A major new Indian gaming casino and hotel will be built adjacent to Highway 99 near Madera, North Fork tribal officials said Monday, following a decision by the California Supreme Court. “We are thrilled that the Court has finally decided this case in our favor,” said North Fork Rancheria Tribal...
How Much You Drive Soon Will Dictate the Price of a New Home
If you dream of buying a new house in the suburbs — or anywhere outside the urban core —the cost is going way, way up because of a California law taking effect July 1. Critics say the law will price new homes beyond the reach of middle-class families at a...
Walters: Brown’s Big School Reform Falls Short
Los Angeles Unified is the state’s largest school district and the vast majority of its 400,000-plus students are poor, non-white and/or not completely fluent in English. It is, in other words, precisely what former Gov. Jerry Brown had in mind when he and the Legislature overhauled school districts’ finances, giving...
Walters: Finally, a School Data System Emerging
California has a very fragmented approach to education — a collection of institutional silos that only occasionally communicate with each other and often are more competitive than cooperative. That fragmentation is very visible in the perpetual conflicts between traditional K-12 schools and parent-directed charter schools, and in the battles among...
He Buried Fresno Man Alive. DA Urges Newsom to Deny Parole.
Gov. Jerry Brown twice blocked parole for the killer of a developmentally disabled Fresno man who was buried alive in 1980. Now the state Parole Board again has granted a parole date for David Weidert, who murdered 20-year-old Michael Morganti to cover up a $500 burglary Weidert committed. Fresno County...
California Sued Again for Requiring Women on Company Boards
SACRAMENTO — California's first-in-the-nation law requiring publicly held companies to put women on their boards of directors is facing a second legal challenge. The law requires publicly traded companies to have at least one woman on their boards by the end of this year. By 2021, boards with five members...
Walters: Slanting Ballot Measure Titles
Article II Section 10(d) of California’s constitution is brief, to wit: “Prior to circulation of an initiative or referendum petition for signatures, a copy shall be submitted to the attorney general who shall prepare a title and summary of the measure as provided by law.” That sounds like a routine...
Parole Denied Again in Chowchilla School Bus Hijacking
SACRAMENTO — California officials again rejected parole Tuesday for the last of three men convicted of hijacking a school bus full of children for $5 million ransom more than four decades ago. State parole officials decided that Frederick Woods, 67, can try again in five years. It's the 17th time...
Farms, the Environment, and the Future of Water
In the middle of July, I was surprised to find myself trudging through a couple feet of snow while hiking south of Lake Tahoe. It was a striking contrast to the long walks I took on the dry lakebed of Folsom Reservoir near my home during the historic drought just...
Walters: Old Tax Loopholes Live Again
Everything old is new again, at least when it comes to punching loopholes in state tax laws to benefit corporate interests. As noted in a recent column, legislation is moving to re-establish “redevelopment” in California cities, albeit with a new name, just a few years after the program was eliminated. It’s...