SACRAMENTO, CA—The California Police Chiefs Association (CPCA) has endorsed Corona Police Sergeant Jason Perez for the Public Agency Seat of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) Board of Directors.
“CalPERS is in trouble and needs Sergeant Jason Perez on its Board,” said CPCA President, David Swing. “Jason is the only candidate with a real plan to save the pension fund and ensure that police officers and all public employees throughout California will have a stable and secure retirement when their careers come to an end.”
Established in 1966, the California Police Chiefs Association represents municipal police chiefs and their agencies in California. Association members provide public safety for more than 26 million Californians. 
“I am deeply honored to have the support of California’s Police Chiefs,” Jason Perez said.  “One of the most vital tools these chiefs need to attract the best and most professional police officers to their departments is the pension benefit. As a member of the CalPERS Board of Director’s, I will work hard every day to ensure that the CalPERS pension fund is solvent and provides those who have paid into the system with the reasonable retirement they were promised.”
Jason Perez is committed to steering the CalPERS Board away from failing divestment strategies that have resulted in catastrophic financial losses for California’s pension fund.  Prior to the current Board makeup, CalPERS was 108% funded.  Today CalPERS is roughly 70% funded, resulting in employees across the state have had their retirements cut.
Jason Perez is a sergeant with the Corona Police Department and currently serves as the president of the Corona Police Officers Association.  Perez’s candidacy for CalPERS Board of Directors is supported by rank and file law enforcement officers and a large collection of municipal and county employees throughout the state of California.
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Loyalton held its September Market on the 15th with a great variety! Many thanks to those who made the effort. Vendors are free. Next Market is October 27th when East Sierra Valley Chamber and Leonards provide a fun venue for the whole family. Come carve pumpkins, get face painting and enjoy a bounce house! It all starts at 10 a.m.

Ruby Burch and Bobby Wheeler offer handmade crafts at Saturday's Loyalton Market.

HOUSE PLANTS were offered by Kayte Lundee.

Release Date: September 14, 2018
Contact: Kevin Sweeney, kevin_sweeney@nps.gov, 530-595-6131
 
Lassen Volcanic to Waive Entrance Fee to Celebrate 25th Anniversary of National Public Lands Day
 
MINERAL, CA - All National Park Service sites, including Lassen Volcanic National Park, will offer free admission to visitors on September 22 for National Public Lands Day. “I encourage everyone to take advantage of this fee free day to explore and discover the beauty and recreational opportunities that Lassen Volcanic National Park has to offer,” said Superintendent Jim Richardson. “There is much for the public to experience and enjoy in the parklands and forests of northern California.
 
On September 22, thousands of volunteers will show their appreciation for our America's public lands by volunteering in National Public Lands Day activities. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of National Public Lands Day, the public is encouraged to participate in activities focusing on the resilience and restoration of our public lands.
 
Lassen Volcanic is excited to participate in National Public Lands Day through a number of activities. Students, teachers, and parents from the Lassen-Antelope Volcanic Academy (LAVA) Charter School will kick off National Public Lands Day activities on September 21. These hardworking volunteers will take part in an important restoration project to remove overgrown vegetation on Manzanita Lake Dam.
 
Other opportunities for volunteering will occur throughout the park. There is a need for volunteers to assist in making our park signs more resilient through cleaning and polishing. Visitors can help the park highway and trailhead signs shine by wiping down and polishing wayside exhibits and bulletin cases. Pick up and drop-off a small kit with supplies, instructions, and locations at the Loomis Museum or Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center.
 
There is also an excellent project to work with park biologists to restore native vegetation by removing invasive species. This is a fantastic opportunity to help the park, while working side-by-side with park experts in the botany and ecology of Lassen Volcanic. Volunteers interested in this opportunity should contact park staff by calling (530) 595-4480 or emailing lavo_information@nps.gov by September 20.
 
In addition to entering free on September 22nd, and helping Lassen Volcanic become more resilient, all National Public Lands Day volunteers will earn a free entrance pass to be used at a later date to show appreciation for their hard work!
 
National Public Lands Day is a Fee Free Entrance Day at Lassen Volcanic National Park and all National Park sites for all visitors. The other federal agencies not charging for admittance on National Public Lands Day include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Forest Service.
 
For more information, please contact the park at (530) 595-4480, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/lavo.
 
 
EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA
The National Park Service cares for special places saved by the American people so that all may experience our heritage.
 

