Posts Tagged: president

News

Tom Steyer, a political force, ponders his options

Environmental activist Tom Steyer at a conference of the Center for American Progress. (Photo: File/Associated Press)

While media reports keep predicting that billionaire Tom Steyer will run for California governor in 2018, Steyer says he has not made a decision yet. There are a lot of factors to consider first, including the coming election, said the 59-year-old former hedge fund manager. “I’m going to keep working on the issues. I’m passionate about it,” he said. “I don’t know the best format to do that yet.”

Analysis

CA120: Nonpartisans in a pickle

A portion of California's June 7 ballot. (Photo: Tim Foster/Capitol Weekly)

When nonpartisan voters were asked how, exactly, they were going to get a Democratic ballot, we saw evidence of widespread confusion. Nearly 60% of those surveyed either incorrectly thought that the Democratic candidates would be on their ballot — as happens in other open primary contests — or they weren’t sure how to vote in the Democratic presidential race.

News

Road dangers, digital billboards linked

Digital billboards and advertising in downtown Toronto. (Photo: SurangaSL, via Shutterstock)

Digital billboards clearly catch the eye of passing motorists. But what is also increasingly clear is that such distractions can heighten safety risks in heavy traffic and other complex driving conditions, a Berkeley-based roadway researcher says.

News

State auditor targets UC fiscal, admission policies

UC Berkeley students at Sather Gate. (Photo: Rightdx, via Shutterstock)

In a scathing report, the state auditor says the University of California has catered to out-of-state and foreign applicants, who pay more than in-state students, and allowed thousands of nonresident students to attend UC – even though they had lower qualifications than the median for resident students.

News

Field Poll: Hillary down, Bernie up

The latest statewide Field Poll finds that fewer than half of likely voters in California’s June 2016 Democratic presidential primary (47%) are now intending to support former Secretary of State, U.S. Senator and First Lady Hillary Clinton for President, a decline of nineteen points since May. Over this same period Democratic voter support for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has increased nearly four-fold from 9% to 35%.

News

Will California’s GOP presidential primary really count?

A campaign stop in Oxnard during a presidential contest. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

Republicans have created a political mosh pit featuring 36 declared candidates and filled with no shortage of pointed invective. Of the 36 Republicans, 17 are considered serious contenders. As usual, those contenders have descended on early primary and caucus states, chumming through New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina in search of support and generating plenty of news along the way. At the moment, in California, they are only chumming for money.

News

State-run ‘automatic IRA’ gets boost

Calpensions: President Obama said he has directed his labor department to propose rules showing states how to create what in California could be an “automatic IRA,” a payroll deduction that puts money into a tax-deferred savings plan unless workers opt out. The rules are expected to answer a key question: Is Secure Choice exempt from a federal retirement law, ERISA, that not only has employer administrative costs but may also expose employers to liability for failed investments and other problems?

News

A ‘wave goodbye’ to Lawrence Karlton

Obit: In his three decades on the federal bench, Lawrence Karlton presided over many high-profile cases including several involving California’s troubled prison system. In 2009 he forced the overhaul of California’s prison health care system and ordered the state to reduce prison overcrowding.

Opinion

The uphill trail to gender equity

An illustration of the modern workforce. (Photo: Shutterstock)

When I was a member of the electrical engineering faculty at the University of Michigan in the early 1990’s, I will never forget what the head of our department would invariably say to me whenever I stayed in the lab to work late. “Why are you still here,” he wanted to know. “Don’t you have a family to go home to?” From equal pay for equal work to access to health care and a host of other issues, it should be obvious to any thinking person that we don’t have the level playing field valued by so many Americans.

News

PUC chief to step down

A devastated zone in San Bruno following the 2010 gas pipeline explosion. (Photo: Brocken Inaglory)

Michael R. Peevey, the beleaguered president of the California Public Utilities Commission who has served under three governors, said Thursday he is stepping down at the end of the year. The move follows turmoil at the powerful regulatory agency that includes state and federal investigations amid complaints that the PUC has been too cozy with Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

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