Construction on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which was rebuilt following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. (Photo: Karin Hildebrand Lau, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Thoughtful planning and robust public participation are essential to successful infrastructure development. Our state is lucky to have the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to help us get it right. CEQA may be our most misunderstood statute.
Police at a Vallejo crime scene, where three people were shot during an armed robbery. (Photo: Francis Arrostuto, via Shutterstck)Preliminary numbers from California’s biggest cities suggest that 2020’s stunning 30-percent increase in the statewide murder rate – the largest since 1960 – has continued to rise this year, and crime experts have as many questions as answers. “We’re seeing a continued trend” in rising murder rates throughout 2021, said Mangus Lofstrom, a policy director and senior fellow at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.
Rep. Karen Bass at a Culver City political rally in September. (Photo: Max Elram, via Shutterstock)Former California Assembly Speaker and current U.S. Rep. Karen Bass wasn’t the first person to get into the L.A. mayoral race, nor the last. But with approximately seven months still to go before the June 7 primary, her candidacy has put a charge into the crowded competition to lead the nation’s second largest city.
The tugboat Sandra Hugh pushes a cargo ship into the crowded Port of Oakland. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald, via Shutterstock)OPINION: If the Grinch is attempting to steal this Christmas, he is doing so under the guise of supply chain disruptions and congested ports. The attention-grabbing headlines asking, “Who Can Save Christmas,” usually top stories about children finding the right toy under the tree Christmas morning.
The San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles in L.A. and San Bernardino counties. (Photo: Noah Sauve, via Shutterstock)OPINION: My childhood memories are colored by the grey concrete that was everywhere in my community. Growing up east of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley, we didn’t have many parks or green spaces nearby. But there was one exception – the San Gabriel Mountains.
Illustration of a pregnant woman. (Image: Tanya Antusenok,via Shutterstock)Amid a pandemic that has pushed millions of mothers out of the workplace, caused fertility rates to plunge and heightened the risk of death for pregnant women, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic lawmakers are seeking a slate of health proposals for low-income families and children. Newsom, a self-described feminist and the father of four young children, has long advocated family-friendly health and economic policies.
Secretary of State Alex Padilla at a 2019 news conference in the state Capitol. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP)Alex Padilla, California’s chief elections officer and a former state legislator, was appointed Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. The appointment is historic: Padilla, 47, becomes California’s first Latino U.S. senator, representing a state in which about 38 percent of the population is Latino.
An illustration of the electorate. (Image: M-SUR, via Shutterstock) With Election Day less than two weeks away, Californians remain divided on a ballot measure that would change how commercial property is taxed. On another closely watched ballot measure, reinstating affirmative action in the public sector has gained slightly since September, but still has less than majority support.
An array of disposable e-cigarettes on display. (Photo: NguyeningMedia, via Shutterstock)In recent months, mystery has surrounded the ownership of a controversial e-cigarette company that has reaped millions of dollars in sales of flavored, kid-friendly nicotine products by exploiting a loophole in federal regulations.
California's 25th Congressional District. (Map: Federal Elections Commission)It’s been a wild year for politics in 2019, from the national to the state scene, and one of the wilder spots is California’s 25th Congressional District. The year started off with Democrats cheering as millennial Katie Hill took the seat, flipping it blue after a 25-year run in Republican hands.