Jolting California officials, Trump administration looks to rewrite rules for Delta water
Sacramento Bee's DALE KASLER: "The Trump administration is trying a bold new tactic to bring more water to Central Valley farmers — one that could come at the expense of millions of urban Southern Californians."
"In an unprecedented move, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation served notice to California officials Aug. 17, stating it wants to renegotiate a landmark 1986 agreement governing the big federal and state water projects and how they pump water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to their member agencies in southern half of the state."
"Reclamation’s efforts could significantly alter the balance of power between the state and federal governments as they share control of the water that flows through the Delta. The estuary is the hub of California’s complex north-to-south water delivery system."
READ MORE related to Energy & Environment: Officials issue Spare the Air alert for Bay Area due to unhealthy air quality -- The Chronicle's LAUREN HERNANDEZ
IRS moves to block California and other states from helping residents avoid new tax-deduction limit
LA Times's JIM PUZZANGHERA: "The Trump administration has delivered another blow to California."
"The Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department on Thursday moved to block efforts by lawmakers in California and other Democratic-controlled states to help their residents avoid a new limit on state and local tax deductions."
"The proposed rule, which is likely to face legal challenges, targets legislation in those states that would allow taxpayers to claim a charitable deduction for state and local tax payments above the $10,000 limit set in the tax cuts passed by Congress last year."
Defiant Pelosi says she's staying: "I can take the heat"
AP's LISA MASCARO: "Nancy Pelosi is the chief villain of Republican campaign ads. The leader some Democrats promise to vote against. The subject of much speculation that her grip on power is coming to an end."
"Nevertheless, she says she's not going anywhere — and certainly not while President Donald Trump is in the White House."
"This is not anything to make a big fuss over, it's politics," Pelosi said in a 35-minute phone interview with The Associated Press. "I can take the heat and that's why I stay in the kitchen."
Gas tax projects prompt Brown's pay raises for California highway engineers
Sacramento Bee's ADAM ASHTON: "Gov. Jerry Brown’s last contract with the state’s highway engineers includes some sweet perks aimed at retaining the longtime road designers, planners and project managers who’d be charged with executing work funded by the gas tax he backed last year."
"Brown struck a two-year agreement with Professional Engineers in California Government that includes general wage increases of 4.5 percent immediately and 4 percent next July."
"That’s a good raise, but engineers with more 20 years of experience are in line for an extra longevity bump."
READ MORE related to Transportation: SF transit chief vows to reduce Muni bus and rail delays within three months -- The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN
Senate District 32: An odd tale of politics and timing
Capitol Weekly's CHUCK MCFADDEN: "California has long had a reputation for sometimes wacky politics: movie stars, bodybuilders and strippers have been candidates at one time or another."
"None of the above are on hand this time around, but the recent situation involving who will represent state Senate District 32 is the most recent bizarre development."
Bill restricting plastic straws passes, heads to Gov. Brown
The Chronicle's MELODY GUTIERREZ: "Restaurants in California would not be able to give out plastic straws unless a customer asked for one under a bill passed by the state Legislature Thursday and headed to Gov. Jerry Brown."
"AB1884 by Assemblyman Ian Calderon, D-Whittier (Los Angeles County), would create a straws-only-upon-request policy at dine-in restaurants, in the latest attempt to reduce plastic pollution in the state. Three years ago, California lawmakers passed a ban on single-use plastic bags. Last month, Starbucks announced it would ditch plastic straws from all its stores — not just in California — by 2020."
"This does a lot of good, and I think it is the right first step and the right balance when it comes to helping us try to tackle the issue of single-use plastics in our environment,” Calderon said."
Capitol Weekly Podcast: Dan Jacobson
Capitol Weekly STAFF: "Dan Jacobson, Environment California’s state director, sits down with Capitol Weekly’s John Howard and Tim Foster to chat about the “straw law,” which would curb the proliferation of single-use plastic straws. Those ubiquitous little tubes damage the environment by ending up in the ocean and clogging waterways, among other things."
"Assemblymember Ian Calderon’s AB 1884, which has passed both Senate and Assembly and is now awaiting concurrence before heading to the governor’s desk, would require sit-down restaurants in California to forgo automatically placing a straw in every drink, and instead only provide straws when requested by a customer."
