POLICY & POLITICS
North SJ Valley:
COVID Update:
● Oct. 7: Stanislaus reports seven deaths. Hospital cases decline Modesto Bee
Is Tracy too liberal? Republicans try to cut city out of tossup California district
Sacramento Bee
Groups of right-leaning San Joaquin Valley residents and farming families want to make one Democratic congressional district just a bit more Republican as the state prepares to redraw its legislative boundaries.
See also:
● Are commuters too liberal? Modesto Republicans try to cut Tracy out of Harder’s district Modesto Bee
● Bye Tracy? North Valley residents push redraw to make Harder’s district… harder San Joaquin Valley Sun
Hundreds of families crowd Stanislaus education office to protest student vaccine mandate
Modesto Bee
Hundreds of families crowded sidewalks outside the Stanislaus County Office of Education on Wednesday morning to protest Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement that eligible students must get vaccinated for COVID-19 pending full approval from the U.S. FDA.
Mental health grant to close equity gaps in Stanislaus communities, using schools as hubs
Modesto Bee
As the Stanislaus County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) agency experiences increased calls to its crisis line, more mental health services for underserved individuals in the region soon will be available.
Annual count finds record number of homeless people in Stanislaus, its cities
Modesto Bee
In a Tuesday news release, the Stanislaus Community System of Care said this year’s tally turned up 2,927 homeless people, which broke last year’s record of 2,107 people. Previous counts have ranged from 1,156 to 1,923 people.
Housing Watch: Merced home prices hit all-time high
abc30
Just 92 homes were available to buyers in Merced. Normally, you would see 350-400 houses for sale, according to realtors. Growing demand has helped push the average price of a home in Merced to an all-time high.
UC Merced Leads Innovative Effort to Secure Water for Agriculture and Ecosystems
UC Merced Newsroom
The new $10 million collaborative focuses on water banking, trading and improvements in data-driven management practices to arrive at a climate-resilient future in water-scarce regions of the United States.
Central SJ Valley:
COVID Update:
● How many Fresno-area hospital workers met the deadline to get their COVID vaccines? Fresno Bee
● How many vaccinated people have caught COVID-19 in Fresno, Valley? Here’s what the data shows Fresno Bee
● COVID cases in younger patients leveling off, Public Health urges caution Hanford Sentinel
Clovis parents urge school board to fight Calif’s new student vaccination mandate
Fresno Bee
Clovis Unified parents and community members asked the city’s school board to defy state coronavirus orders Wednesday night, during the first board meeting since Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate for school children.
See also:
● Clovis Unified officials react to latest vaccine mandate yourcentralvalley.com
Fresno Unified to receive $8.2 million to help principals ensure equity in classrooms
abc30
Fresno Unified, like many other parts of the country, is getting more racially and ethnically diverse. But research shows students of color fall behind their peers, creating long-term implications.
Fresno County is majority Latino. Advocates want new districts to improve voting power
Fresno Bee
Maps backed by volunteers from the Dolores Huerta Foundation and Communities for a New California had the clear support of several dozen people who spoke to the county’s Redistricting Advisory Commission this week.
See also:
· Opinion: Local political lines are being redrawn. Forum will focus on why it's important to voters Visalia Delta Times
Data shows in Fresno, 94% of Black people in areas at high risk for illness from toxic pollutants
abc30
Two-thirds of those cities showed a racial disparity in the respiratory risk posed by air pollution, showing people of color are more likely to live in neighborhoods bad for your health. That includes Fresno, but local groups are taking action to change that.
Fresno Startup Creates Automated Modules For Growing Food
Business Journal
Based in Fresno, Vertical AgriTech Inc. is an agtech startup developing cultivation software and smart devices for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). The team at Vertical AgriTech have developed a flagship product, the “Alchemist,” a programmable indoor garden.
More money for drought, wildfires should be coming
Porterville Recorder
While hundreds of millions of dollars were allocated to deal with the issues of wildfires and drought in this year's state budget, the consensus is that's still not enough. And that something will be done about it.
