Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León yesterday announced legislation that would dramatically cut greenhouse gas production in the state. Seeking to head off criticism from the business community, he pitched the package as a green jobs program. David Siders has the story in the Sacramento Bee.
“The legislative package includes measures to cut petroleum use in half by 2030 and to expand, from one-third to one-half, the proportion of electricity California derives from renewable sources such as wind and solar.
“De León, accompanied at a news conference by labor leaders and employees of green-tech companies – some of them in hard hats – said the goal is to ‘make sure California keeps leading in building the new economy of tomorrow.’
“He said, ‘We need to move the state away from fossil fuels and free consumers from the grip of oil prices…’
“The environmental package will likely be more difficult to pass in the Assembly than in the Senate. In the lower house, Assemblyman Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, said lawmakers are considering a variety of bills and will ‘see how this percolates.’”
And, as if on cue, business interests and oil companies reacted with less enthusiasm. From Chris Megerian at the Los Angeles Times:
"’The jobs you lose in manufacturing could outweigh the jobs you gain in the clean, emerging economy,’ said Dorothy Rothrock, president of the California Manufacturers & Technology Assn.”
Speaking of climate change, scientists at the National Research Council now say that the solution to solving the climate crisis may lie in massive geo-engineering schemes, once seen more as science fiction than salvation. Ralph Vartabedian and Evan Halper have the story at the Los Angeles Times:
“Technologies to dial down the planet’s thermostat have long been considered a sideshow in the debate over global warming, largely dismissed by scientists as unworkable and potentially dangerous. But a comprehensive study released Tuesday by the National Research Council, the government’s main scientific advisory body, concluded that such interventions may be needed to avert a climate catastrophe and that the government should act now to figure out which might be most feasible.
“’Let's hope it never happens, but if we ever have our back against the wall, we will know ahead of time what we need to do,’ said Marcia McNutt, the former head of the U.S. Geological Survey, who chaired the committee…
“The lack of progress for more than two decades on reducing greenhouse gas emissions makes it ‘increasingly likely that as a society we will need to deploy’ some technologies to reduce Earth’s temperature, the report said.”
An event to spotlight internet safety for teens turned into an impromptu press conference as reporters peppered event speaker Kamala Harris with questions about her run for senate. They didn’t get much.
“Harris took the stage alongside Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg before a packed audience of California teens to push Safer Internet Day 2015. The effort brought together firms like Google, Twitter and Instagram, and groups dedicated to raising awareness about social media issues, including ConnectSafely.org, #ICanHelp, the Online Safety Institute and the PTA.
“Afterward, the attorney general — to her credit — quickly waved off an aggressive staffer who literally tried to block our SFChronicle/SFGate Shaky Hands Production video and shout down questions from the media…
“Pressed after her speech, she promised she will have plenty to say to us soon — as she raced off to another event.”
It seems like this is the tenth time we’ve linked to a story saying “turnout for the 2014 election was even worse than you thought,” but here’s another one, this time from John Myers at KQED. It’s the last one, we promise.
“It was the Year of the Grandparents.
“Not only was the average voter older than the average Californian,” says political data expert Paul Mitchell. “The average voter was older than the average Californian’s parents….”
“Mitchell and others have been closely sifting through the results of the June and November elections, each of which registered historic new lows in overall voter turnout for primary and general elections in California.
“And most glaring in the research, it seems, is the issue of age. Young voters were almost nowhere to be found: only 8.2 percent of California voters age 18-24 cast a ballot in November.”
And finally, in the ‘if you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail’ file: Police in Shorewood Minnesota responded to a call that two male deer had locked antlers in a fight and become stuck together. The solution: Taser ‘em. (with video).
“When Jayme Pantekoek woke up Sunday morning, the last thing he expected to see was a fight of any kind in his back yard.
But standing before him were two bucks. One had already died in the fight, but the winner was unable to walk away.
“’He still had a lot of fight in him. Probably drug him, you know, two houses down from our house and back,’ Pantekoek said…
South Lake Minnetonka police were called, and Officer Ricky Syhre suggested using a Taser on the deer.
“We didn’t want the deer to get any more injured than what it was,” Syhre said…
“…Syhre’s partner, Officer John Wareham, used his Taser on an animal for the first time in his career.
“That’s when Pantekoek, using his battery-powered saw, ran up to the living deer and began sawing off its antler.
“’The timing was very important to get in, get the job done, get out as fast as you can to clear the area,’ Pantekoek said.
“And that’s exactly what they did. About 30 seconds after Pantekoek cut off his antler, the deer woke up and ran off.”
