Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
Thursday, July 10, 2014 – 10:00 a.m.
Here’s some news flowing across the transom this week. In case you missed it!
Riverside ends red-light cameras
The Riverside City Council has now fallen in-line with pretty much every other Inland city.
By Neil Nisperos, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 07/09/14, 9:43 PM PDT |
Newer large shopping centers in the region have opened with a slate of new eateries in the past year and more may arrive in the coming months.
The trend indicates a return to normalcy for the regional economy, as restaurant construction and openings had stagnated during the recession and business slowdown.
By Jessica Calefati and Denis Cuff, San Jose Mercury News
Posted: 07/09/14, 7:58 PM PDT | Updated: 56 secs ago
SACRAMENTO — Few Californians listened earlier this year when Gov. Jerry Brown begged them to conserve water. So now, with no end to the extreme dry weather in sight, state officials are poised to slap water wasters with unprecedented fines of up to $500 a day.
By Christopher Cadelago
ccadelago@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Jul. 9, 2014 – 4:58 pm
California’s dominant healthcare union has taken the “extraordinary” step of requesting that elected officials refrain from accepting political contributions from an Ontario-based hospital chain and its chief executive.
Politics
By Katie Zezima and David Nakamura
July 9, 2014 at 8:56 PM
DALLAS — President Obama on Wednesday forcefully defended his decision not to visit the Texas border with Mexico to view a burgeoning humanitarian crisis, saying he’s “not interested in photo ops” and challenging Congress to give him new authority to respond to the situation.
By Michael Flaherty and Alistair Bell
WASHINGTON Thu Jul 10, 2014 4:02am EDT
(Reuters) – A surge of Republican pressure is bringing the Federal Reserve’s long-held independence into question again, as conservative lawmakers seek to place the U.S. central bank under tougher scrutiny.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014 – 09:30 a.m.
An effort to reach a settlement in a case tied to the falsification of training records in the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, has failed.
By Liset Marquez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 07/08/14, 10:17 PM PDT | Updated: 43 secs ago
ONTARIO >> Following six consecutive years of decline, passenger traffic at LA/Ontario International Airports has apparently stabilized in the early part of 2014.
But members of the Ontario International Airport Authority are reluctant to equate the recent reports as good news for the medium-hub facility.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jul. 8, 2014 – 11:03 pm
Last Modified: Wednesday, Jul. 9, 2014 – 7:32 am
Government pensions were once considered untouchable, ironclad, off limits even if the employer went bankrupt.
On Tuesday, a federal bankruptcy judge in Sacramento inched closer to changing all that. Commenting during a hearing on Stockton’s bankruptcy case, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein suggested that employees and retirees could have their pensions reduced to facilitate the city’s financial reorganization.
Posted on Tuesday, July 8 at 10:32am | By Carla Marinucci
Republicans get an edge not only with the party’s choice of Cleveland as the site of the party’s 2016 nominating convention, but also in their plans to hold the convention in early summer, says Shawn Steel, a former chair of California GOP and a member of the Republican National Committee site selection committee.
By Leslie Parrilla, San Bernardino Sun
Posted: 07/07/14, 2:28 PM PDT | Updated: 37 secs ago
COLTON >> An investigation related to the city’s top manager comes at one of the worst times for Colton — budget season.
The situation has prompted a 60-day delay until the police chief, who has been tasked as interim city manager in Stephen Compton’s absence, guides departments, many without directors, into a fiscal plan to keep the city running.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jul. 8, 2014 – 12:00 am
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jul. 8, 2014 – 7:45 am
California politics is meandering into uncharted procedural and legal territory with former Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez’s go-for-broke decision to seek a vote recount in his duel with Board of Equalization member Betty Yee for a spot on the November state controller ballot.
San Bernardino’s deal means pensions off bankruptcy table
By Steven Greenhut1:47 p.m.July 7, 2014
SACRAMENTO — The nation’s largest pension fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, has racked up another victory in its effort to halt any effort by municipalities to get out from under their crushing pension obligations.
