1/18/2018 Amazon Narrows Choices for Second Headquarters to 20 - WSJ https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-narrows-choices-for-second-headquarters-to-20-1516284607 1/3 Amazon . com Inc. on Thursday announced a short list of 20 metropolitan areas for its planned second headquarters, kicking off an intense final selection in the contest for the tech giant’s investment and jobs. The finalists, chosen from among 238 places that applied in October, included New York, Boston and Chicago, all big cities with convenient access to airports, robust tech talent and sufficient mass transportation. Some surprise candidates included Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis. Amazon says it expects to create as many as 50,000 jobs paying an average of $100,000 or more and generate more than $5 billion in investments over nearly two decades. The company also expects to build or acquire 500,000-plus square feet of office space to open the first phase of its project as soon as next year, according to its request for proposals. Amazon said Thursday it expects to make a location decision in 2018. The promise of those benefits has triggered a bidding war among applicants, in what economic- development experts have said is one of the most public and broadest contests to woo corporate investments in decades. Cities and regions across North America have offered big incentives and quirky proposals to try to attract the online retail giant. The race puts Amazon in the position of kingmaker for cities across North America at a time when its business is booming. But the choice to split headquarters also comes as technology giants face more concerns about their increasing dominance in certain industries. DOW JONES, A NEWS CORP COMPANY DJIA ▼ 26028.87 -0.33% S&P 500 ▼ 2797.49 -0.18% Nasdaq ▼ 7293.69 -0.06% U.S. 10 Yr ▼ -3`32 Yield 2.599% Crude Oil ▲ 63.98 0.02% This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit http://www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-narrows-choices-for-second-headquarters-to-20-1516284607 TECH Amazon Narrows Choices for Second Headquarters to 20 Tech giant expects to create as many as 50,000 jobs and generate more than $5 billion in investments Amazon says it expects to create as many as 50,000 jobs paying an average of $100,000 or more and generate more than $5 billion in investments over nearly two decades. PHOTO: MIKE SEGAR`REUTERS Updated Jan. 18, 2018 942 a.m. ET By Laura Stevens AMZN +0.41% ▲ READ MORE List of Cities Amazon is Considering for Its Second Headquarters To Woo Amazon, Cities Tackle Everything From Traffic to Housing
Transcript
1/18/2018 Amazon Narrows Choices for Second Headquarters to 20 - WSJ
Amazon . com Inc. on Thursday announced a short list of 20 metropolitan areasfor its planned second headquarters, kicking off an intense final selection in the contest for thetech giant’s investment and jobs.
The finalists, chosen from among 238 places that applied in October, included New York, Bostonand Chicago, all big cities with convenient access to airports, robust tech talent and sufficientmass transportation.
Some surprise candidates includedColumbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis.
Amazon says it expects to create asmany as 50,000 jobs paying anaverage of $100,000 or more and
generate more than $5 billion in investments over nearly two decades.
The company also expects to build or acquire 500,000-plus square feet of office space to openthe first phase of its project as soon as next year, according to its request for proposals. Amazonsaid Thursday it expects to make a location decision in 2018.
The promise of those benefits has triggered a bidding war among applicants, in what economic-development experts have said is one of the most public and broadest contests to woocorporate investments in decades. Cities and regions across North America have offered bigincentives and quirky proposals to try to attract the online retail giant.
The race puts Amazon in the position of kingmaker for cities across North America at a timewhen its business is booming. But the choice to split headquarters also comes as technologygiants face more concerns about their increasing dominance in certain industries.
This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visithttp://www.djreprints.com.
Amazon Narrows Choices for SecondHeadquarters to 20Tech giant expects to create as many as 50,000 jobs and generate more than $5 billion in investments
Amazon says it expects to create as many as 50,000 jobs paying an average of $100,000 or more and generate more than $5billion in investments over nearly two decades. PHOTO: MIKE SEGAR REUTERS
Updated Jan. 18, 2018 9 42 a.m. ET
By Laura Stevens
AMZN +0.41% ▲
READ MORE
List of Cities Amazon is Considering for Its Second Headquarters
To Woo Amazon, Cities Tackle Everything From Traffic to Housing
1/18/2018 Amazon Narrows Choices for Second Headquarters to 20 - WSJ
President Donald Trump has called out Amazon on Twitter over issues including statetaxes and shipping with the U.S. Postal Service.
Meanwhile, Amazon founder and Chief Executive Jeff Bezos has recently stepped up hispolitical game, last week donating $33 million to scholarships for undocumented immigranthigh-school graduates.
Mr. Bezos also became one of the first tech chief executives to join legal action opposing Mr.Trump’s travel-ban order last year.
Those moves have prompted some site-selection experts to speculate Mr. Bezos may choose alocation where an influx of workers could help promote political change. Indeed, a flood of high-paid tech workers and their families could bring significant changes to even major metro areas,potentially pushing up wages and housing prices, which has been the case in Amazon’s homemarket of Seattle in recent years.
Amazon said it will work with all of the candidates over the coming months to further evaluatethe locations.
“Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough—all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm andcreativity,” said Holly Sullivan, who has been running the process, in a statement. She addedthat the company has learned about new communities that it will also consider for futureinvestments.
The company’s in-house economic development team has been examining the proposals tocreate its short list since they flooded into Amazon’s current headquarters late last year.
At the top of the company’s criteria is finding enough tech talent to fill all the jobs, according topeople familiar with the matter.
Amazon’s team helped narrow the list using criteria including a metro area with more than onemillion people, a stable and business-friendly environment, a location where it can attract andkeep tech talent and communities that think big when it comes to locations and real estate,according to the request for proposals. They also factored in sustainability, fiber and cellconnectivity and cultural community fit.
A wild card in the selection process may be incentives, something that could help Amazonrecoup its hefty spending on the new site. Newark and its home state New Jersey, for example,had announced a potential $7 billion in tax incentives to draw the new campus. Most othercities declined to publicly disclose their offers, citing the competitive nature of the process.
Amazon has grown rapidly since its founding in 1994 in Mr. Bezos’s garage as an onlinebookseller. The company is now not only the largest online retailer, but also makes its owntablet and speaker devices, sells cloud-computing services, is building a significant contentdelivery network and, most recently, has become a grocery giant. Last year it bought chainWhole Foods, adding more than 470 brick-and-mortar stores to its retail empire overnight,helping boost its workforce to more than 540,000.
The growth has fueled Amazon’s revenue to record heights, reaching $43.7 billion in the thirdquarter, more than double the total three years earlier. During that period, the company’s stockroughly tripled, and on Wednesday closed at $1,295, near its all-time high.
Amazon has started to outgrow its current home of Seattle, where it employs more than 40,000and dominates a significant piece of the city’s downtown.
After the new location opens, Amazon has said executives will be allowed to decide whethertheir teams are is based in Seattle, the new city or both. Some management experts havequestioned the company’s plan, saying it could be difficult to maintain a strong culture whenspread across two headquarters.
Amazon still plans to grow in Seattle, too. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal late lastyear, retail chief Jeff Wilke said the company expected to add 2 million square feet and 6,000
1/18/2018 Amazon Narrows Choices for Second Headquarters to 20 - WSJ
people over 12 months. “But we think it’s important if we’re going to continue to grow, to makesure we have the space,” he added.
Small towns and counties from states including Texas and Maine and cities ranging fromAnchorage, Alaska, to Sacramento, Calif., applied for the new headquarters. Multiple places inCanada and Mexico applied, too.
Site-selection experts say that the last such public bidding process was likely in the 1980s,when General Motors prompted governors to take to TV in an attempt to woo a carmanufacturing plant.
Cities Amazon Is Considering for a Second HeadquartersAtlanta
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1/18/2018 Could historic Santa Fe Depot in Redlands be part of passenger train extension? County agency hopes so – San Bernardino Sun
By SANDRA EMERSON | [email protected] | Redlands Daily FactsJanuary 17, 2018 at 2:47 pm
The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority is working to move the downtownRedlands station adjacent to the historic Santa Fe Depot, which was purchased inSeptember by Property One, LLC.
LOCAL NEWS
Could historic Santa Fe Depot inRedlands be part of passengertrain extension? County agencyhopes so
1/18/2018 Could historic Santa Fe Depot in Redlands be part of passenger train extension? County agency hopes so – San Bernardino Sun
Martinez has an outstanding felony arrest warrant for an assault case in Kern
County.
Barstow police are investigating the incident. Anyone with information may call
Detective Sgt. Adam Cortinas at 760-255-5170. Anonymous can be submitted to the
WeTip hotline at 800-782-7463 or www.wetip.comm.
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High desertmanufacturingexpansion movesforward at SCLABy County of San Bernardino
8,500-acre multimodal freight transportation hub which includes a 2,500-acrecommercial and industrial complex...
wesson_gail Gail WessonGail Wesson has covered news for The Press-Enterprise for
decades, mostly in Riverside County, with occasional forays across the countyline. Datelines on her stories span the county – from the state agriculturalinspection station in Blythe, to the Circle in Corona, the Stringfellow Acid Pits inMira Loma, Temecula before there were traf c signals and to the highest pointin the county, Mount San Jacinto. Most of her time has been spent covering localgovernments or how county, state or federal government affects communities.Breaking news, from oods to wild land res and the consequences of disasters,watchdog reporting, criminal courts coverage and environmental explainers onwater rights/supply issues and why bald eagles and San Bernardino kangaroorats should be saved are icing on her news cake.
Follow Gail Wesson @PE_GailWesson
Tags: Top Stories Sun
1/18/2018 KCDZ 107.7 FM - SHERIFF’S CAPTAIN JEFF JOLING RETIRING, NEW SHERIFF COMING TO TOWN
« YUCCA VALLEY TOWN COUNCIL DIVVIES UP GRANTS; RODEO ASKSFOR OVER $50K
CALTRANS GETS EARFUL ABOUT MEDIANS IN 3 ½ HOUR MORONGOVALLEY CSD MEETING »
SSHERIFF’S CAPTAIN JEFF JOLING RETIRING, NEW SHERIFF COMING TO TOWNBy Z107.7 News, on January 17th, 2018
There is a new Sheriff coming to town. Sheriff John McMahon promoted Lieutenant Trevis Newport to the rank of captain January 11. Captain Newportwill take over as the commander of the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s station from Captain Jeff Joling on Saturday, January 20. Joling is retiring Friday,January 19, after 29 years of service with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Newport has been with the County Sheriff’s Departmentfor 18 years, including three tours of duty with the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s station. Before his promotion, Newport worked as a deputy, corporal, anddetective at the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s station. He was the lead homicide detective who worked the Erin Corwin murder case. His last assignmentprior to being promoted to captain was with the Sheriff’s Bureau of Administration, where he was responsible for a $634 million operating budget.
