Greetings from the Golden State, where homeowners who still have Christmas lights on their houses past Feb. 2 may be subject to a $250 fine, based on california.com. I’m Winston Gieseke, philanthropy and particular sections editor for The Desert Sun in sunny Palm Springs, and listed below are a few of right this moment’s key headlines.
In California brings you prime Golden State tales and commentary from throughout the USA TODAY Network and past. Get it free, straight to your inbox.
Newsom taps lawmaker Rob Bonta as California attorney basic
California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday nominated state Assemblyman Rob Bonta, who is thought for pushing legal justice reform, to be the Golden State’s next attorney general.
Bonta, a Democrat, would substitute Xavier Becerra, who was confirmed final week as President Joe Biden’s well being and human providers secretary. Pending seemingly affirmation by the state’s Democratic Legislature, Bonta would maintain the job by means of 2022 when he must run for election.
If confirmed, Bonta, 48, can be the state’s first Filipino attorney basic, and he had the backing of a lot of Asian American and Pacific Islander teams, as properly as progressive teams and leaders on legal and environmental justice. His appointment comes amid a time of rising violence in opposition to Asian Americans. After six ladies of Asian descent had been killed in a Georgia taking pictures spree, prime AAPI elected officers referred to as on Newsom to call Bonta to the job.
“We have to continue to build bridges of trust between our API communities and law enforcement,” Democratic Assemblyman David Chiu of San Francisco stated.
California is dwelling to greater than 6 million folks of Asian descent.
California braces for water cutbacks
State and federal officers issued some fairly dismal warnings Tuesday about California’s summer season water provides, telling farmers and others to gear up for potential shortages.
The Sacramento Bee reports that in December, the Department of Water Resources predicted it might be capable to ship 10% of contracted provides to the cities and farms which are a part of the State Water Project. In Tuesday’s revised forecast, nevertheless, that quantity was lowered to five%.
But it may be even worse than that. The article states that “the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which supplies water mainly to farmers through the Central Valley Project, said that due to worsening hydrological conditions, the 5% water allocation promised to its customers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ‘is not available for delivery until further notice.’ ”
It’s not officially a drought — only the governor can make that declaration — but depending on how much it rains and snows next winter, it could turn into one.
The State Water Resources Control Board, meanwhile, stated Monday it had sent notices to 40,000 farmers, municipal officials and others, warning them of potential water shortages.
“Start planning now for potential water supply shortages later this year and identify practical actions you can take to increase drought resilience, such as increasing water conservation measures, reducing irrigated acreage, managing herd size, using innovative irrigation and monitoring technologies, or diversifying your water supply portfolio,” the letter read in part.
Zogg Fire sparks push for broader power shutoff criteria
In other environmental news, as a result of last year’s deadly Zogg Fire in Shasta County, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. could trigger more widespread power shutoffs to prevent causing further catastrophic wildfires.
A federal judge is pushing the utility “to take into account the extent to which power lines have or have not been cleared of hazardous trees and limbs” when deciding the place to have public security energy shutoffs.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection on Monday said the Zogg Fire was sparked when a large pine tree came into contact with PG&E’s electrical distribution lines.
State officials, however, warn the judge’s proposal could mean more customers are affected by outages, creating “one other perilous scenario.”
U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who is pushing for the change, said his proposal will prevent more fires caused by PG&E. “This proposal is made to guard the folks of California from but additional demise and destruction brought on by the offender’s (PG&E) failure to function its energy grid safely,” he stated in a February courtroom order.
Since 2018 PG&E has been de-energizing power lines in areas where expected high winds, low humidity and low moisture in surrounding vegetation pose a greater risk of fire danger, but Alsup said in court filings that PG&E has not been taking into account whether trees and limbs have been properly trimmed around power lines.
East Bay town named safest city in California
The city of Danville in Northern California’s East Bay has been named the Golden State’s most secure metropolis by the web site SafeWisefor the second 12 months in a row, reports The Mercury News. According to the report, the city of Danville (yes, Danville officially identifies as a “town” according to its website) had a violent crime charge of 0.05 per 1,000 residents and 6.6 property crimes per 1,000 residents.
“Danville has consistently been ranked the safest city, in our case town, in the state of California,” Danville Mayor Renee S. Morgan told The Mercury News. “Community security is our highest precedence for all of our residents and companies.”
Here are the rest of the top ten safest cities, in order:
- Rancho Santa Margarita
- Moorpark
- Rancho Palos Verdes
- Aliso Viejo
- Lake Forest
- Yorba Linda
- Laguna Niguel
- Mission Viejo
- Lincoln
Want to see the place your metropolis (or city) falls on the checklist? You can check here. Hopefully you will not be as upset by your metropolis’s rating as I used to be …
And now it’s time for some tasty, easily digestible bite-sized …
News nuggets
- California to reinstate jail visitations. Has COVID-19 gotten in between you and an incarcerated cherished one? If so, you are in luck. ABC7 KRCR reports that California state prisons will soon allow limited in-person visits with inmates after more than a year of lockdown lockdowns — with some precautions, like temperature and symptom screenings, coronavirus testing, bodily distancing and, after all, face masks.
- Beware of home-improvement scammers! Having some work accomplished on your own home? Following a lot of cases of purported development fraud in San Joaquin County, the Stockton Record has some tips on how not to get took while fixing up your nook, together with checking a contractor’s licensing standing, which you can do here.
- Six California billionaires called ‘Pandemic Profiteers’: In a report from the Institute for Policy Studies, which joined forces with the Americans for Tax Fairness in order to “track the wealth growth of America’s billionaires over the last year,” six California billionaires were included on a list of the 10 biggest “Pandemic Profiteers.” The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the six are Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Snapchat co-founders Bobby Murphy and Evan Spiegel, Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong, Roku founder Anthony Wood and digital advertising firm The Trade Desk’s founder Jeff Green.
- Looking ahead to attending White Party in Palm Springs? Looks such as you’ll have to attend till fall. The occasion’s founder, Jeffrey Sanker, introduced on his web site that the April event has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will now happen Sep. 17-20 and will likely be referred to as White Party Palm Springs Solstice – A New Beginning.
In California is a roundup of news from across USA Today network newsrooms. Also contributing: ABC7 KRCR, california.com, The Mercury News, The Sacramento Bee, Stockton Record. We’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow with the latest headlines.
As the philanthropy and special sections editor at The Desert Sun, Winston Gieseke writes about nonprofits, fundraising and people who give back in the Coachella Valley. Reach him at winston.gieseke@desertsun.com.
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