Drought wants to knock out this small California town. The people who love it are trying to save it
Los Angeles Times
Like many rural towns in the American West, Stratford, about 40 miles south of Fresno in Kings County, is a shell of even its humble heyday. It’s fading amid ever-rising temperatures, years of drought and recession.
South SJ Valley:
COVID Update:
● COVID-19 hospitalizations pass peak, but there's potential for new surge Bakersfield Californian
● Kern Public Health reports 453 new COVID cases, 6 new deaths on Thursday Bakersfield Californian
Bakersfield Californian
Bakersfield revealed for the first time its plan for around $94.5M in funding it has partially received as part of a federal coronavirus stimulus package. The boost to city resources is expected to touch nearly all facets of city life, from homelessness to water conservation.
Bolthouse Properties hopes to rezone land for new park, church
KGET 17
Bolthouse Properties is petitioning the Bakersfield City Council to rezone an area in Southwest Bakersfield to build a new community park and church. The council is set to decide on the issue Wednesday night during its meeting.
Hanford Sentinel
Signed on Tuesday by Gavin Newsom, AB 56 will reportedly speed up eligible unemployment insurance claims, protect citizens from identity theft, make it harder to commit fraud against the unemployment system and ready Californians for the next economic crisis.
See also:
· New California laws aim to combat fraud in jobless benefits Sacramento Bee
State:
COVID Update:
● Calif is shaking off the worst of the Delta variant surge Los Angeles Times
● Big question for Newsom, lawmakers: Who can can opt out of school COVID vaccine mandate? Los Angeles Times
● One loophole remains in student COVID-19 vaccination mandate CalMatters
Bill aims to reduce Black maternal deaths, which are prevalent in the Central Valley
Sacramento Bee
The surveillance report also shows that the highest pregnancy-related deaths in the state are concentrated in the San Joaquin Valley, excluding Stockton, amounting to 17.8 deaths per 100,000 live births.
New California laws aim to combat fraud in jobless benefits
Sacramento Bee
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed new laws to tighten security in the state’s unemployment system after his administration OK’d billions of dollars in fraudulent payments during the pandemic while legitimate claimants languished in a backlog awaiting approval.
CEQA lawsuits are blocking needle exchange programs. A new law will stop that
Los Angeles Times
Opponents of hypodermic needle exchanges relied on a novel strategy to shut them down: using environmental regulations to sue over needle waste. A bill signed Monday by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom will thwart that tactic.
See also:
● Needle Exchanges Are Targets of Eco-Rooted Lawsuits. A New Law Will Stop That. California Healthline
California governor vetoes ballot bill after beating recall
Associated Press
Weeks after surviving a midterm recall election, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday vetoed for the second time a bill that might have made such attempts more difficult in the future.
Market Watch
California will soon give tip protections to delivery workers and require more transparency from DoorDash Inc. and other food-delivery apps under a bill signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday night.
Walters: California experiments with social democracy
CalMatters
California, as everyone should know by now, has the nation’s highest rate of poverty as determined by the Census Bureau when the cost-of-living is included in the calculation.
A Conversation with Chief Justice of California Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye
Public Policy Institute of California
Join us for a conversation with Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye—chief justice of California and leader of the state’s judicial branch—about the challenges brought on by the pandemic and the opportunities for reform created during this unprecedented time.
Federal:
COVID Update:
● White House will spend an additional $1 billion on rapid at-home COVID tests VPR
● Biden Admin to Spend $1 Billion to Boost Rapid Covid-19 Tests Wall Street Journal
● Long-Covid Concerns Help Fuel Biden Admin’s Broad Vaccine Booster Push Wall Street Journal
● Unvaccinated Americans are at higher risk from COVID-19 but express less concern than vaccinated adults Pew Research Center
● White House Report: Vaccination Requirements Are Helping Vaccinate More People, Protect Americans from COVID-19, and Strengthen the Economy The White House
Democrats say they'll accept the GOP's offer of a temporary debt fix
VPR
Democrats say they are willing to accept an offer from Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for a short-term lift of the debt limit. But they say they remain unwilling to accept a related demand to use McConnell's preferred procedure to pass a longer suspension of the borrowing cap.
