Kaiser Permanente workers picketing during a five-day strike in December. (Photo: National Union of Healthcare Workers) United Healthcare Workers Mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente have overwhelmingly rejected a contract offer — a move that followed months of negotiations between Kaiser and the National Union of Healthcare Workers. Negotiations between Kaiser and NUHW are continuing.
Cable cars on California Street in San Francisco, an iconic image. (Photo: canadastock, via Shutterstock)The ranking comes from WalletHub, a financial services company that likes to rank cities and states on various topics. WalletHub got a group of college professors together and asked them to round up and interpret statistics on such fun factors as “marinas per capita” (Nebraska didn’t do well.) Shockingly, we’re not even in the running in that category. Florida, New York and Maryland are tied for the lead.
Students outside the library at the University of California, San Diego. (Photo: Stanislavsky, via Shutterstock)The University of Southern California in Los Angeles is coughing up $50 million and publicly apologizing for its tactics in recruiting a star Alzheimer’s researcher from UC San Diego, it was reported Thursday. The Los Angeles Times story about the unprecedented settlement described the case as an “ugly academic war.” It had the potential of bringing $340 million in research grants to USC.
A liquid nitrogen bank containing stem cells.(Photo: Alena Pavlovich, via Shutterstock) The $3 billion California stem cell agency on Monday served up the bad news with only a smattering of sugar coating. No more applications for research funding are being accepted. The cash is running out, perhaps as early as the end of August.
A resident leads horses to safety in Paradise during the 2018 Camp Fire. (Photo: Dylan Mittag, via Shutterstock)Everyone with any knowledge of the subject agrees: California is on the brink of a potentially disastrous fire season. And there is concern that the problem is not going to be solved soon. “Our best efforts may still be inadequate,” said Michael Picker, president of the California Public Utilities Commission.
California State Auditor Elaine Howle (Photo: Auditor's office)The U.S. Supreme Court’s split decision Thursday on the states’ gerrymandering of political districts was the perfect set-up for today’s episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast: State Auditor Elaine Howle sat down with us in her office to talk about the process for choosing the 14 members of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission.
Tens of thousands of Californians have come off the Social Security disability payroll and gone back to work, part of a national trend that reflects a surging U.S. economy, a shift toward less conventional work and tighter supervision of what qualifies a worker for disability benefits.
A photo illustration of a city's internet connections. (Image: metamorworks, via Shutterstock)Internet service providers in the United States have spent more than $1.2 billion on lobbying since 1998, and 2018 was the biggest year so far with a total spend of more than $80 million. Comparitech researchers compiled and analyzed 51 ISPs’ lobbying expenses from the US Senate’s Lobbying Disclosure Act database, which dates back to 1998.
A branch of Bank of America in Beverly Hills. (Photo: 4kclips, via Shutterstock)By law, currently California cities and counties typically have one place to deposit the funds they collect from taxes, fees and fines: private commercial banks. Billions of dollars of public money are handled by commercial banks — for a fee. Despite having billions of dollars banked, municipalities have no say in how their money is used by commercial banks. Bank management, owners and stockholders set policy.
A 3D rendering of stock indices in open space. (Image: Vitaly Sosnofsky)There are clouds on California’s economic horizon, but whether they herald a coming recession is uncertain. The experts agree that there is a slowdown, but there is little consensus beyond that.