Controversies
PUC Not as Crazy about Storing Natural Gas under Cities as It Used to Be
Establishing natural gas storage facilities beneath homes, businesses and parks doesn’t appear to be as popular as it once was. For some, it may be the not-too-distant memory of the San Bruno gas pipeline explosion in September 2010 that killed eight people and razed a neighborhood that gives them pause over a plan to inject 7.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas into sandstone in southeast Sacramento. read more
Environmentalists, Lawmakers Tell Feds: Don’t Put Delta Plumbing before Policy
Thirty-six California environmentalists, echoing the sentiments of a dozen members of Congress who preceded them, have asked federal authorities to short-circuit what is believed to be an imminent announcement that the state is moving ahead on a peripheral canal (or, in this case, tunnels) through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. read more
10 Crimes that Will Now Land You in Prison Instead of Jail
It didn’t take long for astute state officials to determine that breaking into a home to seduce a child should not be classified a nonviolent crime, and so last week Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill reversing 10 changes like that made in October to facilitate the state downsizing its prison population. read more
Parks Get a Reprieve Despite Governor’s $31 Million Budget Veto
Most of the 70 state parks that were on the chopping block earlier this year have at least temporarily avoided the guillotine despite a $31 million line-item budget veto Thursday by Governor Jerry Brown.
The last-minute boost in park fortunes came from $10 million included in the budget deal signed off on by the governor. read more
PG&E Blames Deadly San Bruno Blast on Pipe Test the State Says Never Happened
Faced with the prospect of having to pay millions of dollars in compensation for the 2010 pipeline explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is blaming the blast on a pipeline test it says it performed in 1956.
The state Public Utilities Commission maintains that there is no record of the company doing such a test. read more
Legislators Bogart Bill to Regulate Medical Marijuana
Shying away from the escalating battle between local, state and federal authorities over medical marijuana, the sponsor of a bill to regulate and tax the drug withdrew it from consideration. It now appears dead for the year. read more
Appellate Justices Accused of Conflict of Interest
ICO Global Communications has accused two California appellate justices of having a conflict-of-interest in a fraud and breach-of-contract case that cost the company $603 million. read more
It’s an “Epidemic”: Hunters Inadvertently Bag Condors with Spent Ammo
Although California outlawed lead shot in key areas inhabited by condors in 2008, a new study has found an epidemic of lead poisoning among the few remaining endangered birds.
“By any measure, the lead poisoning rates in condors are of epidemic proportions,” says Myra Finkelstein, a toxicologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who led the research. read more
U.S. High Court Rules It’s Not Their Cross to Bear . . . for Now
A towering cross on federal property atop Mount Soledad in San Diego may have to come down after the U.S. Supreme Court decided to let stand without comment an appeals court ruling that the memorial illegally conveys a religious message. But it is in no way clear when that might happen. read more
S.F. Health Department Funds Lobbying Effort Against Health Care
One-third of the San Francisco Department of Health Care’s $1 million lobbying budget is earmarked for the California Hospital Association, an organization that often finds itself at odds with consumer advocates. read more
Newspaper Gets an “F” for Its Teacher Evaluations
A method for rating teachers based on student test scores, co-developed and publicized by the Los Angeles Times in recent years, has been criticized by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) as “inaccurate due to unreliable methodology.” read more
U.S. Supreme Court Smacks Down Service Employees Union
San Francisco’s 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called the lower-court ruling “practically unworkable,” but on a 7-2 vote, U.S. Supreme Court justices upheld the decision that closed union shops, like those in California government, must give workers a chance to opt out of unexpected dues increases and special assessments. Unions are already required to give an annual notice of impending increases, which the Court of Appeals had found sufficient. read more
Temperatures Rising as Belief in Global Warming Drops
If you think it’s hot now, wait until 2041. Even as a recent poll from Stanford University shows a two-year decline in support for government action on global warming, a new study out of UCLA predicts 4-to-5-degree average temperature increases in Southern California by the middle of the century. read more
Police Use License Plate Scanners to Profile Drivers in Private Database
California drivers aren’t being paranoid if they feel they’re being watched and tracked. And photographed. And filed in a database that holds what amounts to a GPS record of their movements.
It is actually their license plates that are being photographed and filed. read more
“Job Killer” Bills Dead on Arrival
In April, the California Chamber of Commerce published a list of 24 bills it and other business groups deemed “job killers.” They included Senate Bill 1528, which would roll back a Supreme Court decision limiting medical liability lawsuit claims, and a host of proposals that deal with “unnecessary regulations,” workplace mandates and other “barriers to economic recovery.”
The chamber probably needn’t worry. read more
Republican Candidate Looks for that Elusive Independent Sweet Spot
Locked in tight runoff with a Democratic opponent for a seat on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, former Republican Secretary of State Bruce McPherson sought to shed the most negative image attached to him: his party affiliation.
McPherson joined a growing number of Californians who identify themselves as independents. read more