Posts From James Poulos
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CA accelerates delayed robocar rules
Slowly but surely, driverless — or “self-driving” — cars will make their way onto California streets. Despite a string of setbacks, and a wave of pervasive fear that automated cars could be hacked, Golden State regulators have determined to move
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CA looms large in Paris climate talks
California was poised to take center stage at the global climate talks hosted later this month in Paris. “Gov. Jerry Brown plans to lead a delegation of eight lawmakers, including Eduardo Garcia, one of the Coachella Valley’s representatives in the State Assembly,” the
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Key divides vex CA Democrats
As the dominant political party of California, Democrats have begun to fall victim to one of the more humbling rules of power: When your team has few tough battles to fight, it often turns on itself. From politics to economics and
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Student debt makes CA waves
While California students mustered to lead a nationwide movement for college debt relief, policymakers and innovators grappled with the issue in ways of their own. Students in the UC system — particularly the Berkeley campus — have taken a central role in
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SeaWorld to drop San Diego orca shows
Scrambling to salvage its business amid a wave of negative publicity, SeaWorld has scrapped its traditional orca shows, banking on shaky hopes that the move is enough to turn the tide of criticism. Trying for a reboot “In 2017 we will launch
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Tesla gets shadowy CA competitor
Tesla, Elon Musk’s famed electric car company, just lost a slice of the Golden State limelight. Speculation has swirled around the debut of another entrant into California’s crowded, cutting-edge automotive industry. The company, known as Faraday Future, “has been hunting for a
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CA economically anxious, politically divided
A new series of polling questions revealed widespread unease among Californians, regardless of party. But economic anxiety concentrated inland, away from the coastal metropolises, teeing up the prospect of an especially sharp political divide between Republicans and Democrats on the one
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Brown’s Delta tunnel project draws strong opposition
To his cherished high-speed rail project, Gov. Jerry Brown can now add his ambitious Delta tunnel project to the list of big plans arousing strong opposition. Especially in the Delta region itself, public opinion has turned sharply against the scheme, which
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2018 gubernatorial race already heating up
Still more than two years away, the race to succeed Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018 has already become one of the most closely watched competitions in California politics. It has made adversaries of the state’s two highest-profile personifications of its two biggest
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CA transparency reform initiative filed
A new state ballot initiative aimed at bringing greater transparency to Sacramento has been filed with the attorney general’s office. Charles Munger, Jr., one of the state GOP’s most substantial activists and donors, linked up with former state Sen. Sam
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