Posts Tagged: businesses

News

Amid pandemic, California ballot measures facing tough sell

Photo illustration of a voter's reminder for the Nov. 3, 2020 general election. (Image: Prostock-studio, via Shutterstock)

Qualifying a proposition for the ballot – much less convincing millions of voters to support it – is always a Herculean task. In the best of times, it requires a near limitless supply of money, talent and luck. Nobody right now thinks we are in the best of times. Many months now into the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people instead feel trapped inside a George Orwell novel.

News

Facing COVID-19 on California’s rural front

A lonely road in Inyo County near Lone Pine, Calif., with the Sierra Nevada in the background. (Photo: Nella, via Shutterstock)

California’s most heavily populated counties are drawing the most attention as COVID-19 spikes and spreads, with Los Angeles reporting more than 140,000 cases and nearly 3,900 deaths since March. But California’s rural counties also face immense challenges. And while their populations are less dense and the infection levels lower overall than the larger counties, the available health services often are scant.

Podcast

Capitol Weekly Podcast: Jim Wunderman of the Bay Area Council

Jim Wunderman, photo by Margo Moritz

Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council, joins the Capitol Weekly Podcast to talk about the impact of the coronavirus on his association’s members, and what to expect as California reopens. What you can’t expect is for things to be the same as they were before COVID-19.

Opinion

Post-pandemic, let’s go fishing — with a 365-day license

An angler at Lake George in the Mammoth Lakes recreation area. (Photo: Justin Mair, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Recreational fishing has always been the greatest form of social distancing, long before the coronavirus pandemic mandated it. Gov. Gavin Newsom faces the immediate challenge of protecting the health and welfare of our state’s citizenry, it is not too early for his administration to give careful consideration to how to rebuild California’s outdoor tourism industry.

News

Q&A: Top L.A. County health official battles pandemic

Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County’s top health official, is in the hot seat as the COVID-19 pandemic exacts its rising toll. With over 10 million residents, the county is by far California’s largest, and it has the most confirmed coronavirus cases.

Analysis

Exiting shutdown? Hire an army of public health workers

The Third Street Promenade, an open-air mall in Santa Monica, is completely deserted during the shutdown. (Photo: MSPhotographic, via Shutterstock)

Last month, facing the prospect of overwhelmed hospitals and unchecked spread of the novel coronavirus, seven Bay Area county and city health departments joined forces to become the first region in the nation to pass sweeping regulations ordering millions of people indoors and shuttering the local economy.

Opinion

Patronize small businesses, save the economy

A local tavern without customers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo: Rick Menapace, via Shutterstock)

OPINION The federal government and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are taking steps to help small business in this time of dire danger, but ultimately it will be individual citizens as consumers who must save the national and state economy.

Opinion

Don’t let the Golden State go dark

Transmission tower with power lines surrounded by trees. <(Photo: Pictures_n_Photos, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: The devastation of fire season in wine country and southern California has only been compounded by never-ending public safety power shutoffs across the state. While the purpose of power shutoffs by utility companies, like PG&E, is to prevent their uninspected equipment from catching fire during hot, windy weather, the constant lack of power is an unacceptable solution for California homeowners and business owners and their operations. 

Opinion

Where are the promised fixes to the new privacy law?

An illustration of online data sharing. (Image: Lightspring, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: One year ago, the California Legislature passed the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed it into law. Even at passage, the legislative leadership recognized its flaws – what some observers called an “unmitigated disaster in the making” – and committed to addressing its flaws in the year before it took effect in January of 2020.

Opinion

Privacy Act hinders foster care placements

A solitary child sits ona park bench. (Photo: Alex Tor, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: There are more than 55,000 children in foster care in California and about 34 percent of them will be placed with relatives according to AdoptUSKids — that is, if social workers can find their family. When a child is removed from the home and placed in out-of-home care, relatives are the preferred resource because this type of placement maintains the child’s connections with their family.

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