Posts Tagged: business

News

Where are they now? Adrian Fondse

Former legislator Adrian Fondse in the orchard near his home in Ripon. (Photo: Alex Vassar)

Just over an hour south of Sacramento on Highway 99 is the small farming town of Ripon. East of town are miles after miles of almond groves. Driving past rows of trees on a nearly empty road, you may come to a small clearing with a sign noting that you’ve arrived at “Fonz’s Place.” And it literally is.

Opinion

Low auction result helps legal case for cap-and-trade

A smog-tinged view in black and white of Century City, Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles. (Photo: Trekandshoot, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: When the California Air Resources Board released the results of its May auction of carbon allowances, audible gasps from around the state could be heard from the space station. I kid – but only just a little. The auction results did in fact create a great shock: many had expected at least half a billion dollars to be collected at the quarterly auction, but the auction generated only about ten million dollars. But here’s the truth: The super-low May auction result should actually help the State’s legal defense of cap-and-trade.

News

Senate eyes human egg business

A high-resolution image of human egg cells. (Jezper, via Shutterstock)

If you are interested in the buying and selling of human eggs, you might want to take in a California legislative hearing tomorrow in Sacramento. Up for action in the state Senate Health Committee is a measure that would permit paying women who provide the eggs if they do so for the purposes of research.

Opinion

Broadband: The PUC, mergers and public benefits

Voluminous data displayed on a computer monitor. (Photo: Dimitri Nikolaev)

OPINION: California once again is defining a new era of public benefits from corporate consolidations in advanced communications and high-speed Internet access. Consumers and residents will be measurably better off as a result and California will move closer to closing the Digital Divide.

Recent News

Stem cell agency okays $150 million ‘powerhouse’

Examining a liquid nitrogen bank containing suspended stem cells. (Photo: Elena Pavolvich)

Directors of California’s stem cell agency this morning approved financing terms for a proposed, $150 million, public-private company that the agency hopes will accelerate the creation of long-sought stem cell therapies. The plan to create a stem cell “powerhouse” is likely to be one of the landmark legacies of the state’s $3 billion research effort — for better or worse.

Opinion

Memo to Brown: Affordable housing is a life and death matter

A family housing illustration by arka38, via Shutterrstock

OPINION: The same day Governor Jerry Brown delivered his proposed state budget, Barbara Brown died of exposure on a skid row street during an El Niño storm. More than the coincidence of a common last name links the two. As a literal storm killed this unfortunate woman, Gov. Brown once again ignored California’s worsening housing crisis, instead calling on the state to squirrel away $2 billion on top of required state reserves in order to save for an economic “rainy day.”

Opinion

Road charge: A funding option

An L.A. freeway interchange at dusk. (Photo: Shutterstock)

OPINION: California drivers are bearing the burden of the state’s transportation funding crisis, with the average driver spending more than $500 a year to repair the wear and tear on their vehicle caused by bad roads. Gas tax revenues currently fund most of the state’s road maintenance and repairs, but gas tax revenues are declining as cars become more fuel efficient and as drivers adopt hybrids and electric vehicles.

Opinion

Small business, labor join together on franchises

It may seem nostalgic to think that small businesses and the people they employ could work together for the strength of our communities, but that old-fashioned idea is making a comeback because giant corporations like 7-Eleven are threatening the survival of both local franchise owners and workers in our communities.

News

CalPERS urged to shun Obamacare ‘Cadillac Tax’

Calpensions: Employer and employee groups are urging CalPERS to “undertake all efforts” to avoid the “Cadillac Tax,” a 40 percent tax on high-cost health plans imposed in 2018 by President Obama’s health care law, a CalPERS staff report said this month. But it’s far from clear that one of those efforts will be Gov. Brown’s proposal to give state workers the option of a low-cost plan with a high deductible, even though the administration mentions the looming penalty tax as a reason for offering the plan.

News

A bare-knuckle brawl in the 7th Senate District

Candidates in the 7th Senate District: Orinda Mayor Steve Glazer and Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, D-Concord. (Photo illustration, separate images combined: Tim Foster, Capitol Weekly)

Welcome to the 7th Senate District, where money and hardball politics came together in the primary election. The runoff likely will not be much different. Even in a state now accustomed to seven-digit spending in legislative campaigns, the 7th District showdown in May is likely to set records. And powerful interests that weighed in during the primary – organized labor, business interests, the dentists, the doctors and the fire fighters, for example – are all but certain to pony up again.

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