Thirty years after California voters gave a thumbs-down on the Peripheral Canal, the state this week will unveil its new plan to move Northern California water to the south -- in the form of a pair of huge tunnels, each three stories high and 37 miles long, that will tap the Sacramento River and put the water in the California Aqueduct. Whoa, mama!
From the Mercury News' Paul Rogers: "Under the plan, two huge, side-by-side underground tunnels, each 33 feet in diameter, would carry fresh water 37 miles from the state's largest river, the Sacramento, under the delta to giant federal and state pumps at Tracy."
"There it would flow into canals run by the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project, which deliver Delta water to 25 million Californians, from the Bay Area to San Diego, and to irrigate 3 million acres of farmland."
"Construction would start in 2017, with the project completed by 2026. The project, already being called "the peripheral tunnel," is similar to a plan that voters rejected in 1982. That measure would have authorized building a giant "peripheral canal" over roughly the same area. It sparked a bitter campaign that pitted Northern California voters against Southern California voters."
The aftermath of the theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado, continues to be felt around the country. In California, a legal fight looms over whether ammo buyers should be physically identified prior to purchase.
From the Chronicle's Bob Egelko: "A battle is looming in California courts over whether gun owners should be required to appear in person and be fingerprinted before being allowed to buy ammunition - like the thousands of rounds James Holmes reportedly purchased on the Internet in the weeks before he entered a Colorado movie theater for a deadly shooting rampage Friday morning."
"One of Holmes' guns, a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle, would be illegal in California, officials say, under a ban on so-called assault weapons enacted after a gunman killed five children in a Stockton schoolyard in 1989. California law also prohibits magazines that load more than 10 bullets and thus would ban the 100-cartridge magazine attached to Holmes' rifle."
"The state's efforts to extend its regulations to the sale of handgun ammunition have been tied up in court. A law that was scheduled to take effect in February 2011 would have required buyers of ammunition designed "principally" for handguns to be thumb-printed and present identification to the seller. But the law was put on hold by a judge in Fresno."
In the days following the resignation of state parks DIrdector Ruth Coleman and the firing of an underling, the question has been what will happen to the $54 million in the department that was stashed away? Apparently, it is going to be used to help finance the strapped state park system.
From Marisa Lagos in the Chronicle: "Gov. Jerry Brown will work with lawmakers to determine how some of the $54 million stashed by the parks department can be used to help keep state parks open, a spokeswoman for the governor said Monday as supporters who helped raise millions for the beleaguered system urged that the money be used for that purpose."
"Elizabeth Ashford, a spokeswoman for Brown, said that his administration "is going to work with legislators to determine how this money can be used to mitigate park closures."
"On Friday, state officials said they had opened an investigation after learning that the California Department of Parks and Recreation had failed to report for more than a decade that it had $54 million stowed in special funds. Parks Director Ruth Colemanresigned, and her deputy was fired."
Two good-government groups -- the League of Women Voters and Common Cause -- say Proposition 32 on the November ballot is a thinly veiled attempt to crush the funding sources of organized labor, not a balanced effort to get rid of special-interest money in Sacramento.
From Steve Harmon in the Mercury News: "It's not at all what it seems," said Trudy Schafer, of the state League of Women Voters. "It promises political reform but it's really designed by its special interest backers to help themselves and harm their opponents."
"The measure was written by a core group of Orange County Republicans who have failed in three statewide campaigns to restrict labor unions' ability to collect members' dues for political purposes. This time, they've attempted to broaden their appeal by seeking to ban corporate and union donations to candidates and campaigns -- in addition to forbidding unions from collecting dues for campaigns."
"But opponents said Proposition 32 will not take money out of politics because so-called super PACs and independent expenditure groups will still be allowed to spend unlimited money -- and will likely become even more predominant in campaigns."
With three California cities filing for bankruptcy recently -- Stockton, Mammoth Lakes and San Bernardino -- one wonders who's next in line. One possibility -- Fresno.
From Kurtis Alexander and George Hostetter in the Fresno Bee: "Vikram Rai, strategist with Citigroup Inc., said bond investors are increasingly asking about the financial health of Fresno out of concern that the city will seek court protection from its debt obligations and that millions of investment dollars will be lost..."
"Investors worry about contagion," Rai told the Bee. "Many California cities are in a tough situation."
"Fears about Fresno in the trading world were reported in Citigroup's investment strategy report, which this month said that "the harsh spotlight (of potential bankruptcy) has shifted to Fresno. The comments were seized by a handful of nationally syndicated news outlets, which fueled further speculation of Fresno's impending march to Chapter 9, the public version of Chapter 11."
And from our "Gone with the Wind" file comes word that 75 years after Amelia Earhart's disappearance, an intense new search failed to find any remains. It's Amelia's birthday by the way -- if she was alive, she'd be 114.
"The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery has ended a much publicized search for Amelia Earhart's aircraft after being stymied by technical issues and difficult underwater topography."
"After discussion and analysis of the results so far, they have decided that there is very little point in extending the trip," Patricia Thrasher, the group's president, said."