Posts Tagged: davis

News

He’s back — in his official portait

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger poses with his official portrait after it was unveiled at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Sept. 8, 2014. The photograph-like giant image of the former governor was done by Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein and will hang on the third floor of the Capitol. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to the Capitol today for the first time since leaving office as governor nearly four years ago to unveil his official – and massive – executive portrait. The big painting — it’s about seven feet long by five feet wide — will be the largest portrait of a governor hanging on the walls of the state Capitol.

News

Drought takes aim at farms

A drought-stricken farm in Central California. (Photo: Johnny Habell)

As California suffers through its third-driest year on record, the effects of the drought are hitting home in some of the nation’s richest farmland. The state’s $37.5 billion-a-year agricultural yield represents about 12 percent of the nation’s total. Agriculture uses about about 80 percent of the state’s water.

News

Battle for controller: A primary within a primary

Headquarters of the state controller, Sacramento. (Photo: Coolcaesar)

ELECTION 2014: California’s “top two“ primary system is creating an odd dynamic – a Democratic party primary within an open primary. In the race for state controller, the top three candidates are Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, a Republican, and Democrats Betty Yee and John Pérez. Yee is a member of the Board of Equalization and Pérez served as Assembly speaker.

News

Fight for Yamada seat: A tale of two counties

Tracks in the Napa wine country at St. Helena. Photo: Hank Shiffman.

Thanks to newly redrawn district boundaries, Napa County has a chance to put its first lawmaker in the state capitol in more than a generation. The race to replace termed-out 4th District Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, D-Davis, promises to be hotly contested, featuring family connections, Democrats going head-to-head and a scramble for campaign funds.

News

Vallejo, once bankrupt, faces new challenge

The Vallejo city council last week voted to close a $5.2 million gap in the current budget, showing no alarm that in a five-year forecast the gap reopens, mainly driven by rising pension costs. Moody’s, a Wall Street credit rating agency, said earlier that Vallejo and two California cities currently in bankruptcy, Stockton and San Bernardino, risk returning to insolvency without pension relief.

News

Everybody comes to Simon’s

Tucked away between a car rental agency and a dry cleaner at 1415 16th street, Simon’s has become a household name for Capitol oldies and newbies alike, a place peppered with political anecdotes since its establishment in 1984.

News

In Monterey, judge rejects cap on pension payments

One of the first local ballot measures aimed at cutting public pension costs, a cap on Pacific Grove payments to CalPERS approved by voters three years ago, was ruled unconstitutional by a Monterey County superior court judge last week.

 

Judge Thomas Wills ruled Friday that Measure R violated the contract clause of the state

News

Huge public pension losses could be offset by reforms

A nationwide study, including CalPERS and CalSTRS, projects that huge pension fund losses during the financial crisis will be offset over three decades by a wave of recently enacted cost-cutting reforms — but only if several things happen.

 

–Pension fund earnings forecasts must hit their target. Critics say the forecasts, 7.5 percent a year

News

Major parties offer scant lure to youthful voters

Even though California has seen a decade of growth in the registration of young voters aged 18-to-24, fully two-thirds of the eligible youth population did not cast ballots in the last presidential election, according to a new study.

 

The California Civic Engagement Project at UC Davis also found that registration and turnout rates in

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