SS H A R E T H I S :
January 17th, 2018 | Tags: morongo basin, morongo basin sheriff station, san bernardino county, san bernardino county sheriff's department | Category: Local News, Top Story
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1/17/2018 Allegations of improper spending and hiring practices by Rialto water board president not new – San Bernardino Sun
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“They’re trying to paint a world the way they see it and not how it is,” he said.
“They can talk all they want, but they have nothing, nothing to hang their hats
on.”
Joe NelsonJoe Nelson is an award-winning investigative reporter who has workedfor The Sun since November 1999. He started as a crime reporter andwent on to cover a variety of beats including courts and the cities of
Colton, Highland and Grand Terrace. He has covered San Bernardino Countysince 2009. Nelson is a graduate of California State University Fullerton. In 2014,he completed a fellowship at Loyola Law School's Journalist Law Schoolprogram.
Follow Joe Nelson @SBCountyNow
Tags: Top Stories Sun
1/18/2018 Apple Valley soft launches public safety app
By Matthew Cabe Staff Writer Posted Jan 17, 2018 at 5:30 PMUpdated Jan 17, 2018 at 5:30 PM
APPLE VALLEY — If the future is a place in which citizens connect to lawenforcement with the touch of a button, then it might already be here.
Apple Valley Watch, a public safety app that allows users to “Report a Problem” fromtheir smartphones, was soft launched by the town earlier this month. It’s the brainchildof Town Council member Barb Stanton, who called the app an attempt to usher publicsafety “into the 21st century.”
“The idea here is to give us a tool to make our lives a little bit safer and a little biteasier,” Stanton told the public during the Jan. 9 Town Council meeting.
Available for download on iPhone and Android mobile devices, Apple Valley Watch’smain feature allows users the option to photograph or video an incident, providereport details and select the report type from a 14-option list that includes suspiciousactivity and vandalism.
The incident’s location is also selectable from a list of mostly public spaces such asTown Hall, the chamber of commerce or the golf course.
Users can choose to remain anonymous before a report is sent. Town and SanBernardino County Sheriff’s Apple Valley Station staff monitor the app and statusupdates are sent once available, according to town documents.
A second feature allows users to call the local 911 dispatch center, but Apple ValleySheriff’s Station Capt. Frank Bell cautioned that the app should be seen only as a toolfor non-emergency situations because — at least from the law enforcement side — itwill not be constantly monitored.
“We just don’t have the resources, although I wish we could,” Bell said. “We had hopedthat it would be something dispatch could monitor, but all the stations up here — andstations from the Nevada and Arizona borders all the way to the Barstow Sheriff’sStation — are dispatched out of the center in Hesperia. Needless to say, they don’t havethe ability to monitor the app.”
Apple Valley soft launches public safety app
1/18/2018 Apple Valley soft launches public safety app
Bell said the plan is to have between three and five officials monitoring the app duringnormal business hours, including a watch commander, which the station has on duty atall times.
“So it’s not intended for somebody that’s witnessing an in-progress crime,” Bell said.“This app is the wrong place to do that. It’s for folks in Apple Valley to communicatewith us in a little different fashion when it comes to vandalism, graffiti at the parks orrepeated traffic issues in their neighborhoods. It’s a non-emergency format. If you needa deputy to come out and take a report, this app is not the way to go. Call the businessline (at 760-240-7400).”
Still, Bell said he liked Apple Valley Watch as “another way for the public to keep intouch with us.” He said only one incident had been reported — for illegal dumping —since the soft launch, but he viewed the app as part of “the next generation of dispatch.”
“We already have text to 911, not through this app, but dispatch centers had to quicklyadapt to and be able to accept that type of information in that fashion,” he said. “Ifeverybody likes it, other cities may get apps and all these people will want someonemonitoring this stuff on a regular basis. So the future is going to be a different dispatchcenter than what we had 20 years ago.”
And for Stanton, that’s the goal. She said she envisions similar apps catching on asother communities “see the value.”
“To a town, to save one life or stop something, it’s priceless,” Stanton told the DailyPress. “Every community can afford this. A year from now there will be manycommunities who will be logging on.”
Speaking of cost, the town entered into a contract with ELERTS Corporation fordevelopment, which Assistant Town Manager Nikki Salas said cost $10,000. A servicesubscription comes with an annual $8,915 price tag.
The idea for the app originated with Victor Valley Transit Authority’s (VVTA) SafeHaven program, which morphed into VVTA Watch, another app spearheaded byStanton that launched last July. She said she thought “about our neighborhoods”
while looking into providing a similar experience for residents.
“I believe this app may be something that sets Apple Valley apart in keeping peoplesafer,” she said. “There’s not another city or town in this state that have this type of app.They have similar apps, but nothing that allows you to report incidents directly.”
1/18/2018 Apple Valley soft launches public safety app
Stanton first mentioned the app publicly during Apple Valley’s State of the Townevent last August. Salas said town staff began working with ELERTS 6 in September
after a contract was signed by then interim Town Manager Lori Lamson.
“It took approximately two months from the initial meeting to begin beta testing onAndroid and iPhone platforms,” Salas said by email. “The town will look to evolve theapp to add reporting of code enforcement, animal control, and streets issues withfuture upgrades.”
Bell said he hopes later iterations will include a non-emergency call component inaddition to the 911 feature. Stanton, meanwhile, appears to be taking the all-in-due-time approach as she notes the possibilities going forward and preps for an officiallaunch.
“We kind of left it open-ended for a couple weeks just to roll this out and make sureeveryone is aware,” she said. “We haven’t set a real date yet.”
Matthew Cabe can be reached at [email protected] or at 760-951-6254. Follow him on
Twitter @DP_MatthewCabe.
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1/18/2018 Officials seek help in solving Sunday night murder in Apple Valley
By Staff ReportsPosted Jan 17, 2018 at 12:54 PMUpdated Jan 17, 2018 at 12:55 PM
Man found with fatal gunshot wounds after late night party;no suspects or arrests yet
APPLE VALLEY — Authorities have turned to the public for help in identifying thesuspects responsible for a homicide here late Sunday.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department officials released more details on a deathinvestigation at a home in the 20800 block of Teton Road, which began early Mondaymorning and continued overnight into Tuesday.
Officials were initially tight-lipped on details, only stating a deceased man was foundinside the home after receiving a call of a man down at 7:45 a.m. Monday. According toscanner traffic, a woman reported that her brother had been shot the night before.
In a Wednesday statement, officials confirmed the man was found suffering from fatalgunshot wounds. The identity of the man is being withheld pending positiveidentification and notification of next of kin.
According to neighbors, there was a loud party at the residence over the weekend.Officials also confirmed that detail, stating the party occurred Sunday night with“several persons in attendance.”
“Investigators are asking anyone that attended the party to contact HomicideInvestigators, the Apple Valley [Sheriff’s Station] or the We-Tip [Hotline], as theirstatements could be critical in identifying the suspects,” officials said.
No suspects have been identified or arrested as of Wednesday.
The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is urged to contactDetective Michael Warrick at 909-387-3589 or the Apple Valley Sheriff’s Station at760-240-7400. Persons wishing to remain anonymous can contact the We-Tip Hotlineat 1-800-782-7463 or online at www.wetip.com.
O cials seek help in solving Sunday night murderin Apple Valley
1/18/2018 Shooter sought after dead body found in Apple Valley home the morning after a party – Press Enterprise
By Kevin Trudgeon City EditorPosted Jan 17, 2018 at 11:03 AMUpdated Jan 17, 2018 at 11:03 AM
Authorities discovered a pair of marijuana grows with hundreds of plants and severalpounds of processed cannabis at a commercial building in Apple Valley and a residencein Hesperia.
The first grow was found at a building in the 14000 block of Pioneer Road atapproximately 5:55 p.m. Tuesday after Apple Valley Code Enforcement officialsdiscovered it while performing an inspection of the property.
Members of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s Marijuana EnforcementTeam (MET) were requested to assist in the investigation and found over 90 plantsgrowing inside one unit and more than 250 plants inside a second, according toauthorities.
“Faulty electrical wiring was found throughout both units,” sheriff’s officials stated.“Unpermitted structure modifications to both units were documented by the CodeEnforcement personnel.
“Code Enforcement personnel will assist in the notifications to the property owners tomake them aware of the violations occurring on their property.”
No arrests were made, but the investigation is ongoing and reports will be sent to theDistrict Attorney’s Office for review of criminal charges, including cultivation ofcannabis over six plants.
Early Wednesday morning, Hesperia Sheriff’s Station deputies responded to a structurefire at a residence in the 14200 block of Desert Rose Street.
According to authorities, San Bernardino County Fire Department personnel hadentered the residence after extinguishing the fire to check the structure for occupantsand found “several hundred marijuana plants growing inside the residence.”
Property inspection, structure re uncover illegalpot grows in Apple Valley and Hesperia
1/18/2018 Property inspection, structure fire uncover illegal pot grows in Apple Valley and Hesperia
“Investigators found a large-scale indoor grow inside the house,” sheriff’s officialsstated. “Over 1,400 marijuana plants and several pounds of processed marijuana wasseized from the residence.
“The grow operation used advanced lighting, air conditioning, fans, exhaust blowersand an air-filtering system to control the climate inside the house, as well as the odorcoming from the residence. The suspects were stealing electrical power to facilitate thegrow operation.”
No arrests were made, but authorities said the suspects will face criminal charges ofarson, vandalism, utility theft and cultivation of cannabis over six plants.
The investigation into both incidents is ongoing and anyone with information is urgedto contact the Sheriff’s Gangs/Narcotics Division at 909-387-8400. Callers wishing toremain anonymous may call the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-782-7463 or visitwww.wetip.com.
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1/18/2018 Marijuana grow in commercial building raided in Apple Valley – Press Enterprise
By GAIL WESSON | [email protected] | The Press-EnterpriseJanuary 17, 2018 at 9:22 pm
Town of Apple Valley code enforcement and a sheriff’s marijuana enforcement teamserved a warrant at a commercial building Tuesday, Jan. 16, for illegal cultivation ofmarijuana in the 14000 block of Pioneer Road in Apple Valley. (Photo courtesy of SanBernardino County Sheriff’s Department)
NEWSCRIME
Marijuana grow in commercialbuilding raided in Apple Valley
1/18/2018 Marijuana grow in commercial building raided in Apple Valley – Press Enterprise
Apple Valley code enforcement of cers and San Bernardino County Sheriff’s
deputies discovered an indoor marijuana cultivation in a commercial building in
the 14000 block of Pioneer Ave. on Tuesday evening, Jan. 16, according to a
sheriff’s news release.
They seized more than 340 marijuana plants in the search just before 6 p.m.
The town’s code enforcement of cer went to the commercial complex for a
property inspection and once grow activity was con rmed, the sheriff’s
marijuana enforcement team was called, according to the news release.
Deputies obtained a search warrant. Two units of the complex had faulty
electrical wiring and unpermitted structural modi cations. Property owners will
be noti ed of the violations. Apple Valley prohibits commercial cannabis activity.
