Every Californian should be aware by now that the state’s housing shortage not only causes personal angst for millions of the state’s residents, but is a key factor in its economic future. The latter was underscored last month in an analysis of the state’s employment picture by Christopher Thornberg, founder...
Reported Hate Crimes Doubled in Fresno in 2018, State Says
While the number of reported hate crimes decreased last year in California, the number more than doubled in the city of Fresno, according to data released Tuesday by the state's attorney general. There were 27 hate crimes reported in Fresno in 2018, compared to 13 in 2017. The 27 events...
New State Law Allows Schools to Ban Student Smartphones
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law Monday that encourages California school districts to develop and adopt policies limiting or prohibiting student use of smartphones on school grounds during school hours. "Growing evidence shows excessive smartphone use at school interferes with a student’s education and success, encourages cyberbullying, and contributes...
Are California Utilities Doing Enough to Fireproof Equipment?
With much fanfare and no less hand-wringing, state regulators approved plans that for the first time set out how California’s electric utilities intend to prevent their equipment from sparking wildfires. But the plans provide scant details, and little evidence to support the companies’ claims that indiscriminately clear-cutting millions of trees and replacing...
Walters: New Bill Reignites California's 'Reading Wars'
For decades – close to a century, in fact – America’s educators and politicians have argued furiously over how best to teach children to read, pitting advocates of “phonics” against those of “whole language,” a conflict dubbed "reading wars." Phonics stresses fundamental instruction in the letters and letter combinations that...
Video: All You Need to Know About State Budget in 2 Minutes
A few things about summertime in California have become utterly predictable: cineplex superheroes, beach crowds, and a record-setting state budget. Two years ago, we told you the state’s budget hit $180 billion—and that with that money you could buy the Los Angeles Lakers 60 times over. Last summer, the state budget set...
Bringing High-Speed Rail to California, One Building Block at a Time
California has long been the leader in innovation, bold action and tackling projects that others wouldn’t dream of. The state highway system, BART, and the Golden Gate Bridge stand out as prime examples of challenging projects that were seen through, and today benefit millions. The vision for high-speed rail is...
Governor and Legislature: Stop Raiding California’s Cap-and-Trade Funding
When I was California Assembly Speaker in 2006, I proudly negotiated with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to lay down a marker in the fight against climate change by placing strict reductions on greenhouse gas emissions through Assembly Bill 32. We knew we had to do something, especially after the U.S....
White Supremacist Propaganda Growing on College Campuses
NEW YORK — Reading, writing and arithmetic are competing with more and more racist rhetoric on U.S. college campuses, a new report finds. Instances of white supremacist propaganda showing up on college campuses trended higher in the recently completed academic year, according to the Anti-Defamation League report published Thursday. That...
Walters: A Cross-Continental Game of Political Chicken
There are dozens of cross-continental disputes between the Trump administration in Washington and California’s Democrat-dominated state government, most manifesting themselves in lawsuits. However, few if any surpass in importance their conflict over how much greenhouse gases cars will be allowed to emit in the future. The federal government saved General...