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TOPEKA Democratic Sen. Dinah Sykes proposed supplementing resources for firearm safety instruction in Kansas public schools beyond National Rifle Association and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks programs for students in kindergarten through high school.

Sykes, who previously denounced a bill giving rise to the NRA firearm initiative in Kansas, offered an amendment Tuesday to House Bill 2304 incorporating materials from Everytown for Gun Safety that promoted responsible gun ownership and storage along with the goal of reducing child gun deaths. She suggested the NRAs Eddie Eagle advice could be paired with Everytowns Be Smart insights.

As the children are learning gun safety from Eddie the Eagle, they would also receive information on the Be Smart curriculum, Sykes said.

Her suggestion was rejected 11-28 by Senate Republicans eager to avoid disruption of legislation requiring the Kansas State Board of Education to establish curriculum standards for teaching firearm safety in schools. Under the bill, local school districts would decide whether to take advantage of a new program featuring NRA materials in K-8 grades and making use of KDWP hunter safety training in grades 6-12.

On final action Wednesday in the Senate, the bill was approved 23-16. It moved to the gray area in which the House and Senate could engage in talks in search of a compromise.

The Legislature should not be making decisions about school curriculum, said Lawrence Democratic Sen. Marci Francisco, who voted against the bill. The Legislature should be adopting legislation with requirements for secure storage to make gun ownership safer.

Shawnee Republican Sen. Mike Thompson, chairman of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee, said he wasnt familiar with the Be Smart program but didnt believe materials prepared by Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocated for gun control and against gun violence, would complement work of the National Rifle Association, the nations prominent gun rights advocacy group.

He said a quick review of an Everytown for Gun Safety website revealed text alleging champions of the right to bear arms were aligned with extremist ideologies. He said Everytown for Gun Safety was dedicated to convincing youth to be frightened of guns rather than adopt a healthy respect for firearms.

This is community organizing. This is not teaching gun safety. This is a program designed to indoctrinate young people instead of teach them gun safety, Thompson said. We want to teach these children how to handle firearms safely starting at a young age.

Sykes rebuttal: The NRA is known for community organizing. If you have trouble with my amendment, you should have trouble with the underlying bill about indoctrination.

Sen. Renee Erickson, R-Wichita, said it was evident Everytown for Gun Safety and NRA had vastly different approaches to firearm safety. She said the Eddie Eagle curriculum was aimed at reinforcing respect for the 2nd Amendment.

We want to teach our kids how to safely handle firearms, Erickson said. From what I can tell from the Everytown for Gun Safety, their approach is to eradicate guns. Is that the goal?

Sykes said the Be Smart curriculum urged people to secure all guns at home and in vehicles, model responsible behavior around weapons, ask about unsecured firearms in homes, recognize the role of guns in suicide and encourage peers to be smart about weapons.

Any reasonable gun owner would want to have a secure gun, would want to model responsible behavior, Sykes said.

The NRAs core advice, presented to students via Eddie Eagle, was for youth encountering an unattended gun to stop, avoid the weapon, run away and inform an adult.

Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, D-Wichita, said she awoke to news of the shooting death of six people in a private elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. Officials said a former student at The Covenant School killed three children and three adults before being fatally shot by law enforcement officers.

I believe that all of us in this chamber, and those listening, are in support of gun safety measures, saving lives, Faust-Goudeau said. I think an added piece to any information of safety that our children can receive would be positive.

The Senate originally approved an NRA and KDWP instruction bill in February on a vote of 30-8. The decision to debate the bill again was necessitated by the Kansas Houses conversion of the Senates gun safety bill into a liquor regulation package. Transition of Senate Bill 116 was completed Monday with a 102-21 vote in the House.

In 2021, Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a comparable firearm instruction bill.

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Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., on Wednesday, threatened to sue the Biden administration over electrical vehicle tax credits.

Manchin, chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, said he was prepared to go to court ahead of the U.S. Treasury's expected release of battery sourcing guidance for electric vehicle tax credits later this week, Reuters reported.

"If it goes off the rails and violates the intent of the climate legislation approved in August, I will do whatever I can - if that means going to court and I can do it, I'd do it," Manchin said, according to the report.

