Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/681000
ByJulietWilliams TheAssociatedPress SACRAMENTO Gov. Jerry Brown kicked off 2016 op- timistic on one policy area: After years of stalling, he said it was time for Califor- nia to finally start making long-overdue repairs to its freeways and bridges. In his January State of the State address, he told lawmakers they'd have to "bite the bullet and en- act new fees and taxes" to pay for a $57 billion back- log in repairs to Califor- nia's crumbling state high- way system. So far, the Legislature has not taken up the Dem- ocratic governor's plan to raise $3.6 billion annu- ally for 10 years. Lawmak- ers also have not met in the special session on transpor- tation the governor called lastyear,orheardtwoother Democratic transportation proposals. "California's aging trans- portation infrastructure seems to be a low priority for the governor," Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Frazier of Oakley said in a press re- lease last week after Brown releasedhisrevisedbudget. BUDGET StateTransportation funding fix still elusive By Paul Elias The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO A Califor- nia city has moved to install surveillance cameras along a stretch of highway as au- thorities investigate a spate of freeway shootings that have taken the lives of six people, including a young mother of four, in the sub- urbs east of San Francisco. The decision on Mon- day by Pittsburg is the lat- est action aimed at solving and stopping the attacks that also injured 11 people in the past year. Police say all 20 drive-by shootings on or near two major highways have been gang-related. "Without exception, these cases ... are not random," California Highway Patrol officer Daniel Hill said. Freeway shootings have occurred for decades throughout California. But the frequency and scattered locationsofthelatestattacks have frightened motorists and snarled traffic. The California Highway Patrol, FBI and two dozen local law enforcement agen- cies have launched a task force to stop the violence, butsofarjustonepersonhas been arrested on suspicion of wounding a motorist on April 1. The latest shooting occurred on May 10, when 25-year-old Shanique Maria was shot and killed on High- way 4 in Pittsburg. Authorities say a shooter riding in a white Mercedes gunned down Maria while she was a passenger in a black Lexus on road linking San Francisco and Stockton. The Lexus veered off the highway, hit a dirt embank- ment and rolled over as the shooter sped away. RASH OF ATTACKS Au th or it ie s mo ve t o st op C al if or ni a hi gh wa y ki ll in gs KRISTOPHERSKINNER—BAYAREANEWSGROUP Emergency personnel investigate the scene of a shooting on westbound Highway 4in Pittsburg. By Brian Melley The Associated Press LOS ANGELES A Texas pipeline com- pany that spilled more than 140,000 gallons of crude oil on the California coast last year was indicted on dozens of criminal charges in the disaster that closed popular beaches and killed sea lions and birds, prosecutors said Tuesday. Plains All American Pipe- line and one of its employ- ees face 46 counts of state law violations in the May 19, 2015, spill that initially went undetected when a severely corroded 2-foot- wide pipe ruptured and oil began pouring onto a pris- tine beach on the Santa Bar- bara coastline and flowing out to sea. Plains was charged in Santa Barbara Supe- rior Court with four fel- ony counts of spilling oil in state waters and could face fines of up to $2.8 million if convicted of all the charges, prosecutors said. "The carelessness of Plains All American harmed hundreds of spe- cies and marine life off Refugio Beach," California Attorney General Kamala Harris said in a statement. "This conduct is criminal, and today's charges serve as a powerful reminder of the consequences that flow from jeopardizing the well- being of our ecosystems and public health." The spill two weeks be- fore Memorial Day weekend last year forced the state to close popular beaches as an oil plume spread nine miles into the Pacific Ocean. Tar balls from the oil washed up more than 100 miles away on Los An- geles County beaches and more than 220 birds, such as pelicans, and nearly 140 marine mammals, mostly sea lions, were found dead in the aftermath. The Houston-based company faces three dozen misdemeanor counts of harming wildlife. Plains said in a state- ment that the spill was an accident and believes no criminal behavior oc- curred. "We will demonstrate that the charges have no merit and represent an inappropriate attempt to criminalize an unfortu- nate accident," the com- pany said. The spill was a grim re- minder of a much larger disaster in 1969 when an offshore oil rig blow- out blackened Santa Bar- bara beaches, killed wild- life and created a backlash that helped give birth to the environmental move- ment. The Plains rupture was the largest coastal oil spill in the U.S. since the BP's Deepwater Horizon explo- sion in the Gulf of Mexico six years ago killed 11 rig workers and spewed mil- lions of gallons of crude. BP settled federal crimi- nal charges by pleading guilty to 12 felony counts and two misdemeanors and reached a $20 billion settlement with the Jus- tice Department for envi- ronmental damages. Plains could still face federal criminal charges for last year's spill. The Department of Transpor- tation's pipeline enforce- ment agency is expected to release results this spring of its year-long in- vestigation into the disas- ter's cause and could issue fines. Initial investigation results have pointed to a badly corroded pipe- line that had undergone strength tests just weeks before the spill, but the results had not been ana- lyzed before it broke. Pre- liminary reports also show it took hours for Plains to recognize what happened before notifying officials. A Plains employee and the company were charged in the indictment with misdemeanor counts of failing to report the spill quickly enough to state emergency officials. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Company charged for oil spill that fouled beaches JAE C. HONG — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE An oil-covered bird flaps its wings amid at Refugio State Beach, north of Goleta. | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2016 8 A