SACRAMENTO — A California congressman wants to ban environmental lawsuits challenging a plan to build two giant tunnels to divert water from the north to the thirsty south. Rep. Ken Calvert, a Riverside County Republican, inserted the ban in a 142-page draft of an Interior Department spending bill for fiscal...
Board Approves California Bullet Train's 2018 Business Plan
SACRAMENTO — The board tasked with overseeing California's ambitious high-speed rail project approved a new business plan Tuesday and pledged to keep pushing forward even as the plan faces stark financial challenges. "We are going to deliver high-speed rail for the people of California," board chairman Dan Richard said. At...
10 Kids Taken From California Home. Mom & Dad Deny Torture.
FAIRFIELD — A Northern California woman denied that she or her husband abused their 10 children after authorities said the kids suffered puncture wounds, burns, bruising and injuries consistent with being shot with a pellet gun. The children, ages 4 months to 12 years, were removed from their home March...
Merced Assemblyman Wants Sports Gambling in California
SACRAMENTO — State lawmakers and tribes who run California casinos say voters would have to change the state's Constitution before legal sports betting could come to the nation's most populous state. Their comments followed the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Monday to strike down a 1992 federal law that barred gambling...
Candidates Spend Big in California Lieutenant Governor Race
By SOPHIA BOLLAG Associated Press SACRAMENTO — California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom once joked his job doesn't involve much governing, but that's not stopping candidates from shelling out millions of dollars to replace him. About $10 million has been spent on the race, including nearly $5 million from an independent...
Collusion? Bias? State Responds After Temperance Flat Vote.
Although never mentioned by name, Kristal Davis Fadtke became the villain in the eyes of a roomful of ticked-off politicians. Last Friday (May 4), a bipartisan group of Central Valley politicians lined up at the podium to let the world know how angry they were about the paltry funding...
Police Lineups Are Flawed. Can They Be Fixed?
Police lineups are a staple element of crime shows on TV and in the movies. An eyewitness, behind one-way glass, pointing out a criminal suspect among a group of four or five decoys standing along a wall at police headquarters makes for a highly dramatic moment on the screen. But...
The Best Story You'll Ever Read on California Taxes
Politicians, special interest groups and taxpayer advocates make all kinds of claims about California taxes. As voters gear up for the June 5 primary, they deserve to know the facts about California's tax burden — and where those public dollars are spent. Judy Lin of CALmatters digs out the facts...
Who Runs California? A Baker's Dozen of Movers, Shakers & Blockers
One vote can make all the difference, we are told. But in California there are people and forces that wield a thousand — if not a billion — times the power of the voter. That influence flows from talent, persistence and, most of all, money. In the last election cycle,...
Vidak: Brown Disrespects Valley Again With Dam Funding
Many of my Central Valley legislative colleagues are furious that the staff at Gov. Jerry Brown's Water Commission have rigged the system so the recently announced proposed funding for Temperance Flat Reservoir is just that — flat. It's not surprising that environmentally-oriented staff at the California Water Commission (and other...