Commentary

A group of five people, dressed in professional attire, sit on chairs on a stage in front of a crowd, with a banner behind them reading “Governor Candidate Forum.” Four of the five people sitting on stage have their hands up to answer the question while a crowd of people watches in the dark.

No clear frontrunner for governor, but new poll names five with the best shot

A poll shows three Democrats and two Republicans have voter support percentages in the teens. The top two vote-getters in June will face off in November.

Dan Walters

A person in medical protective clothing, wearing a face mask and a hair net, pushes a hospital gurney through a hallway inside a hospital, viewed from an open door.

She spent six of her last years in arbitration with her HMO. Her husband’s still fighting the system

Arbitrators in medical disputes are supposed to be unbiased, but this couple suspected there is an incentive to favor HMO’s in arbitration.

By Stephen Martinez

Two people face each other as they speak: the person on the left has a happy expression and her arm to her chest, while the person on the right wears a grey suit jacket and glasses. Both people are standing in a park area on a sunny day. In the background is a fence to a baseball field.

A former political ally tests LA liberals’ allegiance to Mayor Karen Bass

Mayor Karen Bass isn't vulnerable on her right, but she may be on her left, as City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a Democratic Socialist and ex-supporter, runs against her.

Jim Newton

A close-up view of a person's hand holding a sign that reads "We wants answers! No more deaths!" and they stand at the front steps of a building surrounded by other people holding signs.

California promised accountability for inmate deaths in jails. A year later, no results.

Lawmakers passed a law creating a state department to review inmate deaths, but it hasn’t completed a single death review in its first year.

By David Myers

Berkeley, California, USA - October 15, 2016: University of California entrance sign on the corner of Oxford Street and Center Street at Berkeley, California. Over 150 years old, and with many Nobel Prizes winners (they even have reserved parking spots for them), the campus serves almost 40,000 students within an open green space.

Commentary

UC Library’s hasty implementation of a complex plan means academic researchers lose

Daniel Marti, RELX parent to Elsevier: Elsevier proposed a series of arrangements that would contain costs for the University of California, achieve the objectives of the Academic Senate and provide students, faculty, researchers and medical professionals with uninterrupted service to the research platform that supports their work. UC Library negotiators rejected all offers.

Guest Commentary

• July 17, 2019

Commentary

In California, we long ago ended the ‘War on Coal’

Jan Smutny-Jones, Independent Energy Producers Association: If there is a war on coal—as President Trump claims—it’s long been decided in California and most of the West. In 2008, coal comprised 18.2% of California’s electricity mix. By 2018, that number had fallen to 3%, with virtually all the coal coming from a single plant in Utah.

Guest Commentary

• July 16, 2019

Commentary

California refuses to enlist clean, cheap hydropower in fight against climate change. It makes no sense

Assemblyman Adam Gray: California classifies solar, wind and geothermal as renewable but inexplicably excludes the most well-developed renewable energy of all: hydropower. A state constitutional amendment would change that. Here's why it's needed.

Guest Commentary

• July 15, 2019

Commentary

Forty years of lies stigmatizing ‘teenage pregnancy’ are enough

Mike Males, author of “Teenage Sex and Pregnancy: Modern Myths, Unsexy Realities”: From the 1990s to 2017, the birth rate among California teens fell by a staggering 80%. Why did this happen? Ignore the interest groups clamoring for credit. The reason is not sex education in California or contraceptive programs in Colorado. Teens themselves are reducing births, especially those involving adult partners.

Guest Commentary

• July 14, 2019

Commentary

Criticism buries reading test bill

A bill to abolish a controversial reading instruction test for teaching credential applicants died amidst a firestorm of criticism.

Dan Walters

• July 14, 2019

Power lines are silhouetted by the sun seen through a smoky sky in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday, June 30, 2018. According to the National Weather Service, smoke comes from fires in Yolo County and beyond. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Commentary

As hedge funds’ fight for control of PG&E, here is how workers see it

Tom Dalzell, IBEW Local 1245: In the fight between hedge funds for control of PG&E, there is only one viable plan for reorganization, as things stand today, and that is the one put forward by the hedge fund-bondholders. The plan articulated several weeks ago by the shareholder hedge funds has dissolved to all but nothing.

Guest Commentary

• July 12, 2019

Commentary

Plastic recycling bill would amount to a new water tax

Chris Ising, Culligan Water Service: Assembly Bill 792 by Assemblyman Phil Ting of San Francisco would require plastic beverage containers in California to be made with at least 25% recycled content material by 2021. The measure would force up prices on products that communities like Paradise need, literally, to survive.

Guest Commentary

• July 11, 2019

Commentary

Another dicey utility overhaul

The bottom line of another electric utility overhaul is uncertain.

Dan Walters

• July 11, 2019

Commentary

Police aren’t the only ones who can make communities safer

Maurice Goens, Advance Peace: Police are the only solution to battling street violence. In Stockton, the community group, Advance Peace, is helping stop shootings.

Guest Commentary

• July 10, 2019

Commentary

Local tax conflict heats up

The vote required to enact special purpose taxes for local governments is legally up in the air after a San Francisco judge validated two tax measures that didn't receive two-thirds voter support.

Dan Walters

• July 10, 2019

California Voices

Viewpoints from across California