Local/Regional:
Denham blasts white supremacists, but what he doesn’t say draws fire
Modesto Bee
Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, released a statement Wednesday denouncing groups that promote bigotry, appearing to direct his comments at a white nationalist leader from his own district.
See also:
· Rep. Jeff Denham’s newest challenger isn’t old enough to be a congressman yet Los Angeles Times
County may get new voting machines
hanfordsentinel.com
The Kings County Board of Supervisors met Tuesday morning and discussed the possibility of getting new county voting machines for elections.
PINC named 23rd Assembly District’s Nonprofit of the Year
The Business Journal
Fresno nonprofit Philanthropy Inspired by the Needs of our Community (PINC) was recently honored as the Nonprofit of the Year in the 23rd Assembly District.
State:
Skelton: When it comes to racism and bigotry, California has had its own cross to bear
Los Angeles Times
So this is making America great again? We’re losing respect around the world. The president is striking out in Congress. And he seems incapable of leading a nation that he increasingly is tearing apart.
See also:
· Called ‘antidote to Charlottesville,’ anti-racism center to open in Sacramento Sacramento Bee
· Can anything be done about hate speech? The Sacramento Bee
· Northern California pushes back as white nationalists plan rallies Los Angeles Times
· California confronts its Confederate past as monuments are abruptly removed Los Angeles Times
· Borenstein: Bigots are coming to the Bay Area. Just ignore them. San Jose Mercury News
Billions in new spending for housing, water, parks and more could be on the 2018 ballot
Los Angeles Times
Californians could vote on billions of dollars in new spending for low-income housing developments and water and parks improvements next year.
Court Action Puts Focus on FPPC Recall Funding Decision
Fox & Hounds
The Fair Political Practices Commission decision on Thursday about whether elected officials can exceed limits to help in a recall campaign became more urgent for Sen. Josh Newman when a Court of Appeal froze the new law that would have delayed the recall.
Kevin Faulconer: The New California Republicans in Podcasts
Commonwealth Club of California podcast
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer discusses the future of Republicans and conservatives in California.
See also:
· California Republicans ‘shouldn’t be a carbon copy’ of national GOP, San Diego mayor says Sacramento Bee
Josh Newman recall: CA could change campaign finance rules
The Sacramento Bee
With a law extending the election timeline now tied up in court, Senate Democrats’ best hope of a leg up in fighting the recall of Sen. Josh Newman may be California’s political ethics watchdog. The Fair Political Practices Commission will vote Thursday on whether to reverse a longstanding rule that limits how much money politicians can give to a candidate-controlled recall committee. The board is set to meet at 10 a.m. at its headquarters on Q Street.
Why the heck does the size of LA County’s Board of Supervisors matter so much to these state guys?
Sacramento Bee
It’s hard to imagine that voters in Northern or Central California have the knowledge or even the appetite to vote on a constitutional amendment to change the governance of a county hundreds of miles away.
Ross Johnson, a longtime California lawmaker and ethics agency chairman, dies at 77
Los Angeles Times
Ross Johnson, a former Republican legislative leader from Orange County who later served as chairman of the state ethics panel, died Wednesday in Sacramento after a fight with cancer. He was 77.
National:
Costa Statement on White Supremacist Attack in Charlottesville
Jim Costa (CA-16) released the following statement about the white supremacist attack that occurred yesterday in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Donald Trump creates moral crisis with ‘both sides’ comment excusing white supremacists, Nazis, KKK
The Sacramento Bee
It boggles the mind that the occupant of the Oval Office in 2017 would so openly engage in false moral equivalencies that give comfort to racists and embolden those who seek to dominate people of darker skin, different religions and cultures. But that’s what Trump did at a contentious press conference in New York earlier this week.
Trump alienates business execs, another group that was supposed to help him
San Francisco Chronicle
It was more than just political fallout when several top business leaders turned against President Trump this week, a response to his saying “both sides” were responsible for the violence during a white supremacist demonstration in Virginia.
Lawmakers raise cash off Trump-Russia probe
Politico
Rep. Eric Swalwell’s campaign website features ominous photos of President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner. It warns about Russia’s attacks on last year’s presidential election and asks visitors to sign a petition demanding that a bipartisan commission investigate.
Trump administration will keep hands off California’s Sand to Snow National Monument
Los Angeles Times
At least one expanse of protected land in California is now officially safe from the Trump administration’s plan to eliminate or shrink some country’s national monuments.
Mayor Eric Garcetti will travel to New Hampshire to rally Democrats
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will travel to New Hampshire this month o campaign for a fellow Democrat, the politician’s latest trip to a presidential swing state.
Other:
Are Democratic women being sold out in the name of ‘A Better Deal’?
