Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. (Photo: Rendon's Twitter feed.)Timing is crucial in politics, and the battle over the Assembly speakership is no exception. The clock is ticking. If Rendon continues through the end of the current two-year session, then any change in the speakership will be decided in the next session, following the November elections, when all 80 Assembly seats are up for election.
Aged wooden power poles and high voltage infrastructure. (Photo: Virrage Images, via Shutterstock)This summer, California created a department dedicated to stopping its strained electric grid from causing more catastrophic wildfires, and come the new year the fledgling bureaucracy will add a questionably mapped labyrinth of underground cables and pipes to its list of concerns.
The chambers of the Assembly in the state Capitol, Sacramento. (Photo: Felix Lipov, via Shutterstock)The first time, she had just one co-author; the second time, a dozen. And now, on her third attempt, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez has convinced nearly half of the California Assembly to co-author her bill to grant collective bargaining rights to rank-and-file Capitol staffers.
Latinos taking the pledge of allegiance in Los Angeles. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)OPINION: 2020 has been anything but typical, and for Black communities and communities of color, this year has been especially tough. Yet, we remain hopeful and determined because this election is a golden opportunity to create a Golden State for all of us. With our collective efforts, 2020 could be the year where an electorate that reflects the diversity of our state shows up to be heard and counted.
Students walking on the UC Berkeley campus, pre-pandemic times. (Photo: Ioana Catalina E, via Shutterstock)Michael V. Drake: Welcome back to California. Drake, a medical doctor, is the new president of the sprawling University of California, one of the world’s premier academic institutions. Drake, 70, is the first African American to hold the position in the university’s 152-year history. He took over this week, replacing the retiring Janet Napolitano.
A Census worker canvassing a neighborhood. (Photo: Wayne Via, Shutterstock)Pushing back the census deadlines could have a profound political impact on California, ultimately forcing the state to draw scores of political districts for the 2022 elections within a tiny, two-week window. The Trump administration’s plan, announced earlier by Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham, calls for a 120-day delay in developing and reporting the finished data.
A photo illustration using stacks of quarters to show rising interest rates. (Photo: Doubletree Studio) Would you take out a loan for a new home if you didn’t know the interest rate? How about for a car? Or even for a credit card? More than likely, not.
An inmate sits on his cell bunk. (Photo: Peppinuzzo,via Shutterstock)Gov. Brown on Tuesday signed landmark legislation to eliminate money bail for many California defendants, replacing it instead with a system based on a person’s flight risk and other factors. “Today, California reforms its bail system so that rich and poor alike are treated fairly,” Brown said.
John Burton smiles as he chats with reporters in 2004 as he leaves the state Senate because of term limits. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)To say that John Burton is wrapped up in politics is a bit like saying the Pacific Ocean is a large body of water. Few California political figures can match his decades of back-and-forth between Washington and Sacramento. Burton was elected to the Assembly in 1965 and served there until 1974; then he served in the House from 1974 until 1983; then he was back in the Assembly from 1988 until 1996; then he was in the state Senate from 1996 until 2004, serving as Senate leader from 1998 until term limits forced him out.
A view of the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.Watergate sellers started raising prices on their apartments within days of the election. A two-bedroom duplex that had been on the market for nearly a year at $325,000 was relisted at $350,000. The owner of a one-bedroom apartment put his unit up for sale five days after the election at $300,000. “That’s about $100,000 more than one-bedrooms sell for,” scoffed a real estate agent. “He’s just trying to make a killing.”