An estimated 11% more households will pay more than half of their incomes in rent in 2025, according to a new report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and Enterprise Community Partners, an affordable-housing organization.
Federal data indicates Californians paid $171 billion in higher costs for power over the last 20 years, compared to the national average. For perspective, this works out to roughly $12,300 per household, but bear in mind the total includes residential, industrial, commercial and government usage.
As ExxonMobil works to increase production at its explosion-damaged Torrance refinery and ease stubbornly high local gas prices, some residents of the South Bay city told their City Council this week that they want the refinery to address safety issues, the Daily Breeze reports. Meanwhile, air-quality regulators have once again postponed a hearing over whether the refinery should be allowed to ramp up fuel productions using outdated pollution controls in place of updated equipment damaged in the refinery explosion in February.
An article in the upcoming issue of the Business Journal says that Californians have paid nearly $3 billion extra for gasoline since an explosion in February nearly shut down the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance, causing prices to jump at the pump. But the plant’s plan to reopen may finally be approved by regulators next week, the Los Angeles Times reports, which could help lower gas prices in a matter of weeks. Exxon Mobil has wanted to temporarily use old air-pollution control equipment so it can increase production but regulators have balked at that proposal for months. In the meantime, the additional cost of gas has taken an average of $75 from every man, woman and child in the state.
During the recession, the share of Americans with disabilities dropping out of the labor force increased. The same occurred with people younger than 65 who chose to retire. But the retiree figure returned to historical norms when the economy improved, while the figure for workers with disabilities continued to rise.
“We might get another bill next year, we might just keep doing it by regulation,” Brown said. “California is not going to miss a beat. Be very clear about that. We don’t have a declaration in statute, but we have absolutely the same authority. We’re going forward. The only thing different is my zeal has been intensified to a maximum degree.”
California typically has gasoline prices higher than the rest of the nation but the gap has been wider than usual, particularly in Southern California, because of troubles with refineries, according to some analysts.
Gasoline prices in California have been above – way above – national averages because the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance has been hobbled since an explosion in February. And now, a hearing scheduled for Wednesday on whether to allow the refinery to increase operations has been postponed by air quality officials, the Los Angeles Times reports. Exxon Mobil wants to use old air-pollution control equipment temporarily so it can increase production at the same time it reduces other emissions from the plant. But regulators seem unconcerned about $4 a gallon gasoline and want to study how the proposal would impact area homeowners.
“We are focusing on investing in smart grid technology that will help our grid integrate with renewables and deal with electric vehicles and batteries,” Stephens said. “We are trying to harden our infrastructure for emergency preparedness; we hope to prevent wildfires with new technology.”
But unfortunately in California’s embrace of the green revolution, San Joaquin Valley residents – especially those in poor rural economies – have been made to bear a disproportionate share of the costs, while reaping less than their share of the benefits.
L.A.’s Section 8 program — officially known as Housing Choice Vouchers, a name that’s never stuck — is so coveted that people get on lists that take years to get a voucher. There are 8,000 people on the wait list for Section 8 in the city of Los Angeles alone — and it’s been closed to new applicants for 15 years.
The increase was greater than the 4.5% year-over-year pop seen nationally and represents a slight pick-up from May’s reading, when prices rose 6.2% in the two counties, the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index showed.
Benchmark egg prices in California have gone up by 150 percent in a year, from $1.45 per dozen large eggs last August to $3.61 today, according to the USDA. While the avian flu outbreak this spring that resulted in the killing of 48 million domestic chickens and turkeys, mostly in the Midwest, continues to have a ripple effect across the country, a perfect storm of additional factors in California, namely the rollout of Proposition 2 and higher chicken feed prices, are wreaking havoc on Bay Area supermarket egg prices and limiting the supply of eggs to local restaurants, ice cream shops and bakeries.
Members of a Senate committee tackling a huge backlog of roadway maintenance endorsed legislation that would generate $4 billion annually for repairs by increasing the gas tax 12 cents a gallon and boosting vehicle registration fees up to $100. Another panel approved bills to hike the legal smoking age to 21, regulate e-cigarettes and allow counties to place local tobacco taxes on the ballot.
The independent survey of 1,200 onetime bus riders comes at a time when manufacturing jobs continue to lose ground to the service sector and Orange County residents are increasingly priced out of the housing market. Amid this, bus riders appear to abandon the mass transit staple as soon as they can afford a car.