Posts From James Poulos
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CA Assembly passes fast food franchise regs
As changing consumer tastes roil the fast food industry, the California Assembly passed a so-called “Franchise Bill of Rights” designed to transform the way franchisors like McDonald’s do business. Assembly Bill 525, introduced by Assemblyman Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, would make
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L.A. caps CA trend with $15 minimum wage vote
By a nearly unanimous vote, the Los Angeles City council voted to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. As the biggest development yet in a nationwide labor effort meant to compensate for failed federal legislation,
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Covered CA hits familiar rough patch
As a number of state exchanges across the country struggle and fold, Covered California — by far one of the most successful — has begun to experience similar challenges. Dramatic cuts Covered California officials portrayed a slate of new budget
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CA government turns on traffic court rules
In a matter of weeks, all three branches of California government have turned against the state’s widespread traffic violations bureaucracy. The system, which subjects rich and poor alike to spiraling penalties, fees and surcharges, has come to symbolize both the hidden
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CA water cuts hit farmers
As state policymakers turned their eye on reforming groundwater rules, California’s farmers sought a new deal on water rights, voluntarily proposing to slash their own consumption. An unprecedented offer The latest cascade of cuts underscored fears that current rationing rules just
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Silicon Valley eyes pot play
With marijuana legalization on the table for California this coming election season, investment in the nascent pot industry has become increasingly attractive. But in Silicon Valley, where venture capitalists have prided themselves on risky but canny bets, marijuana has only
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Analysts look to water markets to fight CA drought
Scrambling for workable models found elsewhere in resources policy, some analysts have begun to argue that California should regulate markets for water. At Bloomberg View, for instance, the editors made a splash with a recommendation drawn from Australia’s approach to limited
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CA vaccination regulations gain more steam
After a fractious debate, the California Senate passed a revised draft of the controversial bill that would largely eliminate the state’s religious and personal belief exemptions for child inoculation. With the bill on a likely track for passage in the Assembly,
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CA struggles to curb heroin spike
As loosening marijuana regulation and enforcement upends the drug culture in California, heroin use has become an increasing problem in the Golden State, new hospital data suggested. “The number of young adults admitted to California hospital emergency rooms with heroin
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Sanchez-Harris race makes national waves
California’s battle between Democrats vying to replace Sen. Barbara Boxer took on national proportions at the state party’s annual convention, thanks to a heavyweight endorsement and a classic unforced misstep. Although the two did not directly trade barbs, Harris and Sanchez
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