113th Congress
It's been a long road, but the anticipated opening of Sonoma Valley Community Health Center's new facility is now just three weeks away.
"It's absolutely gorgeous," said Health Center CEO Cheryl Johnson of the newly-renovated structure, located at 19270 Highway 12, across from Maxwell Village Shopping Center. Johnson said the 18,000-square-foot facility is slated to open July 22, though there is still much to be done.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) released the following statement on the United States Supreme Court's decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that for-profit corporations are allowed to exclude birth control coverage in their employees' insurance plans based on the owners' religious beliefs.
Deadly mass shootings occur with such alarming regularity that the public can be forgiven for believing there's no way to prevent them.
But lawmakers and experts concerned with the connections between mental illness and violence insist that solutions exist.
And, they say, many of them can be found in California, where laws on the books are credited with reducing the gun death rate 56 percent in the past two decades, according to data compiled by San Francisco's Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
A decade and a half after a husband and wife donated 642 acres of rangeland to American Canyon, the Newell Open Space Preserve at last lived up to its name, officially opening to the public Saturday.
Long an expansive but inaccessible backdrop to a growing city, the tawny, grassy hills and oak groves of American Canyon's northeast corner finally became public space in a dedication ceremony attended by about 80 spectators, many of them equipped with boots, sun hats and water flasks to hike the preserve's 2.6-mile uphill trail on a sun-drenched morning.
In the wake of recent shootings in Portland, Ore., Las Vegas, Nev. and Santa Barbara, Congress members Carol Shea-Porter (D-New Hampshire), a member of the House's Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, and Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), the task force's chairman, led a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) signed by 163 members of Congress demanding a vote on substantive legislation to address gun violence.
WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) today announced a $1,227,878 Head Start/Early Head Start grant for Contra Costa County. The funding will be used to provide Head Start and Early Head Start services to more than 1,860 children and their families at 27 centers throughout Contra Costa County. The grant restores funding lost through the federal sequester in 2013.
WASHINGTON, DC – In the wake of recent shootings in Portland, Las Vegas, and Santa Barbara, Representatives Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01), a member of the House's Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, and Task Force Chairman Mike Thompson (CA-05) led a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) signed by 163 Members of Congress demanding a vote on substantive legislation to address gun violence.
WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) today released the following statement on the Obama Administration's decision to extend more benefits to same-sex couples, regardless of if they live in states that recognize same-sex marriage or not. These actions follow last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act¸ ending the ban on federal benefits for legally married same-sex couples:
WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Reps. Mike Thompson (CA-5) and Jared Huffman (CA-2) today announced a $2.5 million Department of Transportation Grant for Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) train. The funds will be used for the engineering design in preparation for construction of the Larkspur Extension, which will connect the SMART rail system to the Larkspur Ferry in Marin County.
WASHINGTON D.C. – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5), Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, today issued the following statement after the Supreme Court upheld a federal law in Abramski v. U.S. that makes it a crime for one person to buy a gun with the purpose of transferring the gun to another person while lying to the dealer about the final owner of the firearm.