Investigation-InfrastructureWindmill-Gate Scandal Storms Into CAThursday, October 13th, 2011 OCT. 13, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Electricity: the peril the wind sings to in the wires on a gray day. -- novelist Janet Frame Windmill-Gate is blowing across the trendy new resource of wind-generated electricity. New new studies look at “cycling”: the ramping up and down of gas power plants... Hard Battle Over Water SoftenersFriday, October 7th, 2011 OCT. 7, 2011 By DAVE ROBERTS The battle over water softeners is boiling over in California. On the one side is the water-softener industry. It's joined by homeowners and businesses whose municipal water suppliers deliver them "hard" water -- which has high concentrations of corrosive minerals... Judge Backs Humans Over Fish in DeltaMonday, September 19th, 2011 SEPT. 19, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI On Sept. 16, U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger threw the Delta smelt minnow back into the waters of the Sacramento Delta. He ruled the federal government’s case was too small to grant a stay -- a court-ordered continuation -- of the man-made “X2’... Stadium Dreams and Sacramento KingsWednesday, August 3rd, 2011 AUGUST 3, 2011 By PATRICK MELARKEY and RICHARD TRAINOR For the past couple years we have watched our home town struggle to keep the Sacramento Kings basketball team in Sacramento. We have also observed the proposed attempt to build a new $400 million stadium for the team in downtown Sacramento... Treasure Isle: Greed, Gold, Toxic WasteTuesday, July 26th, 2011 JULY 26, 2011 By RICHARD TRAINOR Yo ho ho and and a pot of redevelopment gold. For 15 years San Francisco has tried to transform Treasure Island from a sandy former Naval base into a gold and jobs-generating new urban community with 40-story skyscrapers interspersed by parks and marinas. The idea... Green Power Project Jolts CitizensWednesday, July 20th, 2011 JULY 20, 2011 By KATY GRIMES In the Southern California city of Chino Hills, there is a palpable anger spreading as the landscape is changing from bedroom community to industrial park. The bedroom community landscape now includes 200-foot electrical towers near homes, churches and parks. Th... CA Enviro Plan Channels Pol PotWednesday, June 8th, 2011 JUNE 8, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Remember Pol Pot, the Cambodian dictator and head of the Khmer Rouge? According to Wikipedia, "During his time in power, Pol Pot imposed a version of agrarian socialism, forcing urban dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced ... McClintock: Water Actually ‘Abundant’Thursday, June 2nd, 2011 JUNE 2, 2011 By JOHN SEILER The history of California practically is the history of water. So it's not surprising that the recent history of the state involves a shift from government facilitating growth to government sharply restricting growth -- in water and the rest of the economy. The o... California Water Cold War Heats UpTuesday, May 10th, 2011 MAY 10, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Long gone are the hot wars of the 1920’s when Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's William Mulholland took over Mono County and Owens Lake with his own shotgun militia. And local farmers resisted the taking of their water rights and land by dynamiting... Sacto’s Ongoing Redevelopment DisasterTuesday, April 19th, 2011 APRIL 19, 2011 By RICHARD TRAINOR Since its inception in 1953, the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency has been driven by scandals, sweetheart deals for connected developers, cockeyed projects and ineptitude. In 1991, this reporter wrote the official history of the (SHRA) in a book t... |