The case will be referred to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Of ce
for review of possible criminal charges.
Anyone with information about the investigation may call the sheriff’s
gangs/narcotics division at 909-387-8400. Tipsters wishing to remain anonymous
may call the WeTip hotline at 800-782-7463, or submit information online at
www.wetip.com
Staff mugof metroreporterpGailWesson.
Gail WessonGail Wesson has covered news for The Press-Enterprise fordecades, mostly in Riverside County, with occasional foraysacross the county line. Datelines on her stories span the county –from the state agricultural inspection station in Blythe, to the
Circle in Corona, the Stringfellow Acid Pits in Mira Loma, Temecula beforethere were traf c signals and to the highest point in the county, Mount SanJacinto. Most of her time has been spent covering local governments or howcounty, state or federal government affects communities. Breaking news, from
oods to wild land res and the consequences of disasters, watchdog reporting,criminal courts coverage and environmental explainers on water rights/supplyissues and why bald eagles and San Bernardino kangaroo rats should be savedare icing on her news cake.
Follow Gail Wesson @PE_GailWesson
Tags: marijuanaa, Top Stories Sun
1/18/2018 Likely ready in 6-8 months, blueprint will set downtown Victorville's course for next few decades
By Shea Johnson Staff Writer Posted Jan 17, 2018 at 4:40 PMUpdated Jan 17, 2018 at 4:41 PM
VICTORVILLE — The blueprint for the growth of downtown Victorville will likely be ready in six to eight months to beconsidered in front of city policymakers, but officials also promise plenty of opportunities for stakeholder input betweenthen and now.
The Old Town Specific Plan has been undergoing its first comprehensive revision in more than two decades, an exercise inrenaissance that was launched, in part, by the tireless efforts of community-based activists, including the coalition ReviveOur Old Town (R.O.O.T).
No one has doubted that the categorical turnaround of one of the city’s most vulnerable pockets will be an uphill climb, butthere also has been no shortage of a willingness to try, evident by the congregation of proponents who packed the CityCouncil meeting Tuesday night.
Julia Currier said she and other residents were passionate about the endeavor and urged city leaders to wholly champion adowntown expansion.
“To me and a lot of my friends who are here today, it’s really important to us to see downtown be revived,” Currier said.“We think that it’s something that is really unique and special to our heritage, and history of the High Desert, and it wouldreally be a big shame to see it go.”
The specific plan, which hasn’t been updated since 1995, is central to the process. It will map out growth for downtown forthe next 20 to 30 years, acting as the regulatory document that serves as the zoning ordinance for the properties within itsboundary, city officials said.
It will be a “tool for revitalization,” they added, “presenting an opportunity to transform this district back into a unique,vibrant focal point for the region that reflects its historic character located along Route 66,” while promoting higher-density, mixed-use development in hopes of drawing private sector investment and new housing.
So far, the city’s Planning Commission has held two public workshops on the matter. A third is planned for 5 p.m., Feb. 7in the lobby of the Victor Valley Transportation Center, 16838 D St., that will focus on traffic circulation changes, officialssaid.
For years, downtown has been hamstrung by public safety issues, shuttered businesses, homelessness and the dissolution ofredevelopment funds. And last summer, the Daily Press reported that all inmates without other options were beingreleased from the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto to the transportation depot on D Street, although
officials have said they were seeking to re-work the distribution plan.
Old Town’s suffering has also been attributed by officials to the traffic diversion caused by the development of Interstate 15and the resulting loss of downtown identity dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.
Proponents for its revitalization believe, however, they best understand what the neighborhood must now become: Adiverse cultural epicenter that embraces its own history, while offering an alternative to the cookie-cutter storefronts thatblanket the spaces adjacent to I-15 near Bear Valley Road.
“The mall and Restaurant Row — that’s not a community hub,” a 23-year-old woman told the Council. “That makes money,that brings tourists, that brings revenue, but that doesn’t bring, like, a culture, doesn’t give us anything to do besides eatand go shop.”
Likely ready in 6-8 months, blueprint will set downtown Victorville’scourse for next few decades
1/18/2018 Likely ready in 6-8 months, blueprint will set downtown Victorville's course for next few decades
She qualified that those sort of economic drivers were welcomed and needed, but added the city must strike a balancebetween that and cultural character. For Old Town, she suggested photo studios, music shops, utility of the existing theaterand affordable housing.
Business owner Richard Mettias also suggested the city’s regulations were too overbearing for employers in Old Town.
“It’s not easy to open up businesses in downtown Victorville,” Mettias said. “We should be supporting, giving out grants,helping people open up businesses even if they’re going to fail, even if there is a few more businesses, I think there shouldbe freedom of competing and failing ...”
At the request of Councilwoman Blanca Gomez, city staff presented a report to the dais detailing progress made overthe past year on several fronts in the neighborhood.
That progress, according to the report, included notifying residents andbusiness owners about property-improvement funding sources; budgetingfunds to retrofit the Seventh Street archway sign; performing streetmaintenance, graffiti removal and weed abatement at several locations;investigating 705 code enforcement cases; and conducting a series ofcommunity services tasks.
City planners have also been meeting with community members and schooladministrators, officials said, to explore establishing a collaborative pre-K-14 grade school at the former University Prep campus on the southeastcorner of Forrest Avenue and Seventh Street.
Cliff Nagy, a teacher who grew up in Old Town, said he sought to build a children’s museum at the location and reiteratedthat the neighborhood ultimately should leverage a quite specific, distinct advantage: Its famous thoroughfare.
“We need to revive Old Town Victorville and preserve what we have of Route 66,” Nagy told the Council, adding thatother cities have torn up their portion to replace it with strip malls and more. “We are one of those rare towns in SouthernCalifornia that have a great amount of latitude as far as road that actually represents Route 66.”
Shea Johnson can be reached at 760-955-5368 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DP_Shea.
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1/18/2018 Hesperia City Council approves cannabis fine schedule that runs as high as $10k
By Rene Ray De La Cruz Staff Writer Posted Jan 17, 2018 at 12:45 PMUpdated Jan 17, 2018 at 5:27 PM
VICTORVILLE — With Mayor Russ Blewett absent, the City Council adopted aresolution and regulation concerning cannabis activities within the city.
The Council adopted the resolution by a 3-1 vote that amends the city bail schedule asit relates to commercial and personal cannabis activities.
Councilman Larry Bird cast the sole dissenting vote on the 11 cannabis-related sectionsthat were recently introduced to the city’s Administrative Fine Schedule.
The highest fines in the schedule pertain to cannabis owners who don’t possess adelivery permit renewal, with a $10,000 fee for the first, second and third violations.
Fines for violating each of the following 10 sections are $200, $500 and $1,000 for thefirst, second and third offenses, respectively:
Delivery permit renewal Dispensary permit conditions Application for delivery dispensary permit Obligations of delivery dispensary Hours of operation Regulations Security Odor control
Hesperia City Council approves cannabis neschedule that runs as high as $10k
1/18/2018 Hesperia City Council approves cannabis fine schedule that runs as high as $10k
During public comment, former Council candidate Anthony Rhoades suggested thecity create a “roadmap to success” for new cannabis owners moving into the city’snewly established green zone.
After Mayor Pro Tem Bill Holland asked how staff created the fee structure, AnalystTina Bulgarelli said fines were based on industry economics, adding that, “We knowthese businesses can absorb a $500” or even a $1,500 fine on a daily basis.
Bulgarelli said the city has two cannabis business owners going through the permittingprocess.
After mentioning Attorney General Jeff Session’s recent decision to rescind guidelinesfor federal regulation of state marijuana laws, Bird asked the hypothetical question —What if the city followed the federal government and “prohibited delivery” fromdispensaries coming into Hesperia?
City attorney Eric Dunn answered Bird by saying Hesperia could not enforce the banon outside deliveries, but could only report it. He also added the city could be open tolitigation if it decided to prohibit deliveries after state law approval.
Holland said he “applauds” the direction the city has taken to regulate the “wild, wildwest” of cannabis activity and for the business owners who follow the rules.
The Council also approved an amended ordinance that allows and regulatescommercial cannabis activities. The ordinance was passed 3-1, with Bird casting thesole dissenting vote.
The ordinance limits the state license to M-Type 9 for non-storefront retailers andlimited to delivery services only. All other commercial cannabis activities areprohibited within the city.
Hesperia’s website includes a full page of “Cannabis Regulations” and instructsapplicants to review the medical cannabis zoning map. The site also includes access toland use and business regulations, a medical cannabis delivery business checklist,delivery business permit application, business license application and certificate ofoccupancy application, and letter of intent.
1/18/2018 Hesperia City Council approves cannabis fine schedule that runs as high as $10k
PUBLISHED: January 17, 2018 at 8:57 am | UPDATED: : January 17, 2018 at 5:20 pm
Two Clement Middle School sisters waiting for a school bus were struck by a vehicle and then pinned underneath it in Mentone on Wednesday
morning, according to San Bernardino County Fire of cials.
“I was standing right next to the girls that were hit,” said a teary Estefany Rodriguez, who narrowly escaped being struck by a white Chevrolet
sedan. “They’re my friends.”
The sisters, 12 and 13 years old, were hit in the 1800 block of Capri Avenue in Mentone just after 8 a.m., said Eric Sherwin, spokesman for the
county re department.
The male driver of the Chevrolet ran off and was still being sought, said California Highway Patrol Of cer Raul Arriaga. A description of the
driver was not immediately available.
Estefany’s mother, Irma Gomez, comforted her daughter as she called the mother of the two injured girls.
“They’re going to be OK but I can’t believe this guy,” Gomez said. “How do you leave two little girls on the ground pinned under your car and just
run away?”
Davina Combs said a vehicle speeding south on Turquoise ran the stop sign, striking a white Ford driven by a woman with her daughter.9:20 AM - Jan 17, 2018
1 2
Beatriz Valenzuela@BeatrizVNews
LOCAL NEWS
2 sisters waiting for school bus pinned under vehicle thatgwas speeding in Mentone
2 girls waiting for school bus struck after stolen car crashesSCNG
00:00000:42
1/18/2018 2 sisters waiting for school bus pinned under vehicle that was speeding in Mentone – Redlands Daily Facts
Arriaga said the incident began when the unidenti ed driver was speeding south on Turquoise Avenue and blew a stop sign at Capri Avenue,
striking a westbound white Ford sedan, he said.
The impact of the collision sent both vehicles into the southwest corner of Turquoise and Capri, where close to 15 Clement students were
waiting for a school bus.
The sisters were hit and their legs ended up pinned under the Chevrolet. Authorities say they are expected to survive their injuries.
The woman and girl in the Ford were also taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, CHP of cials said.
Estefany Rodriguez, 12, said was standing next to the sisters when the crash took place.
