Workers and shoppers at at the checkout area of a food store in the San Francisco Bay area. (Sundry Photography, via Shutterstock)OPINION: As much as we all might yearn for everything to go back to just the way it was before the novel coronavirus uprooted the world, we know that there are things that can never go back. Workplaces have forever been changed.
A voter casts a ballot in the 2016 election in Ventura County. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)The chatter online and in the media is all about the June 5 Primary Election. But, for those of us working in these races, the election has been ongoing for weeks. In fact, as of Memorial Day weekend, 1.25 million California voters have cast ballots, approximately 20% of the expected total turnout of by-mail and poll voters.
Investigators probe the London premises of Cambridge Analytica last week, after a search warrant was issued by a High Court judge. (Photo: Yui Mok/Press Association, via AP)It hasn’t been long since we learned of a presidential campaign that used personal information gleaned from Facebook apps to enhance voter files, and target voters and their friends with political messaging. This campaign was so sophisticated that they could identify people who would be swayed by particular messages, were more persuaded by messages about immigration, education, or health care, were likely or unlikely to vote, or even were likely to volunteer or donate money.
Photo illustration of a definition of legal terms, including "regulation." ((Photo: Ivelin Radkov)The 2017 legislative session is in full swing, but let’s turn our attention for a moment from laws to regulations. We have heard from legislators and others who would like to see California’s administrative agencies consider getting rid of expired and outdated regulations, or amending existing regulations that have become problematic for those being regulated. Regulations are the rules that define how laws are put into effect, and they are crucial to governance.