The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has announced scheduled closures and traffic controls for landscaping and pavement repairs in the Fresno area next week. On Monday, the westbound Highway 180 Park and Ride at McCall Avenue will be closed for landscaping operations from 8:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. On Tuesday,...
Free Speech or Conspiracy? Courts Limit Protesters’ First Amendment Rights
This commentary was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. If you have been paying attention at all, you know that we are living in dangerous times in this country. Donald Trump’s chaotic governance has us ducking for cover on all fronts. His efforts to roll back civil...
Divisive FDA Vaccine Regulator Resigns
Dr. Vinay Prasad, a polarizing figure at the Food and Drug Administration who oversaw vaccines, is leaving the agency at the end of April, according to a Health and Human Services spokesperson. As the agency’s chief science and medical officer, Prasad had broad power over vaccines. He made several controversial...
Californians Despair About High Cost of Living. This Housing Can Help
This commentary was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. When the Public Policy Institute of California released a new poll late last month, media coverage mainly focused on how the 11 candidates for governor were faring with voters. However, the poll tested several other issues, one being...
Ready to Spring Forward? Here’s When Daylight Saving Time Begins
Most of the United States will lose an hour of sleep this weekend as Daylight Saving Time returns, with clocks set to spring forward at 2 a.m. Sunday. The time change will shift an hour of daylight from morning to evening, extending daylight through the spring and summer months until...
Bulletproof Vests and Rolex Watches: The Rise and Fall of Kristi Noem
The display of a Rolex at a notorious prison in El Salvador. A self-promotional advertising campaign for mass deportations. The lingering story of the killing of her dog. Kristi Noem never appeared able — or particularly keen — to step out of the spotlight during her time leading the Department...
Israel Warns Lebanon of ‘Heavy Price’ as Bombardment Pounds Beirut Suburbs
Israel warned Lebanon of a "very heavy price" if it did not rein in Iran-backed Hezbollah on Saturday, as it pounded the group's strongholds around the country with air strikes and mounted a deadly airborne raid in the east. Lebanon was dragged into the wider Middle East war on Monday...
Thousands of Americans Evacuated From Middle East on Charter Flights, State Department Says
The United States has completed over a dozen charter flights and evacuated thousands of Americans from the Middle East since last week, the U.S. State Department said on Saturday. The Trump administration has faced criticism over its planning and initial assistance to U.S. citizens trying to leave the region since...
Iran Apologizes to Gulf but War Still Rages Across Region
Israel and Iran traded attacks as the Middle East war entered a second week on Saturday, while Tehran made an unusual apology to neighboring states for its "actions", apparently seeking to calm regional anger at Iranian strikes on Gulf civilian targets. “I personally apologies to neighboring countries that were affected...
US Suspects China in Breach of FBI Surveillance Network, WSJ Reports
U.S. investigators believe hackers affiliated with the Chinese government are responsible for a cyber intrusion on an internal Federal Bureau of Investigation computer network that holds information related to some domestic surveillance orders, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The scope and severity of the intrusion are not known,...