Manchin, a regular supporter of the fossil fuel industry's interests in Congress, said he intends to transfer the EV supply chain from China, noting that he will pay attention to how the Treasury will classify processing and manufacturing in determining eligibility for $7,500 EV tax credits. "Manufacturing is meant to bring manufacturing back to the United States," he told reporters Wednesday. "It's not basically allowing everyone to put all the parts and build everything you can for that battery somewhere else and then send it here for assembly."

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he was prepared to sue over the Treasury's EV tax credits. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images / Getty Images)

MANCHIN BLASTS BIDEN IN SCATHING WSJ OP-ED, CLAIMS HE'S IGNORED DEBT CRISIS: POLTICAL MALPRACTICE

The Treasury is expected to release its battery-sourcing rules for electric vehicle tax credits by Friday. Reuters previously reported that the new rules are expected to result in fewer vehicles qualifying for full or partial credits.

The rules for electric vehicles are included in the $430 billion climate change, healthcare and tax bill dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Democrats in August.

In an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal published Wednesday, Manchin accused the Biden administration of flouting the bill's original intent.

"Instead of implementing the law as intended, unelected ideologues, bureaucrats and appointees seem determined to violate and subvert the law to advance a partisan agenda that ignores both energy and fiscal security," Manchin wrote. "The administration is attempting at every turn to implement the bill it wanted, not the bill Congress actually passed."

A Tesla showroom posted information about Federal Tax Credits eligibility at Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Sen. Joe Manchin threatened to sue over the Treasury's expected new rules coming Friday. (Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Manchin also demanded that Biden "sit down with fiscally minded Republicans and Democrats to negotiate common-sense reforms to out-of-control fiscal policy."

CLIMATE CZAR JOHN KERRY SAYS BIDEN WILL IMPOSE MORE MANDATES, GO FARTHER THAN THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT

In response to the op-ed, a White House official told Fox News Digital: "We have a strong and productive relationship with Senator Manchin. We are proud of the Inflation Reduction Act and our shared goals it achievespromoting Americas energy security, strengthening supply chains, creating good-paying manufacturing jobs, and investing in energy communities and towns across America that have been left behind."

This aerial photo shows large engineering vehicles at the site of the Chuneng New Energy (Yichang) lithium battery Industrial Park project in Yichang, Hubei Province, China, Nov 23, 2022. China dominates the EV industry. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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The bill says 50% of the value of battery components must be produced or assembled in North America for EV buyers to qualify for $3,750 of the credit, and 40% of the value of critical minerals must be sourced from the United States or a country with which it has a free trade agreement to qualify for another $3,750 credit. China currently dominates the global supply chain for EV batteries.

Those quotas rise by 10 percentage points annually.

Fox News' Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.

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Howard Schultz was the star witness, but the hearing revealed almost as much about the party in power as it did about the longtime Starbucks chief executive.

When Mr. Schultz appeared Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, at a session titled No Company Is Above the Law: The Need to End Illegal Union Busting at Starbucks, he encountered a Democratic Party much changed since some of his earlier trips to Washington.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton invited Mr. Schultz to the White House for a private briefing on the companys health care benefits. Two years later, the president praised Starbucks when introducing Mr. Schultz at a conference on corporate responsibility. At the time, Bernie Sanders was a backbencher in the House of Representatives.

On Wednesday, Mr. Sanders, now chairman of the Senate committee, appeared to regard Mr. Schultz with something bordering on disdain.

Before a question, Mr. Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats, felt the need to remind Mr. Schultz that federal law prohibits a witness from knowingly and willfully making a false statement relevant to an inquiry. The chairman then asked him if he had participated in decisions to fire or discipline workers involved in a union campaign. (Mr. Schultz said he had not.)

Mr. Sanders noted that an administrative law judge had found egregious and widespread misconduct by Starbucks in its response to the campaign, in which nearly 300 of the roughly 9,300 corporate-owned stores in the United States have voted to unionize. And he chided Mr. Schultz for what he said was the companys calculated and intentional efforts to stall, to stall and to stall rather than bargain with the union in good faith.

The hearing was held on the same day Starbucks reported that its shareholders had backed a proposal asking the company to commission an independent assessment of its practices as they relate to worker rights, including the right to bargain collectively and to form a union without interference.

