by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

The Santa Cruz Summit Fire was whipped yesterday by strong winds and dry conditions.  Typically, the fires season doesn't start in mid-May, but a dry March and April mean that there is a lot of fuel.  The winds were gusting up to 40-50mph yesterday, so the fire spread quickly.  Winds have settled down somewhat today, and firefighters have been able to make progress on the fire.

Firefighters estimate that up to 10,000 acres might burn, with several houses in the path of the fire. Our best out to those in the area.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel is keeping an eye on the fire.

by Paul Rosenberg [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

They're Baaaaack! (Cross-posted from OpenLeft, thanks to a gentle nudge from Lucas O'Connor.]

I live in Long Beach, walking distance from San Pedro Bay, the southern edge of the Los Angeles Basin, and today there are wildfires raging on the other edge of the Los Angeles Basin. Over 100 houses have been evacutated, and over 2,000 acres burned so far. I can look out my window as I type this and see the smoke.  It's not as bad as the fires one month ago.  But it's a stark reminder of quickly and easily those fires could return.  So I'm going to republish an article I wrote about the fires for Random Lengths News.

The image below combines a satelite photo of the fires from last month with Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother."  She was a refuge from the most famous megadrought of the last century.  But there's been much worse centuries ago, and there's much worse to come, according to scientists I spoke with.

Story begins on the flip...

by wu ming [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

The AP has the goods, it seems:

Ca. Fire Documents Conflict With Reports
By AARON C. DAVIS - 1 day ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Several aircraft were able to fly in strong winds on the first full day of last month's Southern California firestorms, contradicting officials' earlier claims that the weather had grounded virtually all aircraft, according to documents released Saturday.

Twenty-eight of 52 aircraft the state was tracking for firefighting efforts remained grounded that day, and high winds were not listed in the documents as the reason.

by jsw [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Today's Blog Roundup is on the flip. No categories today, but everything is pretty self-explanatory. Let me know what I missed in comments, or just use this as an open thread.

To subscribe by email, click
here and do what comes naturally.

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

The state is starting to emerge from the fires and focus on other topics. Health care is regaining the spotlight, though it still seems like there is a better change of failure legislatively than passage of a bill that Arnold will sign. Advocates are pressing ahead, putting pressure on Arnold to come around and stop siding with his corporate donors instead of the millions of uninsured and underinsured.

Tomorrow at the state capitol the It's OUR Health Care coaltion is having a rally prior to the legislative hearing on Arnold's policy proposal, which the coalition strongly opposes. They are setting up a screen, displaying text messages from Californians to the Governor on health care. They are parking a giant screen on the Capitol grounds and will broadcast them all day long.

To participate send IOH to 30644. They will let you know what to do tomorrow via text. See Matt Ortega's post on Calitics for more.

Meanwhile, the California Labor Federation issued a scathing report on Arnold's proposal to lease the lottery. Here are the three major problems they found.

Using even the most optimistic financial projections, the lottery lease will not provide sufficient funds to address health care costs over the term of the lease.

read more »

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Speaker Nancy Pelosi unleashed the cannons after President George Bush attacked the Democratic Congress. Here's her statement:

"You would think that the President would take pride in the New Direction Congress' bipartisan votes to make America safer by implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations, give hard-working Americans a raise by increasing the minimum wage, make college more affordable for many more Americans, pass an Innovation Agenda to keep America number one, and uphold a high ethical standard by passing a sweeping lobbying and ethics reform bill.  The President signed all these bipartisan bills; yet now he calls them a waste of time.

And the President calls Congressional oversight that has uncovered tens of billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse in Iraq a 'waste of time.' We call billions spent in no-bid contracts to Halliburton a waste of money.

Instead of criticizing Congress, the President's time would be better spent working in a bipartisan way to end this disastrous war in Iraq, keep our promises to our veterans by providing the largest veterans’ health care investment in history, and providing health care for 10 million children."

Photo courtesy Pearls at Diamond Vues.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Carmen Balber
Consumer Advocate
Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights

As consumer advocates, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights has joined state Senator Dean Florez to offer advice to consumers affected by wildfires across Southern California, and caution policymakers to watch the insurance industry closely to protect consumers as the fires subside and rebuilding begins.

Can homeowners rebuild?

After the 2003 fires, many homeowners discovered that their insurance coverage would not fully repair or replace their homes. The 2007 fires will be the test of whether insurance companies corrected the problems of the past and lived up to the obligation to provide adequate coverage to homeowners.

If insurers fail the test, legislation will be necessary to hold insurance companies responsible for setting adequate policy limits for homeowners.

Premiums should not go up