The governor may have declared victory in California's overcrowded prisons, but his statement was just the opening move in what is likely to be a protracted court fight.
From the Bee's Sam Stanton, David Siders and Denny Walsh: "Gov. Jerry Brown's declaration Tuesday that California has solved its prison overcrowding problem is part of a bold move to wrest control of the nation's largest corrections system back from the federal courts and their appointed overseers."
"But experts say there is a slim chance of that. "I think the court will respond very negatively," said Joan Petersilia, a Stanford Law School professor and former corrections adviser to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "I would be very surprised if they moved an inch."
"Nevertheless, the Brown administration filed documents in Sacramento and San Francisco courts late Monday seeking to end federal control of inmate health care in the state's 33 adult prisons and to lift a mandate that the state reduce its inmate population to about 110,000"
When piloting rules for big ships in San Francisco Bay were tightened following the tanker Cosco Busan's crash and spill several years ago, one big obstacle, amazingly, was exempted -- the Bay Bridge.
From the Mercury News' Paul Rogers: " On Tuesday, those rules came under scrutiny as questions swirled around whether the pilot of the Overseas Reymar, a 752-foot-long oil tanker that collided with a Bay Bridge tower a day before, had sailed in fog that was too dense, potentially putting the ship, the bridge and the bay at risk."
"Capt. Peter McIsaac, president of San Francisco Bar Pilots, said he and Coast Guard officials helped craft the fog rules in 2008. The Bay Bridge was deliberately not included among the areas to be avoided in fog, he said, because foggy conditions are so common in San Francisco Bay that limiting sailing near the Bay Bridge would bring commerce to a near halt."
"Due to the summer fog patterns, that could shut down all the ports in the bay for a long period of time," McIsaac said."
From the Chronicle's Jill Tucker: "In just two years, California students, along with millions of their peers across the country, will start taking new computerized standardized tests that require them to write, think, analyze and solve problems - a dramatic departure from the fill-in-the-bubble tests in place for decades."
"But schools in the state are nowhere near ready for what education officials say is an overhaul of what is taught and how kids are tested."
"The move away from a testing model that relies on memory and a No. 2 pencil would cost an estimated $1 billion to implement in California, state Superintendent Tom Torlakson said Tuesday. That would include the cost to update curriculum, provide teacher training and get more computers in classrooms, and it would require changing some state laws, Torlakson said."
State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, who is pushing hard to regulate HMO rates, denounced the latest rate increase by Anthem Blue Cross.
From the LAT's Chad Terhune: "California's insurance commissioner said an 11% rate increase for small businesses by Anthem Blue Cross is "unreasonable" because the company overstated its costs and improperly added fees related to the federal healthcare law."
"Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones also said Anthem, a unit of industry giant WellPoint Inc., was reaping excessive profits in California. But under state law the commissioner has no authority to block the rate increase from taking effect this month."
"This is a huge loophole in California law and in the federal Affordable Care Act," Jones said. Anthem Blue Cross disputed some of the state's numbers and said higher premiums are warranted to cover rising medical costs."
Yosemite Valley, the spectacular jewel of the nation's parks, may be due for an overhaul. But say adios to the ice rink. Swell.
From the Fresno Bee's Mark Grossi: "The National Park Service is calling for a $235 million renovation of world-renowned Yosemite Valley -- featuring a pedestrian underpass near Yosemite Falls and a limit on visitors during crowded times."
"The changes are part of the embattled Merced River Plan, a draft of which was released Tuesday. Yosemite Lodge, listed for removal in one earlier option, will be retained. There will be more campsites, too."
"But popular Curry Village Ice Rink will be torn out. Bicycle and raft rentals also will go away, though visitors still can bring their own bikes and rafts, said Kathleen Morse, Yosemite chief of planning."
