In brief: California governor sends water plan to ballot

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a $7.5 billion bipartisan water plan, acting swiftly after it was passed by both houses of the Legislature to place it on California’s November ballot.

As he signed the measure Wednesday night, Brown said he probably had never seen Democrats and Republicans so united in his lifetime. AB1471 passed 37-0 in the Senate and 77-2 in the Assembly.

He hailed the legislation as a win for the future and said it was about “Californians coming together.”

The governor and lawmakers were driven to action by the state’s historic drought, which has forced farmers to fallow their fields and cities to implement fines and rationing.

The measure replaces an existing water bond that was approved by a previous Legislature but was widely considered too costly to gain voter approval.

VA private referrals rise 25 percent

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald said the agency is significantly increasing its referrals of veterans to private doctors following a scandal over long patient waits and falsified appointment records at many VA hospitals and clinics.

Speaking Wednesday at the American Veterans national convention, McDonald also said his department was working to shorten the time it takes to hire more VA doctors, nurses and clerks.

McDonald told the AMVETS that the VA has made more than 830,000 referrals in the past two months for veterans to see private doctors – a 25 percent increase over the same period a year ago. He said the increase in referrals has resulted in veterans getting a million more appointments with private doctors.

McDonald took over as VA secretary two weeks ago.

Air Force coaches to help stop assaults

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The superintendent of the Air Force Academy said Wednesday she has told athletic coaches to take a bigger role in preventing sexual assaults, pulling them into the yearslong campaign at the school to stem abuse.

Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson, who took charge of the school a year ago, said coaches had not been fully involved in what she called the broader conversation about school standards.

She said she has spoken with them twice about her expectations and told them to talk to athletes about sexual assault.

“I was frank about the need for them to help the institution enforce our standards,” she said. “I was frank about what happens, the complexity of sexual assault prevention.”

Congress and the Pentagon are closely monitoring sexual assaults at the Air Force, Army and Navy academies. A Department of Defense report in January said a culture of disrespect permeates the schools and contributes to sexual harassment and assaults. The report identified sports and club teams as an area where the academies needed to expand training.

Crash victim’s parents suing city

SAN FRANCISCO – The parents of a teenage girl who was run over and killed by emergency vehicles after an Asiana Airlines crash landing at the San Francisco airport filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Wednesday against the city, saying rescuers were reckless and poorly trained.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the parents of Ye Meng Yuan, 16, allege that San Francisco firefighters and police responding to the crash failed on multiple fronts to properly rescue the teen. Gan Ye and Xiao Yun Zheng live in China. Their daughter was planning to visit Google and Stanford University with her friend, Wang Lin Jia, 16, before traveling to Southern California to attend a Christian summer camp.

Both girls were sitting near the rear of Asiana Flight 214 when the plane clipped a seawall on approach, snapping off the tail. Wang also died along with another young Chinese passenger.

Ye was laying on the ground near the wreckage of the July 2, 2013, crash when she was run over by two vehicles.

A federal appeals court denied a request to block same-sex marriages from being performed in Virginia, and unless the Supreme Court intervenes, couples can begin to wed as early as next week, according to court filings and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

In a ruling handed down Wednesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request for a stay of its 2-1 decision last month to overturn Virginia’s voter-approved ban on gay marriage.