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SACRAMENTO – North Coast Sen. Mike McGuire introduced bipartisan legislation on Thursday to ensure that the 70 percent of California's students who will not go on to obtain a four-year degree will have a greater opportunity to receive the career and job skills they deserve.
Career technical education programs have suffered from severe cuts in funding, while the importance of the programs have grown due to the state’s rebounding economy.
Sen. McGuire is proud to lead a bipartisan coalition that will ensure that students of California can receive the job and career skills they need to thrive.
The legislation was jointly authored by Sen. Connie M. Leyva and co-authored by Republican Senate Leader Bob Huff, Senators Isadore Hall, Tony Mendoza, Andy Vidak and Ben Allen, and Assemblymembers Bill Dodd, Jim Wood and Autumn Burke.
The legislation – The Career and Job Skills Education Act, or SB 148 – would appropriate $600 million of Prop 98 funds to a career technical education (CTE) incentive grant for local educational agencies, joint power authorities, and regional occupational centers and programs.
“We are at a time when the rapid growth of California’s population and labor force depends on attracting, supporting, and retaining businesses that pay sustainable wages to highly skilled and qualified workers. Improvement in the overall quality of the workforce is a vital component of the economic development of California,” McGuire said.
Career technical education has proven to not only significantly reduce high school dropout rates, but motivate more than 70 percent of high school students who have been involved in CTE programs to pursue higher education shortly after graduation.
The Career and Job Skills Education Act closely mirrors, in language and intent, the CTE incentive matching grant program outlined in the Governor’s 2015-16 budget proposal.
It expands upon that $250 million, using funds from the anticipated billions in growth of Proposition 98 funds.
“For the first time, this is a bill that will ensure funds go directly to CTE programs by requiring rigorous performance standards and accountability measures based on student outcomes,” McGuire added.
In addition, the bill is specifically tailored to districts by preserving the local control funding formula.
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SACRAMENTO – The moratorium for stores to apply for authorization in the California Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program will be lifted effective Feb. 1, Dr. Ron Chapman, California Department of Public Health director and state health officer, announced this week.
“This positive step will improve availability and access for the approximately 1.4 million women, infants and children who participate in the California WIC program,” said Dr. Chapman.
To address rising food costs in the California WIC program, the United States Department of Agriculture in 2012 continued a moratorium on the addition of new vendors into the program so that CDPH and USDA could develop and implement strategies to contain costs and ensure program integrity.
USDA notified CDPH by letter that the moratorium can now be fully lifted.
In June 2014, USDA partially lifted the moratorium to include additional locations for stores that already had a master contract with the WIC program. Since that time, 217 stores have been added to the program.
In September 2014, USDA partially lifted the moratorium to include new full-line grocery stores. Since that time, 24 stores have been added to the program.
It is anticipated that 200 stores will be added statewide after the moratorium is fully lifted. California currently has approximately 4,300 authorized stores that participate in the WIC program.
“USDA and CDPH continue to work together to ensure the strategies now in place are effective in containing food costs and comply with federal regulations and mandates,” said Dr. Chapman.
California WIC provides access to healthy supplemental foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and referrals to health care and community services for the infants, children and pregnant or post-partum women it serves. WIC spends approximately $83 million each month on food.
At the federal level, WIC is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture and California’s WIC Program is administered at the state level by CDPH.
Additional information is available on the cost containment strategies recently implemented at www.cdph.ca.gov .
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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah has announced that three Northern California hotels and seven restaurants have been awarded the prestigious AAA Five Diamond Award for 2015, including one first-time recipient.
These establishments represent the upper echelon of hospitality and fine dining.
The AAA Five Diamond lodgings are establishments chosen for providing refined, stylish and upscale physical attributes where guests receive personalized attention from an experienced staff who enhance an extensive array of amenities and services.
The Five Diamond restaurants are chosen for their distinctive culinary experiences that feature highly innovative chefs, handcrafted artisanal menus featuring fresh top-quality ingredients and expert staff.
Northern California AAA Five Diamond Award-winning hotels are:
– The Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco (since 1994).
– The Ritz-Carlton in Truckee, Lake Tahoe (2011).
– Château Du Sureau in Oakhurst (2013).
Northern California AAA Five Diamond Award-winning restaurants are:
– The Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena (since 2013).
– Erna’s Elderberry House in Oakhurst (1996).
– The Kitchen Restaurant in Sacramento (2011).
– Benu in San Francisco (2012).
– Gary Danko in San Francisco (2003).
– Saison in San Francisco *(First time-recipient).
– The French Laundry in Yountville (2005).
“Attaining a AAA Five Diamond rating is not an easy undertaking,” said AAA Northern California spokesperson Cynthia Harris. “Establishments at this level must consistently provide an unparalleled guest environment and experience. We are proud to recognize these dedicated local establishments for the Five Diamond rating.”
AAA inspectors visit more than 58,000 hotels and restaurants over the course of the year, allowing them to identify emerging trends in the industry.
Inspectors have observed hotels increasingly using technology to complement the white glove service guests expect at the ultra-luxury level, allowing options such as mobile check-in and touch-screen access to concierge services.
Similarly at restaurants, they have observed the emergence of tablet-based digital menus, with electronic ordering and tableside payment features.
Continuing a 79-year tradition, AAA professionally trained inspectors rely on published guidelines to conduct unannounced property evaluations. AAA inspectors collectively visit some 1,200 hotels and restaurants nationwide each week.
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EMERYVILLE, Calif. – As the new year begins, California gas prices continue to take a dive.
On Tuesday, state gas prices registered at $ 2.58 on average for a gallon of unleaded gasoline – that’s $0.39 cheaper than prices since AAA Northern California’s latest monthly gas survey of Dec. 9, 2014.
Northern California’s average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is $2.56; that’s $0.38 less than last month’s AAA reported price on Dec. 9.
The highest recorded price ever registered in the state of California was in October 2012, at $4.67 a gallon for unleaded regular.
The least expensive average price in Northern California can be found in Marysville, where regular unleaded gasoline is $2.31 per gallon.
Of all metro areas tracked by AAA in Northern California, Yreka continues to register the highest price at $2.87 per gallon of unleaded regular.
“The dramatic slide in retail gas prices has been driven by a similar plummet in global crude oil prices since the end of the summer of 2014,” said Cynthia Harris, AAA Northern California spokesperson. “This decline in the price of oil has been a product of weak demand combined with abundant supply.”
Tuesday's national average is $2.12 per gallon and the average price for regular unleaded gasoline continues to test lows not seen since May 2009.
While lower gas prices are certainly a welcome relief for consumers, the broad impact of sustained low oil prices are front of mind for many industry stakeholders.
In countries like the United States where the cost of oil extraction is more expensive, producers may be forced to reassess their plans to factor in profit margins that are sharply lower or even reversed as markets continue to register multi-year lows.
The global price of crude has lost more than half its value since mid-2014. OPEC has reiterated that it will not intervene in the market to force prices higher and plans to sustain its current production levels, with the earliest possibility for supply reductions reportedly pushed to their next meeting scheduled for June.
Sustained low prices for crude can also potentially influence the way global markets are assessed.
At the close of formal trading on the NYMEX Monday, WTI closed at $48.36 per barrel.
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