TOP POLITICAL STORIES
Nunes: “No Indication” Congressional Shooting Was ISIS Or Al-Qaeda Follower
KMJ-AF1
Valley Congressman Devin Nunes says there’s “no indication” that the suspect behind the shooting at the Republican congressional baseball team practice was a follower of ISIS or Al-Qaeda.
PolitiFact statements about The 2018 California Governor’s Race
The “Tracking The Truth,” project will fact-check claims in the 2018 California governor’s race. This ongoing series will hold candidates and their campaigns accountable for what they say in speeches, advertisements and on social media.
California governor named adviser for UN climate conference
| Washington Post |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California Gov. Jerry Brown was named Tuesday as a special envoy to states at the next United Nations Climate Change Conference, further elevating his international profile as a leader on the issue as President Donald Trump …
Republicans: California Assembly violated transparency rule
| The Bakersfield Californian |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Republican lawmakers are calling on the California Assembly to vote again on 89 bills they say were passed in violation of new transparency rules and on Tuesday announced new legislation to address the issue.
Democrats have history of changing election rules for gain
The Sacramento Bee
Legislation California Democrats introduced Monday to help state Sen. Josh Newman survive a recall election isn’t the first time in recent years they and Gov. Jerry Brown have teamed up to change voting rules to gain advantage before an upcoming ballot.
Stacking the Deck on Elections :: Fox&Hounds
| Fox and Hounds Daily |
A budget bill has been introduced that would lengthen the time to qualify recall elections. One might say this bill came out of the blue—blue California,
Secretary of State denies again that California had elections breach
| 89.3 KPCC |
The state uses a paper-based voting system that can’t be easily hacked, but Padilla has repeatedly called for updates to California’s aging voting system. Officials from registrar offices in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, Riverside and San Diego …
Schiff concerned by Nunes’s role in Russia investigation
TheHill
“It does concern me is that he is still insisting on signing off on the subpoenas in the Russia investigation,” Schiff said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe. “That authority by our rules can be delegated to Mr. Conaway with consultation with myself. That’s what should have been done by now, it hasn’t been done, so that does concern me,” he added, referring to Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas).
32 California Democrats Join Congressional Lawsuit Against Trump
| KQED |
31 Democrats from California’s delegation to the House of Representatives and Senator Kamala Harris joined a lawsuit filed Wednesday against President Trump by nearly 200 members of Congress. … (Note: Sen. Feinstein and Cong. Jim Costa (D-Fresno) are notable exceptions…)
Who’s Funding the Anti-Trump Movement? We Don’t Know
| KQED |
The California Report requested financial statements and donor lists for the group. Indivisible spokespeople told us they’ve raised more than $2.2 million from 30,000 individual donations since they started accepting donations in January, including …
Democrats Take Back House in 2018? Trump Probably Impeached
National Review
Unless it steps up soon, Democrats will probably take back the majority in 2018 — and take down the president.
Gavin Newsom, Delaine Eastin say Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against Trump
| The Mercury News |
As impeachment talk heats up in Washington, the four Democrats running to be California’s next governor are divided on whether Congress should launch an effort to impeach President Donald Trump.
California Today: Democrats Spar in Los Angeles
| New York Times |
California would seem to be the last place where there should be trouble in the Democratic family. The party controls all the major statewide offices and has overwhelming majorities in the Legislature.
Clovis council taps interim city manager to lead city
The Fresno Bee
The Clovis City Council removed the interim label off Luke Serpa’s title Mondaynight, naming him city manager
EDITORIALS
City Council should not fund legal services for undocumented immigrants
Fresno Bee
While we understand the need to stand up against the Trump administration’s scapegoating of undocumented immigrants, we believe that using taxpayer money for this purpose is bad policy.
Jerry Brown uses pomp and symbolism to win GOP votes for climate bill. Will it work?
Sacramento Bee
Gov. Brown is trying to gather the two-thirds votes to extend California’s cap-and-trade program. For that, he needs Republican support.
Legislators’ plan to gut a tax board seems solid. But here’s a cautionary note.
Sacramento Bee
Californians should welcome the proposal by Controller Betty Yee, Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislators to eviscerate the Board of Equalization. If only there were time to vet the proposal.
Close legal loophole that denies public access to government records
| OCRegister |
There’s an insidious technique that some elected officials and government employees have used to subvert the public’s right to know what they’ve been up to. It’s known as a “reverse California Public Records Act” lawsuit.
