News
Rosalind “Roz” Wiener Wyman, the youngest person ever elected to the Los Angeles City Council and who played a key in bringing the Dodgers to Los Angeles, has died. She was 92. Wyman, a lifelong Democrat, was a political force in California politics. She put together fund-raisers for candidates, organized major events and was a scrappy campaigner herself and had an inexhaustible supply of energy.
News
In the final weeks before Election Day on Nov. 8, support for Proposition 30, the state ballot measure on funding to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has slid to less than a majority. On the congressional front, Democrats hold an overall edge across the 10 competitive districts that could determine which party controls the US House of Representatives.
News
Readers of Capitol Weekly understand how “blue” California is. That’s why you’re up in the middle of the night thinking about Democrat -versus-Democrat races for State Assembly while you probably can’t name the full slate of Republican statewide candidates. But what about the average California voter?
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Though we have covered gaming expansion attempts many times over the years, we’re no gambling experts – but our guest, Richard Schuetz, is. Schuetz’ resume is fascinating: he got his start as dealer in Las Vegas casinos, and he worked his way up to heading one of the largest gaming operations in the country. He joined us this episode from Pennsylvania, where he weighed in on the current proposals, the history of online gaming, the profound differences between commercial gaming operations and those operated by tribal organizations, and what tattoo Prop. 27 backers should get.
News
Lanhee Chen decided to become a Republican at age 10 after watching the 1988 presidential debate between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis. He has a vivid memory of watching Bush talk about “compassionate conservatism” and how important it is to encourage people to help one another. “Government is not the reflexive solution to everything,” said Chen, 44. “That was the vision.”
News
The 2028 Summer Olympics will take place in Los Angeles between July 21 and Aug. 6, 2028. The event will cost an estimated $6.9 billion, will host 15,000 athletes, and could potentially attract at least one million visitors, both foreign and domestic. Most of them will pass through Los Angeles International Airport near one
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Los Angeles saw the most intense political implosion in decades last week after an anonymous source released a secretly-taped recording of LA City Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon, and Ron Herrerra of the Los Angeles County Labor Federation, disparaging colleagues, making racist remarks and discussing strategies to reduce the political clout of Los Angeles’ Black community. Los Angeles Times columnist Erika Smith joined us to give an update on the situation and tells us what it might mean for the future of LA.
News
More than 60% of California’s groundwater wells are operating at below-normal levels, endangering much of the Golden State’s population that relies on the precious resource. Although relatively unknown to many Californians, who see water supply in terms of rivers, streams and reservoirs, groundwater is a hugely vital source that is largely invisible.
News
A spate of smash-and-grab robberies and a rising crime rate may have dampened their hopes early on, but criminal justice reformers say the recently ended legislative session brought a raft of significant improvements to the way California treats people caught up in the system.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Political data-cruncher, and frequent Capitol Weekly Podcast guest, Paul Mitchell joins us to read the political tea leaves, 30 days out from the 2022 election.
Roz Wyman at bat. (Photo: Screen capture, Capito, weekly oral history)
