Sacramento

GOING TO POT: SACRAMENTO APPROVES MARIJUANA GROWING

 

East County News Service

February 3, 2016 (Sacramento) – At a time when many local cities in San Diego County are banning the cultivation of marijuana even for medical purposes, our state’s capitol city has approved a measure to license and tax commercial marijuana cultivation. 


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BALLOT MEASURE WOULD END SANCTUARY CITIES IN CALIFORNIA, REQUIRE STATE AND LOCAL AGENCIES TO ASK IMMIGRATION STATUS

 

East County Magazine

Photo: Homeland Security/Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility at Otay Mesa

November 16, 2015 (Sacramento) -- A proposed ballot initiative submitted to the California Secretary of State takes aim at sanctuary cities that shelter undocumented immigrants from deportation under certain circumstances.


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GOVERNOR ORDERS STATE LAWS SUSPENDED TO COMBAT BARK BEETLES, ALSO SEEKS FEDERAL AID

 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: U.S. Forest Service

November 10, 2015 (Sacramento) - Governor Jerry Brown has declared an emergency in California due to a voracious pest – bark beetles that have killed 22 million trees statewide, including vast tracts of forests in San Diego’s East County.  Tens of millions more are at risk of dying if nothing is done – also raising the risk of wildfires.

The governor is seeking federal help and meanwhile has directed state officials, utilities and local governments to take 19 steps to fight the bark beetle infestation. Brown suspended several state laws to allow his orders to be carried out immediately.


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REPORT: CALIFORNIA SENIORS CAREENING TOWARD RETIREMENT LARGELY UNPREPARED

 

By Suzanne Potter, Public News Service

October 21, 2015 (Sacramento) – The senior population of California will grow by two-thirds over the next 20 years, and most workers are not saving enough for retirement.


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GOV. BROWN SIGNS BILL TELLING MLB PLAYERS TO STOP CHEWING TOBACCO

 

By Liz Alper

Photo: Creative Commons by GamblinMan22

October 13, 2015 (Sacramento) - We see it every time we watch baseball: bored players in their team sweatshirts chewing tobacco during an at-bat or sitting in the dugout.  Even managers are caught on camera spitting out tobacco juice, providing far-from-exemplary role models to youthful fans.


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ACLU APPLAUDS PRIVACY BILL SIGNED BY GOVERNOR BROWN

 

East County News Service

October 13, 2015 (Sacramento)—In a win for privacy advocates, Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill that prohibits law enforcement from accessing people’s private personal electronic data in most circumstances unless they first obtain a warrant or a court order.


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BILL TO RESTRICT ANTIBIOTICS IN LIVESTOCK SIGNED BY GOVERNOR

 

East County News Service

October 13, 2015 (Sacramento) – Governor Jerry Brown has signed the  nation’s strictest standard for use of antibiotics in livestock. 

The new law addresses concerns raised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which estimates 2 million people in the U.S. are infected with drug resistant bacteria,  and 23,000 die each year of these superbugs. Public health officials believe the overuse of antibiotics in cattle, pigs and other livestock in meat and dairy production endangers the public health.


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INSURANCE COMMISSIONER DAVE JONES TOURS BURNED AREAS, OFFERS TIPS TO PREPARE FOR WILDFIRES AND HOW TO HELP SURVIVORS

 

East County News Service

October 8, 2015 (Sacramento) – California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones visited communities hit hard by the Valley Fire, also noting that two lives were lost in the Butte Fire.


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YELLOW "HIT-AND-RUN" ALERTS APPROVED

 

East County News Service

September 30, 2015 (Sacramento)—Governor Jerry Brown has signed Assembly Bill 8 into law. The measure will create “yellow alerts” to display descriptions of vehicles involved in hit-and-run collisions on digital freeway signs.  The alerts, set to start January 1st, will be similar to Amber Alerts used for kidnapped children.


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SCHOOL BOND MEASURE QUALIFIES FOR STATEWIDE BALLOT

 

By Miriam Raftery

September 20, 2015 (Sacramento – California’s Secretary of State has confirmed that a  $9 billion school construction bond measure has qualified for the November 2016 ballot. The measure is sponsored by Californians for Quality Schools.


