Chris Reed, Author at CalWatchdog.com

Posts From Chris Reed

Chris Reed

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.

Some worry California Citizens Redistricting Commission lacks diversity in applicant pool

Despite requests from more than 20 civic groups that she keep recruiting applicants for the California Citizens Redistricting Commission past the present Aug. 9 deadline, state Auditor Elaine Howle doesn’t appear to believe it is necessary. Last week, California Common

Feds unexpectedly clear way for bullet train planning to advance

Chris Reed August 1, 2019

Three months after canceling a $929 million federal grant to the troubled California bullet train project, the Trump administration has unexpectedly given its go-ahead to the state to approve environmental documents that are needed to complete planning for the long-delayed

UC tuition plan could ‘fall apart,’ regent warns

Chris Reed July 29, 2019

University of California President Janet Napolitano and other top UC officials have proposed a new plan to manage tuition increases. But their plan runs the risk of backfiring because it depends heavily on consistent future support from the state Legislature

Potential break-up of PG&E looking less likely

Chris Reed July 29, 2019

Eight months after the head of the California Public Utilities Commission suggested it was time for a radical shake-up of Pacific Gas & Electric, the state’s largest power utility appears to be at much less risk of a hostile takeover

Bill requiring Trump to release taxes to make CA ballot awaits decision by Newsom

Chris Reed July 26, 2019

When Gov. Gavin Newsom got back from his vacation last week, awaiting him was a bill that some see as a principled attempt to force President Donald Trump to be transparent about his personal finances and that others – including

Push for weaker requirements for reading teachers quickly stalls

Chris Reed July 25, 2019

The California Teachers Association is having one of its best sessions in years, winning support for a crackdown on charter schools and unusual direct state assistance for districts to pay for ballooning pension costs – freeing up money for teacher

Despite crackdown, is state losing ground in vaccination push?

Chris Reed July 15, 2019

Four years into a crackdown on high numbers of California students going unvaccinated because of claimed concerns over vaccine risks, new statistics from the 2018-2019 school year show that 10 percent or more of the students in 117 kindergartens and

California Attorney General an unexpected obstacle to police transparency law

Chris Reed July 9, 2019

Appointed to replace newly elected U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris in 2016, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra ran for his own four-year term in 2018 as a supporter of then-Gov. Jerry Brown’s law enforcement and judicial reforms. “California’s Department of Justice

Ex-justices see big problems with California initiative process

Chris Reed July 2, 2019

Despite the 2014 adoption of the most significant reforms to the initiative process in recent California history, two former state Supreme Court justices have gone public with criticism over the dominant role of money in direct democracy, suggesting that the

State’s largest ‘community choice’ energy program takes a hit

Chris Reed June 28, 2019

The community choice aggregation (CCA) movement has built considerable momentum in California in recent years. In CCA programs, groups of local government agencies team up to take over decision-making on what sources of power to use in the local electric