News

Cryptic fragrances: Questions, legislation linger in California

A woman carries a load of cleaning supplies, a key source of common fragrances. (Photo: Bikeriderlondon, via Shutterstock)

For Joyce Miller, one sniff of scented laundry detergent can trigger an asthma attack. “What happens is I feel like someone is standing on my chest,” says the 57-year-old professor of library science in upstate New York. “It’s almost like a choking feeling – pressure and choking. And then the coughing starts,” she said.

Analysis

Brown’s transportation budget celebrates the car

A traffic jam in downtown Los Angeles. (Photo: Prayitno, Wikimedia)

Weeks after returning from the Paris summit on climate change where he was hailed as a leader in the movement to limit greenhouse gases, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed a new transportation budget that celebrates the car. In 2016-17, Brown wants to spend $16 billion on transportation, and most of that would go toward making it easier for people to drive. The Democratic governor wants to build new roads and highways and repave old ones, and use more technology to speed traffic.

News

Coastal Commission executive director under fire

The California coast along Redwood National Park, north Humboldt County, (Photo: Don Forthuber, redwoods.info)

A move to oust the executive director of the California Coastal Commission is under way, an effort that marks the most significant attempt against the commission’s ranking administrator in two decades. Commission Chair Steve Kinsey wrote a letter to Executive Director Charles Lester, saying the 12-member panel “will consider whether to dismiss you” at the commission’s February meeting.

Podcast

Capitol Weekly starts regular podcast: Episode 1

Photo by Tim Foster/Capitol Weekly

Political junkies lend us your ears: Capitol Weekly has always taken care of its readers, of course, but now we’re taking care of our listeners, too. We’ve started a weekly podcast.

Analysis

Time, the killer of campaigns

Illustration by Judd Hertzler/Capitol Weekly.

ANALYSIS: Most politicos are fans of the movie The Candidate, a 1972 political drama where a U.S. Senate candidate, Bill McKay, seeks an underdog win in his first campaign. The energy and excitement builds up for months leading to a pivotal sunny Tuesday in California when everyone heads to the polls. The movie is filled with young excited volunteers rushing out to put up door hangers, check polling locations to see who’s voted, and make phone calls to those who haven’t – all parts of the traditional get out the vote efforts known in the business as G.O.T.V. But if this campaign were a modern campaign it would also be a losing campaign.

News

Stem cell agency’s key meetings going live on the Internet

A simulated view through a microscope of bacterias in the shape of California. (Illustration: Pat Bengtsson, via Shutterstock)

With no fanfare, California’s $3 billion stem cell agency is making a significant step forward in openness and transparency regarding the dealings of its governing board, which operates outside of the control of the governor and Legislature. Tuesday’s meeting of the directors’ Science Subcommittee will be available live for the first time — for all practical purposes — on the Internet and as an audiocast, including access to presentations that are used at the meeting.

News

Paul Mitchell, Capitol Weekly collaborate on new feature

Voluminous data displayed on a computer monitor. (Photo: Dimitri Nikolaev)

Data wizard Paul Mitchell and Capitol Weekly are joining forces to regularly explore contemporary issues of importance to our readers in a new column called “CA120.” Gun control, the environment, education, state budgeting and, of course, California elections. On occasion, we hope to offer profound insight. And at other times, we’ll use the data just to have fun.

News

Words of gloom accompany Brown’s budget

Gov. Brown unveils his 2016-17 budget plan, urging caution about potential economic downturns. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

California’s economy is on the mend and revenues are fat, but Gov. Brown offered some words of gloom as he unveiled a $171 billion budget blueprint for the fiscal year beginning July 1. “If you’re a betting person, you can easily conclude that deficits are more likely than surpluses,” Brown said Thursday as he presented his 2016-17 budget to the Legislature.

News

Field Poll: Cruz surges in California, ties Trump

GOP voter support for Ted Cruz has surged in California over the past three months and the Texas Senator has now moved into a statistical tie with businessman Donald Trump for the lead in this state’s Republican presidential primary. Cruz is the first choice of 25% of likely GOP voters in the latest statewide Field Poll, while Trump is backed by 23%.

News

California inconsistently enforces hospital privacy laws

An elderly patient in a wheelchair receiving care at a California hospital. (Photo: bikeriderlondon, via shutterstock)

In 2008, outraged by a string of snooping incidents involving celebrities’ medical records, California legislators passed a groundbreaking law that compelled hospitals to quickly report patient privacy breaches and gave the state power to levy fines for such violations. But a ProPublica analysis of state data shows enforcement has been inconsistent.

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