Posts Tagged: contracts

News

Outside auditor takes critical look at stem cell agency

A researcher examines meat cultured in laboratory conditions from stem cells. (Photo: Alex_Traksel, via Shutterstock)

California’s $12 billion stem cell agency needs to do better in several critical areas, ranging from planning for the replacement of its current chair to handling information that is key to its operations as well as the tracking of potential sources of royalties. That’s according to that latest performance audit of the 17-year-old agency.

News

Rebooting huge Medi-Cal system puts pressure on health plans

Photo illustration of a card identifying the recipient of Medi-Cal services. (Image: California Healthline)

When Denise Williams’ baby boy was 2 months old, she became alarmed by a rattling sound in his lungs and took him to the emergency room. While undergoing treatment, he spiraled into a disabling neurological disorder.

News

Beer battle brewing over distribution

A worker at a small brewery examines beer during the fermentation process. (Photo: MAD_Production, via Shutterstock)

An under-the-radar tussle is shaping up in California over how beer is being brought to drinkers across the state. The emerging beer battle pits small craft brewers against big distributors. On one side are the small brewers, who charge that the big distributors don’t want to bother with the relatively small volumes of craft brewers.

News

Pandemic: CA pauses multimillion-dollar testing expansion

A coronavirus anti-body testing station in Palo Alto run by Stanford University. (Photo: Sundry Photography, via Shutterstock)

In April, Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a multimillion-dollar state initiative to bring COVID-19 testing to the people and places with the least access: rural towns and disadvantaged inner-city neighborhoods. California is now halting its expansion, citing costs, even as the state is getting walloped by record-setting spikes in new infections and double-digit increases in hospitalizations.

Opinion

Climate change fight a matter of survival

Windmills at California's Tehachapi Pass. (Photo: Patrick Poendl, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Not long ago, I would have told you that our smart phone addiction was a nuisance. I’d lament to my stepdaughters that they spend too much time staring at a 6-inch screen rather than making human connection. And I’d likely receive an eye roll and an “OK boomer” in reply.

Podcast

CW Podcast: Bob Wieckowski on PG&E’s bankruptcy peril

State Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, who represents the 10th Senate District.(Senate photo)

State Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, is more than just the senator representing California’s 10th Senate District. He’s also a bankruptcy lawyer, giving him an unusual insight into Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s recent bankruptcy declaration.

News

Organized labor in California as 2019 begins

San Francisco Marriott hotel employees picketing in October in support of better wages, benefits. (Photo: 1000Photography, via Shutterstock)

California labor confronted major challenges last year but responded with frenetic organizing and a newfound aggressiveness—momentum unions hope to maintain in 2019. As 2018 opened, California had 2.49 million union members, roughly 15.5 percent of the state’s official working population

News

FEMA and California wildfires: A report card

The sun appears red through a haze of wildfire smoke in California. (Photo: Neil Lockhart)

Nearly a year after the 2017 California wildfires hit the north and south state, the report card on FEMA—the Federal Emergency Management Agency—is in. The Sept. 4 analysis by the U.S. Government Accountability Office detailing FEMA’s performance credited FEMA with fulfilling its own disaster readiness goals, but says that wasn’t enough for the agency to be sufficiently prepared to deal with the horrific fires that engulfed parts of the state.

News

Prison health care contract cloaked in secrecy

Hundreds of millions of dollars are involved in a new state contract for prison health care, but there’s no telling now exactly much money California is spending under the agreement, which takes effect in just weeks. Even lawmakers are kept in the dark.

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