A change in the governor’s office and expanded Democratic supermajorities in the Legislature have emboldened long-frustrated advocates of increasing taxes to expand health, welfare and education services. The California Tax Foundation calculates that bills already introduced this year would raise Californians’ taxes by $6.2 billion a year with others to...
Reno's 1872 Time Capsule Includes California Gold Rush Lore
RENO, Nev. — Artifacts recovered from an 1872 time capsule stashed in the cornerstone of a demolished Masonic lodge in Reno include silver dollars minted in Carson City and San Francisco, and a piece of wood from Sutter's Mill where the discovery of gold sparked the California Gold Rush. Reno...
Harris Farms' Enormous Valley Cattle-Raising Operation to Be Sold
COALINGA — Harris Ranch Beef Holding Co., California's largest cattle-raising operation, is being sold. The company's 800-acre Central Valley feedlot, which can hold up to 250,000 cattle, and its slaughterhouse and processing facilities are being sold to Hanford-based Central Valley Meat Co. but will operate independently under the combined ownership...
Newsom Won't Block Building in High-Fire Areas
SACRAMENTO — A desire to live near nature is embedded in California's ethos, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday as he explained why he doesn't want to block home building near forested areas at high risk for wildfires. "There's something that is truly Californian about the wilderness and the wild and...
Are in-Law Units the Secret Solution to the State’s Housing Shortage?
California lawmakers have pitched dozens of bold, high-profile solutions to California’s affordable housing shortage: billion dollar affordable-housing bonds, revamping the state’s signature environmental protection law, suing NIMBY-inclined cities into permitting more development. But for all the big-picture housing legislation that has actually become law over the past few years, the...
‘Federal Government Really Jacked Us’: How Trump’s Tax Cuts Are Working out for Californians
For communications professor Jason Jarvis and his wife, Jun, California just got more expensive. The Inglewood couple, who last year paid $16,000 in state and local taxes, were only able to deduct $10,000 of it from their federal taxes this year. The federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—signed last year...
Gun Groups: Million-Plus Extended Magazines Flood California
SACRAMENTO — More than a million high-capacity ammunition magazines flooded into California during a one-week window created when a federal judge temporarily threw out the state's ban, gun owners' groups estimated Thursday. Reform groups said the projections are self-serving as gun rights organizations try to make the case that magazines...
Walters: Community Colleges Wracked by Data Dispute
Two years ago, the state board that oversees California’s 114 community colleges and its new chancellor, Eloy Ortiz Oakley, launched an ambitious effort to improve student outcomes, especially by increasing the numbers of associate degrees and transfers to four-year colleges. Dubbed “Vision for Success,” the statewide effort was something of...
Charter-Mageddon: Lawmakers Advance a Raft of Union-Backed Charter School Curbs
As charter school advocates rallied en masse and California’s teachers’ unions flexed their political muscle, a cluster of bills that would dramatically curb the growth of charters in the state cleared the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday. The votes were the first in what figures to be a lengthy, high-stakes...
Death Penalty Sought in 'Golden State Killer' Case
SACRAMENTO — California prosecutors announced Wednesday they will seek the death penalty if they convict the man suspected of being the notorious "Golden State Killer" who eluded capture for decades. The move comes less than a month after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a moratorium on executing any of the 737...