Sacramento Bee
How many #NeverthelessShePersisted, pink pussy hats or Wonder Woman “likes” does the Democratic National Committee need in order to stay the course of progress on behalf of women? When did dumping women’s rights become a spicy strategy for rebuilding a party that got trumped by hatred, fear and lies?
EDITORIALS
Doctors and nurses unions fight disclosure. What they don’t want you to know
Fresno Bee
Sen. Jerry Hill is trying to impose ever-so-mild disclosure requirements giving patients some protection against problem doctors and nurses
Nazis aren’t good for business. Neither is Donald Trump.
Sacramento Bee
Most CEOs don’t want to sit on a board for President Donald Trump, who thinks “fine people” attend white supremacist rallies like the one in Charlottesville.
Hate speech is loathsome, but trying to silence it is dangerous
Los Angeles Times
Despite the debacle in Charlottesville, Va. — or perhaps because of it — you can rest assured that there will be more marches around the nation in the coming weeks by people who espouse hateful, racist ideas. And those events, some of which are already planned, will undoubtedly draw counter-protesters…
Editorial: Sessions should back off of crackdown on reporters
San Jose Mercury News
All who support journalism’s constitutional check on the government should push back against U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ threat to make it easier to subpoena reporters.
AGRICULTURE/FOOD
As Wine Grape Harvest Begins, Calif. Growers Face Ongoing Farmworker Shortage
When you hear ‘vineyard’ you may imagine a leafy canopy with green tendrils along a vine. But if you’re talking about the vast acres of wine grapes planted in the Central Valley, then machines are also a central aspect of the winescape.
After 120 years, Orangevale’s last commercial orchards to close
Sacramento Bee
An end of an agricultural era is near in Sacramento County. Tom Tomich Orchards, Orangevale’s last commercial fruit operation, is shutting down in midseason. Aug. 31 will be the final day its popular fruit stand is open to the public.
Northern California farmer who plowed wetlands is fined $1.1 million
Los Angeles Times
A California farmer will pay $1.1 million for plowing federally protected wetlands and streams, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday, closing a years-long legal battle that made him a rallying figure for critics of environmental regulation.
California experts say the black market for weed might continue despite legalization
Bakersfield Now
On January 1st, 2018 marijuana will be legal in the state of California. While many retailers are ready to leave the black market behind, it might continue.
L.A. City Council approves new Cannabis Department head
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday backed Mayor Eric Garcetti’s picks to oversee City Hall’s new Department of Cannabis Regulation, a vote that comes as officials prepare for legalization of recreational marijuana in California.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/PUBLIC SAFETY
Clovis 500 Club card room shut down
Fresno Bee
The California Attorney General’s Office has revoked the license of the 500 Club in Clovis. The state’s action said the card room’s owners failed to disclose loans from those who should have been listed as partners in the card room’s ownership.
Motorcycle, pedestrian safety on CHP slate
San Jose Mercury News
California Highway Patrol is planning two safety enforcement operations in the Redwood City area, starting Saturday. Beginning Saturday and running through Sept. 30, CHP officers will monitor motorcycle safety on state roads 1 and 35, due to the high usage of those highways by motorcyclists. On Aug. 22, officers will monitor pedestrian safety at Middlefield Road and Pacific Avenue, near where a pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle while crossing Middlefield on July 24. CHP did not state the hours of the pedestrian enforcement operation.
What does Laci’s mother really think of Scott Peterson?
Modesto Bee
Renewed widespread interest in the captivating tragedy of Laci Peterson’s death and subsequent 2004 trial of her husband, Scott, is prompting the re-release of video interviews with key figures conducted by The Modesto Bee in 2007, five years after Laci disappeared.
Body scanners being piloted in Los Angeles subway system
AP
Aiming to stay ahead of an evolving threat against transit systems worldwide, officials in Los Angeles are testing out airport-style body scanners that screen subway passengers for firearms and explosives.
ECONOMY / JOBS
Nazis aren’t good for business. Neither is Donald Trump.
Sacramento Bee
Most CEOs don’t want to sit on a board for President Donald Trump, who thinks “fine people” attend white supremacist rallies like the one in Charlottesville.
EDUCATION
FUSD middle school students treated to brand new water filling station
ABC30
In an effort to encourage students to choose water over soda and sports drinks Fresno Unified debuted water bottle refilling stations at each of its middle schools.
Change of (lesson) plans: BCSD focuses on relationship-building on first day of school
Most grade-school kids start the first day of school the same way: class rules, arithmetic, language-arts, maybe some science and art. But in most Bakersfield City School District classrooms, that wasn’t the case.
‘The first-graders will cry.’ Schools rethink policies that shame kids at lunch.
