WhatMatters

A suit can proceed challenging California schools over a failure to teach African-American and Latino kids to read. Eleven of the 26 lowest performing school districts in America are in California, the suit says.

PG&E says Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to ease liability for future fires is "insufficient." The question is how much are legislators willing to give.

Legislators begin to tackle the complex law surrounding fire liability, without knowledge of the cause of the most devastating fire in California history. One legislator questions whether they should act without that information.

Gov. Jerry Brown proposed Tuesday that the state ease the liability standards when electricity providers’ equipment sparks fires that destroy property. Utility stock rose. Insurance industry blasts the idea.

Democratic Assemblyman Ed Chau became so verbally abusive toward workers for the Secretary of State this spring that one of them pressed a “panic button.” Security officers who escorted Chau out of the building.

California schools may need to use more than half of all new tax revenue to cover growing pension obligations, leaving little extra for classrooms. The unfunded pension liability is $107 billion.

Jerry Brown asked the California Supreme Court to act on an important pension case before he leaves office. The Supreme Court is short-handed because Brown has left a vacancy unfilled for nearly a year.

California Supreme Court kicked Timothy Draper's CalExit initiative off the November ballot. Justices agreed to hear Draper's arguments, leaving open the possibility the initiative could appear on a future ballot.

Candidates for superintendent of public instruction tangled over prison officers' pay. Marshall Tuck said Tony Thurmond should not have voted to raise correctional officers' pay by 5 percent, at a cost of more than $114 million.

Gov. Jerry Brown, who began his career nearly 50 years ago by winning a Los Angeles community college seat, visited the Community College Board of Trustees Monday to describe his vision for the future of online education.