Posts Tagged: improved

Opinion

When It comes to wildlife crossings, California must catch up

A mule deer with sunflowera in a mountain meadow. (Photo: Tom Reichner, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Roads and development create massive barriers for wildlife. Mountain lions, desert tortoises, California tiger salamanders and many other creatures have watched their home turf shrink. Building or upgrading wildlife crossings and preserving existing habitat can go a long way toward saving the state’s most imperiled species.

Opinion

Time to take action on behavioral health

A depressed man sits alone atop an office building. (Photo: Fure, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: The effects of poor behavioral health can be seen all around us every day. We see it in the form of alcoholism or drug addiction, including the epidemic of opioid use.  It can be seen in the daily struggles of those with depression, anxiety, or other psychiatric conditions. It can make headlines, as with the shocking suicides of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and designer Kate Spade.

Opinion

Location, location: Solar PV and the San Joaquin Valley

Solar PV panels used to power agricultural equipment in the Central Valley. (Photo: Shippee, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: When we combined the separate maps, the result was pretty remarkable: Out of the 9.5 million acres in the stakeholder study area, the groups identified 470,000 acres of ideal, non-controversial land for solar PV development, or roughly 5 percent of the Valley study area. At a generic calculation of 1 megawatt of solar PV production from 5 acres of panels, that means the lands identified could provide 94,000 megawatts of renewable power.

News

Feds raised repeated concerns about O.C. jail security

Officials at the Orange County Central Men's Jail investigate the area where three inmates escaped.(Photo: Associated Press/ Nick Ut.)

Federal officials warned for years of “poor supervision” at a Southern California jail where three inmates — all charged with violent felonies — recently escaped, documents obtained by The Marshall Project show. The men’s elaborate route to freedom seemed made for the movies: They cut through layers of metal and navigated plumbing tunnels to reach the roof. They then rappelled down four stories with makeshift ropes, perhaps strung together from bedsheets or jail clothing.

News

Calpers: Average service, high costs

Calpensions: A new comparison with four other large public pension funds found that CalPERS, while scoring average on service, had high pension administration costs — $213 per member a year, nearly twice the average of $108 per member.

News

For Lois Wolk, the Senate district is new but core issues remain the same

Like many of her colleagues, state Sen. Lois Wolk, a Democrat, found herself this year in a totally new election environment.

 

During her initial four-year term, she represented the 5th Senate District, a Delta-flanking district where she built a reputation as an advocate for water and environmental protections. Now, she is the senator from the

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