.Thursday Must Reads: Oakland Council Finalizes New Garbage Deal; State Lawmakers Put $7.5 Billion Water Bond on Ballot

Stories you shouldn’t miss:

1. The Oakland City Council finalized a deal on the city’s garbage contract, awarding the lucrative pact to California Waste Solutions (CWS), an Oakland-based company that has never collected garbage or green waste before, the Chron and Trib$ report. Under the deal, CWS will take over all garbage, green waste, and recycling in the city from Waste Management starting next year, and collections rates for residents will increase by 23 percent. Waste Management had made a last-minute offer with lower rates, but the council rejected it. CWS must build a temporary waste processing facility, while it constructs a permanent one to open in about five years.

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Lake Shasta.

  • Lake Shasta.

2. State lawmakers and Governor Jerry Brown agreed to put a $7.5 billion water bond measure on the November ballot to replace an $11 billion one that likely would have been rejected by voters, the Mercury News$ reports. The smaller bond measure won approval from Republicans after Democrats agreed to earmark $2.7 billion for dam-building and reservoir expansions. Some environmental groups oppose the measure because they contend it could help pave the way for Brown’s massive water tunnels plan.

3. Mayor Jean Quan’s reelection campaign has agreed to purge the email addresses of city workers from its database after some city employees complained about receiving campaign literature urging them to make donations, the Chron reports. Other mayoral candidates, including Councilmember Libby Schaaf, Port Commissioner Bryan Parker, and San Francisco State University political science Professor Joe Tuman also decided to purge city employees’ emails from their campaign donor lists.

4. And a state appellate court has ruled that prosecutors must review the confidential files of police officers who investigate criminal cases and then turn over police misconduct information to defense attorneys, the Chron reports. Prosecutors have been relying on police agencies to self-report instances of misconduct.

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