Tag "Chris Reed"
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Brown’s ‘WaterFix’ has new momentum – but daunting obstacles remain
Just six weeks ago, Gov. Jerry Brown’s hopes for a huge, difficult legacy project to solidify California’s statewide water distribution system – one funded by water districts, not directly by taxpayers – appeared in bad shape. Years of lobbying for what the
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How will California’s four U.S. attorneys respond on pot after Sessions’ policy change?
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Jan. 4 announcement that he had revoked the Obama administration’s policy of allowing states to make marijuana use and sales legal without fearing a federal crackdown and would leave it up to his 94 local
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Homelessness surging among California college students
Reporting from across California indicates that more college students are homeless than at any point in state history. While hard statistics are in short supply, surveys suggest the problem is so severe that the Golden State has far more than
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California attorney general rebuked for stacking deck against fuel tax repeal
Continuing a longstanding bipartisan tradition, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra came under fire in July for ballot measure language considered to be grossly prejudicial by the measure’s proponents. And it didn’t take long for a state judge to agree with
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Brown’s water tunnels plan still alive, but obstacles are many
With a seeming vote of confidence from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California – the giant agency that supplies water to about half the state’s 38 million residents – Gov. Jerry Brown appears set to soldier ahead with his $17 billion
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Bold criminal justice reforms go nowhere in California Legislature
The 2017 session of the California Legislature may be remembered as when the criminal justice reform movement in America’s largest state lost its momentum. The movement entered the session with a head of steam after winning majority support from the
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Bill to keep Trump off 2020 ballot could trigger copycat measures
A bill the California Legislature sent to Gov. Jerry Brown that’s intended to keep President Donald Trump off the 2020 California ballot could instead end up ushering in an aggressive new era of scorched-earth national politics – if it survives lawsuits.
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How California Senate leader’s 100% renewable energy bill lost its way
From pioneering air-pollution control programs in Los Angeles County in the 1940s to setting nationally copied standards on fuel efficiency and emissions to the 2006 passage of AB32, the state’s landmark anti-global warming law, California has long been proud of
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Study raises doubts about effects of local control in schools
When Gov. Jerry Brown persuaded the Legislature to pass the Local Control Funding Formula in 2013 – the biggest change in public education in California this century – he used two main selling points. The first was that the law would direct
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‘Sanctuary state,’ energy, housing bills face reckoning in Legislature
The California Legislature enters the final week of its 2017 session with ambitious measures on immigration, renewable energy and housing still up in the air. Two of the measures have been championed by state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de
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