State Point Media (MPG) - The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced that California's adolescent birth rate continues to decline. In 2015, there were 17.6 births per 1,000 females aged 15-19: a 10 percent decline from the 2014 rate of 19.6 and a 62 percent decline from the 2000 rate of 46.7.
"By empowering young people with the knowledge, tools and resources to make healthy choices, California is succeeding in reducing births among adolescents," said CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith.
The adolescent birth rate decreased across all racial and ethnic groups between 2000 and 2015. During this time, the adolescent birth rate dropped among Hispanics from 77.3 to 27.0, among African-Americans from 59.1 to 19.7, among Whites from 22.3 to 6.9, and among Asians from 15.0 to 2.9.
Despite declining birth rates, racial disparities persist in adolescent childbearing in California. African-American and Hispanic adolescents were three to four times as likely to give birth as White females. Additionally, the adolescent birth rate varies considerably across counties, from a low of 6.7 in Marin County to a high of 43.1 in Del Norte County.
California has a number of programs aimed at preventing adolescent pregnancy and improving pregnancy outcomes among young women. CDPH funds the Information and Education Program, the Personal Responsibility Education Program authorized through the Affordable Care Act of 2010, and the Adolescent Family Life Program for expectant and parenting adolescents. Also, the state provides no-cost family planning services to eligible men and women, including adolescents, through the Family PACT Program.
As travel demand decreases after a busy holiday travel season, prices at the pump should decrease as well
Sacramento Region, CA (MPG) - Californians will kick off 2018 with the most expensive gas to begin a year since 2014, according to AAA, but prices are expected to fall in coming weeks as travel demand subsides after a busy holiday travel season.
At $3.10, California’s average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline today is 33 cents more than drivers paid in January, 2017. At nearly $3.23 per gallon, San Francisco residents are paying the highest prices for gas in Northern California -- 3 cents more than motorists in South Lake Tahoe, which normally tops the charts for the region.
“Last year was a historic travel season, with AAA forecasting record travel numbers for nearly every holiday, but prices historically will drop after the ball drops on New Year’s Eve,” said Michael Blasky, a spokesman for AAA Northern California. “Californians today are paying about 60 cents more than the national average, which AAA attributes to the state’s strong economy, higher taxes on gasoline and stricter environmental regulations."
The last time Californians started a year paying more than $3 for gas was in 2014, when the average price in January of that year was $3.62. Gas prices rose above $4 that summer.
Still, January prices don't always indicate how prices will move throughout a year. Motorists in California paid just $2.55 for regular unleaded gas to begin 2015, but by May were paying above $3.70 per gallon.
Oil prices were more stable in 2017, with prices for a barrel hovering around $50 much of the year. Prices rose late in the year and began 2018 over $60 a barrel, a 2-year high.
“With global oil producers trying to scale back their production, supply could drop while demand for energy remains high,” Blasky said. “If they’re successful in cutting back oil production, gasoline prices will likely rise as well to meet the demand.”
Thera-poodle at work
Sir Winston interns at Carmichael Dentistry
Carmichael, CA (MPG) - Carmichael Chamber of Commerce president Gabrielle Rasi and her staff have the glorious smiles of dental professionals. From one employee, however, flashes a bonus grin. Poodle Sir Winston Churchill’s white canines are truly canine. “I brush his teeth every day,” says Dr. Rasi. “Puppy breath is lovely. Doggie breath isn’t. That can mean dental disease.”
Sweet-breathed Winston has critical employment in Rasi’s Coyle Avenue dentistry. Salaried with love and treats, the three-year-old is comforter-in-training. “People are sometimes stressed at the dentist,” explains Rasi. “Winston’s still working for his therapy diploma, but he already helps anxious patients. He leans against them or puts his head in their laps. He’s a big, fluffy, teddy bear.”
Named for the legendary British Prime Minister, the doggie diplomat is latest in a series of pooches at the practice. Rasi is married to fellow dentist Dr. Kevin Tanner and for 13 years, the couple’s Labrador Hudson welcomed patients to Rasi’s surgery. When Hudson retired, poodle Lola succeeded him. Eventually, when Lola followed Hudson to doggie heaven, Rasi and Turner adopted Winston. “Standard poodles are smart,” she explains. “They’re also hypo-allergic. They don’t shed or affect people with allergies. They love and protect.”
