July 2, 2021

06Jul

POLICY & POLITICS

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The Maddy Institute would like YOUR feedback! Please take a moment to complete our annual survey.

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Call for Nominations for the annual Ethical Leadership award given by Fresno State

Fresno State

Celebration of Ethical Leadership is presented by the Ethics Center in partnership with Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Better Business Bureau® Serving Central California & Inland Empire Counties.

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North SJ Valley:

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COVID Update:

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Back in classrooms, students energized to learn at Modesto City Schools’ summer sessions

Modesto Bee

Tuesday morning, at a desk surrounded by plexiglass barriers, Jose Mondragon finished the last assignment he needed to graduate Peter Johansen High School. It was the last day of Modesto City Schools’ summer session.

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Affordable Modesto housing project Archway Commons II breaks ground, adding 74 rental units

Modesto Bee

Construction kicked off Wednesday on Archway Commons II, the second phase of a Modesto affordable housing development that will bring 74 new rental apartments to the city.

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How new fellowship program will empower youth, diversify boards of Stanislaus nonprofits

Sacramento Bee

Older and white. Those are the faces of most board members at nonprofit organizations across the county, according to a Stanislaus Community Foundation leader.

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Alarming moments, then understanding as Modesto police, residents talk race and culture

Sacramento Bee

Several Modesto Police Department officers and community members are gathering to have honest talks about race and culture. Participants say the sessions have been a positive experience, but not without tense moments.

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Central SJ Valley:

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COVID Update:

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Despite budget miss, Mayor Dyer still seeks expedited development services

Business Journal

The Fresno City Council approved the budget June 22 without Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer’s Express Development Team. But Dyer still hopes to have a version of the express team ready for business by October.

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Fresno's rent prices continued to increase in June, report says

abc30

Like most of the country, Fresno rent prices have increased over the past month. Fresno rent prices have increased over the past month, but experts say they are still cheaper than what you see in larger cities.

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Free school meals for all Fresno County students? Here’s how they could be eligible

Fresno Bee

All students in California could soon be eligible to receive free cafeteria meals, a move Fresno County advocates say is long overdue to curb food insecurity among the region’s impoverished communities.

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‘We don’t need delay.’ Fresno removes trash, debris from troubled mobile home park

Fresno Bee

Fresno city code enforcement, fire and police officers eliminated trash and fire hazards at the Trails End Mobile Home Park early Thursday morning after the city made a deal with the property owner to take abatement action without going to court.

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Warszawski: Fresno’s Measure P parks fight is far from over — and developer Darius Assemi shows why

Fresno Bee

Now that Measure P has kicked in, think the fight for Fresno’s parks is over? Think again. In Fresno, some things are eternal. For as long as City Hall bureaucrats do the bidding of the politically connected.

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Editorial: Fresno’s Granite Park fight is politically charged. Here’s who really loses out in this mess

Fresno Bee

The politically charged rhetoric was flying fast and loose. A “stench,” an “embarrassment” and a “disaster.” Those were some of the descriptions leveled against Fresno’s Granite Park and a proposed agreement for the city to take over the sports facility near Ashlan and Highway 168.

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Study finds Visalia area ranks high in minority wage gap with white workers

Visalia Times Delta

A new study posted by a web-based financial advising firm found the Visalia-Porterville area has the ninth-largest minority wage gap of all midsize U.S. metro areas.

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Visalia teachers get a raise after tough year that led to cuts

Visalia Times Delta

Visalia Unified School Board unanimously approved an agreement between the district and Visalia Unified Teachers Association, giving staff a salary increase effective Thursday.

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'A Close Call:' City impressed with candidates, look to fill seat Tuesday

Porterville Recorder

​​ “It’s absolutely a close call” – that’s what Porterville Mayor Monte Reyes said at Tuesday night’s Porterville City Council’s special meeting held to interview four candidates towards replacing Daniel Penaloza’s representation in District 1 following his June 8 resignation.

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‘All they want is opportunity.’ Migrant kids seek new life in this Fresno County city

Sacramento Bee

Many new arrivals, including children and teenagers who crossed the border without their parents, have settled in Mendota, an agricultural community often referred to as the Cantaloupe Center of the World.

