Rep. Paul Cook (R-Apple Valley) voted for HR 8, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act. This bipartisan bill updates and modernizes outdated energy policies. This bill helps America continue on the path to energy independence and creates new jobs

U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) today announced a $1,975,339 Emergency Relief (ER) grant for the repair or reconstruction of federal-aid highways and roads on federal lands that have suffered serious damage as a result of the Valley Fire. The funds come from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

Mercy Housing California on Thursday joined with its partners, First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles and the Stewart M. Ketchum Downtown YMCA, to celebrate the grand opening of the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA Preschool at its brand new location on the ground floor of Mercy Housing’s Caroline Severance Manor, an 85-unit supportive housing development.

Mayor Edwin M. Lee today announced a goal for his second term of helping at least 8,000 people out of homelessness forever through strategies that stabilize people’s lives through the City’s nationally recognized housing and services and building a system that ends a person’s homelessness before it becomes chronic.

Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, Davis, Yuba City), a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, applauded the overwhelming passage of H.R. 22, the FAST Act. The bill provides $305 billion in funding for highways, rail and transit over the next five years, including at least $26.3 billion for California—a significant increase over current funding levels.

Meridian, a full service real estate developer and owner of medical real estate, is pleased to announce that the firm’s 69,000-square-foot medical office building located at 5900 State Farm Drive in Rohnert Park, Calif. has received the prestigious 2015 HREI Insights Award in the category of “Best Renovated or Repurposed Healthcare Facility.”

U.S. Representative Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) voted in favor of H.R. 22, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. The five-year reauthorization bill passed the House by a vote of 359 to 65. Rep. Royce successfully amended the bill to allow California to receive a waiver from federal HOV regulations that would harm the state.

Rep. Jerry McNerney (CA-09) today applauded the U.S. House passage of the FAST Act that included a provision that strikes the prohibition barring municipalities from using tax exempt bonds toward Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) projects. Last week, Rep. McNerney and Rep. Carlos Curbelo (FL-26) led their House colleagues in a bipartisan letter urging that this provision be included in the final highway-transportation bill language

The San Diego Housing Commission awarding $10 million in new construction funds to create additional permanent affordable housing with supportive services for homeless San Diegans for the second year in a row.

A Spanish-inspired live/work space has officially arrived with the announcement of “El Jardin,” a new building located in the historic Presidio neighborhood in downtown Santa Barbara. The four-story development at 819 Garden Street, which is co-listed by Sotheby’s International Realty and Hayes Commercial Group, is designed for the business owner or CEO seeking a professional office space and a private home all in one place

The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) is celebrating four decades of partnering, promoting and preserving safe, affordable housing for Californians. Hundreds of thousands of residents have benefited from its programs and products, and CalHFA is poised to open up opportunities to even more through its commitment to lending with a purpose.

Wind power has grown exponentially in California over the last dozen years, and now supplies enough energy to power 1,188,483 homes, a new report from Environment California Research & Policy Center said today. Last year alone, wind turbines in California averted over 9 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution, the equivalent to removing more than 1.9 million cars from the road

The planned renovation of Ocean View Senior Apartments in the coastal community of Pacifica is made possible in part through the extensive efforts of the California Housing Finance Agency, the State’s affordable housing bank.

As part of their ongoing work to increase affordable housing, address the needs of the homeless, create jobs and invest in the Los Angeles economy, Reps. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) and Karen Bass (D-Calif.) welcomed Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julian Castro this week to South Los Angeles.

Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors, a nationally-recognized real estate brokerage and advisory firm specializing in retail property sales, announced today that the firm represented the buyer and seller in the sale of a single-tenant Bank of America corporate ground lease in Palm Desert, Calif. The purchase price was $2,425,000

Meridian, a full service real estate developer and owner of medical real estate, is pleased to announce that it has closed escrow on the sale of its 8,700-square-foot dialysis clinic in Fairfield, Calif. The purchase price was $5.15 million, representing a cap rate of 5.5%.

Planet Home Living meets the demand of distinguished home-buyers looking for what is often impossible to find: a sleek, modern new home in an established, amenity-rich area. Designed by national award-winning firm KTGY Architecture + Planning, PRISM will offer fifteen single-family detached, new homes in Eagle Rock, just north of downtown Los Angeles.

U.S. Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) voted against two separate attempts to obstruct the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan would allow states, localities, and energy utility companies to set standards for reducing emissions and encourage investments in innovative, sustainable energy production

Under the leadership of 2015 Global Business Council chair Mark Wong, a REALTOR® with Alain Pinel REALTORS® Saratoga, SILVAR’s global business council conducted a number of activities and education programs to raise members’ awareness of global business in their local market, including programs on China, Mexico, India and the Philippines, as part of its “Doing Business With” quarterly series. Also this year, SILVAR conducted its fourth Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) Institute, attended by 31 REALTORS® from around the Bay Area, Southern California and Arizona.

Christy Goldsmith Romero, Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced that Michael Lewis Parker, of Pomona, Calif., who worked at a Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. based business that offered bogus loan modifications was sentenced in California yesterday to serve a federal prison term of six years, and to pay restitution of over $6 million.