Gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner said more water storage is critical for California's long-term economic future. But as he campaigned today in Fresno, Poizner remained noncommittal about an $11 billion water bond measure on the ballot for next November.

Poizner (left, at the state's spring 2009 Republican Convention), who currently serves as the state's insurance commissioner, didn't directly address the bond as he spoke to about four dozen Fresno Chamber of Commerce members this afternoon. "We need to build more dams; I support that," he told the group. "We clearly need to invest in more water storage systems."

But Poizner told reporters before his speech that he and his team continue to evaluate the bond measure that legislators put on next fall's ballot -- the same ballot on which he hopes his name will also appear as the Republican nominee for governor.

"The bond measure has its pluses and minuses, and we're taking a look at all of those," he said. "We need to build more dams in California, and this bond may do that ... but I want to take a closer look."

Continue reading "GOP's Poizner is noncommittal on $11B water bond" »

The government is weighing in on the day-after-Thanksgiving shopping madness this year. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is recommending retailers have bullhorns, barricades and uniformed guards ready for the rush.

Eyes are on retailers this year, following last year's trampling death of a Walmart worker on Black Friday.

Although they won't say it's related, Walmart is staying open 24 hours before Black Friday for crowd management purposes. Discounts will begin at 5 a.m. Friday.

This year's special circumstances do make one wonder if it will be an extra tense Black Friday: More cash-strapped shoppers may be desperate for bargains. Retailers in stiff competition with each other are offering better-than-ever discounts. And in an effort to save money, stores have limited the amount of merchandise they stocked, meaning shortages could happen.

Chatting with federal officials Thursday, I learned something that probably won't surprise you: The San Joaquin Valley is the worst place in the nation for PM-2.5. At least from 2005 to 2007.

Such particle pollution is considered the worst villain among air pollution problems. Most big health and social costs related to air quality come from PM-2.5 -- which is soot, chemical droplets and other tiny debris in the air.

It's always a bit of a mystery about how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency comes up with these numbers. The ranking is based on a design value, which is a calculation of monitor readings.

Here's the breakout:

1. San Joaquin Valley
2. Liberty-Clairton, Pa.
3. South Coast
4. Birmingham, Ala.
5. Steubenvillle-Wierton, WV
6. Cincinnati-Hamilton, OH - KY-IN

Picking a side in a debate that could split the GOP, gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has come out in favor of the $11 billion water bond that lawmakers recently placed on the November 2010 ballot.

Whitman initially gave a cautious response to the bond, but her press secretary told The Bee today that the candidate would be voting yes.

"Despite the typical Sacramento actions of including additional spending and pet projects that were included in the final language of the water bill, Meg believes providing water to communities across the state is too important to delay the process once again," Sarah Pompei said in an email. "She will vote in support of the measure on the ballot and will work to fix the broken process in Sacramento as governor."

Continue reading "Whitman is a yes on water bond" »

It's a pretty standard routine for a traffic stop: License, registration and proof of insurance, please.

We published a story today about a renewed push to let low-income motorists know about a low-cost, liability-only auto insurance program. But why now?

Give thanks to Thanksgiving for that. State insurance officials and California Highway Patrol officers say with more drivers hitting the road next week for the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, there's concern that more drivers will be out there without insurance.

Continue reading "No auto insurance? Your excuses just got fewer" »

The first homeowners under the federal government's Neighborhood Stabilization Program are starting to move in. They include Josh Morgan, who hopes to get the keys Friday to his newly remodeled three-bedroom, two-bath home in Visalia.

Morgan, 22, is the second person in Visalia to buy a house through the stimulus-funded program where cities and counties buy abandoned and foreclosed houses, renovate them and resell them to low and moderate families.

He figured he looked at an average of seven houses a week before finally landing one through the government program. "I had been looking for a good year," said Morgan, who will live in the house with his fiancé and young daughter. "But the houses we liked either had something wrong with them or we were getting beat out by other offers."

Morgan learned of the stabilization program through his real estate agent, George Mendonca, and found it helped level the playing field. That's because investors can't participate in the program.

