California
Consolidate water boards across California
Why are there some 1,286 water districts and companies in California, ruled by elected and appointed officers, many tons of of that are within the 4 counties lined by our newspapers in Southern California?
A naif would possibly say with a purpose to present native management over how agricultural, city and suburban residents get entry to essentially the most treasured useful resource within the West.
Given current information of malfeasance at astounding ranges in these essential and but little-noticed and secretive bureaucracies, a cynic would possibly say they exist with a purpose to present wildly excessive salaries for his or her electeds and their managers — and that’s earlier than, even, the unlawful corruption wherein too many of those officers visitors.
By our lights, the cynic would sadly be appropriate.
Authorities fraud thrives in darkness. Frankly, we — the press — are a part of the issue. Even earlier than contraction within the newspaper business, it was arduous sufficient to get reporters out to the tons of of Southern California metropolis councils, planning commissions and faculty boards.
Water boards? Town editor needed to have a very sizzling agenda merchandise, or a very gradual information day, to have the ability to afford spending a reporter’s shift on masking a gathering like that.
These days? Nicely, it’s even harder.
However the final a number of years of award-winning reporting by Southern California Information Group workers writers Joe Nelson, Jason Henry, Scott Schwebke and others into pay-to-play misconduct on water boards in our area exhibits simply how essential it’s to analyze how these companies function, and the way native politicians make them profit their very own pocketbooks reasonably than merely getting water to circulation effectively by means of the pipes.
Case very a lot in level is Nelson’s most up-to-date story, reported earlier this month: “A federal investigation into corruption in Baldwin Park has revealed {that a} former councilman allegedly agreed to assist the town’s deposed police chief receive a seat on a Rialto-based water district board in change for guarantees that the councilman could be employed to a high-paying administrative publish within the district.”
Extra: “The alleged quid professional quo scheme between then-Councilman Ricardo Pacheco and ousted Police Chief Michael Taylor was revealed in paperwork unsealed by the U.S. Division of Justice on Friday, Oct. 7, in its case towards former San Bernardino County Planning Commissioner Gabriel Chavez.”
Chavez has agreed to plead responsible to a federal bribery cost for appearing as an middleman for payoffs from hashish corporations to Pacheco, however neither Pacheco nor Taylor has been charged in reference to actions associated to the West Valley Water District, which serves 82,000 prospects within the communities of Bloomington, Colton, Fontana, Rialto, components of unincorporated areas in San Bernardino, and Jurupa Valley in Riverside County.
The main points are price studying, and we encourage you to. Taylor subsequently engineered the hiring of Pacheco to a newly created assistant normal supervisor’s publish paying almost $190,000 a yr, the DOJ alleges. Query: Why would the assistant boss of a water district serving a tiny fraction of Southern California be paid a king’s ransom of a wage in a job that didn’t even exist till not too long ago? Reply: As a result of with the ability to function primarily in secrecy facilitates revolving-door backscratching on the a part of native pols in want of make-work jobs that assist the existence to which they’ve develop into accustomed.
Giant sizes under no circumstances ensures effectivity or transparency on the a part of public utilities. Instances in level: the town of Los Angeles Division of Water & Energy, rife with inflated salaries on the one hand and easy corruption on the opposite, and PG&E, the official wildfire-igniter of the Golden State.
However the patchwork of tiny water companies, lots of them established a century and extra in the past, that (supposedly) serve Californians makes it far too simple for the unscrupulous to line their pockets on the ratepayers’ expense. Certainly there have been many high quality native public servants on their boards over time. However the temptation is clearly too nice for the dishonest few.
It received’t be simple — in reality, will probably be complicated, and take many years. However consolidation of the huge variety of these companies right into a manageable few dozen at most in our area is the one means to make sure that the corruption is stored in verify.
California
Caitlyn Jenner says she'd 'destroy' Kamala Harris in hypothetical race to be CA gov
SAN FRANCISCO – Caitlyn Jenner, the gold-medal Olympian-turned reality TV personality, is considering another run for Governor of California. This time, she says, if she were to go up against Vice President Kamala Harris, she would “destroy her.”
Jenner, who publicly came out as transgender nearly 10 years ago, made a foray into politics when she ran as a Republican during the recall election that attempted to unseat Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021. Jenner only received one percent of the vote and was not considered a serious candidate.
Jenner posted this week on social media that she’s having conversations with “many people” and hopes to have an announcement soon about whether she will run.
Caitlyn Jenner speaks at the 4th annual Womens March LA: Women Rising at Pershing Square on January 18, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)
She has also posted in Trumpian-style all caps: “MAKE CA GREAT AGAIN!”
As for VP Harris, she has not indicated any future plans for when she leaves office. However, a recent poll suggests Harris would have a sizable advantage should she decide to run in 2026. At that point, Newsom cannot run again because of term limits.
