California Connected Newsroom

The Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton says Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has shown great initiative in tackling the state’s aging levee system. “Give the guy credit,” Skelton writes. “If it weren’t for him, the ambitious $175-million project wouldn’t have been attempted. Not by the state, of course. Not by the feds, certainly, although it was […]

The Orange County Register reports that foreclosures are on the rise in Orange County. “Banks sent owners 665 notices of default in November, a 125 percent increase from a year ago and an 11 percent rise from October, DataQuick reported Wednesday,” the Register reports. “It’s the highest monthly total in more than seven years.” The […]

Wired News reports that Google is building “solar trees” on the parking lots and rooftops of its Mountain View headquarters, enough to power about 30 percent of the complex. “About a third of the 9,000 solar panels Google’s installing will take the form of overhanging parking shades at the million-square-foot campus in Mountain View,” Wired’s […]

The New York Times reports in-depth that power executives and economists are increasingly worried about global warming’s future impact on profits and society at large. To head off a crisis, more and more of them are calling for a federal pricing policy that taxes or caps carbon emissions and encourages technological innovation.
“Global warming can be […]

Computer model of Arctic ice vanishing in 40 years. (Animation Copyright UCAR.)
The New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle report on a new study that predicts the Arctic polar ice-cap could melt into open sea during summers in less than 40 years. “In the simulations, the shift seems to occur when a pulse of warm […]

Wired’s Rob Beschizza reports on a new debate between scientists and people who say they suffer from health problems caused by electro-magnetic frequencies beamed across wireless networks. Previous fears about cellphones and inconclusive links with cancer have caught the popular imagination. “Sufferers report headaches, nausea, stomach upsets, tinnitus, brain fog and short-term memory among the […]

The Los Angeles Times’ Stephanie Simon reports on cities across the country that are bypassing the Bush administration and trying to meet the greenhouse-gas reduction targets of the international treaty known as the Kyoto Protocol. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels started the civic trend two years ago by adopting the targets and then challenging other cities […]

Solar panel installation on rooftop. Photo by Abraxas3d.
The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Craig D. Rose filed part one of his special report on California’s solar power ambitions, reporting that a new 10-year subsidy program beginning next year will pump $3.4 billion dollars into the solar panel market. That translates to 1 million solar roofs, he writes, […]

The Los Angeles Times’ Janet Wilson filed another strong story today on air pollution and public health, reporting that according to outside experts the Environmental Protection Agency has reduced the influence of its scientific advisory in determining the impact of dangerous pollutants. She reports that the EPA is replacing independent, scientific recommendations with those prepared […]

The Associated Press reports that health officials have linked the E. coli outbreak in the Northeast to Taco Bell scallions that were grown in an Oxnard farm. The exact point of contamination has not yet been confirmed, but experts already see serious implications for California agriculture. Earlier this year, a deadly E. coli outbreak was […]