Though the proposal is nonbinding, the 52 percent vote in its favor suggests unease among investors over Starbuckss response to the union campaign.

Mr. Schultz, who recently ended his third tour as the companys chief executive and remains a board member and major shareholder, seemed as mystified as anyone by his personal change of fortune in the capital. He chafed at what he described as the propaganda that is floating around the hearing and told Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania, that I take offense with you categorizing me or Starbucks as a union-buster.

When another Democrat, Senator Patty Murray of Washington the home state of Starbucks said she had heard from constituents about widespread anti-union efforts, Mr. Schultz reminded her that they had known each other for years and that she had many times actually talked about Starbucks as a model employer.

He responded to Mr. Sanderss accusation that Starbucks was not bargaining in good faith by noting that the company had met with the union over 85 times. (The union points out that most of these sessions ended within 15 minutes; Starbucks says this is because union members sought to take part remotely.) And he denied that Starbucks had broken the law; it has appealed the rulings against it.

Aside from the accusations of labor law violations, the question at the heart of the hearing was: Can chief executives be trusted to treat their workers fairly?

Mr. Schultzs answer was an emphatic yes, at least in his case. He highlighted the companys wide-ranging benefits not just health care, including for part-time employees, but stock grants, paid sick leave, paid parental leave and free tuition at Arizona State University. He said that the average wage for hourly workers at Starbucks was $17.50, and that total compensation, including benefits, approached $27 an hour.

My vision for Starbucks Coffee Company has always been steeped in humanity, respect and shared success, he said near the outset of the hearing.

Republicans on the committee were quick to agree. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky called Starbucks an extraordinary tale of a company that started out of nothing and employs tens of thousands of people all making great wages.

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, a former chief executive, said it was somewhat rich that youre being grilled by people who have never had the opportunity to create a single job. He suggested that while a union might be necessary at companies that are not good employers, that was not the case at Starbucks.

Democrats response came at two levels of elevation. First, they said the company was excluding unionized stores from the benefits that Starbucks had introduced since the union campaign began, such as faster accrual of sick leave and a credit-card tipping option for customers, showing that its commitment to such benefits was tenuous.

The National Labor Relations Board has issued complaints calling the denial of benefits to union stores an attempt to discourage workers from organizing. Mr. Schultz said at the hearing that the company couldnt offer the new benefits at union stores because the law said it must bargain over them first; legal experts have cast doubt on that interpretation.

More broadly, Democrats argued that unions acted as a corrective to a basic power imbalance between workers and management. A company might treat workers generously under one chief executive, then harshly under another. Only a union can ensure that the favorable treatment persists, said Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts.

Yet in illustrating how far the politics of labor have changed in Washington in recent decades, there was perhaps no better bellwether than Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado, a former business owner and self-described extreme moderate.

Mr. Hickenlooper conducted himself more respectfully and deferentially than most of his Democratic colleagues, applauding Mr. Schultz for creating one of the most successful brands in American history and declaring that you know more about economics than I will ever know. But in his questioning he aligned himself squarely with his party, pointing out that the rise of inequality in recent decades had coincided with the weakening of unions.

I certainly respect the desire to be directly connected with all your employees, he told Mr. Schultz. But in many ways that right to organize, and that opportunity for people to be part of a union, is a crucial building block for the middle class and, I think, gave this country stability.

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Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Spars With Democrats at ... - The New York Times

SACRAMENTO Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:

Raji Brar, of Bakersfield, has been appointed to the California State University Board of Trustees. Brar has been Owner and Chief Operations Officer of Countryside Corporation since 2003. She served on the Arvin City Council from 2006 to 2008. Brar was Executive Assistant at Clinica Sierra Vista from 2002 to 2003. She was a Chemist at BC Laboratories from 2000 to 2002. Brar is Co-Founder of the Bakersfield Sikh Womens Association. She is President of the CSU Bakersfield Foundation Board and is a member of the Kern County Hospital Authority Board, Kern High School District Education Foundation Board, KERO Channel 23 Community Advisory Board, and the Advisory Board of Kern Venture Group. Brar earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a Master of Science degree in Health Care from California State University, Bakersfield. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Brar is a Democrat.