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South SJ Valley:

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COVID Update:

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Recall petition against Fairfax board members approved

Bakersfield Californian

A recall effort against three board members of the Fairfax School District, including president Palmer Moland, was approved Thursday by the Kern County Elections Division.

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LOIS HENRY: Lawsuit claims Kern County Water Agency shorted a key local canal’s volume

Bakersfield Californian

The Cross Valley Canal is a key cog in the southern San Joaquin Valley’s water machinery.

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California ban on private prisons, immigration detention centers ‘extreme,’ feds say

Sacramento Bee

The GEO Group, one of the country’s largest private prison companies, owns and operates federal immigration detention centers in the Kern County cities of Bakersfield and McFarland, as well as Adelanto in San Bernardino County.

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State:

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COVID Update:

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Gavin Newsom recall election date officially set: California voters to cast ballots in September

Fresno Bee

Newsom will face a recall election on Sept. 14, Lt. Gov.Kounalakis announced on Thursday. Her declaration follows more than a year of petition-gathering and campaigning fueled, in part, by outrage over the governor’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Pay cuts end for California state workers. When will raises show up on checks?

Fresno Bee

Restoring pay for 230,000 state workers across roughly 150 departments and 21 employee groups is a complex task the Controller’s Office administers on software from the Vietnam War era, in conjunction with the state Human Resources Department.

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Gas tax, student loan protections and other California laws going into effect July 1

abc30

Another round of gas tax increases, new student loan protections and wildfire recovery assistance are just some of several California laws taking effect on July 1.

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Having trouble with EDD? California lawmakers hiring staff for unemployment complaints

Sacramento Bee

California Assembly members’ offices can hire two people each to work on helping constituents deal with unemployment benefits and other issues involving the Employment Development Department.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom Retreats On $1 Billion Wildfire Prevention Plan Ahead Of Meeting With President Biden

Capital Public Radio

Gov. Newsom rolled back a more ambitious wildfire prevention plan set by his predecessor, and this week his administration nixed more than half a billion dollars in promised fuel reduction spending, an investigation by CapRadio and NPR’s California Newsroom has found.

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Plan Includes Significant Investments for Californians, Keeps State Under Gann Limit

California Budget & Policy Center

As we enter the 2021-22 fiscal year, state leaders have reached a “nearly final” budget agreement, though some details still remain to be finalized and additional budget-related bills will be acted upon in the new fiscal year.

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Governor Newsom Launches California Judicial Mentor Program to Promote a Diverse and Inclusive Judiciary

Office of Governor Gavin Newsom

Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the California Judicial Mentor Program, a statewide undertaking between the executive and judicial branches to advance the shared goal of an inclusive judiciary that reflects California’s diversity.

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Supreme Court Backs Donor Privacy for California Charities

New York Times

The 6-to-3 decision held that a state requirement infringed on the First Amendment. The court’s liberal members suggested it could erode disclosure laws for political campaigns.

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Supreme Court, NCAA decisions embolden advocates for college athlete compensation in California

CalMatters

Advocates for college athlete compensation in California are on a hot streak. First the state passed a first-in-the-nation law allowing players to sign paid endorsement deals, and 20 states followed its example.

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Federal:

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COVID Update:

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Some 200 California projects may be funded by infrastructure bill. Search your city’s projects here

Los Angeles Times

The House on Thursday approved an approximately $715-billion transportation infrastructure plan that would build and repair roads, bridges and rail systems around the country.

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Federal executions halted pending Justice Department review of Trump-era policies, attorney general says

Washington Post

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday ordered a moratorium on federal executions while a review of the Justice Department’s Trump-era policies and procedures is pending.

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New FTC Chair Lina Khan Wants To Redefine Monopoly Power For The Age Of Big Tech

VPR

At 32, Khan is the youngest FTC chair ever appointed, and has become one of the most prominent voices calling for aggressive curbs on the dominance of big companies.

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Biden aide charges "sabotage" of Harris

Axios

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain told Axios in a statement: "The President's trust and confidence in her is obvious when you see them in the Oval Office together."

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House Speaker Pelosi Names Liz Cheney to Jan. 6 Capitol Riot Committee

Wall Street Journal

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) selected GOP Rep. Liz Cheney as one of her picks for the select committee looking into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, putting a leading Republican critic of former President Donald Trump on the panel.

