Posts From Chris Reed
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Chris Reed is a regular contributor to Cal Watchdog. Reed is an editorial writer for U-T San Diego. Before joining the U-T in July 2005, he was the opinion-page columns editor and wrote the featured weekly Unspin column for The Orange County Register. Reed was on the national board of the Association of Opinion Page Editors from 2003-2005. From 2000 to 2005, Reed made more than 100 appearances as a featured news analyst on Los Angeles-area National Public Radio affiliate KPCC-FM. From 1990 to 1998, Reed was an editor, metro columnist and film critic at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario. Reed has a political science degree from the University of Hawaii (Hilo campus), where he edited the student newspaper, the Vulcan News, his senior year. He is on Twitter: @chrisreed99.
California agriculture top initial Beijing target as trade dispute escalates
California’s massive agriculture industry is China’s top initial target as Beijing responds to the Trump administration’s vow earlier this month to slap tariffs on some $50 billion of Chinese steel and aluminium imports. In an announcement over the weekend, Chinese
Read MoreUtilities’ bid for help on wildfire costs finds renewed hope
California’s three giant investor-owned utilities haven’t given up on hopes that state leaders and regulators may give their shareholders the financial protection they want in an era of frequent massive wildfires linked to climate change – and their hopes don’t seem
Read MoreL.A. headaches hang over Garcetti’s White House ambitions
Sen. Kamala Harris, 53, isn’t the only relatively young California Democrat who’s seen as a potential fresh-faced alternative to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 68, or former Vice President Joseph Biden, 75, for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination. Los Angeles Mayor
Read MoreDemocratic candidates for governor must contend with bullet-train difficulties
The March 9 release of the first updated business plan in two years for the state’s high-speed rail project could sharply intensify the pressure on Democratic gubernatorial candidates who back the project to explain their support. The Republican candidates – Assemblyman
Read MoreOakland Unified whipsawed by pension costs, declining enrollment
It’s been a tumultuous era in Oakland. The Police Department has been enmeshed in an ugly scandal surrounding officers’ involvement with an underage sex worker that led to an officer’s suicide, firings and turnover in the chief’s office. City Hall
Read MoreGavin Newsom rips ‘defeatist Democrats’ who won’t embrace single-payer
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom appears comfortable with borrowing from Bernie Sanders’ playbook and embracing single-payer health care in his bid to succeed Gov. Jerry Brown in the June open primary and the November general election. That’s a key takeaway of
Read MoreReport: Without housing fix, Silicon Valley will falter
Three times in the past 18 months, prominent journalistic organizations have questioned whether Silicon Valley has peaked. Leading off the bad-mouthing was the hometown San Jose Mercury News, which reported in September 2016 that tech growth had slowed in the
Read MoreBrutal long-term ‘mega-drought’ a specter hanging over state
Californians confronted with a bone-dry winter have to wonder if Gov. Jerry Brown and other state officials acted precipitously in April 2017 in declaring an end to the Golden State’s five-year drought. But there’s an even more ominous question to
Read MoreStars aligning for far-reaching changes to state bail system
Last week could be remembered as a turning point for California criminal justice as state Attorney General Xavier Becerra joined the movement to radically change the Golden State’s bail system, which charges by far the highest average bail in the
Read MoreMixed report on Sen. Mendoza allegations puts Senate in tough spot
Two law firms hired by the California Senate to investigate allegations of sexual harassment against Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, have returned a mixed report that could provoke fissures between senators who want to use Mendoza to set an example for
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