Morgan used an FHA loan to make a 3.5% down payment on a house priced at $97,800. His monthly payment will be $710, including taxes and insurance and replaces his $600 monthly rent.

"I would definitely recommend the program," said Morgan, who works in retail. "It's great for lower-income people."

Visalia officials used their $2.3 million allotment to buy 13 houses, with six others in escrow or with purchase offers waiting for acceptance.

Continue reading "NSP participants starting to move into homes" »

Ed Eames, the late Fresno resident and activist for the disabled, was honored this week in the Congressional Record. Curiously, it was a Virginia congressman who chose to honor Eames.

In the Record's Nov. 17 issue, as part of what's called Extensions of Remarks, Rep. Robert J. Wittman, R-Va., included an homage to Eames. Before passing away Oct. 25 at the age of 79, Eames had founded the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners. He co-authored two books with his wife Toni and was active in many disability rights issues.

A spokesman for Wittman explained Thursday that one of the congressman's Virginia constituents had worked with Eames in the past and had urged the lawmaker to pay his respects via the Congressional Record.

Notice a flattened skunk in the road? Perhaps a mangled bird, porcupine or mule deer?

People want to know about your roadkill finds. The University of California, Davis, has set up a Web page called California Roadkill Observation System, with the ghoulish mission of tracking smashed critters, getting photos and getting their locations on a map.

The reason? I think folks are trying to influence management and policy decisions in such matters as road building and placement of signs.

"We have created this site to provide a way for people like you to report roadkill so that we can understand and try to influence the factors that contribute to roadkill," the Web site says.

Total roadkill reports is 1,435 over a few months time.

Do I cancel my scheduled mammogram or do I keep it?

I have a phobia about X-rays. Just ask my dentist - she practically has to tie me in restraints to get a full-mouth X-ray every couple of years. Her assurance that I'm getting no more radiation than from the sun doesn't appease me. I've had too many bad burns to take that lightly.

So now, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, I can skip this upcoming year's dose of radiation from a mammogram. I only need a screening once every two years instead an annual mammogram.

I haven't had anything detected that would make it crucial to get a mammogram every year. Maybe I could let the test slide this year, and it would be OK?

According to the task force, this would reduce unnecessary stress. I admit, each year I hold my breath (and not just for the seconds while the machine is whirring) but for days until I get the results. But I always experience a sense of calm and relief the remainder of the year. I feel I've at least done what I could to catch something quickly, and I wouldn't be kicking myself in the butt, should anything be there the next time.

Now, I'm wondering, skip a year and avoid radiation? Or skip a year and spend the 12 months wondering, if in that time, something is wrong and I haven't caught it?

I imagine a lot of women out there are wondering the same.

The Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert blog has an item about one biggest contributors to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot measure committee getting himself into hot water with the feds:

A big chunk of the money that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger collected last year to finance a political reform ballot measure came from a man now being accused of running a massive Ponzi-style fraud in Florida.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Rothstein appeared to be particularly close to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist but among other political figures in the photos were former President George W. Bush and Schwarzenegger.

Read the rest of the post

I thought the headline said it all.

"It's Time to Tell a Dirty Story:
World Toilet Day, Nov. 19"

I thought I didn't even need to read the rest of the e-mail, but this was one message that I could not put down.

"Imagine where you'd be without a toilet? It wouldn't just be a crappy problem, it would be a crisis. In fact, that's exactly what it is for 2.5 billion people in the developing world."

OK, if you don't have toilet, you have a problem. I get it. As the e-mail says: "The lack of access to sanitation is a cross-cutting issue affecting health, environment, education, and economics not just far away, but here in the United States as well."

But it's tough to embrace the world toilet problems with modern communication marketing.

You are going to get a few folks giggling when you tout your public event as "The Big Squat."

No surprise here -- Fresno State students are using the new "tube" to spread the word about cuts to higher education.

Check out this link

The Associated Students Inc. put together the campaign earlier this month. They asked students: "What is your degree worth?" and then created a slide show from the answers.

The video, which includes music, speaks for itself in how students feel about the value of their degree and how that could be undermined by the state budget crisis. This year, students are dealing with much higher fees, a reduced menu of class sections, furloughs and more.

