Category: California

By Julie Johnson / San Francisco Chronicle /Jan 25, 2024

Building housing is difficult virtually anywhere in California — but especially along the coast, where there can be an extra layer of permitting. One of the Legislature’s strongest advocates for more home-building is trying to change that — and he’s starting with the coastline of San Francisco.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced legislation this month that would chip away at the authority of the California Coastal Commission, the state agency charged with preserving public beach access and evaluating coastal development, over neighborhood areas along Ocean Beach [San Francisco].

By Lucas Combos / Patch /Thursday, Feb 8, 2024

A pair of atmospheric rivers that dumped more than a foot of rain over parts of SoCal and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands across the Golden State proved beneficial for California’s struggling snowpack.

by Lynn La / Cal-Matters / February 6, 2024

Describing California’s homelessness crisis as “inhumane” and “unhealthy,” Senate GOP leader Brian Jones of San Diego and Democratic Sen. Catherine Blakespear of Encinitas today announced a bipartisan bill to ban homeless encampments near “sensitive community areas” statewide.

Modeled after San Diego’s “Unsafe Camping Ordinance,” Senate Bill 1011 prohibits encampments within 500 feet of schools, open spaces and major transit stops. It also bans camping on sidewalks if shelter space is available; requires cities or counties to give an unhoused person 72-hour notice before clearing an encampment; and mandates “enforcement personnel” to provide information about homeless shelters in the area.

By Colleen O’Connor

The best mystery writers’ detectives follow one simple rule: Cherchez la femme.

Original French translation: “Look for the woman, by God! Look for the woman”!

And so, too this election year. Look for the women.

Women will determine the outcome. About that, there is little doubt.  A seismic shift has occurred since the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and remove a woman’s right to control her own body.

By Mekayli Claros / Op-Ed San Diego Union-Tribune / Jan. 8, 2024

Growing up in Southern California for me entailed family trips to the beach. Once there, I would jump between tide pools, marveling at the kaleidoscope of colorful, tiny life they hosted.

As I grew older, I began to notice that some of the colors in the tide pools were actually bottle caps and other trash. The evidence of humanity’s adverse impact on the ocean was unavoidable. This realization, crystallized through high school environmental science classes and trips to aquariums, made me decide to devote my life to ocean preservation.

From Environment News Service / Jan. 7, 2024

Tons of munitions, DDT and petrochemicals were dumped for decades in deep ocean basins off the coast of Los Angeles, scientists from three California universities are discovering. This dumping is known to have happened from the 1940s until 1972, when the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act, also called the Ocean Dumping Act, came into force, and the chemicals are still there.

Surfer Today / December 19, 2023

Progress and technology are often associated with quality of life and happiness, but they sure come with more or less various downsides.
Throughout the history of surfing, beach surf cameras have always been the subject of love-hate discussions and some serious attacks on private property.

By beach cams, we mean video cameras installed near beaches and surf spots seldom pointed toward the best wave peaks.

Back in the day, in the pre-Information Age (roughly before the 1950s), apart from tides, surfers knew little about what to expect from the ocean.

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Fox5SanDiego – AP / Dec. 14, 2023

California energy regulators voted Thursday to allow the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant to operate for an additional five years, despite calls from environmental groups to shut it down. The California Public Utilities Commission agreed to extend the shutdown date for the state’s last functioning nuclear power facility through 2030 instead of closing it in 2025 as previously agreed.

By Kristina Houck / Patch San Diego / Dec. 5, 2023

After the New Year, employment discrimination for off-duty cannabis use will be illegal in California. Assembly Bill 2188 and Senate Bill 700 amend the California Fair Employment and Housing Act to protect employment rights for people who use marijuana.

Beginning Jan. 1, it will be against the law under AB 2188, with certain exceptions, for California employers with five or more employees to discriminate against current or potential workers for cannabis use off the job and outside of the workplace.

by Ben Christopher / CalMatters / November 28, 2023

In the minds of most Californians, accessory dwelling units — ADUs, short — bring to mind words like “small,” “subtle” and “cute.”

None of which describe the side-by-side ADU duplexes on E Street.

Perched at the edge of San Diego’s desirable Golden Hill neighborhood, there’s nothing dainty or diminutive about these three-story structures. “Backyard cottage” is another term used to describe accessory dwelling units, but these are out front, practically hiding the five-unit multiplex to which they are technically “accessory.”

The Rolling Stones are wasting little time hitting the road to promote “Hackney Diamonds,” the legendary English band’s first album of new songs since 2005’s “A Bigger Bang” — and its first since the 2021 death of the group’s drummer, Charlie Watts.

The tour will open with an April 28 concert at NRG Stadium in Houston and conclude with a July 17 performance near San Francisco at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

By Phillip Molnar / San Diego Union-Tribune Subscriber-only/ Nov. 19, 2023 

A new law allows Californians to buy and sell ADUs as a separate entity. The question is — will cities in San Diego County go for it? The optional statewide law, AB 1033, was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in mid-October, and allows accessory dwelling units, sometimes called granny flats, to be sold separately — and, presumably, at a lower price than your average home. The thinking is it could give low- to moderate-income Californians a chance at homeownership. … Now, it’s a matter of what municipality wants to enact the law when it takes effect in January.