News
California faces a dramatic shortage of healthcare professionals over the next decade, and the state should take steps now to deal with the problem, according to a new report. “In just 10 years … California is projected to face a shortfall of more than 4,100 primary care clinicians and 600,000 home care workers, and will have only two-thirds of the psychiatrists it needs,” said the study, Meeting the Demand for Health.
News
Don’t be fooled by the precipitation, the snowpack, the wildflowers. When winter ends, it’s unlikely that California’s iconic landscape will sustain the moisture to withstand the 100-degree summer and fall. California has yet to recover from the 5-year drought that began in 2012. For four years, record wildfires have ravaged the state, including the Tubbs Fire in Napa and Sonoma in 2017 and the Camp Fire last year that wiped out the town of Paradise in Butte County.
News
Legislation to help stem the tide of unregulated stem cell clinics in California is still being drafted, but is expected to be introduced by the end of this month. Art Torres, vice chairman of the California stem cell agency, is working on the measure, which is expected to be authored by Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo.
News
A Wall Street public finance expert who says analyzing California’s fiscal condition was the “defining passion” of his career is the state’s new legislative analyst. He is Gabriel Petek, 47, who until recently was Standard and Poor’s chief credit analyst covering California from an office in San Francisco.
News
PPIC Report: Majorities of Californians support Gov. Newsom’s first proposed budget, which increases spending on K–14 education, higher education, and health and human services. This is among the key findings of a statewide survey released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).
Podcast
State Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, is more than just the senator representing California’s 10th Senate District. He’s also a bankruptcy lawyer, giving him an unusual insight into Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s recent bankruptcy declaration.
News
There are plenty of things to look at now that California counties have updated their voter files with the 2018 general election vote history. This is our first chance to see what really happened, as opposed to what people thought had happened based on the outcomes.
News
Dear newly relocated political staffers of the Newsom administration and others: Welcome to our flat, hot city, which we never, ever call “Sactown.” Doing so will establish you as a noob. We do, however, enthusiastically and lovingly call it “Sacto” or “Sac,” and we especially cherish opportunities to say “Old Sac.” Practice it at home, “Ooooolddd Saaaac.” Feels good, right? The city can try to rebrand it as “The Waterfront,” but it will always be Old Sac to us.
News
The state auditor says the California prison system’s programs to reduce recidivism aren’t working, noting that inmates who complete the programs wind up back behind bars at roughly the same rates as those who don’t. “These results are serious enough to highlight an urgent need for Corrections to take a more active and meaningful role in ensuring that these programs are effective,” California State Auditor Elaine Howle reported.
Podcast
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the largest utility in California, filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 29, citing billions of dollars in potential liabilities from the utility giant’s potential role in sparking a series of devastating California wildfires. That means reporter J.D. Morris, who has been covering the issue for the San Francisco Chronicle, is a busy man, indeed.
Medical professionals screen people at a 2018 festival in Costa Mesa. (Photo: David Bruckmann, via Shutterstock)
