June 8, 2021

08Jun

POLICY & POLITICS

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The Maddy Institute would like YOUR feedback! Please help us better serve you and our communities by taking a few moments to complete our annual survey.

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North SJ Valley:

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COVID Update:

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West Stanislaus County top needs are food, housing and utility assistance, survey finds

Modesto Bee

Help with utility payments, food and rent are top priorities for West Stanislaus County residents, according to a recent survey.

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Stanislaus County could spend $4.1 million replacing sheriff’s department helicopter

Modesto Bee

Stanislaus County could spend $4.1 million on the purchase and upgrades for a new Sheriff’s Department helicopter. An agenda item before county supervisors Tuesday calls for purchasing a 2014 Bell 407GXP Helicopter to replace the sheriff department’s 1972 Bell Jet Ranger.

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Ceres plant recycles plastic bottles into insulation. See how else it’s going green

Modesto Bee

Recycled plastic bottles are now part of the process at Kingspan Insulated Panels in Ceres. The Morgan Road plant also will install solar panels as part of the parent company’s efforts on behalf of the planet.

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Here's what to watch for at the Stockton City Council meeting Tuesday night

Stockton Record

The City Council is set to focus on budget discussions at its meeting Tuesday for the upcoming fiscal year, as well as an upgrade to the city's integrated library system and fire prevention.

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How much severance did Turlock pay its city manager? Read the settlement here

Modesto Bee

Turlock agreed to pay City Manager Toby Wells a $55,000 severance despite determining the city had sufficient cause to fire him, records obtained by The Bee on Friday showed.

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Central SJ Valley:

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COVID Update:

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Central schools superintendent arrested on domestic violence charge, Fresno police say

Fresno Bee

Andrew Alvarado, the superintendent of Central Unified Schools in Fresno, was arrested last week on suspicion of a domestic violence felony, the Fresno Police Department said Monday.

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Study highlights some of Fresno’s most dangerous streets, intersections

Business Journal

According to a recent pedestrian study, “Deadly By Design,” Fresno ranks as the 21st most dangerous city for pedestrians in America.

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Mold, leaks and pests: Substandard housing conditions continue in Fresno

Fresno Bee

Tenants at the Manchester Arms apartment complex in Fresno are not the only renters who have suffered unhealthy and unsafe living conditions, despite the Fresno city attorney’s claim that it was a rather isolated incident brought on by the pandemic.

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Loud fireworks every night in Fresno. Residents circulate petition saying enough already

Fresno Bee

Fresnans are taking to social media to vent their anger over loud explosions caused by illegal fireworks, and the frustrations have caught the attention of Mayor Jerry Dyer as well as police and fire officials.

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Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer launches foundation for youth. ‘There will not be a shortage of need’

Fresno Bee

Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer announced Monday a new foundation in which he will raise money to provide the city’s young people with scholarships and travel opportunities.

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Saltray will replace Draxler on Hanford City Council

Hanford Sentinel

The Hanford City Council has made its decision on who will replace Councilman John Draxler when he resigns his seat.

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South SJ Valley:

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COVID Update:

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Bakersfield City Council approves $3.15 million of funds for Affordable Housing Project

BakersfieldNow

The Bakersfield City Council met on Thursday and approved $3.15 million dollars of Home Dollars and Measure "N" money that will go towards the Affordable Housing Project.

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Full deployment of body cameras to all Kern County deputies awaits approval from supervisors

Bakersfield Californian

Currently, only deputies patrolling the metro Bakersfield area and Wasco, along with deputies in the Electronic Monitoring Program, have body cams. But that could soon change if the Board of Supervisors approves a contract with Axon Enterprise on Tuesday.

See also:

·  ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​​​ Justice Department to require federal agents to wear body cameras when serving warrants Los Angeles Times

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Part of Kern River Parkway to close for light installation

Bakersfield Californian

The Kern River Parkway will be closed from just west of The Park at River Walk to under the Stockdale Highway Bridge from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, Wednesday through Friday.

