A view of downtown San Jose, a portion of Silicon Valley, the Tech Museum, and the McEnery Convention Center. (Photo: stellamc, via Shutterstock)OPINION: We have an opportunity for community voices to remind policymakers that our state’s technology sector has been a true bright spot as digital tools, platforms, and services continue to serve as a tide that lifts all boats.
A California school classroom. (Photo: Monkey Business Imagesd, via Shutterstock)An initiative to reclaim up to $12 billion for California public schools and local communities could make its way onto the ballot in November 2020. Proponents of the measure say it will force large corporations to pay their fair share in property taxes. The Schools & Communities First initiative would amend the current property tax law established under Proposition 13 in 1978.
A photo illustration of an cyber attacker on the internet. (Photo: Alexander Geiger, via Shutterstock OPINION: Germany never accepted defeat in World War I, and it used the next 22 years to re-imagine the internal-combustion engine into a series of devastating weapons, and then to deploy those weapons in combinations never before seen on the field of battle. At the same time, its leaders undermined domestic democratic institutions to solidify its power. Their motive was simple: revenge. I fear a similar dynamic is at play in 2019.
Photo of candidate Steve Poizner from his official websiteThe first person to hold statewide office in California without aligning with a political party could be Steve Poizner. He is vying for the seat left open by Dave Jones, who is running for state attorney general. Poizner’s main opponents are Democrats Sen. Ricardo Lara and physician Asif Mahmood. The Department of Insurance has more than 1,300 employees and a $250 million budget. It oversees the state’s $300 billion insurance market, the largest in the country.
A homeless man feeds the birds on an L.A. street. (Photo: Laurin Rinder)Two recent studies have confirmed it: In California, poverty exists in the most unlikely places.
A street scene in crowded, affluent San Francisco. (Photo: ChameleonsEye, via Shutterstock)“These are the progressive policies that have made California the sixth largest economy on planet Earth,” De León said. We won’t wade into the debate over whether progressive or other policies have positioned the state’s economy on such a high perch. But we will examine the provocative “sixth largest economy on planet Earth” claim by itself.
Youngsters in a California classroom. (Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The clock is ticking for our kids. Within a few weeks, The State Board of Education will determine many K-12 school accountability provisions in our education system for decades to come.
A freeway sign to a Silicon Valley turnoff. (Photo illustration: boscorelli, via Shutterstock) For voters in California’s 17th Congressional District, the Democratic match-up will be familiar. The Silicon Valley region is gearing up for yet another race between incumbent Congressman Mike Honda and challenger Ro Khanna, who nearly took the seat from Honda in the 2014 midterms. That year, they faced each other in the primary and, again, in the general election — which Honda won.
A Rinspeed Budii concept autonomous car. (Photo: Yauhen_D, Shutterstock)On Valentine’s Day in Silicon Valley, one of Google’s experimental, self-driving cars sideswiped a city bus at 2 miles an hour. The incident marked the first time an autonomous car contributed to an accident on a public road, but did nothing to diminish the Obama administration’s enthusiasm for driverless vehicles.
Farm workers tending the fields in the Salinas Valley. (Photo: Rightdx, Shutterstock)OPINION: A recent opinion column in Capitol Weekly (Jan. 7, “Moderate Democrats: the slaves of Big Oil?”) was not the real story of last year’s SB 350, an effort to reduce petroleum-based transportation fuels in California by 50 percent. Ironically, the real story of SB 350 is the first line of the author’s eighth paragraph: “The story of inequality in our state is not just one of economics…”