Brown signs automatic voter registration

Secretary of State Alex Padilla has succeeded in his quest to automatically register Californians to vote. Partisan privileges The bill he sponsored, passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, touched off a fresh round of controversy over

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NFL ‘Plan C’ for L.A.: Oakland looks like odd team out

As the National Football League enters the stretch of the 2015-16 season, the saga of which team or teams will move to Los Angeles seems less and less mysterious, starting with this near-certitude: The Oakland Raiders aren’t likely to be

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Brown warns climate fight will cost trillions, disrupt lifestyle

Gov. Jerry Brown warned at a recent climate change workshop that trillions of dollars, the transformation of our way of life and a worldwide mobilization on the scale of war will be required to stave off climate change’s “existential threat”

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Lawmakers upset with vetoes of PUC reforms

Many state lawmakers appeared surprised and upset with Gov. Jerry Brown’s weekend decision to veto six measures adopted in response to a series of scandals at the California Public Utilities Commission that have prompted criminal and civil investigations as well

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Future of CA marijuana still hazy

The biggest of the California marijuana initiatives has at last been unveiled. But it has yet to lock up enough support to wipe out the competition. Striking a balance “The Control, Regulate and Tax Cannabis Act of 2016 would allow

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China joins growing interest in CA high speed rail

Seeking to tout its market value, California’s High Speed Rail Authority recently solicited bids for private investment, drawing dozens of responses. “Facing criticism from opponents for the lack of private investors lining up to finance the $68 billion project, the rail authority asked

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CA unions brace for SCOTUS hearing on dues

Faced with the greatest legal challenge to their core source of revenue, California unions have braced for defeat and scrambled for alternatives. Some time after its new term begins this month, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Friedrichs v.

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Oregon claim of assisted suicide safeguards has critics

A key argument spurring Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent decision to sign a bill allowing physician-assisted suicide in California, and the Legislature’s desire to enact such a law, was that a similar law had worked well in Oregon after its 1997

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Police anger over new law could shake CA Dem coalition

California’s Democratic Party has dominated the state Legislature so thoroughly since Republican Gov. Pete Wilson left office in 1999 that it may be difficult to imagine the party fracturing and losing its control in Sacramento. But given the tensions between

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Brown vetoes numerous curbs on drone use; approves one

Despite shooting down a series of bills intended to restrict the private use of drones in public airspace, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a fourth bill that restricted the use of drones around and above private property. “The law expands the state’s definition of invasion of privacy

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