By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jul. 8, 2014 – 12:00 am
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jul. 8, 2014 – 2:57 am
California’s economy has overtaken Russia and Italy, with the state now ranked as the world’s eighth-largest economy.
By KENNETH P. VOGEL | 7/7/14 9:00 PM EDT Updated: 7/8/14 5:41 AM EDT
At first, it seemed like just another example of Harry Reid being Harry Reid.
The Senate majority leader, whose unscripted attacks can veer into bellicosity and take liberties with facts, spoke on the Senate floor last October and appeared to blame billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch for the government shutdown.
Published: July 6, 2014 Updated: 10:42 p.m.
Riverside is investigating whether someone covertly recorded former City Manager Brad Hudson’s comments nearly five years ago and then shared the tapes with others, including Councilman Paul Davis.
That brings the number of probes at Riverside City Hall to three in the past three months, putting officials in an unprecedented – and likely uncomfortable – situation.
To read story by Alicia Robinson in the Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 07/06/14, 6:04 PM PDT | Updated: 42 secs ago
SAN BERNARDINO >> Fire Engine 230 roared toward a woman who’d overdosed, keeping lights and sirens on without a chance to return to the station from the crew’s last call.
It was the seventh call for service Thursday for the station at Mill Street and Arrowhead Avenue, with more to come, after a night that included extricating people from a truck after a major crash on the 215 Freeway and a garage fire complicated by power that was re-routed because the house had been turned into a marijuana grow.
By Ben Baeder, Whittier Daily News
Posted: 07/06/14, 6:03 PM PDT | Updated: 31 mins ago
At an increasing pace, your local government is spending your tax money paying lobbyists to get some more of your own tax money sent back to your community.
By Liset Marquez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 07/03/14, 12:25 PM PDT | Updated: 33 secs ago
ONTARIO >> When the latest passenger traffic figures for L.A./Ontario International Airport were released, a different trend emerged from what the medium-hub facility has experienced in the past three years.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, July 7, 2014
A bill that started out as Gov. Brown’s proposal to restructure the CalPERS board emerged from the Legislature last week as a more modest change: a requirement that CalPERS board members receive 24 hours of education in pension fund operations.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jul. 7, 2014 – 12:00 am
At any given moment, dozens of comatose bills float around the Legislature – vessels to be filled with whatever the powers-that-be want to enact quickly and semi-clandestinely.
By TAMI ABDOLLAH
Associated Press
Published: Sunday, Jul. 6, 2014 – 8:32 am
Last Modified: Monday, Jul. 7, 2014 – 12:38 am
LOS ANGELES — With the potentially record-breaking $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers hanging in the balance, a trial beginning Monday will focus on whether Donald Sterling’s estranged wife had the authority under terms of a family trust to unilaterally negotiate the deal.
Politics and Policy
Presumed Presidential Candidate Makes Clear She Won’t Be Running for de Facto Third Obama Term
By Peter Nicholas
July 6, 2014 – 8:13 p.m. ET
Hillary Clinton has begun distancing herself from President Barack Obama, suggesting that she would do more to woo Republicans and take a more assertive stance toward global crises, while sounding more downbeat than her former boss about the U.S. economic recovery.
Top Stories
GOP leaders Ed Royce and Darrell Issa handle Congress very differently.
BY CATHY TAYLOR / WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF
Published: July 6, 2014 Updated: July 7, 2014 7:22 a.m.
They couldn’t be more different: the stiletto who aims for targeted foreign policy legislation and the sledgehammer who pounds away at big domestic investigations.
Published: July 5, 2014 Updated: 9:55 p.m.
The latest attempt to let Riverside County supervisors fill vacancies in their ranks appears to be dead, potentially giving the governor the chance to appoint a supervisor by year’s end.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in the Press-Enterprise, click here.