"I was so scared," she said. The driver ran, she said
"He just left the girls stuck right there."9:18 AM - Jan 17, 2018
1 1
Beatriz Valenzuela@BeatrizVNews
A number of children were waiting here, at the corner of Capri and Turquoise Avenues in Mentone when two cars collided. At least two children were taken to local hospitals.9:12 AM - Jan 17, 2018 · Mentone, CA
6 4
Rick Sforza@RickSforza
Davina Combs was outside smoking when she heard the initial impact then saw the injured sisters.
One girl was pinned up against the buckling block wall, she said, and the other was on the ground with the vehicle sitting on her legs.
According to Combs, the driver of the Chevrolet was often at a home north of the intersection and she said she often saw him speed down the
road and would run the stop sign.
“He’s always doing that,” Combs said as she watched the investigators gather evidence. “I hope they get him. He’s always doing this. This is a real
shame. I’m glad the girls will be OK.”
Adds Christopher Brooks, whose daughter, Summer Brooks, 12, was grazed by the Chevrolet: “By the grace of God those girls are alive.”
Brooks’ daughter, along with the students who were not injured or picked up by their parents, was bused to school, where school of cials say
counselors are being made available to them.
Brooks said he learned of the crash because his daughter – who has seizures – routinely texts him as soon as she gets to school.
1/18/2018 2 sisters waiting for school bus pinned under vehicle that was speeding in Mentone – Redlands Daily Facts
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community.Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials thatare unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwiseobjectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. Wemight permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
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“I was waiting for her text and nothing,” he said soon after he spoke to CHP investigators. “I texted her and got nothing. I called and nothing, so I
started to panic and drove here.”
Brooks arrived to the horrifying sight of emergency vehicle at the corner where Summer and her friends wait for the bus.
“I was so scared it was her,” the Mentone father said. “I ran up and I saw the two little girls pinned. They’re Summer’s friends.”
Soon after, he learned Summer dropped her phone at the crash scene and was taken to school, where school of cials told him she was safe but
needed a change of clothes.
Staff writer Beau Yarbrough contributed to this story.
Please check back later as further information is made available.
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beatriz-valenzuela Beatriz E. Valenzuela
Beatriz E. Valenzuela is an award-winning journalist who’s covered breaking news in Southern California since 2006 and hasbeen on the front lines of several national and international news events. She’s worked for media outlets serving Southern Californiareaders covering education, local government, entertainment and all things nerd including comic book culture and video games. She’s anamateur obstacle course racer, constant fact-checker, mother of three and lover of all things adorable.
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1/18/2018 2 suspects arrested in killing of Redlands man; third suspect at large, police say – Press Enterprise
By BRIAN ROKOS | [email protected] | The Press-EnterpriseJanuary 17, 2018 at 6:13 pm
David Alex Gonzales and Jasmine Gonzalez, both 18, of Redlands, were arrested onsuspicion of murder and conspiracy in the Jan. 14, 2018 shooting death of SantosBonilla, 47. (Courtesy of City of Redlands)
David Alex Gonzales and Jasmine Gonzalez, both 18, arranged a meeting among
themselves, 47-year-old Santos Bonilla and a fourth person at Sylvan Park on
Sunday, Jan. 144, Redlands police allege.
NEWSCRIME
2 suspects arrested in killing ofRedlands man; third suspect atlarge, police say
1/18/2018 2 suspects arrested in killing of Redlands man; third suspect at large, police say – Press Enterprise
Bonilla, of Redlands, was shot several times at the meeting and later died.
Now, Redlands residents Gonzales and Gonzalez are in jail, accused of murder
and conspiracy. Gonzales was arrested at 10:15 p.m. Tuesday and Gonzalez was
arrested at 2:08 a.m. Wednesday in the 1200 block of West Park Avenue in
Redlands, according to San Bernardino County jail records.
Gonzales is being held without bail; Gonzalez is jailed in lieu of $1 million bail.
Police are searching for a fourth person at the meeting, who is considered a
suspect. Police on Wednesday declined to provide an identity or description of
that person, city spokesman Carl Baker said.
A er the shooting, Gonzalez drove Bonilla to Redlands Community Hospital and
le before police arrived, a news release said. Bonilla was transferred to Loma
Linda University Medical Center, where he died.
Police would not provide additional information Wednesday, including the
relationship between the 18-year-olds, if a motive has been established, how they
knew Bonilla and what they believe the pretense was for the alleged meeting.
Police ask that anyone with information on the case call 909-798-7681.
BRIAN_ROKOSOSBrian RokosOSBrian Rokos writes about public safety issues such as policing,
criminal justice, scams, how law affects public safety, re ghting tactics andwildland re danger. He has also covered the cities of San Bernardino, Corona,Norco, Lake Elsinore, Perris, Canyon Lake and Hemet. Before that hesupervised reporters and worked as a copy editor. For some reason, he enjoysmovies where the Earth is threatened with extinction.
Follow Brian Rokos @Brian_Rokos
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pTop Stories Sun
1/18/2018 ROTWNEWS.com – Big Bear Sheriff Locate and Arrest Attempted Murder Suspect
Big Bear Sheriff Locate and Arrest AttemptedMurder Suspectin Community News, Crime, For Your Information, Informational, Mountain Region, News, Subject, Ticker / byMichael P. Neufeld / on January 18, 2018 at 5:01 am /
By G. T. Houts
Big Bear Lake, CA – On January 13, 2018, shortly before 10:00 a.m., deputies of the Big Bear Sheriff’s Stationresponded to a call of suspicious circumstances in the 39000 Block of Lakeview Drive in Big bear Lake. Uponarrival, deputies encountered a vehicle that had collided with a tree. Through investigation, the driver of thevehicle was determined to be 41-year old Raymond Moomey, a resident of Yucca Valley.
The investigation revealed that Moomey and the victim, an unidentified 44- year-old adult female, were in analtercation when the vehicle crashed. It appeared that Moomey intentionally drove the vehicle into the tree.Immediately following the collision, Moomey fled the scene on foot.
Deputies attended to the victim, who was later transported by paramedics of Big Bear Fire to a local hospital fortreatment of minor injuries. A check of the area was conducted; however, Moomey was not located, and awarrant for his arrest was obtained.
On January 15,2018, Detectives of the Sheriff’s Department’s Specialized Enforcement Division locatedMoomey in Yucca Valley. Moomey was arrested without incident and booked on felony charges of attemptedmurder. Raymond Moomey remains in custody in lieu of $1,000,000 bail. Arraignment was January 17, 2018,in San Bernardino County Superior Court.
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1/18/2018 KCDZ 107.7 FM - YUCCA VALLEY TOWN COUNCIL DIVVIES UP GRANTS; RODEO ASKS FOR OVER $50K
« BLACK CAT LOST IN JOSHUA TREE SHERIFF’S CAPTAIN JEFF JOLING RETIRING, NEW SHERIFF COMINGTO TOWN »
YYUCCA VALLEY TOWN COUNCIL DIVVIES UP GRANTS; RODEO ASKS FOR OVER $50KBy Z107.7 News, on January 17th, 2018
The Yucca Valley Town Council authorized a donation last night of $1,000 to the Yucca Valley High School Select Choir to partially fund its $60,000trip to Washington, D.C. this spring, and agreed to provide matching funds for another $1,500 raised during a radiothon on Z107.7, set for February10. In addition, the council allocated $100,000 in grants to five organizations as part of the Measure Y quality of life partnership program. Managingeditor Tami Roleff was at last night’s meeting, and says that the Grubstake Days rodeo is threatened this year…
Yucca Valley’s Grubstake Days may not have a rodeo this year. Rodeo organizer Missy Buchanan applied to the town council for a grant of at least$52,000 from the Measure Y funds to produce the rodeo during Grubstake Days. Buchanan said she is working full-time this year and doesn’t havethe time to go out and solicit funds for the rodeo, and the deadline to have the funds is now. She told the council that if the rodeo doesn’t get funding,there will not be a rodeo for Grubstake Days. The rodeo was not one of the organizations selected to receive a grant from the Measure Y funds—thosewere the Boys and Girls Club ($15,000), Morongo Basin CERT ($10,000), Tri-Valley Little League ($50,000), Morongo Basin Haven ($12,000), and theBasin Wide Foundation ($13,000). However, the council asked that the issue of providing funds to the rodeo be brought back to the council’s nextmeeting.
In other business, the council learned that it will need to set aside a minimum of $340,000 each year to maintain the new roads that are being builtfor the sewer project.
The council voted unanimously to re-establish an ordinance concerning shopping carts. The town’s previous ordinance expired in 2012, and retailershave not been as vigilant in retrieving errant carts. The council also passed a resolution that would impose a $50 fee on businesses who had morethan five citations in a year for missing shopping carts.
SS H A R E T H I S :
January 17th, 2018 | Tags: basin wide foundation, morongo basin, morongo basin community emergency response team, morongo basin haven, san bernardino county, sewer project,tri-valley little league, yucca valley, yucca valley boys and girls club, yucca valley revenue measure oversight commission, yucca valley town council | Category: Featured, Local News,Top Story
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1/18/2018 Raising Cane’s gets ready to open first San Bernardino location on Thursday – Daily Bulletin
Guests at Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, order food during a preview of therestaurant at the new San Bernardino location, Tuesday, January 16, 2018. TheLouisiana-based restaurant Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers is set to open its first SanBernardino location on Thursday. (John Valenzuela/ The Sun/SCNG)
A quiet side street in San Bernardino is about to get a lot busier.
LOCAL NEWS
Raising Cane’s gets ready to openrst San Bernardino location on
Thursday
1/18/2018 Raising Cane’s gets ready to open first San Bernardino location on Thursday – Daily Bulletin
By RYAN HAGEN | [email protected] | The Press-EnterprisePUBLISHED: January 17, 2018 at 4:10 pm | UPDATED: January 17, 2018 at 11:55 pm
James Gursslin, of Fontana, donates blood at LifeStream in San Bernardino, CA.,Tuesday, January 16, 2018. The blood bank is in need of O Negative blood donations.Gursslin is a 100+ gallon donor. (Staff photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/TheSun/SCNG)
The Inland blood bank is calling on donors to step up.
LOCAL NEWS
Have O-negative blood? Inlandblood banks need your help
1/18/2018 Have O-negative blood? Inland blood banks need your help – San Bernardino Sun
LifeStream doesn’t have enough “universal donor” blood to meet the Inland
Empire’s needs.
A combination of lower-than-usual donations and higher-than-usual demand has
forced the blood bank to buy O-negative blood from other areas to meet local
hospitals’ needs, said Isaac Trujillo, manager of donor operations for LifeStream’s
Riverside center.
“People are getting the blood they need, but we’re having to purchase it,” Trujillo
said. “If someone donates now, they can save a life.”
O-negative blood can be given to people of any blood type, so ample supplies are
essential to Emergency Room and trauma teams. But there’s a national shortage,
LifeStream public relations specialist Don Escalante said.
