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VIDEO: Teachers unions, Common Core and other roadblocks to reform

Cal Watchdog’s James Poulos interviews filmmaker Bob Bowdon about the national trends in school choice and bottom-up solutions for education reform.

CA GOP looks ahead to broaden base

James Poulos November 14, 2014

Analysts expected it, but it hurt all the same. The gains in the California Legislature were welcome. But in state-level races, California Republicans did not enjoy the same tidal-wave election results as their fellow party faithful across the country. For

Assembly GOP Leader Kristin Olsen introduces new stars

John November 14, 2014

2014 was a solid year for California Republicans. In the state Senate, the GOP prevented Democrats from regaining a two-thirds supermajority. And in the Assembly, Republicans defeated three Democratic incumbents, which also reversed a Democratic supermajority. “We unseated sitting Democrats for the

Vallejo’s struggles capture CA city perils

James Poulos November 14, 2014

After three years spent in bankruptcy, 2008-11, running the city of Vallejo is still a struggle. Facing a weakened police force and a failed experiment in citizen-driven budgeting, Vallejo’s structural challenges have persisted. In the wake of the pension crisis that helped

CA gun dealers challenge handgun ad ban

John November 13, 2014

Second Amendment advocates say California is infringing on their First Amendment rights. On Monday, four California gun dealers filed a federal lawsuit challenging a nearly century-old law that bans the display of handguns in store advertisements. Under state law, it’s perfectly

Open-enrollment headache again strikes Covered CA

Dave Roberts November 13, 2014

If you thought the rollout of Obamacare was problematic last year, this year could be worse — including its implementation here, called Covered California. State officials are still struggling to clear a huge backlog of Medi-Cal applications from the

CA Dems’ congressional delegation on borrowed time

James Poulos November 13, 2014

Statewide, California Democrats enjoyed another dominant Election Day. But at the national level, a much different reality has set in for the party’s Golden State representatives. Generational turnover, retirements and a slow but steady erosion of public support have all undermined California

Solar crash ramped up CA natural gas power

Wayne Lusvardi November 12, 2014

Yesterday a problem struck California’s electricity system that wasn’t supposed to happen until at least 2015. Freak low-lying clouds at about 3 p.m. cut temperatures to only 68 degrees in Los Angeles and 64 in San Francisco, about 6

Suddenly, buzz is back for Brown 2016

James Poulos November 12, 2014

In just a handful of weeks, speculation has returned, and hype has built, around the idea of a Jerry Brown candidacy for president. From one perspective, he has succeeded so much in California politics that he has disqualified himself. As the soon-to-be

Can Gov. Brown pluck federal $ for bullet train?

Wayne Lusvardi November 11, 2014

Successful politicians never accept defeat. So it’s not surprising — but still a little startling — that Gov. Jerry Brown is not dumping his high-speed rail project in the junk yard after the Nov. 4 victories of its Republican opponents. He