Published: July 5, 2014 Updated: 9:55 p.m.
Boosted by higher home prices and fewer foreclosures, the overall value of property in Riverside County will rise almost 8 percent this year, the largest percentage increase since before the Great Recession.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in the Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Beau Yarbrough, The Sun
Posted: 07/05/14, 2:54 PM PDT | Updated: 36 secs ago
Rialto Unified officials agreed with outgoing Superintendent Harold Cebrun that any future bad-mouthing will be costly, according to Cebrun’s separation agreement with the district.
By Jessica Calefati
jcalefati@bayareanewsgroup.com
Posted: 07/05/2014 04:00:00 PM PDT
Updated: 07/06/2014 06:47:14 AM PDT
SACRAMENTO — After state Sen. Leland Yee’s stunning arrest earlier this year, the Legislature’s highest-ranking member urged his colleagues to finally fix a long-standing problem in California politics — the corrupting allure of money.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Jul. 6, 2014 – 12:00 am
From its inception – first as a Spanish colony, later as part of Mexico, briefly as an independent nation and finally as a state – California has been a youthful society.
By TERI SFORZA / STAFF COLUMNIST
Published: July 5, 2014 Updated: July 6, 2014 8:45 a.m.
So let’s start with the bracing news: Orange County cities have promised their workers more than $3.3 billion in retirement benefits that they do not have.
National Security
Files provided by Snowden show extent to which ordinary Web users are caught in the net
By Barton Gellman, Julie Tate and Ashkan Soltani
July 5, 2014 at 8:46 PM
Ordinary Internet users, American and non-American alike, far outnumber legally targeted foreigners in the communications intercepted by the National Security Agency from U.S. digital networks, according to a four-month investigation by The Washington Post.
Saturday, July 5, 2014 – 10:00 a.m.
The San Bernardino County Grand Jury released its annual report last Tuesday, July 1.
Most people focued on the clean bill of health the civil panel gave the county jails. Jails currently being targeted, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), for allegations of inmate abuse by sworn officers.
Political Whispers
Saturday, July 5, 2014
So, as with all Presidential second terms, President Obama is fading from relevance. It is inevitable and common for second term Presidents to become less popular and effective, Republican or Democrat.
July 2, 2014
Three years ago, Riverside County Supervisor John Tavaglione sponsored a resolution in support of Gov. Jerry Brown’s public safety realignment plan, which shifted responsibility for low-level offenders from the state to counties.
It’s a move Tavaglione regrets. Using blunt language at times, he made his misgivings known during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
To read story by Jeff Horseman in the Press-Enterprise, click here.
David G. Savage
July 4, 2014
The Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. showed again this year that it is playing a long game, writing opinions that move the law in small but steady steps in a conservative direction.
Michael A. Memoli
July 4, 2014
Democrats headed into the Fourth of July recess facing stiff head winds in their quest to maintain a Senate majority this fall, contending with voters’ unease over the economy and a slew of Washington controversies.
Friday, July 4, 2014 – 09:45 a.m.
InlandPolitics would like to wish everyone a happy and safe Independence Day.
BY DEBRA GRUSZECKI / STAFF WRITER
Published: July 3, 2014 3:37 p.m.
Woodside Homes, a North Salt Lake City, Utah-based homebuilder with a presence in Inland Southern California, has purchased 291 lots in two master-planned communities in California from the Lewis Group of Companies, the companies announced.
Posted on Thursday, July 3 at 1:59pm | By Carolyn Lochhead
Sen. Barbara Boxer visited a road-building project Thursday in Monterey County to warn that Congress is about to let the Highway Trust Fund go bankrupt, endangering highway and transit projects in every state.
If you think California highways look Second World now, wait until Congress lets federal funding dry up.