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Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County adding new location to summer meal service

KGET

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County is adding a new location to its grab and go meal service. Starting Wednesday, the club’s Summer Meal Service will also be distributed at the David Nelson Pocket Park, located at 1511 Niles St., from 2-3 p.m.

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State:

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COVID Update:

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When is the Newsom recall election? Maybe sooner than you think

CalMatters

The date of California’s recall election still is not set, but voters may decide the governor’s fate closer to Labor Day than November.

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With Restrictions Tightening Elsewhere, California Moves to Make Abortion Cheaper

California Healthline

State lawmakers are debating a bill to eliminate out-of-pocket expenses like copays and payments toward deductibles for abortions and related services, such as counseling. The measure would apply to most private health plans regulated by the state.

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California homes cost more than ever. What are Gov. Newsom and lawmakers doing about it?

Sacramento Bee

The median single-family home in the Golden State sold for 23.9% more in March 2021 than it did a year ago, underscoring an increasingly exclusive housing market that’s squeezing middle- and low-income families out of California.

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Capitol Weekly Podcast: Inside the Horseshoe with Jim Deboo

Capitol Weekly

Capitol Weekly’s John Howard and Tim Foster are joined today by Gov. Newsom’s Executive Secretary, (aka chief of staff) Jim Deboo. Deboo joined the governor’s office in January, just as the pandemic surged in the wake of the holidays.

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Stapley: Common ground despite California water wars

Modesto Bee

California’s water wars are legendary, complex and ongoing. To avoid getting too far in the weeds, media often boil it down to a dispute over who should have priority to a limited supply of water — people or fish.

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Inside the California organization tracking anti-Asian hate incidents

CalMatters

Stop AAPI Hate, a California-based coalition, has recorded nearly 7,000 hate incidents involving Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders nationwide since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Mathews: I, The California Budget, Am Worried I Might Be Too Big

Zocalo Public Square

Do you really think that bulking me up with your billions will solve California’s post-pandemic problems?

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Federal:

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COVID Update:

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‘A lot of anxiety’ for Democrats as Biden agenda to rebuild economy and reshape U.S. stalls

Los Angeles Times

Hopes for a big infrastructure investment are teetering. An ambitious elections and voting bill is all but dead. Legislation on police brutality, gun control and immigration has stalled out.

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Biden embraces symbolism, but substance on some issues proves more difficult

Washington Post

Biden came to office with an abiding belief in the potency of symbols and in the ability of a president’s utterances to influence not just policy, but the course of a nation.

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Hiltzik: The right’s attack on Fauci shows it has nothing in its policy tank but slogans

Los Angeles Times

All politicians appreciate the power of a symbol, a slogan or a mantra. That must account for the right wing’s transformation of the name of Anthony S. Fauci, America’s best-known and most respected immunologist, into an all-purpose swear word.

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Here's What Harris Will Do On Her 1st VP Trip To Guatemala And Mexico

VPR

VP Harris is in Guatemala City to kick off the first foreign trip of her time in office, a two-day mission aimed at trying to strengthen ties with Guatemala and Mexico and tackle tough and longstanding problems such as corruption, violence and poverty.

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Logjams Are Keeping Much of $47 Billion in Federal Aid From Renters

Wall Street Journal

Local governments across the U.S. have struggled with how to distribute the money, and some have complained that their staffs are being deluged by a flood of aid requests, while numerous renters are being disqualified for failing to correctly complete their applications.

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More High-Speed Rail Needed in Highway Bill, State Officials Say

Bloomberg

Rail companies and state officials are pushing lawmakers for more high-speed rail money in infrastructure legislation, along with measures to encourage private capital for the industry.

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Senate report details Capitol Police failures leading up to Jan. 6

Roll Call

A joint Senate committee report has found that the Capitol Police intelligence units failed to communicate the full scope of the threat information they had and that the department was not adequately prepared to prevent or respond to a looming security threat on Jan. 6.

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Republican leaders say they want to focus on the future, but Trump is far from done with the past

Washington Post

Former president Donald Trump spoke June 5 to the North Carolina GOP, deriding Facebook's Mark Zuckerburg, infectious disease expert Anthony S. Fauci and China.

