Tag "Joseph Perkins"
Back to homepageCalifornia’s credit rating could get even worse
July 17, 2012 By Joseph Perkins California’s rock-bottom credit rating has been attributed in some quarters to the state’s most recent economic downturn, from which Gov. Jerry Brown said this past spring, “We are still recovering.” But a new study
Read MoreBill would protect cell phone privacy
July 13, 2012 By Joseph Perkins Is one of every 186 cell phone users a criminal suspect? One might think so in the wake of the revelation this week, in a congressional report, that law enforcement requested data last year
Read MoreCourt backs cities on prevailing wage
July 6, 2012 By Joseph Perkins The California Supreme Court ruled this week that the state’s prevailing wage law does not apply to public works projects financed entirely by taxpayers residing in one of the state’s 121 chartered cities. The
Read MoreBid to reform teacher firing process thwarted
June 29, 2012 By Joseph Perkins After passage in the state Senate by a 33-4 bipartisan majority, the Assembly Education Committee bowed this week to the state’s all-too-powerful teachers unions, rejecting a bill authored by Padilla, D-Van Nuys, that would
Read MoreAnti-nuke activists attack San Onofre
June 29, 2012 By Joseph Perkins With San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station offline since January, Southern California Edison, the plant’s majority owner, launched an energy conservation campaign this week urging its customers to save power this summer. San Onofre’s two
Read MoreA cruel month for public employee unions
June 22, 2012 By Joseph Perkins California public employee unions were already having a bad June, what with passage of public pension-reform ballot measures by voters in both San Diego and San Jose over the opposition of union bosses. But
Read MoreLatest Salvo in War on GM Foods
June 15, 2012 By Joseph Perkins After repeatedly failing over the years to get a law passed by the California Legislature requiring the labeling of genetically modified foods, the state’s food Luddites succeeded this week in qualifying a food labeling
Read MoreState promotes renewable energy at all costs
June 15, 2012 By Joseph Perkins The California Public Utilities Commission routinely rubber stamps renewable energy projects without discussion. But that was not the case this past Thursday, when Commissioner Michael Florio objected to a solar project that came before
Read MoreElection boosts privatization drives
June 8, 2012 By Joseph Perkins Voters in San Jose and San Diego sent a loud, clear message to public employees unions this week that they can no longer expect gold-plated benefit packages and immunity from private competition. Santa Cruz
Read MoreFuel stations for nonexistent cars
May 31, 2012 By Joseph Perkins If you build it, they will come. That was the cockeyed reasoning behind a state grant program to encourage construction of hydrogen fueling stations long before hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are actually motoring along
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