Dr. Barbara O’Connor is chair of the California Emerging Technology Fund; the pandemic is highlighting the need for one of the group’s priorities: getting good, reliable internet to all Californians. Their proposal – the California Network – is being discussed at the Capitol this week.
Mark Guillen, the West Region public affairs manager for Crown Castle, a large telecommunications infrastructure provider, joins us to talk about the challenge of providing more robust and widespread internet access – and how long it might take.
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented heretofore-unseen challenges to students and teachers who have suddenly found themselves the “guinea pigs” in a massive distance learning experiment. California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd joins Capitol Weekly’s Tim Foster and John Howard to give an update on expectations for the upcoming school year and discusses another big CTA priority: passing Prop. 15, the “Split Roll” initiative that would decouple large commercial properties from Prop. 13.
Detail of an antique California Bear Flag handerkerchief with detailed Grizzly Bear. Photo by the Bear Flag MuseumCalifornia’s Citizens Independent Redistricting Commission is generally regarded as a model of its kind, achieving balance and representation through a carefully constructed mix of quotas, political gamesmanship and random selection. How then, did the first round of new commissioners selected on July 2 (eight of a total of 14) fail to include a single Latino, the state’s largest ethnic group?
Senator Kamala Harris looms large on Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s list of potential VP picks – he has said that he will pick a woman as running mate, and Harris is leading the ‘pundit polls’ as the most likely choice. If Harris is selected, and the Biden/Harris ticket goes on to win the November election, who would Governor Gavin Newsom appoint as her successor?
Longtime Clean Air activist Bill Magavern joins us to chat, and brings some welcome good news: with the COVID-19 pandemic keeping people out of their cars, many areas of California have seen a decrease in air pollution.
Politics often get ugly, and there is nothing uglier than Opposition Research: digging up dirt on your opponent — or sometimes your own candidate. No one knows Oppo better than Joe Rodota, who honed his dark art in the Reagan White House, the Schwarzenegger campaign and other high-profile races in California and across the country.
The Capitol Weekly Podcast welcomes Maeley Tom, a longtime legislative staffer and Democratic Party stalwart who played a pioneering role as one of the first Asian women in California’s capitol. Tom’s new memoir, “I’m Not Who You Think I Am,” has just been published.
Paula Treat, the grande dame of Sacramento contract lobbyists, has had a wide range of clients including Tesla, Uber, CCPOA, the California Medical Association, the California Lottery and several Indian tribes, over her four decade career.
Jim Wunderman, photo by Margo MoritzJim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council, joins the Capitol Weekly Podcast to talk about the impact of the coronavirus on his association’s members, and what to expect as California reopens. What you can’t expect is for things to be the same as they were before COVID-19.