By JULIE PACE and ERICA WERNER
The Associated Press
Published: Thursday, Jul. 3, 2014 – 1:47 pm
Last Modified: Friday, Jul. 4, 2014 – 3:18 am
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is facing mounting calls from Republicans to take a firsthand look at the immigration emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, putting him on the spot concerning what he has called the “humanitarian crisis” of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children flooding in from Central America.
Ryan Grim and Kasey Varner
Posted: 07/03/2014 – 5:28 pm EDT
Updated: 07/03/2014 – 5:59 pm EDT
WASHINGTON — People are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore, an extensive new survey of public attitudes toward the government finds.
Thursday, July 3, 2014 – 10:15 a.m.
Here’s some news flowing across the transom Thursday morning.
Official unemployment rate falls in June
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 288,000 jobs were added in June. The number dropped the official unemployment rate (U-3) to 6.1%
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 07/01/14, 8:19 PM PDT |
SAN BERNARDINO >> The deadline passed Tuesday for two citizen-sponsored charter amendments to make it on November’s ballot, but the proponent behind at least one of the measures says he intends to keep gathering signatures for the next election.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 07/01/14, 8:07 PM PDT |
SAN BERNARDINO >> Some City Council members are calling for a review of City Manager Allen Parker after he and the finance director were absent during the city’s final budget hearing, leaving them to pass the cuts-filled spending plan with some questions unanswered.
By Leslie Parrilla, San Bernardino Sun
Posted: 07/02/14, 8:18 PM PDT |
COLTON >> New information came to light this week about an investigation related to the city manager being placed on administrative leave, with concerns mounting during a troubled City Council meeting rife with complaints from the public.
By Liset Marquez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 07/02/14, 9:32 PM PDT |
ONTARIO >> Jess Romo, general manager of LA/Ontario International Airport, says he welcomes the recent passenger traffic figures which reveal that the medium hub facility is moving away from years of decline.
By Grace Wong, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 07/01/14, 10:32 PM PDT | Updated: 27 secs ago
ONTARIO >> After a tumultuous few City Council sessions in recent weeks, Tuesday’s meeting saw a relatively short council agenda.
The two items that generated the most discussion dealt with Councilman Paul Vincent Avila and his issues with other council members.
By Tony Quinn
Political Analyst
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014
Neel Kashkari is the Republican candidate for governor because of the efforts of a mild mannered, bow-tied Stanford University physicist named Charles Munger Jr. Munger is also responsible for the defeat and retirement of several powerful California members of Congress, and he is the major funding source keeping the California Republican Party afloat. Not bad for a guy almost no one has ever heard of.
Victoria Kim and Cindy Chang
July 2, 2014
Former Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka was testifying in the case of a deputy charged with obstruction of justice earlier this year when the prosecutor asked if he was familiar with a common investigative tactic: Start with low-level criminals, then go after their bosses.
Paloma Esquivel
July 2, 2014
After anti-illegal immigration protesters in Murrieta successfully forced buses full of migrants to divert to San Diego for processing, groups of immigration advocates have quietly galvanized.
Politics
By Dan Balz
July 2 at 1:08 PM
President Obama’s displeasure with gridlock in Washington — and with the Republicans he blames for it — has been rising for months. This week it has boiled over.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014 – 10:00 a.m.
The San Bernardino County Grand Jury has released its final report for 2013-14.
Published: July 1, 2014 Updated: 10:59 p.m.
The state’s fledgling top-two open-primary election system has had unintended consequences – including the election of a Republican congressman in a predominantly Democratic Inland district two years ago.
This year, two Republicans almost made the November face-off for state controller despite Democrats’ 15-point advantage in California voter registration rolls. That’s because Democrats had more candidates splitting the partisan vote.
To read story by Martin Wiscksol in the Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 07/01/14, 8:26 PM PDT | Updated: 9 hrs ago
Grand Jury foreman Rosie Hinojos chalked it up to a more efficient and better managed county than in previous years.
