The remains of a home and nearby house in the Glen Ellen area of Sonoma County, following a 2017 fire.(Photo: RebeccaJaneCall, via Shutterstock)Representatives of California’s counties are urging improved measures to cut wildfire risks in the state’s less populated areas, but questioned plans to impose widespread building restrictions.
A photo illustration of carbon-neutral wind power, and fossil-fuel power generation. (Photo: satit_srihin, via Shutterstock)California is known across the country as a trendsetter in climate regulations, with tough emissions standards and sweeping environmental protections. Freshman state Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), however, is pushing for more ambitious carbon-neutral rules that could move California further ahead of the rest of the nation. The effort, praised by environmentalists, has drawn fire from utility workers and gas companies.
A man watches the 2018 Woolsey fire in Los Angeles. (Photo: BrittanyNY, via Shutterstock)California’s relatively mellow start to the 2019 fire season may be the calm before the firestorm, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection CAL FIRE agrees with the NIFC that when fall’s arid winds kick in — as they have in the last few days, prompting red flag alerts — California could experience another period of record wild fires.
A California forest fire seen at night. (Photo: vladseagull, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Until 2019, if a California utility violated fire safety rules and thereby caused a catastrophic wildfire, the utility could not make its customers pay for its uninsured wildfire costs.In 2017, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) was found by two administrative law judges to have violated numerous fire safety rules when its operations caused San Diego’s catastrophic wildfires in 2007.
An aerial view of a San Luis Obispo neighborhood. (Photo: Sundry Photography, via Shutterstock) The latest Berkeley IGS Poll finds a lack of consensus among Californians on a number of policy proposals relating to housing. But one issue that voters do agree on, at least in concept, is that limits should be imposed on new housing development in high-risk wildfire areas. Three in four voters statewide (74%) support this policy, while just 25% are opposed.
A firefighting helicopter takes water from a golf course pond in Stevenson Ranch near Santa Clarita. (Photo: Krista Kennell, 2007)On Aug. 6, President Donald Trump made his first Twitter statement on California’s summer fire season, which started on June 1. Unlike his statement on last year’s Wine Country fires, when the president tweeted condolences to victims of the fires and support for the firefighters, Trump used these latest natural disasters to troll California with nonsense.
A fire truck, a first responder to emergencies, crosses a Los Angeles intersection. (Photo: Walter Cicchetti, via Shutterstock)The administration plans to modify an existing tax on phone calls to include a flat fee — estimated initially at 34 cents per line — on cellphones, landlines and other devices capable of contacting 911. More than $175 million is expected to generate from this in the first year, with the possibility of growing to $400 million in later years.
The CalPERS headquarters in Sacramento. (Photo Shutterstock)A bill by state Sen. Steven Glazer, D-Orinda, giving new state workers the option new University of California workers received two years ago, a 401(k)-style plan rather than a pension, is opposed by unions and soon may be opposed by CalPERS. More than a third of eligible new UC employees have chosen a 401(k)-style plan. Instead of a guaranteed lifetime monthly pension check, the 401(k) plan that replaced pensions in most of the private sector uses individual tax-deferred investments to build a retirement fund.
A wilted rose bouquet at the Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego. (Photo: Sherry V. Smith)The environment plays a big part in Capitol legislation, but here’s a topic rarely linked to the environment – cremation. Traditional fire-based cremation entails emissions and pollutants. But a little-known bill signed by Gov. Brown allows the use of a water-based method called alkaline hydrolysis, which has been used elsewhere since the 19th century.
A major fire near Los Angeles. (Photo: Brian C. Weed, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Floods, mudslides, multi-year drought and massive, destructive wildland fires are only some of the extreme climate-related disasters California and its local communities face. If you live in California, the odds are that you are living in a danger zone.