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AGRICULTURE/FOOD
Vicente Fox says Mexico, Canada could eclipse U.S. in weed business
San Francisco Chronicle
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox put domestic cannabis industry leaders on notice Tuesday at a marijuana business conference in Oakland that his nation and Canada intend to take the lead in the booming market for medical and recreational pot exports.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/PUBLIC SAFETY
Gun control language tucked into California’s budget bill, irking the NRA
| Los Angeles Times |
The budget should not be used to push through major policy changes because it bypasses a more detailed public hearing process, said Daniel Reid, state liaison for the National Rifle Assn.
$68K ‘bill’ for police services during Ann Coulter event presented to local GOP leader
| Modesto Bee |
The Modesto resident said the Republican Central Committee of Stanislaus should reimburse Modesto and its residents for $68,461 in police services, which were deployed to control protests April 28 outside Modesto Centre Plaza, where shock columnist Ann …
California City police chief won’t face criminal charges for moving city-owned desks
| Bakersfield Now |
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) – The chief of police in California City won’t face criminal charges for moving desks out of the police building and into a private business.
Prison costs rise as population shrinks
| OCRegister |
As has been the case for a long time, California’s massive prison system is seemingly geared less toward yielding optimal public safety benefits and more toward serving as a source of highly paid government jobs with exorbitant benefits.
EDUCATION
No Valley reps on UC’s 26-seat governing board
The Fresno Bee
For the first time in decades, no one from the San Joaquin Valley is serving on the University of California’s 26-seat governing board – perpetuating local concerns that some of the state’s neediest areas are not well-represented.
CSU will be required to accept to all eligible applicants | The Sacramento Bee
Sacramento Bee
The policy, which CSU must develop and approve by next May, is based on a guarantee at the University of California: All California high schoolers who rank in the top 9 percent of graduates statewide, or finish among the top 9 percent of the graduating class at certain high schools, are eligible to attend UC; if they are not admitted to the campus of their choice, UC offers those students a spot at another campus where there is space, which in recent years has been only Merced. CSU does not have an equivalent guarantee. Last year, it rejected about 31,000 qualified students who applied to “impacted” campuses or majors, where enrollment is restricted because the number of eligible applicants outstrips available seats.
California middle class families may still get scholarship help
| EdSource |
Lupita Cortez Alcalá, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission, said she was “very pleased” about the Legislature’s action on the Middle Class grants but said she wanted to work to better integrate them with other publicly financed options
Pilot program at UC Irvine to slash tuition in half for in-state freshmen
| The Mercury News |
“With almost 39 million people now in California, there’s a pressing need to have our universities, our state system of higher education, accommodate in-state students,” said Tom Vasich, a UCI spokesman.
Huge boost in state arts funding includes support for pre-Kprograms
| 89.3 KPCC |
The state agency responsible for advancing creativity in California announced Tuesday that it’s awarding a record number of grant funding for nonprofits – nearly double the amount from the previous year.
California Arts Council Announces Record-Breaking Grants Worth $15 Million
| KQED |
California Arts Council Announces Record-Breaking Grants Worth $15 Million. Audio Player … Tamara Alvarado heads the School of Arts & Culture at San Jose’s Mexican Heritage Plaza, “providing high quality arts education primarily through mariachi …
Selma student to receive Superstar award
| Hanford Sentinel |
As color guard performer, Perez helped her winter guard team win back-to-back Valley titles the past two years. She also won a spot this year on the Blue Devils Drum Corps, an elite performancegroup in Concord, California.
In a city of charters, the LA school district runs many of them …
| EdSource |
A Los Angeles school board race that attracted millions of dollars from well-heeled donors has shone a spotlight on the nation’s largest collection of charter schools.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Hearings Begin Over Kern County Ordinance That Allows 70000 New Oil And Gas Wells
| Valley Public Radio |
All those wells could create 78 million pounds of air pollution a year says Catherine Garoupa White with Californians Against Fracking. The court hearings come two years after the Kern County Board of Supervisors approved the permitting of oil and gas development without further environmental review past 2035. Garoupa White says the environmental impact report they approved is flawed and wells are already being drilled.
