Posts Tagged: alternative

News

Real change proves elusive in mental health care system

An illustration of the brain and potential links to instability -- including mental illness. Some elements provided by NASA.(Image: GrAI, via Shutterstock)

Important legislation to improve California’s broken mental health system was passed this year, plus billions in new funding in the state budget — all aimed at stemming the tide of a growing crisis on California streets, in hospital ER’s, jails and prisons. But will it mean real change?

News

Reforming California’s juvenile justice system proving difficult

A young inmate is escorted through a detention facility. (Photo: Thomas Andre Fure, via Shuterstock)

California sought to reform its juvenile justice system by housing young people closer to their communities in facilities that are intended to replace the youth prisons run by the Department of Juvenile Justice. If Los Angeles County’s experience is any indication, making that shift is more difficult than expected.

Opinion

Legislature eyes bill that could seriously hurt supply chain

A worker unloads cargo at an outlet in LA's Chinatown district.(Photo: Matt Gush, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: There is no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of us. Brick and mortar small businesses have been forced to quickly adapt or face the very real possibility of shutting their doors. On top of that, consumers are paying more for everything while backordered goods have become the new normal.

News

Amid climate change, alternative energy issues get close look

Vertical-axis wind turbines in California. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)

Officials with jurisdiction over about 80 percent of California’s power grid say the state faces a grim outlook as summer heat, wildfires and a severe drought intensify. Hoping to reduce strain on the power grid, experts are looking at alternative energy generation, distribution and storage. Some of these systems, inspired in part by the meltdown of California’s electricity market two decades ago, already are in place across the state.

Opinion

Historic spike in gun violence demands response from Newsom

Gunsmith working on an 300 Blackout AR rifle upper receiver in a vise at a gun shop in California

OPINION: As gun sales and gun deaths have continued to surge since the onset of the pandemic, California’s underinvestment in violence intervention programs has become a glaring policy failure. Even after January 2021 proved to be California’s single deadliest month for gun homicides since 2007, the governor and state legislators have still not agreed to make funding the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) grant program a priority.

Opinion

A battle against unfairness in education funding

Students in a classroom receiving instruction, pre-pandemic. (Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Over the past year, the need for equity has risen to the forefront of public discourse. As calls for racial equity and health equity have rightfully become more prominent, unfortunately education equity has shifted in the wrong direction. One of the most egregious acts of education inequity is seen in the fine print of AB 1316.

Opinion

Truth-in-lending law needed now

A photo illustration using stacks of quarters to show rising interest rates. (Photo: Doubletree Studio)

Would you take out a loan for a new home if you didn’t know the interest rate? How about for a car? Or even for a credit card? More than likely, not.

News

Does SCOTUS ruling ease cuts to public retirees’ health care?

Two senior women exercising at a health club. (Photo: Karel Hoppe)

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January weakens the “vested rights” protection of retiree health care based on a labor contract, potentially making it easier for government employers to cut a growing cost. The high court overturned an influential federal appeals court ruling that said retiree health care authorized by a short-term labor contract is presumed to be a lifetime benefit, unless the contract has clear language to the contrary.

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