Motor Trend today named the Ford Fusion (right) as its 2010 Car of the Year. But is that enough to make you want to buy one?

The Fusion was chosen from a field of 23 models under consideration by the magazine's editors. To be eligible, a car must be either totally new or a substantial redesign from the previous version.

Motor Trend editor-in-chief Angus MacKenzie announced the winner this morning in a live webcast from Detroit -- a city that has seen its leading industry ravaged by layoffs in two years of economic downturn.

MacKenzie described the award to an American automaker as good news for Detroit, "one of the places most hardest hit" by the industry's woes.

Continue reading "Ford Fusion is Motor Trend's 2010 Car of the Year" »

Howard Gantman is one former spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein who has landed well.

While his one-time colleague Scott Gerber faces a world of hurt for his taping interviews with reporters, while working for state Attorney General Jerry Brown, Gantman has now landed one of Washington, D.C.'s sweetest-sounding P.R. gigs. Gantman is now the vice president of corporate communications in the D.C. office of the Motion Picture Association of America.

Gantman is well known among California reporters, from his long service as Feinstein's communications director and, later, as staff director of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

It probably isn't too big a surprise to learn that borrowers are less satisified with their mortgage lenders in this real estate recession.

A recent survey by J.D. Power and Associates revealed the length of time it takes to close a loan increased from 30 days in 2008 to 47 days today, thanks to increased scrutiny of loan applications.

In addition, lending criteria has tightened. Credit scores are higher and the number of loan applicants faced with requests for more documentation climbed from 33% in 2008 to 45% in 2009.

Officials at J.D. Power said the increased scrutiny is warranted, but said that good service and good underwriting are not mutually exclusive. "...Some of the effects of a tightened lending environment can be mitigaged simply by improving communication between lenders and customers," said David Lo, director of financial services at J.D. Power.

Wachovia, Wells Fargo, GMAC Mortgage and Bank of America ranked higher than average in customer service. Countrywide, Chase and CitiBank fell below, according to J.D. Power.

The National Retail Federation released its list of top 10 retailers for customer service today.

Here's who made the list (in alphabetical order):

Amazon.com
Coldwater Creek
HSN
JCPenney
Kohl's Department Stores
Lands' End
LL Bean
Nordstrom
Overstock.com
QVC
Zappos

They'll announce rankings in January.

It doesn't surprise me that Zappos made the list. The online shoe retailer is known for its customer service, including sending flowers to a customer whose mother had just died. And the company aims for good employees, even offering recruits a $2,000 bonus to walk away from the job after one week of training. How many companies do that?

Any surprises on there? Any personal experiences that reinforce the honor?

Two days after the state passed a landmark law to improve the state's ecosystem and water delivery last week, environmental groups filed lawsuits over two dwindling fish species in the Bay-Delta.

One of the groups -- the Tucson, Ariz.,-based Center for Biological Diversity -- expressed doubt that the new law would do enough to save the fish.

The groups want federal officials to raise the Endangered Species Act status of the delta smelt from threatened to endangered. They also want officials to reconsider their rejection of a petition to protect the longfin smelt.

The endangered designation for the delta smelt would tighten federal standards for development or water permits.

The Bay Institute in Novato also was involved in the federal lawsuits.

At a time when the green awnings of Starbucks seem to be popping up just about everywhere, one might wonder how a mid-sized community smack on Highway 99 gets passed over by the coffee giant.

That's what intrigued me in reporting for today's Word on the Street item about changes in the coffee biz in Selma.

Local entrepreneurs aren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. They know an opportunity when they see it.

Julie Kestly (right, Bee photo by John Walker), owner of Heavenly Grounds, reopened about a month ago near the Selma 6 Cinema after losing the lease on the downtown Selma site she occupied for more than five years selling morning coffee and pastries and noontime sandwiches.

Business at the new location is picking up, albeit slowly. "The lunch crowd has followed me," Kestly said, "but mornings are still pretty quiet."

Continue reading "Coffee independents take advantage of Starbucks' absence" »