In the News
Local projects threatened as federal transportation dollars begin to dry
Funds for a Larkspur ferry bicycle and pedestrian overpass and a Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier could be in jeopardy if the federal Highway Trust Fund runs out of money, which could happen by August. The lack of funding could set back or shut down projects across the country, force widespread layoffs of construction workers and delay needed repairs and improvements. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, hopped a Golden Gate Transit bus from Petaluma down Highway 101 to the San Rafael … Continue Reading
May 12, 2014
Local projects threatened as federal transportation dollars begin to dry
Funds for a Larkspur ferry bicycle and pedestrian overpass and a Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier could be in jeopardy if the federal Highway Trust Fund runs out of money, which could happen by August. The lack of funding could set back or shut down projects across the country, force widespread layoffs of construction workers and delay needed repairs and improvements. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, hopped a Golden Gate Transit bus from Petaluma down Highway 101 to the San Rafael … Continue Reading
May 03, 2014
Farmers market at Marin Civic Center takes root with Measure B
Marin officials are rallying around a farmers market "food, farming and families" ballot measure that many regard as all but certain to gain voter approval at the polls The county wants to help the farmers market set up a permanent facility across from the Marin Center featuring an open-air canopy above vendor stalls along with a two-story "market hall" housing vendor tables, a cafe, grocery and meat market, conference room and administrative offices. A majority vote favoring farmers … Continue Reading
May 01, 2014
Growing Pains: Legalizing Marijuana Might Save Our National Forests
Since winter, they have been hiking up through high-country canyons, ravines, and creek beds seeking relatively flat ground with access to even a thin trickle of water. They drop their bulky backpacks, weighed down with tools, food, poison, plastic piping, and tents, and begin clearing the ground manually and with herbicides. Then they set to work laying out waterlines, building check dams, and digging into the hard ground so as to plant thousands of cannabis seeds. Within weeks, the … Continue Reading
April 25, 2014
Novato Levee Intentionally Breached in Effort to Return Former Military Base to San Francisco Bay Tidal Marsh
With a swooping bite from the bucket of a large tractor, a portion of shoreline in Novato transformed back more than 130 years. On Friday, the California Coastal Conservancy used heavy machinery to chew through an old levee, allowing bay waters to flood the plains of the former Hamilton Army Airfield for the first time in over a century. “It’s hard to believe this is actually happening,” said Pat Eklund, a once-community activist turned Novato City Councilwoman. “We’ve been dreaming … Continue Reading
April 08, 2014
Huffman offers amendment to boost special education funding
During recent budget committee markup, Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) offered an amendment to boost funding for special education by $102 billion over 10 years. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), more than 6.5 million children are eligible for special education services, guaranteeing that each child has the opportunity to reach his or her full potential. When IDEA was passed in 1975, the federal government committed to pay 40 percent of the average per pupil … Continue Reading
April 07, 2014
Profile: Huffman in for the long haul
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) might not have a gold medal, but to him he has something more valuable: a legislative legacy. After graduating from UC-Santa Barbara as a three-time All-American in men’s volleyball, Huffman spent seven months playing for the U.S. national team during a period when they were ranked No. 1 in the world. He left the team, however, to begin law school at Boston College. “The guys I played with went on to win a gold medal in Seoul … I got a law degree,” Huffman … Continue Reading
March 31, 2014
‘Rosie the Riveters’ meet president, vice president in Washington, D.C.
