Opinion
OPINION: I am the CEO of the National Kidney Foundation. I am a believer in this nearly 70-year-old organization that was started at the kitchen table of a mother desperately trying to save her child’s life. I 100 percent buy into our mission to be an advocate for all kidney patients and relentlessly fight for their quality of life, their treatments and their cure.
Recent News
The California Public Utilities Commission is poised to decide the formula that determines how much consumers are charged by the big investor-owned utility companies, or IOUs—such as Pacific Gas & Electric or Edison, for example—when the customers switch to local community energy programs. It’s a complex issue, but one with major implications for consumers’ pocketbooks.
Opinion
OPINION: According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, California today ranks as the 5th largest economy in the world, surpassing the United Kingdom. To flourish, great economies like California’s need consumer protections and oversight of financial markets. California has one single state agency charged with both, the Department of Business Oversight.
Opinion
OPINION: Access to care is not the only problem the Latino Coalition is fighting to remedy. Another acute health inequity facing Latinos: woefully inadequate numbers of accessible outdoor activities and parks. With the already high rates of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease facing the community, opportunities for exercise and outdoor endeavors become all the more important.
Recent News
The Golden State’s stem cell research program is down to its last $144 million after nearly 14 years of financing searches for therapies for everything ranging from diabetes to bubble baby syndrome. Funded with $3 billion in November 2004, California’s stem cell agency has yet to back a therapy that is widely available to the public.
Recent News
The new CalPERS president, Priya Mathur, lost her board seat this week, defeated by a Corona police sergeant, Jason Perez, who wants to shift the $360 billion investment fund toward higher yields that secure pensions with less focus on social issues. Mathur, a Bay Area Rapid Transit District analyst serving on the board since 2002, rose to the leadership post in January.
Recent News
Earlier this year, the state established a new system that could fundamentally change the relationship between Californians and their voter registration. In a series of changes—most notably the way that voter sign-ups are done at the Department of Motor Vehicles—California has entered an era of nearly automatic voter registration.
Opinion
OPINION: When California’s signature climate change program was nearing its expiration date, there was serious debate about whether to extend it. This program, called Cap-and-Trade, reduces carbon emissions but it also increases the costs of gas, electricity, and numerous other necessities. That’s a significant problem in a state known for high taxes, onerous regulations, and the worst small business climate in the country.
Recent News
The recent federal crackdown on the use of fetal tissue in scientific research could well be a harbinger of an effort to revive restrictions on the use of human embryonic stem cells, placing a roadblock in the way of creation of therapies to treat often deadly afflictions that affect millions of Americans. And it could have an impact on the fate of California’s $3 billion stem cell program, which expects to run out of money for new awards by the end of next year.
Opinion
In parched, drought-stricken California, where water is considered liquid gold, the politics of power and wealth are playing out in real-time. The California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) recent decision to allow the California American Water Company (Cal-Am) to proceed with its Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project desalination plant is great news – that is, if you live in Carmel, Pacific Grove or Monterey.
A dialysis patient during treatment. (Photo: Picsfive, via Shutterstock)