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·  ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​​​ The Evangelical Politician Who Doesn’t Recognize His Faith—or His Party The Atlantic

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Opinion: Five myths about bipartisanship

Washington Post

It is common for Americans to rue the absence of bipartisanship. Even expressly partisan figures like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Trump have called for more cross-party collaboration.

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·  ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​​​ Bringing back decorum and civility in the public sector Western City

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Supreme Court won’t review men-only draft registration law

Los Angeles Times

The Supreme Court on Monday said it won’t take up a case that asked it to decide whether it’s sex discrimination for the government to require only men to register for the draft when they turn 18.

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Other:

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The new journalism — and the PR firms behind it

Washington Post

At first glance, Checks and Balances Project looks like a traditional if scrappy news site — an “investigative watchdog blog,” as it bills itself, filled with serious stories scrutinizing corporate activities and government officials.

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Major websites experience outages, including New York Times, CNN and Reddit

Washington Post

A massive outage struck large swaths of the Internet early Tuesday, causing the New York Times, CNN, BBC, Amazon, Hulu and other high-traffic websites and platforms to temporarily shut down.

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Why Black Latinos say they live in two worlds: ‘We are here and we are also invisible’

Fresno Bee

Marie Nubia-Feliciano wanted to know about Latino student organizations when she arrived at UC Irvine in 1990 and visited the school’s multicultural center.

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MADDY INSTITUTE PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAMMING

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Sunday, June 13, at 10 a.m on ABC30 – Maddy Report: "Recreational Cannabis: Hashing Out the Issues"- Guests: Van Butsic - Cannabis Research Center, UC Berkeley; Phoebe Parker-Shames - UC Berkeley Center for Cannabis Research; Jay Kelly, Chief Operations Officer - California Cannabis Co.; Tim Dodd, CEO & Co-Founder - Sweet Flower. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.

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Sunday, June 13, at 10 a.m. on Newstalk 580AM/105.9FM (KMJ) – Maddy Report - Valley Views Edition: "Keeping them Honest: The Role of State and Local Watchdogs" - Guests: Jim Boren, Executive Director - Institute for Media and Public Trust at Fresno State; Dympna Ugwu-Oju, Co-Editor - Fresno Bee's Fresnoland. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.

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AGRICULTURE/FOOD

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Summer Meals Program begins this week, offering nutritious food to Merced County kids

Merced Sun-Star

The Merced Union High School District will provide free breakfast and lunch to children throughout the summer beginning this week.

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Opinion: How California can create a more equitable food system

CalMatters

California’s food and farming system was tested in unprecedented ways this past year, with the overlap of the pandemic, climate change, and systemic inequities disproportionately affecting small farmers.

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CRIMINAL JUSTICE/FIRE/PUBLIC SAFETY

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Crime:

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Foul play possible in downtown Fresno fire at historic Pacific Southwest building

Fresno Bee

The Pacific Southwest Building was vandalized prior to the fire that broke out on an upper floor of the high rise and investigators are working to see if the two incidents are related.

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Fresno IRS employee was caught helping fake tax returns. She scammed more than $100,000

Fresno Bee

A former employee of the Internal Revenue Service in Fresno attempted to defraud the government agency of more than $170,000.

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Walters: California’s death penalty is reconsidered again

CalMatters

A bellwether of California’s ever-shifting cultural landscape is capital punishment. The issue has been simmering, and occasionally boiling over, for more than seven decades.

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Public Safety:

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Loud fireworks every night in Fresno. Residents circulate petition saying enough already

Fresno Bee

Fresnans are taking to social media to vent their anger over loud explosions caused by illegal fireworks, and the frustrations have caught the attention of Mayor Jerry Dyer as well as police and fire officials.