Mark Ghilarducci, of El Dorado Hills, has been appointed to the California State University Board of Trustees. Ghilarducci served as Director of the Governors Office of Emergency Services from 2013 to 2023, where he served as Deputy Director from 2000 to 2003. He was Secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency from 2012 to 2013. Ghilarducci was Partner and Managing Director at Diamante Partners LLC from 2011 to 2012. He was Vice President at Witt and Associates from 2003 to 2011. Ghilarducci was Federal Coordinating Officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 1997 to 2000. He was Deputy Fire Chief and Director of Special Operations Branch for the Governors Office of Emergency Services Fire Rescue from 1988 to 1977. Ghilarducci earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physiology from the University of California, Davis. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Ghilarducci is a Democrat.

John Jack McGrory, of San Diego, has been reappointed to the California State University Board of Trustees, where he has served since 2018. McGrory has been Chief Executive Officer of La Jolla MJ Management LLC since 2009. He was Manager at the Price Group from 2001 to 2009. McGrory was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Price Legacy Corporation from 2003 to 2004 and City Manager for the City of San Diego from 1991 to 1997. He served as an Infantry Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1971 to 1974. McGrory is Chairman of the Veterans Advisory Council at San Diego State University and Chairman of the San Diego State University School of Public Affairs. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classics from Colgate University, a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and a Master of Public Administration degree from San Diego State University. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. McGrory is a Democrat.

Joseph Eto, of Oakland, has been appointed to the California Independent System Operator Board of Governors. Eto has been a Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 1982. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Eto earned a Master of Science degree in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $40,000, in addition to per diem meeting preparation and attendance costs. Eto is a Democrat.

Mark Burri, of Burlingame, has been reappointed to the California Apprenticeship Council, where he has served since 2022. Burri has been Business Manager, Financial Secretary, and Treasurer at Plumbers & Pipefitters Local Union 467 since 2016. Burri is an executive board member of the San Mateo County Building & Construction Trades Council and the San Mateo County Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Management from California State University, Chico. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Burri is a Democrat.

Yvonne de la Pena, of Elk Grove, has been reappointed to the California Apprenticeship Council, where she has served since 2001. De la Pena has been Executive Director of the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Committee since 1990. She was Assistant to the President at California Professional Firefighters from 1986 to 1990. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. De la Pena is a Democrat.

Richard Harris, of Villa Park, has been reappointed to the California Apprenticeship Council, where he has served since 2007. Harris has been President of the Residential Contractors Association since 1987. He held multiple positions at Wesseln Construction Company from 1965 to 2008, including General Superintendent and Apprentice Carpenter. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Harris is a Republican.

Sheri Learmonth, of San Leandro, has been reappointed to the California Apprenticeship Council, where she has served since 2021. Learmonth has been Chief Executive Officer of Bay Point Control Inc. since 2018. She was West Coast Division Controller for Sabah International from 2006 to 2018. She was Controller of Bay Point Control Inc. from 2002 to 2006. Learmonth was Staff Accountant for Sabah International from 2001 to 2002 and Full Charge Bookkeeper for Pacific Erectors Inc. from 1992 to 2001. Learmonth is a member of the Bay Area SMACNA Women in Construction. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Learmonth is a Republican.

Louis Ontiveros, of Riverside, has been reappointed to the California Apprenticeship Council, where he has served since 2019. Ontiveros has been Director of Training at Southwest Carpenters Training Trust since 2017. He was a Team Lead and Executive Board Member of the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters Local 944 from 2002 to 2017. Ontiveros was an Apprenticeship Instructor at Southwest Carpenters Training Trust from 1998 to 1999. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1993. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Ontiveros is a Democrat.

Jason Rafter, of Nicolaus, has been reappointed to the California Apprenticeship Council, where he has served since 2021. Rafter has been Ironworkers Apprenticeship Director for I.E.B.C. since 2021 and was Apprenticeship Coordinator there from 2008 to 2021. He is a member of the American Welding Society. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Rafter is a Democrat.

