News

Friday, April 27, 2018

Why Montclair wants voting rights on the Gold Line light rail extension

By SANDRA EMERSON | semerson@scng.com | Redlands Daily Facts

April 27, 2018 at 8:01 am

The city of Montclair wants a seat on the board overseeing the extension of light rail into San Bernardino County.

A bill is advancing through the state Assembly that would give the city a voting seat on the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority Board of Directors, the agency overseeing the 12.3 mile Metro Gold Line extension from Glendora to the Montclair Transcenter.

Read more
Thursday, April 26, 2018

There’s now enough money to build the Gold Line through to Montclair

By LISET MARQUEZ | lmarquez@scng.com | Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

PUBLISHED: April 26, 2018 at 7:02 pm | UPDATED: April 27, 2018 at 12:33 am

With a quarter-billion-dollar funding gap plugged, there’s now enough money to extend the Foothill Gold Line from Glendora to Montclair.

The California Sate Transportation Agency announced Thursday it would award $290 million to the Gold Line extension to support the project on both sides of the Los Angeles-San Bernardino county line.

Read more
Wednesday, July 19, 2017

U.S. House Panel Approves Broad Proposal on Self-Driving Cars

By REUTERS

JULY 19, 2017, 4:33 P.M. E.D.T.

WASHINGTON — A U.S. House panel on Wednesday approved a sweeping proposal by voice vote to allow automakers to deploy up to 100,000 self-driving vehicles without meeting existing auto safety standards and bar states from imposing driverless car rules.

Representative Robert Latta, a Republican who heads the Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee overseeing consumer protection, said he would continue to consider changes before the full committee votes on the measure, expected next week. The full U.S. House of Representatives will not take up the bill until it reconvenes in September after the summer recess.

Read more
Friday, July 14, 2017

BY ADAM ASHTON

aashton@sacbee.com

California’s main public pension fund beat its official investment forecast over the past 12 months, ending a two-year stretch of disappointing earnings.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System rode a strong year in the stock market and private equity investments to earn a return rate of 11.2 percent for the fiscal year that ended June 30, the pension fund announced Friday morning.

That’s about double what CalPERS had expected to earn this year.

It’s also a marked improvement over the previous year, when CalPERS’ investment return rate was .61 percent. In the budget year that ended in June 2015, CalPERS’ investment return rate was 2.4 percent.

This year’s high returns were celebrated by lawmakers and labor groups who have been pressured to answer for CalPERS’ steep unfunded liability.

Read more
Thursday, July 6, 2017

Public and private emergency responders play a critical role when disaster strikes. When police, fire, or emergency medical services (EMS) answer a call, the public’s safety is first of mind when running into a fire or active shooter situation, not their own.

This was made abundantly clear with incidents such as the shooting at a congressional baseball practice last month or the shooting at a UPS facility in San Francisco. Our system is set up to respond to tragic incidents with the speed and professionalism we, as public taxpayers, demand. In turn, we honor and celebrate them for their work. But we have not provided the same kind of recognition to all of our first responders and have consequently left some of these heroes behind.

Read more
Thursday, July 6, 2017

Who Will Be There When You Call 911? Our Writer Plunges Into the World of For-Profit Ambulances. 

From kickback schemes to political battles, Alameda County's emergency medical system has its share of issues.

By Brian Krans

Read more
Wednesday, July 5, 2017

By Liset Márquez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

ONTARIO >> Seven months into locals controlling Ontario International Airport, its CEO, Kelly Fredericks, is stepping down, it was announced Wednesday.

Coming out of a closed-door session Wednesday morning, the Ontario International Airport Authority announced Fredericks’ departure is effective immediately. Mark Thorpe, who was hired in August as chief development officer, will serve as interim CEO.

In a statement, OIAA President Alan Wapner alluded to a conflict between Fredericks and the commission.

“Both the commissioners and Kelly acknowledge that their approaches to the direction and management of OIAA differ and that it would be mutually beneficial to part ways as OIAA moves to the next phase of the airport’s development,” Wapner is quoted as saying.

Read more