If Jenner decides to run and wins, it would mark the nation and state’s first transgender governor.
California
Northern California 6-year-old, parents hailed as heroes for saving woman who crashed into canal
LIVE OAK — A six-year-old and her parents are being called heroes by a Northern California community for jumping into a canal to save a 75-year-old woman who drove off the road.
It happened on Larkin Road near Paseo Avenue in the Sutter County community of Live Oak on Monday.
“I just about lost her, but I didn’t,” said Terry Carpenter, husband of the woman who was rescued. “We got more chances.”
Terry said his wife of 33 years, Robin Carpenter, is the love of his life and soulmate. He is grateful he has been granted more time to spend with her after she survived her car crashing off a two-lane road and overturning into a canal.
“She’s doing really well,” Terry said. “No broken bones, praise the Lord.”
It is what some call a miracle that could have had a much different outcome without a family of good Samaritans.
“Her lips were purple,” said Ashley Martin, who helped rescue the woman. “There wasn’t a breath at all. I was scared.”
Martin and her husband, Cyle Johnson, are being hailed heroes by the Live Oak community for jumping into the canal, cutting Robin out of her seat belt and pulling her head above water until first responders arrived.
“She was literally submerged underwater,” Martin said. “She had a back brace on. Apparently, she just had back surgery. So, I grabbed her brace from down below and I flipped her upward just in a quick motion to get her out of that water.”
The couple said the real hero was their six-year-old daughter, Cayleigh Johnson.
“It was scary,” Cayleigh said. “So the car was going like this, and it just went boom, right into the ditch.”
Cayleigh was playing outside and screamed for her parents who were inside the house near the canal.
I spoke with Robin from her hospital bed over the phone who told us she is in a lot of pain but grateful.
“The thing I can remember is I started falling asleep and then I was going over the bump and I went into the ditch and that’s all I remember,” Robin said.
It was a split-second decision for a family who firefighters said helped save a stranger’s life.
“It’s pretty unique that someone would jump in and help somebody that they don’t even know,” said Battalion Chief for Sutter County Fire Richard Epperson.
Robin is hopeful that she will be released from the hospital on Wednesday in time to be home for Thanksgiving.
“She gets Thanksgiving and Christmas now with her family and grandkids,” Martin said.
Terry and Robin are looking forward to eventually meeting the family who helped save Robin’s life. The family expressed the same feelings about meeting the woman they helped when she is out of the hospital.
“I can’t wait for my baby to get home,” Terry said.
California
California may exclude Tesla from EV rebate program
California Gov. Gavin Newsom may exclude Tesla and other automakers from an electric vehicle (EV) rebate program if the incoming Trump administration scraps a federal tax credit for electric car purchases.
Newsom proposed creating a new version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, which was phased out in 2023 after funding more than 594,000 vehicles and saving more than 456 million gallons of fuel, the governor’s office said in a news release on Monday.
“Consumers continue to prove the skeptics wrong – zero-emission vehicles are here to stay,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re not turning back on a clean transportation future – we’re going to make it more affordable for people to drive vehicles that don’t pollute.”
The proposed rebates would be funded with money from the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which is funded by polluters under the state’s cap-and-trade program, the governor’s office said. Officials did not say how much the program would cost or save consumers.
NEBRASKA AG LAUNCHES ASSAULT AGAINST CALIFORNIA’S ELECTRIC VEHICLE PUSH
They would also include changes to promote innovation and competition in the zero-emission vehicles market – changes that could prevent automakers like Tesla from qualifying for the rebates.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who relocated Tesla’s corporate headquarters from California to Texas in 2021, responded to the possibility of having Tesla EVs left out of the program.
“Even though Tesla is the only company who manufactures their EVs in California! This is insane,” Musk wrote on X, which he also owns.
BENTLEY PUSHES BACK ALL-EV LINEUP TIMELINE TO 2035
Those buying or leasing Tesla vehicles accounted for about 42% of the state’s rebates, The Associated Press reported, citing data from the California Air Resources Board.
Newsom’s office told Fox Business Digital that the proposal is intended to foster market competition, and any potential market cap is subject to negotiation with the state Legislature.
Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
---|---|---|---|---|
TSLA | TESLA INC. | 338.59 | -13.97 | -3.96% |
“Under a potential market cap, and depending on what the cap is, there’s a possibility that Tesla and other automakers could be excluded,” the governor’s office said. “But that’s again subject to negotiations with the legislature.”
Newsom’s office noted that such market caps have been part of rebate programs since George W. Bush’s administration in 2005.
Federal tax credits for EVs are currently worth up to $7,500 for new zero-emission vehicles. President-elect Trump has previously vowed to end the credit.
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California has surpassed 2 million zero-emission vehicles sold, according to the governor’s office. The state, however, could face a $2 billion budget deficit next year, Reuters reported, citing a non-partisan legislative estimate released last week.
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