By Lisa Leff, AP

SAN FRANCISCO — The likelihood that California voters will be asked to legalize recreational marijuana next year is prompting lawmakers to make a serious run at reining in the state’s vast medical marijuana industry — a job they have deferred for nearly two decades.

A pair of bills pending in the California Legislature would create the first statewide regulations for medical marijuana growers, manufacturers of pot-infused products, and distributors such as storefront dispensaries and delivery services.

California authorized marijuana use for health purposes with a 1996 ballot measure that allows doctors to recommend the drug for any ailment, deliberately leaving the specifics for how it should be produced and sold for another day.

With advocates now working to qualify recreational-use initiatives for the November 2016 ballot, that day finally may have arrived.

The state Assembly last month approved a comprehensive licensing and oversight scheme on a bipartisan 62-8 vote. A compromise measure to create the Governor’s Office of Medical Cannabis Regulation, AB 266, is endorsed by both the California Cannabis Industry Association and the California Police Chiefs Association.

“The legalization discussion has definitely changed the tone of the conversation,” said Natasha Minsker, who directs the ACLU of California’s advocacy office in Sacramento. “There is real potential a legalization initiative will set the tone for regulation and taxation, and if the Legislature wants to be involved, now is the time.”

The eleventh-hour effort offers a preview of issues that are likely to surface during a legalization campaign, from concerns over water use and drugged driving to questions around consumer protections and who will be allowed to apply for business licenses.

The bill by Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, requires numerous state agencies to flesh out and enforce a regulatory framework by 2018.

The California Highway Patrol would develop a way to determine when someone is too high to drive, while the Department of Public Health would come up with rules for testing pot products for potency and toxic chemicals and set limits on when individuals with felony convictions or newly arrived in California would be eligible for a license to grow, process, transport or sell medical marijuana.

The bill also would create training standards and labor rights for industry workers — a nod to unions — and preserve the right of local governments to ban cannabis businesses, which is key to maintaining support from the League of California Cities and police chiefs.

“This is something that is greatly needed and long overdue,” said Chula Vista Police Chief David Bejarano, the police association’s president. “We are aware there will be an initiative on the ballot and if it is approved, we will have a good foundation, something to prevent some of the issues we have had with medical marijuana.”

Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat who has expressed skepticism about the wisdom of legalizing recreational marijuana use, has not indicated if he would sign the medical marijuana legislation if it reaches his desk.

Sen. Mike McGuire, a first-term Democrat whose 370-mile long coastal district encompasses Northern California’s prime pot-growing regions, blames the Legislature’s years of inaction on continuing skepticism over marijuana’s medical value, law enforcement resistance and industry doubts.

Noting there is no guarantee that California voters will go for full legalization, McGuire introduced his own medical marijuana bill. SB643 would establish an office within the state Business, Consumer Affairs and Housing Agency to license medical marijuana businesses and to develop regulations for how they should operate.

It would also require the California Medical Board to crack down on doctors who issue medical marijuana recommendations without a proper patient exam or valid medical reason for doing so.

“My beef is this: California’s approach to medical marijuana regulation has been impotent and when you allow an industry to grow unregulated for as long as we have with cannabis, we are going to pay the price,” McGuire said. “We are inundated with the impacts of this multi-billion dollar industry and we cannot sacrifice our communities, the environment and patient safety any longer.”

A Brush with Kindness — a program under Habitat for Humanity — is looking to help homeowners.

The group will paint the outside of houses, do minor exterior repair, and basic yard clean-landscaping.

Homeowners must meet certain income requirements to qualify for the assistance.

For more info, call Carolyn at 530.541.4654 or Bonnie at 530.577.7762.

By Associated Press

California lawmakers are sending Gov. Jerry Brown a bill that would recognize competitive cheerleading as a high school sport.

The state Senate on Monday unanimously approved a bill requiring the California Interscholastic Federation to oversee competitive cheerleading as it does other high school sports.

Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego says at least eight other states treat competitive cheerleading as a sport. Formal recognition would mean consistent safety rules and training for coaches.

Her bill, AB949, would make the change by the 2017-18 school year. Gonzalez is a former high school and college cheerleader.

Brown signed another of her bills this year, requiring minimum wage pay and overtime for professional sports team cheerleaders.

By Esther Mobley, San Francisco Chronicle

In Northern California’s wine country, the 2015 harvest has arrived shockingly early, amid years of drought that have progressively shifted vines’ growing season earlier into the year.

