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• Disaster-response trailer gets an assist from PG&E

  Disaster-response trailer gets an assist from PG&E

  Atascadero firefighters are closer to the goal of outfitting their grassroots-built, disaster- response trailer with all the necessary tools thanks to a new fundraising campaign spearheaded by PG&E.

  In the challenge, called “$50,000 in 50 Days,” the utility will match all donations up to $25,000 that are received from Sept. 15 through Nov. 4.

  “Essentially, it is a two-for- one deal,” fire Capt. Matt Miranda said. “You donate $1 and they will make it $2.”

• Government Watch: A roundup of this week’s agendas

  Government Watch: A roundup of this week’s agendas

  Atascadero Planning Commission. Meets Tuesday. 461-5000. Proposed expansion of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 5318 Palma Ave.; changes proposed for a four-home development planned at 7392 Santa Ysabel Ave.

  Atascadero Unified School District Board of Trustees. Meets Tuesday. 462-4200. Public hearing on textbooks and other instructional materials; Monterey Road Elementary School modernization; teaching assignments and salaries.

  Grover Beach City Council. Meets tonight. 473-4567. Public hearing on proposed ordinance regulating vacation rentals; report on combining fire dispatch services for the Five Cities Fire Authority at the Grover Beach Police Department; update on grand jury report regarding the South San Luis Obispo County Sanitation District; status report on Grover Beach Lodge and Conference Center project.

• County to weigh proposal for Nipomo medical clinic

  County to weigh proposal for Nipomo medical clinic

  Plans for a $7.5 million nonprofit medical center in Nipomo will go before the San Luis Obispo County Planning Commission today, the latest step along a road that clinic directors hope will lead to its opening in early 2013.

  The proposal by the Community Health Centers of the Central Coast includes a 28,000-square-foot medical clinic, to be located on the 4.5-acre lot at 150 North Tejas Place where an existing clinic sits.

  If the proposal moves forward, the existing building would be converted to administrative offices.

• Subsidies for renewable energy plans are plentiful

  Subsidies for renewable energy plans are plentiful

  WASHINGTON — In the California Valley, NRG Energy is building an engineering marvel: a compound of nearly a million solar panels that will produce enough electricity to power about 100,000 homes.

  The project is also a marvel in another, less obvious way: Taxpayers and ratepayers are providing subsidies worth almost as much as the entire $1.6 billion cost of the project. Similar subsidy packages have been given to 15 other solar- and wind-power electric plants since 2009.

  The government support — which includes loan guarantees, cash grants and contracts that require electric customers to pay higher rates — largely eliminated the risk to the private investors and almost guaranteed them large profits for years to come. The beneficiaries include financial firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, conglomerates like General Electric, utilities like Exelon and NRG — even Google.

• A.G. woman who stole $109,000 from bank gets 15 months in prison

  A.G. woman who stole $109,000 from bank gets 15 months in prison

  Brenda Bautista Hurtado, 26, of Arroyo Grande was sentenced today to 15 months in federal prison after stealing nearly $110,000 from U.S. Bank and two customers.