In the race for state insurance commissioner, a contentious ballot measure that would heighten the office’s authority may end up being the deciding factor.
John Wildermuth reports for The SF Chronicle: “While Jones insists he doesn’t have an adversarial relationship with the insurance industry, he said health insurers have been charging excessive rates and that some have recently reduced premiums for purely political reasons.”
““There’s no doubt in my mind that (the insurance companies) pushed prices back to prevent an outcry at the polls in November,” he said.”
“The battle over the two insurance-related initiatives could be Gaines’ best hope for a November upset. He finished second to Jones in the June primary, 53 percent to 41 percent, and as of June 30, the cutoff date for the most recent state campaign finance reports, he had about $50,000 in his campaign account, compared with Jones’ almost $2 million.”
Many of you probably woke up to something unusual this morning – RAIN.
Bill Lindelof writes in The Sacramento Bee: “Before the rainfall was over, the National Weather Service predicts that the Sacramento region could get up to a quarter of an inch of rain. Most of the showery weather should occur in the morning.”
“By the afternoon, the rain clouds should be over the Sierra Nevada where there is hope that the precipitation will dampen the still-burning King fire. Even if the rain is light over the 13-day-old wildland blaze, cooler temperatures and higher humidity will help the firefight.”
Safe to say, the year isn’t going great for San Diego Sen. Ben Hueso.
Chris Nichols reports for U-T San Diego: “Self-described political activists have filed a lawsuit against state Sen. Ben Hueso accusing the San Diego Democrat of illegally diverting campaign funds to pay for unrelated legal expenses.”
“The suit was filed last week in San Diego Superior Court. It seeks $122,000 in civil penalties.”
“It alleges that Hueso unlawfully used funds from both his 2010 and 2012 State Assembly campaign accounts to pay for legal expenses tied to a previous lawsuit that involved Hueso’s failed bid for the San Diego Unified School Board in 2005.”
A Silicon Valley billionaire may not block the public’s right to access Martin Beach, according to a San Mateo County Superior Court.
Alex Emslie reports for KQED: ““This confirms what the county and the Coastal Commission and the public have long believed, that public access to the California coast is a right that belongs to the people,” said the plaintiff’s attorney, Eric Buescher. “It cannot be unilaterally blocked by a property owner without asking for permission to do so.””
“Mallach ruled the developers engaged in unpermitted development and must seek a permit from the Coastal Commission, which is required to block access and change, add or remove signs adjacent to Martins Beach Road.”
Fact-check: Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s federal assault weapons ban hasn’t been as effective as she claims.
Lois Beckett reports for ProPublica: “Feinstein introduced an updated version of the assault weapons ban last year, in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which the shooter used a type of rifle that had been targeted by the ban. She told her Senate colleagues to "show some guts" when they voted on it in April. The measure failed, 40 to 60. The push to improve background checks also failed, but attracted more support.”
“The key statistic that Feinstein cited in her recent press release — that the ban "was responsible for a 6.7 percent decrease in total gun murders, holding all other factors equal"— was rejected by researchers a decade ago.”
“Feinstein attributed the statistic to an initial Department of Justice-funded study of the first few years of the ban, published in 1997.”
“But one of the authors of that study, Dr. Christopher Koper, a criminologist from George Mason University, told ProPublica that number was just a "tentative conclusion." Koper was also the principal investigator on the 2004 study that, as he put it, "kind of overruled, based on new evidence, what the preliminary report had been in 1997."”
State officials are celebrating Banned Books Week, but one school district is removing a popular read from its libraries.
Suzanne Hurt reports for Los Angeles Register: “A Riverside schools committee has banned the book “The Fault in Our Stars” from its middle schools after a parent challenged the teen love story as inappropriate for that age group.“
“Following a parent’s similar complaint over a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel in Cucamonga School District, the Rancho Cucamonga Middle School library reopened to students Tuesday following a book audit launched by the controversy.”
