it the rivers? Maybe the Tower Bridge, Old Sacramento or our sports teams? For myself and many others, it’s our trees. Regardless of the slogan on the​​ Freeport water tower​​ (“America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital,” and no longer “City of Trees”), Sacramento still has one of the​​ most acclaimed urban forests in the world.


Housing:


Fresno’s short-term rentals have gone unregulated. The City Council aims to change that

Fresno Bee

The Fresno City Council voted unanimously Thursday in support of the introduction of an ordinance to regulate short-term rentals like​​ Airbnb, aiming to​​ catch up with other cities that already have such polices in place.


In The Studio: Valley Homelessness, 'You're Not There, You Don't Exist, You're Invisible'

KVPR
Renters in Fresno County need to make about twice the minimum wage to be able to afford the median monthly rent. Conditions like high rents contribute to the ongoing issue of homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley. Moderator Kathleen Schock spoke with people on the front lines of the fight against homelessness.


Stanislaus seniors are forced out by crushing rents. Is rent control the answer?

Modesto Bee

Renting an apartment without assistance is now virtually impossible for Modesto seniors like Carol Gilbert, whose income is less than $1,000 a month. The monthly rent for her one-bedroom was $650 when she moved into Stardust Villa Apartments about 10 years ago. Following gradual increases, the rent jumped from $950 last year to $1,300 per month.


Trump’s big idea to fix homelessness is to do what California is already doing — sort of

Los Angeles Times

President Trump’s big idea for fixing California’s homelessness crisis should look familiar to many prominent Democrats: Eliminate layers of regulation to make it easier and cheaper to build more housing.


Newsom wanted to go bold on housing. Have he and lawmakers delivered so far?

CALmatters

On the campaign trail and after taking office, Gov. Gavin Newsom promised bold action to confront the issue he called California’s greatest challenge: making housing affordable again. Or at least returning us to a world where​​ this house doesn’t sell for $900 grand.


Where Is the Best City to Live, Based on Salaries and Cost of Living?

CityLab

Say you’re graduating from college and looking for the best place to start your career, or you are part of an established professional couple looking for a city in which to start your family: Where is the best place for you to live—a leading tech hub like the Bay Area or Boston, a superstar city like New York, or a less-established “rise of the rest” city like Pittsburgh?


PUBLIC FINANCES


$1 billion and climbing: new milestone for California government’s delayed tech program

Merced Sun-Star

The budget for California state government’s long-developing accounting program has surpassed $1 billion, and more spending will be required before all state departments are using it, according to program updates.


What the Interest-Rate Cut Means for You

Wall Street Journal

The Federal Reserve cut its short-term benchmark rate, dropping a quarter-percentage point to a range between 1.75% and 2%. This follows a landmark rate cut in July, the first since 2008.

See Also:


Democrats’ Puzzle: What to Do With Trump’s Tax Cut?

Wall Street Journal

President Trump’s biggest legislative achievement—the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—will be on the ballot with him next year, and Democratic contenders for his job are trying to figure out how to approach it.

See Also:


TRANSPORTATION


Fresno Yosemite airport expands its flights and destinations this fall and winter

abc30

Valley residents, pack your bags! If you haven't taken a flight from Fresno Yosemite International Airport to Mexico yet, you have more reason than ever before. The airport plans to expand its list of flights and destinations this fall and summer, with greater frequency and more services to multiple Mexican destinations.


GET ridership falls by nearly three percent as population turns to cars

Bakersfield Californian

Ridership for Golden Empire Transit decreased by nearly 3 percent over the last fiscal year, following declines in bus use nationwide. A good economy combined with relatively cheap gas contributed to the decline, said GET Spokesperson Jill Smith.


California to Assist Financing of High-Speed Train Between Victorville and Las Vegas

KTLA
California officials on Wednesday could put a private company’s plan to build a high-speed train connecting Las Vegas and Southern California one step closer to reality by helping it access billions of dollars in private financing.


WATER


Who Runs Your Water System? UC Davis Research Shows Why Water Governance Matters

KVPR
Roughly a million Californians lack access to safe drinking water. And while a scarcity of money or local leadership can stand in the way of fixes, so too can California’s byzantine water management system.


Newsom bucks his party on water

CALmatters

It had to happen sooner or later. At some point, California’s “resistance” to President Donald Trump would move beyond flowery rhetoric, tweets and lawsuits and seriously affect Californians.


Editorial: Gavin Newsom just decided to carry Trump’s water by vetoing an endangered species bill

Los Angeles Times

On the eve of President Trump’s visit to California this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his intention to veto a bill that would have protected the state’s iconic migratory salmon and many other endangered species from the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks.


“Xtra”


Brouhaha over beer company slight actually helps reinforce Fresno as a great place

Fresno Bee

Recently, Firestone Walker Brewing Company, makers of the popular 805 American Blonde Ale, found itself s​​ on the wrong side​​ of California’s fifth largest city. The kerfuffle was the result of an ill-conceived (and not particularly clever or funny) tweet from a member of the Firestone communications team.


Want to see the Blue Angels at the Lemoore Air Show? Here’s what you need to know

Fresno Bee

Naval Air Station Lemoore is in full-go mode following the arrival of the Blue Angels earlier this week. The team, which serves as the U.S. Navy’s flight demonstration squad, will be the closing act of the Lemoore Air Show, which makes a return to the base Saturday and Sunday for the first time since 2011.


Yoga, Zumba, Narcan: Check Out Your Local Library

PEW
It’s a sweltering Wednesday morning in Somerset, Kentucky, but at 9 a.m., the Pulaski County Public Library is already bustling. From the community room, the hum of sewing machines echoes into the entryway, as the “pedal pushers” club stitch up their latest creations.