The record drought in Southern California will mean a potentially disastrous fire season this summer.  At the same time, the Governor has starved the firefighting agencies of funds to replace aging equipment, update communications and provide enough trucks and firefighters.

From an article by the Los Angeles Times:

Many people assume that the heavily Democratic San Francisco Bay Area is solidly blue.  But a closer look at voter registration shows quite a few “swing cities” that are either barely Democratic or have a slight Republican majority.

Many of the cities in the East Bay (surprise surprise) are concentrated in battleground districts such as the 11th Congressional District and the 15th Assembly District.

Alameda County
  Total  Dem Rep

Dublin  16,324 6,653 5,193
Livermore 41,307 15,500 15,793
Pleasanton 36,063 13,482 13,850

Contra Costa County

Brentwood 19,719 7,981 7,689
Lafayette 15,209 6,428 5,674
Moraga  9,751 3,721 3,933
Orinda  12,258 5,195 4,551