In summary

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

Legislators spared from living in their districts

The Legislature has now made it quasi- legal for state legislators to live outside their districts and one who had been prosecuted has been pardoned by Gov. Jerry Brown

Democrats control California, but are fragmenting

Democrats enjoy political control of California, but are splitting into three factions that struggle for power within the party.

How do we cope with wildfires’ financial impacts?

How California deals with the financial consequences of this year’s devastating wildfires will set a pattern for what Gov. Jerry Brown calls “the new abnormal.”

School reformers lose big, so now what?

School reform advocates pumped big money into two statewide campaigns this year but lost both as the education establishment’s preferred candidates won the governorship and the superintendency of public instruction. Now the “Equity Coalition” must decide to continue their drive for structural change or back off.

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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...