Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/482332
TheTehama-Glennunit will receive the money for the Hazen C-Line fuel break, which is about four miles southeast of Manton along the Sierra Pacific In- dustries C-Line Road be- tween its junction with Forward Road and a point nine miles southeast. Cal Fire awarded grants to 83 projects aimed at re- ducing the elevated threat of wildfires due to the on- going drought. The projects contrib- ute to prevention efforts around homes and rein- force Cal Fire's ongoing efforts to address the risk and potential impacts of large, damaging wild- fires, according to a press release. "The high number of grant applications we re- ceived underscores just how vested the citizens of California are in prepar- ing for our state's inevita- ble wildfires," said Chief Ken Pimlott, Cal Fire di- rector and state forester. "We are looking forward to seeing 'on the ground' results these projects will yield." The Fire Prevention Fund Grants, created in the 2014-15 budget, are aimed at supplementing Cal Fire's ongoing activi- ties by funding local enti- ties' efforts to help coun- teract the effects of the drought. Grant criteria weighted projects that addressed fire risk and potential impact of wildfire to habitable structures in the State Responsibility Area, as well as commu- nity support and project feasibility. Grant FROMPAGE1 Fundus:JohnCharles Fundus, 94, of Corning died Wednesday, March 18in Chico. Arrangements are under the direction of Neptune Society of Northern California, Chico. Published Friday, March 20, 2015in the Daily News, Red Bluff, Calif. Deathnoticesmustbe provided by mortuaries to the news department, are published at no charge, and feature only specific basic information about the deceased. Paid obituaries are placed through the Classified advertising department. Paid obituaries may be placed by mortuaries or by families of the deceased and include online publication linked to the newspaper's website. Paid obituaries may be of any length, may run multiple days and offer wide latitude of content, including photos. Death notices By Michael R. Blood The Associated Press LOS ANGELES Califor- nia has no blanket pol- icy restricting the use of personal email accounts to conduct government business, and it's among about two dozen states that have no clear rules or precedent-setting cases addressing whether those communications are pub- lic records. The lack of clear policy in California, advocates say, could allow officials to shield sensitive electronic communications from public scrutiny by using personal email accounts. State Attorney General Kamala Harris, a candi- date for U.S. Senate, dis- closed Wednesday that she uses a private email account to communicate with senior staff in rare instances. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has faced sharp criticism over her use of a private email account while at the State Depart- ment and has acknowl- edged deleting thousands of them. If government employ- ees are using personal email accounts for gov- ernment business, "that means communications or records that are the prop- erty of the government, that may be actually im- portant to the operation of government ... are re- siding in an email account to which government has no regular access," Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said Thursday. "Kamala Harris and everybody else should be concerned for the same reason Hillary Clinton is concerned," Scheer said. "No one has been saying Hillary Clinton did the right thing to use her pri- vate email for government business." In Maryland, for exam- ple, an email discussing public matters in private email is a public record, according to the Report- ers Committee for Free- dom of the Press. The issue has not been specifically addressed in Michigan. In Connecticut, they are considered public records, subject to exemptions. And in Florida emails are treated no differently than other public records. Open-government ad- vocates warn that Cal- ifornia's lack of restric- tions on private email use while conducting govern- ment work raises the po- tential that important communications or docu- ments could be lost, or in- tentionally concealed from the public. Last year, the Califor- nia Supreme Court said it will decide if private emails and other elec- tronic communications of government officials are public records open for inspection. In accept- ing the case involving the San Jose mayor and City Council, the court stepped in to settle a long-simmer- ing debate over access to public employees' private communications on per- sonal devices discussing government issues. The confusion over the status of private emails is partly caused by the law being outrun by technol- ogy. Since email came into wide use, activists have been battling at all levels of government over whether public matters discussed on private de- vices linked to personal accounts are subject to the state Public Records Act, which requires offi- cials to divulge many gov- ernment records for pub- lic inspection. According to the Cal- ifornia Government Op- erations Agency, there is no specific state policy that addresses the use of personal emails while conducting state busi- ness. Last year, Congress amended federal rules to prohibit the use of non- official email addresses to conduct government business, unless mes- sages are copied to an of- ficial account within 20 days. In California, however, "the customary practice for state official business is to use state email ac- counts for state work," said agency spokeswoman Lynda Gledhill. OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS St at e ha s no b an o n us e of private email by officials By Fenit Nirappil The Associated Press SACRAMENTO Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders on Thursday pro- posed legislation to accel- erate more than $1 billion in drought-relief spending for California as it copes with a fourth dry year and Brown urges residents to reduce water use. The package of two bills includes $128 million to ease immediate impacts of the drought such as dry wells, job losses at farms and wildfires. It also ac- celerates nearly $1 billion in bond funding for water projects, including money from a $7.5 billion bond measure approved by vot- ers last year. "We need to get the money out the door now for shovel-ready projects and existing water programs that only need funding to get started," Senate Pres- ident Pro Tem Kevin de Leon said. "No delay. No red tape." Nearly two-thirds of the funds in the package would go toward flood control projects approved by voters in 2006. Lawmakers said the projects can indirectly help boost drinking water supplies in the future. Brown said floods are a concern — even during dry years — because of climate change. "You are all focused on drought and you can get massive storms that flood through these channels that overflow and cause havoc," the governor said. More immediate fund- ing includes $20 million for additional emergency drinking water for commu- nities with dry wells; $24 million for food banks in drought-stricken counties; and $13 million to help fish and animals threatened by vanishing streams and riv- ers. Brown said the drought has highlighted fundamen- tal questions about how the state uses water and will require Californians to adopt innovative solutions. "Growing a walnut or an almond takes water. Hav- ing a new house with a bunch of toilets and show- ers takes water," Brown said. "So how do we bal- ance use and efficiency with the kind of life that people want in California?" The measures are ex- pected to come for a vote within a week and will need majority approval from the state Legisla- ture which is controlled by Democrats. Republican legislative leaders joined Brown at a news confer- ence Thursday but were not involved in negotiat- ing the deal. Such spending is nor- mally approved as part of budget negotiations that last through June, but de Leon said California can- not wait until then. "Congress hasn't pitched in a penny so far," he added. Although the plan is la- beled as emergency legis- lation, much of the fund- ing has been available to the state for years. Some of the projects that will benefit could take more than a year before there is a noticeable increase in water supplies. The water in the Si- erra Nevada snowpack — California's largest water source — is far below nor- mal. Winter is normally California's rainy season, but it's drawing to an end without significant storms to replenish reservoirs. Continuing dry con- ditions drove state wa- ter regulators to ramp up mandatory water restric- tions this week that pre- vent Californians from watering their lawns daily and require that custom- ers ask for water at restau- rants rather than having it automatically served. Critics have questioned whether the measures go far enough given the sever- ity of the drought. "Everyone in the state has to ask the question, 'How can I conserve more wa- ter?' You can't count on the government; we're doing our part but really it comes down to personal responsi- bility and cutting back our consumption," said Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar. The proposals came a year after Brown signed a $687 million drought- relief package, most of which went to accelerate water infrastructure proj- ects. A third of that fund- ing has still not been allo- cated and the Department of Water Resources has not yet recommended how the money should be spent. That package provided 280,000 households with boxes from food banks and rental assistance to 2,000 farm workers, according to figures provided by the Department of Social Ser- vices and the Department of Housing and Commu- nity Development. Local water agencies were awarded $221 million in October for projects that ranged from boosting wa- ter recycling to creating new wells and fixing leaks. WATER SHORTAGE Brown proposes $1 billion in state drought spending RICH PEDRONCELLI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Sprinklers water a lawn in Sacramento. By Amy Taxin The Associated Press LOS ANGELES Eleven Fili- pino workers suing a bakery in Southern California allege they were forced to do laun- dry and yard work for the owners, paid meager wages at the business and threat- ened with massive debt for their trip to the U.S. when they complained. Current and former work- ers filed a labor trafficking lawsuit in Los Angeles Su- perior Court on Wednesday against L'Amande French Bakery, demanding more than $1 million in back and overtime pay and damages. The workers were brought to the U.S. on visas between 2009 and 2014. They were told they would have jobs in the bakery or as a nanny, but once they arrived, they had to clean and paint an apart- ment complex and do laun- dry and yard work forbakery owners Analiza and Goncalo Moitinho de Almeida. After the bakery opened, some of the employees said they were forced to work at least 13 hours a day for sev- eral months for a fraction of the pay they were prom- ised. When they complained, they were told they owed the owners $11,000 for the cost of their trip. California labor investiga- tors began looking into con- ditions at the bakery in 2013, but workers were threatened with lawsuits in the Philip- pines if they spoke out, ac- cording to a copy of the com- plaint. Five of the workers who did later were fired, the complaint said. A message left for the owners at the bakery's Tor- rance location was not im- mediatelyreturned. Thebak- ery has another location in Beverly Hills. Former L'Amande em- ployee Louise Luis said she left her 6-year-old son with family in the Philippines on the promise of earning $2,000 a month as a bakery store manager in the United States. Soon after arriving, she said she was put to work washing cars and gardening for the bakery owners and paid less than $400 a month until the store finally opened some eight months later. There, she worked long hours and eventually started getting paid her proper wage. When the state be- gan investigating the bak- ery, Luis said her boss told her to lie about her working conditions. "I want to go home, but I also want to have justice first, and get what I deserve, and of course to get my un- paid wages," Luis said. Nicole Ochi, an attorney at Asian Americans Advanc- ing Justice in Los Angeles, said the fired bakery work- ers can't get other jobs in the United States because their visas were tied to their em- ployer under a program for foreign investors. The work- ers are now seeking special visas for trafficking victims, she said. The company was cited by the state in May 2014 for not paying workers more than $250,000 in overtime wages, which it appealed. A hearing was held in July, and another one has been scheduled for May 19. The case is still under investi- gation, said Erika Monter- roza, a spokeswoman for the state labor commission- er's office. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Workers sue bakery alleging forced labor, scant pay NICK UT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Le to right, Ermita Alabado, Gina Pablo, Louis Luis, and Fernan Belidihon, stand during a news conference at Asian Americans Advancing Justice in Los Angeles on Thursday. Eleven Filipino workers have sued a bakery in Southern California alleging they were forced to do laundry and yard work for the owners, paid meager wages. it'snot 'sfault byTheShelterPetProject.org FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 9 A