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Prosecutors: Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg dodged taxes for 15 years

Los Angeles Times

The Trump Organization, an international showcase for gaudy wealth that made Trump a household name before he ran for president, has been dodging taxes for years, according to Manhattan prosecutors who unveiled the first criminal charges against the company.

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The Supreme Court Deals A New Blow To Voting Rights, Upholding Arizona Restrictions

VPR

The Supreme Court gutted most of what remains of the landmark Voting Rights Act. The court's decision, while leaving some protections involving redistricting in place, left close to a dead letter the law once hailed as the most effective civil rights legislation in the nation's history.

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Biden Gained With Moderate and Conservative Voting Groups, New Data Shows

Wall Street Journal

President Biden cut into Donald Trump’s margins with married men and veteran households, a Pew survey shows. But there was a far deeper well of support for Mr. Trump than many progressives had imagined.

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Gerson: To fight the GOP’s antidemocratic fire, we need a national effort at civic healing

Washington Post

As we approach the country’s Independence Day celebration, significant actors in our political life have lost something important. They no longer care about the integrity of our constitutional process or accept the existence of a shared public reality.

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Young Republicans see shift in GOP: 'From outright denial to climate caucus'

The Hill

Twenty-four-year-old Republican Danielle Butcher is watching with anticipation as GOP leaders move from “outright denial to now having a climate caucus” — a move she sees as the first step in integrating climate action into formal party policy.

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Other:

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The Government of Tomorrow: Online Meetings

Little Hoover Commission

Under the provisions of the Governor’s March 2020 Executive Order, state boards and commissions have had the ability to meet via remote technology, with no physical location accessible to the public.

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Is ‘Latinx’ here to stay?: Why the term is growing in popularity, but not among all Latinos

Sacramento Bee

Last summer, Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, posed a question on Twitter: “Does it seem like non-Latinos use Latinx far more than actual Latinos?” A debate on Gonzalez’s Twitter thread followed.

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Noncitizens Are Slowly Gaining Voting Rights

PEW

The movement to let all adults vote in local elections hasn’t had widespread success in modern times. Until lately, just San Francisco and nine Maryland cities have allowed noncitizens to vote in local or school board elections.

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Opinion: The Rest of the World Is Worried About America

New York Times

This weekend, American skies will be aflame with fireworks celebrating our legacy of freedom and democracy, even as Republican legislature constricts the franchise and national Republicans have filibustered the expansive For The People Act.

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MADDY INSTITUTE PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAMMING

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Sunday, July 4, at 10 a.m on ABC30 – Maddy Report: "High Speed Rail: Back on Track?" - Guest: Brian Kelly, CEO - CA High Speed Rail Authority; Dan Walters - CalMatters; Tom Richards, Chairman - CA High Speed Rail Authority. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.

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Sunday, July 4, at 10 a.m. on Newstalk 580AM/105.9FM (KMJ) – Maddy Report - Valley Views Edition: "Reporter's Notebook: High Speed Rail Update"- Guests: Tim Sheehan - Fresno Bee; David Lightman - McClatchy Newspapers. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.

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AGRICULTURE/FOOD

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Free school meals for all Fresno County students? Here’s how they could be eligible

Fresno Bee

All students in California could soon be eligible to receive free cafeteria meals, a move Fresno County advocates say is long overdue to curb food insecurity among the region’s impoverished communities.

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Water futures market fails to make a splash with California farmers

Reuters

Financial exchange operator CME Group (CME.O) launched the contract late last year to help big California water users such as farmers and utilities hedge rising drought risk and give investors a sense of how scarce water is at any given time.

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE/FIRE/PUBLIC SAFETY

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Crime:

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California officials seize 80,000 pounds of fireworks at Nevada border ahead of holiday

Fresno Bee

Cal Fire officials announced Thursday they’ve confiscated nearly 80,000 pounds of illegal fireworks crossing the Nevada border in the weeks leading up to the Fourth of July.

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California homicides jump 31% in 2020, most in 13 years

Bakersfield Californian

Homicides in California jumped 31% last year, making it the deadliest year since 2007, and Black people accounted for nearly one-third of all victims, according to reports released Thursday.

