Capitol Basement

Dec 21, 2015

Back from Paris and the global spotlight of climate change, it's time for Jerry Brown to get back to his day job.

From the LAT's George Skelton: "Brown needed to attend the United Nations summit, because if for no other reason, global warming is his obsession. In fact, Brown always has been fixated on what he used to call "Spaceship Earth.

"But there are plenty of things that need saving at home. And California's governor has more power than anyone to do it."

"Mundane things like California's pot-holed roads. Also: Our Medi-Cal healthcare system for the poor that soon will lose a big chunk of money. An underfunded program that serves the developmentally disabled. School construction and modernization, a program that has run out of state money."

Northern California is the home of the "ghost guns" -- weapons sold without serial numbers on a thriving black market. The San Bernardino shootings have directed new attention at the issue.

From the Bee's Sam Stanton and Denny Walsh: "Assembled in homes and shops, they are sold without serial numbers or other identifying features. Federal officials say hundreds of such weapons and silencers have been seized in a series of ongoing undercover operations."

"It is legal, and relatively easy – especially for someone with machinist skills – to purchase and assemble all the parts needed for an AR-15 rifle. But it is a felony to sell or trade such a weapon."

“We’ve had more of these cases in Northern California than in other parts of the country,” said Graham Barlowe, special agent in charge of the ATF’s Sacramento office. “There are a lot of firearms enthusiasts in Northern California, so it may be that the principals found each other more often. All the elements are here: demand, know-how and cross-pollination of enthusiasts and criminals.

”The California drought seems to be lasting longer than the renaissance, but there's some god news: the salmon are running in larger numbers than expected in Central Valley rivers.

From the Contra Cost Times' Denis Cuff:"On the Mokelumne River -- a central Sierra drinking water source to 1.4 million East Bay residents -- more than 12,000 adult chinook have returned for the fall run so far this year, exceeding a 17-year average of 8,000 fish."

"They have come home to breed after a three-year struggle to survive migrations, predators, water-diversion pumps -- and drought."

"The abundance is in sharp contrast to the meager returns for the coho salmon on many coastal creeks, and for the endangered winter-run chinook on the upper Sacramento River, where overheated water killed many young fish earlier this year."

Speaking of the drought, the state already has odered communites to cut use by 25 percent, but authorities are consdering even stricter rules as California heads into a fith year of drought.

The AP's Scott Smith tells the tale: "The move comes as California is in its driest four-year span on record, and officials anticipate a possible fifth year of drought. Weather forecasters say a strong El Nino weather system could drench the state, but one good year won't be enough to rehydrate the parched landscape."

"Gov. Jerry Brown earlier this year required communities throughout the state to reduce water use by one-quarter. State water regulators set individual targets for local agencies to meet, varying between 4 and 36 percent compared with 2013, but those targets will expire in February."

"Brown recently extended his executive order, giving regulators authority to enforce conservation measures through October 2016, if California still faces drought this January."

Ann Ravel, the former chair of California's Fair Political Practices Commission, now sits on the Federal Elections Commission. And she has a thing or two to say about the problems at the FEC.

From Calbuzz: "Rather than writing new rules clearly prohibiting the new forms of coordinated political spending that have developed post-Citizens United, the Commission has instead gone in the opposite direction and permitted even more coordination between candidates and outside groups."

In a recent advisory opinion, the Commission allowed agents of candidates (for example, a member of Congress’ chief of staff) to also raise money for an “independent” super PAC that only raises money for that same candidate. That opinion also allows a candidate to speak at a fundraising “event” for a super PAC that is raising money for that candidate, even if there are only a couple of attendees at the “event.”

"Decisions like these, coupled with our failure to enforce even the regulations that do exist, make it abundantly clear that the FEC will not be looking at whether so-called “independent” spending by outside groups is in fact independent from candidates, even though that expectation formed the basis of the Court’s decision in Citizens United."

And finally, from the "Music to Our Ears" file comes the tale of the jazz musician who played the saxophone while undergoing brain surgery. We're not making this up.

"A Spanish jazz musician was kept awake and playing his saxophone during brain surgery to ensure his neurological functions remained undamaged."

"Carlos Aguilera, 27, was sedated and given painkillers during the surgery to remove a brain tumor at Malaga's Carlos Haya hospital, but he was kept awake and playing his sax during the Oct. 15 procedure to ensure surgeons did not damage his ability to play."

"Aguilera and the doctors who performed the procedure appeared at a news conference Wednesday to announce the surgery had been successful."

"Two months ago I was on the operating table and now I have my life ahead of me, I have been brought back to life," The Local quoted Aguilera as saying during the conference."

Hope he played the solo from Yakety Yak ...

Earth to Brown: Time to get back to work