Sir Winston started therapy internship at two years old. All Stage Canine Development consultant Miranda Viani regularly schools the wooly student. Beyond nursing-home visits, dog and trainer haunt busy places to desensitize the intern among moving objects and loud noise. “He still gets excited when he sees kids,” notes his trainer. “He’s learning the difference between play time and work time.”
“Winston lives for love,” observes Rasi. “He just can’t get enough of kids. We recently had a three-year-old who was scared and crying when she arrived for her examination. Soon as she saw Winston, she started laughing and petting his poufy head. With a loving friend beside her, she knew no one would harm her.”
Winston’s meal breaks are supplied from his own shelf in the office fridge. He heads purposefully for patio doors to indicate bathroom needs. “He sits outside my examination room door when I’m working,” says his boss. “He knows he’s not allowed in during procedures. But he’s ready to spoil people with love as they leave. My patients ask for Sir Winston by name. Some visit – without appointments – just to bring him treats or toys. He shakes hands. He takes center-stage in the lobby. Without Winston, work would be much less fun.”
“He’s also king of the castle at home,” confirms Rasi. “He knows when it’s Saturday and he sleeps in with us. When I get up Monday morning, he waits for me at the garage door. If I tell him he must stay home – sometimes I have meetings he can’t attend -- I feel I’ve ruined his whole day.”
Carmichael Improvement District Hires Management Team
Carmichael, CA (MPG) - The board of directors for the Carmichael Improvement District (CID) for Fair Oaks Boulevard, has signed a contract with a Sacramento-based management firm to, in part, oversee all financial and contractual agreements with its members and service providers, as well as the crafting of the CID’s long-range strategic plan.
Jenifer McDonald, founder of McDonald Association Management Company, Inc., is a long-time resident of Carmichael. Her company has been delivering association management services to trade organizations and nonprofits, among other entities, since 2004. This will be its first foray into the business of managing the administrative processes for a Public Business Improvement District or PBID, which involves a collective of roughly 437 commercial property owners operating within the 410-acre Fair Oaks Boulevard Business Improvement corridor, as well as contracted service providers overseeing security and street clean up.
“I’m very excited to be able to roll up my sleeves and get down to work with our board of directors to ensure the longevity and vitality of the CID,” said McDonald. She brings more than two decades of experience in the California State Legislature, as well as executive management for some of the state’s largest trade associations, including the California Dental Hygienists’ Association, the California/Western States Chapter of the ESOP Association, the Association of California Healthcare Districts/ALPHA Fund.
McDonald also has provided executive management services for the California Association of Joint Powers Authorities (CAJPA) and The California Professional Association of Specialty Contractors of Northern California.
McDonald’s contract with the Carmichael Improvement District is for three years. Her appointment completes a short list of contractual agreements between CID board members and outside agencies hired to oversee different components of the CID’s infrastructure and services to its stakeholders.
In July, CID board members awarded contracts to Matt Carroll, owner of Sacramento-based Paladin Private Security, and Hilary Gould, owner of Fair Oaks-based Gould Electric and PBID Maintenance to provide armed security patrol and street maintenance services respectively to the roughly 437 commercial businesses located within the CID’s 2.5 mile boundary lines.
McDonald’s role will be to ensure the viability of those and future contracts with the CID, as well as the facilitation of the collection of property assessments, which fund the CID’s budget of just under $302,000. She will be working closely with CID board members to craft its strategic plan, further develop CID policies, complete build out of the its member database and pushing to bring in new members.
“One of my first orders of business is already in progress,” said McDonald. “That is to take the CID member database and really get to know who our members are, reach out to them and then start working on developing relationships with the rest of the area business and property owners to begin building up our membership.”
The PBID for Fair Oaks Boulevard, or the CID, was approved by just under 70 percent of local property owners in the fall of 2016. Its renewable, five-year agreement with the county may be expanded to include a wider tax base and coverage area over the next five years.
CID Meeting Information:
CID Board meetings are held at the Carmichael Library meeting room at 5605 Marconi Ave. on the fourth Thursday of each month from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. These meetings are open to the public.
