Office workers rushing to their jobs. (Photo: IR Stone, via Shutterstock)Within their homes and offices, tensions are rising between employers and employees. At least for now, COVID-19 levels appear to be declining, and companies have begun to push their employees to return to the office following an extended period of working from home.
A computer user searches for housing using bro0adband. (Photo: Tada Images. via Shutterstock)OPINION: Even as the internet has kept us connected – there is more work to do to close the digital divide – especially for rural and low-income families. During this time of great disruption to our daily lives and dramatic shifts in behavior, our state’s broadband networks rose to the challenge despite unprecedented demand and network traffic.
A woman factory worker on the job. (Photo: SritanaN, via Shutterstock)OPINION: In America, the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing shutdowns set back years of progress women have made to be recognized as equals in the workforce. March is Women’s History Month and as we honor the women who stood up for our rights and freedoms, we must reflect on how the pandemic has disproportionately impacted women.
People line up outside a Trader Joe's market in San Francisco on April 5 during tne coronavirus pandemic. (Photo: Bjorn Bakstad, via Shutterstock)>As the number of known COVID-19 cases statewide continues to grow, overwhelming majorities of Californians are worried about a family member getting sick or about their personal finances worsening due to the coronavirus.
A view towards Palo Alto, Stanford and the cities of south San Francisco Bay, where housing is at a premium.(Photo: Sundry Photography)California lawmakers are in midst of trying to solve a housing crisis that has spread throughout the state. The state’s Department of Housing and Community Development — an agency that works to expand access to affordable housing — says California has built an average of 80,000 homes a year for the past decade, which is less than half of the 180,000 new homes needed to keep up with the predicted population growth through 2025.
A patient gets help walking at a nursing home. (Photo: Photographee.eu, via Shutterstock) OPINION: If there were Olympic medals for the delivery of quality care in the state’s nursing homes, California would have just scored gold, silver and bronze in seven separate categories. That’s how the federal government ranks the care that is currently delivered – 24 hours a day – to 350,000 residents in skilled nursing facilities in California.
An elderly couple in front of their home. (Photo: Andy Dean, via Shutterstock)OPINION: By 2030, California’s over-65 population is expected to be 87 percent higher than it was in 2012 – an increase of more than four million people. According to a 2014 AARP survey, nearly 90 percent of senior households say they would like to stay in their current residences and communities for as long as possible.
Former GOP presidential contender Pat Buchanan. (Photo: KPCC)“Now in half the homes in California, people speak a language other than English in their own homes.” We checked the second part of Buchanan’s statement, about the percentage of Californians who speak a foreign language at home. It’s a claim that was close to correct on the numbers, but wrongly implies that half the state does not speak English.
Illustration by Kheng Guan Toh, via ShutterstockOPINION: The California Public Utilities Commission is about to make a landmark decision about the merger of Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks that will have a generational effect on closing—or possibly making permanent—the Digital Divide.
A crew member dressed as Santa on deck in the Coral Sea, 1971. (Photo, Shutterstock)This Christmas, I (and I hope many Americans) will be thinking of our troops around the world who are facing not only danger but also the emotional strain of being away from their families at such a time.