Man in a hazmat suit sanitizing an apartment room with chemicals. (Photo: Ljupco Smokovski, via Shutterstock)The cost of killing bugs in California will start to rise if lawmakers adopt Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to reduce toxic pesticide use by gradually increasing fees, a measure that could affect everyone from crop dusters to home gardeners. The fee hike, phased in over four years, is included in the governor’s budget proposal.
Campaign consultant Gale Kaufman has run a ballot campaign (or two, or more) in every election cycle since 1998 – and, she’s won most of those. Many of the campaigns Kaufman has directed were tied to education, and she has been closely affiliated with the California Teachers Association for much of her career. Kaufman joined us to offer her thoughts on the lessons of 2020 and what may be in the pipeline for the 2022 election and beyond.
Ballot boxes in Foster City for the November 2020 general election. (Photo: MariaX, via Shutterstock)The state’s House delegation – now at 53, but likely to drop by one seat after the new redistricting – stood at 46 Democrats and only seven Republicans after the 2018 elections. But last year, Republicans captured four seats from Democrats — which caught political observers by surprise.
A worker at a small brewery examines beer during the fermentation process. (Photo: MAD_Production, via Shutterstock)An under-the-radar tussle is shaping up in California over how beer is being brought to drinkers across the state. The emerging beer battle pits small craft brewers against big distributors. On one side are the small brewers, who charge that the big distributors don’t want to bother with the relatively small volumes of craft brewers.
Lenny Mendonca, the former head of GO-Biz (The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development)for Governor Gavin Newsom, joined John Howard and Tim Foster to talk about the economic outlook for California as the pandemic continues, and what to expect when the era of COVID is over.
Kamala Harris speaking at the 2019 National Forum on Wages and Working People in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Gage Skidmore, used by permission.Journalist extraordinaire Dan Morain joined John Howard and Tim Foster to talk about his new book, Kamala’s Way: An American Life – the first biography of Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris. Morain covered Harris’ rise in real time for the Los Angeles Times, The Sacramento Bee and CalMatters; that background allowed him to write and research the entire book in a few months during the COVID-19 lockdown.
A teen-age girl in a juvenile detention facility. (Photo: chatiyanon, via Shutterstock)Rasjan sat with his hands folded at a metal table inside a white-walled tank of the Sacramento County Youth Detention Facility. A mask hung around his neck as he peered into a webcam and listened to three adult voices — belonging to a judge and two attorneys — discuss whether he should be released into his grandmother’s care. On Dec. 30, 2020, the answer was no.
Stem cell researcher and professor Larry Goldstein. (Photo: Screen capture, UCTV).Larry Goldstein, a well-known stem cell researcher at the University of California, San Diego who has received nearly $22 million in awards from the California stem cell agency, today was named to its governing board. It was the first time in the history of the 16-year-old agency that a scientist who has received agency awards has been appointed to the board.
Republicans show support for Donald Trump at a rally at the Anaheim Convention Center. (Photo: mikeledray, via Shutterstock)Not long ago, California Republicans slugged it out with Democrats in competitive statewide campaigns and threw considerable weight into legislative policy debates. But today, after a quarter-century slide into irrelevancy and dogma, it’s reasonable to consider if the state party still has a pulse and if its future includes a revival.
The state Capitol in Sacramento, home of the Senate and Assembly. (Photo: Kit Leong, via Shutterstock)One way to help figure out the legislative intent behind a particular measure is a letter written by the bill’s author that is published in the Assembly Daily Journal or the Senate Daily Journal.