James Gursslin, of Fontana, donates blood at LifeStream in San Bernardino, CA.,Tuesday, January 16, 2018. The blood bank is in need of O Negative bloody, y , gy y gdonations. Gursslin is a 100+ gallon donor. (Staff photo by Jennifer CappuccioMaher/The Sun/SCNG)
About 7 percent of the population is O-negative, but all types of blood are helpful,
Trujillo said.
Trujillo said he didn’t remember the last time stores were this low. October
typically has the fewest donations, but October 2017 saw a massive surge in the
wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas.
1/18/2018 Have O-negative blood? Inland blood banks need your help – San Bernardino Sun
The Monday a er the shooting saw more than 900 donations in the Inland area.
By contrast, Monday, Jan. 15, had 64, Trujillo said.
“I’ve been here 10 years, and I’ve noticed fewer people give over time,” Trujillo
said. “I don’t know why, but these past few weeks have been especially slow.”
The Riverside donation center was mostly empty Wednesday, Jan. 17, but
Riverside resident Pedro Garcia, 22, said he was happy to donate as o en as
possible — every other month, for him.
“When I was 14 I was in a car accident and I had to get a lot of blood,” he said.
“Now it feels good to give to someone else who needs blood.”
Jazz Coleman, of Fontana, donates blood for the first time, at LifeStream in SanBernardino, CA., Tuesday, January 16, 2018. The blood bank is in need of ONegative blood donations. Coleman is also on staff as a Donor Specialist atg pLifeStream. (Staff photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/The Sun/SCNG)
Garcia said he was worried at rst about pain, but it was minimal and he felt
normal later the same day.
The typical visit takes about 45 minutes, with about 10 minutes of that being time
with a needle in the arm, Trujillo said.
To encourage donations, LifeStream allows O-negative donors to give the code
“MONG” at registration and receive a $15 Stater Bros. gi card for a whole-blood
donation.
O-negative donors who give a double-red cell donation on Thursday, Jan. 18, or
Sunday, Jan. 21 will receive a $10 gas card and the $15 Stater Bros. gi card.
1/18/2018 Have O-negative blood? Inland blood banks need your help – San Bernardino Sun
By JOHN PLESSEL | [email protected] | San Bernardino SunJanuary 17, 2018 at 10:52 am
FILE PHOTOIn this 2015 file photo, school board member Dave Nemer, left, and Jim Elsasser, Claremont Unified School Districtsuperintendent, volunteer at the Brews & Bros Craft Beer Festival.
Inland Empire beer a cionados have a choice to make on Saturday. Will they head to Upland for Last Name Brewing’s
Brews & Bros Cra Beer Festivall, or will they go to Lake Elsinore for Stadium Pizza’s inaugural Winterfestt?
The Brews & Bros festival is set for 1-5 p.m. rain or shine at Upland’s Cable Airport, 1749 W. 13th St.
Advance tickets to the family-friendly event, available online now, are $50 for general admission, which includes
unlimited pours and a keepsake glass. VIP tickets are $65 and also include a rare beer hour from noon-1 p.m. and
preferred parking.
THINGS TO DORESTAURANT REVIEWS + FOOD
Dine 909: Raise your mug and toast a pair ofy g pInland Empire beer festivals on Saturday
1/18/2018 Dine 909: Raise your mug and toast a pair of Inland Empire beer festivals on Saturday – Press Enterprise
Homeowners Born Before 1985Are Getting a Huge RewardIf you own a home, you should read this.Thousands of homeowners did thisyesterday, and banks ...
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If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hoveringover the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors byemailing [email protected].
In San Bernardino, Raising Cane’s second Inland Empire location has nally opened at 1857 S. Tippecanoe Ave.
In Norco, Miguel’s Jr.’s 18th location has opened in the Norco Village, 2450 River Road, Space 300. To celebrate, we’re giving
away gi cards and coupons for free burritos. Head to the Dine 909 blog ((wwww..insidesocall..comm) to enter to win.
John PlesselJohn Plessel is Systems Editor for the Sun Newspaper and also blogs for Dine 909 and Beer Goggles.
Follow John Plessel @dine909
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1/18/2018 Input sought for garden - Champion Newspapers: News
Input sought for gardenPosted: Saturday, January 13, 2018 8:00 am
Chino Hills Parks and Recreation Commission chairman Bill Taylor would like to know if residents wouldbe interested in starting a community garden.
Input will be taken at the commission meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 17 in council chambers.
The City of Chino has a community garden located at 5976 Riverside Drive just east of Oaks Avenue thatfeatures reservable plots, themed demonstration gardens, and a Monarch butterfly habitat.
The city hosts garden workshops, children’s discovery programs, and storytime in the garden. Funding wasprovided by a state housing-related grant and from the City of Chino’s parks funds.
To provide input on a proposed Chino Hills community garden, contact Bill Taylor at 573-3824 or emailhim at bill [email protected]
1/18/2018 KCDZ 107.7 FM - EXPERTS DISCUSS JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK INVASIVE PLANT SPECIES TOMORROW
« CLASSIC COMEDY, “THE ODD COUPLE”, OPENS THIS FRIDAY ATTHEATRE 29
DISABLED AMERICAN VETS REPRESENTATIVES AT COPPERMOUNTAIN COLLEGE TOMORROW »
EEXPERTS DISCUSS JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK INVASIVE PLANT SPECIES TOMORROWBy Z107.7 News, on January 17th, 2018
The Mojave Chapter of the California Native Plants Society will host a discussion on non-native and invasive plant species in Joshua Tree NationalPark. Reporter Andrew Dieleman has the details…
Joshua Tree National Park is home to over 750 species of vascular plants, of which 58 are non-native and many are highly invasive. The local MojaveChapter of the California Native Plants Society will give a presentation, led by Joshua Tree National Park Vegetation Branch Manager Neil Frakes, onthe devastating effects of non-native plants in the national park and what the team at the park is doing to control the issue. The presentation will takeplace on Thursday, January 18 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Black Rock Nature Center, located at 9800 Black Rock Canyon Road in Yucca Valley.
For more information: https://www.mdlt.org/events/event/mojave-chapter-cnps-meeting-2/
SS H A R E T H I S :
January 17th, 2018 | Tags: joshua tree national park, morongo basin, san bernardino county, yucca valley | Category: Local News
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1/18/2018 A vacation, then a terrifying alert: Four Barstow High graduates in Hawaii when missile threat looms
By Shea Johnson Staff Writer Posted Jan 16, 2018 at 7:37 PMUpdated Jan 16, 2018 at 7:37 PM
They were in Hawaii to celebrate a birthday, staying at a Disney resort marketed as the“ultimate family getaway,” when cellphones across the state suddenly vibrated in nearunison with a disturbing warning.
“BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATESHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.”
The startling alert, echoed on televisions and not deemed until about 40 minutes laterto be a false alarm, abruptly incited a scramble among some, but stark confusion andstandstill for more, in this hotel in the city of Aulani on Saturday morning.
For four Barstow High School graduates staying in two adjoining rooms, the ensuingsearch for survival, in hindsight, ultimately offered a lesson in preparation and a re-emphasis of family importance, while becoming the accent mark on a vacation for thebooks.
Erik Gohl, 34, who works in IT security in Washington D.C., was in the showerreadying for a day at the beach when his fiance, Kimberly Cabello, 25, yelled to himabout the impending doom and to hurry up.
Cabello, an account manager in Washington D.C., had seen the alerts sent by theHawaii Emergency Management Agency at 8:10 a.m. Her sister, Shannon Schmidt, 31,and Schmidt’s husband, Robert Schmidt, 34, who brought their two young daughters —the trip beginning Jan. 10 was planned to celebrate the oldest daughter’s sixth birthday— had seen them too.
“For a second, we all started to stare at each other like, ‘Is that real?’” Cabello said.
The Schmidts rushed out with their daughters in tow, concerned for the children’ssafety, and made hurried plans to meet up with Gohl and Cabello. With Gohl in alocked bathroom, not immediately bustling because he was unsure if he hadn’t
A vacation, then a terrifying alert: Four BarstowHigh graduates in Hawaii when missile threat looms
1/18/2018 A vacation, then a terrifying alert: Four Barstow High graduates in Hawaii when missile threat looms
misheard his fiance, Cabello started to pack a bag with essentials like clothes, medicineand water.
What followed was a blitz in two different directions: Gohl and Cabello to the hotel’sbasement and the Schmidts to a solitary, first-floor hideout behind a wall near anentrance for Disney cast members.
“I understood that something serious was happening and it was a matter of time at thatpoint,” said Robert Schmidt, a rancher who lives in Utah. “The gravity set in that thiscould be people’s one of the last things they’re doing ... a surreal moment for a lot ofpeople.”
Schmidt said the core concern was to find a refuge that could equally block explosionsof glass from the windows and also offer a quick escape route should the hotel collapse.He noted hotel staff were baffled, adults appeared “at a loss” and children were crying,potentially feeding off their parents’ panic.
“That’s where I think as a parent my main concern was keeping my kids calm,” he said,“and I remember more or less telling my kids it was going to be OK.”
Elsewhere, Gohl and Cabello were sending texts to family informing them they toowere safe because the alert was a false alarm. They didn’t know this to be true at thetime, but had merely sought to assuage the worries of loved ones.
As others clambered to send out similar messages, cell signal and Wi-Fi became spotty,all three said. Gohl, an Army veteran, mapped out the best strategy to deal with nuclearaftermath. Neither he or Cabello believed they would die.
Instead, Gohl flipped through many unanswered questions, including how long itwould take before the missile struck and where it would happen. He figured Waikiki,roughly 27 miles away, would be a likelier target. They checked wind direction and sawit was blowing away from them. They started to craft plans for survival after the blast.
“We had to kind of wait for something to happen,” he said.
All believed they had done what they could up to this point.
“It’s one of those things where the plane’s going down, you’re being told to brace forimpact,” Schmidt explained, “and what would you do if you were told you have minutesto go before the plane hits the ground?”
1/18/2018 A vacation, then a terrifying alert: Four Barstow High graduates in Hawaii when missile threat looms
As texts were intermittently getting through, the two parties were able to connect bymessage and they met up near the spot in the hotel where they had enjoyed breakfaston the vacation’s first day.
Plans persisted, but within 10 minutes, the official word was received: No threat, afterall.
“Somehow at the last second, the pilot pulls the ship up,” Schmidt said, describing thefeeling.
Unable to simply switch off the adrenaline and unwilling to immediately return to theirrooms in a confined space, they all went outside to discuss further what had justoccurred.
“Everywhere we went, that was the talk,” Gohl said of the rest of the day, whichincluded a visit to a coffee shop and the Schmidts reuniting with family who livednearby.
Gohl said the ordeal, later blamed on human error, underscored that emergencypreparation can’t end at home but must be accounted for while away as well.
