Podcast
Capitol Weekly Podcast: Behind the Scenes at the Back to Session Bash
January means one thing on the Sacramento legislative calendar (well, aside from the governor’s budget): the annual Back to Session Bash!
News
UC, amid lawsuits, eyes value of SAT, ACT tests
The top of Sather Tower at UC Berkeley. (Photo: Guangli, via Shutterstock)The University of California is facing court challenges over its use of the SAT and ACT tests to decide student admissions.This comes as a special UC faculty group, the Standardized Testing Task Force, prepares to release its own report on the tests in early 2020.
Analysis
Key points in our tracking poll
A political rally in southern California during the 2016 presidential election. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)The latest Capitol Weekly tracking poll has been released and here are a few key takeaways. The top tier continues to be a stable force in the survey. With these current results it is likely that four candidates would dominate in the delegate allocations at the congressional level, in which 272 are allocated, and three would be splitting up the 90 statewide delegates, with Pete Buttigieg extremely close to the required 15% threshold.
News
California’s first surgeon general settles in
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, California's first surgeon general. (Photo: UC Davis Health Magazine)California’s head cheerleader on improving statewide health says it’s all about “bringing people together.” And after almost a year on the job as the state’s first surgeon general, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, exudes optimism, saying she has enjoyed an “absolutely phenomenal outpouring of support” from various factions of California’s vast health care sector.
News
Feds to California: Open up lands to oil, gas drilling
A pumpjack in California's San Joaquin Valley. (Photo: Mark Geistweite, via Shutterstock)The Trump administration is to opening up 1.2 million acres for oil and gas drilling across California from the Central Valley to the coast, targeting eight counties — Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obisbo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura.T he plan follows an earlier move by the federal Bureau of Land Management to issue leases for oil and gas drilling on roughly 800,000 acres in 11 counties.
News
State offers scant funding to rape crisis centers
California’s 84 rape crisis centers are in a funding crisis. While California has experienced a steady rise in the number of reported rapes (over 5% per year since 2015), the state’s annual General Fund contribution to rape crisis centers over the past decade has been a miniscule $45,000.
News
New law targets cosmetics testing on animals
Testing cosmetics on a laboratory rabbit. (Photo: Artfully Photographer, via Shutterstock)Animal-rights activists are heralding 2020 as a groundbreaking year because of a new, unprecedented state law that cracks down on cosmetics testing on animals. It takes effect Jan. 1, and will outlaw the importation for profit or sale most of the cosmetics tested on animals in California.
News
Toyota has settled hundreds of sudden acceleration cases
(Photo: jeffkubes, via Shutterstock)On the last day of 2015, Berta Orellana picked up her seven-year-old grandson from daycare in a brand new Toyota and headed on a road trip with the boy and two of her children, planning to spend the holiday in Las Vegas with her daughter who lived there.Orellana, then a 51-year-old delivery driver for Amazon, left the minivan she used for work at home in Northridge, California.
Podcast
Capitol Weekly Podcast: Kamala, what happened?.. and what now?
Photo by Gage Skidmore. www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/In a surprise move, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris suspended her run for the presidency Tuesday ending what had once been a promising campaign, launched with great fanfare in front of 22,000 Oakland supporters. So what happened? Paul Mitchell joins the Capitol Weekly Podcast to weigh in.
News
‘Progressive veteran’ faces uphill fight in 53rd CD
Jose Caballero, candidate in the primary for the 53rd Congressional District in San Diego. (Photo: Joaquin Romero)As California’s 2020 primary election nears, congressional districts across the state face major changes. One of the most significant is the 53rd Congressional District in San Diego. For the past 19 years, the seat has been held by Democratic Rep. Susan Davis, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on Administration.