Posts Tagged: 1

Coastal Commission vote rattles far north

The lighthouse off Front Street in Crescent City, Del Norte County. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

by ALEX MATTHEWS posted 06.21.2016

After hours of passionate testimony, almost exclusively in support of beleaguered executive director Charles Lester, the Coastal Commission voted 7-5 to fire him. Four months later and 600 miles to the north, the aftershocks of the Commission’s political earthquake are still being felt: On June 7, Martha McClure, a commissioner who voted to fire Lester, lost the Del Norte County supervisor seat that she has held for the past 20 years.

A stealth move to rewrite state law to allow the newly elected Long Beach mayor to hold a seat on the California Coastal Commission has emerged in the final days of the legislative session.

Drought takes aim at farms

A drought-stricken farm in Central California. (Photo: Johnny Habell)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 07.16.2014

As California suffers through its third-driest year on record, the effects of the drought are hitting home in some of the nation’s richest farmland. The state’s $37.5 billion-a-year agricultural yield represents about 12 percent of the nation’s total. Agriculture uses about about 80 percent of the state’s water.

Voter approval of the job that Democrat Jerry Brown is doing as Governor has reached a new high. At present, 59% of registered voters approve of his performance in office, nearly twice the proportion (32%) who disapprove. Brown also holds a huge preference lead when likely voters in the June open primary election are asked whom they would support if the election were being held today.

Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, is carrying SB 33, which focuses on infrastructure finance districts, while Assemblymember Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, has authored AB 1080, which is similar to SB 1, but focuses on poverty and deterioration rather than transit areas as a standard for determining redevelopment areas.