Plan to Split California Makes Ballot

(Photo Credit: Cal3.com)

 

Even if the proposal wins a majority of the votes Nov. 6, it faces a steep uphill climb in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

The November 6th general election ballot in California will now include a proposition that could break up the cash-strapped state, home to the sixth-largest economy in the world, into three separate states.

Chinese Defector Reveals Beijing’s Secrets

U.S. intelligence is debriefing brother of former presidential aide, translating documents

A defector from China has revealed some of the innermost secrets of the Chinese government and military, including details of its nuclear command and control system, according to American intelligence officials.

Businessman Ling Wancheng disappeared from public view in California last year shortly after his brother, Ling Jihua, a former high-ranking official in the Communist Party, was arrested in China on corruption charges.

Ling Wancheng, the defector, has been undergoing a debrief by FBI, CIA, and other intelligence officials since last fall at a secret location in the United States, said officials familiar with details of the defection who spoke on condition of anonymity. The defector is said to be a target of covert Chinese agents seeking to capture or kill him.

Among the information disclosed by Ling are details about the procedures used by Chinese leaders on the use of nuclear weapons, such as the steps taken in preparing nuclear forces for attack and release codes for nuclear arms.

FBI investigating 11 attacks on San Francisco-area Internet lines

The 11th time in a year…

Please see the source for the video.

 

The FBI is investigating at least 11 physical attacks on high-capacity Internet cables in California’s San Francisco Bay Area dating back a year, including one early Tuesday morning.

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The attacks date back to at least July 6, 2014, said FBI Special Agent Greg Wuthrich.

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The pattern of attacks raises serious questions about the glaring vulnerability of critical Internet infrastructure, said JJ Thompson, CEO of Rook Security, a security consulting and services provider in Indianapolis.

California moves to restrict water pumping by pre-1914 rights holders

 

For the first time in nearly 40 years, state regulators are telling more than 100 growers and irrigation districts with some of the oldest water rights in California that they have to stop drawing supplies from drought-starved rivers and streams in the Central Valley.

The curtailment order, issued Friday by the State Water Resources Control Board, has been expected for weeks. Earlier this spring, the board halted diversions under some 8,700 junior rights. With snowmelt reduced to a trickle this year, there simply isn’t enough water flowing in rivers to meet the demand of all those with even older rights predating 1914.

And as flows continue to decline this summer, board officials said, they expect to issue more curtailments, stopping river pumping by more senior diverters.

Delta’s water vanishing amid drought

In this photo taken Friday March 27, 2015, low-flow water emitter sits on some of the dry, cracked ground of farmer Rudy Mussi’s almond orchard in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta near Stockton, Calif.

 

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — As California struggles with a devastating drought, huge amounts of water are mysteriously vanishing from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta — and the prime suspects are farmers whose families have tilled fertile soil there for generations.

A state investigation was launched following complaints from two large agencies that supply water to arid farmland in the Central Valley and to millions of residents as far south as San Diego.

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At issue is California’s century-old water rights system that has been based on self-reporting and little oversight, historically giving senior water rights holders the ability to use as much water as they need, even in drought. Gov. Jerry Brown has said that if drought continues this system built into California’s legal framework will probably need to be examined.

This Is What Northern California Looks Like After Earthquake

 

Residents of northern California woke up to cracked streets, homes on fire and crumbled buildings after a 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit the area about 3:20 a.m. local time early Sunday morning.

The earthquake’s epicenter was located about six miles south-southwest of Napa and 51 miles west-southwest of Sacramento. ABC News station KGO in San Francisco reported several fires and damaged buildings in Napa. More than 15,000 customers were without power, according to Pacific Gas and Electric Company.