Riverside Water Sale Is Done; Deal with Feds Doesn’t Actually Exist

by MacKenzie Elmer | Voice of San Diego

Dignitaries from Southern California water world made a big deal Thursday over Riverside officials agreeing to purchase water from oversupplied San Diego.

That deal is nothing compared to the larger one San Diego is pursuing to sell its water supplies across state lines for likely a much higher price. It’s a long way off from happening, but that plan, pitched by San Diego earlier this month, could rewrite how entire U.S. states share the drying Colorado River and Southern California’s main water supply.

But San Diego doesn’t even have a deal to discuss that deal yet. It will likely be a heavy lift since all of the major players on the Colorado River are distracted by an intractable disagreement over how to share the river, which is already critically low. A record-breaking warm spring has left very little snow in the Rocky Mountains, the river’s main source.

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Not all business owners: How Business for Good is building a new voice in San Diego

by Drew Sitton | Times of San Diego

Sid Voorakkara was watching a city council meeting on racial profiling by the San Diego Police Department when he first realized small businesses punched above their weight in political influence.

Nonprofit leaders and advocates from groups like the ACLU spoke to the council with little effect.

Then he watched the Main Street Alliance, a national group that acts as a progressive counterweight to traditional business groups, argue that racial profiling against customers and employees imposed an economic cost. Suddenly, the council appeared to be paying closer attention than they had all day, Voorakkara recalled.

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Sacramento Report: Erasing Cesar Chavez

By Nadia Lathan| Voice of San Diego

As advocacy groups clambered Capitol offices this week ahead of the spring recess, lawmakers grappled with an unexpected bombshell: revered labor rights activist Cesar Chavez has been accused of sexual abuse.

Meanwhile, members of the legislative Progress Caucus laid out their proposals for addressing state and federal funding cuts to social services.

Welcome back to this week’s Sacramento Report. Let’s get into it.

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