News

Xavier Becerra tapped for state A.G.

Xavier Becerra, Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP)

Congressman Xavier Becerra, the Democrats’ highest-ranking Latino in the House and a 24-year veteran of Congress, was appointed Thursday by Gov. Brown to replace state Attorney General Kamala Harris, who was elected to the U.S. Senate on Nov. 8. Becerra, 58, who will be the first Latino to serve as California’s top law enforcement officer, will formally take over the attorney general’s office next month, when Harris leaves for Washington, D.C.

News

State Supreme Court to consider public pension cuts

The California Supreme Court, left to right, standing: Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, Carol Corrigan, Goodwin Liu, and Leondra Kruger. Seated: Kathryn Werdegar, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, and Ming Chin.

Calpensions: The state Supreme Court last week agreed to hear an appeal of a groundbreaking ruling that allows cuts in the pensions earned by current state and local government workers, including judges. When judges have an obvious conflict of interest and excuse themselves from ruling on a case, the legal term is “recuse.” But the seven Supreme Court justices seem unlikely to recuse themselves from a possible landmark ruling on this Marin County pension case.

News

Death penalty: Ron Briggs’ odyssey

The execution chamber at San Quentin Prison

Ron Briggs was always an ardent supporter of the death penalty. His father John Briggs, former state assemblyman and senator, was a driving force behind a 1978 initiative that expanded the list of special circumstances required for a death sentence. But today, Ron Briggs is one the biggest opponents of capital punishment. He campaigned for Proposition 62, which would have ended the state’s death penalty and was rejected by voters this month.

News

Public pension funds eye weak investment returns

CalPERS' governing board during a 2013 meeting. (Photo: CalPERS board)

Calpensions: The state’s two largest public pension systems never recovered from huge investment losses during the deep recession and stock market crash in 2008. CalPERS lost about $100 billion and CalSTRS about $68 billion. Now after a lengthy bull market, most experts are predicting a decade of weak investment returns, well below the annual average.

News

California vs. Trump: Angst in higher education

Students at a graduation ceremony at Santa Monica City College. (Photo: American Spirit, via Shutterstock)

In an effort to reassure thousands of worried young people, leaders of California’s enormous system of public and private higher education are setting it on a potential collision course with the incoming Trump administration. The California defiance has intensified and become more formalized since Donald Trump indicated he will appoint Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, an avowed hard-liner on immigration, as his attorney general.

News

State targets ‘bubble boy’ syndrome

Young David Vetter, who died from severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) in the 1990s. (Photo: Biotechnology and Society)

California’s stem cell agency is ready to award $20 million on Thursday to a UCLA researcher to assist in his 30-year search for a widely available cure for what has come to be known as the “bubble boy” syndrome– severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID).

News

In CA, some winners and losers

A political rally during the spring in Santa Monica. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

It’s all over and, with a few exceptions, it will stay that way for two more years. But like any other public event, ranging from bridge tournaments to the Super Bowl, there were winners and losers. Here’s our take on who came out winners and who lost in the 2016 general election.

News

Delta tunnels: A steady trickle of progress

An aerial view of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. (Photo: Jeffrey T. Kreulen)

Gov. Jerry Brown’s massive Delta tunnels project is moving forward through a series of state and federal environmental reviews. But it still faces an array of major hurdles including public opposition, financing and approvals by state water contractors. The $15 billion project, known as California Water Fix, is on track to finish the environmental reviews by the end of the year.

News

State election marks cultural shift

Californians who thought Tuesday’s election would mark a dramatic change in the state’s culture and social fabric were right – half right. Anti-death penalty forces believed Election Day would be a game-changer. Nope. Marijuana advocates thought the same. Yep.

News

Prop. 60: Condoms’ hard battle

A camera ready for lights and action. (Billion Photos, via Shutterstock)

Strange bedfellows: The Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian parties in California all oppose Proposition 60, a measure aimed at blocking unprotected sex in adult films. But the condom requirement is only part of the opposition. They also see enforcement problems, leaving the performers vulnerable to lawsuits and privacy violations.

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