As Rep. Jim Costa prepares for the 116th Congress, he remains bullish on the future of high-speed rail in California. The Fresno Democrat has always supported the bullet train and publicly taken on its critics. The estimated $77 billion dollar project is in the midst of construction in and around...
Rail Fail? Richards Answers Patterson’s HSR Questions
Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) had his chance on Thursday (Nov. 29) to confront high-speed rail leadership over a state audit, which blames high costs and delays on mismanagement of the project. HSR board vice chair Tom Richards, also from Fresno, defended the decision to begin building tracks in the Central...
HSR Audit: Cost Overruns, Poor Management, Slow Trains
California's under-construction high-speed rail system is mismanaged, faces budget shortfalls, and will operate slower than promised. Those are some of the conclusions reached by the state auditor in a report released Thursday (Nov. 15) morning. The report is the latest saga in the state’s effort to build a bullet train...
Gov. Brown Orders DMV Audit After Latest Failure
Gov. Jerry Brown is doing what the California Legislature failed to do — order an audit of the DMV. The state Department of Finance will perform the audit. Brown's order Friday came a day after a computer outage crippled more than a third of DMV offices around the state for...
Patterson Renews Call for DMV Audit After 'Motor Voter' Snafu
Assemblyman Jim Patterson of Fresno again called for an audit of the Department of Motor Vehicles after it was revealed Wednesday that agency technicians may have botched about 23,000 Californians' voter registrations under the state's new "motor voter" law. The DMV sent the secretary of state's office incorrect information for...
Cox Runs Over DMV During Fresno Campaign Stop
The modest wait times of DMV customers seemed to catch John Cox off-guard. The Republican candidate for governor visited Fresno on Friday afternoon, talking to motorists at the office on north Blackstone Avenue. This was not the first time Cox had visited a DMV office to observe the wait lines in...
As Lines Grow, State Legislators Kill DMV Audit
Despite calls to hold the DMV accountable for hours-long wait times, a California legislative committee declined to approve an audit of the agency at Wednesday (Aug. 8) hearing. Although none of the 13 assembly members and senators on the Joint Committee on Legislative Audit voted no, not enough voted yes...
Patterson's High-Speed Rail Audit Request Approved
At long last, Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) is getting his High-Speed Rail audit. The Joint Committee on Legislative Audit voted unanimously to move ahead with an examination on the estimated $67 billion project. That estimation for the first 119-mile segment, from Fresno to San Jose, increased earlier this month by...
Patterson's High-Speed Rail Audit Request Approved
At long last, Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) is getting his High-Speed Rail audit. The Joint Committee on Legislative Audit voted unanimously to move ahead with an examination on the estimated $67 billion project. That estimation for the first 119-mile segment, from Fresno to San Jose, increased earlier this month by...
Stop the Spin. Give Us the Truth on High-Speed Rail.
Gov. Jerry Brown likes trains. And, as he said Thursday in his final State of the State address, he likes "high-speed trains even better." Fine. I like trains, too. But I like facts even better. Since workers turned the first shovel of dirt on California's High-Speed Rail project, nary a cost...