California Investigation Finds PG&E Blameless In Massive 2017 Wine Region Wildfire
The Tubbs wildfire burns behind a winery in Santa Rosa, Calif., in 2017. A state report finds that it was caused by privately owned utility lines.
Jae C. Hong/AP
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Jae C. Hong/AP
California state fire investigators say that a 2017 wildfire that killed 22 people in Sonoma county was ignited by a private electrical system and not by utility giant Pacific Gas and Electric.
“After an extensive and thorough investigation, CAL FIRE has determined the Tubbs Fire, which occurred during the October 2017 Fire Siege, was caused by a private electrical system adjacent to a residential structure. CAL FIRE investigators did not identify any violations of state law, Public Resources Code, related to the cause of this fire,” said a statement released Thursday.
Some details about the source of the fire and personal information about the witnesses interviewed were redacted from the official report.
The Tubbs Fire burned a total of 36,807 acres and destroyed 5,636 structures in both Sonoma and Napa counties, in addition to the 22 fatalities, the statement added. One firefighter was injured. It was one of the deadliest fires in state history.
The report’s conclusions come as welcome news to PG&E as it is expected to file for bankruptcy protection next week in the face of potential liabilities of billions of dollars related to the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise. The investigation into the cause of that fire is still ongoing.
In a statement the company said,
“The devastating and unprecedented wildfires of 2017 and 2018 have had a profound impact on our customers, employees and communities. Regardless of today’s announcement, PG&E still faces extensive litigation, significant potential liabilities and a deteriorating financial situation, which was further impaired by the recent credit agency downgrades to below investment grade. Resolving the legal liabilities and financial challenges stemming from the 2017 and 2018 wildfires will be enormously complex and will require us to address multiple stakeholder interests, including thousands of wildfire victims and others who have already made claims and likely thousands of others we expect to make claims.”
PG&E is California’s largest utility company.
The Tubbs Fire was one of more than 170 wildfires the state battled in October 2017.
The Super Bowl And Musician Protests Of Past
Numerous artists reportedly passed on the opportunity to perform at this year’s Super Bowl. DJs Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia look back at past musician protests.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Maroon 5, along with rappers Big Boi and Travis Scott, will be performing at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show. And they face a lot of criticism and pressure to back out. Numerous artists reportedly passed on the opportunity to perform to signal solidarity with Colin Kaepernick and other players who have taken the knee during the national anthem in protest of racial injustice. All this got us thinking about musician protests of the past, so we’re joined by our friends of the show and legendary DJs Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia for a little bit of history. Hey there, guys.
ROBERT GARCIA, BYLINE: Hello.
ADRIAN BARTOS, BYLINE: Hello. Hello. Hello.
CORNISH: Hey. Bobbito, you’ve been thinking about anti-apartheid protests from the mid-’80s.
GARCIA: Yes.
CORNISH: So for the context here, the U.N. had called for a cultural and economic boycott of South Africa because of its white rule and official policy of racial segregation. First of all, tons of musicians actually ignored the boycott, right? Like, they played South Africa anyway.
GARCIA: Yes, they did. They crossed the line of the boycott for personal gain. You know, the whole thing was really a mess, right? Because, I mean, you had artists from South Africa exiled from the country having expressed disdain for the political system there. And then you had other artists who could perform to make the decision against it. And there were artists who boycotted.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SUN CITY”)
ARTISTS UNITED AGAINST APARTHEID: (Singing) Ain’t gonna play Sun City.
CORNISH: And the focus comes to fall on Sun City, a whites-only resort during apartheid. And this becomes, in a way, a kind of symbol, right?
GARCIA: Yes. Steven Van Zandt, who is a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, corralled a phenomenal amount of support – Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen. I mean, we’re talking about as American as you can get when it comes to creating rock. He also did something kind of against the grain in pop and rock music at the time which was he enlisted the help of Run D.M.C., which were, you know, as major as one could imagine.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SUN CITY”)
ARTISTS UNITED AGAINST APARTHEID: (Rapping) We’re rockers and rappers, united and strong. We’re here to talk about South Africa. We don’t like what’s going on.
