California mandates big increase in zero-emission trucks [Los Angeles Times]
The nation’s toughest clean-air mandate on trucks was approved Thursday by the California Air Resources Board. In effect, the board ordered manufacturers of medium-duty and heavy-duty commercial trucks to begin selling zero-emission versions in 2024, with 100,000 sold in California by 2030 and 300,000 by 2035. “This is a bold step we’re taking today,” said air board member Judy Mitchell, adding it is a daunting challenge, given the public investment that will be necessary for buyer incentives and charging infrastructure.
Farm workers in California strike after dozens have virus [Assosciated Press]
A group of about 50 farm workers went on strike Thursday at a California pistachio farm demanding free face coverings, gloves and information from the farm’s owner after they said they learned from the media that dozens of their coworkers tested positive for the coronavirus, a union official said. Workers picketed in the central California city of Wasco outside Primex Farms, which grows pistachio nuts, said Armando Elenes, a United Farm Workers official. Their demands also include better sanitation measures and more information from the company, which had not told them about the positive cases, he said. “They wanted to keep everything confidential, and at the same time, people getting contaminated,” Elenes said.
https://apnews.com/d7bf9ffeb2782f2d658f42ea1a1f4da3
Lawsuit brewing in fight over game bird in Sierra Nevada [Associated Press]
Conservationists are headed back to court to try to force the Trump administration to protect a rare game bird along the California-Nevada border as the government keeps changing its mind about whether to list the cousin of the greater sage grouse as threatened or endangered. Three groups have filed formal notice of their intent to sue after the Fish and Wildlife Service reversed course in March and abandoned its 2018 proposal to list the bi-state grouse under the Endangered Species Act….The federal agency said in March it still believes the population is distinct from the greater sage grouse — living in six population subgroups on the southwest edge of the overall species. But it no longer believes there’s any immediate threat to the survival of the subgroups. “The best scientific and commercial data available indicated the threats … are reduced to the point that the (distinct population segment) does not meet the act’s definition of an ‘endangered species’ or of a ‘threatened species.’” the agency said.
https://apnews.com/651d16b166aace957363e6a0ee8eec8a
Op-ed: Make one thing easier this year: Repeal AB 5 [California Focus]
…Even before the COVID-19 pandemic threw unprecedented millions of workers onto unemployment and wrecked myriad businesses, the measure known as Assembly Bill 5 was destroying careers willy-nilly. It’s become extremely obvious just how amateur and clumsy an effort this bill was from the moment of its conception. In a California economy that thrived for years on gig workers (who themselves often thrived as they moved from company to company, taking the best offers available), this law, signed last September by Gov. Gavin Newsom, became sawdust in the gears of business and employment. Freelancers in many fields were dumped by the hundreds, adding up to many thousands in the months between the bill signing and its Jan. 1 effective date.
Poway High FFA students holding virtual auctions Friday and Saturday [Rancho Bernardo News Journal]
Poway High School’s Future Farmers of America members will hold a virtual auction of their livestock on Friday and Saturday through the San Diego County Fair and on Aug. 1 through the Ramona Country Fair. While the FFA students’ animals are usually sold in auctions at the San Diego County Fair, COVID-19 restrictions have led to its cancellation this year. Students will show their animals by video through the two fairs, according to Shelby Bueno, FFA adviser. The virtual auctions are being held despite the cancellation of the 2020 San Diego County Fair.