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Speeders beware: CHP targeting drivers going too fast during July 4 maximum enforcement

Modesto Bee

California Highway Patrol is looking for motorists to slow down and to stay safe on roads across the state during the Independence Day weekend.

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Hate crimes against Asian Americans in California spiked by 107% in 2020, new data shows

Sacramento Bee

Reports of hate crimes across California — particularly involving the Asian American and Pacific Islander community — rose exponentially from 2019 to 2020, according to the state attorney general’s office.

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California ban on private prisons, immigration detention centers ‘extreme,’ feds say

Sacramento Bee

The GEO Group, one of the country’s largest private prison companies, owns and operates federal immigration detention centers in the Kern County cities of Bakersfield and McFarland, as well as Adelanto in San Bernardino County.

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Concern over crime is growing — but Americans don’t just want more police, Post-ABC poll shows

Washington Post

Concern over crime has reached the highest point in four years amid a spike in killings in big cities and an uptick in violent crime, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Friday.

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Public Safety:

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After deadly blazes, PG&E's bankruptcy promises falling flat

Bakersfield Californian

The nation’s largest utility has long vowed to change its reckless ways. After leaving a trail of death and destruction through Northern California from wildfires sparked by its equipment, PG&E's fifth CEO is again pledging that the future will get “easier” and “brighter.”

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California saw record surge in handgun sales during pandemic, attorney general says

Los Angeles Times

Amid economic and political turmoil during the COVID-19 pandemic, California saw a record increase in the sale of handguns last year, and the number of long-gun purchases was higher than it has been in four years, state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said Thursday.

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California Lawmakers Push Feds to Allow a Therapy That Pays Meth Users to Abstain

California Healthline

In his multiple attempts to overcome a methamphetamine addiction that ground through two decades of his life, Tyrone Clifford Jr. remembers well the closest he came. “The most success I had,” he said, “is when my dealer was in jail.”

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How to ensure officers like Derek Chauvin do not work in law enforcement

Brookings

Chauvin was not simply a bad apple, but a bad apple that helped rotten the barrel and poison good apples that could have been, like the two early-career officers who watched him kill Floyd and participated in it.

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Fire:

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Blue Fire update: Teams strengthen containment lines, attack active areas near Shaver

Fresno Bee

Firefighters in the Sierra National Forest continued Thursday to strengthen containment lines around the Blue Fire, six miles south of Shaver Lake.

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California firefighters battle big wildfires in high heat

Bakersfield Californian

Hundreds of firefighters labored Thursday in high heat on the lines of big wildfires in the forests of far northern California as many communities remained under lengthening evacuation orders.

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As Western Wildfires Worsen, FEMA Is Denying Most People Who Ask For Help

VPR

Brenda and Francis Dairy's small ranch house, tucked into the Oregon woods, was built to withstand a wildfire. The siding was concrete, the roof metal. It didn't matter.

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Underpaid firefighters, overstretched budgets: The U.S. isn’t prepared for fires fueled by climate change

Washington Post

On the heels of one of the worst wildfire years on record, the federal government is struggling to recruit and retain staff as firefighters grapple with low wages, trauma and burnout from increasingly long and intense fire seasons.

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ECONOMY/JOBS

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Economy:

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The pandemic laid bare existing inequalities. California’s kids felt the pain.

CalMatters

The blazing path COVID cut through deep East Oakland and similar neighborhoods around California — and the relative protection enjoyed by wealthier neighborhoods — was set into motion long before reports of a new respiratory virus began trickling out in early 2020.

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CBO Sees Stronger Growth in 2021, After Covid-19 Relief Package

Wall Street Journal

The Congressional Budget Office on Thursday lifted its forecasts for economic growth, inflation and federal budget deficits this year, following the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package enacted in March.

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Economic Recovery to Continue in Second Half But at Slower Pace

U.S. News

After a blistering first half recovery from the pandemic, what does the U.S. economy have in store for the second half? The answer to that question will depend on many factors that have yet to play out

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Jobs:

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Will California investment in new job training programs pay off?

CalMatters

A state effort to create green jobs after the Great Recession fell short. Will new California job training programs do any better coming out of the pandemic?

