Bad news: California’s current drought is the worst in 1200 years according to a new study published Thursday in the journal of the American Geophysical Union.
Worse news: This could be the ‘new normal.’ From Paul Rogers at the San Jose Mercury News:”
“Analyzing tree rings that date back to 800 A.D. -- a time when Vikings were marauding Europe and the Chinese were inventing gunpowder -- there is no three-year period when California's rainfall has been as low and its temperatures as hot as they have been from 2012 to 2014, the researchers found.
"’We were really surprised. We didn't expect this,’ said one of the study's authors, Daniel Griffin, an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota's department of geography, environment and society.
Speaker Toni Atkins named Assembly committee chairs earlier in the week. … looking for the complete list? Check out Samantha Gallegos’ story at Capitol Weekly.
Ronald Chapman, head of the Department of Public Health has announced that he will step down. Chapman leaves a troubled agency, plagued with high profile problems including the failure to investigate more than 11,000 nursing home complaints. Jon Ortiz has the story at the Sacramento Bee.
“As recently reported by The Sacramento Bee, Chapman will leave a department facing serious challenges. It has failed to collect current, accurate ownership information on nursing homes as required by state law, for example. In some instances, the state’s database contains outright omissions of ownership information.”
Chapman’s successor has not been named.
Scott Lewis of Voice of San Diego continues to slog through the scandal that engulfed Carl DeMaio’s congressional bid. Part IV of the novel-length story was published yesterday – the story may be longer than Beowulf, but it reads like a suspense novel.
“On the Saturday night three days before the November election, KPBS reporter Claire Trageser was at dinner with her fiancé when she got a call from Justin Harper, a former staffer for then-congressional candidate Carl DeMaio.
“Harper had already detailed for her an encounter he had with DeMaio. He had described how, on July 10, as he finished up at a urinal down the hall from the campaign’s second-floor headquarters, DeMaio hovered behind him and exposed himself, grabbing his genitals. Harper quit the campaign two days later. He left on good terms, with a recommendation from DeMaio.
“Harper would not let Trageser use his name, though, in that earlier interview. And so, she would not run the story.
“That Saturday night, he told her he was ready to go public…”
And, it’s Friday, the day we decide who has been Singin’ the Golden State Blues this week. Although we’re pretty sure Henry Perea is unhappy to have been replaced as chairman of the powerful Assembly Insurance Committee, at least he still has a job. Eddie Wright, who has run the capitol’s shoeshine stand since 1992, can’t say the same.
Wright was among those who lost their jobs in Senate pro tem De Leon’s clearcutting of Senate staff. Though he made only $13,000 per year for the part time position, Wright counted on the job for healthcare and other benefits.
Laurel Rosenhall has a great piece in the Bee covering Wright’s plight, although she missed this fascinating nugget, found in John Howard’s story at Capitol Weekly:
“At least one of Wright’s visits to the Capitol was dramatic: In 1967, Wright and his friends – including Black Panther Party members Bobby Seale and Eldridge Cleaver – went to the Capitol as part of a planned protest. As Wright toured Capitol Park, Seale and Cleaver toted loaded shotguns onto the Assembly floor to protest a new firearms law.”
No word on Wright’s immediate plans…