A Central Calif. campaign takes an odd turn to an Epstein meme

A Tulare County campaign sign — for a local supervisors race — contends accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself. And no, PG&E, SCE, SDG&E and other utilities, you can't raise rates to give investors more profits, the state's regulatory agency rules.

It's Arlene Martínez with your news for Thursday.

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Merry Christmas! Epstein did not kill himself

The campaign signs seem benign enough: "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Brad Maaske for Tulare County Supervisor District 3." Then you read the fine print:

"Epstein did not kill himself."

Maaske, a real estate broker running for his first elected office, said the idea came from a Fresno County brewery, which stamped a similar message — "Epstein didn't kill himself" — on the bottom of its Basher Oatmeal Stout cans last month.

The brewery's manager told KMPH that the stunt was intended to cash in on the craze to sell more beer, a strategy Maaske hopes to replicate, presumably to get more votes.

Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender awaiting trial on charges of trafficking dozens of young girls, was found dead in a Manhattan jail in August. His death spurred a number of conspiracy theories because of Epstein's wealth and political connections.

Housing: The wrong price, the wrong type and not enough

Is the housing market finally cooling? I guess it depends whether you consider dropping to under $700,000 "cooling."

Salinas approved a 4,400-unit residential development but critics say the true winners will be Silicon Valley residents.

And while we're on housing, give a listen to "Gimme Shelter: The California Housing Crisis Podcast" for their predictions on the top housing stories of 2020. Can you guess the biggest one? This one's kind of easy: Homelessness.

Fatal police shootings in Shasta County

Note: This story is for subscribers of the Redding Record Searchlight. Consider supporting local journalism with a subscription today.

Shasta County has had 32 officer-involved shooting over the past 10 years, and an analysis done by the Redding Record Searchlight shows the shootings have become more fatal, with the rate of death apparently twice what it would be nationally.

In all, 20 of the 32 people involved in officer-involved shootings died.

The Record Searchlight obtained a detailed list of shootings through the California Reporting Project, a coalition of news outlets examining police records. The project was made possible by the enactment of California Senate Bill 1421 on Jan. 1, which allows the public to request certain types of law enforcement records that were previously confidential.

It's hard to know whether Redding's numbers are unusual. Unlike so many records kept by law enforcement agencies, those involved with officer-involved shootings are quite incomplete. So for the last few years, the Washington Post has made a more encompassing list.

What else we're talking about

49 horses died at Santa Anita Park racetrack in a 12-month period, but don't blame the track or animal handlers, a state report finds. Also, that's lower than at Churchill Downs in Kentucky. Um, great.

A former Ventura doctor whose spinal surgeries were "plain butchery" deserved a 20-year sentence, a federal appeals court affirmed.

"O.J.: Made in America," chronicling the murder trial of USC football star and San Francisco native O.J. Simpson, hits No. 4 on the top 25 TV shows of the 2010s.

The taxes, the crowds, the traffic: I'm outta here, writes Andrew Malcolm (OPINION).

CPUC says no to utility rate hikes

The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday denied a request by the state's major utilities to increase project margins to encourage stronger investor participation.

Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric had argued investors needed better returns to justify funding the companies. Those investments could, in turn, be used to pay for capital projects, they said.

The CPUC, which as the regulatory agency must sign off on profit margins and rate increases, unanimously voted no. Had the CPUC voted yes, customer rates would likely have gone up.

The commission cited Assembly Bill 1054, which could give utility companies access to billions of dollars to help pay for damage from fires ignited by their equipment. That and other “investor supportive policies,” the commission wrote, “have mitigated wildfire exposure faced by California’s utilities,” reported the Los Angeles Times.

In California is a roundup of news compiled from across USA TODAY Network newsrooms. Also contributing: CalMatters, Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with the correct location of Tulare County.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A Central Calif. campaign takes an odd turn to an Epstein meme