Free Republic

Mountain Tunnel, a key part of the Hetch Hetchy water system - which supplies 2.6 million Bay Area residences and businesses - is at risk of a "catastrophic collapse" and will cost more than $100 million to repair or up to $630 million to replace, according to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. City officials have known for 25 years that significant work is needed on the 19-mile-long tunnel just outside Yosemite National Park in a steep, hard-to-access wilderness area. They considered making it part of the PUC's decade-old, $4.6 billion water system improvement program, which is now more than...

<p>LA's Ethics Commission votes to urge the City Council to look at using cash prizes to get more people to vote.</p> <p>Council President Herb Wesson says the idea of using prizes to boost voter turnout piques his interest Alarmed that fewer than one-fourth of voters are showing up for municipal elections, the Los Angeles Ethics Commission voted Thursday to recommend that the City Council look at using cash prizes to lure a greater number of people to the polls.</p>

Thursday on Ora TV's "PoliticKing with Larry King," left-leaning actor and director Rob Reiner compared the designated terrorist group Hamas to the American political conservative movement, the Tea Party.

**SNIP** As early as November 2012, an FBI wiretap request noted that the investigation team’s leader had concerns about the agent. But according to the filing, an FBI “review has not resulted in any formal findings or determinations regarding the credibility of [the agent].” In early 2013, according to the filing, the agent was no longer involved in the case, but there is no clear explanation as to why. Still, the filing said there was a “series of outrageous behavior” on the part of the agent that might explain why he was removed. That behavior included arranging $20,000 or more...

California’s environmental movement has been pushing for the use of eco-friendly ammunition for years, and they finally got it with a state law mandating a phase-out of lead shot. The goal is to reduce the amount of lead in the environment — if people are going to be using guns in a state where hunting is a widespread and popular activity, they should be doing so with the environment in mind (though many of course argue that seeing an overall drop in hunting in the long term in favor of more animal-friendly recreation and food sources would be a better...

... Across the country over the next year, federal agencies expect to manage about 60,000 minors who entered or will arrive in the United States without an adult guardian. That figure compares with about 7,500 who came in annually before the numbers surged to 13,625 last year and about 25,000 in the current year. Many unaccompanied minors land in Southern California; here they can be cared for by relatives who are part of well-established expatriate communities from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras — the impoverished and sometimes violent countries from which most have journeyed. Services for these students could be...

a debate is emerging between the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency over the potential disaster if the 89-year-old Mountain Tunnel, which supplies 2.6 million Bay Area homes and businesses with water, collapses. The PUC acknowledges that the tunnel does have a chance of "catastrophic collapse," which would require repairs costing $100 million or total replacement, costing up to $630 million. But the PUC’s 10-year-old 4.6 billion water system improvement program did not include the Mountain Tunnel in its plans. ... The risk right now is that the tunnel lining could...

It is often very hard for women who have been victims of sexual type crimes to publicly discuss what has happened to them. Last week in Washington, five women came forward to discuss how gun free zones at colleges have prevented them from defending themselves. From rape and sexual assault, to stalkers, to one woman whose stalker killed her husband, to death threats,these women bravely came forward and talked of the traumas -- all but one telling their story publicly for the first time. One woman's story made national headlines. Taylor Woolrich, a junior at Dartmouth College, has been stalked...

Parents in Fremont, California, are pushing their school district to remove a health book with sections about oral sex, bondage and drug use from local high schools, saying there is no way the publishers can adapt the adult content featured in the book. The Fremont Unified School District purchased the textbook, Your Health Today, over the summer to be taught in its six high schools. After overwhelming response from parents, Superintendent Jim Morris offered to have the books amended. However concerned parents want the books pulled from shelves because of its adult subject matter. "My thinking, and the parents were...