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Robert Price: She came so close, and then fentanyl

Bakersfield Californian

Illicitly manufactured fentanyl is Russian roulette: the substance is so potent, a mixture of the active ingredient and its cutting agents need only be off by a few micrograms for a desirable high to instead end in death

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Justice Department to require federal agents to wear body cameras when serving warrants

Los Angeles Times

The Justice Department announced it will require federal agents to wear body cameras when serving arrest warrants or conducting raids, a shift that aligns federal law enforcement more closely with the growing legion of local police officers who wear such devices.

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Walters: California gun laws headed for legal showdown

CalMatters

California now has the nation’s most restrictive gun laws but gun owners contend that they violate the U.S. Constitution’s “right to bear arms,” and the issue could land in the Supreme Court after three decisions by one federal judge supporting that contention.

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Justice Department announces new steps to reduce gun violence

The Hill

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday it has taken steps to reduce gun violence by tackling the use of stabilizing devices that convert pistols into rifles and by publishing model legislation on red flag laws.

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Fire:

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Evacuation warnings are issued by Madera County as fire burns near Coarsegold

Fresno Bee

Just before midnight, the Madera County Sheriff’s Office lifted the evacuation warning for people within a 1-mile radius of Road 600 and Road 612, northwest of Coarsegold.

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Fire killed thousands of mature giant sequoias, Sierra research shows. What’s happening now?

Fresno Bee

Between 7,500 and 10,600 mature giant sequoias over 4 feet in diameter were likely killed last year by a California wildfire, new research shows.

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Supervisor recalls how Trump, first responders and businesses blunted worst of the creek fire

Business Journal

Direct intervention by then President Donald Trump was instrumental in bringing federal aid to the mountain community in the wake of the devastating Creek Fire last year.

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Will Drought Fan the Flames this Fire Season?

PPIC

Will the current drought increase the chances of another bad fire season this year? We talked to Scott Stephens―a fire ecologist at UC Berkeley and a member of the PPIC Water Policy Center research network―about the risks, and what can be done.

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Wildfires Are Getting Worse, So Why Is the U.S. Still Building Homes with Wood?

Time

The fire consumed the hillside, charring trees and bushes and homes on its way to devastating 70,000 acres in northern California.

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ECONOMY/JOBS

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Economy:

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California has third best state economy, study says. See rankings

Fresno Bee

Some state economies hurt more than others during the COVID-19 pandemic, personal-finance website WalletHub reported. Washington ranked No. 2, California No. 3, Utah No. 1.

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Recovery or Relapse? Tools to Help Local Governments Navigate the Financial Realities of COVID

Institute for Local Government

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged many local government revenues and budgets. As California begins to reopen, local agencies are assessing their options to be able to continue to provide essential services and programming.

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Kamala Harris Gets It Mostly Right On Claim One-Third Of Small Businesses Shut Down During Pandemic

Capital Public Radio

There’s no doubt small businesses have suffered during the COVID-19 crisis, especially those that rely on walk-in customers like restaurants, cafes, salons and barber shops.

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Commodity Price Surges Add to Inflation Fears

Wall Street Journal

Higher prices for commodities are flowing through to more companies and consumers, making it harder for central bankers to ignore them

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Jobs:

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Masks? Social distancing? We answer your questions on California’s new COVID workplace rules

Fresno Bee

California has new COVID workplace safety standards, but only after weeks of delay, nine-plus hours of discussion and multiple votes.

See also:

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Ex-cons could relieve restaurant, retail hiring shortages as CA economy reopens

abc7

Among the challenges many shops and restaurants face to re-open June 15, is staffing up. While Labor Department statistics released Friday show a slight decrease in the unemployment rate, analysts say a modest rise in hiring confirms the shortage of workers.

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May jobs report: Still not what stimulus backers promised

AEI

News reports suggested the May jobs figure “disappointed again” because it fell short of economists’ expectations of 671,000 more jobs.

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Op-Ed: Is the US economy facing a labor shortage?

AEI

According to the Labor Department, employment picked up in May, albeit at a slower than expected pace. While the market had expected employment to increase by 650,000 jobs, in the event only 559,000 jobs were added.

