Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Leaders of a campaign to repeal California's recent gas tax increase are asking the federal government to investigate their claims that public resources have been used against them. Their allegations are based on emails and other documents that appear to show local government workers discussing the repeal effort, known as Proposition 6. In one, a San Francisco official says in an email that showing how gas tax funds benefit the city is important "to support the anti-repeal campaign."
"I am writing to express opposition to recent attempts by Congress to circumvent California's water management framework by adding riders to the Appropriations billl," said California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird. In a victory for Delta Tunnels opponents urging the Brown administration to oppose Congressman Ken Calvert's rider banning judicial review of the tunnels and other water projects, California Natural Resources Secretary Laird on July 17 sent a letter to members on the Senate and House committees on appropriations opposing the language.
A review of federal election campaign contributions by Restore the Delta reveals that the Parsons Corporation, an international infrastructure contractor, has contributed to campaign coffers of Riverside Republican House member Ken Calvert and House majority leader Kevin McCarthy, Republican from Bakersfield. "Follow the money," a catchphrase popularized by the 1976 drama-documentary motion picture All The President's Men that suggests a money trail or corruption scheme within high office, definitely applies to the current rush by the state and federal governments to construct Governor Jerry Brown's environmentally destructive Delta Tunnels even though the project makes no scientific, economic or financial sense.
VETERANS HEALTHCARE IMPROVEMENTS: Voting 347-70, the House on Wednesday passed a bill that would launch the process to realign, consolidate or close some of the Department of Veterans Affairs' 1,200-plus medical centers and outpatient clinics, some of which were built to treat veterans of the Civil War. The bill also would streamline a four-year-old "community care" program in which veterans who live at great distance from Veterans Health Administration medical facilities can receive publicly funded care from close-to-home private-sector providers.
Two Democratic lawmakers asked Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt on Monday for documents related to proposed changes to vehicle fuel emission standards and California's authority to set its own measures, and accused him of misleading Congress of the agency's plans. FILE PHOTO: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt speaks during an interview at his office in Washington, U.S., July 10, 2017.
Strong ironies are playing out as California's 14 Republican members of Congress support President Trump's announced $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan at the same time they all back a planned ballot initiative to repeal the state's new gasoline and diesel fuel tax increase. No state needs more work on its infrastructure than this one, where more than 1,300 bridges of various sizes and shapes require seismic retrofitting and potholes are common on every type of road from country lanes to major urban freeways.
That would seem to be the case as for the second year in a row the president's budget proposal this week zeroed out funding for the ongoing rollout of the earthquake early warning system that will serve the West Coast. Meaning, mostly us, though Oregon and Washington - also disliked by the White House, because they didn't vote for its current occupant - are also part of the system, though with less seismic activity to worry about.
Tax-reform plans before Congress would limit or eliminate the natural-disaster deduction, meaning future victims of wildfires like the ones raging throughout Southern California could no longer deduct losses of property that is uninsured or under-insured. The House and Senate proposals, which are in the process of being reconciled, would not affect natural-disaster deductions filed for the 2017 tax year.
The recent passage of mandatory E-Verify by the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee brings us one step closer to ending the root cause of most illegal immigration into the United States: outlaw businesses that hire illegal immigrants. Illegal border crossings, visa overstays, and children born in the United States to parents here illegally would all be dramatically reduced or eliminated if we ended the ability for outlaw employers to take advantage of immigrants that arrive here illegally.
Steven Law, chief executive of the Republican Senate Leadership Fund has declared, "There is no place in our party for sexual predators." Well, that is not exactly true.
Wild horses rescued by the Wild for Life Foundation that was roaming on federal lands have a new home at the Wild Horse Foundation's facility in Ramona Friday, July 7, 2017. One of the wild horses rescued by the Wild for Life Foundation that was roaming on federal lands at the Wild Horse Foundation's facility in Ramona Friday, July 7, 2017.
President Donald Trump's budget proposal would cut federal funding for an earthquake early warning system for California, Oregon and Washington state, a development that seismology experts and some local leaders say would be the end of the project. The system being developed in conjunction with various universities is intended at providing critical seconds of warning when an earthquake has started and potentially dangerous shaking is imminent, allowing time for people to take cover and to slow or halt such things as critical industrial processes and transportation systems.
WASHINGTON – Construction could begin as early as September on a proposed memorial for President Dwight D. Eisenhower that has been mired in controversy for almost 20 years. That's according to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission and the chairman of the House committee that oversees the funding for the project.