See also:
● What will happen if Congress doesn’t raise the federal debt limit? Los Angeles Times
● Democrats Weigh GOP Offer for Short-Term Debt-Limit Extension Wall Street Journal
● Schumer Says Deal Reached on Short-Term Debt-Limit Extension Wall Street Journal
● Senate leaders announce short-term deal to raise debt ceiling $480 billion into December Washington Post
● McConnell proposes debt limit deal Axios
● Democrats, Republicans agree to short-term debt limit increase Roll Call
● Fact-checking Biden’s claim that raising debt limit is usually bipartisan PolitiFact
How to cut a reconciliation bill
Politico
Democrats are debating whether to remove items from their reconciliation bill or to simply trim funding across the gamut of programs as they contend with a lowered topline spending number.
See also:
● The US is closer than ever before to making major progress on the climate crisis Vox
● With GOP sidelined, Manchin steps up to defend fossil fuels Roll Call
● Nothing about the Biden spending plan is certain, including its health provisions AEI
● Opinion: We’re broke. We can’t just keep spending like we’re not. AEI
Federal Judge Blocks Texas Abortion Law
Wall Street Journal
A federal judge late Wednesday blocked enforcement of a Texas ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a legal blow against a novel law that has severely limited the procedure statewide.
See also:
● Federal Judge Pauses Strict Texas Law Banning Most Abortions New York Times
● Federal judge blocks enforcement of Texas abortion ban; state will appeal Washingotn Post
● A U.S. judge blocks enforcement of Texas' controversial new abortion law NPR
● U.S. judge blocks enforcement of near-total abortion ban in Texas Reuters
GOP peels its centrists away from Biden's bipartisan infrastructure plan
Politico
Democratic leaders' ambitious domestic agenda is trapped in a political tug of war: The more they yank toward progressives, the more they pull away from centrist GOP forces that rallied behind their infrastructure bill.
See also:
● Opinion: Biden’s Broadband Boondoggle Wall Street Journal
Republicans surge ahead of Democrats as party viewed best for prosperity, poll finds
Sacramento Bee
The Gallup poll found more Americans “by significant margins” think the GOP is better than the Democratic party at protecting the country from international threats and ensuring prosperity in the country.
Senate report gives new details of Trump efforts to use Justice Dept. to overturn election
Washington Post
A Senate report on Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election offers new details about an Oval Office confrontation between Trump and the Justice Department, revealing the extent to which government lawyers threatened to resign en masse if the president removed his attorney general.
Editorial: Merrick Garland’s Federal Offense
Wall Street Journal
Is there a culture-war issue that Merrick Garland won’t jump into? We can’t think of one, and now the Attorney General is nosing the Justice Department into debates at local school boards.
Other:
Trust in media nears record low: Gallup
The Hill
Only 7 percent of all Americans say they have "a great deal" of trust in reports appearing in newspapers, on television or in other media outlets, and 29 percent said they have "a fair amount" of trust in the media, the Gallup poll published on Thursday found.
Instagram and teens: How to keep your kids safe
Sacramento Bee
For many parents, revelations this week from whistleblower Frances Haugen showing internal Facebook studies of the harms of Instagram for teenagers only intensified concerns about the popular photo sharing app.
Facebook blames outage on error during routine maintenance
Sacramento Bee
The global outage that knocked Facebook and its other platforms offline for hours was caused by an error during routine maintenance, the company said.
See also:
● Facebook Slows New Products for ‘Reputational Reviews’ Wall Street Journal
Editorial: Beyond Bruce’s Beach is the tarnished American dream for Black Americans
Los Angeles Times
The unfolding series of events that will return the Manhattan Beach property to the family that purchased it, built it into a thriving business venture and then lost it to anti-Black bigotry nearly a century ago is a mark not merely of some new progressive consciousness but of solid, time-tested American values.
