Thursday, August 6, 2015 – 08:30 a.m.

Former San Bernardino International Airport developer Scot Spencer appeared in San Bernardino County Superior Court for another hearing on Wednesday, and once again the once highly-touted and publicized case was continued by stipulation.

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Los Angeles and Ontario battled for years over ownership of LA/Ontario International Airport. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

By Dan Weikel
August 5, 2015

After years of litigation and contentious negotiations, Los Angeles has agreed to transfer ownership of struggling LA/Ontario International Airport back to the city of Ontario, The Times learned Wednesday.

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Hemet Councilwoman Shellie Milne.

Published: Aug. 5, 2015 – Updated: 9:21 a.m.

Hemet Councilwoman Shellie Milne has filled out paperwork to run for a Riverside County supervisorial seat in 2016.

To read expanded post by Jeff Horseman in The P-E Political Empire Blog, click here.

A new report from Consumer Watchdog reveals that since California’s record gasoline price spike began in February, Californians have paid $4.8 billion more than the rest of the nation for regular gasoline. (Chuck Bennett/Torrance Daily Breeze/File)

By Kevin Smith, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Posted: 08/05/15 – 7:12 PM PDT |

BY THE NUMBERS

A new report from Consumer Watchdog shows that Californians are getting gouged at the pump.

• Californians have paid more than $4.8 billion more than the rest of the country for regular gasoline since the price spike began in February.
• Refiner margins — the amount of money they collect for each gallon of gasoline — set a record for California in July at $1.61 for branded stations.
• Valero’s California profits hit $294 million during the second quarter of 2015 — 11 times more than a year earlier.
• Californians often pay $1 more per gallon for gas than the national average.

Source: Consumer Watchdog

Southland motorists are used to getting gouged at the pump.

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At a March 2013 private meeting between a utility executive and then-president Mike Peevey of the California Public Utilities Commission, a framework for the San Onofre closure deal was discussed.

By Jeff McDonald | Aug. 5, 2015 – 6:36 p.m.

• Advocates are seeking $34 million or more in penalties for undisclosed meetings

Southern California Edison on Wednesday was found to have violated rules prohibiting backchannel communications at least 10 times in its dealings with regulators over the failed San Onofre nuclear plant.

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Capitol Alert
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
August 5, 2015

• Voters approved Proposition 57 with more than 63 percent of the vote
• Chiang and a top Brown aide said lawmakers in 2004 should have made the “difficult decisions”
• In 2004, Brown told his local paper that Proposition 57 “made a lot of sense.”

Treasurer John Chiang and a top aide to Gov. Jerry Brown commemorated the final payoff Wednesday on billions of dollars in budget-balancing bonds, while chiding the “fiscal shortsightedness” of then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers who backed the measure.

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The State Worker
By Jon Ortiz
ortiz@sacbee.com
August 5, 2015

• CalPERS’ and CalSTRS’ investment returns rose in 2013, but so did their pension debt
• Unfunded public pension obligations totaled $4,425 per Californian in 2013
• New ballot measure stirs debate over government retirement benefits again

Sacramento — With a new ballot proposal reigniting debate over government retirement benefits, the latest federal figures show California’s public pension debt in 2013 stood at $4,425 for every man, woman and child in the state, despite strong investment returns by public retirement funds.

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By Cindy Chang and Joel Rubin
August 5, 2015

Capping years of scandal, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has agreed to federal oversight of its jail system in an effort to end abuse of inmates by sheriff’s deputies and to improve chronically poor treatment of mentally ill inmates.

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The establishment wanted a sweet ’16, not a 17-candidate pileup. Here’s what happened. (Illustration by POLITICO/AP and Getty.)

By Glenn Thrush and Alex Isenstadt
Thursday, August 06, 2015

Jeb Bush, the man who would be frontrunner, was as surprised as anybody when Donald Trump jumped into the 2016 presidential race in June. His instinctive first reaction was to hold his tongue, and his advisers agreed the best option was to keep his distance from an interloper who wanted to drag him into a reality-show shouting match.

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 Photo courtesy of WireImage.com

August 5, 2015 | 7:26pm

The FBI investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s unsecured email account is not just a fact-finding venture — it’s a criminal probe, sources told The Post on Wednesday.

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