Posts Tagged: 2017

Opinion

Keep, improve California’s End of Life Option Act

An elderly ill patient receives care from a nurse. (Photo: Ocskay Mark, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Six years ago, I joined terminally ill Californians to pass a law that would provide them the option to die gently when they can no longer tolerate their suffering. This is personal to me: I watched my mother’s lengthy suffering when she died from cancer.  People often thank me and share their stories why the End of Life Option Act is important to them.

News

CA120: California’s mail-in voting cranks up

Dermonstrators in front of the U.S. Post Office in Torrance protesting federal funding cuts. (Photo: Vince360, via Shutterstock)

Vote-by-mail ballots have been sent to all registered voters in Amador County, with Solano reporting they will be mailing ballots today, while Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego counties — and maybe others – will be mailing next week. These counties are getting ahead of the Oct. 5 deadline for California counties to mail ballots.  In other states, meanwhile, voting has been taking place for weeks.

Opinion

New wildfire safety bill hurts, rather than helps

A California forest fire seen at night. (Photo: vladseagull, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Until 2019, if a California utility violated fire safety rules and thereby caused a catastrophic wildfire, the utility could not make its customers pay for its uninsured wildfire costs.In 2017, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) was found by two administrative law judges to have violated numerous fire safety rules when its operations caused San Diego’s catastrophic wildfires in 2007.

News

As economy surges, a dramatic drop in workers on disability

Tens of thousands of Californians have come off the Social Security disability payroll and gone back to work, part of a national trend that reflects a surging U.S. economy, a shift toward less conventional work and tighter supervision of what qualifies a worker for disability benefits.

News

CA120: In 2020, don’t forget California’s GOP primary

Donald Trump at a 2016 political rally in Costa Mesa, Orange County. (Photo: mikeledray, via Shutterstock)

With the coming 2020 Presidential primary, all eyes are on the plethora of Democratic candidates joining the fray, and the big possibility that an early California contest could catapult one or more contenders past Super Tuesday.
With all this activity on the left, few are looking at what could be going on with the Republican side of the ticket. Could there be something in California for a Republican challenger to President Donald Trump?

News

Here’s the buzz on disappearing bees

Bee hives for pollination in an almond orchard in California's Central Valley. (Photo: Richard Thornton, via Shutterstock)

As the world faces a declining bee population, California almond growers say they are doing their best to promote bee health. Over the last few weeks, bee keepers from all over the U.S. were in the Central Valley releasing bees to pollinate the almond crops. Almond growers use about 75 percent of the commercial beehives in the country to pollinate their crops.

News

California’s valley fever on the rise

Lab supervisor Marilyn Mitchell pulls samples during tests for Valley Fever at the Community Medical Center lab in Fresno. (Photo: Fresno Bee/Craig Kohlruss, 2014, via AP)

The first sign that Rob Purdie had valley fever was when he woke up one day with what felt like a hangover but he hadn’t taken a drink. He had a splitting headache that was so bad that he had to stay in dark room with the blinds drawn and his sunglasses on. He was eventually diagnosed with coccidioidomycosis meningitis, the most severe form of valley fever.

News

State Dem Party shuns private-prison donations*

Headquarters of the California Democratic Party in Sacramento. (Photo: cadem.org)

The head of the California Democratic Party says the CDP will no longer accept political contributions from private prison corporations. Party Chair Eric Bauman said any contributions received since May 21, 2017 would be “donated to organizations doing critical work to protect immigrants from the Trump administration or to support and rehabilitate recently incarcerated folks.”

News

All aboard for Mars? Why not?

An image of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket over Los Angeles, December 2017. (Photo: Philip Pilosian)

Will you (OK, your grandchildren) someday take a vacation jaunt to Mars? Or maybe move there permanently? You will if California’s 0utside-the-box-thinker Elon Musk and his competitors have their way. Non-passenger commercial space activity is already big business. Musk’s SpaceX company launches satellites into orbit, charging commercial customers $62 million per launch to as much as $20 million more for more complicated tasks, such as resupplying the International Space Station.

News

Tuition hikes on horizon for CSU

The entrance to Sacramento State University. ((Photo: Sacramento State)

A funding gap between Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed 2018-19 budget and the draft spending plan of the California State University may lead to a tuition increase for CSU students, including those at Sacramento State. CSU students across the state would face a 4 percent tuition increase, or $228 per semester, totaling $5,970 for the 2018-19 academic year.

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