MICHAEL LIEDTKE
AP Business Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has rejected a $13.5 billion settlement that Pacific Gas & Electric struck just last week with thousands of people who lost homes, businesses and family members in a series of devastating fires that drove the nation's largest utility into bankruptcy.
The decision announced Friday in a five-page letter to PG&E CEO William D. Johnson marks a major setback in the utility's race to meet a June 30 deadline to emerge from bankruptcy protection.
The San Francisco-based company needs to pull a deal off to be able to draw from a special fund created by the Democratic governor and state lawmakers to help insulate utilities if their equipment sparks other catastrophic fires. The risks have escalated du
