Photo: Matthew Carlstroem
East CA
When people divide California into regions, they generally choose to split the state into North and South. But Los Angeles and Sacramento have more in common than either does with Barstow. In East CA, Chris Clarke looks at life, people, and the landscape to the east of the spine of mountains that runs up the middle of the state; a land that might share more with Nevada, Arizona, or Northern Mexico than it does with the California Coast.
Weather:
A powerful and widespread storm system hit hard at Thermal and Mecca's Desert Mobile Home Park, informally known as Duroville.
Environment:
A group of high-powered environmental organizations has filed suit to send the Cadiz water project back to the drawing board.
Economy:
Imperial County has the highest unemployment in California. Again.
Environment:
Does this weekend's swarm of earthquakes mean the Big One is coming? Yes... but not in the way you might think.
Commentary:
The Marines' Johnson Valley War underscores a fact of life in California: we no longer have enough desert to go around.
Environment:
An Orange County water district votes to approve importing water from the Mojave, thus claiming a minor place in a 150-year history of desert exploitation.
Government:
This last week makes it clear: California's State Parks doesn't really want to take care of the Providence Mountains State Recreation Area. They should give it to someone who does.
Commentary:
The South Coast Air Quality Management District refuses to tell Coachella Valley officials what's happening with $53 million in grant funding.
Commentary:
While all eyes were on the U.S. Supreme Court as it deliberated over the Affordable Care Act, it handed down an unrelated decision that may well have significant impact on one of the California Desert's most popular spots.
Commentary:
A long-promoted plan to pipe water from one of the driest parts of the Mojave Desert to irrigate Southern California's cities continues to find new critics, who are slamming the project on environmental grounds.
Commentary:
It may cost more than a billion dollars, one fifth of the county's annual budget, to build enough beds for the prison population.
Commentary:
Conservatives prevailed in most contests, incumbents had a bit of an advantage, and turnout was spotty. With few exceptions, this was a typical off-season election in the California desert. But those few exceptions are pretty interesting, including an unlikely Democratic win in one of the most conservative places in the state.
Commentary:
Despite objections from the Quechan Tribe, construction on the project in Imperial County started as soon as the ink was dry on federal government's Record of Decision approving the fast-tracked wind installation.
Commentary:
It didn't take very long for the consequences Obama's gay marriage statement to make their mark on the upcoming race to represent the Coachella Valley's 36th Congressional District.
Technology:
Scarecrow was brought to the Dumont Dunes to give rover operators a little more data to aid in negotiating the sand traps of the Red Planet when the Mars Science Laboratory Lands in August.
Commentary:
Palm Springs has a conflicted relationship with good taste. The town is a somewhat self-conscious shrine to the Mid-Century Modern aesthetic, with houses, bank buildings and diners reflecting that artistic movement.
Commentary:
A court settlement over a cross in Mojave National Preserve hands a symbolic victory to opponents of the Preserve's existence, and will lead to further development of one of California's natural treasures.
Commentary:
Economic hardship in the U.S. and increasing obstacles to informal border crossing have made the northward trek far less enticing to would-be job seekers. So why does Representative Rob Bishop want to ramp up extreme border protections even further?
Commentary:
There are two baseline issues here: renewable energy economic policy in the People's Republic of China and the increasing attractiveness of rooftop solar.
SoCal Focus is a daily blog about the people, places and issues in and around Southern California.
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