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 (SACRAMENTO) – Today, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 2564, a measure sponsored by the California Trucking Association (CTA), which will deter the use of non-compliant “glider trucks” in California by increasing the minimum penalty from $1,000 per violation to $25,000 for those caught operating these vehicles.
“Members of the trucking community have invested more than $1 billion annually to retrofit existing vehicles or purchase new ones to meet California’s strict air pollution standards and regulations,” said Shawn Yadon, CTA’s CEO. “Unfortunately, there are those who have sought to circumvent engine-retrofit mandates and continue to operate dirty engines by utilizing glider kits to disguise their old and outdated engines.”
Glider trucks and new trucks can look the same on the outside, making it extremely difficult to distinguish between non-compliant and compliant trucks without taking a look under the hood. Because glider trucks are cheaper to purchase and operate using non-compliant engines with a minimal penalty if caught, some truck owners have purchased glider kits to hide these outdated, polluting engines and skirt state regulations that others have spent billions of dollars to meet California’s air quality standards.
The significant increase in the penalty in AB 2564 is critical to ensure operators are strongly deterred from breaking the law by operating a non-compliant glider. The $25,000 penalty will help eliminate any economic advantage that using non-compliant glider vehicles current encourage. 
“Setting a minimum civil penalty for driving a non-compliant glider sends a clear message to those who might seek to break California law,” added Shawn Yadon. “More importantly, AB 2564 protects those truckers and fleets, who have invested billions of dollars in newer, cleaner trucks and engines, from any unfair business advantage by non-compliant competitors by leveling the playing field.”
The measure, which was authored by Assemblymembers Freddie Rodriguez (D-Chino) and Eloise Gomez Reyes (D-San Bernardino), sailed through the Assembly and Senate with near unanimous support from Republicans and Democrats, and will take effect on January 1, 2019.

 
 

​LOYALTON CITY COUNCIL met in special session to vote an urgency ordinance  prohibiting all commercial cannabis activity, both medical and non-medical, except for deliveries of medical cannabis and finding the ordinance exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act.
Council member Joy Markum and Mayor Mark Marin thanked the community for its support. “You all mean a lot,” stated the mayor and added, “Sierra Brooks and outlying areas.”
From the audience Jeff Naughton owner of a cannabis medical dispensary business, Evexia Science in Truckee, who had taken out a business license for Loyalton, stated the ordinance was 4/5 majority even in a short council. He claimed he was trying to do it legally and go by the rules but they cannot have a vote that holds up.
City Attorney Steve Gross addressed Naughton stating 4/5 is 80% and 3 votes of the council is 100%. He said the council can act and the requirement is all three vote
affirmatively for the health safety and welfare of the community.
Not to drag it out, it was stated there’d been three major meetings on this subject, two with the public and one major council meeting, all with standing-room only.
Augustine from Evexia, verified the existing ordinance in Loyalton is reputing that. Gross stated it didn’t do anything and is not in conflict.
Public Comment included Sue McIlravy who questioned drug treatment.
Gross answered the ordinance does not affect treatment of adult facilities nor drug treatment. He said there is no ordinance that would prohibit that. John Evans stated Loyalton is all about raising cattle, sheep, alfalfa and kids, not an environment for cannabis and hoping to disallow cultivation in Loyalton. Staci Armstrong urged the council to pass the ordinance, not targeting adults but our children. Samantha Engle had just left the bay area for a better lifestyle and doesn’t want it here. Brooks Mitchell questioned  cottage industry which the city allows and Gross said it would cover them and ban cannabis everywhere in the city.
Joy Markum moved, Nancy Rogers seconded and Mayor Marin  agreed to pass the urgency ordinance.

 
QUINCY, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) urges the public to take extra safety precautions as water flows are increased the weekend of September 22-23 for whitewater recreation in the Rock Creek Reach of the North Fork Feather River in Plumas County.
 
This portion of the river contains Class III, IV and V rapids, which are only appropriate for skilled paddlers, and not appropriate for tubing.
 
The Rock Creek Reach is the 8.3-mile portion of the North Fork of the Feather River in the Plumas National Forest between PG&E’s Rock Creek dam and the Rock Creek powerhouse near Storrie.
 
Prior to the scheduled increase for September 22-23, flows in the Rock Creek Reach will be at about 450 cubic feet per second (cfs). On Saturday September 22 flows will gradually increase to 900 cfs by 9 a.m. The flows will be held at 900 cfs until about 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 23, then gradually reduced back to about 450 cfs.
 
