Flying the flag on Labor Day. (Photo: Deborah Kolb, via Shutterstock))OPINION: We all could use a day off this Labor Day. The past six months have felt like six years, as Americans endure an intersection of crises that threaten our health, endanger our safety, injure our collective soul and tear at the very fabric of our democracy. We are all very tired.
A water pathway in California's Central Valley. (Photo: Straight 8 Photography) OPINION: Many Californians know of the lead poisoning in the public water system in Detroit. Very few know of the contaminated water crisis impacting more than 1 million Californians. After years of trying to resolve the failure of the State of California to address this public health challenge, advocates have reached a historic negotiated agreement.
Students at a graduation ceremony at Santa Monica City College. (Photo: American Spirit, via Shutterstock)In an effort to reassure thousands of worried young people, leaders of California’s enormous system of public and private higher education are setting it on a potential collision course with the incoming Trump administration. The California defiance has intensified and become more formalized since Donald Trump indicated he will appoint Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, an avowed hard-liner on immigration, as his attorney general.
A statue of Father Junipero Serra. (Photo: stjunipero.org)OPINION: Father Junipero Serra was one of California’s first immigrants in 1769. Nearly 250 years later, Californians – whose state is now home to more than 10 million immigrants – watched closely as Pope Francis addressed a joint session of Congress the following day the canonization.
Voter Ben Rich casts his ballot at the Venice Beach lifeguard headquarters. (Photo: AP/Jae C. Hong)Though the final chapter is still unwritten on Election 2014, we know this much: Republicans took advantage of a traditional dip in midterm turnout and some big spending in targeted races to pick up enough legislative seats to end Democrats’ supermajorities in both houses. The GOP picked off two Democratic Assembly incumbents – Steve Fox, D-Palmdale, and Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton — and were headed to unseat a third – Freshman Assemblyman Al Marutsuchi, D-Torrance.
Saying California was “back” and “on the move,” a chipper Gov. Jerry Brown urged lawmakers in his annual State of the State speech to streamline funding for schools, focus on implementing federal health care reform and keep a tight rein on spending so the budget stays balanced.
The Democratic governor said Thursday that he
Promised Land Directed by Gus Van Sant
(Ed’s Note: Contains vague plot spoilers)
In “Promised Land,” Matt Damon plays an up and coming employee of a natural gas company that’s in the process of entering into contracts with land owners to allow the company to drill for and extract gas from under their property.