Winemakers are scrambling to keep pace, and many worry about the financial implications of an extremely low-yielding crop.

“I’ve been making wine for 38 years, and this is the second-earliest harvest I’ve ever seen,” said Eileen Crane, CEO and winemaker of Domaine Carneros, who began picking on July 31.

Not only has the harvest come early, it’s progressing more quickly. In many cases, especially for Pinot producers, a picking schedule that would stretch over a month is being condensed into about a week.

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By Kyle Roerink, Las Vegas Sun

Nevada negotiated an option to buy up to 2.5 million rounds of ammunition for state agencies over the next two years, according to documents and interviews with the Nevada Purchasing Division.

State officials made 55 separate requests for ammunition for 9mm pistols, 12-gauge shotguns, semi-automatic rifles and other firearms as part of a solicitation to vendors across the country, according to bidding documents received by sporting good wholesalers.

Officials described the deal as routine, a way to secure cheap rounds for highway patrol, parole and probation, emergency management, wildlife and other state departments. Several counties, including White Pine and Esmeralda, also took part in the bid, purchasing officials said.

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·      Lake Tahoe Community College will be closed Sept. 3 so all staff may attend professional development training.

·      Nevada Museum of Art in Reno received a $2 million donation from local resident John La Gatta.

·      The ski-in, ski-out Starbucks at Squaw Valley made a list of the coolest Starbucks locations.

·      Tahoe Donner Golf Course in Truckee is having a glow golf event Sept. 4. More info is online.

·       River Wranglers’ mission is to inspire youth through hands-on learning, and to explore, conserve and understand the importance of local rivers. They envision a community that is aware and committed to healthy watersheds and rivers. The group is putting on an event in Dayton State Park from 1-4pm on Sep. 27.  For more information, contact Linda Conlin at 775.230.0633.

South Lake Tahoe is celebrating its 50th anniversary by taking a “birthday photo” on Aug. 27 at 6pm at Lakeview Commons.

Tahoe Production House will be flying a drone to capture the group.

This will all be during the final Live at Lakeview summer concert series. Lavish Green will be playing.

All of this is free.

Live animals will be taking over the Lake of the Sky Amphitheater on Aug. 28.

Wild Things Inc. is a nonprofit that provides homes for displaced wildlife and shares these animals as wildlife ambassadors in a public education form. All the animals housed with Wild Things either have injuries that keep them surviving in the wild or animals that individuals have tired to keep as illegal pets.

The event starts at 7pm. The $5 cost benefits the Tahoe Heritage Foundation.

The amphitheater is at Taylor Creek Visitor Center located approximately three miles north of South Lake Tahoe on the lakeside of Highway 89.

For more information, call 530.544.7383.

By Rachel Swan and John Wildermuth, San Francisco Chronicle

Filling car-shaking potholes and repairing crumbling highways and bridges shouldn’t be a partisan issue, Gov. Jerry Brown said.

Joined by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, Brown used a news conference last week at the Port of Oakland to urge the Legislature’s Republicans and Democrats to work together in a special session he called to find a long-term answer to California’s continuing lack of cash for highway and infrastructure repairs.

California’s current gas tax, which hasn’t been raised since 1994, brings in $2.3 billion a year for repair work, billions short of what state officials say is needed. Compounded over the years, that’s left tens of billions of dollars in deferred maintenance, Brown said.

The gap is only going to get worse. As fuel efficiency increases and more electric and hybrid cars hit the road, gas sales will drop and tax revenue will fall with them.

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By Arthur C. Brooks, New York Times

Twenty-three years ago, my wife and I were having an argument about how to celebrate our first anniversary. Money was tight, and we had to choose between taking a beach vacation or buying a couch, which we did not have. Being a Spaniard, she naturally advocated for the beach. As a thrifty American, I argued for the couch because it was permanent. In the end, we compromised — we went to the beach.

Vacations say a lot about people. For one thing, where people choose to go indicates how much they like to be around others. In new work in the Journal of Research in Personality, psychologists from the University of Virginia quizzed college students about their geographical preferences and found that introverts prefer the mountains while extroverts prefer the ocean. The researchers found more evidence for this when they looked at who actually lives where: Residents of especially mountainous states were more introverted on average than their counterparts who live in flatter places.

This finding is fairly intuitive. In the mountains one can easily find seclusion and isolation. Meanwhile, beaches tend to be crowded places full of seminude strangers, a potentially unappealing scene for introverts but exactly the point for extroverts.

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