BARTOS: The co-producer of the record was Arthur Baker, one of the most important producers of electro and early hip-hop. You know, Steve might be the more recognizable character out of the production crew, but Arthur Baker is equally as important.
CORNISH: Bobbito, for you, when you listen back to this song and you think about it in the context of what kind of statement it’s trying to make at the time, how strong was that statement? How significant was that moment?
GARCIA: This protest song against Sun City was not only a statement for the artists, but it came at a moment when MTV was at its zenith in terms of reach to an audience that was completely emerging and new – high school and college students. But, you know, this song was a cog in a ginormous – it’s a national shift because in 1994, apartheid ended.
CORNISH: I want to stay with this period of time because there’s a song I remember very much from 1985, which is “We Are The World.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WE ARE THE WORLD”)
CYNDI LAUPER: (Singing) Well, well, well, let’s realize…
CORNISH: And that was a song that brought together artists – essentially, I guess – to raise money and awareness for the famine in Ethiopia. Let’s take a listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WE ARE THE WORLD”)
USA FOR AFRICA: (Singing) We are the world. We are the children.
GARCIA: Stretch, should we hold hands?
(LAUGHTER)
BARTOS: Hold on. I need a lighter.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “WE ARE THE WORLD”)
USA FOR AFRICA: (Singing) So let’s start giving.
GARCIA: Wait. Is that Audie singing backup?
BARTOS: (Laughter).
CORNISH: Listen. It might as well have been because I think the thing that was remarkable about this song is everyone and their mother was in it, right? Can you talk about, again, this as a political moment? Is that how it was remembered? Because now it has a little bit of a schlocky reputation.
BARTOS: I felt “Sun City” was, you know, more about getting active and being aware, whereas “We Are The World” felt a little bit – kind of just a feel-good dressing.
CORNISH: Yeah. It’s also easier to be against famine maybe than, at the time, it was to be against racism. I don’t know.
BARTOS: Sure. “We Are The World” just asked you to feel something, whereas “Sun City” is asking you maybe to take a stance.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SUN CITY”)
ARTISTS UNITED AGAINST APARTHEID: (Singing) Relocation to phony homelands. Separation of families, I can’t understand.
CORNISH: Bobbito, do you think artists today have more or less of a platform for politics than the moments we were talking about?
GARCIA: Well, in our modern era, artists have an incredible reach on a daily basis in their followers’ minds and hearts. I think it’s every artist’s responsibility, once they get that platform, if they have a consciousness about what is righteous and what is not, to express that.
I think the power of seeing Bob Dylan with Run D.M.C. and Gil Scott-Heron and Miles Davis – and I can’t escape the idea of being on my hand-me-down couch in my living room watching these videos for the first time. And I hope that artists can have the vision that perhaps not only can they make a change in our modern era, but they can be an inspiration for artists 20, 30 years from now in the way that these artists were back then.
GARCIA: That’s Bobbito Garcia and Stretch Armstrong. Thank you both for talking about this with us.
BARTOS: Thanks, Audie.
GARCIA: Why, thank you, Audie.
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Trump Seeks Action To Stop Surprise Medical Bills
Dr. Paul Davis, whose daughter, Elizabeth Moreno, was billed $17,850 for a urine test and featured in KHN-NPR’s Bill of the Month series, was among the guests invited to the White House on Wednesday to discuss surprise medical bills with President Trump.
Julia Robinson for KHN
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Julia Robinson for KHN
President Trump instructed administration officials Wednesday to investigate how to prevent surprise medical bills, broadening his focus on drug prices to include other issues of price transparency in health care.
Flanked by patients and other guests invited to the White House to share their stories of unexpected and outrageous bills, Trump directed his health secretary, Alex Azar, and labor secretary, Alex Acosta, to work on a solution, several attendees said.
