Word: state
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...arguments of the natural beauty and friendly climate. But now the palpable and sometimes painful memories of the Pretty Big One, as the locals are calling the recent quake, have lent a certain sharpness to the prospects of further shake-ups. Last week scientists were telling Californians that the state faces a 50% chance that another quake as strong as the recent one could happen "at any time" during the next 30 years. "And that means tomorrow," says Don Anderson, director of the seismological laboratory at the California Institute of Technology...
...this the same California that has been sensitive to the risks from every kind of environmental threat? Three years ago, the state's voters approved Proposition 65, a law that mandates warning labels on any substance found to carry a 1-in-100,000 lifetime risk of causing cancer. As a result, cautionary notices now appear on gasoline pumps, in hardware and grocery stores and on the walls of Napa Valley wineries...
...water comes in by aqueducts that a big quake would fracture. Like the devastated Marina district in San Francisco, parts of coastal communities such as Marina Del Rey, Venice and Long Beach are built on sandy soil and landfill that could liquefy during a temblor, amplifying its destructive impact. State transportation officials last week handed the city council a list of 48 highway bridges and overpasses that need reinforcement to withstand a powerful quake. Cost: $32 million. Los Angeles' city engineer Robert Horii informed the city council that $100 million worth of shoring up may be required on the city...
...California, where America's tax revolt began in 1978 with Proposition 13 rolling back property levies, will have to consider a tax boost. The state has begun payments out of a $1 billion emergency fund, but Governor George Deukmejian does not intend to drain that fund, and even if he did, more would be required. The Governor is expected to call the state legislature into special session in another week or so to decide how much more relief is needed and how to pay for it. It is hard to see how any significant amount could be made available without...
...official value is so overstated after decades of isolation from the marketplace that even Soviet citizens treat it as funny money. In the past year Soviet economists have openly acknowledged that the ruble's official rate of exchange with Western currencies was seriously out of whack. While the Soviet state bank, Gosbank, gave visiting foreigners only 0.65 rubles for every U.S. dollar, a thriving black market offered as much as 15 rubles. An internal study done for the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party reportedly estimated the ruble's true value...