WASHINGTON — Nancy Pelosi was nominated by fellow House Democrats to be speaker on Wednesday, but she still faces a showdown vote when the full House convenes in January. Pelosi entered the closed-door caucus election in an unusual position -- running unopposed despite the clamor by some Democrats for new...
TJ Cox Declares Victory in Congressional Race
TJ Cox declared victory in his congressional race to unseat three-term incumbent David Valadao (R-Hanford) in a race that is being watched across the nation. After Wednesday (Nov. 28) vote count updates in Fresno and Kings counties, Cox proclaimed himself the winner. “I am elated to announce that we have won...
Taxes Are Bigger Part of Online Shopping This Season
WASHINGTON — Shoppers heading online to purchase holiday gifts will find they're being charged sales tax at some websites where they weren't before. The reason: the Supreme Court. A June ruling gave states the go-ahead to require more companies to collect sales tax on online purchases. Now, more than two...
‘My Children Can’t Buy a House in California Anymore’
California is famously a home for abrupt shifts and sudden transformations in culture, lifestyle, and technology. And our homes can change as profoundly as our state does. Few places better represent change than the Long Beach home that my great-grandparents, Raymond and Rebecca Corcoran, paid $8,000 to have built for...
Top California Democrat on Leave Amid Sex Misconduct Inquiry
SACRAMENTO — The chair of the California Democratic Party took a leave of absence Monday amid an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him. Eric Bauman's leave will last until an outside investigation ends, party spokesman Mike Roth said. "Chair Bauman believes this decision is the best way to ensure...
My Turn: California Republicans Missed the Future
A decade ago, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sounded an alarm when he candidly told delegates at a Party convention that Republicans were “dying at the box office.” It hasn’t gotten better. The California Republican Party has seen a dramatic drop in its number of registered voters and elected officials. We have...
This Tiny Redlands Home Once Hosted Thanksgiving for 50
On Thanksgiving, I wish I were back at the tiny house at 830 Ohio Street, in one of the oldest sections of one of the Inland Empire’s oldest cities, Redlands. It was there that I spent Turkey Day as a kid. Somehow, 50 or more of my relatives would squeeze...
Mobile Home Residents Who Lived in ‘Squalor’ Awarded $5.5 Million
LOS ANGELES — A jury awarded more than $5.5 million to 31 residents of a Southern California mobile home park rife with problems, including sinkholes, sewage backups and rats. Jurors also found the owners of Friendly Village liable for elder abuse, lawyers for the plaintiffs said Monday. The amount of...
Lara Becomes State Insurance Czar in History Making Election
SACRAMENTO — Democratic state Sen. Ricardo Lara has defeated Republican-turned-independent Steve Poizner to become the state's next insurance commissioner, according to new vote totals. Vote counts updated since Election Day made Lara the winner with nearly 4.9 million votes, or 51.6 percent. Lara Is First Openly Gay Statewide Officeholder Lara...
AP Fact Check: Trump’s Misdirection on CA Fires, Climate
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is going too far in assigning most of the blame for California's devastating wildfires on the state's forest management. In comments over the weekend, he called forest management a "big problem" and suggested that California officials needed to do a much better job. But most...