Red Bluff Daily News

January 27, 2017

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TheAssociatedPress SANFRANCISCO TheUni- versity of California on Thursday approved its first tuition an increase in seven years. The university system's Board of Regents voted 16-4 to raise tuition by 2.5 per- cent a year during its meet- ing in San Francisco. Fees were also increased. The vote came after UC President Janet Napolitano called for the annual tu- ition increase of $282 and a fee hike of $54 for the 2017- 18 school year. California residents cur- rently pay $12,294 a year in tuition and fees. Many students have vo- cally opposed an increase. One of their protests briefly disrupted the previous Board of Regents meeting in November. Critics have said higher tuition puts too much bur- den on students already struggling to pay for their educations. Regent Charlene Zettel said she regrettably sup- ported the increase. "Every single one of us in this room doesn't want to raise tuition for our stu- dents," Zettel said. "It's very painful for all of us." Regent Gavin Newsom voted against the proposal. "It is not insignificant to a lot of folks that will be burdened by it," he said. Napolitano said hikes are needed to maintain quality on the 10 campuses that comprise the nation's largest public university system, where the student population has grown each year and state funding has been cut. Tuition has been frozen since 2011. The university enrolled 7,400 more California un- dergraduates last fall than the previous year, marking the largest enrollment in- crease since World War II. Napolitano said there are plans to add another 2,500 new students for the 2017- 18 school year and 2,500 more the following aca- demic year. EDUCATION UCregentsapprovefirsttuitionincreasein7years By Sudhin Thanawala The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO A federal judge on Thursday sen- tenced California's larg- est utility to pay a $3 mil- lion fine and run television commercials publicizing its pipeline safety convictions as punishment in a crimi- nal case stemming from a deadly natural-gas explo- sion in the San Francisco Bay Area. U.S. District Judge Thel- ton Henderson also or- dered Pacific Gas & Electric Co. employees to perform 10,000 hours of commu- nity service and ordered an independent monitor to oversee the safety of its gas pipeline system. "I find the crimes at is- sue to be very serious and to pose a great risk to pub- lic safety, and that's why I am going to impose the maximum possible fine and maximum possible proba- tion terms allowable under the law," Henderson said. The sentence closes one of the final chapters in the legal and regulatory fall- out from the 2010 blast in the city of San Bruno that killed eight people and de- stroyed 38 homes. California regulators previously fined PG&E $1.6 billion for the explo- sion, and the company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars settling victims' lawsuits. "The judge served justice today," San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane said after the sentencing. "It's satisfying in some ways, but for us it will never be over." PG&E said it was com- mitted to transforming the company into the "saf- est and most reliable en- ergy provider in Amer- ica" and earning back the trust of the communities it serves. "We sincerely apolo- gize to the families and friends of those who lost their lives or were injured in this tragic explosion, and we want them to know our mission and our commit- ment to safety will never stop," the company said in a statement. The advertising com- ponent of the sentence re- quires PG&E to air TV com- mercials over three months at a maximum cost of $3 million. The commercials should publicize the utili- ty's convictions, the pun- ishment imposed and steps taken to prevent the recur- rence of similar crimes, the judge said. PG&E estimates the ad campaign will result in about 12,500 roughly 60-second commercials. Jurors in August con- victed the company of five of 11 counts of violating pipeline safety laws, includ- ing failing to gather infor- mation to evaluate poten- tial gas-line threats and de- liberately not classifying a gas line as high risk. No employees were charged, so no one was facing prison time. Prosecutors said the com- pany intentionally misclas- sified pipelines so it would not have to subject them to appropriate testing, choos- ing a cheaper method to save money. Jurors also convicted the utility of obstructing investigators looking into the blast. PG&E attorneys said during trial that the com- pany's engineers did not think the pipelines posed a safety risk, and the com- pany did not intend to mis- lead investigators. The stakes in the case dropped dramatically, however, when prosecutors made the surprising deci- sion several days into jury deliberations not to pur- sue a potential $562 mil- lion fine if PG&E was con- victed of any of the pipeline safety counts. The judge said he wants PG&E to perform as much of the community service requirement as possible in San Bruno. High-level per- sonnel must carry out at least 2,000 of the 10,000 hours, Henderson said. PIPELINE EXPLOSION California utility must run ads over blast conviction fight adversity, which our students can certainly re- late to." The Book In Common program was able to pur- chase books for students and community members thanks to the support of grants from the Rolling HillsEducationFoundation and the Tehama County Arts Council, Ackley said. Barriga received one of Grande's books through a Christmas tradition of his family's to give books rather than presents and two years ago he met her when one of her books was the book in common for Chico State, he said. Barriga's daughter was attending college near Grande in Los Angeles, so he reached out to Grade to ask if she would help his daughter adjust