A view of downtown Los Angeles seen from the Hollywood hills. (Photo: logoboom, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Perhaps the greatest financial risk faced by Californians today has nothing to do with rising interest rates or a looming recession. Rather, it is the loss of access to products they rely upon to protect their most valuable assets: auto, homeowners and commercial insurance.
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Political data-cruncher, and frequent Capitol Weekly Podcast guest, Paul Mitchell joins us to read the political tea leaves, 30 days out from the 2022 election.
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Longtime politics oppo research specialist Joe Rodota has lately turned his skills toward historical events and storytelling, first with a book on the Watergate complex, The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address, and now with a new podcast, Hillside: The Investigation and Trial of the Hillside Strangler.
Pro-recall forces gather in Redding during the campaign. (Photo: Jefferson Public Radio)For two years now, Shasta County has been the center of a fight between moderate Republicans serving on the board of supervisors and local far-right activists and militia groups who have taken issue with the state’s public health restrictions. But what began as an intensely local political fight captured attention across the state, in part because others wonder whether a similar battle could come their way.
A newspaper's election gives readers information about the Sept. 14, 2021, recall election. (Photo: Matt Gush, via Shutterstock)California’s attention was focused recently on the failed attempt to recall Gov. Newsom as a rare event of historical magnitude. In fact, recall elections happen all the time, and all but a relative handful of these obscure contests disappear into the limbo of history.
Gov. Newsom at a 2019 briefing in Sacramento. (Photo: Associated Press)A perfect storm of events is giving Gov. Gavin Newsom political headaches, and he is yet again the subject of a recall movement that claims to have already collected more than 800,000 signatures. It marks the sixth attempt by various Republicans to oust Newsom – the other five fizzled. Few veteran political observers give this one any chance of success, either, although California politics is full of surprises.
Gov. Gavin Newsom at last year's Gay Rights Day parade in San Francisco. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald, via Shutterstock)Gov. Gavin Newsom has been riding a high tide of approval from Californians for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he could be heading for stormy weather. California’s tax revenues are projected to decline more than 22 percent and the state estimates that unemployment for the year will hit 18 percent.
Rose Kapolczynski, a veteran campaign and communications strategist with more than three decades of experience joins Tim Foster and John Howard on the Capitol Weekly Podcast to chat about politics and the pandemic. Rose is best known for running former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer’s campaigns, from Boxer’s initial upset victory in 1992 in the “Year of the Woman” to her final race against Carly Fiorina in 2010.
Some of the district boundaries of Los Angeles City Council seats. (Image: City of Los Angeles)California has become a model for non-partisan, transparent, open and fair redistricting. The state commission’s focus on legitimate redistricting practices — like enforcing the Voting Rights Act, preserving communities of interest, reducing any splitting of cities and counties, even drawing lines without regard to partisanship or incumbency — have earned praise among policymakers and researchers around the country.
The entrance to Frank Fat's on L Street. (Photo: Frank Fat's)Standing only about 5 feet 2 inches tall, Frank Fat left a big impression with everyone who knew him. Arriving in America as a teen-ager, the Chinese immigrant opened a chain of restaurants in the Sacramento area, was active in community causes and built strong relations with everyone from politicians to ordinary citizens.This year, his flagship restaurant Frank Fat’s in downtown Sacramento two blocks from the Capitol, is celebrating its 80th anniversary.