Category: California

By Michael Blood / Yahoo News / December 17, 2021

Leading California cannabis companies warned Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday that the state’s legal industry was on the verge of collapse and needed immediate tax cuts and a rapid expansion of retail outlets to steady the shaky marketplace.

The letter signed by more than two dozen executives, industry officials and legalization advocates followed years of complaints that the heavily taxed and regulated industry was unable to compete with the widespread illegal economy, where consumer prices are far lower and sales are double or triple the legal business.

By Anupa Asokan / Op-Ed / San Diego Union-Tribune / Nov. 12, 2021

This summer I was determined to catch a fish called the California corbina. Corbina don’t really carry the clout that comes with reeling in fish like yellowtail or white seabass prized by Southern California anglers, but I’m drawn to corbina partly out of nostalgia since they are related to the red drum I grew up catching in the Gulf of Mexico, and mostly because they are easier to get to. I could fish for them right off the beach without a boat.

I’m a fisherwoman and my days are focused on advancing ocean conservation,

My weather app on my phone has been displaying daily totals of new COVID cases and deaths. Yesterday, the number of cases was 9,000 something. Today, it was 18,000 something.

In today’s LA Times, it’s reported that “COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen significantly in the Inland Empire and Central Valley,” and has raised the specter of a wider spike in California as the winter holidays approach.

Throughout California cases and hospitalizations hit a plateau after months of decline. In areas “with lower vaccination rates, such as Riverside, San Bernardino and Fresno counties, conditions are deteriorating, with hospitalizations up by more than 20% in recent weeks.

California’s Drought Emergency Extended to San Diego County

By Judi Curry

Here we go again. Another drought. Another curtailment of the use of water. The Governor is asking people to cutback on water usage 15% over last year.

My question is what about those of us that cut back 15% last year and are still cutting back? How much are we supposed to cut back

by Bart Ziegler, PhD / Voice of OC / Oct. 20, 2021

On the topic of environmental disasters, could you imagine trying to deal with contamination from a far deadlier kind of waste that you can’t see or smell and that remains toxic for hundreds of thousands of years?

As details of the Orange County oil spill continue to unfold, globs of tar are washing onto San Onofre State Beach beneath the shadow of a shuttered nuclear power plant where Southern California Edison is storing 3.6 million pounds of radioactive waste 100 feet from the ocean.

Reporting on the oil spill has us drawing comparisons and thinking about the state of nuclear waste safety.

Take corrosion, for instance.

Times of San Diego

Democratic members of Congress from California seized on the oil spill off the state’s coast to promote federal legislation to ban all offshore oil drilling, as investigators searched for what caused the pipeline to burst.

About 144,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Pacific Ocean, killing wildlife, soiling the coastline and forcing officials to close beaches in several cities in Orange County. There are 23 rigs operating off California’s coast,

A Response to U-T Opinion: “California housing crisis finally gets bold response it needed. Thanks to Newsom, Atkins.”

By Danna Givot

The September 17 UT Editorial Board thank you to Newsom and Atkins is shallow and uninformed. Foremost, it fails to recognize that California has an affordable housing crisis, not an overall housing crisis. The real gaps in California housing are at the lowest end. The free market is providing sufficient housing for higher income households.

The editorial failed to recognize that there are no provisions in either SB9 or SB10 for the production of any “affordable” housing. It is fair to assume that the market will do what it does without government incentives – produce more market-rate housing, which will not meet the needs

Two days after literally smashing the recall effort with 64% of the vote, Governor Gavin Newsom signed one of the most controversial housing bills on his desk. Newsom signed Senate Bill 9 by Senate leader Toni Atkins, formerly of San Diego, on Thursday.

Newsom said, “The housing affordability crisis is undermining the California Dream for families across the state, and threatens our long-term growth and prosperity.”

No one would argue with that statement, although SB 9 doesn’t create affordable housing. In fact, 241 cities came out against SB 9. In a letter from the League of California Cities, 241 cities asked Newsom not to sign the measure.

Once in a while, a news story about a change comes along that resonates, and here is one that does. I personally have been championing this specific change for some 20 years now. And it has finally happened.

The site of the 1960 Winter Olympics near Lake Tahoe is having its name changed. Its owners have decided that the old name that rhythms with “fall” is offensive to Indigenous women. The new name is Palisades Tahoe. Historically, it’s also been called Olympic Valley.

By Colleen O’Connor

What a night. The results were in, way faster and better than Democrats could have imagined, while the somewhat stunned newscasters stumbled to keep up the non-existent suspense.

It was all over except the shouting and cheering and booing and lying, in less than an hour.

True, mail-in ballots were counted first; same day and late arrivals are still to come, but nothing will overtake the huge win for Democrats and the “fire bell” in the night for Republicans.

It was all caps at The San Diego U-T:

NEWSOM SURVIVES RECALL ATTEMPT

The lede at the Los Angeles Times:

NEWSOM PREVAILS – Californians overwhelmingly reject Republican-led recall effort

California lawmakers have passed a bill to expand and make permanent a program that allows a select group of community colleges to offer baccalaureates in specific programs. The measure now heads to the governor.

Currently, 15 community colleges in the state offer bachelor’s degrees in workforce fields with high demand and unmet needs. However, the pilot program is set to expire in 2026. Assembly Bill 927 would make the program permanent and allow up to 30 community colleges to offer similar bachelor’s degree programs.

Despite recent favorable polls for Governor Newsom, democracy itself is still on the California recall ballot. This is not hyperbole. The very concept of “democracy” is up for grabs.

If Newsom is knocked out in this $276 million process, then the highest candidate could be elected governor with as few as 25% of the vote. This is plainly not democratic. Newsom was originally elected with 62% of the vote in 2018. So, for the “system” to allow a new chief executive for the state with such low support is undemocratic, un-American and not acceptable.