‘I see this as putting our communities at risk.’ Kern County Board of Supervisors votes to end PACE program
| The Bakersfield Californian |
The Board of Supervisors voted to axe the controversial PACE program in unincorporated Kern County Tuesday following a contentious, three-hour hearing over whether it helps or hurts consumers. It directed county staff to begin terminating a series of agreements that allows the Property Assessed Clean Energy initiative to operate in its jurisdiction, meaning outside Kern’s incorporated cities. The resolution to kill PACE is expected to come back to the board on July 11. PACE allows companies to market clean energy improvements to residential homeowners and fund those improvements through a tax lien on the property. That tax lien, which trumps all other financing on the home, was the primary reason supervisors voted to end the program.
“Brown: ‘Grossly Hypocritical’ To Oppose Oil Production In California,”
Cap Radio
Jerry Brown’s trip to China earned him wall-to-wall media coverage – internationally and here at home. Much less covered was another environmental visit the California governor took just weeks earlier: to Bell Gardens in Los Angeles County, a transportation corridor with some of the worst air quality in the state. ‘It is a little surprising to actually be there (in Bell Gardens) and witness first-hand the amount of cement, the number of cars and trucks and trains, and the proximity of parks and basketball courts,’ Brown told Capital Public Radio’s Ben Bradford in an interview last week during a car ride through Beijing.”
US EPA extends delay of oil, gas rules to two years
| Reuters |
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday it would propose a two-year stay of the previous administration’s oil and gas industry methane emissions standards while the agency reconsiders the regulation.
The next energy revolution: The promise and peril of high-tech innovation Brookings Institution
New technologies, data analytics, and automation are changing the energy industry in ways that could have profound effects on world politics, climate change, and global workforces
Opinion: What China and California have in common — the Amazon?
| The Mercury News |
That’s because Chinese funding of fossil fuel infrastructure in the Amazon, and California’s imports of much of that oil, generate a triple carbon impact
Here’s the latest report card on California’s battle against climate change
| Los Angeles Times |
New data released by state regulators provide a detailed snapshot of California’s battle against global warming. We’ve crunched the numbers on specific sources of pollution, including planes, cars and trucks, and how the state’s pollution compares to the size of its economy.
Host of next United Nations climate conference turns to California in the global warming battle
| Los Angeles Times |
As the president of this year’s United Nations conference on climate change, Fiji’s prime minister is responsible for rallying countries to battle global warming.. .He endorsed Gov. Brown’s ambitious plan to combat climate change.
Here’s why California scientists want neighborhood-by-neighborhood smog data
| LA Daily News |
Their quest is to learn how things like trees, proximity to parking lots, and elevation may affect a person’s ozone exposure at particular locations. Such information could then be used to better protect people from the pollutant that irritates eyes, causes nausea, headaches and cold-like symptoms — and has been linked to early deaths.
Keep Paris, I’ll take Bakersfield over Pittsburgh
| The Turlock Journal |
The Valley clean up to date was done using a serious of strategies out of Sacramento. Three of the bigger items were reformulated gas, vehicle emission standards, and higher mileage. Squeeze more out of a gallon of gas and you generate less pollution to move people around. It’s a big deal considering we have close to 29 million registered vehicles in California.
A beleaguered EPA has become ground zero in Trump’s war on science
| Los Angeles Times |
“This seems like a full-frontal attack,” says Ruth Greenspan Bell, a former EPA attorney and an organizer of the Environmental Protection Network, a group of former EPA employees devoted to fighting the attack.
CALmatters
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today joined a dozen states in suing the federal Energy Department for failing to publish energy efficiency standards for some products, a step that would have made the greenhouse-gas reducing rules legally enforceable.
FINANCES
Agreement reached on new state budget – maybe
| Central Valley Business Times |
The budget includes a total of $14.5 billion General Fund for higher education, with additional funds provided in the next year to expand capacity for California students at the state’s public institutions, create guided pathways for students…
Mixed Reactions To Budget Deal From California Lawmakers
| Capital Public Radio News |
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) said the budget “speaks to Californians’ progressive values and helps us to build for the future” while setting aside money in the state’s Rainy Day Fund.
Governor Brown, Legislative Democrats Strike State Budget Deal
KQED
Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders have reached a deal on a $127.5 billion general fund budget for the upcoming fiscal year, highlighted by a plan on how to spend more than a billion dollars of revenue from the state’s new tobacco tax.
California budget deal: More money for schools, doctors, low-wage workers
| The Mercury News |
Brown called the agreement “balanced and progressive,” while Senate Leader Kevin de León framed it as an example of California’s leaders protecting its residents from the Trump administration.
California governor, legislature agree on final budget
| Reuters |
California Governor Jerry Brown announced on Tuesday that state lawmakers had reached an agreement about the state’s 2017-2018 budget.
