California governor’s last-minute push for climate change legislation

S1: New state climate action is being pushed in Sacramento.

S2: I think there is a bit of a question going forward as to what the governor is asking for , what happens next.

S1: I'm Maureen CAVANAUGH. This is KPBS Midday Edition. A warning not to repeat the past in terms of the monkeypox outbreak.

S2: There were a lot of gay men who were being scapegoated and blamed for AIDS back then and can convinced that there are gay people , gay men being blamed today for this.

S1: And a musical celebration of Paris and more on our weekend preview. That's ahead on Midday Edition. We've talked a lot on Mid-day Edition this week about San Diego's new updated climate action plan that aims for net zero carbon emissions by the year 2035. And up in Sacramento , more climate legislation may be in the works. As Governor Newsom assembled legislators for what Politico calls a green pep talk. It's reported that Newsom is urging faster and more aggressive action on climate change after some recent state proposals fell short of environmentalists goals. Joining me is Jeremy White , California politics reporter for Politico. And , Jeremy , welcome.

S2: Thanks for having me.

S1: Apparently , this green pep talk was a private meeting with the governor and Democratic legislators.

S2: And I'm told he mentioned a number of broad policy goals on the climate space that he would like to see the legislature tackle , which is not to say that he quite endorsed specific pieces of legislation. And so I think there is a bit of a question going forward as to what the governor is asking for and what happens next.

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S2: There was a piece of legislation that would accomplish that that died on the Senate floor late last year at the end of session. And so , you know , if the governor is signaling that he wants to put his shoulder to the wheel and offer some political cover on that one , that could change the prospects for that bill. Still a tough piece of legislation. As I said , I think it is unclear at this moment if that is what is going to happen.

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S2: Most recently , the governor came out fairly vehemently in opposition to a ballot initiative , Proposition 30 , that would pay for electric vehicle sales and infrastructure by raising taxes on the wealthy. The governor focused his criticism on the fact that it's funded almost entirely by Lyft , a company that does face a state mandate to electrify its fleet. And so while the governor portrayed it as a sort of special interest money grab , a lot of environmentalists support that measure as well , and were surprised to see the governor come out against something that these environmental backers felt would be necessary to fund the governor's own goal in an executive order he issued of getting to all electric vehicle sales in the next decade plus. So there was that. And then the governor in his budget proposal this year asked the legislature to create essentially a backup electricity fund to ensure that the power stays on at times of the grid is stressed. And that has led to some real consternation among legislative Democrats , because it would likely require relying at least as a last resort on some dirtier sources of electricity.

S1: Now , from what I understand , a bill that would allow carbon to be sequestered naturally in farmland and forests may be able to move forward.

S2: When you talk about climate change and the solutions and the technologies , that would get us to where people want to go. It is a technology that is exciting for a lot of proponents who say this is a way that we could get that carbon out of the atmosphere. But there's a fair amount of skepticism from environmentalists as well that it would give something of a free pass to polluters by allowing them sort of a route to do something with those emissions , as opposed to cutting down on the emissions in the first place.

S1: Now , these are the final weeks of the legislative session in Sacramento.

S2: It's not unprecedented to see new legislation pop up in the last weeks of session. There's even a term for it gutting and amending a bill when it suddenly acquires new contents. So certainly that's something that has happened in the past. That said , I do think introducing a big knock down. Eight over a very ambitious goal like getting to carbon neutrality by 2045. Advancing that type of legislation often requires months of negotiations and sort of bringing people on board. And so if it were to be revived , it would certainly be a narrow time frame to make that happen.

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S2: For example , some of the incentives to build out electric vehicle sector. That said , I don't think that California is , you know , relying on the federal government or waiting for the federal government to move on these issues. But I do think it is something where if you ask people , what's it going to take to get to those ambitious goals , like all electric vehicle sales , they will say a little bit of everything private investment , state subsidies and federal help. So I think any help that California can get for those goals is certainly welcome.

