The publisher of the Fresno Bee, Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star and dozens of other newspapers across the country has filed for bankruptcy protection. The newspaper industry has been devastated by changing technology that has sent the vast majority of people online in search of news. While McClatchy and...
Walters: Is PG&E Seizure a Real Threat or a Bluff?
Scott Wiener must be a glutton for punishment. Just last week, the Democratic state senator from San Francisco failed, after repeated attempts and many revisions, to win Senate approval of his ambitious bill to force local communities to accept more multi-family housing. Four days later, Wiener took on another, equally...
PG&E Clears Another Bankruptcy Hurdle With Debt Refinancing
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Tuesday approved a settlement that moves Pacific Gas & Electric closer to getting out of bankruptcy, but the troubled utility still must navigate nettlesome obstacles being put up by the state of California. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali signed off on a deal...
Bill Seeks State Takeover of PG&E
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric company, the nation's largest utility, would be transformed into a publicly owned company under a bill unveiled in Sacramento Monday. State Sen. Scott Wiener said the bill would involve a takeover the utility and its sprawling network of power lines that have been...
California Could Make Utilities Pay for Some Blackout Costs
SACRAMENTO — Californians left in the dark by electric companies that shut off their power to prevent wildfires could get paid for things like lost wages or spoiled food under a bill being considered in the state Legislature. In a state plagued by catastrophic blazes started by strong winds knocking...
Judge Threatens to Force PG&E to Hire More Tree Trimmers
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Thursday threatened to force Pacific Gas & Electric to hire more tree trimmers to reduce the chances of its electrical grid igniting fires in Northern California and adhere to a requirement imposed after the utility's natural gas lines blew up a neighborhood a...
Assemblyman Adam Gray Demands Probe of PG&E's Chief Regulator
SAN FRANCISCO — A state lawmaker on Wednesday demanded an extensive review of the California Public Utilities Commission to determine whether regulators’ lax oversight enabled neglect at Pacific Gas & Electric that triggered catastrophic wildfires, a messy bankruptcy and exasperating blackouts. The request by Assemblyman Adam Gray could turn up...
Gov. Newsom Had 'Baptism by Fire' in 1st Year
SACRAMENTO — During his inaugural address last January, Gov. Gavin Newsom made only a passing reference to wildfires and never mentioned the state's largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric. Both soon became inescapable topics. PG&E filed for bankruptcy barely three weeks after the Democratic governor was sworn in, triggering a series of...
Mormons Pulling 400,000 Youths out of Struggling Boy Scouts
KAYSVILLE, Utah — For decades, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was one of Boy Scouts of America’s greatest allies and the largest sponsor of troops. But on Jan. 1, the Utah-based faith will deliver the latest blow to the struggling organization when it pulls out more than...
Judge OKs Nearly $25 Billion for PG&E Fire Victims, Insurers
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved two Pacific Gas & Electric settlements totaling $24.5 billion to help pay the losses suffered by homeowners, businesses and insurers in the aftermath of catastrophic Northern California wildfires that sent the nation’s largest utility into a financial morass. The decision...