Lucia Saldivar, photo by Scott Duncan PhotographyGrowing up in San Ysidro, just this side of the California-Mexico border, Lucia Saldivar thought she was going to be a musician, like her father. “Music always helped me make sense of the world and my community,” she says. “Then in high school, I learned a new language to help make sense of the world around me, and that was politics and policy.”
A children's playground cloaked in greenery. (Photo: JameSit, via Shutterstock)OPINION: From San Diego to Sacramento, the threat of rising temperatures to our youth continues to worsen. And as six million California public school students return to class this month, they’ll be walking onto schoolyards covered with asphalt – prison-like, unhealthy environments that are detrimental to a kid’s physical, mental and educational health.
From San Diego to Sacramento, the threat of rising temperatures to our youth continues to worsen. And as six million California public school students return to class this month, they’ll be walking onto schoolyards covered with asphalt – prison-like, unhealthy environments that are detrimental to a kid’s physical, mental and educational health.
An eerie orange sky over San Francisco, caused by smoke from wildfires linked to climate change. (Photo: Benny Marty, via Shutterstock)OPINION: For decades, I helped shape the state’s policy priorities as a senior member of the Assembly Speaker’s Office – including being the lead Assembly staffer on the historic passage of AB 32, which made California the first state in the nation to place caps on greenhouse gas emissions. So trust me when I say, California’s elected leaders have a huge opportunity to stave off the worst impacts of climate change by enacting the governor’s current Climate Budget.
A crowd at the Santa Monica pier during the height of the pandemic. Some people wear masks, some don't.(Photo: Hanson L, via Shutterstock)To mask or not to mask? That is the question — and there are a lot of answers. California on March 1 lifted its rule requiring unvaccinated people to wear masks in most indoor settings, but still strongly recommended that everyone wear masks indoors while in public. After fully two years of self-imposed isolation and masking, many people were delighted with the move.
A volunteer teacher reads to a group of young children. (Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Shutterstock)Decades of underinvestment in schools, culture battles over bilingual education, and dizzying levels of income inequality have pushed California to the bottom of the pile, making it the least literate state in the nation. Nearly 1 in 4 people over the age of 15 lack the skills to decipher the words in this sentence. Only 77 percent of adults are considered mid to highly literate, according to the nonpartisan data crunchers at World Population Review.
A multi-unit housing complex under construction in Vista, San Diego County. (Photo: Simone Hogan, via Shutterstock)OPINION: With one act next week, an obscure state panel could make nearly $2 billion available to finance and fund affordable housing projects around the state. Or it could choose to leave that money on the table and instead enable a Canadian corporation to issue tax-free bonds to finance a controversial, economically unjust, and environmentally damaging desalination plant in Orange County.
A school bus awaits to pick up children at a California school. (Photo: Debbie Ann Powell, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The accumulation of harmful public policy proposals which would have eliminated parent choice in California demonstrates what happens when Sacramento’s public education establishment awakes a sleeping giant.
A sign in Yorba Linda advocating Gov. Gavin Newsom's recall. (Photo: Matt Gush.)Deeply divided California voters will go to the polls on Sept. 14 — earlier, if they vote by mail — to decide whether Gov. Gavin Newsom should be recalled and who should replace him. The polls are tight. A July 24-27 poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies has 47 percent of those most likely to vote wanting to boot Newsom out of office, while 50 percent want to retain him. So what helps Newsom and what doesn’t?
A sign beckons library users with a compelling message. (Photo: Becky Ruppel, via California State Library)OPINION: This year’s state budget contains an unprecedented investment in California’s public libraries. The $439 million earmarked by Gov. Newsom and the Legislature for renovating and modernizing local libraries will provide decades of ongoing benefits to millions of Californians and the communities in which they live.
A student in class during the pandemic. (Photo: Siday Productions, via Shutterstock)PPIC: One year after the state’s schools halted in-person learning due to COVID-19, more than eight in ten Californians think children are falling behind academically during the pandemic. Most Californians approve of how Gov. Newsom is handling the state’s K–12 public education system, though six in ten are concerned that California’s K–12 schools will not be open for full-time in-person instruction this fall.