Cut the check, get the service. This is the modus operandi of public and private utilities everywhere. So long as the money ends up in the right hands, the water keeps flowing and the lights stay on. If you live in Belmont, the check for the water bill ends up in the hands of the Mid-Peninsula Water District, a public agency headquartered at 3 Dairy Lane just next to US-101. They in turn purchase and pipe water originally from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park, through the San Francisco Regional Water System, to the homes of Belmont residents as well as those living in small portions of San Carlos, Redwood City, and unincorporated San Mateo County.

California is now one of three states that has elected that vaccine exemptions based on religious or personal preferences are no longer legal. In Sacramento on April 23, 2015,...