Youngsters at play in a kindergarten.. Photo: Robert Kneschke, via Shutterstock) OPINION: A recent television news headline asked, “Can day cares stay open amid coronavirus outbreak?” The answer has been confusing to many – school are closed, shouldn’t childcare centers be, too? Why are these groups of people okay but not others? What about the safety of the kids and staff?
Children in a stroller in downtown Los Angeles. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)OPINION: It’s been a long time since the United States waged a “war on poverty.” But here in California, a new war is underway. Under the leadership of Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature, our recently enacted state budget confronts our poverty crisis with unprecedented investments in healthcare, preschool, CalWORKS, earned-income tax credits, and expanded juvenile justice and foster care funding and reforms.
The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)CalPERS is considering small increases in employer and employee rates over decades to reduce the risk of big investment losses, a policy that also would lower an earnings forecast critics say is too optimistic. The proposal is a response to the “maturing” of a CalPERS system that soon will have more retirees than active workers. From two active workers for each retiree in 2002, the ratio fell to 1.45 to one by 2012 and is expected to be 0.8 to 0.6 to one in the next decades.