SMUD Crews and Equipment Head to Puerto Rico
Sacramento’s electric company committing lineworkers, trucks and equipment to help get the lights back on
Sacramento Region, CA (MPG) - SMUD shipped 15 utility trucks to Lake Charles, Louisiana recently where they will be loaded onto a barge for the voyage to Ponce, Puerto Rico, which is expected to take about 10 days.
SMUD, along with the American Public Power Association, is working with other public power utilities to send crews to restore power in Puerto Rico as the island U.S. territory continues to rebuild after Hurricane Maria hit last September. SMUD is a not-for-profit public power electric utility and a member of the APPA.
The trucks will be off-loaded at Ponce’s port and then more than a dozen SMUD lineworkers will fly to Puerto Rico, gather their trucks and tools, and head into the island interior to begin restoration work.
While most of the power outages in the island’s largest city, San Juan, have been restored, SMUD, along with Richmond (Indiana) Power and Light, Norwich (Connecticut) Public Utility and Commonwealth Utilities of the Northern Mariana Islands will be doing power restoration work in the territory’s suburban and rural areas. SMUD and the other utilities’ work is expected to take two months or more. SMUD will rotate its crews after about 30 days and replace them with fresh personnel.
SMUD’s involvement is part of the utility industry’s ongoing response as several electric companies have signed onto a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to work with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), the electricity provider on the island, as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in ongoing efforts to restore power to the people of Puerto Rico. The MOU was developed by the APPA, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). It serves as a plan that allows electric companies on the mainland (that are members of APPA, EEI, or NRECA) to enter into emergency agreements to provide resources and workers to PREPA on a not-for-profit basis.
SMUD is community-owned and has a long history of providing utilities outside its Sacramento County service territory with mutual-aid assistance. SMUD’s labor, materials and other costs for the effort, which are expected to be about $5 million, will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, so SMUD customers won’t be impacted financially. SMUD will also have plenty of crews and equipment to respond to any power outage issues locally.
Source: SMUD media
Proposes returning $7.5 billion budget surplus directly to taxpayers
Sacramento, CA (MPG) - Senator Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado) today announced legislation that will give the $7.5 billion budget surplus back to hard-working California families and businesses in the form of a refund check.
“While California taxpayers continue struggling to make ends meet, the Legislative Analyst’s Office reported that the state is sitting on a budget surplus of an additional, unexpected $7.5 billion,” said Senator Gaines. “The reason there is a surplus is because Legislative Democrats have continued to overtax Californians and it’s time to send that money right back to taxpayer pocketbooks.”
The legislation will take the state’s $7.5 billion surplus and return it to the taxpayers. Every Californian who filed taxes for 2016 will get their share of that surplus back in a refund check from the government that could amount to hundred dollars per taxpayer.
“I know the legislature will be tempted to continue the tax-and-spend cycle by sinking every extra dollar into expanding an ever-growing list of government services and projects, like granting more rights to undocumented immigrants and funding the boondoggle that is High-Speed Rail.
“But we cannot continue to price families and small businesses out of the state, sending them to neighboring states where the tax burden is much lower. We can’t keep fixed-income seniors teetering on the edge of poverty. That’s why I’m carrying a bill to get every single tax filer a refund of the money they overpaid to the government. It’s their money and it’s our obligation to return it.”
Senator Ted Gaines represents the 1st Senate District, which includes all or parts of Alpine, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra and Siskiyou counties.
The Sweet Sound of Success
In 2009 the Carmichael Chamber of Commerce had just over 100 active members, attendance at events and networking luncheons was dismal and it was operating in the red. In a last-ditch effort to keep the organization open, member Linda Melody was appointed to replace the outgoing executive director. As the chamber approaches the celebration of its 70th anniversary, active membership has more than doubled since Melody’s arrival, participation is robust. Under Melody’s direction, the chamber also was instrumental in establishment of the Fair Oaks Avenue PBID, now called the Carmichael Improvement District or CID, which is looked to as a model by neighboring communities considering a PBID of their own. Below, Melody discusses her strategy for reinvigorating the chamber and where it’s headed next.
Q: How did you land your position and what was the chamber’s status at the time?
A: I was already a member of the chamber through my prepaid legal services company. I actually didn’t know anything about the chamber before I joined but I thought it would be a good way to get exposure. Then a number of months later the president of the board at the time resigned and the vice president took over. She contacted me to ask if I would join the board. About a month later the chamber was broke and my predecessor at the time came in to say her check had not cleared. We had to pay her with the few renewal fees that had come in. She left and I was asked to take over.”
