President Trump's portrait superimposed on the California FlagOn Wednesday Feb 26th, Capitol Weekly held its first conference of 2025, and the only one of four this year held online. Throughout three panels and the keynote address by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, participants discussed the state’s longstanding battles with President Donald Trump in three key issue areas – health care, the environment and immigration.
Image by Serhej CalkaOPINION – Veterans, like all Californians, deserve leaders who take constructive actions to create opportunities and empower them to succeed. Supporting the Kroger-Albertsons merger is one such action—one that will protect jobs, support businesses, and help ensure a brighter future for our communities.
Photo courtesy of California Assembly Democrats via YouTubeAB 3024, The Stop Hate Littering Act, would expand the definition of “intimidation by threat of violence” under the Ralph Civil Rights Act of 1976 to include “distribution of hateful materials on the private property of another without authorization for the purpose of terrorizing the owner or occupant of that private property or in reckless disregard of the risk of terrorizing the owner or occupant of that private property.”
Image by EviartDuring his time as governor, Gavin Newsom has not been shy about using the gubernatorial bully pulpit to prod lawmakers to take up causes he feels passionately about. Advocates for greater regulation of social media sites like Meta, X, Instagram and Tik Tok hope this is the year he does the same for their cause as well.
Amreican Dream, image by Yuganov KonstantinOPINION – App platforms provide huge audience reach, consistency and reliability, and protect consumers’ data. Digital advertising platforms help us affordably reach key audiences so we add new customers. If platforms are significantly disrupted by the government, it would be very difficult for app-based companies to expand to new markets and grow.
Gov. Newsom, from his Facebook page.POLITICAL PULSE: In the wake of two mass shootings that claimed the lives of 18 people and left ten others wounded, Gov. Newsom, along with Attorney General Rob Bonta and other legislative leaders – and gun safety advocates – will announce new efforts to advance gun safety legislation.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta in San Francisco at a women's rights demonstration last week. <(Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald, via Shutterstock)OPINION: With the expected blow-out win of Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose re-election was almost assured when he demolished the ill-advised recall attempt last year, pundits and political reporters – always spoiling for a good fight and a close race — now seem to be searching the other seven races for statewide office to find one that might be even marginally competitive.
A facility run by CoreCivic, a private-prison company. The photo was taken in November 2019, shortly before private prisons were outlawed in California. (Photo: Shuttertstock)In January 2020, Californians thought they were getting out of the private prison business. They are, but under a new law, AB 32, which went into effect at the first of the year, the state remains heavily invested in backing for-profit correctional services — including facilities that resemble detention centers run by the same companies who operate private prisons.
Police at a Vallejo crime scene, where three people were shot during an armed robbery. (Photo: Francis Arrostuto, via Shutterstck)Preliminary numbers from California’s biggest cities suggest that 2020’s stunning 30-percent increase in the statewide murder rate – the largest since 1960 – has continued to rise this year, and crime experts have as many questions as answers. “We’re seeing a continued trend” in rising murder rates throughout 2021, said Mangus Lofstrom, a policy director and senior fellow at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.
Assemblymember Rob Bonta, an Alameda County Democrat, picked by Gov. Gavin Newsom as the next state attorney general. (Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)Rob Bonta, the first Filipino-American to serve in the California Legislature, was appointed state attorney general on Wednesday, filling the vacancy created by Xavier Becerra, who left to join President Joe Biden’s administration.