News

THE BUZZ OF THE BALL: Establishing a new Western electricity market was a major goal for Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders in 2025. Now, it’s becoming a reality.

On Friday, Nevada regulators gave NV Energy, the state’s largest utility, approval to join the new extended day-ahead energy market that California’s grid manager is setting up.

That news has California’s energy leaders buzzing.

“The NV Energy approval is particularly pivotal for our market,” Elliot Mainzer, president of the California Independent System Operator, said in an interview.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Irvine’s State Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris hosts an annual “Women of the Year” event to publicly honor women throughout the 73rd Assembly District for their extraordinary leadership and community service achievements.

We’re excited to announce that Irvine’s 2026 Woman of the Year is Noelle Smiley!

A group of California legislators last week gave early approval to a bill that would require anyone convicted of driving under the influence to install a breathalyzer on their vehicle.

The bill from Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine, has broad bipartisan support and expands California’s existing pilot program, which requires those who have at least two DUI convictions to install what’s called an ignition interlock device on their cars for a designated period of time. These prevent cars from starting if the device detects a blood alcohol content above a certain limit.

An investigative series about California’s lax drunken driving laws by CalMatters is prompting the Legislature to take action with 10 new bills. Each one needs to be evaluated based on its merits. But it’s encouraging to see lawmakers spend their time on a deadly problem that is primarily caused by the state’s bureaucratic failures.

Bottom line: The Department of Motor Vehicles allows repeat DUI offenders to keep getting back on the road.

Should state regulators shrink your electric company’s profits? And would that really lower our appalling, outrageous, abominable electric bills?

Consumer advocates have been pushing this idea for years, and the California Public Utility Commission went so far as to make wee tiny downward adjustments in December. But Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, D-Irvine — and most everyone we know who actually uses the outlets in their homes — thinks that probably did not go quite far enough.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Kelly Montalvo said speaking about the loss of her son Benjamin six years ago to a hit and run by an impaired and distracted driver is something she must do in a numb state because of the trauma tied to his death.

“Benjamin was the youngest of our four sons, and as his oldest brother said at his funeral, they called him 'Bean Dip,' so he said, 'Bean Dip' was truly the best of all of us,” Montalvo said.

It wasn’t the first time the woman who took her son's life had been involved in a hit-and-run, Montalvo said.

It’s been more than four decades yet Rhonda Campbell’s voice still quavered as she stood before a row of television cameras recalling the day in 1981 when a repeat drunk driver killed her 12-year-old sister. She remembers her father crying as he told her what happened, still hears her mother’s scream when the coffin lid closed.

A woman who, while driving and texting, killed a 21-year-old bicyclist and then fled the scene is scheduled to be released after serving less than a third of her nine-year sentence. The victim’s mother is livid.

“How can you do this, be a repeat offender, kill somebody and serve two and a half years of a nine-year sentence?” said Kellie Montalvo, referencing the offender’s time in custody after being sentenced. “It’s completely outrageous to us.”

California lawmakers introduced a bipartisan legislative package to crack down on drunk driving in the state.

"California is the epicenter of America's drunk driving crisis," said State Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, who authored one of the bills.

In addition to longer license suspensions and increased training for law enforcement, the bill package aims to require first-time offenders to install an interlocking ignition device, which requires a breathalyzer test to start a car. Petrie-Norris has tried to push the bill through the state legislature twice before.

California lawmakers are taking aim at the state's dangerous driver problem with a new package of bipartisan legislation announced Tuesday. The proposals seek to address roadway safety issues uncovered by CalMatters' investigative "License to Kill" series, which revealed how weak laws and enforcement have contributed to rising traffic deaths across the state.