With a deadline looming, there’s a deal between Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers on a new state budget
LA Times
Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers unveiled a final state budget deal Tuesday, settling disputes over how to spend tobacco tax dollars and boosting the bottom line of California’s largest public employee pension fund.
California budget deal: Some tobacco tax money for Medi-Cal providers
KPCC
State lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown have struck a budget deal that uses at least $546 million in new tobacco tax funding to increase Medi-Cal provider reimbursements. The state doctors’ association calls the modest hike “a step in the right direction,” but says it’s insufficient.
UCLA Anderson Forecast: ‘Winter is coming’ to California
| 89.3 KPCC |
Nickelsburg says either the legislature should trim its expenditures, change the tax system so California is not so dependent on income or build up a more robust rainy day fund.
Time to remake California Board of Equalization
| San Francisco Chronicle |
A new agency, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, will be created. This will ensure California assesses and collects taxes free of political interference
Calpers Considers Pay Raises for Top Executives in Delicate Move
| Bloomberg |
The committee in charge of compensation will meet June 20 at Calpers’s headquarters in Sacramento, California, to approve bonus plans for Chief Executive Officer Marcie Frost and Chief Investment Officer Ted Eliopoulos.
Are public pensions a thing of the past for young workers?
Money CNN
New teachers and state workers will no longer get a traditional pension in Pennsylvania. Governor Tom Wolf signed a bill Monday, making it the ninth state to replace the pension with a “hybrid” retirement plan. It goes into effect in 2019.
HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES
Working poor, doctors score gains under California budget deal
| Sacramento Bee |
Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders announced Tuesday a deal on a $183.2 billion budget that expands tax credits for working families, accelerates spending for roads and mass transit and uses some new tobacco tax revenue to raise Medi-Cal provider rates for physicians and other health professionals.
Should The Feds Pay For Higher Medi-Cal Rates In The Valley? Two Congressmen Say ‘Yes’
| Valley Public Radio |
Now, two valley Republican congressmen think they might have a fix with new legislation. Representatives Jeff Denham and David Valadao have co-sponsored House Bill 2779 which would use federal money to pay doctors more for providing Medi-Cal …
Federal Policy Changes Limiting Food Assistance Would Affect Congressional Districts Across the State
California Budget & Policy Center
A new Fact Sheet from the California Budget & Policy Center highlights the local impact of SNAP cuts across our state by mapping the share of residents receiving CalFresh in each of California’s 53 congressional districts. In addition to showing that CalFresh reaches every congressional district in the state, this analysis shows that 1 in 4 households in the 16th District (D-Costa) and 21st District (R-Valadao) receive CalFresh, while roughly 1 in 6 households do so in eight other congressional districts.
California’s Democratic Lawmakers Shouldn’t Fear Primary Threats Over Single-Payer
| Fox and Hounds Daily |
Backers of the single-payer health care legislation, Senate Bill 562, have made it clear in trying to bully state lawmakers that if they don’t support their bill, they’ll run candidates against them in next June’s primaries. Assembly Democrats should call their bluff
Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra says he supports single-payer healthsystem for California
| Los Angeles Times |
The state Senate approved a bill two weeks ago that would create a system where the state government would replace private insurance companies, paying doctors and hospitals for healthcare.
One-third of world now overweight, with US leading the way
CNN.com
More than 2 billion adults and children globally are overweight or obese and suffer health problems because of their weight.. fueled by urbanization, poor diets and reduced physical activity.
Trump wants to deny nursing-home residents and their families the right to sue
Politico
Let’s say your elderly parent was neglected or abused in a nursing home. In the past, your only recourse might have been arbitration, rather than going to court. But thanks to a rule put in place last fall by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, nursing homes that receive federal funding — which is most of them — could no longer include so-called mandatory arbitration clauses in their contracts. In other words, residents and their family members were given back the right to sue. Now the Trump administration is trying to get rid of that protection
IMMIGRATION
‘Sanctuary State’ Bill Passes First Assembly Committee
Capital Public Radio
It didn’t garner much attention amid the news of a state budget deal, but a bill to make California a “sanctuary state” has passed its first committee in the Assembly.
FBI raids Sovereign Health rehab chain’s sites across Southern California
| Los Angeles Times |
Federal and state agents raided several locations Tuesday of the Southern California rehab company Sovereign Health as part of an ongoing probe, authorities said.
