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The forced removal of a university professor from an LA mayoral debate has intensified discussion in the wake of earlier legislation that seeks greater public involvement in CSU’s policing policies. Police officers physically ejected Cal State LA Professor Melina Abdullah from an LA mayoral debate in the University Student Union Theater recently. The Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs and League of Women Voters of Greater LA sponsored the private event at a public university.
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California’s inability to meet its long-stated goal of cutting solid waste by 75 percent by 2020 prompted environmentalists to craft a ballot initiative aimed at November targeting single-use single-use plastic products – including a sharp limit on their production.
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The headlines were attention-grabbing; some were scary: “What will your mother say when she finds your corpse?” “The weed with roots in hell.” “Assassin of Youth.” They were, of course, all about marijuana. Movie producers discovered they could sell more tickets if their advertisements promised audiences lots of dissolute youth.
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California’s multibillion-dollar, cell and gene therapy program has a special spot in the pantheon of the hundreds of government departments in the Golden State. It is immune from the normal oversight of the governor and state lawmakers. Its cash — now set at $5.5 billion over the next decade — flows freely and directly to the stem cell agency with no inconvenient meddling by elected officials.
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Three days after a deadly mass shooting downtown, the Sacramento City Council voted 7-2 to place a homeless measure on the November ballot. If voters approve the Emergency Homeless Shelter and Enforcement Act of 2022, could it be a statewide template?
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The sudden passing of my old boss, Phil Trounstine, at age 72 earlier this week, hit me hard. Phil hired me in 1999 from the press corps to be one of his deputies in the administration of Gov. Gray Davis, where he served as communications director.
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“Why is this so hard?” That’s what Matt Rexroad, owner of Redistricting Insights, tweeted repeatedly when he saw news that downtown Sacramento City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela faced a recall from residents of the uptown neighborhoods in East Sacramento. The problem: It wouldn’t be a legal recall. But confusion over that fact seemed to drag on for weeks.
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California may well have the toughest gun laws in the country, but criminals still get automatic weapons and everyday people still head to the gun store in times of trouble. And the pandemic with its parade of woes has motivated thousands of first-time gun buyers. It turns out, while some Californians hoarded toilet paper and hand sanitizer, others bulked up on firepower.
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When the vacationing Gov. Gavin Newsom returned to California this week, it marked an end to a remarkable two-week period in the state’s history — the Golden State had been run by a woman. That woman is Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, and she became the first woman in the state’s 171-year history to sign a bill into law — a remarkable fact, given the state’s track record in recent decades of electing women to high office, including constitutional offices, Congress and the U.S. Senate.
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Compensating the families of Black Californians who were scarred by slavery is a delicate, complex and controversial task — as the unprecedented state panel pondering the issue is finding out. The “fact that California is taking the first steps toward reparations for slavery is a major milestone,” Justine Leroy an assistant professor at UC Davis whose research specializes in the history of slavery and emancipation, said of the March 29 vote.
Students scurrying to classes on the campus of San Diego State University. (Photo: Pictor Picture Company, via Shutterstock)
