California cities face budget deficits as a pandemic-induced recession sets. Mayors are calling for federal bailouts in what's expected to be a long recovery.
Government policy is one thing, real life another. What happens if your germ-carrying preschoolers suddenly pose a lethal threat to their elderly grandparents? What becomes of your teenagers’ future if their education is disrupted, long-term? How protected are we if schools cancel class but kids then disperse to malls and bounce houses and movie theaters?
The Legislature is considering giving everyone age 18 and under free rides on public transportation. But will that really create a generation of lifetime riders?
Lenny Mendonca, High-Speed Rail Authority chairman: The high-speed rail’s building block approach starting in the Central Valley makes sense. To hear some say that this project is something that is not important to California is insulting. Ensuring that we are all connected is essential to the California Dream. It always has been, and it always will be.
A bill that would allow 10 California cities to extend last call at bars from 2 to 4 a.m. has a fresh shot at making it to the governor's desk. Will Sen. Scott Wiener's SB 58 get a friendlier reception from winemaker-turned-governor Gavin Newsom?
There’s reason for optimism that there can be a truce in California’s water wars. The State Water Board adopted the first phase of a far-reaching revision to the Water Quality Control Plan for the Sacramento‒San Joaquin Delta and its watershed. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom’s support and involvement will be essential to carry this effort to a positive conclusion.
Jason Kinney has made a lucrative and powerful career in Sacramento by moving from government to campaigns to industry lobbyist to, now, advisor to Gavin Newsom's transition team. The question is whether he is working for an incoming administration that he will soon seek to influence, as he leaves the lobbying firm, Capitol Strategies.