Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County’s top health official, is in the hot seat as the COVID-19 pandemic exacts its rising toll. With over 10 million residents, the county is by far California’s largest, and it has the most confirmed coronavirus cases.
Students at Alliance Susan & Eric Smidt Technology High School, Los Angeles. (School photo)OPINION: College application season is upon us. This fall, I will begin my senior year of high school at Alliance Susan & Eric Smidt Technology High School and submit my application to my first-choice school, the California Institute of Technology, to study engineering. I’m excited to make my college dreams come true, after four years of hard work.
Illustration of a California voter casting a ballot. (Photo: Vepar5, via Shutterstock)Before Election Day, fewer than one in every five California voters have cast their ballots. About 11.8 primary election million ballots were mailed during the past month — 5.3 million to Democrats and about 3.1 million to Republicans, according to figures compiled by Political Data, a firm that markets campaign information.
View of downtown San Diego and central rail yards. (Photo: welcomia, via Shutterstock)ANALYSIS: Something that isn’t too surprising for legislators or Gov. Brown as California continues to be on the forefront of environmental policies: A major survey shows strong majority (62 percent) of Californians believe air pollution is a problem in their part of California. Two-thirds (66 percent) believe the effects of global warming have already begun, while 58 percent believe it is a serious threat to California’s economy and quality of life.
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.
Bicyclists navigating the streets of San Francisco. (Photo: Can Balcioglu)FairWarning: More Americans are bicycling or walking to work these days, but with little government investment in safety measures, such as protected bike lanes and sidewalks, more cyclists and pedestrians are getting killed. In San Francisco, the hit-and-run deaths of two female bicyclists in a single day in late June spurred community outrage and a plan to add 15 miles of protected bikeways, more than doubling the city’s current total.
People at a May rally of Republicans in Anaheim. (Photo: Mike Ledray, Shutterstock)Prior to the June Primary, California experienced a massive surge in voter registration. More than 2.3 million voters registered, either for the first time, or as a re-registration. This was not only larger than any other primary election in the state’s history, it was larger than any general election. As measured by absolute growth of the voter file, the nearest comparison was the 1980 primary in which former California Governor Ronald Regan was running for the Republican Party nomination.
A delegate at the Democratic National Convention passes by a group of pro-Bernie Sanders protesters. (Photo: Brad Bailey)Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination for president Thursday as the nation’s first female nominee of a major party, a historic moment captured in a blaze of pomp and color. It was the culmination of four days of speeches that targeted the national convention’s fundamental theme — unity. But in the California delegation — the largest of the 50 states — unity at times was a rare commodity.
California supporters of Bernie Sanders attend a rally. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)CA120: Sanders has been stronger in states like California with “open” primaries — those that allow non-Democrats voters to cast a ballot. California Democrats allow voters not registered with any other political party to vote in their primary. But the question is this: In what numbers will these non-partisans vote? Can Sanders surf this wave of support to a victory in California? The answer, according to our data, is probably not.