/cali/ - California

If any anons are feeling bored, we need some new banners. I will put them up as soon as I am able.

For discussion of any and all things related to the great state of California. News, politics, culture, etc are all welcome.

A few rules to keep in mind:

1) Keep it California-related. Off topic threads will be removed.

2) NSFW content is allowed as long as it is spoilered.

3) Have fun

>A powerful El Niño continues gaining strength, the latest forecast released Thursday said. And while El Niño rains are still weeks away from hitting California, another weather phenomenon that has exacerbated the state's drought has lifted, allowing heavy storms to target the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.

>Powerful rains have struck Oregon hard over the past three days, according to the National Weather Service. On Wednesday, one woman drowned when her car entered floodwaters, and another woman was killed after a falling tree crushed her Portland home, according to local news reports.

>A storm system is also targeting Northern California this week. It’s expected to bring as much as 8 inches of rain along the North Coast, 3 inches to the San Francisco Bay Area, and feet – not inches – of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains over the next few days, climate experts said.

https://archive.is/4bxtC

>A suspected burglar died in California after being stuck in a chimney when the homeowner lit a fire without realizing the intruder was inside, police said.

>It appeared that the man climbed into the chimney on Friday night while the owner was away and then got stuck, according to the Fresno county sheriff’s office. The owner of the home lit a fire on Saturday afternoon but then heard a man yelling inside the chimney as the house filled with smoke, the Guardian reports.

>Firefighters who attempted to rescue the intruder, identified as Cody Caldwell, 19, broke apart the chimney with drills and chisels and found him dead inside. The cause of death was found to be smoke inhalation and burns. “I’ve been a deputy for 17 years now and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Jake Jensen of the sheriff’s office.

https://archive.is/tTyki

>One of the most powerful El Niños on record continues gathering strength and is looking increasingly likely to bring heavy rains to key Northern California areas that provide water for the rest of the state, according to a new forecast.

>There are better odds that the area around Lake Oroville, California's second-largest reservoir, will have above-normal precipitation – now more than a 40% chance, up from a more than 33% chance in last month’s forecast. San Francisco now has more than a 50% shot of a wetter-than-average winter, up from a more than 40% probability.

>Los Angeles continues to have more than a 60% probability of a wet winter during the months of January, February and March. Officials are scrambling to prepare, including clearing out basins and making sure roads are ready for all the rain.

https://archive.is/nu76B

>El Niño - "the little one," in Spanish - sounds innocent enough, but coastal California homeowners are making big preparations for powerful winter storms made more likely by the weather phenomenon of the same name.

>Residents are taking warnings about this year's El Niño - one of the strongest on record - so seriously that service providers responsible for battening down the hatches on homes and businesses say they are being inundated with calls.

>El Niño is a phenomenon in which warming sea-surface temperatures far out in the Pacific change normal wind cycles and alter weather patterns in the atmosphere worldwide. For California, that is expected to mean a "wetter-than-average" winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast last month.

>And it could be quite a bit wetter than average.

https://archive.is/VY8jS

>As states deal with a nationwide shortage of execution drugs, California proposed Friday to allow corrections officials to choose one of four types of powerful barbiturates to execute prisoners on death row, depending on which one is available.

>The single drug would replace the series of three drugs that were last used when Clarence Ray Allen was executed in 2006, strapped to a gurney in the old gas chamber of San Quentin State Prison.

>The proposal would allow the warden of San Quentin to choose between amobarbital, pentobarbital, secobarbital or thiopental to impose the death penalty.

>It also puts the projected cost of an execution at nearly $187,000 and retains the option for inmates to choose the gas chamber for their execution.

https://archive.is/fmsxo

>Those for and against marijuana initiatives are gearing up to get their proposals on the ballot and voters could end up with many options in 2016.

>The group California Cannabis Hemp Initiative 2016 started to gather signatures this week to put their measure on the ballot to change marijuana laws in California.

>Their initiative is one of about a dozen different proposals trying to get on the ballot in 2016.

>A coalition of groups that includes Napster founder Sean Parker is proposing an initiative that would legalize recreational use of marijuana and tax it at a rate of 15 percent on any retail sales.

>Some however feel legalization is the wrong way to go in California.

>Opponents are trying to figure out ways to defeat any pro-marijuana initiatives and they have their own ballot propositions.

https://archive.is/PyMz0

>Rescuers on Saturday managed to free a humpback whale entangled in hundreds of feet of fishing line, and it swam away southwards.

>The adult humpback, estimated to be 35 to 50 feet long, was spotted Friday off the Orange County coast about 45 miles south of Los Angeles. It was entangled from its mouth to its tail and what appeared to be nylon rope streamed behind it.

>A team with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was able to cut away up to 100 feet of rope and buoys — possibly from a lobster trap — but the whale became agitated and dove deep, eluding rescuers for the rest of the day.

>It moved about 60 miles south and was spotted again Saturday off La Jolla Cove in San Diego.

>In a three-hour operation, the Sea World team was able to cut away more than 230 feet of remaining line, leaving only some line in its mouth, Terry said.

https://archive.is/9jZXU

Why is california full of so much of it? living here is kinda expensive, so did all the middle class sjws and welfarequeens drive out anyone who wanted to make money? Every uni I've visited here is filled to the brim with social justice, moreso than any other state.

>State officials for the first time are fining California water suppliers for failing to meet a mandated 25 percent reduction in water use in the state's battle against a widespread drought.

>The $61,000 fines are being imposed on Beverly Hills, Indio, Redlands and the Coachella Valley Water District.

>For a fourth straight month, Californians as a whole have cut back water consumption by more than 25 percent since Gov. Jerry Brown put that mandate into effect last June.

>"Millions of Californians have saved water during the summer months, which are the four most critical months to save water," said State Water Resources Control Board Chairwoman Felicia Marcus. "This is important and wonderful, and we are thankful for all of the effort by individuals and agencies. Now, we need to keep it up as best we can, even as we hope for as much rain and snow as we can safely handle."

https://archive.is/3ghd8