It couldn't have been a more exciting or jam-packed day for Phyllis Gould of Fairfax and four other Rosie the Riveters who Monday met President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden while visiting Washington, D.C. Gould, 92, worked as a welder at the Kaiser Richmond shipyards during World War II and has been writing letters since 2008 petitioning elected officials to recognize the contributions of Rosies such as herself. Biden invited the Rosies to the White House in October. The … Continue Reading
March 28, 2014
First Liquor Trucks Leave the Pulp Mill
The very rain soaking reporters and government officials at the Samoa pulp mill this afternoon could have overflowed tanks of toxic chemicals near Humboldt Bay, Environmental Protection Agency coordinator Steve Calanaog said, had his agency not installed temporary overflow tanks. EPA bigwigs, Congressman Jared Huffman, members of the U.S. Coast Guard Strike Team and others visited the pulp mill site to see the first two truckloads of pulping liquors off to Longview, Wash. (See this week's … Continue Reading
March 24, 2014
Glimmer of hope for river dredging
City officials are reacting with cautious optimism to news that the Army Corps of Engineers last week received Congressional approval of $500,000 to fund initial planning for a long-overdue dredging of the silt-clogged Petaluma River. "We are very excited about starting the process of the next dredging project on the river," said Petaluma Public Works Director Dan St. John this week. "With the $500,000 appropriation, the corps will be able to get underway on the permitting and environmental … Continue Reading
March 14, 2014
Royce introduces new MBL bill
NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger thanked Reps. Ed Royce, R-Calif., and Jared Huffman, D-Calif., for their introduction Thursday of NAFCU-sought legislation to exempt certain residential loans from credit unions’ federal statutory cap on member business lending. H.R. 4226, the “Credit Union Residential Loan Parity Act,” would remove loans to purchase non-owner-occupied, one- to four-unit dwellings from the calculation of credit union MBLs, which are capped by statute at 12.25 percent of … Continue Reading
March 14, 2014
Royce introduces new MBL bill
NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger thanked Reps. Ed Royce, R-Calif., and Jared Huffman, D-Calif., for their introduction Thursday of NAFCU-sought legislation to exempt certain residential loans from credit unions’ federal statutory cap on member business lending. H.R. 4226, the “Credit Union Residential Loan Parity Act,” would remove loans to purchase non-owner-occupied, one- to four-unit dwellings from the calculation of credit union MBLs, which are capped by statute at 12.25 percent of … Continue Reading
March 09, 2014
Obama adds land near Point Arena to national monument
A stretch of shoreline near Point Arena marked by bluffs, forests and a salmon-filled river will become part of national monument come Tuesday, when President Obama is expected to sign an order protecting the site for generations to come. The land, a key piece of which remained in private hands until just last year, was once slated to house a nuclear power plant. Now it will be added to the California Coastal National Monument, a protected space running just offshore from the state's long, … Continue Reading
March 02, 2014
Reefer madness in marijuana classification? Huffman, Congress members ask Obama to take action
North Coast Representative Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) and 17 other members of Congress have a message for President Barack Obama: It's time to get real and stop classifying marijuana as equal to heroin and more harmful than methamphetamine or cocaine. In a letter sent to the White House, the signers referred to Obama's comments that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol in a recent New Yorker magazine article and called on the first president to admit inhaling to "take action to … Continue Reading
February 21, 2014
Marin beef producer works to save meat from recall
The financial damage to North Bay ranchers — many of them raising high-end, grass-fed beef — makes the Rancho case rare among meat recalls, experts said. And to date no one has revealed such potentially huge losses as the Nimans. The Bolinas couple, who started BN Ranch in 2007, said their company's freezers contain nearly 100,000 pounds of pasture-raised meats, none of which currently can be sold. That amounts to more than a quarter of all the meat they processed last year at Rancho. BN … Continue Reading
February 13, 2014
Marin Voice: Time for Marin to reconsider desal?
In a column I wrote in August 2009 when we were experiencing the onset of a mini-drought, I quoted the late Supervisor Hal Brown who warned, "The price of a reliable supply of water is minimal compared to the price of a drought." Truer words were never spoken. Then, we were spared the worst consequences, but not before the county's water agencies were forced to invoke voluntary water rationing and modest rate hikes at a time when Marin Municipal Water District still had sufficient water … Continue Reading
February 06, 2014
Bill by Jared Huffman aims to keep more water in reservoirs
In a move designed to preserve water in Lake Mendocino and other reservoirs that provide a crucial source of water, especially during droughts, North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman has introduced legislation to update rules governing the release of water during the winter rainy season. The legislation, introduced this week, would make it easier for local agencies to seek reductions in winter water releases from reservoirs operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Critics say the Corps … Continue Reading
January 30, 2014
Egg producers welcome demise of farm bill amendment
The latest version of the federal farm bill, which passed in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, omitted a provision that would have banned state laws such as one requiring poultry eggs entering California to meet the state’s animal welfare standards. Local producers say competition with eggs from states in which chickens are still cooped up in tight cages could have threatened the industry. The King amendment, authored by Rep. Steve King of Iowa (R), would have prevented California … Continue Reading
January 24, 2014
Renewable energy advocates push for change
Moving to a cleaner economy will require greater investment in education, broader rollout of energy efficiency, green building programs and a level playing field that allows renewable power to compete with the fossil fuel sector, local policy makers, business leaders and others said Friday. The wide-ranging discussion, featuring more than two dozen representatives from industry, government and schools, came at the second annual Sonoma Renewable Strategies Conference at Santa Rosa Junior … Continue Reading
January 24, 2014
Addiction programs need our support
Ms. Roseann Potter's recent op-ed (“Treating addiction cheaper than policing it,” Times-Standard, Jan. 15, Page A4) is absolutely right that we need innovative and community-based approaches for drug use prevention and substance abuse treatment. These efforts save lives. Many in our communities are doing incredible work to combat substance abuse. In Humboldt County, organizations like the Alcohol and Drug Care Services and United Indian Health Services are doing great work. In Mendocino … Continue Reading