CalWatchdog Morning Read – May 18

Treasurer Chiang will run for governor Graduation rates rise Sen. Feinstein seeks compromise, drought relief Death penalty still divides Water agency seeks record fine Good morning! Happy Hump Day.  It’s Twitterficial. Democratic state Treasurer John Chiang is running for governor, he announced

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Gov. Brown tees up permanent drought measures

  Even as California at long last eased up on drought restrictions, Gov. Brown helped ensure that policies remaining in place will continue indefinitely.  “In a major shift, the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown announced [last week] plans to drop all

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Three Democratic lawmakers make intentions for statewide office Twitterficial

Nothing is official until it’s on Twitter, which is why several Democrats today announced their candidacies for higher office Tuesday in the Twittersphere. Treasurer John Chiang made it official that he would be running for governor after announcing he was

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Caltrans releases optimistic, costly five-year plan to find thousands of lost holes

Caltrans finally provided a cost estimate for its plan to find and possibly seal thousands of improperly drilled holes throughout the state, indicating the program could be completed in a few years. But the disclosure left many questions unanswered. Two years ago, Caltrans admitted

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Gov. Brown’s stance on Prop. 30 tax extension still in limbo

Gov. Jerry Brown’s tune keeps changing when it comes to Proposition 30, the successful 2012 ballot measure that raised the state’s basic sales tax until the end of 2016 and income taxes on the wealthy until the end of 2018.

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San Francisco police chief may be in jeopardy

San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr’s future has come into doubt in recent days as four members of his city’s 12-member Board of Supervisors have joined protesters in calling for his ouster. Now newspaper analysis pieces are wondering how long

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Pro-marijuana push begins in earnest

  As election day nears, California’s likely vote on recreational pot has drawn policymakers, politicians and law enforcement into an uncertain but probably decisive debate.  While many Democrats have generally come to view recreational marijuana as an inevitability in the Golden

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Caltrans accused of improperly dumping dead animals again

After discovering work crews had dumped a bunch of dead animals in a state waterway, a state Water Code enforcer is investigating if Caltrans ever created and implemented roadkill disposal policies, which was a requirement from the last time Caltrans got in

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Gov. Brown: No new spending

Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday repeatedly warned against new spending programs as he introduced his revised budget, heeding advice from Moody’s and others to bunker down and prepare for an eventual economic downturn. While the state’s finances have substantially improved from the

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Gov. Brown OKs higher smoking age

  Upsetting years of tradition and new trends alike, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law sweeping new measures that put consumers and producers of nicotine-based products on the defensive. One bill will “raise the legal age to buy products from 18

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