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Los Angeles, San Francisco homeless woes worsen despite funding boosts
The homelessness problem has gotten steadily worse over the past two years in both Los Angeles and San Francisco – even as local officials devote more resources than ever to an issue they say is their highest priority. Both cities cite
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Downbeat Seattle minimum-wage study targeted by UC Berkeley labor center
In 2013, to shore up support for a plan to rapidly increase Seattle’s minimum wage, city leaders agreed to let a team of University of Washington researchers have access to troves of confidential payroll information so they could evaluate whether
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CSU grasps state-students-first message aimed at UC
University of California President Janet Napolitano has been under siege since March 2016, when state Auditor Elaine Howle released a report that showed that the UC system wasn’t honoring the principle that California students come first. Howle documented how, over
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Happy talk belies L.A. Unified’s grim financial picture
The board of the Los Angeles Unified School District passed a $7.5 billion 2017-18 budget this week on a 5-1 vote with Superintendent Michelle King touting the fact that the spending plan doesn’t include teacher layoffs or significant classroom disruptions.
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Only CalPERS internal watchdog on way out
The giant California Public Employees’ Retirement System – with $320 billion-plus in assets, the nation’s largest pension system – is going to lose its only outspoken internal watchdog. J.J. Jelincic – an eight-year incumbent on the CalPERS board who is on leave from
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Gov. Brown in no hurry to address recycling headaches
California – a state that has long prided itself on being an environmental global pacesetter – is struggling with the most basic of green tasks: recycling containers. Thirty years ago, California became one of the first state to add 5-cent and 10-cent
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Trump nominee for Interior Department a threat to Central Valley water status quo
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump’s promise to help Central Valley farmers get more water and to reduce environmentalists’ influence over the federal government got him a warm reception in rallies last May and August in the region that leads
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Olympics appear L.A.-bound – but in 2024 or 2028?
After a recent International Olympic Committee fact-finding investigation went well, Los Angeles officials are extremely confident that California’s largest city will host a Summer Olympics for a third time after previous turns in 1932 and 1984. They just don’t know
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Wells Fargo’s huge scandal defies tidy resolution
San Francisco-based banking giant Wells Fargo continues to struggle to get past the worst scandal in its history. The company – which has a market value of $265 billion and nearly 270,000 employees in all 50 states – was fined $185 million
Read MoreWill Democrats in Legislature pressure Gov. Brown to increase state spending?
Will progressive lawmakers challenge Gov. Jerry Brown over his decision to dash their big dreams for the 2017-18 fiscal year? Or will they acquiesce as they mostly have in recent months of May after Brown released revised budgets without money for
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