Posts From James Poulos
Back to homepage
CA Democrats challenge Lt. Governor Newsom on gun control
Seeking to bolster his early-bird campaign for governor, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom forged ahead with a controversial ballot initiative designed to put severe strictures on guns in California. But in addition to raising the ire of Republicans statewide, Newsom
Read More
SCOTUS denies CA death penalty suit
The Supreme Court declined to hear a lawsuit intent on overturning California’s death penalty regime on that grounds that it was too slow to be constitutional, drawing a rebuke from just one of their members. “The case was brought by Richard
Read More
CA millennials play political bellwether
With Donald Trump riding high in statewide polls and Bernie Sanders committed to seeing through his youth-fueled campaign all the way to the convention, California has become a large and unlikely test case for how millennials might vote in the
Read More
Organized labor circles Uber and Lyft in CA
Labor groups have sought out relationships with Uber drivers, whom the company recently settled with, but has yet to classify as employees. “A day after Uber announced a $100 million settlement with some drivers in California and Massachusetts, the Teamsters announced plans
Read More
Judge rebuffs AG Harris on donor disclosures
California Attorney General Kamala Harris lost a high-profile lawsuit over her attempt to obtain donor records from an organization in the orbit of the Koch brothers. Judging First Amendment protections to exceed what Harris had characterized as the confines of
Read More
Obama draws CA ire on Armenian genocide
In an attempted act of political finesse, president Obama declined to call the mass slaughter of Armenians, carried out by the Turks 100 years ago, a genocide. “Armenian-American leaders have urged Mr. Obama each year to keep a pledge he
Read More
Sanders pins delegate hopes on CA
Hoping to end Bernie Sanders’ surprisingly effective insurgent campaign, Hillary Clinton has shifted her own to California, on the heels of a strong Tuesday performance making her a virtual lock for the Democrats’ nomination for president. Clinton edges Sanders by six points
Read More
Persistent CA education gaps fuels conflict
Caught amid shifting standards, court challenges and retrenching combatants on both sides of social and political divides, California’s education system has found itself burdened by persistent gaps in student and teacher performance — a state of affairs fueling the very
Read More
CA wage hike shock waves begin
Confronted with an impending hike to $15 in the California minimum wage, businesses, labor advocates and political analysts have all begun to shift strategies and tactics. Given current trends, the combined impact could be a smaller, more unionized workforce — that
Read More
Trump surges in key CA primary
Fulfilling analysts’ growing expectations and leaving some Golden Staters in disbelief, California has emerged as perhaps the most decisive contest in the contest for the Republican nomination. The June 7 primary looms at a moment when Donald Trump, battered and flustered
Read More