“I am actually proud of the decisions that we made,” Cabello said, adding how they wereable to communicate, act quickly and consider several plans under intense stress.
Schmidt called it a “second chance” and learning experience, which only reinforced thevalue of loved ones and to not live life in fear.
The six returned home Monday, but not before managing to enjoy the remaining twodays of their stay despite a terrifying 40-minute intrusion.
“I didn’t want to let it ruin the vacation,” Cabello concluded. “Now I have an experienceI can truly learn from and now I have a vacation story that not a lot of people can top.”
Shea Johnson can be reached at 760-955-5368 or. Follow him on Twitter at .
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1/18/2018 More of LA County’s homeless are dying. Here’s why – Daily News
By SUSAN ABRAM | [email protected] | Daily NewsPUBLISHED: January 17, 2018 at 6:32 pm | UPDATED: January 17, 2018 at 10:44 pm
Homeless hunker down in their tents and shelters for the night along 8th Street in SanPedro, CA on Wednesday, January 25, 2017. Volunteers Wednesday fanned outacross the city of Los Angeles to try to get an accurate homeless count in order toprovide better services for the needy. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
The number of homeless people who died on Los Angeles County’s streets and
shelters doubled in the last five years, rising to 831 deaths in 2017, according to a
recent report.
LOCAL NEWS
More of LA County’s homeless aredying. Here’s why
1/18/2018 More of LA County’s homeless are dying. Here’s why – Daily News
Los Angeles city leaders are planning to house dozens of homeless people in trailers ona city-owned downtown lot as a possible model for citywide temporary shelters. Aproposal that will be submitted to the City Council today calls for installing five trailers onthis parking lot at Arcadia and Alameda streets by the beginning of summer. ( Photo byDavid Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
1/17/2018 Resisting the Label of Victim, but Forever Scarred by a Mass Shooting - The New York Times
Resisting the Label of Victim, but ForeverScarred by a Mass ShootingBy NOAH WEILAND JAN. 13, 2018
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Exactly a month after Matt Mika was shot while practicing fora baseball game, he drove with his father to the field here where he once lay dying,his face yellowing, then graying, his eyes lifeless.
A lobbyist and longtime coach of the Republican congressional baseball team,Mr. Mika was one of four people shot outside the nation’s capital on a sunnymorning in June. A gunman upset over President Trump’s election fired at least 70rounds at the team as it practiced ahead of its annual charity game against theDemocrats.
Mr. Mika wanted to show his father what it looked like.
Standing near pavement stained by the cleaning solution used to wash away thegunman’s blood, Mr. Mika, 39, pointed to the spot by first base where he had chattedwith another coach before the shots started. He told his father, Joe, how long it tookhim to notice the flash of the rifle’s muzzle before he turned to run, sprintingthrough a gate behind the first-base dugout.
As he fled, Mr. Mika was shot in his chest, millimeters from his heart, and in hisleft arm, severing his median nerve. He collapsed onto a patch of dirt, his life
1/17/2018 Resisting the Label of Victim, but Forever Scarred by a Mass Shooting - The New York Times
But thanks to an improbable series of events — the particular path of a bullet, aspecially trained paramedic, the protection of the Capitol Police — he lived.
Interviews over months with Mr. Mika, his teammates, paramedics, surgeons andloved ones paint a portrait of an unexpected survival and recovery that defied theexpectations of every medical expert he encountered on the day of the attack.
He has since sought to escape the attention showered on the victims of high-profile shootings in the United States, trying to resist the feeling that his identity issolely that of a survivor.
Yet nearly every hour brings a reminder of what Mr. Mika can no longer do.
‘This Dude Is Dead’
After he was shot, almost everything went right. Everything had to.
Of the four victims, Mr. Mika was labeled the most severe case for paramedics: a“red.”
Chad Shade, a paramedic of 14 years for the Alexandria Fire Department, foundMr. Mika. He could see his heart inside of a sucking chest wound the size of a fist.
Armed with a set of military-grade response skills unusual for a paramedic, Mr.Shade rapidly applied HyFin occlusive chest seals, commonly used by medics in war,to block airflow into Mr. Mika’s body.
Mr. Shade said Mr. Mika wore the expression of his most dire patients: “Theyjust have that look of impending doom. And they will look at you, and they go, ‘I’mgoing to die, aren’t I?’
“Other than the fact that he was awake, you could have said: ‘This dude is dead.’The fact that he was not was remarkable,” Mr. Shade said.
Mr. Mika did not have time to wait for a rescue helicopter. During the 15-minuteambulance ride to George Washington University Hospital in Washington, Mr.
1/17/2018 Resisting the Label of Victim, but Forever Scarred by a Mass Shooting - The New York Times
Shade, who studies medical journals in his free time, functioned as something akinto a trauma surgeon on the go. Paramedics increasingly play that role to give victimsof shots from assault rifles a chance to live.
He borrowed another technique from the battlefield, injecting an IV medicationcalled tranexamic acid, which helped Mr. Mika’s blood to clot. He inserted three-inch needles in Mr. Mika’s chest walls to let air escape. Mr. Shade also helpedreinflate Mr. Mika’s lungs, which had collapsed as the bullet that penetrated hischest exploded into fragments inside him.
Fading into a state of shock in the ambulance, Mr. Mika talked quietly tohimself, trying to communicate with his mother, who died of breast cancer a decadeago. He turned to Mr. Shade and asked him to recount the scene to his father and hisgirlfriend, Kristi Boswell, in case the moments were his last.
Mr. Shade, who had raced to the scene with another paramedic just aftercompleting a 24-hour shift, remembers tearing up after dropping off Mr. Mika, hisvoice cracking as he tried to explain over the phone to Mr. Mika’s father how dire thewounds were.
After Mr. Mika arrived at the hospital, surgery began within minutes. Dr. LibbySchroeder, a trauma surgeon, spent two hours closing holes in his chest to restorelung function and sewing together tissue torn apart by the shrapnel still inside Mr.Mika.
She knew he had a chance: His heart was untouched.
By the afternoon, Mr. Mika was fit enough to be interviewed by the CapitolPolice and the F.B.I. He could not talk, so he drew maps of the scene.
Two days later, Dr. Schroeder embarked on another round of surgery, unsure ofwhat to expect. She had given his body time to heal, but knew that his conditioncould have grown worse had his tissue material deteriorated. She drew up eightcontingency plans.
When she opened his chest, she felt a rush of relief: The tissue had healed morecompletely than she had anticipated. She was able to skip the operation.
1/17/2018 Resisting the Label of Victim, but Forever Scarred by a Mass Shooting - The New York Times
“I’ve told Matt many times he’s one of the luckiest people I know,” Dr.Schroeder said.
Turning to Other SurvivorsEven with the optimistic prognosis, months passed before Mr. Mika could feel
his body healing. As time wore on, he started to feel more alone with his pain.
He turned to other victims of mass shootings, trying to make sense of what hisnew life looked like. After he received a call from Kristina Anderson, who was shotthree times in her French class during the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, theybecame fast friends, counseling each other on their recoveries over the phone.
Soon after, Mr. Mika got in touch with Nick Robone, who was shot in the chestat the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas in October. Mr. Robone has inturn contacted victims of November’s mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Mr. Mika and Mr. Robone have talked on the phone about the anonymity theycraved after receiving so much attention as victims of high-profile shootings.
“I don’t want to be known as Nick Robone, the survivor of Route 91,” Mr.Robone said.
For Mr. Mika, old acquaintances have stopped and pointed at him when hewalks through the hallways of the Capitol. They are, he believes, unsure how to react,whether to ask about Mr. Mika’s recovery or assume he has somehow moved on.
“It gets old when people say you look good,” he said.
Along with Mr. Robone and Ms. Anderson, he has become so accustomed tofriends’ checking in after mass shootings that Mr. Mika sent the other two a textmessage the day of the shooting in Sutherland Springs: “Here we go again.”
The victims of June’s congressional baseball shooting continue to see andcounsel one another. Mr. Mika met privately in August with Representative SteveScalise of Louisiana, the House majority whip, who was gravely wounded. The twocompared scars and discussed the small triumphs of their therapy programs.
1/17/2018 Resisting the Label of Victim, but Forever Scarred by a Mass Shooting - The New York Times
“His wife and my girlfriend yell at us because we’re doing too much,” Mr. Mikasaid with a laugh. “We’re all trying to get back to some kind of routine, back to whatlife could be like now.”
He struck up another unlikely friendship. Jayson Werth, a WashingtonNationals outfielder, visited Mr. Mika in the hospital and came away shaken.
“The baseball field is a sanctuary. That should be a safe place, whether you playit in the sandlot or in high school or college or in the minor leagues,” said Mr. Werth,who regularly exchanges texts with Mr. Mika and meets him for lunch. “I just have ahard time wrapping my head around it.”
‘It Eats Me Up Inside’Mr. Mika’s days are now a mix of rehabilitation and slowly increasing work
hours. He has talked to Ms. Anderson about the loneliness and isolation that set inhalf a year, or perhaps nine months, after a shooting, as friends and relatives expectvictims to be settling back into their rhythms.
“I look better than I feel,” Mr. Mika said. “You may look great, but you actuallydon’t know how people feel.”
At night, he feels the bullet fragments moving around in his chest. He sleeps onhis back to relieve pressure on his chest and left arm.
He has no feeling in his left hand, so he cannot wear ties or cuff links to work.One afternoon, as he tried to replace a leaky pipe in his bathroom, he realized hecould not screw in the pipe without feeling in his hand. He vacuums incessantly,using the pushing motion to strengthen his wrist. He hopes to regain feeling within ayear.
On some days, shrapnel pops out of his chest, and he will send a photo of it toDr. Schroeder to mark the absurdity.
When he returns to his home on Capitol Hill around 5:30 or 6 p.m. onweekdays, he is lonely and restless. Instead of the hockey, basketball and softballgames he once played four nights a week, he has nurtured new habits, such as
1/17/2018 Resisting the Label of Victim, but Forever Scarred by a Mass Shooting - The New York Times
reading short stories about World War II heroes and watching Ken Burns’sdocumentary “The Vietnam War.”
When Mr. Mika travels for his job at Tyson Foods, he grows anxious that peoplehe encounters want him to recount his trauma. He would rather they not know.
“I want to get back to some type of routine in life,” Mr. Mika said, “and not havethis incident define who I am.”
The plainest reminders of Mr. Mika’s past life take on outsize meaning, likewhen he returned to the Potbelly sandwich shop near his office late in the summerand the staff remembered his usual order: salami, roast beef, turkey and ham.
He sees physical therapists in downtown Washington for hours at a time, hisgunshot wounds in plain view of other patients nursing back and shoulder injuries.He talks to a therapist and consults his girlfriend’s preacher.
