Opinion
California regulators can’t relate to living paycheck to paycheck
Image by Artie Medvedev via shutterstockEWA is a relatively new financial tool that allows workers to access their money as they work.
Posts Tagged: government
Image by Artie Medvedev via shutterstockOpinion
Vaccinations: Easiest, fastest, most reliable way to save lives
A researcher holds a syringe containing the COVID-19 vaccine. (Photo: Viacheslav Lopatin, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Every physician knows that prevention is the easiest, fastest and most reliable way to save lives. This week the California Assembly is considering SB 866, a bill grounded in prevention that can help us save lives.
News
Amid policy and pandemic, will California employment rebound?
A worker inspects planks at a California timber yard. (Photo: sirtravelalot, via Shutterrstock)The year 2021 was a long year battling COVID-19. As coronavirus restrictions ease under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s SMARTER Plan in 2022, we turn to the Golden State’s labor market. Is it on track to rebound to its pre-pandemic shape? Here are the employment numbers, then and now.
News
Single-payer dies ignominiously, but what’s next?
Single-payer advocates rally in San Francisco. (Photo: Kim Wilson, via Shutterstock)For at least the immediate future, single-payer health care in California seems dead. It died on Jan. 31, when its author withdrew legislation creating it from the Assembly floor, citing insufficient votes. But there are rumblings. And since nothing ever seems to die in the Capitol, the question now being asked is: After being sidelined in the Legislature, will single-payer make a comeback in California?
Opinion
Job training and placement: Crucial to helping LA homeless
An encampment for the homeless in Los Angeles near a freeway offramp. (Photo: image_vulture, via Shutterstock)OPINION:Data from 2020 shows more than 66,000 people are experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County; about two-thirds of them are in the City of Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, the debate over “how to deal with homelessness” distracts from the core issues of how individuals become housing-insecure or unhoused in the first place.
News
California jobless figures reflect uncertain economy
An illustration of employment in California. (Photo: David Carillet, via Shutterstock)California employers added 47,400 nonfarm payroll jobs in September, the state reported, sending a mixed signal about the state’s economy with less than half of August’s 104,300 new hires. The Employment Development Department said September’s unemployment rate of 7.5% matched August’s 7.5%.
Opinion
Greater transparency crucial for sound state budgeting
The California state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Steven Frame) OPINION: Nearly two months into the new fiscal year. Four budget bills and approximately 50 budget-related policy bills later, Californians continue to wait for solutions to our state’s most pressing crisis — drought, water storage, and wildfire mitigation. Meaningful reforms to fix state agencies like EDD, or the replenishment of the $7.8 billion borrowed from the state’s Rainy Day Fund last year have not yet been addressed.
Opinion
Community health centers offer true fairness in vaccinations
A man receives a COVID-19 vaccination from a nurse at a clinic set up in the parking lot of the Los Angeles Mission. (Photo: Ringo Chiu, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Many of the 55 elderly patients arrived for their second COVID-19 vaccines, leaning on their children’s arms or walkers. Most were Latinx or Black. All were age 75 or older, and they were eager to get vaccinated against the deadly virus.
News
Extremists on cops’ radar — even in ‘progressive’ California
Police officers in San Diego's Pacific Beach distgrict respond to a pro-Donald Trump demonstration after violent clashes with Trump's opponents break out. (Photo: Brandon J. Hale, via Shutterstock)In 2020, the SPLC recorded a total of 72 California-based hate groups, which they cited as promoting anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, ant-Muslim, White Nationalist, and Neo-Nazi ideology, among others. In the past year, the SPLC has found, the COVID-19 pandemic has altered their traditional organizational strategies, prompting them to make increased outreach efforts through the use of social media platforms.
Opinion
Defined benefit pensions crucial for economic health
Couple enjoying a lake in Rancho Santa Margarita, Orange County.(Photo: VG Photo, via Shutterstock)OPINION: As Americans confront the effects of a K-shaped recovery that is further enriching the wealthy even as low- and-middle income workers struggle to stay afloat, the chasm between Wall Street and Main Street has never seemed wider. Finding ways to bridge that chasm remains one of this nation’s greatest economic challenges.