Paul Von Berg, of Newport Beach, has been reappointed to the California Apprenticeship Council, where he has served since 2011. Von Berg retired as Executive Vice President of Brutoco Engineering and Construction Inc., where he worked from 1992 to 2012. He was Director of West Coast Operations at Park Construction from 1987 to 1992. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Von Berg is registered without party preference.

Priscilla de Luna, of Rancho Murieta, has been appointed Administrative Assistant II at the Office of Tax Appeals. De Luna has been an Executive Assistant III at Kaiser Permanente since 2019. She held several positions at Sacramento Ear Nose and Throat from 2015 to 2019, including Human Resources and Executive Assistant. De Luna was a Production Assistant and Performer at e2k events x entertainment from 2011 to 2017. She was a Special Education Paraprofessional at the Elk Grove Unified School District from 2012 to 2015 and at Advance Kids from 2011 to 2013. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $76,908. De Luna is a Democrat.

Nicole Clavo, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the Peace Officer Standards Accountability Advisory Board. Clavo has been Manager of the Office of Violence Prevention for the City of Sacramento since 2020. She was a Labor Relations Field Rep. Negotiator for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association from 2005 to 2020. Clavo earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Psychology and a Master of Science degree in Organizational Development from Springfield College. She earned a Doctor of Psychology degree in Organizational Development from Alliant International University. Clavo is a member of the National Crime Victim Law Institute, Voices for Victims and the Sacramento District Attorneys Alternative Sentence Council. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $350 per diem. Clavo is a Democrat.

Robert Doyle, of Novato, has been appointed to the Peace Officer Standards Accountability Advisory Board. Doyle served on the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training from 2012 to 2022 and from 2006 to 2011. Doyle was Sheriff of Marin County from 1996 to 2022 and served in several positions at the Marin County Sheriffs Department from 1969 to 1996, including Undersheriff, Captain, Lieutenant Sergeant, and Deputy Sheriff. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $350 per diem. Doyle is a Democrat.

Joyce E. Dudley, of Santa Barbara, has been appointed to the Peace Officer Standards Accountability Advisory Board. Dudley was Chair of the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training from 2016 to 2022 and a member there from 2013 to 2022. Dudley served as District Attorney of Santa Barbara County from 2010 to 2022. She was a Deputy District Attorney in the Santa Barbara County District Attorneys Office from 1990 to 2010. She was Director of Child Development Programs at the Community Action Commission of the County of Santa Barbara from 1984 to 1988 and Child Development Director at the Childrens Home Society of California from 1979 to 1984. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a Master of Education degree in Early Childhood Education from Antioch University, a Master of Arts degree in Education from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Juris Doctor degree from the Santa Barbara College of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $350 per diem. Dudley is a Democrat.

Diego Cartagena, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the California Access to Justice Commission, where he has served since 2021. Cartagena has been President and CEO of Bet Tzedek Legal Services since 2020, where he was Vice President of Legal Programs from 2017 to 2021 and Pro Bono Director from 2012 to 2017. Cartagena was Pro Bono Director at the Alliance for Childrens Rights from 2007 to 2012. He was a Family Law Attorney at the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice from 2003 to 2007. Cartagena is a member of the California Access to Justice Legal Aid Funding Committee, Justice in Aging Board of Directors and the National Legal Aid & Defender Associations Civil Council. Cartagena earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Literature and Culture from the University of California, Los Angeles. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Cartagena is a Democrat.

Crystal L. Miller-OBrien, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the California Access to Justice Commission, where she has served since 2021. Miller-OBrien has been Of Counsel at Glaser Weil LLP since 2023. She has been a Panel Attorney for the California Office of Legislative Counsels Workplace Conduct Unit since 2019 and a Temporary Judge for the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2016. She served on the California Law Revision Commission from 2011 to 2021. Miller-OBrien was an Employee Relations Advisor for Intuit Inc. from 2021 to 2022, Advice & Litigation Counsel at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP from 2020 to 2021, Director of Employee Relations at University Medical Partners in 2020, and Labor and Employment Law Department Manager and General Counsel at Medical Management Consultants Inc./MMC-HR LLC from 2006 to 2020. Miller-OBrien is a member of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Willamette University College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Psychology from Oberlin College. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Miller-OBrien is a Democrat.

