News

Efforts to restore a stunning mile-long stretch of remote oceanfront property seven miles south of Half Moon Bay that has been marred in recent years by rowdy overnight beach parties and piles of trash received a major boost this week: $5 million in Gov. Jerry Brown’s new state budget.

The money will go a long way to building a parking lot, restrooms and trail at Tunitas Creek Beach, supporters said Friday, creating a new San Mateo County beach park. It would be the first new large sandy public beach park in Northern California in decades.

Gov. Jerry Brown set aside Wednesday $1.7 million to fund online suicide prevention training for all public middle and high school students and staff in California.

In signing the final state budget, Brown approved an education omnibus trailer bill that appropriates the funding. The trailer bill includes Assembly Bill 2369, which Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, introduced earlier this year to require the California Department of Education to provide funding to make training available to public schools across the state, including charter schools.

The California state budget signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday includes money for two projects near and dear to many Coastisders — a county park at Tunitas Creek Beach and public access to Martin's Beach.

State and local officials are planning a press conference on Friday to talk about the funding. The state allocation follows months of work by local beach lovers interested in responsible ownership of two of the area's most beloved beaches.

State Assemblyman Marc Berman selected Community Services Agency as the Nonprofit of the Year for District 24.

CSA – which provides social services to Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View residents – is scheduled to be recognized today, California Nonprofits Day, in Sacramento.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) – With record enrollments set each year, panelists made the point for increased state support during a May 4 hearing hosted by the Assembly Select Committee on the Master Plan for Higher Education in California. The Master Plan is a plan for affordable access to higher education in California.

SACRAMENTO - California's lawmakers have passed a bill aimed at combating what supporters claim is misleading advertising by plaintiffs' attorneys.

The bill, AB 3217, targets advertisements by law firms wanting to attract business by claiming certain drugs are dangerous or medical devices defective. The bill passed committee last week, and the full Assembly approved the bill Thursday.

San Mateo County lawmakers were left wondering how a larger portion of the unanticipated revenue padding California’s budget can be dedicated toward homelessness and education after Gov. Jerry Brown included upticks in the state revenue and surplus in his revised state budget Friday.

California officials are trying to prevent a possible undercount of the state’s population in the next census. They worry that fear in immigrant communities will depress response rates, which could cost California federal funding and Congressional representation.

In this week's Around Town column, a Girl Scout troop persuades the City Council to take action against plastic straws, the family of Frank Greene Jr. reacts to news of a school getting named after him and a Holocaust survivor from Palo Alto gets recognized at a state ceremony.

STATE HONORS ... Luisa Buada has seen Ravenswood Family Health Center in East Palo Alto grow from 13 employees to more than 200, transform from a modular building into a 38,300-square-foot facility on Bay Road and see an expansion of medical services for the undocumented, uninsured and low-income residents in East Palo Alto and neighboring communities. Her past 15 years as the medical center's CEO caught the eye of Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, who recognized her with the 24th Assembly District's Woman of the Year award on Monday.