A rare bloom of microscopic organisms capable of making their own blue light has transformed several of the state’s beaches

Sheltering in place doesn’t mean you have to give up the best of wine country's offerings

WELL, I don't know about you but my central heating has already been on twice in September and although I don't need much of an excuse to delve into the big heavy reds, two heating days is my current one.

Hundreds of teachers across the Sacramento Unified school district walked out of their classrooms and onto picket lines last week for the first time in 30 years, staging a one-day strike alleging unfair labor practices by the California district.

Democrat Gavin Newsom, who takes office Jan. 7, plans to expand full-day kindergarten and child-care offerings in the state, according to media reports.

Nearly 20 years after voting to restrict bilingual education in a state with more than 1 million schoolchildren who don't speak English as their first language, California voters appear poised to reverse that ban.

The ballot measure essentially repeals Proposition 227, the 1998 law that made it tougher for districts to offer bilingual education.

In California, nearly 1 in every 4 children don't speak English fluently. On Election Day, the state's voters will decide whether to overturn a longstanding policy of teaching these children in English-only classrooms, or whether to embrace bilingual forms of teaching.

After nearly two decades of restrictions, educators say it will take time for schools to create new programs and hire bilingual teachers.

Autism has been associated with pregnancy and birth complications that may indicate a suboptimal prenatal environment. Although the interpregnancy interval (IPI) may affect the prenatal environment, the association between the IPI and risk for autism is not known.

Using full-sibling pairs from a large population, the authors examined the association between autism and IPIs. Second-born children conceived after an IPI of <12 months had more than threefold increased odds of autism relative to those with IPIs of ≥36 months. (Read the full article)

Previous studies have shown that nonmedical exemptions (NMEs) to immunization cluster geographically and contribute to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as pertussis. The 2010 pertussis resurgence in California has been widely attributed to waning immunity from acellular pertussis vaccines.

This study provides evidence of spatial and temporal clustering of NMEs and clustering of pertussis cases and suggests that geographic areas with high NME rates were also associated with high rates of pertussis in California in 2010. (Read the full article)

An increasing number of children are unvaccinated at entry into public schools, potentially endangering children who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons and threatening herd immunity. Voluntary exemptions from immunizations vary geographically and by parental characteristics.

We find that exemption behavior is highest in peripheral areas of cities and that specific types of student populations are associated with high exemption rates. Additionally, there is spatial overlap between clusters of high personal exemption and medical exemption populations. (Read the full article)

Federal law requires states to report student test scores in achievement levels, but leaders in the Golden State want to take a different approach.

California's budget reductions will result in some state curricular materials not reaching the state's schools until 2017 or later, Jack O'Connell says.

California's proposed curriculum guide in ethnic studies is being sent back for substantial revision after a pileup of criticism that it's anti-Semitic.

California, which has a mixed history when it comes to evidence-based reading instruction, has a plan to use federal funds for literacy programs that some say are out of sync with the science.

This morning President Trump ordered American flags at all U.S. government buildings and facilities to be flown at half-staff until sunset on November 10, 2018 as a mark of solemn respect for the victims of the terrible act of violence perpetrated in Thousand Oaks, California, on November 7, 2018. In concurrence with the President’s order […]

The Delaware Forest Service has dispatched a 20-person wildfire crew to help fight a wave of lightning-caused wildfires around Hayfork, California in the area of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. California has declared a state of emergency and the Northern California Region is now at a maximum Preparedness Level of 5 on a 5-point scale. Delaware's team is part of almost 1,500 personnel on the Fork Complex Fire, a group of blazes totaling more than 25,000 acres near Hayfork, CA that is only 5 percent contained.

A team of 20 wildland firefighters under the direction of the Delaware Forest Service is working with 1,165 personnel currently battling the Fork Complex, a group of lightning-caused fires near Hayfork, California that totals 11,862 acres but is only 7 percent contained. Kyle Hoyd, the Delaware Forest Service's assistant forestry administrator, summarized the crew's effort: "We did a burnout with two engine teams on the Peak Fire off of a dozer line and put hand line around several structures in the same area." Earlier in the week, Hoyd reported that "everyone is doing well" but the "fire is in steep terrain with multiple hazards."

A wildfire crew led by the Delaware Forest Service is near completion of a two-week assignment on the Fork Complex Fire, a 28,736-acre blaze near Hayfork, California in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. Almost 2,400 personnel are battling the fire that is currently 26 percent contained. The Fork Complex is one of several large wildfires in Northern California that together cover more than 223,000 acres, one of the major factors that prompted the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) to increase its National Preparedness Level today to the maximum of 5 on a 5-point scale.