Laura Lomeli, of Brea, has been appointed to the Sex Offender Management Board. Lomeli has been a Sexual Assault Detective for the Anaheim Police Department since 2019. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Lomeli is a Democrat.

Alexandra Hart, of Montague, has been appointed to the North Coast Regional Water Quality Board. Hart has been a Senior Appraiser with LandVest Real Estate since 2022. She was an Appraiser with Yosemite Farm Credit, ACA from 2015 to 2022. Hart has been a member of the Appraisal Institute since 2015 and a member of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers since 2022. Hart earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agribusiness Management and Food Marketing from the University of Kentucky. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $250 per diem. Hart is registered without party preference.

Alex Rodriguez, of Santa Barbara, has been appointed to the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Board. Rodriguez has been President of Diversity Consulting Group LLC since 1995. He is a member of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, La Cumbre Mutual Water Company and the U.S. EPA National Drinking Water Advisory Council. Rodriguez earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management from Antioch University Santa Barbara. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $250 per diem. Rodriguez is a Democrat.

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Governor Newsom Announces Appointments 3.30.23 | California ... - Office of Governor Gavin Newsom

Twenty cars enter the arena, motors blasting and crowds cheering. Your hearts in your throat and butterflies are in your stomach, and as soon as they drop that green flag you know you're about to be in for the ride of your life.

This is how demolition derby driver Jason Sauer explained the feeling of being in a motorsport competition. Sauer, hails from Pennsylvania and has become nationally known for his spray painting talents and fine art sculptures. He is also the host of TrackShotLive on YouTube, which broadcasts live derby footage and averages about 100,000 views per weekend.

This year, Sauer has teamed up with Blane Williams, owner of Williams Enterprises LLC, to be a guest artist and host his show at the upcoming Spring Extreme Demolition Derby in Yuba City. This will be Sauers first time coming to Yuba City and hes excited to tour the area and learn more about its people. His goal is to give the spring derby more coverage and get more people interested in trying the sport.

It's one of the most exciting things you can do, said Sauer. In a way, it's very punk rock, it's very jazz, it's very rodeo, it's very American.

To further encourage participation, Sauer is introducing his own Most Wanted Fine Art (MWFA) Street Stock Class to the competition, a division created specifically for beginners or those with barriers to access.

All a person needs to get started is a little mechanical knowledge and any beater car, 1980s or newer. Start-up costs can usually be recouped by selling parts off the vehicle, such as its catalytic converter, and using the profits to modify the vehicle or cover an entry fee. Modifications include removing all the glass and plastic to avoid shards in the arena and relocating the battery and gas tank to be inside the vehicle. This helps limit the risk of fire and keeps two of the car's most important elements safe inside the cabin.

Often youll find competitors driving in reverse with the goal of smashing another car's front end with the back of their vehicle, explained Sauer. You want to try and keep your vehicle's front end safe for as long as possible.

Last vehicle left standing is declared the winner and there's usually a substantial pay out in accordance with the competitive level and class. For example, the MWFA Street Stock Class costs $150 to register with a pay out of $1,000 for first, $500 for second, $250 for third and $125 for fourth.

While the sport might seem a bit violent, Sauer said he hasn't seen anyone get killed and hes been doing derbies every weekend since 1992. Some of the biggest injuries hes witnessed include a broken foot, broken fingers, and maybe a bit of whiplash.

As an artist, Sauer specializes in painting derby cars and then using the wrecked pieces to forge into fine art sculptures.

I have an art opening in Southern California on April 7, said Sauer. So, what Im gonna do is stay in California for a week and Im gonna cut up one of these derby cars from Yuba City and build a sculpture out of it and take it down to the art gallery.

The event in Yuba City will mark the beginning of Sauers new MWFA season, a program he plans to replicate in Minnesota, Pittsburgh, and New York City.

For more information about the Spring Extreme derby event visit williamsentllc.com, and for more information on Sauers art, visit pittsburghartcar.com. The Spring Extreme derby will take place at the Yuba Sutter Fairgrounds in Yuba City starting at 9 a.m. on April 1 and 2. General admission starts at $30 for adults and $20 for children. The fairgrounds are located at 442 Franklin Ave. in Yuba City.

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The art of destruction | Features - Appeal-Democrat