“The pricing is hurting patients, and we’ve stopped a lot of it, but we’re going to stop all of it,” Trump said during a roundtable discussion when reporters were briefly allowed into the otherwise closed-door meeting.
David Silverstein, the founder of a Colorado-based nonprofit called Broken Healthcare who attended, said Trump struck an aggressive tone, calling for a solution with “the biggest teeth you can find.”
“Reading the tea leaves, I think there’s big change coming,” Silverstein said.
Surprise billing, or the practice of charging patients for care that is more expensive than anticipated or isn’t covered by their insurance, has received a flood of attention in the past year, particularly as Kaiser Health News, NPR, Vox and other news organizations have undertaken investigations into patients’ most outrageous medical bills.
Attendees said the 10 invited guests — patients as well as doctors — were given an opportunity to tell their story, though Trump didn’t stay to hear all of them during the roughly hourlong gathering.
The group included Paul Davis, a retired doctor from Findlay, Ohio, whose daughter’s experience with a $17,850 bill for a urine test after back surgery was detailed in February 2018 in KHN-NPR’s first Bill of the Month feature.
Davis’ daughter, Elizabeth Moreno, was a college student in Texas when she had spinal surgery to remedy debilitating back pain. After the surgery, she was asked to provide a urine sample and later received a bill from an out-of-network lab in Houston that tested it.
Such tests rarely cost more than $200, a fraction of what the lab charged Moreno and her insurance company. But fearing damage to his daughter’s credit, Davis paid the lab $5,000 and filed a complaint with the Texas attorney general’s office, alleging “price gouging of staggering proportions.”
Davis said White House officials made it clear that price transparency is a “high priority” for Trump, and while they didn’t see eye to eye on every subject, he said he was struck by the administration’s sincerity.
“These people seemed earnest in wanting to do something constructive to fix this,” Davis said.
Dr. Martin Makary, a professor of surgery and health policy at Johns Hopkins University who has written about transparency in health care and attended the meeting, said it was a good opportunity for the White House to hear firsthand about a serious and widespread issue.
“This is how most of America lives, and [Americans are] getting hammered,” he said.
Trump has often railed against high prescription drug prices but has said less about other problems with the nation’s health care system. In October, shortly before the midterm elections, he unveiled a proposal to tie the price Medicare pays for some drugs to the prices paid for the same drugs overseas, for example.
Trump, Azar and Acosta said efforts to control costs in health care were yielding positive results, discussing in particular the expansion of association health plans and the new requirement that hospitals post their list prices online. The president also took credit for the recent increase in generic drug approvals, which he said would help lower drug prices.
Discussing the partial government shutdown, Trump said Americans “want to see what we’re doing, like today we lowered prescription drug prices, first time in 50 years,” according to a White House pool report.
Trump appeared to be referring to a recent claim by the White House Council of Economic Advisers that prescription drug prices fell last year.
However, as STAT pointed out in a recent fact check, the report from which that claim was gleaned said “growth in relative drug prices has slowed since January 2017,” not that there was an overall decrease in prices.
Annual increases in overall drug spending have leveled off as pharmaceutical companies have released fewer blockbuster drugs, patents have expired on brand-name drugs and the waning effect of a spike driven by the release of astronomically expensive drugs to treat hepatitis C.
Drugmakers were also wary of increasing their prices in the midst of growing political pressure, though the pace of increases has risen recently.
Since Democrats seized control of the House of Representatives this month, party leaders have rushed to announce investigations and schedule hearings dealing with health care, focusing in particular on drug costs and protections for those with preexisting conditions.
Last week, the House Oversight Committee announced a “sweeping” investigation into drug prices, pointing to an AARP report saying the vast majority of brand-name drugs had more than doubled in price between 2005 and 2017.
Kaiser Health News correspondents Shefali Luthra and Jay Hancock contributed to this report. You can follow Emmarie Huetteman on Twitter: @emmarieDC.