The recreational flows are done in cooperation with American Whitewater and the Rock Creek–Cresta Ecological Resource Committee and are usually done four weekends a year in summer.
 
PG&E offers the following water safety tips:
 

• Sudden immersion in cold water can stimulate the “gasp reflex,” causing an involuntary inhalation of air or water. It can even trigger cardiac arrest, temporary paralysis, hypothermia and drowning. When faced with swift water, even the strongest swimmers may be easily overwhelmed.

 

• Many unseen obstacles can be lurking below the water’s surface. Swift water can make these obstacles even more treacherous. Guided trips for inexperienced paddlers are recommended.

 

• Recreating in PG&E canals and flumes is strictly prohibited. Stay out of canals and flumes, which are very dangerous due to slippery sides, sub-surface obstacles, fast moving water, and transitions to full tunnels and pipes. For more water safety tips visit:  www.pge.com/hydrosafety

 
 
About PG&E
 
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric energy companies in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ andpge.com/news.
 
 
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By Harold Pease, Ph. D

The Federal Government requires colleges to commemorate Constitution Day, September 17, with some kind of a student activity to qualify for Title IV grant monies, which, if people really read the Constitution, they would find no authority for the grant.  The requirement is largely ignored.
Some years back I was asked to give suggestions for a meaningful constitutional program.  The assigned administer and I pondered several options none of which seemed fitting or particularly meaningful. Still, we should do something—constitutional ignorance is appalling and patriotism from those under 25 has not really been taught.  Now athletes making millions, because the document made it possible for their talent to flourish under freedom, refuse to stand when our national anthem is played.  These may not deserve the freedom that is still left from the document.
Where do we start?  Virtually no one reads the Constitution anymore and neither major political party feels particularly harnessed by it as the Founders intended.  Few college courses require it being read in full and few universities have a class specifically dedicated to it—not even law schools.  I know no one in my profession that actually had to read the entire document for a Ph. D.  
Should I talk about the total disregard of the list in Article I, Section 8 from which the government is limited in making laws?  The Founders created the list so that government could not rule wherever it pleased, as in other countries.  Or perhaps the 10th Amendment which strengthens the argument that all powers not specifically mentioned remain with the states and with the people which is flagrantly violated almost daily by a renegade, constitutionally inept, or ignorant congress.
Should I talk about the separation of powers created by the Founders where one branch made the law, another enforced the law, and yet a third adjudicated the law—a separation that we used to honor.  If I did I would also have to talk about the present corruptness of the separation.  For the last sixty years an unelected bureaucracy made most federal laws because Congress got lazy and allowed other organizations to fill in the details for them. Now called rules and regulations instead of laws, but they still exact a punishment if a business or individual is out of harmony.  Until the Trump Administration the Federal Register, wherein they are housed, daily added a half-inch thick of pages of new ones.
Also, I would have to mention that presidents make law by executive orders, most with no actual legislative authorization.  Signing statements, popularized by the George W. Bush Administration, distorted laws passed by Congress by effectively removing portions he disagreed with.  The Obama Administration created 34 “Czars,” a new level of administrators (purposely skirting Senate confirmation), to manage areas where no Constitutional authority existed.  To all of this Congress remained silent to the abduction of her power.
The Supreme Court also makes law by ruling in such a way as to give existing law new meaning never envisioned in its origin; or by giving its approval to law having no constitutional base—as for example national health care.  Justice Clarence Thomas admitted that some Justices attempt to ascertain what the Founders had in mind before ruling; others he said, “just make it up.”  This could be a college presentation.  Would enough students listen, or even care?
The notion of federalism that the states handle domestic issues and the federal government primarily foreign issues and that they are coequal (like a marriage) neither being master or slave to the other is gone; as is the Constitutional mandate that federal empowerment requires the consent of 3/4ths of the states as stipulated in Article V.  This might be a good topic but it would take at least an hour to explain and some quick student assemblage to fulfill the government mandated requirement would never do.  Besides this notion of shared and equal power was abandoned in the fifties and sixties and today the federal government clearly rules the states who now bow in near total obedience, their palms extended and tongues hanging out, for federal government grants in areas where the federal government has no constitutional authority to grant.   
States and colleges, like individuals, are addicted to the “free” money.  Try telling a student body that the “free” college tuition advocated by beloved socialist guru Bernie Sanders, and others like him, is totally unconstitutional without an amendment to the Constitution and see if you are allowed to finish your required presentation.
There are so many other topics one might cover. The distortion of the 2ndAmendment of the Constitution from an intended individual right to have a weapon, whether government approved or not, to only a collective right through a militia, now interpreted as the National Guard, which organization did not then exist.  Or, the mutilation of the 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th Amendments under the National Defense Authorization Act legislation passed by Congress Dec. 2012.
My point!!!  The Constitution is a foreign language to most and this ignorance has resulted in our being out of harmony so long.  Where do I start?  The perversions are almost numberless. Colleges supposedly do something to qualify for the Title IV grants, on or before, Sept. 17, but is what they do meaningful?  I very much doubt that any of the afore mentioned objections are mentioned.

