Posts Tagged: information

Recent News

Big scramble over privacy plan

An illustration of internet security, a padlock on a digital background. (Image: Titima Ongkantong, via Shutterstock)

The pressure is on: High-stakes, closed-door maneuvering involving lawmakers and the fate of a November ballot initiative is roiling the Capitol. The initiative would boost privacy rights for millions of online customers. But it won’t go directly to voters at all, the sponsor promises, if a bill emerges from the Legislature and makes it to the governor’s desk by Thursday, June 28.

News

Political mailers pour in

Mail boxes all in a row in rural California. (Photo: Ant Clausen)

More and more of them are flooding your mailbox.  They are usually bright, colorful, and nonsensical. Political mailers.  What else?  It’s the season, after all. Even in the age of texting and twitter, old-fashioned paper still has its charm for campaign strategists, especially in-down ballot races where a shotgun approach is not useful.

Opinion

Memo to Zuckerberg: Protect privacy

As you are no doubt aware, we are sponsoring a privacy initiative to appear on the November 2018 California ballot, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018. The measure would allow California consumers to protect their personal information from the type of breach that just occurred at Facebook.

News

Ask Emily: Health and taxes

Tax form image via California Healthline

K.A. Curtis gave up her career in the nonprofit world in 2008 to care for her ailing parents in Fresno, which also meant giving up her income. She wasn’t able to afford health insurance as a result, and for each tax year since 2014, Curtis has applied for – and received – an exemption from Obamacare’s coverage requirement and the related tax penalty, she says

Analysis

CA120: Nov. 8, through the looking glass

(Illustration: Tim Foster, Capitol Weekly)

From neighbors to family members to local coffee shop baristas, the number one question I’ve received since Nov. 8 is “How did that happen?” Donald Trump’s come-from-behind win shocked about everyone in the political world. Even his own political team. Even Hillary Clinton’s own political team.

News

State targets ‘bubble boy’ syndrome

Young David Vetter, who died from severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) in the 1990s. (Photo: Biotechnology and Society)

California’s stem cell agency is ready to award $20 million on Thursday to a UCLA researcher to assist in his 30-year search for a widely available cure for what has come to be known as the “bubble boy” syndrome– severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID).

Opinion

For democracy’s sake, fix our voting infrastructure

Voters in Ventura County cast ballots during a recent election. (Photo: Spirit of America, Shutterstock)

OPINION: The administrative procedures, technology systems and people who manage elections are the essential elements of self-governance – the distribution of ballots and information, the collecting, the counting, the reporting. Like much of our public infrastructure, these systems are not always adequately maintained or updated, until they make headlines themselves.

News

‘Special master’ appointed to eye State Bar

An attorney gives advice to a client via a cell phone. Photo: PhuShutter)

A special master has been named to ride herd on the State Bar’s request for money – a move that follows the Legislature’s unprecedented refusal to allow the bar to collect dues from thousands of attorneys. State Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye on Wednesday appointed appellate court Justice Elwood Lui of Los Angeles to examine the Bar’s funding request.

Opinion

Top priority: The push for K-12 accountability

Youngsters in a California classroom. (Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: The clock is ticking for our kids. Within a few weeks, The State Board of Education will determine many K-12 school accountability provisions in our education system for decades to come.

News

For three counties, vote-by-mail is only option

Vintage Illustration of Mr. ZIP, modified by Tim Foster/Capitol Weekly

Increasingly, California voters use the mailbox, not the ballot box. But in three of California’s 58 counties — Plumas, Alpine and Sierra — there was no other choice but mail-in voting. And they like it that way.

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