Posts Tagged: 2013

Opinion

Air quality regulators must protect vulnerable communities

Unhealthy smoke covering San Jose in 2018, the result of wildfires. (Photo: 1000Photography, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: The impact of California’s wildfires have left residents across the state with unhealthy air that residents in the Central and Inland Valley breathe throughout the year. The American Lung Association’s 2019 “State of the Air” report shows that 11 California cities rank within the highest ozone levels or worst particulate contamination in the nation.

News

State auditor targets prison rehab programs

Folsom State Prison east of Sacramento. (Photo: Wikipedia)

The state auditor says the California prison system’s programs to reduce recidivism aren’t working, noting that inmates who complete the programs wind up back behind bars at roughly the same rates as those who don’t. “These results are  serious enough to highlight an urgent need for Corrections to take a more active and meaningful role in ensuring that these programs are effective,” California State Auditor Elaine Howle reported. 

News

SF voters give thumbs down on menthol smokes

A menthol cigarette burning on an ashtray. (Photo: Kanin Sakulsillapakorn, via Shutterstock)

In a closely watched election contest, San Francisco voters have upheld a first-in-the-nation ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products, overwhelmingly rejecting an $11.6 million campaign by R.J. Reynolds to scuttle the law. San Francisco officials last June approved the ban but a petition drive funded by Reynolds, the maker of the top-selling menthol brand, Newport, forced the issue onto yesterday’s ballot.

News

CA pensions’ tax bite exceeds national average

The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)

California pension funds take a bigger share of tax revenue than the national state average, a research website shows. Why the growing costs are outpacing the norm is not completely clear. A prime suspect for some would be overly generous pensions, particularly what critics say is an “unsustainable” increase for police and firefighters widely adopted to match a big increase given the Highway Patrol by SB 400 in 1999.

News

Road dangers, digital billboards linked

Digital billboards and advertising in downtown Toronto. (Photo: SurangaSL, via Shutterstock)

Digital billboards clearly catch the eye of passing motorists. But what is also increasingly clear is that such distractions can heighten safety risks in heavy traffic and other complex driving conditions, a Berkeley-based roadway researcher says.

News

Despite drought, water conservation not a priority

Millerton Lake in Fresno County formed by the Friant Dam. Photo: K.J. Kolb

Californians in cities and towns across the state cut their water usage only slightly – 2.8 percent — during February compared with the same month in 2013, an indication that despite the severity of the drought, conservation is not taking hold. Felicia Marcus, the chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, said “the February results are very disturbing.”

News

Water and eminent domain: a volatile mix

A town hall meeting in Claremont that focused on water issues. (Photo: City of Claremont.)

A Southern California city has launched eminent domain proceedings to take over the private water agency that has served the community for more than 80 years – an unusual move, even in California, where fights over water are common.

News

State miscalculated number of Medi-Cal doctors

The California agency that oversees the state’s low-income health plan vastly overstated the number of doctors who accepted patients through the state program last year, even as the number of people enrolled in the program was set to skyrocket under the federal Affordable Care Act, the California Health Report has found.

News

FPPC: ‘Worst ever’ violations in 2013

A year-end report of California’s campaign law enforcer includes hundreds of violations, ranging from failure to report donations to money laundering to the infusion of millions of dollars in stealth cash to influence measures on the 2012 ballot. The 16-page annual report by the Fair Political Practices Commission’s Enforcement Division said violations involving two categories — political campaigns and lobbying — “were at the highest level ever in 2013” and that “conflict of interest prosecutions continued at record high levels.”

News

Top tales: 2013’s key political yarns

State Capitol, Sacramento. (Photo: David Monniaux)

For the followers of California politics, non-election years usually are yawns. Not so 2013: One would be hard pressed to find a year with more hot-button events fraught with statewide political ramifications. Here’s our roundup of the year’s top tales, a subjective compilation to be sure but one which was fun to put together. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

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