 
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College.  Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.

 

 
SACRAMENTO – Senator Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado) today announced that Governor Brown has signed his Senate Bill 1246, a bill that will streamline and modernize the process for expediting property tax refunds to California taxpayers.
 
“I’m thankful the Governor recognized this as an important taxpayer protection bill,” said Senator Gaines. “SB 1246 is simple and fair, two elements of good governance that are too often missing in California. With this bill, we will now be able to resolve any overpayment issues efficiently and quickly, and get taxpayers back what is rightfully theirs.”
 
Under previous law, an outdated and archaic “refund claim form” was required to be mailed to a member of the public who is owed money due to an overpayment of taxes, penalties, assessments, interest or other costs associated with local taxes. The claim form had to be signed and returned by the taxpayer before the county could issue a refund. 
 
SB 1246 will speed up the process to allow the county to simply pay the taxpayer what is owed when an overpayment or refund is discovered without the time-consuming paperwork required under current law.
 
“Government makes it easy to pay them money and hard to get any back. This bill levels the scales and puts the needs of taxpayers first,” said Senator Gaines.
 
Senator Ted Gaines represents the 1st Senate District, which includes all or parts of Alpine, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra and Siskiyou counties.
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SACRAMENTO—The State Board of Education on Thursday approved California’s first-ever computer science standards – learning expectations that will help each student reach their creative potential in our digitally connected world.
“As a forward-leaning state and home to Silicon Valley, California’s new standards will not only enable students to understand how their digital world works but will encourage critical thinking and discussion about the broader ethical and social implications and questions related to the growing capabilities of technology,” said State Board Member Trish Williams, who serves as the Board’s computer science liaison.
Developed by educators, the standards are designed to help students move from passive users of technology to creators and innovators who interact with computers. Beyond simply learning to code, the standards push students to communicate as scientists and find creative solutions to difficult problems.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said the standards would help improve computer science education in California.
“These standards will give our students a deeper understanding of computer science that will better prepare our students for careers and college and help them succeed in a fiercely competitive global economy,” Torlakson said.
“California’s economy, including a high tech industry that leads the world, will also benefit because employers will be able to hire workers with a better understanding of computer science and technology, and the skills to use technology to solve problems.”
The standards place a strong emphasis on equity by providing educators with examples of ways they can broaden participation in computer science to include diverse students. While 60 percent of California’s student population is Latinx or African American, only about 25 percent of students who take high school computer science courses are from these demographic groups. In the technology workforce, Latinx and African Americans represent about 15 percent of employees.
Also at today’s meeting, the Board was presented with a resolution from Assemblymember Marc Berman’s staff designating September 2018 as Computer Science Month in California.
The road to adoption of the standards began in 2014 with Governor Brown’s signing of Assembly Bill 1539, which directed California’s Instructional Quality Commission to recommend computer science standards to the State Board by July 2019. The state subsequently met with focus groups and later convened a Computer Science Standards Advisory Committee of teachers, professors, and administrators. That group developed the standards that were adopted today using work already in progress by the Computer Science Teachers Association.
“The standards approved today were built off the most recent national consensus on what concepts and practices in computer science all students should have access to learning from kindergarten through high school,” Board Member Williams said.
Computer science as a foundational discipline that should be accessible to all students is relatively new to K–12 education. It is the study of how technology and computing systems are created and their impact on society. The standards cover six core computer science concepts (such as algorithms and programming) and seven core practices (such as creating computational artifacts and recognizing computational problems). By contrast, learning to type, word processing, computer repair, and playing video games are not within the scope computer science as defined by the standards.
A strategic plan for scaling up computer science education in California, including providing appropriate support to educators and ensuring access and equity for all students, is expected to come before the State Board for approval in March 2019.
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THE EVENT was held August 25th down Commercial Street led by Care Flight and included floats, classic cars and emergency vehicles.