In the News
A greener grid: Tribe, HSU celebrate groundbreaking of self-sustaining, renewable energy system
The Blue Lake Rancheria along with a host of local, state, and national officials celebrated the groundbreaking of the tribe’s new low-emission, microgrid energy system on Monday that will allow the rancheria to use self-generated renewable power to literally go off the grid in cases of emergency or in periods of high energy use. Standing on a large patch of dirt at the north end of the Blue Lake Casino and Hotel, shovel-wielding tribal members stood side by side with national and state … Continue Reading
August 24, 2015
Feds seek local partners to share Petaluma River dredging cost
Faced with a lack of federal funding to complete the long-overdue dredging of the Petaluma River, local officials and business interests are teaming up to look for solutions to unclog the silted slough. Local officials and even federal representatives acknowledge that funding for river dredging is unlikely to come out of Washington in the next three years, and they said private money will have to be used to complete the project. But businesses that use the river and that have long benefited … Continue Reading
August 19, 2015
Jared Huffman goes Arctic
Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat from sunny San Rafael, just got back from a trip to the Arctic Circle and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that he said Wednesday “only reaffirmed my commitment to protect these unique wild places — some of the last places on Earth untouched and unspoiled by roads, energy extraction, and other human development.” Huffman has introduced a bill to permanently protect the area, putting him at odds with the Obama administration, which on Tuesday approved a final … Continue Reading
August 18, 2015
Phone service in rural Mendocino, Sonoma counties under scrutiny
In the quest for faster telecommunications, the most basic, crucial phone service that people rely on in emergencies — 911 — is facing a potentially dangerous erosion in reliability, especially in rural areas across the North Coast where telephone services already are tenuous. Faults in the newer fiber and wireless networks are being revealed as those networks become more prevalent and telephone companies phase out the copper wires that have carried telephone conversations in the United … Continue Reading
August 05, 2015
Congressman Holds Out Hope Iran Will Release Reporter Jason Rezaian
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the congressman who represents the family of an American imprisoned in Iran, suggests the nuclear deal offers a glimmer of hope for his release. However, he was careful not to directly link Jason Rezaian's fate with the deal. "The indications are not nearly as concrete as I would like, but I think there is some reason for cautious optimism right now," Huffman said in an interview with The Huffington Post. Huffman said his optimism stemmed … Continue Reading
August 05, 2015
Rep. Mike Thompson backs Iran nuclear deal
North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson said Wednesday he will vote for President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, calling it “the best way forward” to prevent the regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The St. Helena Democrat said Obama’s proposal will halt Iran’s efforts for up to 15 years while giving the International Atomic Energy Agency “enormous access” for inspections the country will be bound to honor. Thompson, a former senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on … Continue Reading
August 04, 2015
Hoopa tribe calls for federal action to prevent fish kill
HOOPA, Calif. - The Hoopa Valley Tribe is calling on the federal government to work with them to prevent a fish kill on the Klamath and Trinity rivers. It comes after the tribe said that their proposal to the Bureau of Reclamation of the U.S. Department of Interior (BOR) was rejected after the agency outlined their own proposal. The tribe feels that the BOR proposal is inadequate to protect the salmon and want the federal government to work with them after a period of low water levels … Continue Reading
August 03, 2015
Tribes blast feds’ Klamath plan
A federal plan to prevent a potential fish kill this summer on the lower Klamath River drew criticism on Monday from Hoopa Valley and Yurok tribe officials, who condemned the proposal as a lukewarm response to the threat of rising water temperatures and deadly parasites. The public review draft of the U.S. Interior Department Bureau of Reclamation’s preventative flow increase proposal includes a month-long flow increase from a Trinity River dam and a sizeable emergency release if conditions … Continue Reading
July 29, 2015
Debriefer: July 29, 2015
HUFFMAN ON 2016 "I've been waiting for that question for months!" So exclaimed second-term U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, last week when Debriefer got him on the phone. The question: Who are you supporting for president in 2016? The answer may surprise readers who have already taken note of the fact that there's a pretty heady battle shaping up in the Democratic Party over the presidential campaigns of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bernie has been getting … Continue Reading
July 29, 2015
Dianne Feinstein’s drought package splits from GOP strategy
WASHINGTON — California Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced a sweeping drought bill Wednesday that takes a much broader approach to the state’s water shortages than her failed effort last year to work almost exclusively with House Republicans to deliver more water to San Joaquin Valley farmers. Feinstein’s new measure is important for one big reason: Feinstein introduced it. The state’s senior senator has made herself an authority on California water policy, and no bill dealing with the … Continue Reading
July 28, 2015
House Votes To End All Major New Rules, Again
WASHINGTON -- A bill that critics say would make any significant new regulation all but impossible easily passed the House Tuesday. The measure, known as the REINS Act, for Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny, would require the Obama administration to first weigh the potential costs of any new significant regulation -- not just public health or other benefits -- and then give Congress the power to squash any new rule with large economic impacts, set at $100 million or … Continue Reading
July 27, 2015
Huffman wants changes to very flawed "Dark Act" bill.
