CalMatters: The Newsom administration is refining a contentious set of proposed rules, years in the making, that would reshape how farms and cities draw water from the Central Valley’s Delta and its rivers. Backed by more than $1 billion in state funds, the rules, if adopted, would require water users to help restore rivers and rebuild depleted Chinook salmon runs.  

“Using XR technology enables PowerTechs to immerse workers and students in a realistic, simulated environment where their skills can be assessed authentically,” founder Ksenia Solomatina says.

Red Line Safety, Scott Holman’s Sacramento-based startup, is enhancing firefighter safety and efficiency with wearable technology that monitors a firefighter’s location, vital signs, environmental conditions and toxic gas exposure in real time.

PODCAST EPISODE: Journalist James Stout delves into his latest feature for Comstock’s “What’s Holding Up Valley Rail?” where he investigated delays in railway expansion throughout the Central Valley. We discuss the hurdles that are baked into the system, changing attitudes towards public transit and whether hopping on a train might be more commonplace in future America. 

The region has been suffering through a housing shortage for several years. But environmentalists worry about the impacts of greenfield development: It increases greenhouse gas emissions as people commute longer distances and causes the loss of habitat and open space, which gives the region its character and makes it a good place to live.

CalMatters: California’s top air quality regulator urged the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to “immediately” approve the state’s regulation phasing out diesel trucks.