“We still have moments where we’re like, ‘You got shot!’” Ms. Boswell said.“There’s a lot of pain behind the smile. I had many a meltdown.”
Joe Mika remembers tying his son’s shoes, changing his bandages and clothingfor him in the weeks after the shooting, helping him live his life in reverse.
“I don’t think my wife and I will ever stop worrying about him,” he said.
While he readjusted to home life over the summer, even a walk around the blockwould tire him. On his first jog after June’s shooting, he began to tear up midwaythrough.
“It eats me up inside,” Mr. Mika said of his new confines.
When he is in a crowd, his thoughts drift to what it took for him to be there.
He tries to avoid thinking about the gunman, believing that may grant him akind of ownership of his life.
“I’m angry this person has taken away my ability to be normal,” he said.
1/17/2018 Resisting the Label of Victim, but Forever Scarred by a Mass Shooting - The New York Times
This peaceful pocket of suburban Washington still bears the scars of June’sshooting. Bullet holes pockmark the fencing and storage units that ring the field, andthe first-base dugout where members of Congress ducked for cover. New grass hasgrown over the stretch of the outfield where Mr. Scalise staggered.
Mr. Mika visits once a month, hoping to make sense of what happened to him.He stands on the patch of dirt where he collapsed. He calls these trips his besttherapy.
Get politics and Washington news updates via Facebook, Twitter and the MorningBriefing newsletter.
A version of this article appears in print on January 14, 2018, on Page A16 of the New York edition withthe headline: Wounded in a Mass Shooting, He Resists the Label of Victim.
California wanted to bridge the digital divide but leftrural areas behind. Now that's about to change
By Jazmine Ulloa
JANUARY 18, 2018, 12:05 AM
U ntil a few years ago, most students in Winters — a farming community of7,000 west of Sacramento — did not have computers at home. So the city’sthen-mayor, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, pushed for a program that enabled theschool district’s sixth-graders to check out laptops along with their
textbooks.
Their parents were required to learn how to use the computers as well. For some, it wastheir first time surfing the web or sending an email.
“Now they could be a voice for their child,” said Aguiar-Curry, who grew up in Winters.She recalled that some parents were moved to tears. “Now they could work in the fieldsduring the day, and at night they could come home and get on their child’s tablet andfind out how they were doing in school.”
Over the last decade, California’s urban centers have become technology hubs, citieswhere free Wi-Fi and fiber optic lines are ubiquitous. But in low-income neighborhoods,across the state’s inland regions and in rural communities — often home to largemigrant populations — families struggle to connect at all.
Some elected officials see that reality as proof that a digital divide is leaving manypeople behind. And they’ve set out to remedy it.
1/18/2018 California wanted to bridge the digital divide but left rural areas behind. Now that's about to change - LA Times
The Villas at El Rio in Winters. A study by Yolo County, which includes Winters, revealed poor levels of broadband service. (KentNishimura / Los Angeles Times)
1/18/2018 California wanted to bridge the digital divide but left rural areas behind. Now that's about to change - LA Times
In 2007, the state established the California Advanced Services Fund to offer companiesincentive to help bridge the gap. The program has allowed broadband providers to applyfor nearly $300 million in grants to bring fiber optic, copper and other cable lines tosome of the poorest and hardest-to-reach regions in the state.
The goal was to connect 98% of the 12.9 million homes across California, one that as of2016 was within a few percentage points of being fulfilled. But while nearly 12.3 millionhomes in urban areas had some form of wireline broadband service by that year, lessthan half of roughly 680,900 households in rural areas had been connected.
Even as recently as October in the tiny town of Laytonville, north of San Francisco,connectivity was so sparse that residents such as Dorje Bond struggled to know whenand where to evacuate during the wildfires.
Trish Steel, executive committee chair of the Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County,only recently was able to sign up for broadband service. Before heading off to college
Students use Google Chromebooks in their classroom at Winters High School. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
1/18/2018 California wanted to bridge the digital divide but left rural areas behind. Now that's about to change - LA Times
four years ago, her son would often do his homework between midnight and 5 a.m.,when their satellite data plan was unlimited.
In Winters, Aguiar-Curry said she persuaded an independent provider in 2014 to extendfree Wi-Fi to a nearby public housing complex for a few hours each night so that dozensof students could do their homework. Later, she looked into applying for federal publicsafety grants to run fiber optic lines through a nearby dam, connecting fire departmentsand police stations that had poor or no internet access.
After her election to the state Assembly in 2016, Aguiar-Curry decided to help revive theCalifornia Internet for All Now Act. The plan, long stymied by opponents in theLegislature, proposed pumping more money into the California Advanced Services Fundand reshaping its mission so that communities like hers would benefit.
It turned out to be one of the toughest state political battles of 2017.
Esperanza Hernandez, left, and Teagan Garcia use Chromebooks in Joanie Bryant's class at Waggoner Elementary School inWinters. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
1/18/2018 California wanted to bridge the digital divide but left rural areas behind. Now that's about to change - LA Times
The fund initially had focused on extending broadband service. Paid for over five yearswith a small surcharge on the phone bills of residents, the $325-million program wasreauthorized in 2010 and helped cover up to 70% of the capital costs if providers such asAT&T and Verizon expanded their services to areas with slow internet speeds or nooption other than dial-up modems.
But over the years, it was expanded to include funding to connect public housing andtarget other aspects of the digital divide, such as projects to teach residents web skillsand increase their access to computers, laptops and other electronic devices.
As the program’s 2015 end date approached, however, thousands of families remainedunconnected in small towns and rural areas where — with few customers — companieshad less incentive to build. Bitter disagreements arose between community advocatesand major telecoms over how any further increases in money for the program should bespent.
Legislative efforts to extend the phone surcharge failed twice. Critics said the state fundwas a burden on consumers and poorly managed by the Public Utilities Commission,with some money being used to build connections in remote — but not necessarilyneedy — areas.
Aguiar-Curry said she took up the cause in the Assembly out of frustration thattelecommunications companies were reporting that rural areas including Winters werealready covered, even though residents complained of low speeds and dropped calls. Astudy by Yolo County confirmed that residents and businesses grappled with poorconnectivity and often paid more for services.
She also had seen what access to the internet did for children in her city.
“Students who had never been outside of Winters, never even been an hour away to SanFrancisco, suddenly had their world open up,” she said.
1/18/2018 California wanted to bridge the digital divide but left rural areas behind. Now that's about to change - LA Times
In the Coachella Valley, more than 500 miles south of Winters, DemocraticAssemblyman Eduardo Garcia also had been considering reviving the Internet for AllNow Act. School officials there purchased 18,000 iPads in 2015 only to discover use ofthe tablets overloaded their network.
Garcia and Aguiar-Curry decided to work together on the legislation to reauthorize theCalifornia Advanced Services Fund; another Democrat, Assemblyman Miguel Santiagoof Los Angeles, helped them build a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers from rural andurban areas to support it.
Their first discussions centered on calculating numbers under dispute: How do youmeasure what percentage of households in the state still need internet? What should therequired internet speeds be?
In rural communities, residents wanted the state to help them go from “nothing tosomething,” but the rallying cry was “faster is better” in urban areas like Los Angelesand San Francisco, where pockets of disadvantaged residents still struggle with slowinternet speeds or have no connectivity.
Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) worked with Assembly members to focus efforts for better internet connections onrural districts. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)
1/18/2018 California wanted to bridge the digital divide but left rural areas behind. Now that's about to change - LA Times
The Assembly members decided to focus first on rural districts, agreeing to authorize$330 million for the fund to connect 300,000 more households by 2023. This time, thestate’s goal would be to connect 98% of households in each of 17 consortia, geographicalregions formed by groups of tech advocates and local officials that span the state.
The plan overwhelmingly passed in the Assembly, with Republicans and Democratsalike denouncing connectivity problems across the state.
Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) said some hospitals, schools and businessesin his district still struggle with a lack of internet access. Assemblyman James Gallagher(R-Yuba City) described homes in Oroville where one side of the street has high-speedinternet service and the other can only connect with sluggish dial-up.
But the bill’s strong support didn’t last in the state Senate.
Trish Steel of the Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County attempts to connect to her Wi-Fi network at her home in Laytonville.(Josh Edelson / For The Times)
1/18/2018 California wanted to bridge the digital divide but left rural areas behind. Now that's about to change - LA Times
The North Bay region, represented by Democrats Wood and Sen. Mike McGuire ofHealdsburg, became ground zero for opposition to the Internet for All Now Act onceindustry lobbyists and tech advocates ramped up efforts to influence the final details ofthe bill. Old fights over where and how to spend the money resurfaced.
There, community advocates believe, only a single fiber optic line runs through Sonoma,Mendocino and Humboldt counties. When that line goes dark, as it did when vandalsattempted to cut it in 2015, there is no 911, no access to ATMs and no way to report anoutage for thousands of residents.
“We all agree that the Golden State is the land of innovation, home of Silicon Valley. Butfour hours up 101, you step back in time,” McGuire said.
Still, as Wood joined Garcia, Aguiar-Curry and Santiago in crafting the details of the billin Sacramento, regional community groups and Mendocino residents worried too manyconcessions were being made to the tech industry. They demanded higher internetspeed standards. And they raised alarm over giving major telecoms, such as AT&T,Frontier and Comcast, too much leverage over smaller providers.
One Senate amendment to the bill prevented companies from applying for statebroadband assistance in areas where federal broadband projects remain pending.Another provided companies with a right of first refusal, giving those already in an areathe opportunity to stake their claim to build before newcomers, though residents saidmany of these larger providers had long offered only limited coverage.
Steel, of Mendocino’s broadband alliance, said companies could spend their federaldollars anywhere in the state, leaving no guarantee their projects would be completed inthe area while smaller companies were shut out.
“They took a good bill and made it so bad that in our opinion [having] no bill wouldhave been better,” she said.
1/17/2018 Dead trees may have helped California's water supply during drought | The Fresno Bee
January 16, 2018 01:52 PMUpdated 5 hours 38 minutes ago
The millions of trees that died in the Sierra Nevada during California’s five-year drought may have actually helped the state’s water supply once thehistoric dry spell finally ended, according to a new study.
Scientists led by UC Merced’s Sierra Nevada Research Institute examined how much water was being absorbed by plant life in 1 million acres ofSierra forest along the watershed that feeds into the Kings River east of Fresno. The study, published Friday in the journal Scientific Reports, spannedthe years before, during and after the drought, which officially ended last year.
Federal forestry officials estimate that during that time, more than 100 million trees in the central and southern Sierra died before the drought ended.
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1/17/2018 Dead trees may have helped California's water supply during drought | The Fresno Bee
So many trees died from wildfire and bark beetles in the study area that once the rains returned, potentially as much as 217,000 acre-feet more waterended up in the Kings River basin than it would have otherwise. The reason? After they’d died, the trees were no longer sucking water up throughtheir roots, leaving more in the watershed, said Roger Bales, the study’s lead author at the Sierra Nevada Research Institute.
