Could California decide the Republican presidential nominee next year? For a state, despite its size, that usually serves as an afterthought in presidential contests, the possibility is intriguing.
From Joel Fox at Fox&Hounds: "By the time California’s primary rolls around on the 7th of June, 37 states will have already conducted primaries or caucuses. In the past, California made attempts to move the primary up in the schedule so that the most populous state in the union could have a greater say. California tried a presidential primary in March one year, in February another year while holding the state primary in June. Too many elections, legislators decided. Besides, the state really didn’t influence the presidential process with those early primaries and the decision was made to move the primary back to its usual spot in June."
"But a diverse and diffuse field of 16 Republican candidates could be enough to split the delegate count and allow California voters to play a role."
"It’s been a long time since California was a major influence in choosing a nominee of either party."
After a decade of stories and media hype about baseball legend Barry Bonds and steroids, the case is finally over and Bonds has been cleared. Looks like Bonds hit a home run and the Justice Department fouled out.
From the Mercury News' Howard Mintz: "As a result, Bonds has cleared his name of the felony rap. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded there was insufficient evidence to back up the charge that his rambling testimony in December 2003 interfered with a federal grand jury probing the BALCO steroids scandal."
"With that 10-1 ruling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals delivered an overwhelming blow to the government's high-profile, oft-sidetracked case against Bonds, who was accused of lying to the grand jury about using steroids as he chased baseball's home run records. The appeals court ruling wiped out what was left of the Bonds prosecution, which began in 2003 when his name surfaced in records linked to a then-obscure Peninsula laboratory known as BALCO that became the epicenter of doping in sports."
"The 9th Circuit barred the government from retrying Bonds on the charge, leaving an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court as the Justice Department's only long shot option to revive the conviction. The government had a deadline to file with the Supreme Court this week but on Tuesday abandoned the appeal option."
Silicon Valley may be an engine of innovation, but it's the pits when it comes to affordable housing. And it's not like San Jose is a garden spot.
From the Mercury News' Richard Scheinin: "Compiled by Peninsula-based Collaborative Economics, the data show that the average rent in May for a two-bedroom apartment in metro San Jose was $2,917 -- and that residents would need to earn $116,680 annually to afford that. Yet the median income in the area was $57,400 for individual workers and $91,500 for households, according to the most recently available statistics, the study says..."
"Citing data from the California Association of Realtors for the first quarter of 2015, the report says only 44 percent of Santa Clara County households could afford to purchase an entry-level home -- defined as costing $833,850, or 85 percent of the county's median sale price. That percentage shrank to 29 percent in San Mateo County (where an entry-level home was $1.11 million in the first quarter) and 27 percent in San Francisco ($1.15 million)."
"Even well-paid technology and science workers are feeling the impact. With a median salary of $121,000 in 2014, they are generally able to rent in the region, according to the new data, though less than half would be able to buy a home of median value in metro San Jose. The median home value there is close to $925,000, according to a Bloomberg analysis cited by the study."
Speaking of the valley, let's head inland to the Central Valley, where the youngest of the University of California's campuses is experiencing growing pains but the price tag to fix the problem is heavy -- about $1 billion.
From the LAT's Larry Gordon: "Saying their crowded campus needs to expand, UC Merced leaders Tuesday presented plans to construct new classrooms, dorms and labs over the next five to seven years — and to enroll nearly 4,000 more students."
"They portrayed the $1-billion proposal to the UC regents as a safety valve for the entire UC system, allowing it a way to enroll more California students..."
"UC Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland said the campus needs to grow to 10,000 students, in part, so the school can gain the necessary revenue to wean itself off subsidies from the UC system that more established colleges do not receive. "We will be able to stand on our own two feet," she said."
The head of the state tax board, the powerful but obscure Board of Equalization, is looking at ways for California to bring medical marijuana businesses into the fold.
From the Sacramento Business Journal's Allen Young: "Board Chairman Jerome Horton said the agency is sponsoring legislation to offer amnesty to medical-marijuana businesses that begin paying back taxes. Horton also has begun an outreach campaign to remind these businesses they are permitted to pay taxes in cash. That could be handy for companies that have trouble, because of federal laws, finding a bank"
"Marijuana is becoming “socially more and more acceptable, and illegal activity is increasing as well,” Horton said. “It’s becoming increasingly important that we distinguish the good guys from the bad guys.”
"The effort shows the state of California inching toward legitimizing the medical marijuana industry, nearly two decades since a 1996 initiative that approved its use. In the Capitol, lawmakers are considering legislation that would certify industry workers and establish the state’s first safety standards for the product."
Finally, from our Sacre Bleu! file comes word of the guy who won the French scrabble contest and who -- wait for it -- doesn't speak a word of French.
"New Zealander Nigel Richards can't speak much French beyond "bonjour," but that didn't stop the Scrabble mastermind from winning the word game's French-language world championship on Monday."
"Richards, 48, defeated a French-speaking competitor from Gabon during the final round of the tournament in Louvain, Belgium, the Guardian reported. He'd memorized the entire French Scrabble dictionary in only nine weeks though the words mean nothing to him."
In a tweet, the French Scrabble federation hailed Richards' win under such unusual circumstances as unprecedented. "He won't know what [the words] mean, wouldn't be able to carry out a conversation in French I wouldn't think," Liz Fagerlund, former president of the New Zealand Scrabble Association and a friend of Richards, told the New Zealand Herald."