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EDUCATION

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K-12:

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Central schools superintendent arrested on domestic violence charge, Fresno police say

Fresno Bee

Andrew Alvarado, the superintendent of Central Unified Schools in Fresno, was arrested last week on suspicion of a domestic violence felony, the Fresno Police Department said Monday.

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Another COVID side effect: Many kids head to summer school

Fresno Bee

With her three teenagers vaccinated against COVID-19, Aja Purnell-Mitchell left it up to them to decide whether to go back to school during summer break. The decision was unanimous: summer school.

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No vaccines for young children, but schools can reopen safely in the fall, a study shows

Los Angeles Times

The masks, the social distancing, the stick-up-the-nose testing: Those unpleasant coronavirus-controlling measures are far from over for K-12 kids returning to in-school learning after summer vacation ends.

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Will California public schools continue free lunches for all?

CalMatters

Legislators want to spend $650 million a year to continue a pandemic program for free meals for all California public school students. The proposal will be decided in budget talks this week.

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Opinion: California wants teachers to violate education's Hippocratic Oath

The Hill

In an effort to promote equity, the state’s Instructional Quality Commission earlier this year adopted a new Mathematics Framework that urges schools to do away with accelerated math programs in order to promote “heterogeneous grouping” of students.

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Higher Ed:

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UCSF Fresno residents vote to unionize. They say protections were stripped, funding cut

Fresno Bee

An overwhelming majority of UCSF Fresno interns, residents and fellow physicians voted to unionize after seeing their program benefits being slashed and the number of residency slots being decreased — actions they say took place in the midst of the pandemic.

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BC will offer in-person classes this summer, fall

Bakersfield Californian

Bakersfield College said in a news release Monday that it will offer in-person instruction during the 2021 summer and fall semesters.

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Many CSU students see big upsides to online learning. Now, there is a push to expand it

Los Angeles Times

At CSU’s largely commuter campuses, many found valuable upsides to virtual learning: greater flexibility in their college-work-life balance, fewer expenses, the power to keep students in college.

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FAFSA verification: An undue burden for students and public colleges

Brookings

Particularly for students from under-resourced and minoritized groups, their FAFSA has a good chance of being flagged for further scrutiny, jeopardizing the aid they qualify for.

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ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY

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Environment:

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Ceres plant recycles plastic bottles into insulation. See how else it’s going green

Modesto Bee

Recycled plastic bottles are now part of the process at Kingspan Insulated Panels in Ceres. The Morgan Road plant also will install solar panels as part of the parent company’s efforts on behalf of the planet.

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For environmentalists, California's Legislature has been 'a bloodbath' this year

San Francisco Chronicle

Nearly every major environmental measure at the Capitol has been killed or shelved this session, from a bill that would have required buffer zones around oil drilling sites near homes to another that would have required large corporations to report their greenhouse gas emissions.

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CO2 reaches its highest level in more than 4 million years

Sacramento Bee

As surely as the rains fall and flowers blossom, the Northern Hemisphere awakens every June to another, less inspiring rite of spring—a new peak level for global atmospheric carbon dioxide.

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Energy:

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California Assembly Debating Solar Energy Reforms

kpbs

The California Assembly is still considering a controversial measure that could dramatically change the solar market in California. It failed to get a majority vote the first time it was put up for consideration, but the measure could be voted on again before Friday.

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We Reported on How California Rarely Cracks Down on Oil Companies. Now Regulators Have Fined One Company $1.5 Million.

ProPublica

After years of lax enforcement, California regulators slapped hefty fines on an oil company for nearly 600 violations. But concerns remain whether that penalty will ever be paid.

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Toward Deep Decarbonization

Foreign Policy

Transformational technologies are essential to the clean energy transition.

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HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

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Health:

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FDA approves much-debated Alzheimer’s drug panned by experts

Los Angeles Times

In a decision based as much on hope as on science, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a drug designed to treat Alzheimer’s disease despite scant evidence that it improved the symptoms of patients who tested it.

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FDA approves popular diabetes medicine to be sold as weight-loss drug in US

abc30

Regulators on Friday said a new version of a popular diabetes medicine could be sold as a weight-loss drug in the U.S.

