Work on California’s high-speed rail project is potentially starting next month, though project funding could dry up by next year.
Tim Sheehan reports for The Fresno Bee: “An elevated viaduct near Madera will likely be one of the first major pieces of tangible construction for California's proposed high-speed rail line, with work potentially starting as early as next month.”
But Allen Young reports for the Sacramento Business Journal: “The authority expects to spend approximately $4 billion on construction next year, according to a 2014 draft business plan (pdf version here). But the authority only has $3.3 billion in federal dollars.”
“If state funding does not materialize, “There would be a question of whether the federal government would allow the expenditure of federal dollars on the project,” said Jeremy Fraysse, an analyst with the California Legislative Analyst's Office.”
It’s Equal Pay Day and a new report is shedding light on the struggle women - especially minority women - face in wage equity.
Shan Li reports for the L.A. Times: “Collectively, California women lose out on a total of nearly $37.7 billion annually, the report said.”
“Minority women struggle even more: Black women in California are paid 63 cents for every dollar paid to white males, while Latinas are paid just 44 cents, the report said.”
GOP gubernatorial candidate Assemblyman Tim Donnelly has compared immigration to war.
Seema Mehta reports for the L.A. Times: “He was speaking to about 200 people at a Save Our Nation event on March 25, 2006, held on the same day 500,000 people rallied in support of immigrant rights in Los Angeles, an event Donnelly noted.”
"We are in a war. You may not want to accept it, but the other side has declared war on us," Donnelly said, railing against those marching with Mexican flags.”
Karl Rove warned Republican Californians of selecting Donnelly as their nominee.
Carla Marinucci reports for the S.F. Chronicle: “Republican guru Karl Rove warned a Sacramento crowd Monday that if California Republicans “have to lose to Jerry Brown,” they should at least pick someone who won’t damage their future with Latinos.”
The man behind the Arizona “dark money” involved in two 2012-ballot measures discussed his group’s connection to the Koch brothers.
Laurel Rosenhall reports for the Sacramento Bee: “Sean Noble, the man who operated an Arizona nonprofit group that channeled millions of dollars in anonymous donations to two California ballot measures in 2012, said in a television interview Sunday that the investigation he faced by California's political watchdog was "a complete over-reach."
A divide along racial lines in the state Democratic Party could be hope for desperate Republicans.
Byron Tau reports in POLITICO: “Republicans — desperate for anything to both help their standing in California and bring more diversity to a party that has struggled with minority voters — are moving to capitalize on the themes of education, preferential treatment and personal responsibility to a woo skeptical voters in a fast growing demographic group. ”
One political group is seeking to appeal to the Bay Area tech industries so-called “conservatarian” ideologues.
Joe Garofoli reports for S.F. Chronicle: “Scheduled for July 18-20, the goal of "Lincoln Labs Conference 2014: Reboot" is to link the tech savvy of Silicon Valley with the political needs of conservative and libertarian - or "conservatarian" - America. Organizers hope to assemble 300 A-listers in politics, tech and the nonprofit world. There will be a hackathon designed to solve the wonky problems of campaign life, like how to sync databases.”
The state Senate erased the web presence of three suspended lawmakers.
Judy Lin reports for the Associated Press: “The three men have lost the rights and privileges of a senator, which include having a Senate-maintained website, said Mark Hedlund, a spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.”
A new Senate bill would criminalize the mislabeling of seafood, sending violators to up to a year in jail.
Chris Macias reports of the Sacramento Bee: “SB 1138 aims to counter widespread fraud in the state’s seafood supply chain. According to a national study by Oceana, a Monterey-based ocean conservation and advocacy group, 44 percent of grocery stores, restaurants and sushi eateries surveyed sold mislabeled seafood. Southern California ranked as the area with the highest mislabeling rate at 52 percent, which is 20 percent higher than the national average. Oceana found that 84 percent of sushi samples in Southern California were mislabeled.”
