McCarthy criticized for releasing security footage to Tucker Carlson

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is facing criticism for giving Tucker Carlson, a Fox News commentator, exclusive access to police security footage of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. 

McCarthy of Bakersfield has vowed to make the footage available to the public, but said that Carlson will have first access. 

Some Democrats have raised concerns about the potential misuse of the footage as a political tool to rewrite the history of the attack. 

Access to the footage will also be made available to the nearly 1,000 defendants being prosecuted for their roles in the siege. Source: AP

Snowpack may endure despite rain storms

California is expected to experience rainy and snowy weather throughout March, even after the start of spring on March 20. 

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center has modelled the continuation of the inclement weather. Forecasters are also monitoring the possibility of warmer storms hitting the state, which could increase the likelihood of flooding. 

Yosemite National Park closed last week due to heavy snow, while the China Peak ski resort is closed for the weekend. Fresno County has opened shelters for residents without power, but warns motorists against trying to drive in the Sierra due to deep snow.

It is uncertain whether the snow will melt or not. Some forecasters are keeping an eye on the potential for warmer storms that could hit the state, soaking the massive snowpack and raising the potential for flooding. 

Dan Walters: High-speed rail still lacks money to complete Valley segment

In a commentary in CalMatters, Dan Walters writes that the California High-Speed Rail project, a proposed statewide system of very fast trains, is still lacking enough money to complete its initial segment in the San Joaquin Valley. 

The High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) recently announced the “historic milestone” of creating over 10,000 construction jobs since the start of construction on the initial stage, but this number is open to debate. 

The San Joaquin segment is currently projected to cost $22 billion, roughly one-fifth of what the entire north-south system would need. While construction unions have ramped up pressure to continue work, the project still lacks the necessary funding to complete the San Joaquin segment and make it a statewide system. 

The solution may depend on what happens in national politics, with Democrats supporting high-speed rail as a tool to battle climate change and Republicans opposing it as a boondoggle. Source: CalMatters

NASA says 10 percent of Valley water comes from underground mountain sources

NASA scientists say that up to 10 percent of the groundwater in the Central Valley flows underground from the Sierra Nevada mountain range. 

“We now know how much groundwater is going into and coming out of the aquifers during each season of the year, and during periods of drought and episodes of heavy precipitation,” Donald Argus of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said. 

The volume of the inflow was surprising, according to Argus, because researchers believed they already had a good understanding of the amount of water entering and leaving the Central Valley. 

Source: Tulare Voice

This new understanding could be used, for example, to modify existing restrictions on watering during dry years versus wet years to better match usage with the available groundwater resources.

In a recent study, scientists found that a previously unmeasured source – water percolating through soil and fractured rock below California’s Sierra Nevada mountains – delivers an average of 4 million acre feet (5 cubic kilometers) of water to the state’s Central Valley each year. This underground source accounts for about 10% of all the water that enters this highly productive farmland each year from every source (including river inflows and precipitation).

Will Newsom gas rebate result in new tax?

Could a gas rebate end up costing taxpayers at the pump even more?

Gov. Gavin Newsom called a special legislative session on rebates to offset high gas prices funded by a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

The session will be Dec. 5, timed with the swearing-in of the new Legislature.

Newsom plans to call a special legislative session in December to push for a tax on oil industry profits, the latest escalation in a feud over soaring gasoline prices that Newsom calls greedy and manipulative.

Newsom said today that he would convene the special session on Dec. 5, the same day that a new class of lawmakers is sworn in.

"Gas prices in California have soared in recent weeks to an average of $6.39 per gallon, as of Friday, according to AAA, near the highest they've ever been.

Newsom, who originally unveiled his plans for a "windfall profits tax" on oil companies a week ago, had few additional details to share.

The plan could take the form of an excise tax, he said, with revenue being returned to taxpayers as rebates.

Despite his urgency, he said convening the special session in two months would give his team time to "get our ducks in a row" — developing a strategy that can get through the Legislature, where a two-thirds vote by both houses is required for any tax measure, and stand up to expected legal challenges by the oil industry.

"Republicans, who comprise a superminority of the Legislature, criticized the tax plan as insulting and said that it would drive up prices further because oil companies would pass on the cost.

Newsom once again rejected calls to suspend the state's 54-cent-per-gallon gas tax, because he said oil companies would simply pocket the savings.

New laws take aim at catalytic converter theft

Gov. Gavin Newsom said this week that he signed a bill that makes it illegal for recyclers to buy a valuable car part from anyone other than the legal owner or a licensed dealer. This is aimed at stopping the widespread theft of catalytic converters from cars.

There have been dozens, if not more than 100, catalytic converter thefts in Tulare County in the past two years.

Valuable metals like rhodium, platinum, and palladium are used in anti-pollution parts of cars. Parts that are hard to track down are easy to cut off a car, which makes them a good target for people who want to make money quickly at a scrap yard.

With the two new laws, buyers will have to pay more if they can't prove that a catalytic converter wasn't stolen. This should make it harder for thieves to sell stolen car parts.

Exeter man who buried his wife alive denied parole

An Exeter man who stabbed his and buried her alive in their backyard was denied parole for the next five years.

At a virtual hearing on August 2, 2022, TCDA prosecutors secured a 5-year denial of parole for Cesar Navarro, age 44, for the 1998 murder of his wife. Also in attendance were victim advocates and the victim’s family. Navarro is currently serving his sentence at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo.

On December 16, 1998, in the city of Exeter, Navarro stabbed his 20-year-old wife multiple times in the head and neck with a screwdriver. Knowing that his wife was still alive after the attack, he buried her in the backyard of their home. Her body was found two weeks later after family members filed a missing person report and had been searching for her. At his initial parole hearing in 2014, Navarro said he committed the crime due to perceived infidelity. The victim’s family said that she would often talk about Navarro’s violence with her.

In 2000, a jury convicted Navarro of the murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Navarro was convicted of domestic violence against the victim a few months prior to the murder.

This was Navarro’s second official parole hearing. In 2019, Navarro stipulated a three-year denial without a hearing. A senior deputy district attorney argued against his release in this case.