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Scientists begin to unravel the mysteries of the coronavirus and brains

Washington Post

Even as the pandemic appears ready to recede in the United States, dropping below an average of 30,000 new cases daily, it will take years to fully understand the way the virus afflicts the brain.

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Human Services:

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In just two months, vaccine efforts make good progress among Fresno teens. Here’s how

Fresno Bee

Teens younger than 18 have only been able to get coronavirus vaccines for about two months, but in that short time, nearly one in five eligible children ages 12 to 17 have received at least one dose in Fresno County.

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No, COVID vaccines don’t make you magnetic. Experts debunk social media videos

Fresno Bee

Social media videos of COVID-19 vaccinated people sticking coins and refrigerator magnets to their arms have been spreading a popular conspiracy that the coronavirus shots contain microchips or other metals supposedly used by the government to track Americans.

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When Do COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Expire? About Six Months, Depending On Storage.

Capital Public Radio

How soon vaccines expire is a critical question as the Biden administration prepares to send tens of millions of unused COVID-19 doses abroad to help curb the pandemic.

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IMMIGRATION

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Supreme Court says TPS recipients who arrived illegally have no right to green card

Los Angeles Times

The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a setback to hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have so-called temporary protected status, ruling they can’t have a green card if they entered the country illegally.

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Advocates chide Biden over ICE funding plan

Roll Call

Budget proposal for the DHS agency would keep spending at Trump-era levels in fiscal 2022.

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Central America and the root causes of migration to the US

Politifact

People and experts in Central America describe countries where crisis conditions caused by wars, displacement, scarcity, a legacy of corporate colonialism and other social ills have hampered daily life to the point of desperation.

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LAND USE/HOUSING

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Land Use:

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What’s going into Modesto’s vacant Sonic? Update on construction projects underway

Modesto Bee

As summer nears, construction in Modesto has ramped up and work is underway at a number of new business sites around the city.

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Housing:

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Mold, leaks and pests: Substandard housing conditions continue in Fresno

Fresno Bee

Tenants at the Manchester Arms apartment complex in Fresno are not the only renters who have suffered unhealthy and unsafe living conditions, despite the Fresno city attorney’s claim that it was a rather isolated incident brought on by the pandemic.

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Bakersfield City Council approves $3.15 million of funds for Affordable Housing Project

BakersfieldNow

The Bakersfield City Council met on Thursday and approved $3.15 million dollars of Home Dollars and Measure "N" money that will go towards the Affordable Housing Project.

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California homes cost more than ever. What are Gov. Newsom and lawmakers doing about it?

Sacramento Bee

The median single-family home in the Golden State sold for 23.9% more in March 2021 than it did a year ago, underscoring an increasingly exclusive housing market that’s squeezing middle- and low-income families out of California.

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Editorial: To solve homelessness, California should declare a right to housing

Los Angeles Times

Housing should be a human right, ideally one enshrined in the United States Constitution. But that shouldn’t stop the city of Los Angeles from adopting such a right. In fact, the City Council has asked city agencies to research the idea. It’s an idea whose time has come.

See also:

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Logjams Are Keeping Much of $47 Billion in Federal Aid From Renters

Wall Street Journal

Local governments across the U.S. have struggled with how to distribute the money, and some have complained that their staffs are being deluged by a flood of aid requests, while numerous renters are being disqualified for failing to correctly complete their applications.

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PUBLIC FINANCES

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The ‘Golden State Stimulus’ Includes Undocumented Californians, But Many Can’t Access Their Checks

KQED

When the ‘Golden State Stimulus’ was approved and signed into law, undocumented immigrants were hopeful that they’d finally receive some direct relief. But bureaucratic hoops have prevented many people from accessing this money in a timely fashion.

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Raises are restored for California state workers in new SEIU Local 1000 deal. Here’s how much

Sacramento Bee

California state employees represented by SEIU Local 1000 will receive a 4.55% raise when their full pay is restored next month under an agreement finalized Friday.