MADDY INSTITUTE PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAMMING
Sunday, October 10, at 10 a.m on ABC30 – Maddy Report: "Getting a Bigger Bang for the Buck: How Regional Public Universities Can Help Distressed Communities" - Guest: Robert Maxim, Senior Research Associate - The Brookings Institution. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.
Sunday, October 10, at 10 a.m. on Newstalk 580AM/105.9FM (KMJ) – Maddy Report - Valley Views Edition: "The Current and Future Economic Impact of the Valley’s CSU’s"- Guests: Lynette Zelezny, President - CSU Bakersfield; Ellen Junn, President - CSU Stanislaus; Saul Jimenez-Sandoval, President - Fresno State. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.
AGRICULTURE/FOOD
Climate, exports and family food budgets: Ag Secretary tackles topics with Valley leaders
Modesto Bee
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack talked Tuesday about Central Valley farmers’ role in a climate-safe future, and about families stressed by food costs. He took part in a Zoom call with Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, and leaders in California agriculture.
Fresno Startup Creates Automated Modules For Growing Food
Business Journal
Based in Fresno, Vertical AgriTech Inc. is an agtech startup developing cultivation software and smart devices for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). The team at Vertical AgriTech have developed a flagship product, the “Alchemist,” a programmable indoor garden.
UC Merced Leads Innovative Effort to Secure Water for Agriculture and Ecosystems
UC Merced Newsroom
The new $10 million collaborative focuses on water banking, trading and improvements in data-driven management practices to arrive at a climate-resilient future in water-scarce regions of the United States.
Grape-Picking Robots Can Help Replace Manual Labor On Vineyards, UC Davis Research Shows
CBS 13
Grapes are California’s third-largest crop, valued at nearly $6 billion a year. There’s growing concern this season that there may not be enough people to work in the fields, but those workers may not be needed much longer.
See also:
● Robots Take Over Italy’s Vineyards as Wineries Struggle With Covid-19 Worker Shortages Wall Street Journal
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/FIRE/PUBLIC SAFETY
Crime:
Washington Post
At least 35 state qualified-immunity bills have died in the past 18 months, according to an analysis by The Washington Post of legislative records and data from the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Opinion: Crime Is Up and Democrats Are Scrambling
Wall Street Journal
Last week’s Federal Bureau of Investigation report on the nationwide rise in homicides might be the least surprising news of the year. Nor is it any shock that the political left is trying to duck blame for the trend.
Public Safety:
QR codes are a privacy problem — but not for the reasons you’ve heard
Washington Post
Your favorite server at your local pizza spot may remember you love anchovies. Now, thanks in part to the QR code you used to open the menu and order, other eateries might know, too.
Biden Admin to Impose Cyber Requirements on ‘High-Risk’ Rail-Transit Systems
Wall Street Journal
Officials said the mandates, which follow new rules on pipeline operators earlier this year, were necessary because of surface-transportation systems’ vital role in the economy, as well as their potential importance to national security.
Fire:
Sequoia wildfires: KNP Complex near grows, with new evacuations. Windy Fire containment date
Fresno Bee
The KNP Complex Fire burning in Sequoia and Kings National Park had grown to 84,166 acres as of Wednesday morning and remained only 11% contained. Farther south in Sequoia, the Windy Fire near Camp Nelson had burned 97,459 acres with 75% containment.
See also:
● New evacuations ordered due to KNP Complex, as wildfire grows to 81,500 acres abc30
More money for drought, wildfires should be coming
Porterville Recorder
While hundreds of millions of dollars were allocated to deal with the issues of wildfires and drought in this year's state budget, the consensus is that's still not enough. And that something will be done about it.
California encourages prescribed burns to counter wildfires
Sacramento Bee
California is encouraging more use of fire to fight fire, such as when deliberately set burns were recently used to protect giant sequoias from a raging wildfire. But sometimes what are known as prescribed fires themselves spread out of control, causing their own extensive damage.
ECONOMY/JOBS
Economy:
How our COVID-19 disaster grew directly out of our income inequality crisis
Los Angeles Times
To understand why that has happened, one has to delve deeper than the most evident bureaucratic failures and political malpractice. The root cause of our COVID failure is our increasing economic inequality.
