SACRAMENTO, Calif. — US senator proposes money, oversight to boost dam safety
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is proposing to boost federal efforts to fortify the nation's dams following an Associated Press investigation that found scores of potentially troubling dams around the country.
Gillibrand said Tuesday that new legislation should ensure that federal standards are in place to make dams more resilient to extreme weather stemming from climate change. She also called on her colleagues in Congress to increase federal funding to fix unsafe dams.
An AP report last month identified at least 1,688 high-hazard dams rated in poor or unsatisfactory condition as of last year in 44 states and Puerto Rico.
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Rescuers free entangled humpback whale off California coast
A conservation group says a rescue team helped free a young humpback whale that was tangled in fishing gear south of San Francisco.
The Marine Life Studies group says the team removed the fishing gear last week, days after a fisherman first spotted the entangled animal. She says rescuers attached five large, pink buoys to slow down the whale and keep it near the surface. They could then cut the fishing line running across the whale's back and all the gear fell away. The whale swam free.
The number of whale entanglements is growing, and officials are trying to reduce them.
Light earthquake shakes mountainous central California area
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake has shaken a mountainous area of central California. The U.S. Geological Survey says the tremor occurred at 10:29 a.m. Tuesday.
The epicenter was 8 miles southeast of Parkfield in an agricultural area between the coast and the San Joaquin Valley. The quake occurred at a depth of 3.9 miles. The quake was reported to the USGS by more than 550 people, mostly from San Luis Obispo to Paso Robles.
California freelance journalists sue over new state law
Freelance writers and photographers are challenging California's impending new law that aims to give wage and benefit protections to independent contractors.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday says their jobs would be threatened by what it calls an arbitrary limit of 35 submissions each year. It says that restriction undermines free speech and media diversity. The lawsuit says government has a heavy burden when its regulations single out the press. The bill's author and the state attorney general did not immediately comment.
The law takes effect next month. It also affects ride-share drivers and others in the so-called gig economy.
PG&E, California wildfire victims rework $13.5B settlement
Pacific Gas and Electric has reworked a $13.5 billion settlement with victims of deadly wildfires blamed on the utility to try to prevent it from unraveling after California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected the company's financial rehabilitation plan.
The revision removes a provision requiring Newsom to approve the deal as a key piece of G&E's plan to emerge from bankruptcy protection by June 30. Newsom had jeopardized the pivotal settlement with the victims of catastrophic wildfires during 2017 and 2018 by refusing to give it his blessing. A bankruptcy judge indicated he may issue his own ruling on the settlement during a hearing Tuesday.
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