With new fast-tracked transparency rules for charter schools in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has fulfilled a January pledge to bring “long overdue” accountability measures to this growing sector of public schools. But the open meeting and disclosure law Newsom signed — after Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed similar bills twice in prior years...
Walters: Slowing Economy Could Hit State Budget
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first budget proposal, unveiled two months ago, took a surprisingly conservative approach, given his promises of high-dollar spending during his campaign for the governorship. While he proposed token appropriations to expand health insurance for the poor and pre-kindergarten care and education, his 2019-20 budget would devote most...
Newsom Now Says He May Commute Death Sentences
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom not only put a moratorium on executions in California on Wednesday, he said he also may commute death sentences and is pushing to repeal capital punishment. Newsom signed an executive order granting reprieves to all 737 condemned inmates on the nation's largest death row. That means no...
Newsom Puts Moratorium on California Executions
SACRAMENTO — The 737 inmates on California's largest-in-the-nation death row are getting a reprieve from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who plans to sign an executive order Wednesday placing a moratorium on executions. Newsom also is withdrawing the lethal injection regulations that death penalty opponents already have tied up in courts and...
Central Valley Raises Its Voice To Boost Business
The 2019 legislative session was just getting underway in Sacramento. The ink was barely dry on hundreds of proposed bills (many of them mere placeholders) drafted by Assembly members and senators to address the myriad issues facing those who live, work, and do business in the state of California. In...
What if Dianne Feinstein Steps Down Before Her Term Ends?
Along with her considerable political talents, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has an unhelpful verbal mannerism in which she talks to people who try her patience with a faintly exasperated tone in her voice. She shares this trait with, among others, former Vice President Al Gore and Sheldon from “The Big...
Is Longer Day for Kindergarteners in Fresno Unified’s Future?
Fresno Unified parents are exasperated by having to take time off from work in the middle of the day to pick up their kindergarteners at school. And a majority of trustees want to see the district fix the problem. Trustee Carol Mills said she understands their frustration, and offered a...
California May Broaden Far-Reaching Data Privacy Law
SACRAMENTO — California consumers would have more power to sue corporations for misusing their data under a proposal announced Monday to expand what already is the nation's most far-reaching law protecting personal information. The revision to the law passed last year is among several sought by Attorney General Xavier Becerra...
Walters: It's Time to Derail the Train to Nowhere
Gov. Gavin Newsom came close this month to abandoning the state’s misbegotten bullet train project that’s already cost many billions of dollars and demonstrates no signs of becoming viable. “Let’s be real,” Newsom told legislators in his first State of the State address. “The project as currently planned would cost...
Border Wall, Bullet Train: California vs. Trump Escalates
SACRAMENTO — Disputes over President Donald Trump's border wall and California's bullet train are intensifying the feud between the White House and the nation's most populous state. The Trump administration says it plans to cancel or claw back $3.5 billion in federal dollars allocated to California's high-speed rail project. It's...