A group led by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance announced Thursday it has sued the State Water Resources Control Board, state Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, saying they’ve redirected water to human needs at the expense of Chinook salmon, Delta smelt and other endangered species.
Southern California’s twin ports posted their third best year on record in 2014, despite port congestion and the West Coast labor dispute that affected commerce from the coast to the Inland Empire and beyond.
The world’s biggest container-shipping operators are making an expensive bet by committing billions of dollars in giant vessel orders. So far, that bet is a losing one as freight rates hover around record lows and demand for ocean shipping is weak.
The ports handled 39% of U.S. container imports in 2002; that fell to 32% by 2013, according to U.S. census data. They have lost business to competitors at a time when, overall, global trade is booming and imports are rising at all ports, including L.A. and Long Beach. . . The loss in market share represented an estimated 12,300 direct and indirect California jobs in 2013, and more than $112 million in state and local tax revenue, according to Martin’s research.
Working at home, much of it telecommuting, has replaced transit as the principal commuting alternative to the automobile in the United States outside New York. In the balance of the nation, there are more than 1.25 commuters who work at home for each commuter using transit to travel to work, according to data in the American Community Survey for 2013 (one year). When the other six largest transit metropolitan areas are included (Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and San Francisco), twice as many people commute by working at home than by transit.
A new forecast shows the California economy will maintain strong growth despite the drought and a “soft” U.S. economy.
As the condition of the pavement worsens and the price to repair it grows, ideas that seemed outlandish a few years ago are back on the table, including a plan by a San Jose lawmaker that would raise vehicle license and registration fees as well as the gas tax.
As the condition of the pavement worsens and the price to repair it grows, ideas that seemed outlandish a few years ago are back on the table, including a plan by a San Jose lawmaker that would raise vehicle license and registration fees as well as the gas tax.
Ship traffic has returned to normal following months of congestion and backup during labor negotiations, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka told harbor commissioners today.
Despite the drought, the number of workers employed in California’s agricultural industry rose to its highest level in at least 24 years, as many farmers shifted toward labor-intensive, permanent crops, according to the latest state and federal statistics.
Steve Gardner’s yard, where 90 additional containers of frozen foods and California agriculture sit, is an example of what can go wrong with what academics and economists call the goods movement industry. In Southern California, it’s a multimillion dollar industry that employs tens of thousands of workers, and is rife with congestion problems that’s slowing the region’s economy.
The stark challenge that confronts this state is putting a spotlight on a father and son who, as much as any two people, define modern-day California. They are strikingly different symbols of different eras, with divergent styles and distinct views of government, growth and the nature of California itself.
A reduced supply from dams forces the grid operator to turn to more expensive sources of power, such as natural gas, which also enlarges the state’s carbon footprint.
Recently approved environmental rules could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of desalination plants proposed along California’s coast. Industry officials say projects will continue to move forward — though it’s an open question about whether the technology will ever flourish in the Golden State.
The eight-foot-tall dam, which is constructed of concrete blocks, reeds and mud, will remain in place at least until November, so that the LADWP can fulfil a variety of mandated obligations, including dust mitigation, tribal land requirements and assisting the Lower Owens River Project — the nation’s largest river restoration effort.