Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's request for a new team to plan rerouting of water away from the Delta -- a peripheral canal -- has ignited opposition in the Legislature. Three key lawmakers on Wednesday angrily accused the governor of enflaming rivalries and threatened to halt negotiations over a multibillion-dollar water bond. A letter was signed by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland; his successor as Senate leader, Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden. The showdown comes as lawmakers and the administration face off over whether the Department of Water Resources already has the legal authority to build the canal. CC Times 2/28/08
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats met behind closed doors on a plan to raise taxes and cut food stamp money to protect billions of dollars for agribusiness, a sector of the economy that is booming. The negotiators agreed Tuesday to find $10 billion in extra money in a last-ditch effort to save the farm bill, once seen as an opportunity to reform commodity programs and divert scarce funds to conservation, nutrition, organic research and California fruit and vegetable growers who are locked out of the Depression-era programs. SF Chronicle 2/28/07
Conservation groups this week made good on their vow to vigorously challenge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to close 48 state parks to help narrow a $3.3 billion budget shortfall this year. On Tuesday, the California State Parks Foundation officially launched its "Save Our State Parks" campaign. Dozens of organizations statewide, including Audubon California, the California League of Conservation Voters, Greenbelt Alliance and the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, joined the campaign. CC Times 2/28/08
California's secretary of agriculture tried to sell a program of aerial spraying for an invasive moth to the Berkeley City Council on Tuesday night, but the council instead put him on notice that a lawsuit is brewing. The council heard from A.G. Kawamura, secretary of the state Department of Food and Agriculture, and a doctor from the California Department of Public Health who said he could not be certain there would be no ill health effects from the spraying for the light-brown apple moth. It then voted 8-1 to oppose the spraying and explore its legal options to stop it. CC Times 2/28/08
With health care reform dead in California -- at least on the grand scale that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had envisioned -- lawmakers are stepping in with a series of measures that they say would help consumers and ban some egregious practices by insurance companies. The bills fall far short of the governor's vision of sweeping reform, which collapsed last month under the weight of a nearly $15 billion price tag. And they would do little, if anything, to reduce the ranks of the roughly 6.5 million uninsured. CC Times 2/28/08
The Humane Society sued the federal government Wednesday over what it said is a legal loophole that allows sick or crippled cattle, called "downers," into the food supply. A U.S. Department of Agriculture rule change made in July allows some downer cows into the food supply, the Humane Society of the United States alleges in its lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Yahoo News 2/28/08
A NY Times series that explores new restaurants of acclaim have ranked Coi (San Francisco) and Ubuntu (Napa) as among ‘Ten New Restaurants that Count.’ 2/27/08
Bags made from tightly woven bamboo fiber that come in two designs meant for artisanal breads are coming out of Berkeley. They claim to keep bread fresher. NY Times 2/27/08
No comments:
Post a Comment