For San Franciscans who've been trying to eat healthfully, your efforts are being recognized. The city earned the top spot in a ranking of the healthiest eating locales in America. Yummly data scientists analyzed the 2013 culinary search habits of more than 100 million people. They computed "healthy eating scores" for the 25 most populous U.S. cities based on the nutrition in recipes residents searched. San Franciscans aren't big on meat of any kind. Our residents searched for recipes with meat substitutes, like tofu, more than any other city. San Francisco was second to last in searches for poultry or...

Family members said Tuesday that a 25-year-old man was complying with police orders when he was fatally shot by LAPD officers in the Florence neighborhood South Los Angeles. Officers responded to a report of a possible officer-involved shooting at the intersection of West 65th Street and South Broadway (map) at 8:12 p.m. Monday, Lt. Ellis Imaizumi of the Los Angeles Police Department said Monday evening. Patrol officers had “conducted an investigative stop” in the 200 block of 65th Street, and “during the stop a struggle ensued” and police opened fire, an LAPD news release issued midmorning Tuesday stated. :snip: A...

The plan being negotiated in the office of Gov. Jerry Brown could grant the automaker waivers for significant portions of the nearly half-century-old California Environmental Quality Act, Gaines said. The proposal is alarming some environmentalists. The governor's pitch also includes a number of tax breaks for Tesla that could be worth as much as $500 million, or about 10% of the project's total cost, said Gaines, a Republican representing the Sacramento suburb of Rocklin. He and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), are the coauthors of a proposed Tesla incentive bill that would put the package of incentives into...

California Supreme Court Blocks Citizens United Measure From Ballot Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), author of a non-binding ballot measure on Citizens United, said he was disappointed by the state Supreme Court's decision to hold it from the ballot. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times) By MELANIE MASON State Supreme Court asks for more time to decide validity of non-binding measure on Citizens United The court's order effectively prevents Prop. 49 from appearing on Nov. ballot, both sides say The California Supreme Court on Monday halted state action on a non-binding ballot measure seeking voter opinion about a landmark U.S. Supreme...

<p>The new bridge will be taller --over 20 stories from the water surface... in order to accommodate the new mega cargo ships.</p> <p>John Pope is a spokesman for the port. He says "the budget has increased from the original estimates." Originally the new cable-stay bridge - approximately 8800 feet across with 515 foot tall towers - was supposed to cost 950-million dollars. That changed dramatically when all of a sudden, from out of the ground, they struck oil ... sort of.</p>

LOS ANGELES – They earn their living by making the masses laugh, but experts say comedians are all too often masking intense sadness behind those smiles.

Actor Robin Williams has died, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Monday. He was 63. The Sheriff’s Office was called to a home in unincorporated Tiburon just after noon Monday, the office stated in a news release.

The cost of the high-speed rail project might be going above the current estimate of $68 billion. The California High-Speed Rail Authority recently announced a strategic shift to consider an alternative for its 40-mile Palmdale-to-Burbank link. Instead of the current plan of running it parallel to the Palmdale Freeway, the new line would run through a tunnel under the San Gabriel Mountains. According to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who has advanced the idea, the tunnel would be about 15 miles long. ... it’s possible to calculate a rough — very rough – estimate. Let’s start with something we...

Gov. Jerry Brown reversed a parole board and denied on Friday the release of a former Charles Manson follower who served more than 43 years in prison. It was the third time a California governor denied the release of Bruce Davis, 71, a member of the murderous Manson Family who was convicted in the 1969 slayings of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald "Shorty'' Shea. In March, the parole board once again found that he was suitable for parole based on his age, conduct in prison, he became a born-again Christian in prison, earned a doctoral degree in philosophy of...

San Diego is home to the second largest Iraqi Christian community in America. Late last July over 1,000 people from this community gathered near the El Cajon Civic Center to express their alarm regarding the recent persecution of Iraqi Christians in Iraq. In portion of Iraq that has historically had a comparatively large Christian presence, the ISIS invasion of Iraq has radically changed these demographics. ISIS is an Islamic, jihadist terrorist group. Their ultimate goal is to establish a caliphate (Islamic state) in the Middle East. They follow a hard line extremist philosophy that is totally intolerant of any western...