Q: How many members were on the roster upon your arrival?
A: We had roughly 342 members on our roster, however, when I started calling and introducing myself as the new executive director, a good number of them laughed on the phone and told me they hadn’t been a member for two or three years. No one was updating the roster. When I culled the list down to active members, it was about 113. Attendance at our monthly luncheons, which were not being held consistently, averaged about 12. It was really bad. They weren’t engaged. Then, it was announced that, by the end of that year, if we didn’t raise $4,000, we would have to close the doors. I was shocked. It was a really difficult time.
Q: What was your strategy for keeping the Chamber’s doors open and its resurgence?
A: I would talk with other CEOs and EDs at other organizations and think ‘I am in way over my head.”’ But I knew the chamber needed to be resurrected, so I just started getting to know each one of our members personally. Our mixers were hit and miss, if held at all, so no engagement there. Then I really just began by reaching out to the business owners in the community one on one. I talked to them about the value of the chamber and got to know who they were and what they were looking for. I also started to look at ways to raise more revenue through the addition of new fundraisers and events.”
Q: What new events and programs have you implemented?
A: There was already an installation dinner on the calendar, but I realized that no one really cared about it. It was not a major event. So in 2010 I launched the Person of the Year Awards and we folded it into the installation event. That first year we honored then Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness and we made it a fundraiser. That event is now going to be in its ninth year. It has really grown to include a full plate of honorees, including Nonprofit of the Year, to which we donate a portion of the event’s proceeds. We also launched the member orientation breakfast, which is held each quarter. This event is important because it’s our way of providing those touch points that you need bring members into the fold and keep them active. It isn’t just about the ribbon cutting. We also brought in 24 chamber sponsors, as well as some terrific and very supportive event sponsors. We added quarterly power lunches, and also now partner with neighboring chambers for our multi-chamber mixer, which provides wonderful exposure for our members and an opportunity to meet with other chamber members from surrounding communities.
Q: What is your current membership?
A: We have 272 active members and I know every one of them. I have contact with them throughout the year. Our volunteers call every member to find out if they are coming to the luncheons and events. It’s all about that personal touch. Our monthly luncheons now have 100-plus in attendance and we have had dignitaries and officials from all over come and speak. They are truly well attended and vibrant events now.
Q: Your chamber was instrumental in getting voters to approve the PBID. Why push for that?
A: That’s right. We are the first chamber to ever orchestrate the beginning of a PBID and we have a seat on the board of the PBID. We worked very hard and we were just rejoicing when we got the votes we needed. We went out and we talked to people and said ‘Look, we are not an incorporated city and don’t have the tax base to address the issues of concern on our own. We pushed to help businesses understand that the PBID would give them a voice and bring in revenue to strengthen their businesses. Now, we have onsite security and street clean up in place, which is making a huge dent in the problems with blight and crime along the boulevard. We also have hired our administrator to oversee the distribution of funds and operations management. I know it was the right thing to do and now we are seeing the positive results from it.
Q: What’s on tap for 2018?
A: Beginning in January we will be expanding our board of directors from 11 to 14. We just had our elections and all were approved and will be sworn in on Dec. 19. We are moving our multi-chamber mixer to the fall because everyone’s calendar is so full in June. As far as programs go, we are going to be putting a lot of emphasis on education for our members next year. We want to bring in more speakers to our events who can talk about those issues that members want help with or need to learn more about to grow. Of course on January 9, we celebrate our platinum anniversary. The chamber will turn 70 and I’m excited to say I’ve scheduled our first speaker, Barry Broome who serves as the first President and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council. Economic development issues are very important here. When I arrived, we had a 23% vacancy rate. It is currently under 10 %. Of course we want to see that number go to zero, but we are definitely moving in that direction.
Q: What is your message to those considering a membership?
A: My message is that the Carmichael Chamber is a very exciting, energized and growing chamber. In 2016 and 2017 we were identified as the second-fastest growing chamber in the region. Being in an unincorporated area when people feel there is no one there to help them grow their business, we can fill that gap with education, assistance and networking and promotion. I don’t’ know anywhere else where you can go for all of that for $125 a year.