The newbies in the Assembly, looking for ways to legislate effectively, are learning one thing right off the bat: Don't do it like they do it in Washington, D.C.
From the Chronicle's Carla Marinucci: "The whole nation is irritated with bickering and arguing," Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, a first-term Republican from Lake Elsinore (Riverside County), said at aCalifornia Chamber of Commerce conference here that attracted lawmakers from both parties. "They don't want to see it at the state level."
"Melendez is part of an unusually large group of freshmen legislators who sense an opportunity to contrast themselves with Washington dysfunction and have the numbers - and time - to make a mark in Sacramento."
"First-term lawmakers will soon account for a majority of 41 members in the 80-member Assembly, the largest class of newcomers since 1966. Thanks to changes in term limits that voters approved last year, they can each serve 12 years in the lower house, up from just six years under the old system."
The Rim Fire was bad enough, but the economic impact of the huge blaze plus the government shutdown has been devastating to local communities.
From Peter Hecht in the Bee: "Nationally, financial services company Standard & Poor’s estimated the shutdown cost America’s economy $24 billion. The National Park Service reported that closed parks and communities depending on them may have lost $76 million a day in tourism revenue."
"In Groveland, economic heartbreak is counted in decidedly smaller numbers – and felt in deeply personal ways."
"For Pamela Harris, 45, soon-to-be former owner of the Pine Mountain Deli sandwich and ice cream emporium, her heartbreak figure was $15,000. That’s what Harris took out in a loan four years ago to buy the business where she worked."
The BART strike continued through the weekend and tragedy struck -- two workers were killed when they were hit by a train.
From the Mercury-News' Matthias Gafni, Gary Peterson and Katie Nelson: "The engineers were the seventh and eighth BART workers to die on the job in the transit agency's 41-year history. Officials did not release the workers' names, age or cities of residence."
"BART officials said one of the workers was a BART employee and the other a contractor. Officials at AFSCME Local 3993 said one of the workers was in the union; members of AFSCME are free to cross the picket line but are encouraged to "stand in solidarity," according to President Patricia Schuchardt."
"The accident came less than 48 hours after BART workers walked off their jobs Friday morning, following months of contentious negotiations. Despite repeated warnings from union officials that managers would create a dangerous situation by operating trains, BART management had earlier assured the public that those operators were certified, safe and would possibly shuttle a smaller fleet of trains if the strike dragged on."
Something of a mystery down in LA: The locations in L.A. County of about a fifth of the probationers included in the new realignment plan for corrections are unknown.
From the Press-Telegram's Beatriz Valenzuela: "The unaccounted offenders have warrants out for their arrests and make up more than 20 percent of those in the county included in Gov. Jerry Brown’s prison realignment plan."
"Under the 2011 Assembly Bill 109, or prison realignment, the responsibility of monitoring lower-level offenders shifted from the state to county agencies to comply with a three-judge panel’s order to reduce the state prison population and improve health conditions for inmates."
"We have law enforcement teams throughout the county searching for these people,” said Howard Wong, a representative of the county’s Probation Department."
A purveyor of oysters, ordered to shut down after decades in business in Drakes Bay, is taking his legal fight up a notch.
From the Press Democrat's Guy Kovner: "The owner of Drakes Bay Oyster Company asked a federal appeals court Friday to reconsider his bid to continue harvesting shellfish in the Point Reyes National Seashore."
"Lawyers for Kevin Lunny filed a 22-page request with the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a move that could potentially delay a court-ordered shutdown for up to a year."
"Federal judges twice have rejected Lunny’s bids since last November, when former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar refused to renew his permit to grow oysters in the federally protected waters of Drakes Estero, a 2,500-acre Pacific Ocean estuary teeming with wildlife."
