SACRAMENTO — The troubled California utility Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. named a new chief executive and board members Wednesday amid a bankruptcy proceeding. The San Francisco-based utility chose Bill Johnson as its chief executive officer and president and named 10 new board members, including former U.S. ambassadors and members...
Walters: A Crackdown on Misuse of Taxpayer Money?
As documented in this space on several occasions, local government officials throughout California have been thumbing their noses at a state law that prohibits them from using taxpayer funds for political campaigns. Officials in cities, counties, school districts and special purpose districts routinely hire campaign management firms, often with multi-million-dollar...
California Eyes Risk Pool as It Struggles with Costly Fires
SACRAMENTO — Officials were struggling Wednesday to find ways for homeowners to afford insurance in fire-prone areas of California and for utilities to survive liability from devastating wildfires that threaten to worsen with climate change. One option on the table is the creation of a new state catastrophe fund backed...
Newsom Names Former Sanger Superintendent to State Ed Board
Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed Matt Navo of Clovis to the 11-member California Board of Education. Newsom's office announced Navo's appointment, as well as that of early education specialist Kim Pattillo-Brownson of Los Angeles, on March 29. Navo, 48, is director of systems transformation at the Center for Prevention and Early...
Delay Sought on Allowing High-Capacity Ammo Magazines
SACRAMENTO — It appears the shipment of high-capacity ammunition magazines into California has started for the first time in nearly two decades after a judge tossed out a ban on sales and purchases of the items, the state attorney general said Tuesday. Attorney General Xavier Becerra asked a federal judge...
California Court: Old Police Misconduct Records Are Public
SACRAMENTO — Law enforcement agencies in California must release police misconduct records even if the behavior occurred before a new transparency law took effect, a state court of appeals has ruled. The 1st District Court of Appeal's decision released Friday settles for now a debate over whether records created before...
Walters: California Politicians Disrespect Our Rights
The Constitution’s very specific list of inviolable human rights sets the United States apart from almost every other nation on Earth. Unfortunately, California’s Democratic politicians tend to ignore the Constitution’s Bill of Rights in their zealous efforts to impose “progressive” dogma on their constituents. Periodically, therefore, federal judges must remind...
Kamala Harris Backs Idea to Unionize Child Care Workers
Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris was just about to take the stage Monday night at Sacramento’s Sheraton Grand Hotel ballroom when she spotted and ran over to a group of women sporting yellow t-shirts sitting on the right side of the auditorium. They were California child-care workers hoping to win collective...
Judge Blocks California’s High-Capacity Ammunition Ban
SACRAMENTO — High-capacity gun magazines will remain legal in California under a ruling Friday by a federal judge who cited home invasions where a woman used the extra bullets in her weapon to kill an attacker while in two other cases women without additional ammunition ran out of bullets. “Individual...
Walters: Election Results Fuel War on Charter Schools
Elections have consequences, and while some are unintended, one major impact of last year’s California elections is very much intended. Organizations and wealthy individuals favoring education reforms and charter schools went head-to-head with the California Teachers Association and other elements of the education establishment. It was a wipeout. The CTA,...