Gavin Newsom, then a candidate for governor, addresses a group last year during a campaign stop. (Photo: Associated Press)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).
State Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, who represents the 10th Senate District.(Senate photo) 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.
An illustration suggesting the variations in the voting population. (Image: Julian Tromeur, via Shutterstock)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.
A view of Ella Dining Room and Bar in Sacramento, two blocks from the Capitol. (Photo: Shoka, Capitol Weekly)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.
Folsom State Prison east of Sacramento. (Photo: Wikipedia)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.
PG&E trucks on the job. (Photo: PG&E, via Facebook)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.
Wayne Horiuchi at the Republican National Convention in 2016, (Photo: RNC}Wayne Kimio Horiuchi of Sacramento, who was instrumental in the appointment of a presidential commission to look into the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, died Jan. 23. He was 71.
An interior view of one of the rooms of the Spacecraft Fabrication Facility of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (Photo: Sundry Photography, via Shutterstock) California faces an increasing demand for affordable higher education and a need for adequate facilities suited to a rapidly evolving economy. PPIC estimates that by 2030 the supply of college graduates will fall 1.1 million short of workforce demand. All three public systems—UC, CSU, and CCC—are working to bridge that gap.
State Schools Superintendent Tony Thurmond at the Sacramento Press Club in September. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) Abandoned by his father and orphaned at age 6 after the death of his mother to cancer, Tony Thurmond believes he could have easily ended up in prison. Instead, the 50-year-old Richmond resident is the new state superintendent of public education. He is the second African-American in the position after Wilson Riles, who served 1971-83.
California Sen. Kamala Harris at a 2017 political rally in Torrance. (Photo: Vince360, via Shutterstock)ANALYSIS: In declaring her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president, Kamala Harris joins an increasingly crowded field that includes an array of potential California contenders. Whether she will get the nomination is questionable. They would never admit it, but in the deepest part of their minds, a group of California politicians have to be musing about the increasingly likely possibility that poll-leading Joe Biden is going to run for the presidency.