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NICKUT—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Travelers cool off with big fans at Los Angeles Union Station in Los Angeles on Wednesday. ByJohnAntczakand Linda S. Zhang TheAssociatedPress LOSANGELES MuchofCal- ifornia simmered in a stew of high heat and humidity on Thursday, bracing for more thunderstorms and flash floods that have al- ready killed one person and left scattered damage and power outages. The sweltering, erratic weather was being gener- ated by a ridge of high pres- sure over the state and the monsoonal flow of moisture from Tropical Storm Linda, the weakening former hur- ricane spinning in the Pa- cific about 400 miles south- west of San Diego. Thursday was expected to be the peak of the week- long heat wave, which has produced triple-digit tem- peratures up and down the state. Heat advisories ex- tended from San Diego north to San Francisco and beyond, although fog that swaddled the Golden Gate and cooler tempera- tures along the immediate Bay Area coast presaged a gradual return to normal summer weather. Cloud cover knocked a degree or two off high tem- peratures, but the National Weather Service said it would not be noticeable be- cause of the high humidity. Demand for electricity, meanwhile, was high as people turned to air condi- tioning for relief. "Yesterday's usage was close to Southern California Edison's peak usage on Aug. 31, 2007," utility spokesman Paul Griffo said. Power outages result- ing from extreme heat and thunderstorms continued to affect residents. Outages affected more than 15,000 Southern Cal- ifornia Edison customers early Thursday morning; by midday, about 8,100 of the utility's customers were without electricity, Griffo said. San Bernardino, River- side and Los Angeles coun- ties were the hardest hit ar- eas. In Los Angeles, 1,700 cus- tomers, mostly in the down- town area, were without electricity, Department of Water and Power spokes- woman Ellen Cheng said. There were just a few hundred heat-related power outages among the 5 mil- lion Northern California customers served by Pa- cific Gas and Electric, util- ity spokesman Matt Nau- man said. Afternoon thunder- storms and resulting flash- flooding also left damage. A section of State Route 2 in the San Gabriel Moun- tains northeast of Los An- geles was closed indefinitely because of a massive rock- and- mud slide triggered by a downpour on Wednesday evening. A 25-year-old man was killed earlier in the week when he was swept to his death by a rain-swollen creek in the Forest Falls area of the San Bernardino National Forest. An off-duty sheriff's deputy saved the victim's companion. Forecasters, meanwhile, said the end of the oppres- sive weather was in sight but wouldn't happen over- night. The high-pressure sys- tem bringing the heat will slowly weaken through Saturday while the tropi- cal storm off Mexico also weakens, the weather ser- vice said. A trough of low pressure developing off the Northern California coast will be followed by an even deeper trough next week and there will be a gradual shift away from the hot and humid pattern, with thun- derstorms restricted to the mountains and deserts. Heat blankets state, mixed with lightning WEATHER By Judy Lin The Associated Press SACRAMENTO A state sen- ator announced Thursday that she's abandoning a second Democratic climate change proposal amid re- luctance from California lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown. Sen. Fran Pavley, D- Agoura Hills, said she would withdraw a vote on her bill, SB32, which calls for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per- cent from 1990 levels by 2050. Instead, she will try to rally support for passage next year. "Unfortunately, the state Assembly and the admin- istration were not support- ive, for now, and we could not pass this important proposal," Pavley said in a statement. The bill was a follow-up to Pavley's AB32, a land- mark law requiring Cal- ifornia to reduce green- house gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. That bill was signed by for- mer Gov. Arnold Schwar- zenegger, a Republican, in 2006. A telephone and email message left for the gover- nor's office was not imme- diately returned Thurs- day. In the final week of the legislative session, Demo- crats were already forced to drop a mandate to cut oil use from their climate change proposal amid fierce opposition from busi- ness groups and oil compa- nies. A scaled-down version of the proposal to increase renewable energy use to 50 percent has yet to be voted on. Lawmakers also were close to sending Brown a contentious bill that would allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives, following the highly pub- licized case of 29-year-old Brittany Maynard, a Cali- fornia woman with brain cancer who moved to Ore- gon to legally take her life. And despite unprece- dented cooperation from law enforcement, local gov- ernments, pot growers, pa- tient groups, dispensary operators and even the governor, lawmakers have so far also been unable to reach agreement on setting up regulations to oversee California's nearly 20-year- old medical marijuana in- dustry. As California lawmak- ers scramble to pass legis- lation, they were likely to adjourn their regular ses- sion Friday without com- pleting two major initia- tives: transportation and health care financing. So far, Democratic pro- posals to add a $65 vehicle registration fee and raise the cigarette tax by $2 per pack have been panned by Republicans, whose sup- port they need to pass on a two-thirds vote. Democratic Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins of San Diego conceded Wednes- day that lawmakers have given up trying to find this week a long-term fund- ing solution for fixing and maintaining California's roads and highways. In- stead, Atkins said the Leg- islature will form a special committee this fall to fig- ure out how to pay for an estimated $59 billion back- log in state repairs over the next decade. The announcement was disappointing to a broad coalition of business, la- bor and local governments pushing for bipartisan compromise. The coalition proposed last month raising at least $6 billion a year by in- creasing gasoline and vehi- cle taxes, tapping revenue from the state's cap-and- trade fund and adopting state efficiencies and re- forms. Lawmakers of both par- ties agree that the state's transportation tax struc- ture is out of date, leav- ing California's roads and bridges crumbling. They say they can't keep rely- ing on a gas tax that hasn't risen in 20 years as more fuel-efficient and electric vehicles share the road. Brown offered a scaled- down $3.6 billion-a-year spending plan, with some of the money to come from a $65 annual fee on vehicle registrations and increases in diesel and gas taxes tied to inflation. His plan in- cluded concessions sought by Republicans such as streamlining environmen- tal reviews for infrastruc- ture repairs and extend- ing public-private partner- ships. Lawmakers also are con- tinuing to negotiate fund- ing for Medi-Cal, the state's medical insurance pro- gram for the poor. Medi- Cal has grown to cover roughly one in three Cal- ifornians. The governor has asked lawmakers to expand a tax now levied on health plans that contract with Medi-Cal to include most insurers regulated by the Department of Managed Health Care to gener- ate at least $1.1 billion a year. But Senate Minority Leader Jean Fuller, R-Ba- kersfield, said "there's no need to tax." SACRAMENTO Second climate proposal falters amid reluctance RICH PEDRONCELLI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Democratic Assemblymen Philip Ting, of San Francisco, second from le , and Chris Holden, of Pasadena, huddle during the Assembly session on Thursday in Sacramento. Smog Check (MOST CARS & PICK-UPS) 527-9841 • 195 S. Main St. starting at $ 29 95 + $ 8 25 certificate Allmakesandmodels. We perform dealer recommened 30K 60K 90K Service At Lower Prices. Areyoumelting? 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