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An acre-foot is the equivalent of flooding an acre of land with water one foot deep. For comparison, Folsom Lake can hold about 976,000 acre-feetwhen it’s completely full.
The effects of California’s drought on the water supply could have been worse if not for the dead trees, but that’s hardly a cause to celebrate, Balessaid.
“We don’t know what’s going to grow back, and we don’t know how much water what grows back is going to use,” Bales said. “This is an uncontrolledexperiment.”
He said the findings show why it’s important to thin the Sierra biomass to sustainable levels using controlled burns and logging to ward against futuredrought die-offs and high-intensity wildfire.
Dismal results from snow survey of January 2018
1/17/2018 Dead trees may have helped California's water supply during drought | The Fresno Bee
The first Sierra snow survey confirms slow a start to winter 2017-2018. When the measurements were done, the Department of Water Resourcesreported the dismal numbers: just 1.3 inches of snow on average, and a “snow water content” of 0.4 inches. That was 3 percent of average for earlyJanuary.
First big winter storm reaches California. Here’s what it means for the water year
A dense blob has kept California weather dry. Here’s how it works
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Large swaths of brown dead trees contrast against the green of the living trees found on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the east of the San JoaquinValley in Central California, on July 28, 2015. Al Seib - TNS
1/17/2018 He Leaked a Photo of Rick Perry Hugging a Coal Executive. Then He Lost His Job. - The New York Times
He Leaked a Photo of Rick PerryHugging a Coal Executive. Then HeLost His Job.By BEN PROTESS JAN. 17, 2018
As a photographer for the Department of Energy, Simon Edelman regularly attendedmeetings with Secretary Rick Perry and snapped pictures for official purposes.
Now he is out of a job and seeking whistle-blower protections after leakingphotographs of Mr. Perry meeting with a major energy industry donor to PresidentTrump.
Late last year, Mr. Edelman said, he shared with journalists photos he shot atthe private meeting between Mr. Perry and the campaign contributor Robert E.Murray, the head of one of the country’s largest coal mining companies, MurrayEnergy.
One photo showed the two men embracing; another captured the cover sheet ofa confidential “action plan” that Mr. Murray brought to the meeting last Marchcalling for policy and regulatory changes friendly to the coal industry.
Democrats and some environmental groups seized on the photos as evidence ofthe energy industry’s direct line to Mr. Perry, who had been in the job less than amonth when the meeting occurred.
Mr. Edelman, who has not previously disclosed his identity as the source of thephotographs, said in an interview that he wanted to expose the close relationship
1/17/2018 He Leaked a Photo of Rick Perry Hugging a Coal Executive. Then He Lost His Job. - The New York Times
between the two men. Based on the “action plan” and conversations he overheard,Mr. Edelman said, Mr. Perry had tilted the administration’s energy policy to favorMurray Energy and other coal companies.
“It seemed like that was the right thing to do — exercising my First Amendmentrights to get the information out there,” said Mr. Edelman, who had worked at theagency since 2015 and whose job included photographing events that the agencypromoted in news releases, on the web and elsewhere.
The day after the photos were published by In These Times, a liberal magazine,the Energy Department put Mr. Edelman on administrative leave, seized hispersonal laptop and escorted him out of its headquarters in Washington, he said. Hewas later told, without explanation, that his employment agreement had not beenrenewed, internal agency emails show.
Mr. Edelman has now filed a complaint with the Energy Department’s inspectorgeneral and, according to his lawyer, is seeking protections provided to federalwhistle-blowers. On its website, the Energy Department notes that it is illegal toretaliate against whistle-blowers, who are typically protected when they alert asupervisor or the inspector general to information that they reasonably believe toconstitute an abuse of authority, or other misconduct.
In the complaint, Mr. Edelman accuses the agency of retaliation and asks for hisjob back or at least to recover his laptop and other personal belongings. In addition,Mr. Edelman accused a former colleague of encouraging him to delete the photos ofMr. Perry and Mr. Murray, which Mr. Edelman and his lawyer argue are publicrecords.
The Energy Department declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding Mr.Edelman’s employment, the status of the photos or the details of his complaint, but aspokeswoman characterized his accusations as “ridiculous.” Mr. Edelman supportedhis complaint with emails and other documents, but some claims were based on hisstatements alone.
“They are based on his own subjective opinions and personal agenda,” thespokeswoman, Shaylyn Hynes, said in an email. “Industry and other stakeholders
1/17/2018 He Leaked a Photo of Rick Perry Hugging a Coal Executive. Then He Lost His Job. - The New York Times
visit the Department of Energy on a daily basis. The secretary welcomes their inputand feedback to strengthen the American energy sector. This meeting was nodifferent.”
A spokesman for Mr. Murray said the coal executive “does not have arecollection as to the exact statements allegedly made nearly a year ago.” Thespokesman, Gary Broadbent, added that “Mr. Murray has frequently said that theTrump administration must advance reliable and low-cost electricity for allAmericans and protect coal mining jobs.”
The confidential documents Mr. Murray brought to his meeting with Mr. Perrycalled for “rescinding anti-coal regulations of the Obama administration” and cuttingthe staff of the Environmental Protection Agency “in at least half,” according toportions visible in Mr. Edelman’s photographs.
Last week, The New York Times obtained a copy of a separate memo written byMr. Murray, and reported that the Trump administration had completed or was ontrack to fulfill most of the 16 policy and regulatory requests contained in it. Mr.Murray told The Times the two memos essentially covered the same material.
Mr. Edelman, a Democrat, came to the Energy Department under PresidentBarack Obama two years ago after producing videos at a consulting firm in Chicagoand serving as creative director for the electoral campaign of former Gov. Pat Quinnof Illinois. After Mr. Trump’s election, Mr. Edelman said, he received greaterresponsibility, including photographing Mr. Perry’s meetings.
Mr. Edelman’s complaint offers a behind-the-scenes look at the meeting onMarch 29 between Mr. Perry and Mr. Murray, who have been friendly for manyyears. In addition to his company contributing $300,000 to the president’sinauguration — and personally holding a fund-raiser for Mr. Trump during thecampaign — Mr. Murray has been a financial backer of Mr. Perry, a former governorof Texas who has also run for president.
In a statement, Mr. Murray’s spokesman said the company had supportedRepublicans “who have been staunch defenders of the United States coal industry,
1/17/2018 He Leaked a Photo of Rick Perry Hugging a Coal Executive. Then He Lost His Job. - The New York Times
and the jobs and family livelihoods that depend on it, and low-cost, reliable, fuelsecure electricity for all Americans.”
The meeting started, the complaint said, with Mr. Perry giving Mr. Murray “adeep bear hug.” Once they got down to business, Mr. Murray presented the memo.“This needs to be done,” the complaint says Mr. Murray insisted.
Mr. Perry replied, “I think we can help you with this,” according to thecomplaint.
Rattled by the exchange, Mr. Edelman said he stayed for about 15 minutes tokeep listening, until he drew the attention of an agency official. “How much does aphotographer need of us just sitting around?” the complaint quotes the agencyofficial as asking.
The photos sat for months without much attention.
Then, in September, Mr. Perry proposed that the Federal Energy RegulatoryCommission adopt a rule that would increase financial returns for power plantscapable of stockpiling at least 90 days’ worth of fuel on-site — a plan that wouldeffectively subsidize struggling coal and nuclear power plants, particularly in areaswhere Mr. Murray operates.
Without the change, Mr. Perry warned, the plants could shut down, whichwould threaten the “reliability and resiliency of our nation’s grid.”
That phrase rang a bell with Mr. Edelman. The cover page of Mr. Murray’smemo described a plan “to assist in the survival of our country’s coal industry, whichis essential to power grid reliability.”
Mr. Edelman said he decided to share the photos with the news media — TheWashington Post published the images after In These Times — hoping to derail Mr.Perry’s proposed rule. The rule faced opposition from a cross section ofenvironmental groups, energy companies, free-market advocates and formerregulators, and last week, the energy commission rejected it.
1/17/2018 He Leaked a Photo of Rick Perry Hugging a Coal Executive. Then He Lost His Job. - The New York Times
Mr. Murray has said that the meeting with Mr. Perry was primarily about theneed to study the resilience of the power grid, not to ask for specific actions by theenergy commission or other arms of the federal government. Mr. Broadbent, hisspokesman, said that “a word-for-word comparison” of the proposed rule and Mr.Murray’s action plan “reveals that they have only two words in common.”
On Dec. 7, the day after In These Times posted the photographs, and a daybefore they appeared online at The Washington Post, Mr. Edelman said he wassummoned by his boss and told he was being placed on administrative leave withpay.
The agency later declined to extend his two-year employment agreement, whichended late last year, effectively dismissing him despite previously agreeing to extendhim for two more years, Mr. Edelman said.
A security officer for the agency also refused to allow him to pack up certainpersonal belongings, Mr. Edelman said, including his laptop and camera equipment.The next day, a supervisor instructed Mr. Edelman in an email to provide the agencythe administrative rights to the Google Drive folder where he stored the photos,according to a copy of the email reviewed by The Times.
Separately, another colleague warned him over the phone that “we can come toyour home and have someone watch you delete it,” Mr. Edelman said. Mr. Edelmandid not record the call.
In a phone call a few days later, which was recorded, the colleague reiteratedthat Mr. Edelman needed to transfer ownership of the folder. “I would suggest thatdoing it sooner rather than later would probably be a good thing for you,” thecolleague said, according to the recording, which was heard by The Times.
“You can get access to a computer,” the colleague added, “even if you need to goto a freaking library to do it.”
Mr. Edelman said the department had still not returned his laptop. Among theother items he said he left behind because of the hurried exit: a cake from hiscolleagues celebrating his 35th birthday.
1/17/2018 He Leaked a Photo of Rick Perry Hugging a Coal Executive. Then He Lost His Job. - The New York Times
Mr. Edelman hired a lawyer, John Tye, a former whistle-blower from the StateDepartment who works at Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit firm. Mr. Tye defendedMr. Edelman’s decision to keep the photos, arguing that they were “in the publicdomain” and were not classified, and that they had been stored on Mr. Edelman’sprivate drive at the Energy Department’s instruction.
By filing his complaint with the inspector general, Mr. Tye said, Mr. Edelmanwas seeking protections provided to federal whistle-blowers, including prohibitionfrom “adverse employment actions and dismissal.”
After Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, heard about theincident, his office contacted Mr. Edelman, who also shared the complaint withSenator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, who is a neighbor in Washington.It was Mr. Whitehouse who shared the separate memo by Murray Energy with TheTimes.
“Federal employees should not be fired for doing their jobs,” Mr. Sanders said ina statement. “The Department of Energy must investigate as to why Mr. Edelmanwas fired.”
Lisa Friedman and Brad Plumer contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett contributedresearch.
