Opinion

Walters: Pension Costs Hitting Home — Hard

November 5, 2019

Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District came into being 14 years ago when four small fire departments serving farms and small towns east of Modesto merged. The district now flirts with insolvency, a case study in how rapidly growing costs for pensi...

Walters: Will Spending More Fix Our Schools?

Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary

November 3, 2019

Former state legislator Ted Lempert is personally and professionally committed to improving the wellbeing of California’s children. Lempert, the president of Children Now, has tirelessly advocated to improve...

It’s Time for The Gap to Return the Love to Fresno

Bill McEwen

November 1, 2019

The ball is teed up waiting for The Gap to hit it out of the ballpark. As you might know, the city has been very good to the San Francisco-based company whose clothing brands include Old Navy, Banana Republi...

Why the Fed Has No Choice but to Keep Cutting Interest Rates – if It Wants to Avoid a Financial Crisis

The Conversation

November 1, 2019

The U.S. Federal Reserve is stuck between an apparently booming economy and a financial crisis that might be right around the corner. That’s why its decision to cut interest rates by another quarter point on Oct. 30 – its third reduction in as many months –...

Photo of school buses outside of Garfield Elementary School in Oakland

California Just Pushed Back School Start Times. Now What?

CalMatters

November 1, 2019

Of the dozens of education bills that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law this year, few will have a more practical impact on everyday lives than the new, later start times for California’s high schools and middl...

What California Can Learn From Seattle About Police Shootings

CalMatters

October 31, 2019

By Laurel Rosenhall, CalMatters As California debated a new law limiting when police can use deadly force, advocates pointed to Seattle as an example of a place that’s benefited from a similar policy. The Se...

Photo of Gavin Newson, Jerry Brown, and Donald Trump

Walters: Newsom Now Owns the Wildfire and PG&E Crisis

Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary

October 30, 2019

The careers of political executives — presidents, governors and big-city mayors — are often defined, fairly or not, by how they respond to crises. Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Depression, John Kennedy and the Cuban mis...

Photo of a Republican sign on an American flag

Despite Trump’s Attacks, California Is Still a Republican State

Joe Mathews

October 29, 2019

Did da Vinci spray graffiti over the Mona Lisa? Did Hitchcock destroy reels of Vertigo? Of course not. So why are Republicans waging war against California, their party’s greatest masterpiece? For all the...

Photo of check presentation of $150,000 from GRAND to the SJCL for the BREN Clinic

Special-Needs Advocates Pack 1-2 Punch With BREN Clinic

Bill McEwen

October 28, 2019

Parents of special-needs children in the Valley have two bright, organized, and hardworking advocates in their corner. Meet Jodie Howard. After battling school officials to obtain needed services for her ...

Walters: Slanting Ballot Measure Titles

Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary

October 28, 2019

Article II Section 10(d) of California’s constitution is brief, to wit: “Prior to circulation of an initiative or referendum petition for signatures, a copy shall be submitted to the attorney general who shall prepare a title and summary of the measure as p...

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Walters: Pension Costs Hitting Home — Hard

Walters: Will Spending More Fix Our Schools?

It’s Time for The Gap to Return the Love to Fresno

Why the Fed Has No Choice but to Keep Cutting Interest Rates – if It Wants to Avoid a Financial Crisis

California Just Pushed Back School Start Times. Now What?

What California Can Learn From Seattle About Police Shootings

Walters: Newsom Now Owns the Wildfire and PG&E Crisis

Despite Trump’s Attacks, California Is Still a Republican State

Special-Needs Advocates Pack 1-2 Punch With BREN Clinic

Walters: Slanting Ballot Measure Titles