The state Public Utilities Commission, a powerful regulatory panel with wide jurisdiction, is being targeted for an overhaul.
KQED's Marisa Lagos tells the tale: "A trio of lawmakers proposed the most far-reaching reform of the embattled California Public Utilities Commission to date, rolling out legislation Wednesday that would ask voters to strip the agency’s constitutional authority and allow the Legislature to redistribute its power to other state agencies."
"The constitutional amendment, which two-thirds of the Legislature would have to support in order for it to be placed before voters in November, comes as natural gas continues to spew from the Los Angeles County suburb of Porter Ranch."
"And, as lead author Assemblyman Mike Gatto said, questions are being raised over whether the CPUC could have prevented the natural gas storage well leak in the first place."
An early-warning system for earthquakes is being developed and has already proven its effectiveness, but there's a problem -- the price tag.
From the LAT's Rosanna Gia and Rong-Gong Lin II: "The White House this week highlighted advances of the system by bringing together top scientists, politicians and emergency managers in Washington who marveled at how it could give residents as well as emergency officials and businesses precious seconds of warning before a devastating quake.
"But behind the cheerleading, state and federal officials are battling over who should pay for the system, which uses hundreds of sensor stations embedded in the ground to monitor earth movement. Congress and President Obama have kicked in about half the annual $16-million cost to operate the system. But federal elected officials say state governments in California,
Oregon and Washington should also cover some of the operating costs."
"Those states have so far refused, with some officials saying the warning system should be a federal program."
Every presidential election year, the question here in California is whether our primary will make a difference. This year, the answer is a definite maybe.
From George Skelton in the LAT: "By the time Californians are allowed to vote, Democratic candidates will have collected 82% of the convention delegates from other states. GOP contenders will have picked up 88%."
"Because of the Iowa caucus results, however, Californians who bother to vote may not be wasting their time."
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders would need to win, as expected, in neighboring New Hampshire on Tuesday. Then things will get tougher. He'll have to remain competitive in March through the Southern states, with their large numbers of Clinton-leaning black voters."
The escape of three inmates from the Orange County jail highlighted a long-standing issue: The feds have been warning about security problems at the jail for years.
From Alysia Santo in Capitol Weekly: "Federal officials warned for years of “poor supervision” at a Southern California jail where three inmates — all charged with violent felonies — recently escaped, documents obtained by The Marshall Project show."
"The escape of Hossein Nayeri, Jonathan Tieu and Bac Duong from the Central Men’s Jail in Orange County touched off a vast manhunt and has rattled local residents. The men’s elaborate route to freedom seemed made for the movies: They cut through layers of metal and navigated plumbing tunnels to reach the roof. They then rappelled down four stories with makeshift ropes, perhaps strung together from bedsheets or jail clothing. (Ed’s Note: The inmates have since been returned to custody.)"
"Their absence wasn’t noticed by security staff for about 16 hours after the Jan. 22 escape, officials have acknowledged."
Meanwhile, people seeking relief for the homeless in high-rent San Francisco are running into the cops -- just a few days before the Super Bowl.
From Kevin Fagan and Steve Rubenstein: "Hundreds of homeless advocates seeking to set up a protest tent city alongside Super Bowl City on Wednesday afternoon in downtown San Francisco quickly found themselves surrounded by several hundred police officers in riot gear."
"t could have passed for a prevent defense, except the football game wasn’t for another four days."
"The advocates, vowing to call attention to the plight of the neediest during an event often catering to the wealthiest, brought with them five nylon camping tents. But the green and gray plastic domes never made it onto solid ground."
And from our "Winter Wonderland" file comes word of a guy who deals with a blizzard by yelling "mush!"
"A Pennsylvania man took advantage of Pittsburgh's heavy snowfall by taking his dogsled and three canines on a tour of the city's downtown."
"Matt Philips, who filmed his dogsled trip with a pair of GoPro cameras, had his three dogs pull him along Isabella Street and the Allegheny River's North Shore, one year after he created a similar video of mushing a sled with only two dogs on the city's streets."
"That road was pretty much untouched by plows, and nobody else was parked there," Philips told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It was actually the new dog's first time out with the sled. Previously, we only did bike and cart running with him."
Wonder if the cops gave him a ticket?