Churches in California and Minnesota, backed by a conservative legal group, filed lawsuits this week against the governors of their states challenging restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak that they contend are violations of religious liberty. They’re the latest in a long series of legal challenges, many of them...
Fresno’s Cultiva La Salud Sues State Over Soda Tax Ban
A Fresno health-advocacy group is suing over state legislation that prevents cities from enacting soda taxes. In a 2018 deal with the beverage industry, the Legislature passed a law preventing cities from raising taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages and other groceries through 2031. In exchange, the beverage industry withdrew a proposition...
If 100 People Go to a Party in Fresno County, It’s 99% Someone Has COVID-19
Georgia Tech researchers have taken the guessing game out of the COVID-19 equation with a new interactive map. The online tool calculates the county-level risk of attending an event and crossing paths with someone who has the coronavirus. Previously, only state-level data was shown. The college says the dashboard accounts...
Mandate Diversity? California Bill Would Ban All-White Corporate Boards
All-white corporate boards would be prohibited in California under a bill in the Legislature that follows in the footsteps of a controversial law that mandated women in corporate boardrooms. More than 600 publicly held companies with California headquarters would be required to have at least one person of color serving on their...
California Lawmakers Slam Employment Agency for Slow Payouts
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers accused the leader of the state's unemployment department of failing the public in a tense hearing Thursday that featured stories of people waiting weeks or months to receive their benefits after losing their jobs because of the pandemic. More than 1.2 million claims, about a fifth...
Little Time, Big Agenda When California Lawmakers Return
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers are returning to work Monday for a furious five-week sprint that will include contentious debates about police brutality, unemployment benefits, hospital mergers and a moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus pandemic. The state Legislature has shut down twice because of the coronavirus, losing precious time to...
From Internet Rights to ‘Streeteries,’ How Pandemic Is Changing Working From Home
Coronavirus has reshaped how Californians live, learn and work in uneven ways. The pandemic has exposed the state’s long-standing digital divide with a significant share of low-income and rural households lacking reliable internet access. And even though employers have quickly adapted to remote work, the opportunity to work from home...
California's Only Gray Wolf Pack Has 8 New Pups
SAN FRANCISCO — California’s only known gray wolf pack has eight new pups. Eight youngsters were tallied in the Lassen Pack in northeastern California, according to an April-through-June report from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Genetic testing of their excrement shows at least four are male and two...
Can California Save America From Itself?
“Go to my website or use the hashtag #LetsGetTheCalOuttaHere!” shouts Gwyneth Paltrow in the Netflix series The Politician. Running for governor on a platform of leading California’s secession from the United States, Paltrow’s character wins 98 percent of the vote. This may be fiction, but California independence is gaining cultural...
California Budget Raises Business Taxes, Closes $54 Billion Deficit
SACRAMENTO — The California Legislature on Friday finished work on a state spending plan that closes a historic $54.3 billion deficit by temporarily raising business taxes, cutting funding to courts, colleges and state worker salaries, and delaying billions of dollars in payments to public schools. The $202.1 billion budget marks...