An illustration of high-speed broadband connections serving a city. (Image: kkssr, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The gaps between the connected and unconnected have never been clearer as California continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. The lack of access to online classes, employment opportunities and telehealth visits became more apparent when COVID-19 shut down our state.
Palm trees with the smoggy L.A. skyline in the background. (Photo: J Dennis, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Californians know that climate change is here, climate change is real, and climate change is the biggest threat to our planet’s future. Less known but recently more proven is that racist and discriminatory policies of the past, like redlining, have locked in pollution exposure among low-income communities of color and dramatically increased their climate-related risks.
Voters head into their precinct to cast their ballots. (Photo: Shutterstock)The people who go to the polls in California are very different from those who don’t—a gap that has far-reaching implications for our democracy and political future. The fact that a relatively small, unrepresentative group of Californians elect officials and make policies is an urgent challenge for the state, especially as the population continues to
A view of the Pacific Ocean along the Big Sur coast in northern California. (Photo: Mariusz S. Jurgielewicz, via Shutterstock)OPINION: California has distinguished itself as a climate leader, from reducing carbon emissions to managing wildfire risk and preparing coastal cities for rising seas. But our action to date has largely stopped at the shoreline, despite the fact that some of the first and worst climate impacts are being felt in the ocean.
Image: "I Voted in California" stickers, from instocklabels.comHere it is, Dec. 11, and the final count of ballots cast in California’s Nov. 6 general election was certified less than a week ago. And, as Jim Brulte and Kevin McCarthy have sadly noted, many GOP Election Night “wins” fell to Democrats as the final votes were tallied.
The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Kris Wiktor)The burning question of the day: Should Joint Rule 10.5 be changed? If you, like most normal people, have little interest in the Capitol’s battles, then this question prompts a big yawn. But if you engage in the interminable wars over legislation, then this issue is a very, very big deal. So pay attention, you may be tested on this later.
A man addresses a raise-the-minimum-wage demonstration in Los Angeles. (Photo: Dan Holm)While lawmakers were cutting themselves up over the thorny minimum wage bill this week, a powerful conversation took place three blocks away from the capitol. Industry, union and college leaders were working through the pragmatic next steps on a modest proposal to move more Californians from minimum wage to medium wages and higher.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, right, rushes past reporters Friday moments after House Speaker John Boehner's resignation announcement. (Photo: Lauren Victoria Burke)California’s Kevin McCarthy is on track to become the next speaker of the House. If it happens, the affable Republican will achieve one of the fastest ascents in House history — or California political history, for that matter. He would be the second House speaker from California. The other is San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi.
Voters cast ballots at the November 2014 general election in Oak View, Calif. (Photo: Joseph Sohm) We Californians justifiably become excited about our many remarkable achievements: we make terrific movies; Silicon Valley leads the planet in technological innovation; our traffic jams are world class. But when it comes to voting, we give a statewide shrug. A mere 42.2 percent of registered voters — registered voters — bothered to cast ballots in the November 2014 general election. Los Angeles County bottomed out statewide with a turnout of 31 percent. It gets even worse: The June 2014 turnout was 25.2 percent.
A homeless man in Oceanside. (Photo: David Little)With news this week that California’s tax revenues came in $6-$8 billion stronger than previous estimates, California now has an undeniable choice: a high road that lifts up all our people and strengthens our state, or a low road that ignores the nearly one in four residents who live below the poverty line in the wealthiest state in the nation.