Jobs:
Biden wants new rules to keep workers safe in heat waves. California could be a model
Fresno Bee
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will draft a set of workplace standards this month on heat-illness prevention for indoor and outdoor workplaces, the Biden administration announced late last month.
Market Watch
California will soon give tip protections to delivery workers and require more transparency from DoorDash Inc. and other food-delivery apps under a bill signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday night.
Hanford Sentinel
Signed on Tuesday by Gavin Newsom, AB 56 will reportedly speed up eligible unemployment insurance claims, protect citizens from identity theft, make it harder to commit fraud against the unemployment system and ready Californians for the next economic crisis.
See also:
● New California laws aim to combat fraud in jobless benefits Sacramento Bee
EDUCATION
K-12:
One loophole remains in student COVID-19 vaccination mandate
CalMatters
COVID-19 vaccination mandate allows students and staff to opt out for religious or ideological reasons. While a small minority are expected to leave their schools over this mandate, a lawmaker says he may push legislation to eliminate the personal belief exemption.
See also:
● Clovis parents urge school board to fight California’s new student vaccination mandate Fresno Bee
● Clovis Unified officials react to latest vaccine mandate yourcentralvalley.com
● Hundreds of families crowd Stanislaus education office to protest student vaccine mandate Modesto Bee
● Big question for Newsom, lawmakers: Who can can opt out of school COVID vaccine mandate? Los Angeles Times
Watch: ‘School and COVID: What Stanislaus County parents and students need to know’ | Q&A
Modesto Bee
Students and educators are well into the third school year affected by COVID-19. For the first time in a year and a half, most children in Stanislaus County are back to regular in-person learning, five days a week.
Fresno Unified to receive $8.2 million to help principals ensure equity in classrooms
abc30
Fresno Unified, like many other parts of the country, is getting more racially and ethnically diverse. But research shows students of color fall behind their peers, creating long-term implications.
Parents sue state alleging Black and Latinx students are harmed by disciplinary practices
Los Angeles Times
Black and Latinx students are disproportionately harmed by the state’s failure to exert oversight and take action against some school district disciplinary practices, including transferring students to alternative and often inferior programs.
Shasta Scout
Shasta County Office of Education’s American Indian Advisory played a pivotal role in new legislation that provides excused absences for California students attending Native cultural ceremonies and events.
Targeted K–12 Funding and Student Outcomes
Public Policy Institute of California
In this report, we examine school and district spending against trends in student outcomes to offer insight into whether the LCFF is meeting its goal of improving equity in education.
Emergency response team helps California schools navigate wildfires
EdSource
During the height of the wildfire season, Joe Anderson and Jake Wolf met virtually every Thursday morning with exhausted and bewildered school superintendents whose campuses had either been evacuated or destroyed by the wildfires raging through California.
Opinion: Invest in programs that boost children’s learning and development
Brookings
President Biden’s plan for universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds, child care subsidies, and increased wages for teachers and caregivers acknowledges that the early years of childhood are of unique importance to the public welfare and must be funded as such.
See also:
● Opinion: The problems with Biden’s universal pre-K proposal AEI
Higher Ed:
Fresno State hosting discussion to destigmatize tattoo culture in LatinX communities
abc30
Having a tattoo has grown in popularity over the last few years but many people still face social stigma and barriers from having them, specifically within the LatinX community.
Troubled student loan forgiveness program gets temporary overhaul
Los Angeles Times
The Biden administration is temporarily relaxing the rules for a student loan forgiveness program that has been criticized for its notoriously complex requirements — a change that could offer debt relief to thousands of teachers, social workers, military members and other public servants.
See also:
● Student loan forgiveness changes could spell relief for more public sector workers Roll Call
● Upcoming Rule-Making Process Should Redesign Student Loan Repayment Pew
UC workforce churn: Why a quarter of lecturers don’t return each year
CalMatters
The UC workforce has a churn problem. About a quarter of the more than 6,000 lecturers at the University of California don’t return annually. Relatively low pay and little job stability are some of the reasons why, a CalMatters analysis shows.
