Democratic Party members are in turmoil over John Pérez's recount for the state controller’s race.
Jim Miller reports in the Sacramento Bee: ““I just don’t think we can be divided,” said Becky Curry, the chairwoman of the Lake County Democratic Party, who earlier this week co-wrote a column in The Sacramento Bee urging Pérez to call off the recount. “I know a lot of people support former Speaker Pérez. But Betty went through the process, and she got the most votes.””
“Pérez supporters dismiss what they call unfair criticism by Yee supporters. Pérez, they note, is doing what Yee or any other candidate would do if they lost by one-hundredth of a percent – 481 votes out of more than 4 million cast in the controller’s contest last month.”
A new economic database helps explain why the state’s economic revival is barely trickling down to most of its residents.
Connor Grubaugh reports for Capitol Weekly: “In every California county, Assembly district and Senate district, unemployment through May was at least equal to or greater than pre-recession levels, according to estimates from the CCJE’s database, which uses information derived from public and private sources. The Center — affiliated with the California Business Roundtable, a business advocacy and research group — developed the database as a tool to break down complex economic data for state legislators. The database was quietly unveiled in March.”
California’s groundwater may soon get some much-needed oversight.
Ellen Knickmeyer reports for the Associated Press: “Environmental groups say California is one of a few states in the country with no comprehensive statewide regulation to save slow-to-renew underground water from being drained dry by over-pumping. A ruling by the state appeals court on the issue would apply to all counties, the Environmental Law Foundation's James Wheaton, a lead attorney in the case, said.”
“The new decision "is the first time someone in authority has said we need to manage groundwater," Wheaton said.”
A voter-fraud investigation request has been filed against the push to split California six-ways.
Josh Richman reports for Inside Bay Area: “The “OneCalifornia” committee formed to oppose venture capitalist Tim Draper’s “Six Californias” ballot measure filed a complaint with Secretary of State Debra Bowen on Thursday requesting a voter-fraud investigation.”
“The letter included a copy of the blog item I posted Tuesday, which detailed voters hundreds of miles apart recounting how paid petition circulators told strikingly similar falsehoods about the Six Californias petition’s purpose. Lying to voters in order to get them to sign a ballot-measure petition is a misdemeanor.”
Venture capital firms are setting records with returns on investments, not seen since the dot-com boom.
Heather Somerville reports for The Mercury News: “The number of megadeals for the first half of 2014 has already exceeded deals for all of 2013, according to the report, and this year is on pace to be one of the biggest in venture investments since the height of the dot-com boom. Since PwC began tracking venture investments in 1995, the largest year for fundraising was 2000, when firms invested $105 billion. Nationally, firms have invested almost $23 billion so far this year, with Silicon Valley accounting for 53 percent of that.”
“"At the current pace of investing, we will exceed the $30 billion invested in 2013 and potentially could reach levels that we haven't seen in the last decade," McCaffrey said.”
National political figures are making their rounds of visits through the Bay Area.
Josh Richman reports for Inside Bay Area: “Politico says Paul is on the hunt for “two things Democrats usually expect to have locked up in the Golden State: rich technology donors and computer geeks game to leave their jobs to work on a White House campaign.””
“President Obama arrives in San Francisco on Tuesday night from Seattle; he’ll stay overnight and then attend a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraising luncheon – tickets start at $10,000 each – at the Los Altos home of real estate developer George Marcus. Obama will head for Los Angeles later Wednesday.”
Finally, for the laziest of bakers out there... Harvard students bring you Spray Cake.
Kate Merrill reports for Boston's WBZ-TV: “"Spray Cake is essentially cake batter in a whipped cream-style can,” she said."
"“(When) you spray it, it comes out pre-risen, so it bakes in less time. It’s microwavable. It makes more consistently than traditional cake batter,” McCallum told WBZ."
"You spray and cook for one minute and it’s ready to eat."
