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Gov. Brown’s new budget seeks to equalize the unequal

Jan. 10, 2013 By Katy Grimes SACRAMENTO — Many in the state refer to the annual California governor’s January budget proposal as fantasy. Gov. Jerry Brown did not disappoint today as he presented his budget — “balanced and fair,” according

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‘Blazing Trains’ HSR plan resembles comedy Western

Jan. 7, 2013 By Katy Grimes SACRAMENTO — In 1974 Mel Brooks produced a classic comedy about the construction of the railroad into the West. With California Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic politicians pushing forward to build a high-speed rail

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Arnold as U.S. transportation secretary? Talk about karma!

Jan. 2, 2013 By Chris Reed A little more than a year ago, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood surprised the inside-the-Beltway set by telling a Chicago reporter who asked if he would come back for a second Obama term that

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Legislators make new push to gut Prop. 13

Dec. 27, 2012 By Katy Grimes The final votes from the November election were not even counted before state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, introduced a constitutional amendment to Proposition 13 to forever alter the landmark tax-revolt measure. Let the debate begin.

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Rail Series: CA should consider Medium-Speed Rail alternative

Editor’s Note: The following is a complete compilation, in one posting, of the six-part series we ran on Medium-Speed Rail as an alternative to High-Speed Rail. Dec. 26, 2012 By Stan Brin By now, everyone in California knows the voter-mandated

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The hardball tactics that got Prop. 39 tax hike passed

Dec. 20, 2012 By Chris Reed In June, California voters rejected a hike on cigarette taxes to fund cancer research. The defeat of Proposition 29 strongly suggested that the general anti-tax beliefs of most of the Golden State electorate remained

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More ‘educators,’ less education

Dec. 17, 2012 By Katy Grimes I attended California public schools, kindergarten through college, starting in the late 1960s through the mid 1980s. While I don’t claim to have received a brilliant education, I did receive a solid liberal arts

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Rail Series: Surmounting the Tehachapi Barrier

This is Part 5 of a series on Medium-Speed rail alternatives to California’s High-Speed Rail project. Click to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6. Dec. 17, 2012 By Stan Brin Now comes the hard part. As Ned Ryerson, that great observer

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Bienvenue à Québec, CARB!

Dec. 13, 2012 By Katy Grimes Hear ye! Hear ye! Cap and trade is alive and working, so says the big announcement today from the California from the California Air Resources Board and California Environmental Agency… at least between California

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Audacity! Mich. shows Calif. GOP how to revive party

Dec. 12, 2012 By John Seiler When I was growing up in Michigan in the 1960s, the Democratic Party mostly dominated the state. Kennedy, Johnson and Humphrey won the presidential contests. Democrats controlled the Legislature. And labor unions dominated the

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