In the face of increasing concerns about outbreaks of measles and other communicable diseases, two California lawmakers announced plans to introduce legislation limiting ‘personal belief’ vaccine exemptions.
From Patrick McGreevy at the Los Angeles Times: “The proposals in Sacramento would probably still allow religious exemptions, said those familiar with the planned legislation. The two lawmakers who will offer it declined comment until they hold a news conference Wednesday.
"’As a pediatrician, I have personally witnessed children suffering lifelong injury and death from vaccine-preventable infection,’ one of the lawmakers, state Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), said in a statement last week.
“The other lawmaker is Democratic state Sen. Ben Allen, a Santa Monica educator.”
A new Census Bureau report found that California’s state spending was above the national average. Dan Walters reports at the Sacramento Bee:
“California contains 12.2 percent of the nation’s population but its state government accounted for 13.8 percent of all state spending in the 2012-13 fiscal year, according to a new Census Bureau report.
“California’s spending on education and highways was, however, below the national averages for those two categories, while its welfare spending was well above the average.”
CalPERS will receive over $300 million from a $1.37 billion federal settlement with credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s, stemming from inflated credit ratings on mortgages that failed during the recent recession.
E. Scott Reckard and Dean Starkman report that Justice Department lawyers working the case credit then-Attorney General Jerry Brown with the strategy that led to the settlement. From the LA Times:
"’What are we going to do about the ratings agencies? What about them?’ Brown asked the pair, Tony West and Geoffrey Graber.
"’And when Jerry Brown left the room,’ Graber recalled later, ‘Tony looked at me and said, “I really want to look at the ratings agencies.”’
“That conversation led to an unusual legal strategy and, ultimately, to the first civil lawsuit blaming a major ratings company for contributing to the 2008 financial crisis and exacerbating the recession.
“On Tuesday, the work came to fruition with a record settlement of nearly $1.4 billion with Standard & Poor's Financial Services…”
Rain may be headed our way, but the drought continues to set historic lows. Today’s number: the Sierra snowpack is at 14% of average. From Scott Soriano at Capitol Weekly:
“[The] amount of rain needed to substantially ease the drought would only come via a storm of near-biblical proportions, experts say.
In the DWR’s most recent snow pack report, ‘to have a chance at ending the drought, California would have to record precipitation that is at least 150 percent of normal by the end of the water year on Sept. 30, or 75 inches as measured by the 8-station index. As of today, only 23.1 inches have been recorded at the stations,’ according to State Climatologist Michael Anderson.”
And, in the daily drumbeat of ‘news’ about the 2016 California Senate race: KQED , the San Francisco Chronicle and Capitol Weekly look at a poll released Tuesday by the Legislative Latino Caucus that shows Antonio Villaraigosa’s strength as a potential candidate, while the Los Angeles Times reports that Kamala Harris’ early launch may dissuade some rivals from entering the fray.
While the Maltese Falcon may be the stuff dreams are made of, this story is the stuff of nightmares. From KTLA5 (with picture):
“A mother from Nottingham, England, discovered something fishy when she opened a can of tuna.
“Zoe Butler, 28, said she saw something looking back at her when she opened the lid of the tuna container.
“’I opened the top of the lid and saw a purple thing, a gut sack or intestine – then I turned it round and pushed it with a fork and saw it looking back at me,’ Butler told The Nottingham Post.
“’It’s got like a spiny tail along the bottom – it’s quite grim,’ she said.”
Finally… a good reason to go vegan.