Longtime Clean Air activist Bill Magavern joins us to chat, and brings some welcome good news: with the COVID-19 pandemic keeping people out of their cars, many areas of California have seen a decrease in air pollution.
An image of a vaccination. (Photo: KPG_Payless, via Shutterstock)OPINION: In anticipation of a forthcoming COVID-19 vaccine, lawmakers in California must extend the authority of pharmacists to administer all vaccines approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
A cancer stem cell researcher in the laboratory. (Photo: science photo, via Shutterstock)A $5.5 billion stem cell bond measure qualified this afternoon for the November ballot, but the campaign to win voter approval is facing an array of hurdles that its supporters never envisioned last summer when they were formulating the initiative.
A homeless student sleeps on a park bench at night. (Photo: E_Photos, via Shutterstock)Facing the pandemic and financial woes, California’s community colleges are struggling to provide programs to meet some of their students’ most basic needs, such as food and shelter. The efforts come as many community college students report a loss of income, increased h0melessness and a worsening financial situation.
An aerial view of a traffic-clogged intersection in Los Angeles. (Photo: TierneyMJ, via Shutterstock)OPINION: California government agencies have focused on reducing traffic congestion when looking at the pollution impacts caused by new development and transportation projects. The result has been a lot of bad decisions that, taken together, have led to longer commutes, urban sprawl, and a failure to invest sufficiently in public transit, bike lanes, and pedestrian pathways.
Jackie Fielder, candidate in the 11th Senate District. (Photo: Fielder campaign)Jackie Fielder is an activist and educator with her sights set on California’s 11th Senate District, hoping in an uphill race to topple incumbent state Sen. Scott Wiener, a fellow Democrat. Fielder is young (25), educated (Stanford University), a person of color (both Native American and Latina), an environmental protester and an activist with a background in grassroots organizing. She describes herself as a Democratic Socialist.
A portrait of a man alone and in distress. (Image icsnaps, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The economic and health-related impacts of COVID-19 have perpetuated feelings of uncertainty, anxiousness and loneliness across a broad swath of California’s population. A third of Americans are experiencing these emotions, according to a recent Census Bureau survey, and that’s concerning because stressors can trigger or re-ignite more severe mental health issues.
Politics often get ugly, and there is nothing uglier than Opposition Research: digging up dirt on your opponent — or sometimes your own candidate. No one knows Oppo better than Joe Rodota, who honed his dark art in the Reagan White House, the Schwarzenegger campaign and other high-profile races in California and across the country.
A pushes a gurney stretcher along a hospital corridor. (Photo: Spotmatik Ltd, via Shutterstock)California’s hospitals are experiencing unprecedented financial stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with net losses projected to hit $14.6 billion by the end of 2020. The losses are “way above anything anyone could have anticipated… the costs have been nothing like we have ever seen before,” said Jan Emerson-Shea, a spokeswoman for the California Hospital Association, which represents about 400 hospitals, large and small.
Photo illustration of a map focusing on coastal Southern California, (Image: jimrainbow, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Last week, I started as the vice president of Redistricting Partners, a Sacramento-based firm known for its advocacy before the California Redistricting Commission and work doing voting rights analysis and redistricting for local governments. As I take this leap, I am constantly thinking about one person, Congressman Darrel Issa, and the story that for me really crystalizes the importance of the redistricting process.