News
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is remaining mum on regulation of “snake oil,” stem cell clinics as the Golden State pursues a go-slow approach to cracking down on the dubious treatments.More than 100 such clinics are operating in California, the most of any state in the nation. New York state earlier this month took the lead among states in attempting to regulate the clinics.
News
The annual payment to CalPERS for state worker pensions next fiscal year is expected to be $7 billion, a jump from $6.4 billion this year — and a quantum leap from $160 million when a pension increase, SB 400, was approved 20 years ago.
News
When former Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law curbing the distribution of plastic straws in sit-down restaurants, it received wide – and largely favorable — attention. But to some, there was a surprise: The new law continues to allow fast-food restaurants to use plastic straws. Many people believe that the state should make all eateries use biodegradable straws, especially fast-food restaurants, which are the largest consumers of plastic straws.
Podcast
Carl Guardino is president and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and a member of the California Transportation Commission — which means he wears two very big hats. Carl, born and bred in San Jose, sat down with Capitol Weekly’s John Howard and Tim Foster at K Street’s bustling Ambrosia Cafe (trust us, it gets quieter after a minute or two).
News
When Nilda Valmores was growing up, her grandmother explained she would be a “good Filipino wife” if she accepted how a future husband treated her. “Even if he slapped me, cheated on me or whatever; I would have to just be quiet and pray. That was her experience, but I told her that it would not be mine,” she said.
News
Most of us are already doing a lot of business online, from ordering products to banking to even filing our taxes. Now we will be asked to do one more task over the Internet — fill out a U.S. census survey. The next census, the all-important survey conducted every 10 years and next scheduled in April 2020, will be the first to be conducted largely online. People who choose not to will be able to respond over the phone or by mail.
News
One was a charter school operator desperate for authorization after years of rejection by multiple school districts. The other was a teeny district in the rural high desert, hemorrhaging students, facing insolvency and in dire need of revenue.
Podcast
Chris Orrock joins the podcast to chat with John Howard and Tim Foster about what this wealth of snow means for California’s water reserves and flood dangers, and the implications for wildfires later in the year.
News
It’s pretty much all there: money, celebrity, scandal, more money, cheating, coaches being bribed — advantage layered over advantage. In what federal law enforcement officials say is the “largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice,” federal prosecutors have accused dozens of wealthy parents of making at least $25 million in illegal payments in one form or another to get their unqualified children into select colleges.
Podcast
These days, Samantha “Sami” Gallegos is the communications director for Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, the high-visibility lawmaker representing the 80th AD. But before she went to work inside the Capitol, Sami covered the Capitol as a journalist.
Stem cell research involving a "PCR" strip. (Photo: Science Photo, via Shutterstock)