S1: I've been speaking with Jeremy White , California politics reporter for Politico. And Jeremy , thank you so much.

S2: It's a pleasure.

S1: As cases of monkeypox climb and health officials scramble to contain the disease , one veteran journalist sees similarities between this outbreak and covering the HIV AIDS virus. Almost four decades ago , he's now urging health officials not to repeat the same mistakes. KPBS reporter Kitty Alvarado has the story.

S3: Decades before monkeypox , another virus was predominantly affecting gay men HIV aids.

S2: Well , hey , plant reporting.

S3: Reporter Hank plant was at ground zero for the epidemic.

S2: San Francisco sounds strange , but it was kind of a gift for me to be an openly gay man and a reporter working in San Francisco. And so I was able to tell the story from my own perspective and seeing that it was affecting my friends. So it was always more than a story to me. And I wanted to get it right.

S3: And getting it right was not easy , especially when many , including government officials , didn't think it was important.

S2: The subject came up at a press conference in the White House when Reagan was president. And in the pressroom , the press secretary was asked about this new disease , AIDS , and the room laughed.

S3: At the time , Plante says , there was little to no information about the virus , so his station KPIX made a real commitment to cover it.

S2: So we were going on the air every night telling people how to not get the disease. What was new was treatment or any of the drugs working. And remember , this was at a time when the Reagan administration was barely talking about it.

S3: Still , he says , the lack of information led to fear an abuse of the gay community living in fear themselves.

S2: People get kicked out of their apartments. People were being fired. There were no legal protections back then. So it was really awful. It was terrible.

S3: Plant says by the time President Reagan said the word AIDS for the first time , 23,000 Americans had died of the virus.

S2: There are a lot of parallels to the beginning of AIDS. There was inaction by the government back then.

S3: He says the current monkeypox emergency is giving him flashbacks to those early days when he covered AIDS.

S2: There were a lot of gay men who were being scapegoated and blamed for AIDS back then. And you can bet that there are gay people , gay men being blamed today for this. There is a lot of fear in the gay community that that's going to get worse.

S3: Plant urges health and government officials to get out front once and for all and explain exactly how the virus is transmitted and do everything they can to get vaccines to help stop monkeypox from spreading.

S2: We're going to have a lot more cases. It is preventable.

S3: Plant has earned every award imaginable for his AIDS coverage , including a Peabody. But his goal back then was to save lives. He believes reporters now also have an opportunity to make a positive impact.

S2: Don't be afraid to tell the truth , but I think that there is some fear among particularly among straight journalists , that they don't want to offend the gay community by saying you're getting it from gay sex. It's not a sexually transmitted disease , but it's the close contact. And I think the journalists have to tell the truth about it and not worry about the backlash.

S3: He says he learned a lot from covering AIDS , a lot of it about himself.

S2: Once you slay your dragons in life , it makes you stronger. And so that was my big fear when I was growing up , like a lot of gay kids. And once I came out , I just started to relax and enjoy life.

S3: Kitty Alvarado , KPBS News.

S1: This is KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Maureen CAVANAUGH. In our weekend preview , some closing , some openings , music and theater about Paris and even some outdoor jazz. Joining me with all the details is KPBS arts producer and editor Julia Dixon Evans. And welcome , Julia.

S4: Hi , Maureen. Thanks for having me.

S1: Well , let's start with art produce. There's a closing reception of a pretty striking subject matter. It's over a hundred large scale drawings of the first black woman to be sworn in to the U.S. Supreme Court. Tell us about this.

S4: Yeah , this is the work of Alexander Zimmermann or Zem. And the exhibition's titled 116 Drawings of Catenary Brown Jackson. And these are not small sketches. Zimmerman often livestreams as he works , usually making these massive portraits of people who are significant figures in either social justice or current events. So his work ends up being as much about Mark making and the Internet as well as it is about this subject for this project that our produce his John 106. Portraits of Jackson , who earlier this summer was just sworn in as the first black woman on the United States Supreme Court. And this can be seen from the sidewalk its art produces just along University Avenue and North Park. It's viewable day or night , and it is really great to see all 116 of these works lined up. It's striking , though , if you want to get a closer look , you do have a chance to go inside in the closing reception. That's on Saturday afternoon from 3 to 8 and Saturday nights. Also that open house for the art produce artist in residence program. So you also have a chance to see the artists there who are currently making work.

