An artist's rendering of California's bullet train. (Image: High-Speed Rail Authority)State rail officials are taking the glass-half-full view. Rather than lamenting the fact High Speed Rail is absent from the president’s infrastructure plan, they’re pointing to supportive statements from Biden and his team, and insisting there’s time before Congress irons out a final deal to claim a share for California’s fast train.
Former state Sen. Holly J. Mitchell was elected last year to a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, representing District 2 – the same district in which she was born and raised. Term limits have turned the traditional local government-to-Legislature pipeline on its head, as has the stratospheric growth of LA: As a supervisor in a county of 10 million people, Mitchell represents twice as many constituents as she once did in the state Senate.
Sacramento County Supervisor Sue Cross at a meeting of the board. (Photo: Screen capture, CBS13, Sacramento)Sue Frost, chair of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, did not originally support a 2002 state law that provides family members with one of the few legal avenues to get severely mentally ill relatives into intensive treatment. Like other public officials, she was concerned about patient rights and cost.
Amanda and Nick Wilcox were honored in the state Assembly for their efforts to establish "Laura's Law," named after their 19-year-old daughter who was slain by a mentally ill gunman two decades ago. (Photo: Elias Funez, The Union, Nevada County.)When Kaino Hopper’s 31-year-old daughter adamantly refused – as she often has — the mental health treatment she so desperately needs, it was a rainy, blustery January day in Sacramento, and she was homeless, sleeping in fields and suburban parks. Her mother had few choices, and contacted her daughter’s caseworker for help.
Regional Recycled Water Advanced Purification Center Grand Opening 10, Oct 2019In this episode John Howard and Tim Foster welcomed the longtime but soon-to-be-retired Metropolitan Water District of Southern California head honcho Jeff Kightlinger for a wide-ranging discussion that covered the status of the Delta Tunnel Project, climate change and the snow survey, the drought, working from home, jukeboxes and his punk rock roots.
A dry field and barn off of Highway 152 in California's Pacheco Pass. (Photo: Hank Shiffman, via Shutterstock)As if the COVID-19 epidemic, economic malaise, disrupted schooling and wildfires weren’t enough, California now finds itself heading for a drought. A big drought. In fact, the U.S. Drought Monitor says that 91 percent of the state is in a drought right now.
Industrial propane tanks. (Photo: RazorbackAlum, via Shutterstock)ANALYSIS: Among the numerous advocates for a wider range of lower-carbon options in the U.S. is one group who’ve not received much attention: the propane industry. Given the trends on propane usage and production, that may very well change in 2021. Propane advocates think that their fuel is not getting the kind of attention that it deserves from policy-makers, regulators, and environmental lobbyists.
Artichoke Joe's Casino in San Bruno, south of San Francisco. (Photo: Wikipedia)State law enforcement authorities say a settlement has been reached with Artichoke Joe’s Casino, a major California card club, for violation of money laundering laws and for misleading investigators. The casino agreed to pay a $5.3 million penalty.
Attorney General Rob Bonta (Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)Rob Bonta, the first Filipino-American to serve in the California Legislature, was appointed state attorney general on Wednesday, filling the vacancy created by Xavier Becerra, who left to join President Joe Biden’s administration.
Veteran political strategist Bill Wong has been a longtime leader in California’s Asian Pacific Islander political community, and is a recognized expert on AAPI voters. While Wong should have been celebrating last week’s appointment of Rob Bonta as California Attorney General – the first Filipino American to hold the office – he was instead dealing with the fallout of a nationwide spree of racially-motivated attacks, culminating in a mass shooting in Georgia that claimed the lives of six Asian women.