By Dakota Smith, Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 07/01/14, 7:20 PM PDT |
One of the doctors who declared Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling mentally incompetent socialized with the billionaire at a hotel restaurant after the exam, raising questions about the physician’s conclusions, Sterling’s attorney said Tuesday.
Victoria Kim and Cindy Chang
July 1, 2014
A jury Tuesday found six members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department guilty of attempting to impede a federal civil rights inquiry into the county jails, providing prosecutors with a decisive victory as they continue to investigate higher-level officials tied to the scandal.
Marty Graham
Tue Jul 1, 2014 – 7:56pm EDT
MURRIETA Calif. —-
(Reuters) – A group of protesters shouting anti-immigration slogans blocked the arrival of two buses carrying undocumented Central American families to a U.S. Border Patrol station in California on Tuesday after they were flown to San Diego from Texas.
By JUDY LIN
Associated Press
July 1, 2014
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s marketplace for buying individual health insurance often failed to verify important personal information and resolve discrepancies in applications, a critical process in determining if people are eligible for taxpayer subsidies, a federal watchdog said Tuesday.
Christi Parsons, Michael A. Memoli
July 1, 2014
In his latest attempt to get Congress to spend money to upgrade America’s roads and bridges, President Obama debuted a new sales pitch Tuesday: patriotism.
By MIA SHAW
July 1, 2014
Kevin McCarthy, the newly minted House Majority Leader, rose speedily through the GOP ranks during his time as a California legislator – and used political instincts he honed in Sacramento to achieve power in Congress.
BOSTON — Jul 2, 2014, 3:06 AM ET
By STEVE PEOPLES
Associated Press
He insists he’s not running for president a third time, but Mitt Romney is campaigning again in New Hampshire.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 06/30/14, 9:17 PM PDT | Updated: 30 secs ago
SAN BERNARDINO >> The city passed its budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year Monday night, three hours before the year began.
The 5-2 vote — Councilmen John Valdivia and Benito Barrios opposing — came after warnings on one hand of disastrous effects in bankruptcy court if a full budget wasn’t passed by that deadline, and on the other of dire threats to the city from cuts contained in the budget.
Patrick McGreevy, Tony Perry and Julie Cart
June 30, 2014
A California law barring therapy aimed at converting the sexual orientation of minors from gay to straight withstood a legal challenge as the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal arguing that the statute violates free speech rights.
Michael Muskal
June 30, 2014
The poll, released Monday, had good news and bad news for the high court, a unique institution that serves as a check and balance in the United States. People have more confidence in the court than in any other arm of government, but that may not be saying that much when confidence in the presidency stands at 29% and in the Congress at 7%.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jul. 1, 2014 – 12:00 am
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jul. 1, 2014 – 12:15 am
Eighty years ago, California voters tightened up the state’s weak civil-service system to counter the corrupt practice of politicians padding public payrolls with family members, friends and political supporters.
However, the Legislature was exempted from the ballot measure’s provisions.
WASHINGTON — Jun 30, 2014, 10:08 AM ET
By SAM HANANEL
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court dealt a blow to public sector unions Monday, ruling that thousands of home health care workers in Illinois cannot be required to pay fees that help cover a union’s costs of collective bargaining.
By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jun. 30, 2014 – 10:49 pm
Last Modified: Tuesday, Jul. 1, 2014 – 7:39 am
The U.S. Supreme Court chipped away at government-employee union power on Monday by ruling that Illinois home-support workers paid with public money can reject union membership.
Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
June 30, 2014
Thanks to high birth and immigration rates over the last several decades, California has one of the nation’s lowest proportions of over-65 residents – but it also has one of its higher elderly growth rates, a new Census Bureau report reveals.
BY KEEGAN KYLE / STAFF WRITER
Published: June 28, 2014 Updated: June 30, 2014 10:58 a.m.
California’s system for tracking deadly police shootings is plagued by confusion and inadequate oversight, further clouding public knowledge of an officer’s greatest power.
