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The “bubble babies” saga and a California-financed cure for their life-threatening affliction has hit another snag, more than two years after a British company abandoned the effort. It is a story that involves more than $40 million from California’s stem cell agency, federal regulators, the University of California, the agonizingly slow pace of science and 20 children who have been denied care — not to mention a company called Orchard Therapeutics PLC.
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The Northridge earthquake in 1994 killed people and damaged property. That is not all. That disaster also created the California Earthquake Authority, a public entity that oversees earthquake insurance coverage and makes it available to those who want it.
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California Community Colleges are hanging out the “help wanted” sign, as Chancellor Eloy Oakley steps down from the helm of the country’s largest college system to head an education advocacy group.
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A crack opened last week for the first time in 17 years in the firewall between state politicians and the $12 billion California stem cell agency. It involves only $600,000 — at least for now — and is buried deep in the 1,069-page state budget bill that was introduced June 8. But its implications are far-reaching. They range from opening the agency to major changes — wanted and unwanted — to creating a basis for the agency’s currently dubious, long-term financial sustainability.
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The public is invited to attend a “Celebration of Life” for former California Congressman Vic Fazio, who died of cancer on March 16 at the age of 79. The event will take place on Friday, June 17, from 11:00am to 1:30pm at the UC Davis Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.
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Jerry Brown said the bill would cause “mayhem” and vetoed it, now its author has another plan to extend bar closing hours from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. – this time limiting it to cities that already want it. “There is no mayhem,” Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said of Brown’s memorable phrase. “That was our grumpy governor. And I love him to death, but he was wrong about this.”
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Scott Wiener made a startling revelation at a spring legislative committee hearing: “I was in the hospital. I experienced the most intense abdominal pain that I could even imagine.” The Democratic state senator recalled crawling up the stairs to his landlord’s apartment last July to get a ride to the hospital.
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Going into this gubernatorial primary election, one could have rightly expected to see a pretty good turnout. There are more than 30 open legislative seats for the first time in nearly a decade and competitive congressional races after the shakeup of redistricting. But with just a few days to go, we are at just 13% total turnout statewide. In some key battlegrounds, like the hot L.A. Mayor’s race, turnout is even lower at just 10%,
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Assemblymember Robert Rivas, a Salinas Democrat who grew up in a farm worker family, moved Friday to capture the Assembly speakership. A formal transfer of authority may come as early as next week. He told Rendon that “I have the votes,” adding that he hoped for an “orderly transition.”
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Times are flush in the Golden State, fiscally speaking. With a total budget surplus of $97.5 billion, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May budget revision prioritizes the funding of higher education. Just ask Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley, who helms the California Community Colleges.
A pipette drops stem cell research fluid on a special container. (Photo: CI Photos, via Shutterstock) 
