In an ad published Wednesday in The Sacramento Bee, the coalition directly addressed Brown again, saying he should “lead by announcing no new permits for oil and gas extraction, fossil fuel infrastructure or petrochemical projects in California,” and the state should “set a global precedent by becoming the first oil producing state to announce a […]
Winning the case could save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. But continuing to fight it carries an expensive risk, too. The state must pay 10 percent annual interest on the back wages and benefits, meaning the bill is climbing by $4 million a year as the case drags on at the 2nd District Court […]
CalPERS’ decision in late 2016 to slash pensions for four retirees from the tiny mountain town startled the state’s public workers so much that their confidence in the $354 billion fund began to plunge to its lowest level in five years. It showed in an annual survey conducted by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System […]
For one week in early February, roughly one-third of all recyclables collected by Sacramento County — an estimated 290 tons — was packed into trucks and dumped at a county landfill. The amount of cardboard, newspapers, bottles and cans taken to the landfill totaled about 8.5 percent of the 3,400 tons of recyclables collected monthly, […]
As part of his final budget proposal, Gov. Jerry Brown wants new fees on water to provide clean and affordable drinking water to the approximately 1 million Californians who are exposed to contaminated water in their homes and communities each year. The fund would pay for short- and long-term improvements to water infrastructure and help […]
Coming off a strong 2017, California’s merchandise export trade maintained momentum rolling into 2018. Golden State businesses shipped merchandise valued at $13.7 billion in January, up from 3.2 percent $13.27 billion at the start of 2017, according to Beacon Economics’ analysis of U.S. trade statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Sacramento County’s median price for resale homes rose by nearly 14 percent in January compared to the same month last year, though the number of sales slumped from December in a typical seasonal pattern, CoreLogic reported Thursday. The double-digit percentage increase in the median price of resale detached homes in the county was partly a […]
Starting in early April, auto manufacturers and technology companies will be free to put cars onto California city streets for testing with no one at the wheel – and in fact no one even in the car. The Department of Motor Vehicles received legal approval Monday to publish the ground rules – and will begin […]
California counties are sitting on money from a special tax on millionaires that should be spent on mental health programs, but the state isn’t moving fast enough to reclaim the funds, according to a state audit released on Tuesday. California State Auditor Elaine Howle found that county mental health programs had stashed $231 million from […]
Mayors representing California’s 11 largest cities want Gov. Jerry Brown to increase state spending to combat homelessness, a deadly crisis they say is worsening across the state. Led by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, the group wants Brown and lawmakers to commit $1.5 billion from the state budget as places like San Diego confront a Hepatitis […]
Mortgage rates hit a four-year high late last week, and it’s looking like the years of ultra-low-cost home loans are coming to an end, experts said. “I would say this has been a long time coming,” said Dan Starelli, head of Guild Mortgage in Sacramento. “We’ve had interest rates dropping for decades. I think we […]
A new “study” in Britain suggests that by raising taxes sharply on Facebook, Amazon and Apple, the government could pay for a universal basic income (UBI) for all Britons. It’s an absurd idea, which is why it can’t be counted out. . . . In the case of Britain, the left-wing paper The Guardian reports, […]
Four years ago, California voters directed the government to update our state water system by passing Proposition 1, a $7 billion water bond that included clear guidelines for investing $2.7 billion in new reservoirs. Voters expected billions of gallons of water to be added to our surface storage system. Sadly, with a dry start to […]
With California facing another potential drought, legislators demanded Wednesday that a state agency release $2.7 billion in bond funding for dams, reservoirs and other water storage projects. Assembly Republican Leader Brian Dahle, pulling a child’s red wagon, arrived at a meeting of the California Water Commission with a stack of petitions with 4,000 signatures supporting […]
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced Tuesday that most farmers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta who get water from the federal Central Valley Project will receive just 20 percent of their requested allocation this year. Some south-of-Delta farmers on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley will get 30 percent allotments because of […]