Rural Perspectives: Enhancing Education and Training Support for Rural Residents
EdNote
In June 2021, Education Commission of the States released a Special Report that summarized responses from a 2020 Strada Education Network/Gallup survey on the perceptions of postsecondary education and training in rural areas.
ENVIRONMENT/ENERGY
Environment:
Data shows in Fresno, 94% of Black people in areas at high risk for illness from toxic pollutants
abc30
Two-thirds of those cities showed a racial disparity in the respiratory risk posed by air pollution, showing people of color are more likely to live in neighborhoods bad for your health. That includes Fresno, but local groups are taking action to change that.
California oil spill renews calls to ban offshore drilling
Sacramento Bee
California has been a leader in restricting offshore oil drilling since the infamous 1969 Santa Barbara spill that sparked the modern environmental movement, and the latest spill off Huntington Beach is prompting fresh calls for an end to such drilling.
See also:
● Most Californians Oppose More Offshore Oil Drilling Public Policy Institute of California
● California lawmakers demand more info from two federal agencies on massive oil spill Los Angeles Times
● Changing weather raises fear that O.C. oil spill could reach more coastal areas Los Angeles Times
● How a coast crowded with ships, port gridlock and an anchor may have caused O.C. oil spill Los Angeles Times
● Fishermen and foodways begin to feel the squeeze of Orange County’s oil spill Los Angeles Times
Extreme heat is one of the deadliest consequences of climate change.
Los Angeles Times
For more than three weeks in 2020, back-to-back heat waves settled over the Southwest, claiming dozens of lives and leaving tens of millions of people sweltering in triple-digit temperatures. The days brought suffering and the nights offered little relief.
California and the West can see small glimmers of hope in weather outlooks for October
Los Angeles Times
For the first time in months, California’s precipitation outlook map isn’t colored a desiccated brown, indicating drier-than-normal conditions.
Event: Connecting Communities with Conservation
Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Fresno Chaffee Zoo Chief Executive Officer Jon Forrest Dohlin has extensive experience in project and animal management as well as a strong commitment to conservation and education.
Energy:
Why California Is Shutting Down Its Last Nuclear Plant
NBC Los Angeles
California is closing its last operating nuclear power plant, which is a source of clean power, as it faces an energy emergency and a mandate to eliminate carbon emissions.
HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES
Health:
UC Davis researchers studied COVID viral loads in vaccinated cases. Here’s what they found
Fresno Bee
The research findings do, however, “underscore the continuing need for masking and regular testing alongside vaccination, especially in areas of high prevalence,” the study’s authors said, according to a Monday news release.
Pfizer, BioNTech ask FDA to authorize coronavirus vaccine for children 5 to 11
Washington Post
U.S. pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, have asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize their coronavirus vaccine for emergency use for children 5 to 11 years old, the companies announced Thursday.
A New Vaccine Strategy for Children: Just One Dose, for Now
New York Times
Myocarditis, a rare side effect, occurs mostly after the second dose. So in some countries, officials are trying out single doses for children.
Human Services:
Mental health grant to close equity gaps in Stanislaus communities, using schools as hubs
Modesto Bee
As the Stanislaus County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) agency experiences increased calls to its crisis line, more mental health services for underserved individuals in the region soon will be available.
Bill aims to reduce Black maternal deaths, which are prevalent in the Central Valley
Sacramento Bee
The surveillance report also shows that the highest pregnancy-related deaths in the state are concentrated in the San Joaquin Valley, excluding Stockton, amounting to 17.8 deaths per 100,000 live births.
CEQA lawsuits are blocking needle exchange programs. A new law will stop that
Los Angeles Times
Opponents of hypodermic needle exchanges relied on a novel strategy to shut them down: using environmental regulations to sue over needle waste. A bill signed Monday by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom will thwart that tactic.
