Senator Fran Pavley, the original author of AB 32, California’s groundbreaking legislation to combat climate change, has introduced a new bill that goes even further, proposing to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2050. John Howard has the story at Capitol Weekly:
“Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, has introduced a new bill, SB 32, requiring greenhouse gases to be cut to 80 percent below the 1990 levels by 2050. The plan would come under the jurisdiction of the Air Resources Board.
“California current law requires the emissions to be cut to 1990 levels by 2020….The new bill increases the targets set by AB 32 and, like the latter, is all but certain to draw national attention. The new bill remains in its formative stages…”
Prime Healthcare announced yesterday that it would not proceed with the purchase of the Daughters of Charity Health System’s six nonprofit Catholic hospitals, rejecting conditions placed on the sale by Attorney General Kamala Harris. Harris approved the sale in February, but attached a long list of conditions. From Victoria Colliver at SFGate:
“’The sheer number of conditions — more than 300 — is unheard of in California, or anywhere else in the United States,’ said Troy Schell, Prime’s general counsel, in a statement. The company estimated the hospitals would lose nearly $3 billion over the 10 years with those conditions.
“The future of the troubled Daughters of Charity chain is now uncertain.”
Speaking of rejections, Orange County Register owners Aaron Kushner and Eric Spitz yesterday announced their resignations from the paper and its parent company, Freedom Communications.
Chris Kirkham at the Los Angeles Times: “When Aaron Kushner bought the Orange County Register and announced his plans to double down on print journalism, media experts asked: Could he save the newspaper industry?
On Tuesday, Kushner and his partner, Eric Spitz, resigned from executive duties at the paper and Freedom Communications Inc. Their bold expansions failed after sharp staff reductions, furloughs and closures of the Los Angeles and Long Beach papers they had launched with great fanfare…
“’There's no other story like this in the country,’ said Ken Doctor, a news industry analyst and author of the blog Newsonomics. ‘There's nothing where we've seen this level of change, commitment, pullback and financial woes in such a small period of time.’”
Following revelations in the press that oilfield operations had endangered water reserves, state regulators were taken to task yesterday at a Senate hearing examining the oversight of California’s protected aquifers. From Ellen Knickmeyer at Associated Press:
“When it comes to a balance between supporting the oil and gas industry in California — the country's No. 3 oil-producing state — and protecting public resources and public safety, ‘I would suggest that ... there has not been the proper balance between these two mandates’ for state oil and gas regulators, John Laird, the state secretary of natural resources, told state senators in a scathing senate hearing. ‘And this is our chance to get it right…’"
“The state's oil and gas division had become ‘a flawed agency in many, many ways in terms of protecting the groundwater as it should be. The balance really has gone out of whack,’ Democratic San Francisco Bay-area Sen. Lois Wolk said.”
Plenty of not so good news this morning: Bay Area water supplies are at a 38 year low, and the U.S. Geological Survey’s forecast model is predicting an increased risk of an 8.0 or higher earthquake in the not too distant future. (For reference, the 1906 San Francisco quake was a 7.8.) There is some good news, though: California’s February tax revenue beat estimates by a cool $1 billion.
With less than one week to go until the special election in SD-7, the outside money is rolling in. From Jim Miller at the Sacramento Bee:
“Three prominent Democrats are angling for the Democrat-leaning seat: Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, former lawmaker Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo, and Orinda Mayor Steve Glazer. Other candidates on the ballot are Concord Democrat Terry Kremin and Pleasanton Republican Michaela Hertle.
“Through Tuesday, Bonilla, Glazer and Buchanan had raised $577,000 between them. But outside committees funded by wealthy businesses, unions and dentists collectively had spent more than $2.1 million, state filings show, with some groups spending money for or against multiple candidates, as special interests seek to shape the May 19 runoff.”
Skipping all “Jesus Take the Wheel” and “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” jokes, we’ll just report that a Pennsylvania man is recovering after his brother assaulted him with a vanity license plate reading “Jesus.”
“State police say a man has thrown a ‘Jesus’ vanity license plate at his older brother during a fight in Pennsylvania, cutting him badly enough to require treatment by paramedics.
“Forty-five-year-old James Wiles, of Springhill Township, is charged with simple assault and harassment over the argument with his 47-year-old brother on Feb. 24.”