Sacramento Bee
There won’t be any more cheese sandwiches served at Elk Grove Unified schools. The region’s largest school district will no longer give students a bland, alternative lunch when they run out of meal funds or forget their lunch money.
What emerging research says about the promise of personalized learning
Brookings Institution
Personalized learning has grown increasingly popular in recent years, encouraged in part by a 2015 RAND study showing large gains from the practice. But newer research has found more modest achievement gains and identified implementation challenges. At first glance, this might seem like bad news, but a more encouraging picture emerges by looking at details of the two studies together.
A summer rich in history for students who looked, listened and questioned
EdSource
History is all around yet often invisible, with stories and sites waiting for the curious to discover them. This summer, 30 Bay Area high school juniors and seniors got the opportunity to compress lessons from four decades into four weeks of study through tangible, personal encounters with history in their own backyards.
ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY
Environment:
Cap & Trade shows difference in California politics
Visalia Times Delta
No other state has a cap-and-trade system anything like California’s for limiting and, in the long run, vastly reducing production of greenhouse gases behind climate change.
California Republicans face backlash for backing climate change …
Los Angeles Times
After weeks of escalating criticism, Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes still doesn’t have any regrets over bucking his party to support California’s cap-and-trade program on climate change.
California climate deal could net big bucks for polluters
CALmatters
Gov. Jerry Brown last month signed a bill extending California’s cap-and-trade program. Two days later, the California Air Resources Board approved a paragraph, tucked within a 17-page resolution, that will likely result in benefits worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the oil and agriculture industries. It was the first domino to visibly fall as a consequence of behind-the-scenes deal making that produced a cap-and-trade program acceptable to both key environmental groups and major polluters.
Climate Lessons from California
New York Times
California faces serious risks from climate change. Some are already being felt, like the severe heat this summer and recent episodes of extremely low snowpack in the mountains, which the state depends on for much of its water. Those are among the key messages in a new climate science report now under review in the White House. The good news is that California has been working hard to catch up with the climate change that has already happened, and to get ahead of what is still to come.
Trump administration kills push to ban bottled water in national parks
SFGate
The Trump administration’s latest environmental rollback is an unusual one, but with a familiar feature: It benefits big business.
This colorful frog’s survival is at risk in California’s streams. Here’s how the state could save it
Sacramento Bee
Shy of 3 inches with skin in muddy shades of red, green or brown, the foothill yellow-legged frog is unremarkable at first glance. Flipping it over, however, reveals the signature gold shading of its legs and lower abdomen that leads some to exclaim its beauty.
Energy:
Legislation calls for $3B in rebates for electric cars in California
San Diego Union-Tribune
alifornia Assembly member Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, says electric cars are the future. And the future he envisions in a bill making its way through the Legislature comes with a $3 billion price tag.
HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES
Trump administration agrees to continue healthcare subsidy for now
LA Times
The decision to make this month’s payment, due next week, signaled that the administration has decided against immediately precipitating a collapse, potentially giving Congress time to pass a bipartisan package of fixes to some of the law’s problems.
CBO: Pulling Obamacare subsidies would drive up premiums, increase deficit
POLITICO
Insurance premiums for Obamacare plans would rise 20 percent next year and people in small pockets of the country wouldn’t have any insurance options if President Donald Trump scraps a key insurance subsidy, according to a new analysis from the CBO.
California Budget & Policy Center
Federal policy changes being pursued by the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress threaten to inflict serious harm on older adults, and the rapid aging of California’s population means that a growing number of state residents are at risk. One of the most significant threats comes from recent proposals to slash food assistance provided through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), called CalFresh in California.
IMMIGRATION
Deported: End of the line for undocumented Oakland couple
San Jose Mercury News
The much-publicized saga of Highland Hospital nurse Maria Sanchez and her husband Eusebio, who for the last 15 years had sought to obtain green cards and remain in the U.S. legally, ended with hugs and tears Wednesday night before the undocumented couple boarded a United Airlines flight bound for their native Mexico.
UCSD researcher says Breitbart misused his study on refugees and TB
San Diego Union-Tribune
A San Diego researcher said a recent Breitbart article on Starbucks’ push to hire refugees misused data from his study to promote fear of tuberculosis in the county’s new arrivals.
More Employers May Be Using Temps to Skirt Immigration Laws
Pew Charitable Trust
States that have required private employers to use E-Verify have seen especially dramatic growth in the number of temporary workers. Experts say that’s no accident.
LAND USE/HOUSING
Walters: Bills would make California housing even more expensive
Fresno Bee
California obviously has a severe shortage of housing, but the crisis is felt most acutely by low- and moderate-income families.
Fresno homeless population increases, no shelter available for most
ABC30
Private charities hope to fill the void as a new survey shows Fresno’s homeless situation is getting worse.