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The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax

ProPublica

ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing.

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The Government Is Here to Help Small Businesses — Unless They’re Cooperatives

ProPublica

The Small Business Administration’s rules prevent it from helping most employee- and consumer-owned cooperatives, even though Congress specifically asked it to. The result? Co-ops are largely cut out of the mainstream financial system.

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Will saving for retirement soon get simpler? Here’s what Congress has planned

Fresno Bee

Saving for retirement — and understanding your benefits — could get a lot simpler soon. Older people could contribute more to their retirement savings. Part-time workers could find it easier to build retirement accounts.

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Did you pay taxes on unemployment benefits? You may be getting a refund from IRS

Modesto Bee

Millions who paid taxes on unemployment benefits in 2020 could get a refund from the Internal Revenue Service.

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Internet Ads Are a Popular Tax Target for Both Parties

PEW Trusts

The proliferation of unwanted internet ads and Big Tech’s staggering pandemic profits have fueled bipartisan efforts to tax digital ads or find other ways to capture revenue from tech companies’ mining of personal information.

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TRANSPORTATION

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Study highlights some of Fresno’s most dangerous streets, intersections

Business Journal

According to a recent pedestrian study, “Deadly By Design,” Fresno ranks as the 21st most dangerous city for pedestrians in America.

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California Approves A Pilot Program For Driverless Rides

Capital Public Radio

The California Public Utilities Commission announced Friday that Cruise, a self-driving car service out of San Francisco, has been authorized to participate in the state's first pilot program to provide driverless ride services to the public.

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Legislature Doesn’t Want to Release Voter-Approved Prop 1A Funds to High Speed Rail… Yet?

StreetsBlog

Ongoing, behind-the scenes negotiations between Governor Newsom, the Assembly, and the Senate on the 2021 budget continue this week in a push to meet the budget-signing deadline of June 30.

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House Democrats propose transportation bill with $109 billion for transit, $95 billion for rail

Trains

Legislation would include $32 billion for Amtrak, funding for high speed rail, federal 10-minute blocked-crossing limit

See also:

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Automakers face a threat to EV sales: Slow charging times

Bakersfield Californian

If the auto industry is to succeed in its bet that electric vehicles will soon dominate the roads, it will need to overcome a big reason why many people are still avoiding them: Fear of running out of juice between Point A and Point B.

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WATER

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California’s Reservoirs Face Dangerously Low Levels

Capital Public Radio

The lack of significant rain this past winter is putting California's reservoirs at dangerously low levels. Experts say this drought is hotter and drier than previous ones, which means the water is evaporating faster.

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How Water Bonds Plug Spending Holes

PPIC

As California responds to yet another drought and prepares for a future of greater climate extremes, securing funding to boost the water system’s resilience is a top priority.

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Stapley: Finding common ground despite California’s long-running water wars

Modesto Bee

Three years ago, Modesto- and Turlock-area farmers collectively received 150,000 acre-feet more water than expected, thanks to fancy technology.

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California entry wins US tap water prize at tasting contest

AP News

A southern California water district has won the top prize for U.S. tap water at an international tasting contest.

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Drought-stricken Nevada enacts ban on ‘non-functional’ grass

AP News

In Sin City, one thing that will soon become unforgivable is useless grass. A new Nevada law will outlaw about 31% of the grass in the Las Vegas area in an effort to conserve water amid a drought that’s drying up the region’s primary water source: the Colorado River.

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“Xtra”

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Walters: California’s tribal casinos now want sports betting

Hanford Sentinel

When retired lobbyist Jay Michael and I wrote a book about political power shifts two decades ago, we devoted one chapter to the dramatic evolution of California’s Indian tribes from repression and abject poverty to having a legal monopoly on casino gambling.

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Amazon is about to share your Internet connection with neighbors. Here’s how to turn it off.

Washington Post

You have no control over what sort of data flows over Amazon’s new Sidewalk wireless network, which has been lying dormant in Echo smart speakers and Ring cameras ... until now

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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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