Following two weeks of rain and high winds that caused mudslides and flooding, Governor Brown yesterday declared a State of Emergency in Marin, Mendocino, Ventura and San Mateo counties. The declaration will help expedite federal funding to repair damaged roadways.
A California think tank project seeking to create a searchable database of legislative committee hearing videos received a grant of over $1 million. The finished project will allow users to search for footage of committee hearings by keyword. Jim Miller has the story in the Sacramento Bee.
“The Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy, a California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, think tank headed by former Republican lawmaker Sam Blakeslee, has received $1.2 million for its Digital Democracy project from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.
“Using voice-recognition technology, Digital Democracy will let people search committee-hearing video archives by keyword, topic, speaker or date. The project’s goal is to help policymakers, the media, and others to better track what happens in committee, where bills often undergo significant changes or promises are made of future ones.”
San Francisco’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the legality of federal measures protecting Delta salmon, reversing District Court Judge Oliver Wagner’s earlier ruling in the case.
Dan Brekke reports for KQED, “A unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the National Marine Fisheries Service acted reasonably and within its discretion when it prescribed limits on the amount of water exported from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in order to protect threatened and endangered salmonids.”
And, it looks like plastic bag manufacturers may win this round – KPBS’ Erik Anderson reports that the industry-lead initiative to repeal the ban is close to qualifying for the 2016 ballot.
“The California bag ban is supposed to take effect next summer, but the plastic bag industry is bank-rolling a repeal initiative.
“Opponents of the ban have already raised nearly $3 million to gather 500,000 signatures. The majority of the funding has come from plastic bag manufacturer, Hilex Poly, according to the Sacramento Business Journal.”
Voice of San Diego looks back at a year of firsts in Sacramento, including San Diego’s first Assembly Speaker, the Senate’s scandal triple-play, and Governor Brown’s fourth term.
And in Gardena, Police say they’ve caught the thief of a Rudolph statue red-handed.
The wooden statue of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer had been part of the Los Angeles neighborhood of Ranchview’s holiday celebrations for half a century – until it vanished December 12.
A frantic search ensued, leading to a reindeer spotting on the roof of a Gardena trailer home.
“Detectives obtained a search warrant, collected the statue and arrested the homeowner.
“The sheriff's statement says the theft case will be presented to prosecutors on Christmas Eve.”