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BILL TO REGISTER DRIVERS TO VOTE GOES TO GOVERNOR'S DESK

 

September 11, 2015 (Sacramento)--Assembly Bill 1461, also known as the California New Motor Voter Act, was approved today by the California Assembly on a 44-21 concurrence vote. The bill will now be sent to the Governor for his consideration.


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CLIMATE AND TRANSPORTATION MEASURES FAIL IN SPECIAL SESSION

 

East County News Service

September 11, 2015 (Sacramento)—Two major measured backed by Governor Brown have failed to win passage at the end of  a special legislative session.


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DRONE ZONES: BILLS ADVANCE IN CA TO CRACKDOWN ON UNMANNED AIRCRAFT

 

 

By Miriam Raftery

September 2, 2015 (Sacramento) - An estimated 700,000 drones are expected to be sold in the U.S. this year to hobbyists –a 63% increase over last year, the Consumer Electronics Association reports.   Now the California Legislature is scrambling to enact laws to restrict some uses of those drones after numerous complaints of safety and privacy concerns.


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STATE SUED OVER FAILURE TO DISCLOSE RECORDS ON ENGLISH LEARNER STUDENTS

 

East County News Service

August 17, 2015 (Sacramento)--California’s Department of Education is being sued for denying access to records on the number of students who are English language learners.  The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and Public Counsel has filed a lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court to obtain the records pursuant to the California Public Records Act.


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INTERACTIVE MAP TRACKS CLIMATE INVESTMENTS IN CA

 

August 19, 2015 (Sacramento)-- California leads the nation with its ambitious programs to combat climate change, from ramping up renewable energy to driving the development of cleaner cars and its cap-and-trade program. Now, an interactive online map is available to track where funds from these ground-breaking programs are being invested.


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CALIFORNIA PROPOSES CENTRAL BANK FOR MARIJUANA BUSINESSES

 

By Leon Thompson

Photo: www.JesseCalifornia.com

August 3, 2015 (Sacramento)--The California tax board officials Friday announced their interest in forming a state-run bank that would allow legal marijuana business operators to transition from what has traditionally been a cash only business to legitimate banking.


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CLIMATE CHANGE CAUSING OCEAN ACIDIFICATION, LOW OXYGEN

 

By Suzanne Potter, Public News Service

Photo credit: MConnors/morguefile.

July 30, 2015 (Sacramento) -- Climate change is turning ocean water more acidic and creating low-oxygen "dead zones" – issues that have serious implications for the entire oceanic ecosystem.


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A "GRASS" ROOTS INITIATIVE AIMS TO LEGALIZE POT IN CA

 

East County News Service

July 17, 2015 (Sacramento)—Advocates of a ballot measure that would legalize recreational marijuana use in California announced Thursday that they have amassed an e-mail list of 70,000 supporters for the campaign.


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BILLS WOULD CURB OVER-PRESCRIBING OF PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS TO FOSTER CARE KIDS

 

By Miriam Raftery

July 16, 2015 (Sacramento) – A package of bills have been introduced in Sacramento to curb the over-use of psychiatric drugs on foster care youths, the San Jose Mercury News reports.  But the bill fails to create new rules for doctors who prescribe such medications.


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GONZALEZ BILL TO PROTECT GROCERY WORKERS AFTER MERGERS PASSES LEGISLATURE, GOES TO GOVERNOR

 

By Miriam Raftery

July 14, 2015 (Sacramento) – A bill to protect grocery workers from being fired because of changes in store ownership has been approved by the full State Senate with a 22-14 vote.  Assembly Bill 359, authored by San Diego Democratic Assembly member Lorena Gonzalez, previously passed the Assembly with a 46- to 27 vote and will now be submitted to Gov. Jerry Brown for signature.


