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Climate change should be top issue despite public apathy, Steyer and Cisneros say

Despite a recent Gallup poll showing climate changing ranking last among a number of environmental priorities, including polluted drinking water, air pollution and the loss of tropical rain forests, billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer and former Secretary of Housing and

CA court OKs school yoga

James Poulos April 6, 2015

Yoga classes didn’t violate the California Constitution, an appellate court has ruled. This year, a North San Diego County school district roiled some Californians with concerns that its yoga program was too religious. As similar programs have spread around the country,

State is owed millions in allegedly unpaid fees from Verizon

Steve Miller April 6, 2015

Verizon owes $11 million to a state fund to help the poor, the hearing-impaired and people in rural areas access telecommunications service, according to a draft document from the state’s Public Utility Commission. The fees are owed on service to prepaid

Brown imposes 25 percent water cutbacks

James Poulos April 3, 2015

Faced with a crisis unprecedented in California’s history or his own tenure in office, Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled mandatory water restrictions at Phillips Station, a Sierra Nevada locale hit hard by this year’s meager snowfall. Cities and towns, he said, must now

Doctors join push for CA assisted suicide

James Poulos April 2, 2015

In a medical community sharply divided on the issue of assisted suicide, momentum has shifted to the side that embraces the idea — with California at the forefront of the change. Two Golden State doctors with life-threatening illnesses have recently become plaintiffs in

Desalination gaining support as long-term response to CA drought

John April 2, 2015

With California’s snowpack at the lowest level in a century, Governor Jerry Brown announced Wednesday the first mandatory water reductions in state history. “Today we are standing on dry grass where there should be five feet of snow,” Governor Brown said at a

Reid retirement provides lessons for both CA Democrats and GOP

James Poulos April 1, 2015

Physically injured and in his 75th year, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has opted against seeking reelection in 2016. Victim of a debilitating self-inflicted injury involving an exercise band, the Congressional titan has not only cleared an unexpected path for

CA maxes out death row

James Poulos April 1, 2015

Litigated to all but a halt, California’s system of capital punishment has backed up to crisis levels, filling death row to capacity and prompting an emergency proposal from Gov. Jerry Brown. Nine years after California’s last execution, the system’s near shutdown

NFIB backs four business reform bills

John Seiler April 1, 2015

Here’s the analysis of four bills in the California Legislature by the National Federation of Independent Business California. The NFIB supports all the bills. Two are by Democrats, two by Republicans. Assembly Bill 52: Public accommodations: construction-related accessibility claims. It’s

Harris tempts challengers with ‘blood sport’ politics

James Poulos March 31, 2015

Attributing her success to a “blood sport” view of politics, California Attorney General Kamala Harris has established herself as the leading contender to replace Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who is retiring in Jan. 2017. “I always start my campaigns early, and I run