Posts Tagged: counties

Letters

Letter to the Editor: Mental health care

Dear Editor: I want to commend reporter Sigrid Bathen for her thorough and excellent reporting on an issue important to so many people: providing mental health care for our loved ones. Ms. Bathen’s two-part series shined a critical light on some counties’ resistance to adopting Laura’s Law to enhance outpatient services to those with severe mental health issues.

News

Santa Clara judge creates ‘gold standard’ for mental health courts

Judge Stephen V. Manley on the bench in Santa Clara County. (Photo: Veteransvoices.net)

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Stephen Manley refers to defendants in his courtroom as “clients” – an indication of the unusually informal and conversational tenor of the Behavioral Health Court he created more than two decades ago. “It tends to break through a barrier,” Manley said.

News

Stronger ‘Laura’s law’ wins Assembly approval

Laura Wilcox, whose shooting death in Nevada County inspired "Laura's Law." (Family photo)

Legislation to strengthen California’s 2002 “Laura’s Law,” which gives family members a legal tool to get treatment for their severely mentally ill relatives, has been approved 77-0 by the state Assembly, despite opposition from some California counties, behavioral health directors and a labor union representing employees in local mental-health programs.

Analysis

CA120: California well prepared for vote-by-mail in November

A California voter casts a ballot by mail. (Photo: vepar5, via Shutterstock)

When Californians went to the polls in March, the big news was the consolidation of the Democratic primary contest. Few would have expected that we were also effectively seeing the end of the primary election season — with subsequent elections throughout the spring either cancelled or run under the cloud of a viral pandemic.

News

CA120: Confusion for independents hoping to vote Democratic

A sign at a political rally urging Democrats to register to vote. (Photo: AlessandraRC, via Shutterstock)

Despite the several avenues for nonpartisans to obtain a presidential primary ballot, we now have the data from all 58 counties. Remarkably, only 9% of California’s growing independent and vote-by-mail population have successfully obtained a partisan presidential primary ballot. For 91% of nonpartisan voters, there is no presidential race on the ballot they received in the mail.

News

Feds to California: Open up lands to oil, gas drilling

A pumpjack in California's San Joaquin Valley. (Photo: Mark Geistweite, via Shutterstock)

The Trump administration is to opening up 1.2 million acres for oil and gas drilling across California from the Central Valley to the coast, targeting eight counties — Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, San Luis Obisbo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura.T he plan follows an earlier move by the federal Bureau of Land Management to issue leases for oil and gas drilling on roughly 800,000 acres in 11 counties.

News

Lorena Gonzalez, a victor in major political fights

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez addressing lawmakers about her labor bill, AB 5. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez wrapped up this legislative year feeling pretty good about her accomplishments. Despite often fierce opposition, the San Diego Democrat was able to pass 11 pieces of legislation, including those that protect child sexual abuse survivors and workers.

Opinion

The push for clean energy is powering up

Photovoltaic modules capture sunlight. (Photo: foxbat, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Americans have grown accustomed to a parade of bad news on climate change coupled with a stream of  federal policy shifts designed to promote fossil fuels. But outside of the Beltway, in cities and towns across the country, the move to 100% clean energy is becoming a reality.Dozens of cities and counties in California and elsewhere are already running on 100% clean electricity, and over 150 American cities and counties have set 100% clean energy goals.

News

In California, kids in custody targeted by pepper spray

An image of a person using pepper spray. (Photo: Schnoeppl, via Shutterstock)

Pepper spray – classified and regulated as a form of tear gas – was used routinely on thousands of California children housed in state and county juvenile detention facilities, according to a recent report by the ACLU of Southern California.

News

California’s 2018 midterm election: A dive into the numbers

A 2018 political rally at San Francisco City Hall. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald, via Shutterstock)

Voter participation dramatically increased in California in the 2018 midterm elections, part of a nationwide trend. About 51.9% of California’s 25.1 million eligible voters hit the polls in the 2018 general election, up from 36.6% in 2014, the previous midterm election, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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