Monday, June 30, 2014 – 09:45 a.m.
The United States Supreme Court has fired a shot across the bow of labor unions, who collect mandatory dues under agency shop agreements.
Jun 30, 11:30 AM EDT
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that some corporations can hold religious objections that allow them to opt out of the new health law requirement that they cover contraceptives for women.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jun. 30, 2014 – 12:00 am
When the Legislature and then-Gov. Pete Wilson agreed in 1997 that the state would assume the entire cost of financing California’s largest-in-the-nation court system, judges rejoiced.
By Ed Mendel
Monday, June 30, 2014
An initiative that would phase out Ventura County employee pensions is headed for a court test, challenged by a union lawsuit contending the change requires state legislation.
By Ryan Hagen, The Sun
Posted: 06/28/14, 11:04 PM PDT | Updated: 1 min ago
SAN BERNARDINO >> The fire union continues to accuse the city of keeping $75 million “hidden in misleading or unmarked investment accounts” despite city officials’ position that the money was openly posted and legally can’t be used to prevent cuts to public services like the Fire Department.
By Joe Nelson, The Sun
Posted: 06/28/14, 1:45 PM PDT |
The San Bernardino County civil Grand Jury will release its annual report on Tuesday.
The report will be released at noon, following a 10 a.m. ceremony in the Board of Supervisors Chambers dismissing the 2013-2014 grand jury and appointing members for the 2014-2015 panel, said Melonee Vartanian, assistant to the Grand Jury.
By Laurel Rosenhall
lrosenhall@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Jun. 29, 2014 – 12:00 am
The anonymous letter sent to multiple California state senators last month ended with a sharp question: “Why is it that the Senate is not listing open positions, for other staff to apply for?”
By PAUL ELIAS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 28, 2014, 10:57 AM
SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court will decide if private emails and other electronic communications of government officials are public records open for inspection.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Jun. 29, 2014 – 12:00 am
Who sees to it that California’s 6 million K-12 students receive solid educations?
Who ensures that California has an adequate supply of reasonably priced electric power?
Chris Megerian
June 28, 2014
When fifth-grade teacher Maggie Ellis receives her next paycheck at the end of the month, it will be a bit lighter. That’s because she’ll be contributing more money to the teacher pension fund, a small part of a sweeping, long-term plan to repair one of the state’s most difficult financial problems.
Chad Terhune
June 28, 2014
Frustration and legal challenges over the network of doctors and hospitals for Obamacare patients have marred an otherwise successful rollout of the federal healthcare law in California.
By Helen Shen
Kaiser Health News
Posted: 06/28/2014 12:20:48 PM PDT
Updated: 06/28/2014 08:23:26 PM PDT
A mountainous backlog of Medi-Cal applications is well into its third month, but California officials have provided little information about how and when the largest such bottleneck in the nation might be cleared.
IE Business Daily
June 28, 2014
Walt Disney had an irrepressible imagination that led him to dream big, create his own animation studio, and ultimately design and build the world’s preeminent theme park’s. Long after his passing, his vision continues to entertain billions of people, young and old. Even Michael Eisner’s leadership could not long stifle the Disney tradition.
Saturday, June 28, 2014 – 11:00 a.m.
Here’s an update of recent publicly-available federal lawsuit filings against San Bernardino County.
By Leslie Parrilla, San Bernardino Sun
Posted: 06/27/14, 12:00 PM PDT |
COLTON >> The City Council wants answers.
Council members want an update on the status of City Manager Stephen Compton at Tuesday’s regular City Council meeting.
By Steve Scauzillo, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Posted: 06/27/14, 12:49 PM PDT |
Not too long ago in this season of California’s massive and extended drought, climate experts saw a small glimmer of hope on the horizon: Predictions for a wet El Niño season coming in the winter that would bring badly needed rain and relief to a parched state.
Now that glimmer is fading fast and the drought has gotten even worse.