Posts From Chris Reed
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CTA seems resigned to losing landmark dues case
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to hear Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association drew considerable national attention as having the potential to deliver a body blow to public employee unions. In the case, an Anaheim teacher challenges the 1977 Supreme
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PUC board dissident has dubious history with PG&E
A member of the California Public Utilities Commission board who has attempted to establish himself as a critic of the PUC status quo by criticizing the scandal-ridden agency’s push for a much flatter electricity-pricing tier system could have a tough
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CalSTRS pension fix harder on taxpayers than UC fix
In the newly enacted 2015-16 state budget, the University of California has agreed to major pension changes, building on revisions already made under Gov. Jerry Brown since 2011. This account is from the Sacramento Bee: As part of an arrangement
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When Anthony Kennedy was a ‘bashful’ CA lobbyist
Justice Anthony Kennedy, the author of last week’s historic Supreme Court decision making gay marriage the law of the land, is a Californian through and through. Here’s part of his official court bio: Kennedy was born in Sacramento, California, on
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HBO’s “True Detective” mines CA politics for its plot
The second season of HBO’s highly popular “True Detective” series is set in a beat-up industrial Los Angeles County suburb and is inspired by two California political controversies/scandals. The Hit & Run blog has some key details: … Vince Vaughn
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Supreme Court ruling appears to help Vergara plaintiffs
A landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision last week that Texas programs implementing the federal Fair Housing Act have had a discriminatory “disparate impact” on minorities — even if there is no evidence of intent to discriminate in the execution of
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L.A. sportscaster: Chargers may not be welcome
After months of public-relations skirmishing and a few hours of actual discussions between team officials and elected leaders, the future of the San Diego Chargers seems more unsure than ever. The attorney for the Spanos family, which owns the team
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CA Uber ruling prompts sharp, varied reaction
The ruling of the California Labor Commission last week that an Uber driver is an employee of the company — not a contractor — prompted national and international reaction from economists and other close observers of the growing “sharing” economy.
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CA Board of Education sides with teachers union on school funding
The State Board of Education, led by Gov. Jerry Brown’s longtime ally Michael Kirst (right), has decided to back up state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson’s interpretation of a key state education reform, the 2013 Local Control Funding Formula
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CA Medical Board in new flap over painkillers
The Medical Board of California, which licenses physicians and responds to complaints about incompetence or misconduct, suffered an extraordinary rebuke in 2013 after legislative hearings exposed poor follow-through in responding to allegations that some doctors had a dangerous history of
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