Gavin’s Law was headed for failure in the Democratically-controlled Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday. The law, authored by Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno), would increase penalties for hit-and-run drivers who flee the scene. Patterson named AB 582 after Gavin Gladding, the Fort Washington Elementary School vice principal who died last...
Ex-Peru President Arrested in California Drunkenness Case
SAN FRANCISCO — Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, wanted in his home country in connection with Latin America's biggest graft scandal, was arrested in California on suspicion of public intoxication and spent the night in jail before he was released Monday morning, authorities said. Toledo, 72, was arrested Sunday night...
Did Reclamation Do Right by Westlands With 55% Allocation?
There is good news from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for Westlands Water District growers. The Bureau has increased this year's water allocation to district farmers from the 35% announced last month to 55%. But, according to the district, the news should have been better considering California's snowpack and rainfall...
Walters: Newsom Does It Again With Death Row Reprieve
Gavin Newsom is fond of making grandiloquent, headline-grabbing gestures couched in moralistic terms. His tendency first surfaced in 2004 when, as the newly elected mayor of San Francisco, he directed officials to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of a state law passed by California voters just a...
Don’t Leave California’s Climate Goals Stuck in Traffic
Remember the last time you were stuck in traffic, and you were late for something really important? Well, that’s where California’s climate goals are without the completion of our high-speed rail project designed to alleviate California’s traffic congestion and the resulting air quality effects. Having built most of California’s utility-scale...
Two Years of Free Community College? It’s in the Hopper.
Two years of free community college may soon become a reality for 2.1 million students in California through Assembly Bill 2. The measure is a more aggressive version of 2017's Assembly Bill 19, or the California College Promise. That program dispersed $46 million to the state's 114 community colleges with the...
Newsom Now Says He May Commute Death Sentences
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom not only put a moratorium on executions in California on Wednesday, he said he also may commute death sentences and is pushing to repeal capital punishment. Newsom signed an executive order granting reprieves to all 737 condemned inmates on the nation's largest death row. That means no...
Walters: Sales Tax Bite Looms for Internet Consumers
There’s nothing new about ordering merchandise from the comfort of one’s home and having it delivered to the doorstep. Generations of Americans — especially those living in isolation on farms and ranches — pored over the inches-thick catalogs that Sears and Roebuck, Montgomery Ward and other retailing behemoths issued each...
Newsom’s Order Is Reprieve for Fresno’s Worst Mass Killer
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed placing a moratorium on executions in the state Wednesday. Here are some notable inmates out of the 737 people on the nation's largest death row: — Marcus D. Wesson. Now 70 years old, Fresno's worst mass murderer horrified the nation and the world when he...
Newsom Puts Moratorium on California Executions
SACRAMENTO — The 737 inmates on California's largest-in-the-nation death row are getting a reprieve from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who plans to sign an executive order Wednesday placing a moratorium on executions. Newsom also is withdrawing the lethal injection regulations that death penalty opponents already have tied up in courts and...