US citizen detained by immigration authorities asks California lawmakers to support ‘sanctuary state’ bill
| Los Angeles Times |
Guadalupe Plascencia told state lawmakers on Tuesday that she was frustrated and humiliated when she was handcuffed and detained in March by immigration authorities in San Bernardino, despite having become a U.S. citizen about 20 years ago.
JOBS AND THE ECONOMY
California economy, job market face further cooling
| The Mercury News |
Growth in California’s job market is expected to weaken this year and in the coming years, according to the widely watched UCLA Anderson Forecast’s latest report Tuesday.
Trump’s Stalled Stimulus Plan Will Slow California’s Job Growth, UCLA Forecast Says
LA Times
California will increase jobs and incomes more slowly than expected this year, mainly because President Trump’s big spending plans don’t seem to be coming to fruition yet. That’s the upshot of the latest forecast from economists at UCLA, released Tuesday, that predicts employment in California will increase by a modest 1.4% and personal income will grow by 3.1% this year. Earlier projections were more optimistic.
LAND USE/HOUSING
TRANSPORTATION
WATER
Why years of waiting may be over on Delta tunnels
| Sacramento Bee |
The state’s most powerful water agencies have set a September goal to decide whether they’re going pay for the biggest and most controversial water project California has undertaken since the 1960s: overhauling the plumbing system that pumps billions …
The Heart of California’s Water System Could Get Federal Recognition
Mercury
A proposal to designate the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta as a National Heritage Area has been kicking around Congress for six years. Erik Vink explains what the designation would do – and not do.
Some anti-drought programs face cuts
Capitol Weekley
“Californians stepped up during this drought and saved more water than ever before,” Gov. Jerry Brown said last year in a prepared statement. “But now we know that drought is becoming a regular occurrence and water conservation must be a part of our everyday life.”It’s also part of the 2017-18 state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
Our View: No good reason to lift watering restrictions
| The Bakersfield Californian |
Jerry Brown rescinded his drought declaration in early April, but the City of Bakersfield has kept its regulations in place.
Oroville Dam primary spillway reconstruction ‘ahead of schedule’
| KCRA Sacramento |
State credits dry weather to allow for construction to start early. With an ambitious deadline approaching for the recovery of Oroville Dam’s primary spillway, the state is reporting a strong start to reconstruction.
State orders in-depth assessments of more than 50 California dams following Oroville crisis
Los Angeles Times
In light of the crisis at Oroville Dam earlier this year, state regulators have begun ordering up-close inspections of aging dams throughout California.
Popular recreation areas remain closed off amid river safety concerns across Valley
ABC30
As temperatures heat up in Central California, water levels along rivers increase and that’s forcing some closures in Fresno County.
“Xtra”
Facebook post of ‘Deadpool’ gets 5 million views, then the FBI knocks on his door
| Fresno Bee |
A Fresno man was arrested Tuesday on a federal charge of copyright infringement for allegedly posting the movie “Deadpool” to his Facebook page, the government said.
The caller says he’s a cop – and you owe the government money. Now what?
| Fresno Bee |
There are no active or recent cases of phone scammers being prosecuted, said Steve Wright, spokesman for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office.
LOIS HENRY: Use of Juneteenth as marketing ploy to sell guns doesn’t go over well
| The Bakersfield Californian |
Second Amendment Sports, a Bakersfield gun shop, sent fliers advertising a sale based on Juneteeth, the day in 1865 Union soldiers freed slaves after the Civil War.
California’s senators ask residents to tell the federal government to stay away from the state’s national monuments
| Los Angeles Times |
President Trump recently ordered Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to review 27 national monuments created by the previous three presidents under the Antiquities Act, calling it “a massive federal land grab” that “should never have happened.”
Bill to change California fishing licenses applauded by locals
| The Turlock Journal |
Fishing enthusiasts around the state may soon have reason to celebrate, as a widely-criticized law is set to be scrapped following the passage of a bill authored by Senator Tom Berryhill (R-Twain Harte) in the California Senate.
What’s a movie-goer got to do to get a drink? BakersfieldAMC 6 delayed on booze permit
| The Bakersfield Californian |
Much of the discussion Tuesday centered on guidelines governing the sale of alcohol at movie theaters established by the City Council, which tackled the issue early this year
Delta pigs ‘rescued’ from island
| Stockton Record |
Farm Sanctuary also says it has seen images on social media of someone pouring beer into a pig’s mouth, and someone threatening to shoot one of the pigs for a pig roast later this summer.