A Los Angeles demonstration aimed at raising the minimum wage in 2015. (Photo: Dan Holm, Shutterstock)California’s job and economic growth has outpaced much of the nation in recent years. That growth, however, has not eliminated one of the state’s biggest challenges: poverty. This week, State Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes called poverty California’s No. 1 priority during a forum of legislative leaders in Sacramento.
A gavel in a California courtroom. (Photo: bikeriderlondon, via Shutterstock)The agency that protects Californians from unethical lawyers faces an uncertain future because of complaints about its ability to do its job. For the first time ever, the state Assembly and Senate this year were unable to agree on a bill to set the annual dues that lawyers pay to the State Bar of California because of disagreements over the extent of changes needed at the troubled agency.
A sugar factory , Puunene, Maui, Hawaii. (Photo: Mike Brake)OPINION: Political pundits are saying Gov. Brown, Senate Leader Kevin de León and Sen. Fran Pavley suffered a major political defeat when SB 32 was pulled back and the fuel reduction provisions of SB 350 were removed. We don’t see it that way. This was one skirmish in a long-term battle to balance our environmental, social and economic goals.
A youngster gets his vaccination shot. (Photo: Luiscar74, via Shutterstock) Gov. Brown today signed one of the strictest laws in the nation requiring vaccinations for schoolchildren, saying “science is clear that vaccines dramatically protect children against a number of infectious diseases.” The new law bars parents from invoking religious or personal beliefs in order to keep their children from being vaccinated, but it does allow for an exemption with the approval of the child’s doctor.
Taking in a ball game in Los Angeles. (Photo: Supanee Hickman)California’s Asian population is the largest of any state in the nation, and its increase during a 12-month period was the largest in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state’s Asian population reached 6.3 million through last summer, the latest period for which data is available, reflecting a 162,000 increase over July 2013. California’s Asian population represents nearly a third of the nation’s 20.3 million.
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.
Gov. Jerry Brown at ceremonies in Fresno launching construction of California's bullet train. (Photo: Associated Press)FRESNO — Amid the debris and grit of a downtown Fresno site, Gov. Brown formally launched construction of California’s $68 billion bullet train, a project that — maybe — will link San Francisco with Los Angeles through the state’s farm belt within two decades.
An image captured from the minute-long ad "Proud to Be," critical of the Washington Redskins name. (AP Photo: Courtesy, Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.)An impassioned, 60-second ad financed by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation urges a change in the name of the NFL’s Washington Redskins, which offends many in the tribal communities.
Street art in Santa Barbara., August 2011. Philip Bird OPINION: Since 2003, California’s Governors and the Legislature have allocated $1.1 million annually to the Arts Council, the bare minimum necessary to qualify for a $1 million National Endowment for the Arts grant. This lack of foresight has put California dead last among all 50 states in per capita funding for its arts agency.
As California first lady, Maria Shriver spent years dealing with the issues of California. Now she has a new role: improving the struggling status of American women. She returned to Sacramento for her first public event in more than three years last week to promote efforts in The Shriver Report — a multimedia project — into the studies of gender inequality, poverty and an array of social issues