A wildfire burns near a home in Salinas, Monterey County, last year. (Photo: David A Litman)With 2020’s disasters in mind, the state is making elaborate plans to deal with an upcoming wildfire season made potentially more deadly by drought. The challenge is there, and it’s a big one.
An elderly patient is comforted by a young caregiver. (Photo: Ocskay Mark, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Every year, the Alzheimer’s Association releases a report providing national and state-level statistics on Alzheimer’s prevalence, mortality, cost of care and impact on caregivers. As a son caring for my father who is living with Alzheimer’s, these statistics simply cannot do justice to the huge emotional, physical and financial toll that this disease takes on families and society at large.
An Employment Development Department office in Sacramento. (Photo: Screen capture, ABC7 News)As residents of one of the highest taxed states in the nation, Californians have a right to expect the government they pay handsomely to provide the basic services their taxes fund. For instance, we expect that when we have an emergency and we dial 9-1-1, help will arrive in a burst of flashing lights, sirens, and hurried professionals.
Motorists in Oceanside drive through flooded streets after the arrival of a tropical storm.(Photo: DBSOCAL, via Shutterrstock)OPINION: From mudslides to droughts, fires to earthquakes, natural disasters are an inexorable part of our way of life. Needless to say, the cost of these disasters is staggering. In 2018 alone, wildfires in our state accounted for nearly a quarter of all insurance company disaster claims nationwide.
A signature gatherer in Ventura during the 2018 election cycle. (Photo: Michael Gordon, via Shutterrstock)Backers of a $5.5 billion stem cell research initiative in California have suspended their efforts to gather signatures to place it on the November ballot, but are expressing confidence that the proposal will qualify. The campaign said it had run afoul of statewide bans on public gatherings.
Students heading to classes at San Diego State. (Photo: Pictor Picture, via Shutterstock)The fiscal outlook at California State University is good and the sprawling, 23-campus system that serves nearly a half-million students is in the midst of expansion. But there appear to be segments of CSU that aren’t all that happy — the faculty and the university’s workers.
An illustration of the 2020 census in California. (Image: census.ca.gov)Most of us are already doing a lot of business online, from ordering products to banking to even filing our taxes. Now we will be asked to do one more task over the Internet — fill out a U.S. census survey. The next census, the all-important survey conducted every 10 years and next scheduled in April 2020, will be the first to be conducted largely online. People who choose not to will be able to respond over the phone or by mail.
Eleni Kounalakis speaks to the Sacramento Press Club in August. (Photo: Associated Press/Steve Yeater)Eleni Kounalakis bristles at the suggestion that she won the election for California lieutenant governor because of her wealthy father’s support. It’s true that her father Angelo Tsakopoulos is a very rich land developer. But his mother couldn’t read or write and he spent his early years working in the fields after arriving in this country from Greece.
The California state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Adonis Villanueva, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The leadership of the California Association of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors (CACTTC) is comprised of five elected women and two men, thus reflecting the success of women in elected office. Representing the concerns of CACTTC, we find it ironic that at a time when gender balance in politics is front-and-center, the office to which historically more women than men are elected is being eroded through consolidation of treasurer-tax collector with auditor-controller without voter approval.
A California freeway sign provides information for motorists. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)OPINION: Flashing Amber Alerts, public safety messages and directional traffic alerts – for decades, Californians have agreed this type of information is what belongs on the changeable outdoor message signs along our highways’ public spaces. Common sense and public policy says it is in the best interest of the public to keep this public right-of-way space limited to such content and free of blight.