Infrastructure

NEW: Why Has Oil and Gas Boom Skipped CA?
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012

FEB. 8, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI New extraction technologies are creating an oil and gas boom that is lifting the economics of several states, as reported by the Wall Street Journal’s recent article “Oil and Gas Boom Lifts U.S. Economy.” Median incomes are growing since 2007 in such sta...

NEW: California Energy Crash Coming
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
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FEB. 8, 2012 By KATY GRIMES Ready for more electricity blackouts? With California's renewable energy mandates, cap and trade requirements, and implementation of AB 32, it is becoming increasingly clear that California is at a precarious energy crossroads, and one that lawmakers don't yet ap...

Disinformation Floods Delta Water War
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

FEB. 7, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Ready for another phantom “drought”? The National Resources Defense Council is. The NRDC’s bogus Delta Smelt lawsuit brought the court-ordered “drought” from 2007 to 2010. Now the NRDC is launching a disinformation campaign to divert the public’s a...

Cap and ‘Train’ Leaves the Station
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

JAN. 31, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Gov. Jerry Brown just proposed a new idea for financing California’s $100 billion high-speed rail project: Use the fees from the state’s Cap and Trade emission taxation program to fund it. This new hybrid between Cap and Trade and High-Speed Rail is likel...

CA Politicians Pander on Foreclosures
Friday, January 27th, 2012
Foreclosure

JAN. 27, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI On the eve of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, 16 California House Democrats pleaded for more relief for homeowners in foreclosure.  It was all show and no go, however. It was all meant to posture and pander before TV cameras and fawning ...

Root Canal For Single-Payer Health Bill
Thursday, January 26th, 2012
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JAN. 26, 2012 By KATY GRIMES Despite warnings that tooth decay in children can lead to a life in prison, the latest attempt at a single-payer health care bill in California failed to pass the Senate Thursday. Surprising many supporters, SB 810, authored by San Francisco Democratic Sen. ...

No Silver Bullet For Rail Plan
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
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JAN. 25, 2012 By KATY GRIMES Like Dracula rising from the grave, High-Speed Rail just won't die. Even with the latest in a long line of damning reports blasting the growing rail monster, the reports have had the impact of a Nerf gun. I could be a good shot, but I am not going to stop anyone...

CA Boasts 2/3 of U.S. Shale Oil Reserves
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
Monterey Shale Oil

JAN. 24, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Back on Dec. 21, 2011, Gov. Jerry Brown said at a Jewish Menorah-lighting ceremony, “Today’s miracle is not to find more oil, but to utilize the sun.”  Brown was touting solar energy projects. But the solution to Brown’s structural $20 billion annual...

Market, Not Govt., Builds Cheaper Housing
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

JAN. 17, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Is the demise of redevelopment hurting the poor? El Monte Mayor Andre Quintero says it is. He’s bemoaning that, when Gov. Jerry Brown  and the Legislature killed redevelopment, the source of funds for affordable family housing subsidies was eliminated in h...

Delta Council Meetings Flood State
Friday, January 13th, 2012

JAN. 13, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Is the Delta Stewardship Council: A bunch of environmentalists appointed by politicians to produce endless numbers of useless plans to restore the Sacred Delta Ecology; A group of water agencies serving the thirsty cities of Southern California to pull off...