Dan Walters

California’s looming shortage of college-educated workers has been well-documented, particularly in a series of reports by the Public Policy Institute of California. PPIC and others point out deficiencies in the state’s K-12 system that prepares too few students for college admission and – more importantly – college success and the physical and organizational shortcomings of […]

As we weigh the impact of the federal tax overhaul, now being wrought by President Trump and the Republican Congress, on California, we should keep in mind the first and foremost axiom about taxation. What and who are taxed and the levels of those levies are purely arbitrary decisions that are completely divorced from logic, […]

The first thing to understand about San Francisco politics is with just 7.4 percent of its voters registered as Republicans, the city’s main players are self-proclaimed liberals – or “progressives” in the preferred nomenclature. The second thing, however, is that in San Francisco, politics is a blood sport and careers can be made or lost […]

When the Legislature reconvenes and the campaigns for governor heat up next year, Californians will be hearing a lot – and a lot of hot air – about universal health care. Making California the first state to guarantee health care for every resident has become a touchstone issue – and a divisive one – for […]

Crime statistics vary by community and don't always show cause and effect.

The problem will bite an economy that needs better-educated workers.

A new effort to improve the state's technology projects isn't looking good.

Gov. Jerry Brown hopped around Europe for two weeks last month, telling the world that to avoid a climate change Armageddon, it should emulate what California is doing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As Brown was crusading in Europe, his Air Resources Board issued a report hailing California’s nearly 5 percent reduction in emissions of […]

California’s long-running feud over the direction of its 6-million-student public school system has raged in many arenas, but never in a high-profile campaign for political office. That day, however, may come soon. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, two candidates for governor who run a close 1-2 in the polls, […]

In Sacramento, Democrats accused of sexual misconduct could scuttle the party's two-thirds legislative majority.