[Source: Los Angeles Daily News] Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire saw heavy job losses in January following the meager gains that were posted in December, but California still managed to add nearly 10,000 jobs, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday. L.A. County employers shed 78,700 jobs in January, fueled primarily by a Read More…
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San Jose area, Oakland area job markets wobble, sparking economic uncertainty
[Source: East Bay Times] The job markets in Santa Clara County and the East Bay slumped to start out the year, according to a state labor report released Friday that indicated some cracks have materialized in the region’s employment sector. Santa Clara County lost 3,500 jobs while the Alameda County-Contra Costa County area lost 900 Read More…
How new Southern California air cleanup plan could affect warehouses, ports
[Source: The Press Enterprise] Southern California air quality officials approved a 15-year pollution clean-up plan Friday, March 3, after adding provisions that would eventually eliminate a pollution-credits marketplace that regulates emissions from oil refineries and other major smokestack polluters. But the 11-2 vote by the South Coast Air Quality Management District board left intact controversial Read More…
California Supreme Court says officials’ emails are public records
[Source: Associated Press] The public has a right to access emails and text messages about government business on the private phones and accounts of state and local officials and employees, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday. In a unanimous decision, the court said those communications were subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act Read More…
Rift divides top air quality regulators
[Source: 89.3 KPCC] A rift has developed between two of the Los Angeles region’s most important overseers of air pollution laws, one that might take an act of the state legislature to resolve. In a recent meeting, the head of the board that oversees air quality in the LA basin has accused the majority of Read More…
AQMD postpones vote on how to cut smog by nearly 50 percent in 7 years
[Source: 89.3KPCC] A vote on a controversial plan intended to cut smog-forming emissions in Southern California nearly in half by 2023 was postponed on Friday by the governing board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The board voted 9-3 to delay acting on the plan until its March 3 meeting after board members Read More…
Air board hears proposals to toughen smog-reduction plan but delays action
[Source: The Los Angeles Time] Southern California air quality regulators delayed action on a major smog-reduction plan Friday after hours of public testimony and debate about what steps should be taken to curb the nation’s worst air pollution over the next 15 years. The South Coast Air Quality Management District board voted 9-3 to postpone Read More…
In air-quality talks, haziest thing may be the facts
[Source: The Daily Breeze] Suppose it was 1650 and you were accused of being a witch. Would you prefer trial by water or hanging? If you choose trial by water, the people in charge of things will throw you into the nearest lake, river or ocean and wait to see if you sink or float. Read More…
Clean-air plan is one that SoCal business could live with
[Source: Orange County Register Editorial Board] Balancing the need for clean air and the need for industry is no small task. It requires a careful, judicious weighing of the costs and benefits of regulatory action and voluntary cooperation. Command-and-control regulations may seem expedient, but they can become burdensome and harmful to economic development. Thus, the Read More…