US electric-car maker Tesla's CEO Elon Musk has told employees that its plant in Fremont, California will be reopened on Friday. It comes as California allows state manufacturers to start reopening following the lockdown.
Read Full Article at RT.com

As the sun sets on California’s solar farms, a backup energy source deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains springs to life.

Natron Energy said that the California Energy Commission (CEC) awarded it a $3 million grant for “Advanced Energy Storage for Electric Vehicle Charging Support.” Natron will use the money to manufacture and install a high powered, long cycle life energy storage system at an EV Fast Charging station.

It may be safe for a bird to land on a wire, but not on two of them at once.

The Clean Power Alliance (CPA) has signed three long-term power purchase agreements, including two new solar projects and one existing small hydro project.

California, long a progressive leader on renewable energy and climate change mitigation, has neglected a key market segment for renewable energy: the “community-scale,” or “wholesale distributed generation” (DG), market. This market segment is defined as projects below 20 megawatts that connect to the distribution grid and export power to the grid for sale.

California’s energy storage incentive program has been a great success, with more than 11,000 battery storage systems installed to-date. The problem is, it’s not reaching the state’s most vulnerable communities. A new proposal from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) aims to fix some of the barriers preventing disadvantaged communities from participating in the program, and it allocates $100 million to a new program designed to offset the cost of battery storage systems for populations threatened by wildfires and related utility power shutoffs.

California-based solar developer Sunpin Solar said that Direct Energy Business, a subsidiary of Centrica PLC, signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the full output of the recently completed 96.75-MW DC / 74.8-MW AC ColGreen North Shore Power Plant.

Yuba College, a community college part of the Yuba Community College District, this week completed a 1-MW solar carport installation that it says could result in $10 million of avoided utility costs over the life of the system. The District purchased the solar outright, which resulted in optimal savings.

As the sun sets on California’s solar farms, a backup energy source deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains springs to life.

The Clean Power Alliance (CPA) has signed three long-term power purchase agreements, including two new solar projects and one existing small hydro project.

In 2017, Massachusetts was ranked No. 1 in energy efficiency by ACEEE for the seventh consecutive year. On the other side of the country, California was ranked a close second after tying with Massachusetts for the top spot in 2016.

Ice Energy, a California firm that uses chunks of ice to cool buildings, has secured $40 million in financing from private equity group Argo Infrastructure Partners LLC.

Yesterday another milestone was reached in California’s march toward a 100 percent renewable energy mandate with the passing of SB100 by the Assembly. The bill will require the state to receive 50 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2026; 60 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2045. The current law requires the state to get 50 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030.

California recently joined other leading states, provinces, cities, and corporations around the world by setting an ambitious 100 percent carbon-free electricity target. It’s a landmark, not because California was the first, but because it is the biggest. The state ranks as the fifth-largest economy in the world.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) is funding a study that it hopes will result in lower utility bills for customers and more control over electricity load for utilities. The project will involve 100 homeowners in Southern California who will install various types of distributed energy resources (DER) such as thermostats, load control switches, batteries, water heaters and eventually electric vehicle chargers.

This week, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that rather than investing in the Haynes, Harbor and Scattergood natural gas power plants to meet the requirements of a 2010 law related to a practice known as once through cooling, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) will phase them out in favor of renewable energy.

California’s energy storage incentive program has been a great success, with more than 11,000 battery storage systems installed to-date. The problem is, it’s not reaching the state’s most vulnerable communities. A new proposal from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) aims to fix some of the barriers preventing disadvantaged communities from participating in the program, and it allocates $100 million to a new program designed to offset the cost of battery storage systems for populations threatened by wildfires and related utility power shutoffs.

California Governor Jerry Brown proposed spending $59 billion to fix crumbling roads and raising the state’s renewable energy mandate to 50 percent.

California’s bet on green energy is paying off, with clean technology companies creating more jobs and investing more money than competitors in any other state.

Jim Keffer is Republican state lawmaker in Texas with a permit to carry a concealed weapon and doubts about whether human activity is causing global warming.

Yuba College, a community college part of the Yuba Community College District, this week completed a 1-MW solar carport installation that it says could result in $10 million of avoided utility costs over the life of the system. The District purchased the solar outright, which resulted in optimal savings.

California’s rapid renewable energy expansion has led to a boom in large-scale solar and wind projects and a huge expansion of rooftop solar. As costs have fallen, solar energy has become much less expensive, and utility-scale solar and wind are now less expensive than new gas plants, and far less expensive than existing coal.

As the sun sets on California’s solar farms, a backup energy source deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains springs to life.

Natron Energy said that the California Energy Commission (CEC) awarded it a $3 million grant for “Advanced Energy Storage for Electric Vehicle Charging Support.” Natron will use the money to manufacture and install a high powered, long cycle life energy storage system at an EV Fast Charging station.