Posts Tagged: attention

News

Private prison firms make big money in California

A facility run by CoreCivic, a private-prison company. The photo was taken in November 2019, shortly before private prisons were outlawed in California. (Photo: Shuttertstock)

In January 2020, Californians thought they were getting out of the private prison business. They are, but under a new law, AB 32, which went into effect at the first of the year, the state remains heavily invested in backing for-profit correctional services — including facilities that resemble detention centers run by the same companies who operate private prisons.

News

Daybreak PAC hopes to push Legislature leftward

The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Cassionhabib, via Shutterstock)

On March 23, about 80 people gathered on a Zoom call to launch Daybreak PAC, a political action committee aimed at moving the California Legislature to the left by supporting progressive candidates and policies. The PAC is headed by activist Jackie Fielder, an unsuccessful state Senate candidate who challenged incumbent Democrat Scott Wiener last year in San Francisco.

Opinion

Public safety legislation: Read the fine print carefully

Police officers in Los Angeles observe a public protest. (Photo: Matt Gush, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: As members of our California communities call for reform, our state legislators have proposed almost two dozen bills aimed at fundamentally changing the practice of law enforcement in our state. Unfortunately, many of these bills were developed overnight, in silos and behind closed doors.

News

Amendments: A long and winding road

State Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Shuttesrstock)

In the Legislature, there are several types of amendments — amendment is a fancy word for “change” — that can be made to any number of measures, including bills, resolutions and constitutional amendments.

News

A first: Schiff flies above the radar

Rep. Adam Schiff, right, vice chair of the House Intelligence Committee, ponders testimony. (Photo: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

In an overheated political environment where it’s dangerous to stand between some politicians and a television camera, the national spotlight has suddenly fallen on a low-key Californian who implores Donald Trump to be truthful. He is Adam Bennett Schiff, 56, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Opinion

CA election data: People of color at disadvantage

A Californian casts a ballot. (Photo: Vepar5 via Shutterstock)

OPINION: All the votes from the June primary elections are finally counted. We now have the second highest number of votes—more than 8.5 million—ever cast in a California statewide primary. While this is good news for our communities and for the state, we have a lot more work to do when it comes to ensuring that more Californians have a say in the political process.

News

State bets $30 million on new cancer treatment

A scientist works in a biological laboratory. (Photo: Anya Ivanova, via Shutterstock)

A new stem cell company that targets cancer by unleashing an “eat me” trigger has emerged from a $30 million investment by the state of California. Creation of the Palo Alto firm, which is called Forty Seven, Inc., was announced Feb. 24 by its backers and its key researcher, Irv Weissman, director of Stanford University’s stem cell program.

News

Governor signs end-of-life bill

Debbie Ziegler, mother of Brittany Maynard, speaks to the media in Sacramento after the passage in September of legislation that would allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives. Gov. Brown signed the bill Monday.(Photo: AP/Carl Costas)

Gov. Jerry Brown, in one of the most emotional moments of his long political career, signed into law a bill allowing people near death to end their lives with lethal drugs supplied by a physician. “The crux of the matter is whether the state of California should continue to make it a crime for a dying person to end his life, no matter how great his pain or suffering,” Brown wrote in his official signing message.

News

Felicia Marcus navigates drought’s rough water

Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, is at the heart of California's efforts to deal with an unprecedented drought. (Photo: Phil Kampel for Capitol Weekly)

No matter what you might have heard, Felicia Marcus wants you to know she doesn’t hate your lawn. At least not on general principle. “No, no, no,” Marcus, the chair of the Water Resources Control Board, says emphatically when asked about a quote from California Farm Bureau Federation president Paul Wenger that claimed Marcus has a personal vendetta against green lawns.

News

A ghost of Prop. 46 eyed in the Capitol

A jumble of prescription drugs. (Photo illustration via Shutterstock)

California voters, confronted by a multimillion-dollar advertising blitz, overwhelmingly rejected Proposition 46, which would have raised the cap on pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice lawsuits. But new legislation in the Capitol targets a slice of Proposition 46 dealing with the state’s prescription drug database. And rival forces that clashed over Proposition 46 are poised to do battle again.

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