Another court embarrassment for state AG Kamala Harris

Fresh off her odd handling of the bullet train’s legal issues, Attorney General Kamala Harris is at it again. Per the coverage of the San Francisco Chronicle, incompetence followed by posturing is what this looks like: “Attorney General Kamala Harris

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‘Inspiring’ de Blasio channels CA Dems: White teachers > minority students

In the run-up to Bill de Blasio’s recent election as mayor of New York City, I lost count of how many times I heard pundits describe the tall Democrat with the mixed-race marriage as offering an inspiring new progressive vision

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Lawsuit: Assemblyman forced staffers to work for his law firm

A former employee of Assemblyman Steve Fox alleges that the Democrat lawmaker forced employees in his taxpayer-funded state office to work for his private law practice. The allegations are contained in a lengthy complaint filed last Friday in Los Angeles

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Death, taxes and state incompetence with computer projects

There are fewer sure things in life than the likelihood the California state government will screw up a computer project. We may be home to Silicon Valley and the greatest concentration of information-technology skills in the world, but once a

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CA massage law: A case study in regulatory failure

  Residents of Los Angeles know that “medical” marijuana shops are not the only gray-market business that’s experienced a recent boom. In a city with a taste for pleasure and an enterprising working class, “massage” parlors are apt to have

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Self-parody department: Dakota oil boom depicted as threat to CA safety

The San Francisco Chronicle has broken new ground in over-the-top petrophobia. Not content to warp the California debate over fracking in the Golden State by never mentioning the Obama administration considers it safe, the Chronicle’s editorial page actually is warning

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Feinstein/Boxer drought-relief proposal already carried out

On Feb. 11, 25 days after Gov. Jerry Brown declared an official drought, California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer introduced a drought-relief bill. Senate Bill 216, ” The California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2014,” was introduced concurrently with

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Feds give CA breathing room on bullet-train matching funds

There’s been another funding twist for the California bullet-train project. The Federal Railroad Administration has agreed to delay the due date for $180 million in state matching funds for the project from April 1 to July 1,  according to a

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Why is CalSTRS’ version of corporate skulduggery tolerated?

Beginning in the late 1990s and for about a decade afterward, corporate accounting scandals unfolded one after the other. Bipartisan outrage over CEOs and CFOs cooking the books gave way to mostly Democratic initiatives to impose much more sweeping rules

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The dog that didn’t bark: More evidence top Dems want bullet train gone

The California establishment fights dirty when it comes to direct challenges to its priorities and the people it wants to protect the most. The CTA blocking efforts to make it easier to remove classroom sexual predators and instead passing legislation

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