S1: Now , the La Hoya Music Society's Summer Fest continues this weekend with the theme A Weekend in Paris for three Concerts.

S4: This is the summer fest. Music Director John Barnett When.

S2: We were going back in time and experiencing that basically the years that made Paris what it is , the center of culture where everybody was , all the writers and composers and thinkers , everybody was in the same pot.

S4: So the first concert is Friday night tonight , which takes us to the salons and masquerades in Paris. Those works based upon arrival. And this piece by Andre Caballé. It's called Canto Fantastique , which is a nod to Edgar Allan Poe's The Mask of Red Death. And on Saturday they'll focus on the conservatory , the Conservatoire de Paris , which includes music by the young prodigy Lilli Boulanger , who was one of the more impressive students at that conservatory. And on Sunday afternoon , the concert is called Beg , Borrow and Steal , and they'll take a look at the way composers in Paris took on sales from other periods and other locations.

S1: Now , how about some theater ? It's closing weekend for Blue Period , a premiere play at On Stage Playhouse in Chula Vista.

S4: And as they leave Spain for Paris. So this chronicles a pretty significant period in Picasso's life , and it leads up to the tragic events in their friendship that launched Picasso's famed blue period. So it's pretty heavy subject matter , and it spans a really important part in his life. And there's just a few performances left at Onstage Playhouse. There's 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday night at eight and also at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

S1: Now , Julia , you've told us about a few things closing this weekend. Here's something new with an exhibition of new sculpture opening up tomorrow at Quinn Gallery. Tell us about these artists.

S4: Yeah , it's Adam Belt , Christopher Pusey and Chris Thorson. They're all sculptures. And the works are really distinct. Adam makes these incredibly precise blocks out of polyurethane resin. Sort of floats a shape of white pigment in there that gives each piece this different translucency and opacity. And these works change depending on the light. It's pretty phenomenal. And Christopher Peugeot is known for his really intricate geometric sculptures and wall works. And I see these pieces as being somewhere between filigree and breeze blocks. There's repeating patterns and shapes. And then they also cast shadows behind each piece. And this is all made of this non-reflective stainless steel. And finally , Chris Thorson has taken a collection of everyday consumer goods like toiletries , and he's transformed the bottles or tubes into cast bronze sculptures. And what's interesting about these things are that the actual substance , like the sunscreen or the Neosporin or whatever , would be mostly unrecognizable if you squeeze it out. But the container is what defines it. So even rendered in bronze without any markings on it , you can still pick out certain recognizable products. And this exhibition will be on view at Quint and La Hoya beginning Saturday through September 17th. And the gallery hours are 11 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. There's no opening reception until next week , but I'm off next week , so I'll tell you about it now. That reception will include a panel with the three sculptors. That's next Saturday evening , the 13th , and it's moderated by Quince Jacqueline Marino.

S1: And one more. This time we have a combination of food , jazz and bees.

S4: Yes , this is a make projects in North Park and you can enjoy a nice dinner and drinks as well as learn about the impact of pollinators on our food supply. Make Projects is an urban farm and restaurant that offers employment for low income women and youth , refugees and immigrants. And the setting is this beautiful outdoor food garden. And it will all be accompanied by a jazz music from the Young Lions Jazz Conservatory. These are incredibly gifted and hardworking student performers , and that concert will be directed by Rob Thorsen. It's tonight from 5 to 7:30 p.m..

S1: Now you can find details on these and more arts events or sign up for Julia's weekly arts newsletter at KPBS Saugus Arts. I've been speaking with KPBS arts producer and editor Julia Dixon Evans. Thank you , Julia , and have a great vacation.

S4: Thank you , Maureen.