In today’s newscast:
Razor-thin margins in some local races
As counties continue tallying votes from Tuesday’s primary election, some races have razor-thin margins.
With an estimated 44% of ballots still to be counted in Santa Cruz County as of midday Friday, Ryan Coonerty is hovering just above the 50% threshold in the Santa Cruz mayor’s race.
In the District 4 supervisor’s race, Tony Nuñez is just a tenth of a percentage point shy of that threshold. If he clears it, he’ll unseat incumbent Felipe Hernandez. Otherwise, the contest goes to a November runoff.
Tune in to our news roundup, Monterey Bay This Week, for the week’s final tallies. The episode drops tomorrow morning in the Monterey Bay Today podcast feed.
State officials investigate possible gas price gouging
California Energy Commission officials are investigating whether major gas brands are charging Californians more than necessary after the war with Iran pushed fuel prices higher.
CapRadio’s Gerardo Zavala reported on a Senate Energy Committee hearing this week.
“The early indicators now are that the Iran conflict is leading to much higher industry profits, but it’ll take time to really see the full impact,” said Tai Milder, Director of the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight for the CEC, during the hearing. “And what we don’t want to see is refiners, marketers or retailers using the conflict to pad the profits at the expense of consumers.”
Milder told lawmakers that stations like Chevron, Shell and Valero charge an average of $0.31 more per gallon than unbranded stations in California. Nationally, that gap is about $0.06.
A state tax official said there are also signs that retail markups may be driving some of the price differences consumers see at the pump, noting that wholesale and retail prices can differ by as much as 70%.
