Tag "Anthony Portantino"

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Are special interests blocking housing reforms? Or is public opposition?

The belief that California has a profound housing crisis took hold in the state’s media and political establishments in recent years after Census Bureau statistics showed the Golden State had the highest effective rate of poverty once cost of living

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Gov. Brown seeks to use budget to force community college reforms

Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to force far-reaching reforms on the California Community College system in his final state budget could lead to fireworks as the Legislature moves to adopt a 2018-19 spending plan by the June 15 deadline. Brown wants

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Democratic supermajority in Legislature still out of reach late Election Night

A Democratic supermajority in the state Legislature remained elusive Tuesday night, according to early returns. With a supermajority, Democrats would be able to increase taxes, override gubernatorial vetoes and send measures to the ballot without Republican support. Democrats need two seats

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Battleground 2016: Top Legislative Races

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on July 19. Republicans in the state Legislature are thought to have a challenging election cycle this year. The outcome in November will determine whether the GOP has enough seats in the state

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State parks: Only in California is a government surplus scandalous

July 23, 2012 By John Hrabe California’s Department of Parks and Recreation has been holding onto $54 million in surplus funds for the past decade. The agency didn’t bother to tell anyone at the state Department of Finance about their

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East Bay second Cal State foundation to file questionable tax returns

May 21, 2012 By John Hrabe With 427,000 students and 44,000 staff on 23 campuses, the California State University System is the nation’s largest higher education system. But from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Cal State is raising tuition, cutting

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Dem Legislators Urge Cal State to Disclose True Amount of Executive Compensation

MARCH 13, 2012 By JOHN HRABE In response to a CalWatchDog.com investigation series, two Democratic state legislators are calling on the California State University system “to come clean with a complete and detailed look at just how CSU executives are

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Girl Scout Oath Makes Some Bristle

Katy Grimes: On the 100th Anniversary of the Girl Scouts, the California Legislature honored the organization with a resolution today, by Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont. The resolution notes “the Girl Scouts’ century-long commitment to building girls of courage, confidence and character who make

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Legislators Flunk Cal State ‘Fuzzy Math’

MARCH 12, 2012 By JOHN HRABE Senate Republican leader Bob Huff flunked Cal State University’s “fuzzy math” and is calling for “substantial changes at the institution.” His action followed CalWatchDog.com‘s investigation into the system’s false and misleading information about the total

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CalWatchDog.com Exclusive: Cal State Lies about Executive Pay

MARCH 2, 2012 By JOHN HRABE California State University officials have provided false and misleading information to the public about the total compensation provided to at least one of the system’s 23 presidents, a CalWatchDog.com investigation has found. According to

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