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O.C. Congresswoman’s top aide resigns following eight-count indictment
The chief of staff to Rep. Mimi Walters resigned on Wednesday following an eight-count indictment related to his time in another member’s office, Politico reported. David Bowser was charged with using nearly $44,000 of congressional office funds of his former boss, former Georgia
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CalWatchdog Morning Read — April 7, 2016
Good morning! We just got back from Klamath, where Gov. Jerry Brown signed an agreement to remove four dams along the Klamath River. Brown said the removal was about “correcting mistakes,” a nod to the indigenous people who inhabit the
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El Nino provides little relief outside of Northern California
Once-high hopes that a winter 2015-16 El Nino would lift California out of its 5-year-old drought have given way to a complex picture. Heavy winter snow and rains in the northern Sierras and the Sacramento Valley are providing widespread relief in
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S.F. suburb’s unique anti-crime strategy has outside skeptics
A gritty Bay Area coastal suburb’s unique program to deter violent crime — including paying people with criminal backgrounds, using donated funds, to stay on the straight and narrow — is winning national attention. The program has its roots in
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CalPERS has faith in imperiled energy status quo
Is the California Public Employees’ Retirement System about to make another big mistake with a mistimed investment strategy, this time in the industrial solar sector? Beginning 13 years ago, CalPERS invested heavily in real estate at the height of the
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Fight flares over ‘realignment,’ Prop. 47 effects on crime
The battle over state policies that some call soft on crime and some see as humane and thoughtful appears to be flaring anew, with prominent law-enforcement officials on both sides. The first of the policies was Gov. Jerry Brown’s 2011 decision
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Bullet-train route change doesn’t win over many
Trying to build fresh momentum in Southern California, the California High-Speed Rail Authority last week unveiled major changes in the proposed bullet-train route meant to limit disruption to poor communities in the San Fernando Valley. But the reaction wasn’t as
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Anti-Israel movement faces pushback from University of California
The BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) movement has been gaining momentum at American colleges in recent years with its message that Israel’s policies toward Palestinians amount to apartheid. According to the last annual report issued by the Israel on Campus Coalition, in
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Lawmaker: Expel students who engage in worst ‘sexting’
At a time when the U.S. legal system is facing critics from both the Left and the Right for overprosecuting mistake-prone young people and leaving permanent scars on their lives, a California lawmaker wants to allow schools to expel students
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State’s top cyberdefender steps down after months of criticism over security lapses
Michele Robinson, the state’s top officer in charge of cybersecurity, stepped down last week after spending the last seven months under fire for widespread lapses in the state’s safeguards against hacking. In an email to colleagues, Robinson was vague about her reasons, mentioning some
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