Rex Hime. Photo with digital manipulation.Allan Zaremberg, who led the California Chamber of Commerce for more than two decades until he retired in 2021, and Rex Hime, head of the California Business Properties Association for 37 years, passed away within hours of one another on Saturday February 4th. Zaremberg was 73; Hime, 74.
Photo from Allan Zaremberg's Facebook page.Allan Zaremberg, who died early Saturday, shaped California’s policy and politics for the better part of four decades on issues ranging from the nation’s first assault weapons ban to who should become Supreme Court chief justice.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has proposed state health care for undocumented immigrants, at a press conference in Paramount on Jan. 22. (Photo: Ringo Chiu, via Shutterstock)California could soon be seeing an unprecedented overhaul of its state health care system — but only if the politics and money come together. Two proposals are making the rounds at the Capitol which, if approved, would greatly expand eligibility for publicly funded health insurance.
Tom Ammiano at a gay rights rally in 2011. (Photo: Pax Ahimsa Gethen, Wikipedia Commons)Tom Ammiano is a San Francisco icon. The first openly gay teacher in San Francisco, he served on the board of San Francisco Unified School District and in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, with future mayor, lieutenant governor and governor Gavin Newsom. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor several times and made his way to Sacramento, where he served in the Assembly from 2008 to 2014.
Sunrise in the Mojave Desert, CAstle Peaks. (Photo: sierralara, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The window of opportunity is rapidly closing for Senate Leader Toni Atkins and the California Legislature to save the Mojave Desert from Cadiz, Inc.’s reckless plan to suck the water out from under one of the Earth’s driest places and sell it to water golf courses and suburban lawns as far away as Orange County. Killed by Barack Obama and revived by Donald Trump, the water mining project would dramatically overdraw the aquifer below the desert and almost certainly stop the flow of water to the springs that preserve the Mojave’s fragile biodiversity.
A view of the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.Watergate sellers started raising prices on their apartments within days of the election. A two-bedroom duplex that had been on the market for nearly a year at $325,000 was relisted at $350,000. The owner of a one-bedroom apartment put his unit up for sale five days after the election at $300,000. “That’s about $100,000 more than one-bedrooms sell for,” scoffed a real estate agent. “He’s just trying to make a killing.”
Oprah Winfrey at a campaign rally for Barack Obama. (Photo: Krista Kennell)Will she? Will she really? “She,” of course, is Oprah Winfrey. And after her thunderous speech at the Golden Globes last week, she’s become the latest California-based celebrity to be touted for high political office.
Former Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, followed by French officials, at a 2014 meeting in Paris targeting climate change. (Photo: Frederic Legrand, COMEO, via Shutterstock)It was ‘way back in 1984 when Arnold Schwarzenegger first uttered the movie catchwords “I’ll be back” in The Terminator. Today, Arnold is back. Sort of. Now, through his Terminate Gerrymandering Crowdpac, Schwarzenegger has committed to match donations to a fund that will help Common Cause participate in a case before the Supreme Court challenging maps drawn by Wisconsin Republicans. He’s into other things, as well.
A family pet receives care in a veterinary hospital. (Photo: Didesign021, via Shutterstock)A California statute governing blood-banking programs and transfusions for dogs has flown under the radar for the past 7 years, causing private veterinarians to break a law that they did not know existed. The issue would still be cloaked in obscurity had it not been for comments that emerged during a recent veterinary seminar at UC Davis.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer at a political rally in San Diego. (Photo: AP/Lenny Ignelzi)California Republicans don’t have a deep statewide bench. But they may have a rising star in San Diego — Mayor Kevin Faulconer. “He would be a very compelling candidate for statewide office if he ever chose to run,” said state GOP Chairman Jim Brulte, who led Republicans in both houses of the Legislature. Faulconer, who came to power in the wake of the scandal-plagued administration of Democrat Bob Filner, has ruled out running for governor in 2018.