See also:
● Needle Exchanges Are Targets of Eco-Rooted Lawsuits. A New Law Will Stop That. California Healthline
Young, pregnant and unvaccinated: Hospitals confront a wave of severe illness and death
Washington Post
Just 25 percent of Americans have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine while pregnant, according to CDC data, a figure that places them among the nation’s most hesitant populations.
Brookings
Who owes the most medical debt in America? Andre Perry, Joia Crear-Perry, Carl Romer, and Nana Adjeiwaa-Manu examine medical debt and its racial distribution and review a number of policy reforms to reduce the hefty burden of health care costs on Americans.
IMMIGRATION
California private prison ban struck down in court. What’s next for immigration facilities?
Fresno Bee
The Ninth Circuit in a split decision curtailed a California law that would have banned private detention centers in the state, ruling that the legislation should not go into effect because it impedes on the federal government’s ability to enforce immigration policy.
LAND USE/HOUSING
Land Use:
Bakersfield Californian
Bakersfield revealed for the first time its plan for around $94.5M in funding it has partially received as part of a federal coronavirus stimulus package. The boost to city resources is expected to touch nearly all facets of city life, from homelessness to water conservation.
Bolthouse Properties hopes to rezone land for new park, church
KGET 17
Bolthouse Properties is petitioning the Bakersfield City Council to rezone an area in Southwest Bakersfield to build a new community park and church. The council is set to decide on the issue Wednesday night during its meeting.
Housing:
Annual count finds record number of homeless people in Stanislaus, its cities
Modesto Bee
In a Tuesday news release, the Stanislaus Community System of Care said this year’s tally turned up 2,927 homeless people, which broke last year’s record of 2,107 people. Previous counts have ranged from 1,156 to 1,923 people.
Housing Watch: Merced home prices hit all-time high
abc30
Just 92 homes were available to buyers in Merced. Normally, you would see 350-400 houses for sale, according to realtors. Growing demand has helped push the average price of a home in Merced to an all-time high.
PUBLIC FINANCES
Sen. Caballero’s New Law Creates Tax Parity with Cigarettes, Vapes
Business Journal
A newly-signed tobacco tax law will give revenue back to the education sector. Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) announced that her bill, SB 395, passed the legislature and was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and is effective July 1, 2022.
Some Californians are seeing large unemployment balances. Why they won’t get the money
Sacramento Bee
Thousands of people with unemployment claims are seeing they have a claim balance of thousands of dollars — but if it involves federal claims, forget it. You won’t see any of that money.
TRANSPORTATION
Heads up, California drivers: Your insurer may owe you even more in pandemic refunds
Los Angeles Times
California’s insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, determined earlier this year that vehicle insurers had shortchanged policyholders to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars when it came to refunding premiums because of the pandemic.
WATER
Trump-Era Water Opinions in the Air as Biden Considers New Plan
Business Journal
Following nearly two years of litigation regarding Trump-era water policy, the federal government has until Oct. 14 to come up a plan to balance competing needs for the precious resource.
See also:
● Biden action puts a hold on Trump administration biological opinions Porterville Recorder
In dry California, some buy units that make water from air
Associated Press
The machine Ted Bowman helped design can make water out of the air, and in parched California, some homeowners are already buying the pricey devices. The air-to-water systems work like air conditioners by using coils to chill air, then collect water drops in a basin.
New protections for California's aquifers are reshaping the state's Central Valley
NPR
California's agricultural empire is facing a shakeup, as a state law comes into effect that will limit many farmers' access to water. The seven-year-old law is supposed to stop the over-pumping from depleted aquifers, and some farmers — the largest users of that water — concede the limits are overdue.
“Xtra”
The Big Fresno Fair is back. Here’s everything you need to know before heading out
Fresno Bee
The Big Fresno Fair is officially off its pandemic hiatus. Much of its 12 days, which kicks off Wednesday and runs through Sunday, Oct. 17, will look and feel the same as it always has, but there are also plenty of new sights, sounds and tastes in store.
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Maddy Institute Updated List of San Joaquin Valley Elected Officials HERE.
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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