"Jacobson also chats on the podcast about other pending environmental legislation, including SB 100, which would mandate that all energy used in California come from renewable resources by 2045."
Women's role suffers in merging local treasurer, controller offices
OPINION: SANDIE ARNOTT/KAREN ADAMS/TRACY KENNEDY in Capitol Weekly: "The treasurer-tax collector is the only elected office held by more women than men at the local, state and national level."
"In fact, the leadership of the California Association of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors (CACTTC) is comprised of five elected women and two men, thus reflecting the success of women in elected office."
Later school start times in California gain steam in Legislature
Sacramento Bee's TARYN LUNA: "School boards and teachers unions successfully shot down a legislative proposal last year that would delay start times until 8:30 a.m. at middle and high schools in California."
"Now the bill is back, with a better shot at becoming law."
"Sen. Anthony Portantino, who introduced the bill, cites public research that says later school start times improve pupil health. He has several studies on his side, and his staff put together a 218-page book on the policy last year to prove it."
READ MORE related to Education: A Palmdale charter school borrowed nearly $30M to build a new campus. Then it got shut down -- LA Times's ANNA M. PHILLIPS
State orders Mercy General Hospital to pay $75K penalty after patient death
Sacramento Bee's HANNAH HOLZER: "The California Department of Public Health has ordered Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento to pay a $75,000 penalty for failing to ensure a patient’s health and safety."
"The hospital is one of 13 medical facilities that received a penalty issued by the department, with fines totaling $1,052,505, according to a press release sent by the department Thursday. The penalties were issued “after investigations found the facilities’ noncompliance with licensing requirements caused, or was likely to cause, serious injury or death to patients,” the release states."
"A report of the incident resulting in the Sacramento hospital’s penalty was sent by the department. According to the report, the hospital failed to follow a physician’s orders for the administration of medication to a 74-year-old patient."
The lost civilization of California wine
The Chronicle's ESTHER MOBLEY: "California’s strangest vineyard is in the tiny Yuba County town of Oregon House, 70 miles northeast of Sacramento, at an elevation of 2,250 feet in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada."
"It is called Renaissance."
"The view from Slope 19, the vineyard’s highest point, is so vast and varied that it feels as if you were looking down on all of California. The mountains of the coastal range sprawl to the west, guarding the Pacific. To the east, the Sierra tower, and the sparkling blue of Lake Tahoe peeks out in the distance."
SF health director Garcia forced to resign over conflict-of-interest allegations
The Chronicle's MATIER & ROSS: "San Francisco Public Health Director Barbara Garcia’s abrupt resignation Wednesday came after a months-long conflict-of-interest investigation into allegations that she had failed to disclose her wife’s income from an educational institution that had been awarded a million-dollar, sole-source contract with the health department, multiple sources have confirmed."
"Garcia’s departure sent a shock wave through City Hall, where she was a key ally in Mayor London Breed’s campaign to open safe injection sites and find other ways to deal with an epidemic of drug use on the city’s streets.'
"The circumstances surrounding Garcia’s departure, however, were kept quiet, with the 63-year-old director saying only that she was leaving for “personal reasons."
On the road to Burning Man, traffic stops and drug searches fuel backlash
The Chronicle's PETER FIMRITE: "Organizers of the desert frolic known as Burning Man are fuming about a series of vehicle stops and searches for drugs being conducted by Bureau of Indian Affairs officers on people heading to the annual festival."
"As if concerns about the lingering smoke from fires burning across the western United States weren’t bad enough, officers have been stopping trucks and trailers this week on Nevada Highway 447 on the way to the Black Rock Desert and, in several cases, conducting lengthy searches using police dogs."
"More than 60,000 people, in a variety of vehicles, RVs and buses, are expected to arrive at the Black Rock Desert, about 150 miles northeast of Reno, for the nine-day event starting Saturday, and organizers have been told the enforcement operations would continue “throughout the week and possibly into next week."
The Trump Organization's finances are coming under the microscope by federal prosecutors
LA Times's CHRIS MEGERIAN/DAVID WILLMAN: "Even as Donald Trump rose from New York real estate mogul to U.S. president, the innermost workings of his namesake real estate and branding company stayed shielded behind the black-tinted windows of his eponymous Fifth Avenue skyscraper."
