California Connected Newsroom

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last week released their list of deficient levees across the nation. California topped that list with 37 separate stretches of its levees system deemed likely to fail - more than any other state.
The problematic levees are located in the Central Valley and were cited for “burrowing animals, tree growth […]

While the USDA’s recently unveiled farm bill proposal would cut federal subsidies to some high-earning farmers and “traditional” crops such as rice, wheat, and cotton, California’s farms stand to gain much needed aid from the bill’s provision to spend increased amounts on “specialty crops”, such as fruits and vegetables, which comprise the majority of California’s […]

Executive Producer Bret Marcus rejoices at recent duPont-Columbia awards.
We at California Connected are very proud of winning our first duPont Columbia Award recently in New York. We won a “silver baton” for our half-hour special on veterans of the Iraq War with traumatic brain injuries, called “War Stories from Ward 7-D”.
If you’re not familiar with […]

The San Jose Mercury News’ Mark Emmons files part three of a five-part series on traumatic brain injuries suffered by Iraq War soldiers and the long, painful road to recovery. Today’s piece focuses on Michelle Sandoval, the wife of veteran Frank Sandoval. “There are pivotal moments in the recovery of every severely wounded service member, […]

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 […]

The San Jose Mercury News’ Mark Emmons files part of a five-part series today on traumatic brain injury, the signature wound of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Yesterday, Emmons focused on the story of survivor Frank Sandoval. Today, Emmons delves deeper into the medical science behind treating Sandoval’s injury.
“Military and VA doctors describe a […]

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 […]

Mercury News video of Frank and Michelle Sandoval at Ward 7D.
The San Jose Mercury News ran part one of a five-part series today on an Iraq War veteran struggling to recover from a traumatic brain injury at Acute Care Ward 7D in Palo Alto. The subject, Frank Sandoval, was one of the patients featured in […]

The Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News report that a federal judge has given California six more months to properly accommodate its bulging prison population. But if matters do not improve after that time, U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton says he may be forced to impose a […]