In summary

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

Supreme Court voids California law, upholds free speech

The U.S. Supreme Court struck a blow for free speech when it struck down a California law that requires anti-abortion clinics to tell their clients about the availability of abortion services.

Billionaire Soros was a big loser in California vote

International financier George Soros has had some success in his dabbling in California politics. But he “hit a brick wall,” as he terms it, in trying to unseat three California district attorneys this year, and his support for challengers may have backfired.

California can’t sidestep federal tax impact

California will get hit hard by a new federal tax law that limits deductions for state and local taxes. California politicians had hoped to sidestep the law, but the Internal Revenue Service has squelched that notion.

Is Los Angeles Unified too big to fail?

Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest school district, faces a financial meltdown and the question is whether all California taxpayers should bail it out.

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Dan Walters has been a journalist for more than 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times...