Trump administration tussling with California over federal education mandate

The Trump administration turns out to share the Obama administration’s disappointment with California’s efforts to hold schools and school districts accountable for improving students’ academic performance. After President Barack Obama took office in 2009 and installed Arne Duncan as secretary

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Report on massive cost overrun may be turning point for troubled bullet train

Despite Gov. Jerry Brown’s full-throated defense of the troubled bullet train project in his State of the State speech Thursday in Sacramento, a consultant’s report warning of a huge cost overrun on the project’s first segment in the Central Valley

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Gov. Brown touts liberal accomplishments, rebukes Washington Republicans in final State of the State address

California Gov. Jerry Brown delivered his final “State of the State” address in Sacramento on Thursday, mixing in a reflection on his last two terms in office with warnings about the future – without mention President Trump by name. “Our world, our

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IRS could easily block state plan to increase tax deductions

Democratic state lawmakers’ interest in pursuing an unprecedented plan to minimize the hit that California’s high-income residents face because of the federal tax overhaul’s $10,000 cap on deductibility of state and local taxes may be losing momentum – undermined by strong

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LAPD struggles to find way to deal with homeless camps

According to a report filed with the city’s police commission late last year, 38 Los Angeles Police Department officers who work for the Homeless Outreach Partnership Endeavor “contacted” 12,300 homeless people over a nine-month period. But the police can’t tell

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California Democrats take aim at company tax savings with surcharge proposal 

Democrat Assemblymen Kevin McCarty and Phil Ting recently introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 22, a piece of legislation that calls for a 7 percent surcharge on companies that have net earnings over $1 million, in addition to the current state corporate

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Airbnb clear to operate in San Francisco after compromise, but more fights loom

The issue of short-term vacation rentals continues to roil California cities large and small, but a major compromise in San Francisco agreed to by Airbnb and HomeAway has ended for now the fighting in the city that has the third

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2020 vision: California Democrats fire back at DOJ proposal to ask about citizenship on census

A request from the Justice Department to the Census Bureau to add a question on American citizenship to the 2020 census has California Democrats firing back over concerns that illegal immigrants will choose not to participate, possibly causing the state

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How will California’s four U.S. attorneys respond on pot after Sessions’ policy change?

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Jan. 4 announcement that he had revoked the Obama administration’s policy of allowing states to make marijuana use and sales legal without fearing a federal crackdown and would leave it up to his 94 local

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Gov. Brown’s budget sets spending records, but warns of recession

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Jerry Brown’s annual budgets have become familiar affairs. During his last two terms in office, Brown routinely offered a budget plan that broke spending records, but also was designed to limit the creation of new programs while

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