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U.S. economy added 850,000 jobs in June as labor market showed renewed strength

Washington Post

The U.S. economy added 850,000 jobs in June as the pace of the recovery surged — quieting fears, at least temporarily, of more lasting harm from labor and supply shortages.

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Black Male Workforce Rises to Largest Ever Amid U.S. Recovery

Bloomberg

The labor force for adult Black men rose to a record in June in a sign that U.S. workers may be trying to take advantage of a fast recovery and higher wages being touted by some companies.

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EDUCATION

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K-12:

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Visalia teachers get a raise after tough year that led to cuts

Visalia Times Delta

Visalia Unified School Board unanimously approved an agreement between the district and Visalia Unified Teachers Association, giving staff a salary increase effective Thursday.

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Back in classrooms, students energized to learn at Modesto City Schools’ summer sessions

Modesto Bee

Tuesday morning, at a desk surrounded by plexiglass barriers, Jose Mondragon finished the last assignment he needed to graduate Peter Johansen High School. It was the last day of Modesto City Schools’ summer session.

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New California law gives students a do-over for failing grades in COVID-19 year

Fresno Bee

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed a law to help alleviate the pandemic’s effect on grades and graduation credits by giving California students an opportunity to redo a grade level.

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Special ed and high-needs students get windfall in budget deal

CalMatters

A historic boost in state funding will allow educators to make investments in high needs students, special education and early childhood education.

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Pandemic drives sharp rise in California families opening their own home schools

EdSource

During the height of the pandemic, almost 35,000 California families filed an affidavit with the state to open a private home school. That’s more than double the number of private school affidavits filed for the 2018-19 school year for schools with five or fewer students.

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Opinion: What it takes to actually improve math education

AEI

As someone who has been teaching math for the past 10 years and written several books on key issues in math education, this struck a chord for me. I’ve seen the three-decade-long obsession with “deeper understanding” cause more problems than it solves .

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Higher Ed:

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Longtime Stanislaus State professor found dead after hiking at Yosemite National Park

Modesto Bee

A 64-year-old hiker whose body was found in Yosemite National Park last week was a longtime professor at California State University, Stanislaus, in Turlock.

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Opinion: California’s low-income students have long struggled to afford college costs. Help is on the way

Sacramento Bee

Post-secondary education is one of the most powerful tools for advancing social and economic equity.

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California lawmakers tout big college spending, but key items get zero dollars this year

CalMatters

Lawmakers say their budget deal with Gov. Gavin Newson will expand enrollment at public universities and create a debt-free grant. But those items aren’t getting a dollar this coming year.

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How some college counselors are fighting back against pandemic-induced enrollment decline

CalMatters

Thousands of California high school graduates didn’t go to college last year due to the pandemic. The drop, which mostly affected community colleges, might be temporary, but it showed the need to provide more support for students going from high school to college.

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Apprenticeships:

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ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY

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Environment:

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94 percent of Giant Sequoias in Exceptional Drought

Porterville Recorder

The push for more active management to protect Giant Sequoias from wildfire and to mitigate the damage caused to them by wildfire was made last week by Save The Redwoods League when it released information on just how serious drought conditions are in the Sierra Nevada.

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Should homeowners pay for climate change?

CalMatters

Insurance companies want to factor climate change in calculating wildfire coverage, but consumer watchdogs worry California homeowners will end up with higher premiums.

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Northwest "heat dome" signals global warming's march

Axios

The dangerous heat wave enveloping the Pacific Northwest is shattering weather records by such large margins that it is making even climate scientists uneasy.

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Welcome to our hellscape summer

Axios

Deadly heat waves. An epic drought. More than a million acres in the West gone up in smoke before the end of June. And the earliest fifth-named Atlantic tropical storm on record.

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Energy:

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California pleads for more power as summer blackout threat grows, hydro supplies fade

Fresno Bee

Acknowledging the increasing threat of rolling blackouts this summer, managers of California’s electricity grid issued a rare call for additional power supplies Thursday.

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HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

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Health:

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99.5% Of People Killed By Covid In Last 6 Months Were Unvaccinated, Data Suggests

Forbes

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a White House briefing that preliminary data reviewed by her agency suggests 99.5% of the people who died from Covid-19 over the past six months were unvaccinated.

