State Sen. Ron Calderon surrendered to federal authorities yesterday, now his colleagues in the senate wait for his resignation.
Laurel Rosenhall reports in the Sacramento Bee: “State Sen. Ron Calderon pleaded not guilty to corruption charges in a Los Angeles courtroom Monday, and was freed after posting a $50,000 bond.”
“About 400 miles away at the state Capitol, Senate leader Darrell Steinberg emerged from a closed-door meeting of his colleagues and said they’d give the Montebello Democrat a week to respond to their call for him to resign before taking any action on his future in the house.”
The Central Basin Water District continues to be investigated by federal authorities regarding a feud with the Water Replenishment District.
Hector Becerra for the Los Angeles Times: “Thomas Calderon was widely seen as a field marshal in Central Basin's protracted battles with the WRD."
"Both sides now agree the conflict did far more harm than good"
"Central Basin and the WRD each spent about $2.4 million in the water war. Central Basin sent state legislators and lobbyists after its rivals, in one case paying a consultant to create promotional online stories under the names, bios and photos of reporters that did not exist. The WRD bought up domain names such as "centralbasin.net" and used it to post stories critical of its rival.”
While in the State Assembly, Charles Calderon advocated for bills that may have at the time been in his son Ian’s favor.
Ben Baeder writes for Whittier Daily News: “While he was in the Assembly in 2012, Charles Calderon pushed for several bills that would have made it easier for mobile home park owners to collect more rent.”
“At the same time his son Ian Calderon, who is now a Democratic Assemblyman representing the Whittier area, worked as a consultant for longtime family friends with relatives who operated mobile home parks.”
More California prisoners serving life are being released on parole.
Paul Elias reports for the Associated Press: “Since Gov. Jerry Brown assumed office in January 2011, a record number of inmates with life sentences are winning parole. Brown has allowed the release of nearly 1,400 lifers, while going along with the parole board about 82 percent of the time.”
“Brown's predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, authorized the release of 557 lifers during his six-year term, sustaining the board at a 27 percent clip. Before that, Gov. Gray Davis over 3 years approved the release of two.”
Tom Steyer wants to make it clear he is not the liberal answer to the Koch brothers.
From the National Journal’s Clare Foran: "I want to draw some very, very big distinctions between me and the Koch brothers. The Koch brothers are pushing ideas that directly benefit them. They're pushing things where it is going to result in their pocket books being a lot fatter," Steyer said. "If you just simply look at what they're supporting and what the implication is for their businesses...they're aligned and that's not true of me," he added.”
“The New York Times reported earlier this month that Steyer hopes to pour up to $100 million into the midterm election cycle in support of candidates with a strong record fighting climate change.”
The call to split California into six different states sounds like a joke, but its main proponent says it’s for real.
Josh Richman reports in the Mercury News: “Venture capitalist Tim Draper insisted again Monday that he's not just joking about his proposal to split California into six states.”
“The Secretary of State has now given Draper the go-ahead to start collecting signatures for his ballot measure, but the Silicon Valley tech investor offered mostly off-the-cuff answers at a news conference Monday when asked how he would run or fund a campaign that has generated plenty of media attention and a huge dose of "Is he really serious?" suspicion.”
The Pentagon announced its 2015 budget proposal and California’s military weapons makers saw a boost in their stocks.
W.J. Hennigan reports for the Los Angeles Times: “Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel outlined details on the fiscal 2015 budget request, which shielded large, big-ticket programs and slashed older weapon systems.”
“”Northrop, which has about 2,500 employees on the program in Southern California, won out on the Pentagon’s fiscal 2015 plan because it reversed 2014’s proposal to mothball a version of the Global Hawk in favor of keeping the U-2 flying.”
“Northrop saw its stock go up $1.65, or 1.4%, to $122.12.”
San Fransico property owners are being barred from getting rid of their illegal housing units.
John Wildermuth writes in SF Gate: "We're changing the default on the issue," saidJohn Rahaim, the city planning director. "Before, the default was to tear out illegal units. Now, we want to legalize them."
"The change is part of an ambitious effort by Mayor Ed Lee to add 30,000 units of new or rehabilitated housing to the city over the next six years to ease a growing affordability crunch that has made San Francisco one of the most expensive places in the nation to live."
Golden Gate Bridge tolls could soon jump $3 in price.
Kale Williams and Michael Cabanatuan report for SF Gate: “The increases - to as much as $8 by 2018 - would again make the cost of crossing the landmark span the priciest in the Bay Area.”
“The proposed hike would be the first on the famous span in more than five years and would raise an estimated $123 million over the next five years. But it's sure to raise the hackles of commuters as well.”
California's controversial glove law could soon be repealed by lawmakers.
Renee Frojo reports in the Sac Business Journal: "In a preliminary victory for California’s restaurant and bar workers, Assemblyman Richard Pan could soon overturn a provision in the state’s highly controversial new "glove law" that bans bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods."
"At a press conference in Sacramento Monday morning, Pan said he would propose a repeal of the law, which essentially altered the state’s health code from “minimizing” bare hand contact to “prohibiting” bare hand contact with food."