to college life. She agreed. Grande talked, and wrote, about the impor- tance finding a mentor during her time in college, which helped her succeed. She tries to pass that on by mentoring others, includ- inghercousinandhercous- in's daughter Reynita, who still live in Iguala de la In- dependencia,Mexicowhere she was born. Grande read a letter she wrote to Reynita, which will be included in the an- thology "Radical Hope," due to be released in the next few months. She was asked to write a letter of hopeforthefirst100daysof the Trump administration. Grande took questions from the audience, includ- ing what her most diffi- cult challenges both as a girl and an adult were. Her biggest challenge as a girl was feeling powerless with all the things happen- ing to her when the adults made all the decisions. She learnedthroughexperience that while she couldn't con- trol what happened she did have power in controlling how she responded to the circumstances in her life, she said. As an adult, the chal- lenge has been breaking down borders as a Latina writer, often put in the cat- egory of ethnic instead of mainstream and not fully included in conferences. For Latinos aspiring to be authors, Grande said a writer must be strong and believe in themselves and their stories because they will encounter rejection. "Writing in general will see you face rejection," Grande said. "Know your story, know your voice matters. You only need one person to tell you yes. Keep fighting and don't let rejec- tion bring you down. Read a lot and not just in your fa- vorite genre. Venturing out to other genres will help you identify what makes a good book and you can ap- ply that to your writing." Grande encouraged budding authors to ex- pose themselves to writing groups and conferences where they can meet peo- ple in the field and find a mentor. Theafternoonconcluded with Sofia Harris of the Te- hama County Mentoring Program talking about her experience as a local stu- dent and the difference mentoring made to her. "I wouldn't be where I am without mentors," Har- ris said. "There are options foreveryonetogetinvolved. So many kids and people are in need in this commu- nity and there's group men- toring too for those who don't want to do one-on- one. All you have to do is have a desire to help. It all starts with a caring adult who wants to change a per- son's life completely." For more information on the Tehama County Men- toring Program, call 528- 7244. Book FROM PAGE 1 really big." Borror said she encour- ages the public to check out the animals as well as the other events from the art show to the trade show and everything in between. "I'm just amazed at what was a Hereford show 76 yearsagoisnoweverything including art," said Cattle- Women Jean Barton. Sale FROM PAGE 1 PHOTOSBYMARCIOJOSESANCHEZ–THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE University of California employees, who are also members of the Teamsters Local 210, shout in protest against cuts in their benefits and tuition hikes outside of a University of California Board of Regents meeting in San Francisco. PAUL SAKUMA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE A massive fire roars through a neighborhood in San Bruno in 2010. Elb: Milton Elb, 85, of Corning died Tuesday, Jan. 24in Corning. Ar- rangements are under the direction of Brusie Funeral Home. Published Friday, Jan. 27, 2017in the Daily News, Red Bluff, California. Freitas: Douglas Wray Freitas, 66, of Red Bluff died Tuesday, Jan. 24at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital. Arrangements are under the direction of Hoyt-Cole Chapel of the Flowers. Published Friday, Jan. 27, 2017in the Daily News, Red Bluff, California. Green: George R. Green, 91, of Redding died Satur- day, Jan. 21in Redding. Ar- rangements are under the direction of Allen & Dahl Anderson. Published Friday, Jan. 27, 2017in the Daily News, Red Bluff, California. Johnson: Edna Johnson, 97, of Cottonwood died Wednesday, Jan. 25at Mercy Medical Center in Redding. Arrangements are under the direction of Blair's Cremation & Burial. Published Friday, Jan. 27, 2017in the Daily News, Red Bluff, California. Death notices must be 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 JULIE ZEEB — DAILY NEWS Tehama County Superintendent of Schools Rich DuVarney talks on Thursday during Good Morning, Red Bluff at the Red Bluff Bull & Gelding Sale at the Tehama District Fairground. JULIE ZEEB — DAILY NEWS Red Bluff Union High School Associate Principal Miguel Barriga introduces author Reyna Grande who spoke to a group Wednesday at Red Bluff Union High School for the Book in Common community presentation and discussion. The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee reiterated the city's "sanctuary" status in his annual state of the city speech, a day after President Donald Trump threatened to withhold money from jurisdic- tions that do not cooper- ate with federal immigra- tion authorities. Lee said Thursday that the city is a sanctu- ary now and forever. He said San Francisco will continue to protect peo- ple who are living in the country illegally. San Francisco receives about $1 billion a year from the federal govern- ment. Lee said at a previ- ous press conference that Trump's threat to with- hold money lacked specif- ics so officials are unclear on what might be at stake for the city's budget. The mayor also high- lighted successes as well as challenges to come in the areas of housing, po- licing and homelessness. IMMIGRATION San Francisco mayor reiterates sanctuary status Iman Siddiqi, center, a political science student at UC Irvine, makes her case against tuition hikes during a UC regents meeting in San Francisco. FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2017 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 7 A

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