Coast Guard regulators want to bolster the ranks of aging barge-towing captains and mates by slashing from 30 months to 30 days the experience needed to qualify for a federal barge towing endorsement on a master's license. Mariners have organized opposition, but few outside of the towing industry have paid attention. Coast Guard regulators appear ready to go ahead with writing the new regulation after a 90-day comment period that ended in December. CC Times 2/19/08
Attorney General Jerry Brown is taking the global warming enlightenment skills he honed in the Bay Area across sprawling California today -- a move supporters such as San Jose's mayor said will meet resistance. Brown's aides told MediaNews that he will announce he is convening voluntary regional schools for California's more than 500 elected county supervisors and city mayors to advocate tough actions such new transportation impact fees and costly energy-efficiency. CC Times 2/19/08
The battle between Northern and Southern California rages on in Burlingame today, as the California Transportation Commission receives $4.2 billion in project nominations to be considered for $2.5 billion to $3 billion in bond funding to improve how cargo moves around the state. Bay Area officials and their counterparts in Sacramento and San Joaquin County are asking for $1.1 billion, mainly to improve rail routes to and from ports in Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond, Sacramento and Stockton. Meanwhile, Southern Californians coalescing around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have beefed up an earlier, unofficial wish list from $1.7 billion to $2.2 billion. CC Times 2/13/08
When it comes to traffic, California has the worst in the country. But when it comes to traffic laws, California has among the most effective in the nation. A report released Monday by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety ranks California No. 4 in the nation based on 15 laws that it says enhance road safety. However, California was dinged for allowing teens to be on the road until 11 p.m. (the group favors 10 p.m.), not requiring special breath-testing ignition devices for drunk-driving offenders and failing to require kids to be in booster seats until age 8. CC Times 2/19/08
California Highway Patrol Commissioner Mike Brown resigned Tuesday as he was under increasing pressure from some state lawmakers, who had called him an ineffective leader and criticized his oversight of the department. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Deputy Commissioner Joseph Farrow to replace Brown as head of the agency and its more than 10,000 employees. Farrow will take over March 1. CC Times 2/13/08
Hoping to speed up traffic across bridges, a regional toll agency committee commissioned a $600,000 feasibility study Wednesday about using a video system to collect tolls from drivers who now pay cash at the booths. Bridge operators would snap photographs of car license plates automatically to identify their owners, and then send out a bill or deduct money from accounts linked to credit cards. CC Times 2/14/08
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday clamped down on state spending, ordering cuts that will cancel nonessential travel for thousands of employees and freeze hiring at most state agencies as California grapples with a $14.5 billion budget deficit. The governor's executive order comes after he filled several positions in his own administration and appointed dozens of people to state jobs, boards or commissions since Jan. 10, when he announced a fiscal emergency. San Diego Union Tribune 2/19/08
On Thursday, the BART board will consider a $3.7 million contract to purchase 180 million plastic tickets. Once the fare gates and ticket machines are reprogrammed, the new tickets would use a different kind of magnetic stripe and be less prone to damage by an iPod, cell phone, purse clasp or other device that contains a magnet. The retrofit isn't expected to be completed until November. SF Chronicle 2/12/08
The Port of Oakland will receive almost $4 million to beef up its security as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger disperses a total of $40 million for 11 of California's ports. The 11 ports were approved for funding by Proposition 1B under the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality and Port Security Bond Act of 2006.Prop. 1B approved $20 billion to enhance safety and security in the state's transportation systems, as well as ameliorating its air quality. Of that fund, $1 billion will be allocated to the ports and mass transit systems. CC Times 2/15/08
Budget negotiators have settled on a package of emergency spending cuts that would freeze a half billion dollars planned for schools, cut payments to doctors caring for the poor and vacuum up hundreds of millions in unspent funds intended for projects over the remainder of the year. The package of cuts comes under the state's first fiscal emergency declaration, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued last month when he announced falling state tax revenue had left California facing an estimated $14.5 billion shortfall. CC Times 2/15/08
In the past five years, cycling has become the hip sport of Silicon Valley. Technology entrepreneurs have taken to whirring through redwood groves on bicycles worth as much as some cars. Climate, demographics and terrain have combined to make the Bay Area one of the most cycling-rich regions in the United States, if not the world. CC Times 2/19/08
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