WASHINGTON DC - A bill nicknamed the “Dark Act” passed today in Congress over major concerns from 2nd District Congressman, Jared Huffman. The bill would prevent local and state governments from enacting genetically modified food labeling laws and prevents the U.S. government from even developing a national labeling system. It would also void laws already set up in Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino and Marin Counties. Huffman spoke out against the bill today and offered an amendment to ensure … Continue Reading
July 23, 2015
Report: Santa Rosa-area roads among worst in US for midsized communities
A new report ranks the Santa Rosa area as having the third worst roads in the nation among midsized urban communities, further underscoring what many motorists here already know with each jarring bump and rattle. Per local motorist, an estimated $811 is spent annually on maintenance and repairs related to poor road conditions — the fifth highest total in the nation as determined by TRIP, a Washington, D.C.-based transportation research and advocacy organization. The report found that 49 … Continue Reading
July 22, 2015
Dems Offer Changes to GMO Labeling Bill Headed to House Floor
Legislation that would keep states from issuing mandatory labeling laws for foods that contain genetically modified ingredients is headed to the floor for a vote on Thursday. The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, introduced by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) in March, would create a federal standard for companies that wish to voluntarily label their foods that contain GMOs. The House Rules Committee revised the bill Tuesday night to clarify language opponents said would have pre-empted … Continue Reading
July 21, 2015
PD Editorial: Thumbs up, thumbs down
Put Courthouse Square on fast track As Gaye LeBaron spelled out in her Sunday column (“Square has divided Santa Rosa for 160 years”), the vision of a central public space dates back to an 1854 map that clearly shows a square “plaza” in the heart of downtown Santa Rosa. As she notes, the development of this public space was somewhat organic. “General Otho Hinton, an attorney who came from Maryland and a military career, took a paternalistic interest in the space, garnering donations and … Continue Reading
July 10, 2015
Editorial: GOP water bill in Congress should be rejected
The latest version of a bill by House Republicans to override California's management of its water system and undermine environmental protections — in the name of emergency drought relief and food security — is longer and more detailed than the ones that preceded it, but much the same in its substance: It offers little in the way of actual drought relief and even in years of abundant supply would serve Central Valley agricultural interests with new taxpayer-financed dams. Like several … Continue Reading
July 01, 2015
Jared Huffman
IN COLLEGE, JARED Huffman was an all-American volleyball player; now, in his free time, he plays guitar and sings in a country and western band. Whatever 51-year-old Huffman does he seems to do well — and often he does it in front of a crowd. Now in his second term as the representative from California’s 2nd Congressional District, Huffman, a Democrat, is playing before his biggest crowd ever, and from all accounts he’s doing it quite well. Representing his district’s 685,000 people in … Continue Reading
July 01, 2015
Huffman Wants Changes to Very Flawed "Dark Act" Bill.
WASHINGTON DC - A bill nicknamed the “Dark Act” passed today in Congress over major concerns from 2nd District Congressman, Jared Huffman. The bill would prevent local and state governments from enacting genetically modified food labeling laws and prevents the U.S. government from even developing a national labeling system. It would also void laws already set up in Humboldt, Trinity, Mendocino and Marin Counties. Huffman spoke out against the bill today and offered an amendment to ensure … Continue Reading
June 29, 2015
Can Waste-Water Recycling, Desalination End California’s Water Wars?
Emphasizing practical solutions in the battle over drought relief, a congressman urged local water leaders Monday to fight for funding for projects such as waste-water recycling and infrastructure repairs. Northern California Rep. Jared Huffman came to Southern California to push his $1.4 billion drought bill and find some common ground in what he called the state’s water wars being waged in the halls of Sacramento and Washington. The San Rafael Democrat, former assemblyman and … Continue Reading
June 29, 2015
PD Editorial: Getting a Say on Congress’ Water Bill
For two years, Jared Huffman and fellow House members from Northern California have been shut out of negotiations on drought legislation in Washington. Take a look at the proposals flowing from their Central Valley colleagues, and you’ll understand why. Bills advanced by the House would weaken environmental protection and threaten endangered salmon, among other species, to further a single goal: diverting more water from the fragile Delta estuary into the aqueducts that serve Central Valley … Continue Reading