California Voices

Anyone who has witnessed an execution never forgets it. The memory of August (Boogie Woogie) LaFontaine's death by lethal gas, pushed far back into the darkest shadows of my mind, came to light again with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement of his moratorium on the state’s death penalty, an action taken in four states in recent years.

A collection of commentaries by Dan Walters over the past week.

Some charter parents assert their children’s charter school experience is positive. I can believe it. But sincere charter parents need to understand that while for some students charters can be beneficial, their overall impact on public education is destructive.

David Swerdlin, San Juan Capistrano The best incentive to find solutions to the homeless situation is as follows: That each politician’s family residence house no fewer than three families; the governor house five; politicians in Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and federal elected officials, house four. When viable solutions are implemented, we will move onto finding […]

To a 6-year-old child considering Proposition 187 of 1994, the question was simple: How could a government deny a human being the right to an education or health care just because they didn’t have proper documentation to live in this country?

If community colleges and charter schools should be accountable for academic outcomes, why not public K-12 schools?

Between 2010 and 2017, stolen firearms were used in at least 60 homicides in California, and 203 youths ended their lives because of unauthorized access to a firearm. AB 276 will hold gun owners accountable by requiring all firearms to be securely stored with Department of Justice-approved firearm safety devices.

California's Democratic politicians aren't very democratic when it comes to respecting the will of voters.

Steve Heilig, former co-chair, San Francisco Tobacco-Free Coalition Ashley Gould of JUUL Labs is in denial in defending JUUL’s partnership with the world’s biggest marketer of toxic addicting tobacco. Decades of tobacco industry deceit have taught us to follow the money rather than their words, and JUUL is now using messages and tactics remarkably similar […]

We who are part of the California water community and who work every day from one perspective or another are paralyzed and in our respective bunkers. We must take a leap of faith to admit that the current rigid rules on Delta management fail all of our missions. And that only together can we do a better job managing our water resources going forward.