Navy Mayor: 15,000 sailors and families coming to San Diego, housing crunch looms
San Diego Union-Tribune
By 2025, the U.S. Navy will add 20 more warships and 15,000 sailors — plus their families — to a San Diego region already reeling from high home prices and rents, forcing the community to work together to find solutions, the “Navy Mayor” said Wednesday.
PUBLIC FINANCES
After critical audit, feds eying Fresno’s use of money marked for low-income areas
Fresno Bee
The federal government is watching how the city of Fresno handles federal dollars earmarked for cleaning up low-income neighborhoods, after an independent audit found inconsistencies with more than $8 million of the city’s spending on code enforcement, after-school programs and graffiti cleanup.
Outsourcing proposed to trim Lodi budget
Lodi News-Sentinel
With the City of Lodi already struggling to balance budgets, local leaders are exploring ways to make sure the city stays solvent with soaring pension costs expected to eat up bigger chunks of the general budget in the coming years.
Airbnb agrees to collect bed taxes for Madera County
Sierra Star
The Madera County Board of Supervisors approved an arrangement with Airbnb Aug. 8 that will allow the online vacation rental company to collect Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) from homeowners the company works with in the county.
CalPERS elections pits investor against union leader
Sacramento Bee
Michael Flaherman calls his eight-year stint on the board that manages the nation’s largest public pension fund “glory days” for him and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
Monthly Cash Report from the state Department of Finance
California Department of Finance
Preliminary General Fund revenue for July, the first month of the new fiscal year, came in $190 million above the budget forecast of $6.9 billion.
State holds $7.1B in unclaimed property
Central Valley Business Journal
California is in possession of $7.1 billion in unclaimed property belonging to an estimated 27.9 million individuals and organizations.
TRANSPORTATION
The ‘good ol’ boy’ system at work? State transportation board seat becomes hot issue
Merced Sun-Star
The recommendation for a state commission appointment has drawn controversy in Merced County this week, and one area leader said the “good-ol’-boy” system is at work.
United takes inaugural mainline flight in Fresno today
The Business Journal
United Airlines officially launched its mainline service between Fresno Yosemite International Airport and San Francisco International Airport
Exclusive: SFO makes changes for pilots, air traffic controllers after Air Canada close call
The Mercury News
In the wake of last month’s near-collision at SFO where an Air Canada passenger jet nearly crashed into four fully loaded airplanes on the taxiway, federal officials have made significant changes to how pilots land at the airport and how many air traffic controllers must be operating in the tower during nighttime hours, the Bay Area News Group has learned.
Motorcycle, pedestrian safety on CHP slate – The Mercury News
The Mercury News
California Highway Patrol is planning two safety enforcement operations in the Redwood City area, starting Saturday.
Body scanners being piloted in Los Angeles subway system
AP
Aiming to stay ahead of an evolving threat against transit systems worldwide, officials in Los Angeles are testing out airport-style body scanners that screen subway passengers for firearms and explosives.
WATER
Merced irrigation district accuses board member of stealing water
Fresno Bee
The Merced Irrigation District is accusing one of its own board members of stealing more than $200,000 worth of district water to irrigate his almond orchard. Staff with the Merced Irrigation District sent board director Kevin Gonzalves a cease and desist letter last month after finding that he was pumping water from Canal Creek to his own orchards.
California water bill ‘a huge deal’ to combat dirty water
Visalia Times-Delta
The Community Water Center has made California Senate Bill 623 a top priority. And mid-August is no time to let up their goal off seeing the bill all the way through. Susana De Anda, the center’s co-executive director and co-founder, said the state’s legislative calendar includes SB 623 for review and a decision could be made as early next month.
Sites Reservoir Supporters Want $1.6 Billion From Water Bond
capradio.org
Supporters of Sites Reservoir, which would be located an hour northwest of Sacramento, say they are asking for $1.6 billion from the bond. That’s more than half of the money in the bond that is set aside for water storage projects in California.
Water agencies chase billions in California Prop 1 project money
89.3 KPCC
State officials this week unveiled a dozen water storage project proposals competing for $2.7 billion dollars of state money. It’s part of the much larger $7.5 billion Prop 1 water bond that California voters approved in 2014.
“Xtra”
CHP offers senior citizen driving program
Hanford Sentinel
The Hanford area CHP is conducting “Age Well, Drive Smart” classes at their local office, with the next available class being Friday morning. There will also be a class in September at the Lemoore Senior Citizens Center.
Unity on agenda for Women in Politics Luncheon
If you’d like to attend the Women in Politics Luncheon, you’ll have to act quickly: Thursday is the last chance to get tickets, and organizers believe the guest speaker will be one you won’t want to miss.