In his inaugural address one year ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom said of California, “This is where America’s future is made. This is our charge. That is our calling.” Gov. Newsom has had a full year, and a supermajority of Democrats in the Legislature. And yet with this power and ability...
Australian PM's Leadership Criticized During Wildfire Crisis
CANBERRA, Australia — As his country burned, Australia's prime minister was cursed and jeered out of a town, called an “idiot,” a “moron” and worse, and skewered at home and abroad for his dismissive response toward climate change. Australia’s deadly wildfires have proven to be not just a crisis for...
Gov. Newsom Targets Homeless Crisis in Budget, Order
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that he is seeking $750 million in part to help pay rent for people facing homelessness in the most populous state's latest attempt to fight what he called a national crisis. Newsom planned to sign an executive order Wednesday creating the fund, two...
Iraq's Outgoing Prime Minister Says US Troops Must Leave
BAGHDAD — Iraq's outgoing prime minister said Tuesday that the United States has no alternative and must pull its troops out of the country, or else face an impending crisis, as the remains of a senior Iraqi militia commander killed in a U.S. drone strike was brought to Iraq from...
California Housing Crisis Mystery: Rents Way up, Eviction Filings Way Down
Shirley Gibson isn’t quite sure how to feel about these numbers. As directing attorney of the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County — which offers legal services to low-income tenants caught between the preposterously priced southern suburbs of San Francisco and the preposterously priced suburbs of Silicon Valley —...
Review: 'Rise of Skywalker' Is a Sour End to a Grand Saga
By AP Film Writer Jake Coyle Not much has caused a disturbance in the “Star Wars” galaxy quite like Rian Johnson’s “The Last Jedi,” an erratic but electric movie that, regardless of how you felt about it, was something worth arguing about. The same can’t be said for J. J. Abrams’...
Why the Fed Has No Choice but to Keep Cutting Interest Rates – if It Wants to Avoid a Financial Crisis
The U.S. Federal Reserve is stuck between an apparently booming economy and a financial crisis that might be right around the corner. That’s why its decision to cut interest rates by another quarter point on Oct. 30 – its third reduction in as many months – seems so odd. Lowering...
Syria Talks: Possible Path Toward Peace, or Another Dead End
GENEVA — Syria's government and opposition have delicately sat down for their first face-to-face talks, amid the hopes of millions of Syrians and governments from Washington to Moscow that they could become a step toward ending the country's devastating 8 ½-year war. It could be a chance for peace, or...
Walters: Newsom Now Owns the Wildfire and PG&E Crisis
The careers of political executives — presidents, governors and big-city mayors — are often defined, fairly or not, by how they respond to crises. Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Depression, John Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis and Jimmy Carter and the Iranian hostage...
Companies Reach $260 Million Deal to Settle Opioids Lawsuit
CLEVELAND — The nation's three biggest drug distributors and a major drugmaker reached a $260 million settlement with two Ohio counties Monday over the deadly havoc wreaked by opioids, striking a deal just hours before they were set to face a jury at the start of the first federal trial...