Tag "Taxes"

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Update: Critics charge SF/Oakland Bay Bridge still unsafe

New questions have arisen about the subject of several stories I wrote last spring about the construction debacles on the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge repairs. In May, I covered a report of the concerns of engineer Yun Chung. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake struck with 6.9 magnitude

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Bullet-train blog urges $29B in new CA taxes to save project

These are melancholy and bitter times for the California High Speed Rail Blog. Overseer Robert Cruickshank has reacted to Judge Michael Kenny’s rulings blocking the project by decrying the taxpayer protections in the 2008 ballot measure authorizing $9.95 billion in

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EDD responds to questions on computer glitches

This is Part 1 of a series. Obamacare’s computers aren’t the only government systems struck by major glitches. Two months after a California Employment Development Department computer crash cut off tens of thousands of Californians from their unemployment benefits, the EDD

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Local governments approve numerous tax increases: Part 2

This is Part 2 of a series of stories about tax increases passed throughout California in the November 5 elections. To read Part 1, click here. Last month, over two dozen tax increases passed in local municipalities throughout California. Voters

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Local governments approve numerous tax increases: Part 1

This is Part 1 of a series of stories about tax increases passed throughout California in the November 5 elections. Earlier this month, local governments throughout California passed more than two dozen little-discussed tax increases that will ultimately affect hundreds

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CA still worst run state in the nation; Sacramento’s stadium obesssion

For the third year in a row, California has been named the worst-run state in America, by 24/7 Wall Street. Is it any wonder? With at least 10 California cities on the verge of municipal bankruptcy, a $24 billion budget shortfall

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What is the CA Agricultural Labor Relations Board?

Editor’s note: This is Part 1 in a series on the ALRB. California government includes many boards and commissions with members appointed by the governor. Most people never get to see who these decision makers are, despite the far-reaching effects

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Sacramento arena proponents make desperate weekend robo-calls

My weekend was interrupted with yet another robo-call. But unlike other robo-callers, this outfit actually left a message… a jaw-dropping message. Never mind that I have an unlisted home phone number. “This is an urgent call from  DowntownArena.org,” the message

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Elizabeth Emken: ‘It’s time to un-ring the Obamacare bell’

Note: This is the second in a series of profiles of the four major candidates for the crucial 7th Congressional District in California. The first, on Republican Igor Birman, is here. Elizabeth Emken says it is a good time to

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Obamacare: This is going to hurt

Ouch! That’s the cry of someone trying to sign up for the Affordable Care Act, usually called Obamacare. Health insurance cancellation notices have gone out to millions of  Americans. Many cannot get insurance at all. And for many who can,

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