Breaking News

Back to homepage

U.S.-Calif. Stuck in Stagnation Spiral

JULY 26, 2011 BY JOHN SEILER Welcome to the desert of economic and jobs growth. I keep reminding people that California actually still is part of the United States of America. That we are not the “eighth largest world economy,”

Read More

Treasure Isle: Greed, Gold, Toxic Waste

Yo ho ho and and a pot of redevelopment gold. For 15 years San Francisco has tried to transform Treasure Island from a sandy former Naval base into a gold and jobs-generating new urban community with 40-story skyscrapers interspersed by

Read More

Jeanne Raya Failed to Reveal Donations

JULY 25, 2011 By JOHN HRABE A second member of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission,  Jeanne Raya, failed to disclose financial contributions made within the past 18 months to a state political campaign committee, according to documents reviewed by CalWatchDog.com. Ten days ago,

Read More

Rutten's Amazon Attack Ignores Reality

JULY 25, 2011 By JOHN SEILER L.A. Times columnist Tim Rutten continues his tax obsession in “Amazon’s shameful California tax dodge.” He just has it in for Amazon.com. He makes a weird comparison: At the turn of the last century,

Read More

S.F. Subway Derails Into Boondoggle

JULY 22, 2011 By KATY GRIMES The California High-Speed Rail Authority isn’t the state’s only massive choo-choo boondoggle. San Francisco boasts the Central Subway project, a wasteful train system all its own. Fortunately, citizen volunteers, transportation and rail experts and local writers

Read More

Why would Sacto tap a failed leader?

Commentary JULY 22, 2011 By STEVEN GREENHUT The Sacramento Bee reported today that John Shirey, executive director of the California Redevelopment Association, is the top candidate to be Sacramento’s next city manager. This choice only confirms the small-town mentality of

Read More

Despite Gain, CalPERS Still Underfunded

JULY 22, 2100 By LANNY EBENSTEIN The recent announcement that the investment return of CalPERS for the 2010-11 fiscal year was 20.7 percent does not indicate that it, or other public sector pension funds, are now financially solvent. Indeed, the

Read More

Zombie Recovery: CA Jobless Rate Jumps

JULY 22, 2011 By JOHN SEILER California is suffering what I call a “Zombie Recovery.” The state economy is walking, but dead. Today the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released new numbers for June 2011 showing that California’s unemployment rose

Read More

Chart Shows Aguirre Conflicts of Interest

JULY 22, 2011 By JOHN HRABE The following chart demonstrates the conflicts of interest for Dr. Gabino T. Aguirre, a commissioner for the California Citizens Redistricting Commission. The conflicts are detailed in my articles for CalWatchDog.com: Part 1: Gabino Aguirre’s Secret

Read More

Redevelopment Partners In Slime

Katy Grimes: Trying to fill the thrice-vacant City Manager position, Sacramento’s City Council made a job offer to a candidate yesterday. But the politically incestuous connection local politicians have with John Shirey, the candidate and current head of the California Redevelopment

Read More