Sen. Mike McGuire, photo by APNew Senate pro Tem Mike McGuire announced his Senate Democratic Leadership Team and committee membership assignments for the 2024 Legislative year. The Senate Rules Committee will ratify the committee memberships next Wednesday, February 14, 2024.
Image by by-studioOPINION – After a big year of action in 2022, our state had some monumental wins in 2023 but also undercut this progress with actions and policies that move us in the opposite direction on environmental protection and climate leadership. In 2023, California’ took two steps forward and one step back.
An owner of a small business is ready for customers. (Photo: SaiArLawKa2, via Shutterstock)OPINION: As the fifth largest economy in the world, California is home to heavyweight economic industries: Silicon Valley, the entertainment industry, agriculture, tourism, and more. But anyone who lives here knows that there’s also a boom in the number of people who are starting their own microbusinesses.
Assemblyman Henry Perea, a power among the Legislature’s business-friendly Democrats, will resign his seat effective Dec. 31, a year before he will be forced from office by term limits.
Lake Oroville ravaged by drought. (Photo: State Department of Water Resources, 2014)Analysis: California ecosystems are losing their resilience and their ability to sustain native plants and animals. In the past, even in droughts, there were natural refuges to sustain native species. Today, most of these ecosystems are changing rapidly from human impacts and many have deteriorated to critical condition. Refuges are scarce.
An apprentice engineer uses a milling machine at a training facility. (Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Shutterstock)As the uneven economy recovery continues in California, there is one area where jobs remain available: technical workers. Workers with vocational training are currently in demand. The hardest segment of the workforce to replace has been the skilled trades, due to a shortage caused by the exodus of highly-skilled baby boomers that are entering retirement.
OPINION: The Internet helps every business sector in every region across the state, especially in Fresno and throughout the Central Valley. While the region is often known for agriculture, it should also be recognized for some of the exciting restaurants, art venues, and specialty retail stores that are flourishing in the area as well.
A view of the California drought from Marine One during President Obama's visit earlier this year. (Photo: White House)California’s severe drought is having a profound effect on farming and an unprecedented amount of acreage likely will be left fallow, the Brown administration’s top agriculture official says. Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross told an Assembly budget subcommittee that “no doubt there will be a tremendous impact on agriculture this year.”
When Republican Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen recently refused to sign the no-tax pledge, she drew fire from many in the GOP and skepticism from Democrats.
But whatever the political fallout, it didn’t have much impact on Election Day: She easily carried the 12th AD, which covers most of Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties.
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