First, President Donald Trump tweeted criticism Tuesday of both California's high-speed rail project and the state's participation in a multistate lawsuit challenging his emergency declaration to pay for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. Then, later in the day, the Trump Administration notified the California High-Speed Rail Authority via letter that it would terminate...
Gov. Newsom Wants Users to Profit From Online Data
SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has set off a flurry of speculation after he said the state's consumers should get a piece of the billions of dollars that technology companies make by capitalizing on personal data they collect. The new governor has asked aides to develop a proposal for...
Gavin, This Bargain Project Will Make You a Water & Parks Hero
I have a $1 billion proposal for Gov. Gavin Newsom that will do a lot more for the Fresno economy than the 171-mile remnant of the state's high-speed rail project. Best of all, it involves water, which the governor prominently mentioned in his first State of the State address Tuesday...
California Governor to Draw Down Troops at Border
SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans Monday to withdraw several hundred National Guard troops from the state's southern border with Mexico in defiance of the Trump administration's request for support from border states. About 100 of the 360 troops will remain deployed under California's agreement with the federal government...
On High-Speed Rail, Will the Real Gov. Newsom Please Stand Up?
Gavin Newsom has said more than once that he wants California's high-speed rail project completed between the San Joaquin and Silicon valleys. "It's not a train to nowhere," Newsom told George Skelton of the Los Angeles Times in October. "It's insulting to suggest the Central Valley is nowhere. This is...
My Turn: We Need a Bold Vision for Juvenile Justice. Newsom’s Plan Falls Short
Over the past two decades, California’s Division of Juvenile Justice’s inmate population has fallen from 10,000 to around 660. Its annual budget is down 70 percent. Eight of its 11 detention facilities have closed. The division now spends $300,000 per year per inmate, yet three-fourths of those who are released recidivate within three years....
Parole Recommended for Manson Follower Leslie Van Houten
LOS ANGELES — A California panel on Wednesday recommended that Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten be paroled after serving more than four decades in prison. After a hearing at the women's prison in Corona, California, commissioners of the Board of Parole Hearings found for the third time that the...
What Randa Jarrar Thinks of Ben Bergquam Arrest
Ben Bergquam, a Fresno based right-wing activist known for heckling at political events, was arrested earlier this week for trespassing at Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mansion. He calls it his latest political stunt. “The whole idea is to expose the hypocrite Democrats. We went to test to see if everyone is...
Jim Patterson: Newsom Is Right to Order DMV Overhaul
The California Department of Motor Vehicles has been a source of frustration for employees and customers for as long as anyone can remember. I started pushing for major reforms of this department in 2016 when my office was flooded with calls from truck driving students who were waiting 12 weeks to...
My Turn: Here’s How Newsom Can Be Rural California’s Governor
The Camp Fire was the most destructive and deadliest fire in state history, and the world’s costliest natural disaster of 2018. The fire destroyed more than 18,000 homes and businesses and caused $16.5 billion in damages in Butte County. In Shasta County farther north, the Carr Fire destroyed over 1,000...