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Does new Alzheimer’s drug actually work? It may take until 2030 or later to find out

Los Angeles Times

When a controversial Alzheimer’s drug won U.S. approval, surprise over the decision quickly turned to shock at how long it might take to find out if it really works — nine years.

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Breakthrough COVID is rare in California

CalMatters

About 7,550 out of more than 19.5 million Californians who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have contracted the disease, a minuscule percentage that provides strong evidence of the vaccines’ effectiveness, according to state data.

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Another Respiratory Virus Is Spreading as U.S. Gets Back to Pre-Covid-19 Life

Wall Street Journal

A familiar respiratory virus is finding a foothold in the U.S. as the Covid-19 pandemic eases and people take fewer precautions: respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.

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Human Services:

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Undocumented adults over 50 to qualify for Medi-Cal benefits under California budget deal

Sacramento Bee

Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature on Friday unveiled a state budget plan that would expand Medi-Cal coverage to low-income, undocumented adults and seniors ages 50 and over.

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Patients to Be Protected From Surprise Billing Under New Rule

Wall Street Journal

Patients receiving emergency medical care would no longer get surprise medical bills from providers outside their insurance network under a rule issued Thursday by the Biden administration.

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Preparing for the next pandemic: Strengthening the US public health system

AEI

Given that it is not a question of if, but when, the next pandemic will occur, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Future of Health Care Initiative has released a new report that offers critical steps policymakers can take to strengthen the public health system for inevitable emergencies.

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IMMIGRATION

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‘All they want is opportunity.’ Migrant kids seek new life in this Fresno County city

Sacramento Bee

Many new arrivals, including children and teenagers who crossed the border without their parents, have settled in Mendota, an agricultural community often referred to as the Cantaloupe Center of the World.

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Immigration agency still facing money crunch, watchdog finds

Roll Call

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services continues to face a significant financial crunch after narrowly averting mass furloughs last year, a government oversight agency found, threatening to grow an already bloated visa backlog and lengthy wait times.

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LAND USE/HOUSING

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Land Use:

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Warszawski: Fresno’s Measure P parks fight is far from over — and developer Darius Assemi shows why

Fresno Bee

Now that Measure P has kicked in, think the fight for Fresno’s parks is over? Think again. In Fresno, some things are eternal. For as long as City Hall bureaucrats do the bidding of the politically connected.

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‘The people’s land.’ Will the feds close California forests to hunters, campers again?

Sacramento Bee

Last September, as millions of acres burned, the U.S. Forest Service did something it had never done before to try to prevent people from catching even more forestland on fire. It closed all of its 20 million acres of California forests to the public for nearly two weeks.

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Housing:

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‘We don’t need delay.’ Fresno removes trash, debris from troubled mobile home park

Fresno Bee

Fresno city code enforcement, fire and police officers eliminated trash and fire hazards at the Trails End Mobile Home Park early Thursday morning after the city made a deal with the property owner to take abatement action without going to court.

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Fresno's rent prices continued to increase in June, report says

abc30

Like most of the country, Fresno rent prices have increased over the past month. Fresno rent prices have increased over the past month, but experts say they are still cheaper than what you see in larger cities.

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Affordable Modesto housing project Archway Commons II breaks ground, adding 74 rental units

Modesto Bee

Construction kicked off Wednesday on Archway Commons II, the second phase of a Modesto affordable housing development that will bring 74 new rental apartments to the city.

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Opinion: Welcome to the Great Housing Crisis of 2021

AEI

In the run-up to the 2006 U.S. housing bust, Federal Reserve Governor Lyle Gramley famously warned Alan Greenspan that poor lending practices could lead to a housing bubble that might pose real risks to the U.S. financial system. His advice fell on Greenspan’s deaf ears.

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PUBLIC FINANCES

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California offered checks to undocumented families. An IRS backlog is holding them up for many

Sacramento Bee

Alfredo Gaudencio Diaz, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, applied to renew an IRS processing number for people who don’t qualify to receive Social Security Numbers early this year when he started filing his taxes.

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Stimulus, unemployment checks help child support debt collection hit new high

CalMatters

If Billy McCasland had gotten his $1,200 stimulus check, he would have moved his family out of the Modesto house the pediatrician says is responsible for his 7-year-old’s lead poisoning.

