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The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing the San Joaquin Valley to keep "charging" homebuilders for the air pollution their developments create. The Indirect Source Rule took effect in March of 2006 as a way to combat the Valley's out-of-control air pollution.
Paul Cook, an attorney with Earthjustice, says the rule provides incentives for "smart development."
"The San Joaquin Valley is a largely rural area. What you saw were these developers buying cheap land, converting agricultural land and contributing to really rapid sprawl."
The early October rains sweeping across California are affecting far more than the grape harvest here in the North Bay. At the same time, there is an indoor deadline pending for the Governor in Sacarmento, which we hear about first, in today's California Update.
It's been a busy week for Governor Brown, who still has dozens of bills from the past legislative session awaiting his signature or veto. He got a few more off his desk yesterday.
In other moves yesterday, Gov. Brown signed a measure that will allo non-profit organizations to operate state parks that are closing due to budget cuts... and a ban on the chemical known as BPA in baby bottles and "sippoy cups." He vetoed a bill that would have allowed welfare recipients to have a car valued at more than $4600. In his veto message, he said it's the wrong time to expand the state's CalWORKS program.
When kids act up, locking them up is the wrong thing to do in most cases, says a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The foundation's Juvenile Justice Strategy Group director, Bart Lubow, says decades of research, along with new data, show that putting kids behind bars doesn't keep them from criminality later.
The report, No Place for Kids, The Case for Reducing Juvenile Incarceration, also shows the practice fails to provide public-safety benefits, wastes taxpayer money, and exposes young people to violence and abuse, while in almost every case, the "crimes" they had committed were minor.
"The majority are either charged with nonviolent offenses, or are there primarily for acts of defiance relative to an adult."
The report also finds that reducing incarceration doesn't mean crime will increase.
Read more: Report: ‘Lock ‘em Up’ Approach to Juvenile Justice Doesn’t Work
Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-1) again today voiced his concerns with a plan that would take water away from the Delta region. Joined by Representatives George Miller, Doris Matsui, Jerry McNerney, John Garamendi, Thompson met with Jerry Meral, the Deputy Secretary of the California Natural Resource Agency to express his grave concern over any Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) that could adversely affect the Delta Region. Meral is the senior state official who oversees the BDCP.
“Needlessly rushing the scientific review of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan is simply irresponsible, and that is what I told the Bay Delta Conservation Plan officials today," said the north state Democrat. "We know all too well the consequences of bad water policy combined with impractical deadlines. In Humboldt and Del Norte Counties, expedited review of the Klamath River project resulted in the death of 68,000 Chinook Salmon. Are we really considering walking down the same road again? We need sound, science-based solutions that don't harm our wildlife or environment."