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STATE CAPITOL ACTION ON KEY BILLS

 

East County News Service

July 7, 2015 (Sacramento)--As the legislative session draws near its close, a flurry of bills are making their way through the state Capitol this week. Here is an update on several key measures: motorcycle lane-splitting, discrimination against transplant patients using medical marijuana, a patient right-to-die bill, and sick-time pay for California workers.


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JUDGE BLOCKS KILL-GAYS BALLOT MEASURE

 

East County News Service

June 23, 2015 (Sacramento)—A proposed initiative that called for killing gay people won’t be appearing on California ballots.  Superior Court Judge  Raymond Cadei in Sacramento County has ruled that the measure would be “inappropriate, waste public resources, generate unnecessary divisions among the public, and tend to mislead the electorate.”


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LEGISLATURE APPROVES BUDGET - FOR MORE MONEY THAN GOVERNOR REQUESTED

 

By Miriam Raftery

June 15,2015 (Sacramento)—California’s Legislature has approved a $117.5 billion budget -- $2 billion more than Governor Jerry Brown had requested, including $749 in new spending with the rest to pay down debts or be deposited in the state’s  rainy day fund.  New expenditures include higher payments for doctors serving poor patients, extra money for state universities and community colleges, and expanded child care.


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CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SUE TO STOP FRACKING ON PUBLIC LANDS

 

By Suzanne Potter, Public News Service



Photo: Flare burns at an oil field near Bakersfield; photo by Chris Jordan-Block/Earthjustice.

June 13, 2015 (Sacramento)--California environmental groups filed suit Wednesday to block a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan to allow fracking and oil drilling on more than one million acres of public land.


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STATE SLASHES HISTORIC WATER RIGHTS

 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture

June 12, 2015 (Sacramento) – Ever since California established its water rights system back in 1914, senior water rights holders with claims before 1914 have been able to freely use as much water as they could pump.  But for the first time ever, the State Water Resources Control Board has ordered curtailment of water use by 114 of the state’s oldest water rights holders, including farmers, rural and urban water districts in the Sacramento delta as well as the Sacramento and San Joaquin river watersheds.


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THAT SINKING FEELING: SUBSIDENCE IS CAUSING MAJOR DAMAGE ACROSS CALIFORNIA

 

East County News Service

Photo: US Geological Survey scientist Michelle Sneed shows where a farmer would have been standing in 1988, before drought triggered sinking in the San Joaquin Valley.

June 12, 2015 (Sacramento) – California is sinking – fast.  Records from the U.S. Geological Survey reveal that some parts of California are subsiding by a foot a year, as groundwater pumping has increased by 40 percent due to the drought.  That’s causing wells to crumple, thousands of miles of highways to become damaged, irrigation canals to crack and bridges to be destroyed, according to an article in Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting.


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ATKINS BILL TO RESTRICT IVORY SALES PASSES ASSEMBLY

 

East County News Service

June 9, 2015 (Sacramento) – The California Assembly has passed Assembly Bil 96, a measure to protect elephants and rhinos by strengthening rules on the ivory and rhino horn trade. AB96 by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins would end the state’s exemption for selling ivory imported before 1977 The bill would also impose stiff civil and criminal penalties for ivory sales.  Atkins, a San Diego Democrat, says California is a top market for ivory and that this could significantly reduce demand.


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DOUBLE-TIME PAY FOR HOLIDAY BILL FAILS

 

By Miriam Raftery

June 7,2015 (Sacramento) – San Diego Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez served up pumpkin pies to legislators in an effort to win approval for her bill to require double-time pay for most employees forced to work on holidays such as Thanksgiving.


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CALIFORNIA'S STATE ASSEMBLY UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED AB 825

 

By Roy L Hales

June 6, 2015 (Sacramento) - California’s State Assembly unanimously approved AB 825, which is meant to bring increased transparency and independent oversight to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).


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JONES BILL TO REVAMP "MADE IN AMERICA" LABELING LAW IN CA PASSES ASSEMBLY

 

East County News Service

June 5, 2015 (Sacramento)--Assemblyman Brian Jones’ (R-Santee) legislation to conform California law to the federal “Made in America” standard, which is used by every other state in the country, passed the Assembly on May 26th.


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