Posts Tagged: falling

News

BOE headquarters: Falling plaster, shattered glass, even bats

The headquarters building of the Board of Equalization in Sacramento, 450 N Street. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

To the passer-by, the tower at 450 N Street is a downtown landmark, soaring assertively 24 stories into the Sacramento sky. But for more than a decade, the Board of Equalization’s (BoE) headquarters building has been a nightmare to an assortment of state bureaucrats. Glass panels fall out; water leaks; elevators stop between floors; there are potentially dangerous contaminants; plaster falls off walls; there are lawsuits.

Opinion

Crumbling infrastructure is costly, dangerous

California motorists in a traffic jam. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Our transportation infrastructure is literally falling apart due to poor maintenance. Recently, because of deferred maintenance, a guard rail on an East Bay overpass fell onto I-880. The several tons of falling metal didn’t just hold up traffic, it also damaged cars and injured drivers. Our crumbling roads are more than just a nuisance. They’re dangerous.

News

Economy up, greenhouse gas down

A California industrial complex in action. (Photo: Tom Grundy, via Shutterstock)

California’s greenhouse gases declined even as the state’s economy expanded, according to state and federal agencies tracking the numbers. State air-quality regulators reported that carbon emissions fell by 1.5 million metric tons in 2013, while the economy experienced 2 percent growth, greater than the national average.

News

Drought, oil price decline pummel Kern

Pumpjacks in a Kern County oil field, November 2013. (Photo: Christopher Halloran)

Oil and water don’t mix, but in Kern County they’ve joined to create a double-whammy. Already confronting a drought of historic proportions, Kern County — the nation’s No. 2 agricultural county — also faces a severe financial hit because of falling oil prices. The county is home to more than two-thirds of California’s oil production.

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