Parks and forests:
National Guard to help fight No. California fires; blaze in Santa Barbara threatens homes -- With more than 425,000 acres burned, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the California National Guard to deploy ground forces for the first time in three decades to help weary firefighters battling blazes from Kern County to the Oregon border. LA Times 7/2/08
Voters to get final say on $500 million parks bond -- The East Bay Regional Park Board agreed Tuesday to seek voter approval in November in Contra Costa and Alameda counties for a $500 million bond measure to create, expand and develop regional parks, and fund projects to improve city and local parks. The largest share of the money — $281 million — would be spent on buying and preserving land for parks and trails in shoreline areas such as Oakland and Richmond, and inland valley territory in Dublin, Martinez, Antioch and Pleasanton. SJ Mercury 7/2/08
Water:
Sacramento couple who let lawn die to save water face $746 fine -- So when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought June 4, Hartridge decided it was only right to let her front lawn die to save water. But that ethic didn't agree with her neighbors, or with the city. Before Hartridge could plan new landscaping, a neighbor complained to the city about her brown lawn, and the Code Enforcement Department slapped the family with a citation. Their small brick home was declared a "public nuisance" in violation of city code section 17.68.010, which states that front yards "shall be irrigated, landscaped and maintained." A $746 fine will be next unless they correct the violation. Sacramento Bee 7/2/08
State to monitor Bay halibut due to large catch -- The state Department of Fish and Game on Tuesday announced more monitoring and other efforts in the San Francisco Bay to make sure the halibut population is not overfished. The changes are due to the high number of the fish being caught this season, which some say is the best halibut season in more than a decade. Paul Reilly, a senior marine biologist for the department, said the department usually does such work but that the time frame was moved up because of the large amount of halibut being caught. SJ Mercury 7/2/08
Health:
California sues Prime Healthcare over balance-billing practice -- California regulators have moved to stop one of the state's biggest hospital operators from billing privately insured patients for unpaid medical services received at its facilities. The Department of Managed Health Care, in a lawsuit filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court, is seeking to bar Prime Healthcare Services Inc. of Victorville from billing insured patients for unpaid medical bills that the hospital chain contends it is owed from insurers and is seeking from patients as a last resort. LA Times 7/2/08
Healthy San Francisco still working out kinks -- When the Healthy San Francisco program began at two Chinatown clinics July 2, 2007, public health officials said they would swing open the doors to all of the city's 73,000 uninsured residents on Jan. 1, 2008. They anticipated that people would enroll gradually at a pace of about 600 a week, and full coverage would be attained by the end of this year. But Healthy San Francisco remains open only to individuals earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or roughly $31,000 a year, while the city awaits the outcome of a case regarding the legality of making employers contribute to the plan. SF Chronicle 7/2/08
Labor and immigration:
ILLEGALS CALLED COURT'S PROBLEM -- With a national furor brewing over San Francisco's refusal to hand over juvenile illegal immigrant lawbreakers for deportation, Mayor Gavin Newsom insisted Tuesday that he was powerless to order the city to cooperate with federal authorities. Instead, Newsom said, the question of what to do with illegal immigrant minors who deal drugs and commit other crimes is one for juvenile court judges, the district attorney and public defender to sort out. SF Chronicle 7/2/08
Agriculture:
Wholesale egg prices take surprising jump -- After falling more than a third from March's record highs, wholesale egg prices have shot up 27 percent since mid-May. That's an unusual jump for this time of year, when egg prices tend to slump. Economists tie the increase to ever-higher corn prices, which have made egg farmers hesitant to expand their flocks. Sacramento Bee 7/2/08
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