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Opinion: California’s progressive tax system proved its worth during the pandemic

CalMatters

Conventional fiscal wisdom says the state’s progressive income tax structure is too volatile, but our experience since the pandemic suggests that it is both efficient and moral.

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Tax Hurdles May Limit Impact of the Expanded Child Tax Credit

Public Policy Institute of California

Payments from the ARP’s one-year expansion of the CTC are due to start going out to tax filers in July. This expansion has the potential to dramatically reduce child poverty in California, but its impact depends on how many eligible families claim the credit with the IRS.

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U.S. deficit to hit $3 trillion in 2021, then fade as stimulus relief expires, CBO says

Washington Post

The federal deficit will hit $3 trillion in 2021 for the second consecutive year, primarily because of the national spending blitz in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday.

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Global Taxation Nears Historic Deal Amid Last-Minute Hurdles

Bloomberg

The Biden administration and global allies scored a major victory Thursday in their push for a more balanced international corporate tax system, but still face multiple significant obstacles to completing an ambitious plan that has been years in the making.

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TRANSPORTATION

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California drivers pay the nation’s highest gasoline taxes. Now they’re going higher

Fresno Bee

California motorists will find their taxes for a gallon of gasoline — already the nation’s highest — went up Thursday because of inflation. And that’s on top of what AAA says are the highest average per gallon gasoline prices in the country.

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Budget Negotiations Hold Active Transportation, Other Funds Hostage

StreetsBlog Cal

Negotiators are tight-lipped about what’s going on with the state budget, a version of which must be signed today by Gov. Newsom. It is clear that – between the Assembly, the Senate, and the Governor – there remain major points of contention on transportation funding.

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Public transit, in-state air travel likely to decrease with autonomous car deployment

Spectrum News 1

Cars that can drive themselves without a human behind the wheel are still years away, but California is beginning to look at their emissions implications. This week, the Air Resources Board presented new research on how autonomous vehicles might affect the state’s ambitious clean air goals, and the early indications do not look good.

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Car Sales Continue Hot Streak, but Market Shows Signs of Cooling

Wall Street Journal

U.S. car sales continued at a blistering pace in the second quarter but showed some signs of slowing in June, as the number of vehicles on dealership lots continues to dwindle.

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Here’s How Biden Aims to Increase Electric Car Sales

New York Times

The Biden administration plans this month to propose a tailpipe emissions rule that would largely mimic the Obama standards, which were jettisoned in 2019 by President Donald J. Trump.

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WATER

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LOIS HENRY: Lawsuit claims Kern County Water Agency shorted a key local canal’s volume

Bakersfield Californian

The Cross Valley Canal is a key cog in the southern San Joaquin Valley’s water machinery.

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An entire California town is without running water — in a heat wave

CalMatters

A rural Central Valley community is without running water during a heat wave, prompting authorities to haul in bottles and jugs of water to more than 700 people in Teviston.

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“Xtra”

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Bethany Clough: The award for the worst Fresno-area drive-thru goes to ... See how readers voted

Fresno Bee

We asked. You answered. The results of our poll asking readers to vote for the most problematic fast food drive-thru in the Fresno area are in.

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Bethany Clough: New restaurant opens with Lao, Thai food and a side of community in southeast Fresno

Fresno Bee

The first thing you need to know about the newly opened La Kitchen in southeast Fresno is how to pronounce it. Despite the sign with the capitalized letters, this restaurant has nothing to do with Los Angeles. It’s pronounced La Kitchen, as in tra la la.

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These Fourth of July weekend events will keep your family entertained

Visalia Times Delta

Looking for something to do over the Fourth of July weekend? Here are some ideas.

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Test yourself with our new free game: PolitiTruth

Think you can tell the difference between True and False?

Do you really know what is fake news?

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Maddy Institute Updated List of San Joaquin Valley Elected Officials HERE.

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The Kenneth L. Maddy Institute was established to honor the legacy of one of California’s most principled and effective legislative leaders of the last half of the 20th Century by engaging, preparing and inspiring a new generation of governmental leaders for the 21st Century. Its mission is to inspire citizen participation, elevate government performance, provide non-partisan analysis and assist in providing solutions for public policy issues important to the region, state and nation.

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