Posts From James Poulos
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Democratic Party faces restive CA activists
Disgruntled Democratic activists in California have begun to buck the national party in key races this election year. After a string of failures in several central valley campaigns, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has come in for scorn by increasingly independent party members
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CA poised for higher primary profile
Accustomed to languishing at the tail end of the party primary calendar — a dispiriting position for a state that has long been treated as an ATM for East Coast candidates seeking national office — Californians have awoken this year to the
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Kochs’ CA donor conclave reflects uneasy race
With the Republican primary race for the presidential nomination still remarkably fluid, donors and campaign heavyweights gathered under the Koch brothers’ aegis in the California desert to discuss — and possibly shape — the party’s political future. The event, located
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New capital punishment plan sharpens CA execution fight
Obliged by a court settlement to figure out a new method of capital punishment, California officials have exacerbated the state’s protracted debate over executions by settling on a different kind of lethal injection. With a widespread shortage of execution drugs
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Feds freeze offshore CA fracking
Twin legal settlements with environmentalist plaintiffs put a freeze on fracking in California waters. “The agreements in Los Angeles federal court apply to operations off Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, where companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. operate platforms,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “Federal
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Another deadline delay for Covered CA
Whether confused, unsure, busy or just procrastinating, Californians won yet another deadline extension for signing up with the state’s Obamacare exchange for health insurance coverage. Anyone who initiated enrollment prior to last Sunday’s deadline “will earn another week to finish up,”
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CA could ban encrypted smartphones
A worldwide controversy over whether to ban encrypted smartphones has opened a new front in California, where lawmakers introduced legislation that would crack down on the devices. Assembly Bill 1681, introduced by Assemblyman Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove, would mandate that phones
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Falling gas revenue sharpens CA infrastructure fight
As revenues from the statewide gasoline tax tanked amid low prices, lawmakers in Sacramento faced a fiercer debate over how to fund California’s much-needed infrastructure improvements. In the meanwhile, Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration went ahead with huge cuts to the
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Bullet train shifts focus from SoCal to Bay Area
California’s beleaguered high-speed rail project has hit a new snag, likely shifting its proposed construction strategy away from the Southland-first plan it had initially adopted. “The state rail authority is studying an alternative to build the first segment in the
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Hyperloop soon to break ground
Despite a consistent chorus of criticism from naysayers, the Hyperloop ultra-fast rail project has broken new ground, with a rapid timetable in place for its California debut. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, one of the leading companies dedicated to taking SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s revolutionary
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