ANALYSIS: California is in the midst of major generational and cultural changes. Nationally, we see the increased influence of millennials on our culture and waning influence of the Greatest Generation and Silent Generation. But while California’s newer voters are heavily dominated by millennials, independents and Latinos, elections are still being decided by white, partisan voters.
Pumpjacks in a Kern County oil field, November 2013. (Photo: Christopher Halloran)OPINION: The Paris talks brought into clearer focus just how many so-called moderate Democrats who sided with the oil industry this year re out of touch with their caucus, their party and their state. This small tribe of transactional politicians, whose campaign coffers have been filled with oil company dollars for years, did the shameless bidding of Big Oil once again this year, failing to protect Californians from greater environmental harm.
A credit card equipped with a chip. (Photo: Petratiu, via Shutterstock)Consumers are increasingly using credit and debit cards to transact purchases, from lattes to electronics. Unfortunately with that evolution comes financial fraud. As a victim of credit card fraud I can speak firsthand about the ensuing difficulties, even with financial institutions willing to help. Currently, the United States is the only major economic power in the world that still uses outdated magnetic stripe cards coupled with a faulty signature verification process.
Voters cast ballots at the November 2014 general election in Oak View, Calif. (Photo: Joseph Sohm) We Californians justifiably become excited about our many remarkable achievements: we make terrific movies; Silicon Valley leads the planet in technological innovation; our traffic jams are world class. But when it comes to voting, we give a statewide shrug. A mere 42.2 percent of registered voters — registered voters — bothered to cast ballots in the November 2014 general election. Los Angeles County bottomed out statewide with a turnout of 31 percent. It gets even worse: The June 2014 turnout was 25.2 percent.
Elementary school students in a California classroom. ((Photo: Monkey Business Images)All kids deserve an equal chance to succeed. Unfortunately, many achieving African-American and Latino students in California schools are being unfairly denied advancement to the mathematics courses critical to their educational and career success. Despite earning the grades and assessment test scores that show promise of their ability to benefit from instruction in higher math, too many are not getting into the classes they need and can handle.
Latinos taking the Pledge of Allegiance in Los Angeles. (Photo: Spirit of America)California is no longer on track to become a majority Latino state – at least not before 2060, according to projections from the state Department of Finance. Demographic estimates are constantly updated, but recent projections about the state’s population had us becoming a majority Latino state before the middle of this century.
California voters at the polls in Ventura County, 2012. (Photo: American Spirit, via Shutterstock)Some 2.6 million of California’s eligible voters — about one in nine — speak only limited English and many of them can’t get election information in their native languages, a problem that is playing out in low turnout numbers for Asians and Latinos, according to a new study.
A section of the San Quentin Prison area for condemned inmates. Photo via SanQuentinBlog.orgOPINION: Here in Los Angeles, home to Hollywood, anyone will tell you that casting is key. A film’s meaning and potential are lost if it’s miscast or missing the right characters. The same could be said about a blockbuster story that has been playing out for decades in California: our bloated and costly prisons. Much attention has been paid to lawsuits about the conditions in these packed facilities, as well as the response by the Governor, Legislature and others.
OPINION: Today we have a tremendous opportunity to address this crisis. Thanks to health care reform and a growing, aging population, employment in the health services sector is projected to grow far faster than California’s economy overall – 27 percent by 2020. Many of these are good jobs – positions like radiology technician and therapy assistant – that pay $35,000 or more a year without requiring a college degree. And men of color are significantly underrepresented in these fields.
More California voters are becoming critical of the job Barack Obama is doing as President. The latest Field Poll finds that while 51% of California voters approve of the President’s overall performance, a growing proportion (43%) disapprove. This represents an increase of 8 percentage points in the proportion disapproving since July. While the growth in the number of Californians disapproving spans most demographic subgroups, some of the greatest increases have occurred among voter segments who have been among the President’s strongest supporters.