enterprise THE DAVIS
FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2023
Governor sets plan for budget deficit
Sean de Guzman, chief of the California Department of Water Resources Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Section, works the measurement phase of the first media snow survey of the 2023 season at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on Jan. 3.
By Alexei Koseff CalMatters
In some places, it might feel like the drought is history. Take San Francisco. Its water supply — Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, in the Sierra Nevada — is 80%
California will delay some spending commitments, reverse recent steps to shore up its fiscal health and shift funding sources to limit the cuts it must make to close a projected $22.5 billion budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom said today. The shortfall, slightly less than the $24 billion that financial analysts for the Legislature estimated in November, will not prevent the state from fulfilling its ambitions of transforming education, homelessness, housing affordability and health care, the Democratic governor insisted. “We’re keeping our promises,” Newsom said during a press conference in Sacramento, where he unveiled his proposed $297 billion spending plan, about 3.6% smaller than last year’s record budget. “Regardless of this modest shortfall, we’re continuing to make unprecedented investments.” It’s a swift reversal of fortune. Six months ago, Newsom and legislative leaders were crowing about a surplus of nearly $100 billion —
See WATER, Page A3
See DEFICIT, Page A5
Kenneth James/ California DWR photo
Did all that rain, snow help? What’s next for state water system By Alastair Bland CalMatters The year 2023 began with a historic bang — record precipitation and disastrous flooding throughout much of California. Parched watersheds soaked up the first rains, but soon became waterlogged. Runoff accelerated. Sodden hillsides collapsed. Rural levees burst and
rivers spilled their banks. Towns went underwater. People died. Meanwhile, the Pacific Ocean continued to whip up more atmospheric rivers and “bomb cyclones,” and one after another, these intense storms pummeled California. Abruptly, a state emerging from the dust of three painfully dry years was inundated with more water than it knew what to do with. But the wet and wild weather over the past dozen days won’t end the drought, at least not yet, and it won’t undo the driest
period in the West in the past 1,200 years. About 71% of California was experiencing “severe” drought on Wednesday, dropping to 46% today, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System. That designation is based on a long list of complex metrics, including soil moisture, water shortages, levels of streams and lakes, snow cover and runoff. The storms also come at a time when scientists are predicting a long-term shift toward a
warmer, drier climate. With at least two more storms approaching California over the next week, we look at what all this means for drought conditions and water supply.
Sorry, it isn’t over
City, county assess storm cleanup By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer City and county officials continue to assess damage and clean up following a series of atmospheric rivers, even as more storms are on the way. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday ratified a state of emergency for Yolo County and the county has been submitting damage assessments to the federal government. County Administrator Gerardo Pinedo said the president’s recent federal emergency declaration includes Yolo County “so we should see some benefit there financially, and other resources for the county.” The extent of the
VOL. 125 NO. 6
INDEX
Arts ���������������������B1 Comics ���������������B4 Obituaries ���������A3 Calendar �����������A6 Forum �����������������B3 Pets ��������������������A5 Classifieds ��� A3-A4 Movies ���������������B2 Sports ���������������B6
Planning commission backs CommuniCare expansion By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer
Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis photo
UC Davis workers cut up a tree that, on its way down New Year’s Eve, punched a hole in the side of Kemper Hall. financial damages is still being assessed, according to Kristin Weivoda, Yolo County’s chief of emergency services.
WEATHER Saturday: Heavy rain and breezy. High 55. Low 45.
“At the moment, we’re sitting at around $7 million in damages that have
See CLEANUP, Page A4
The Davis Planning Commission on Wednesday unanimously recommended that the City Council approve an expansion plan for CommuniCare Health Centers. That plan involves construction of a new 17,663foot, one-story administrative and medicalservices building on about three acres of undeveloped land directly north of the existing Davis CommuniCare Clinic. The clinic is adjacent to Sutter Davis Hospital, west of Highway 113 and
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north of Covell Boulevard in West Davis. Like the existing clinic, the new building would be on land leased from Sutter Davis.
The expansion recommended by planning commissioners on Wednesday actually represents the second phase of CommuniCare’s recent efforts to meet patient demand in Davis.
First established 50 years ago as the Davis Free Clinic downtown, CommuniCare has, over the ensuing decades, expanded to provide more services to more people
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See EXPANSION, Page A5
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