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Critics warn drug mandate will increase health care costs
A prescription drug bill, Assembly Bill 339, would save money for many with chronic medical conditions. But critics warn that it also will increase insurance premiums for everyone else and make it harder for insurers to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies
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Groups eye additional “sin tax” revenue
Is a tax on cigarettes a revenue raiser or a “sin tax” — used to discourage individuals from using products considered harmful? The effort to raise taxes on cigarettes – there is a measure in the Legislature as well a
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Medi-Cal boom squeezes CA health care
Although California officials insisted that expanding Medi-Cal coverage has been an economic boon, critics and Sacramento Republicans warned that the program’s staggering growth has created a costly, nettlesome problem for a state already strapped with challenges. The Golden State has seen
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New bill takes aim at drones near wildfires
Fed up with private drones interfering with firefighting, a state senator has announced another bill to keep unmanned aerial vehicles away from hot spots. Sen. Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado, said SB168 would indemnify emergency responders who damage a drone during
Read MoreFresno Unified has big, related legal headaches
Fresno Unified — California’s fourth-largest school district — is reeling from a state appeals court ruling that imperils the way it’s been doing bidding for school construction projects. At the same, the $37 million deal that led to the court
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Former Long Beach superintendent: Break up LAUSD
Carl Cohn, the former Long Beach and San Diego superintendent who is considered one of the wise men of California public education, has a radical idea: Break up the Los Angeles Unified School District. Since he left the State Board of
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CA’s road funding plans ‘stuck in traffic’
More than a month after Gov. Jerry Brown called for lawmakers to hold a “special session” on transportation funding, California still doesn’t have a plan for how to close its annual $5.7 billion shortfall for road, bridge and highway repairs.
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Unlawful immigrants rush for CA drivers licenses
Emerging statistics have revealed that California’s extension of drivers licenses to unlawful immigrants aroused unexpected demand — with no end in sight. “While state officials expected 1.4 million undocumented immigrants to apply for licenses in the first three years, in the first
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Steinle killing shakes up Congress, CA
With gripping yet measured words, Jim Steinle — whose daughter was recently slain in San Francisco by an unlawful immigrant released under the city’s rules — urged Congress to quickly pass new reforms. “While Steinle was careful to acknowledge that the
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Feds fluster Brown on Delta pump plan
Gov. Jerry Brown suffered another setback in his effort to gain the upper hand over California’s persistent drought. New details on alterations to his massive pumping plan, which would change the way the Delta region distributes the water that flows
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