Posts Tagged: Silicon Valley

News

Steve Poizner seeks old job, drops GOP label

Photo of candidate Steve Poizner from his official website

The 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.

News

PolitiFact: Does CA really have world’s 6th largest economy?

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.

Opinion

Top priority: The push for K-12 accountability

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.

News

Round 4 coming up: Honda vs. Khanna

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.

News

Self-driving cars raise safety concerns

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.

Opinion

The real story behind SB 350

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…”

News

New rainy day fund — a change long overdue

Gov. Brown on Jan. 9 in the state Capitol as he unveiled his 2015-16 draft budget. Brown's budget includes the newly approved "rainy day fund."(Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)

California’s economy may not be booming, but it is definitely on the mend. The Bay Area is churning out high-tech profits and high-wage jobs. In other parts of the state, unemployment is inching down toward full-employment levels. And as always when California’s economy improves, tax revenues are soaring. With an income tax system highly dependent on the wealthy and their investment income, the state treasury typically sees a windfall whenever times are good.

News

‘Six Californias’ initiative fails to make ballot

A map of California divided into six parts. (Illustration: SixCalifornias.com)

A Silicon Valley venture capitalist’s attempt to split California into six states failed to qualify for the statewide ballot, the secretary of state reported Friday. The measure would have carved California into the states of North California, Central California, South California, West California, Silicon Valley and Jefferson.

News

A six-way split: The late, great state of California?

Photo: Andy Dean

The new state of North California, population 3.8 million, would be a band running west to east bounded by the northern edges of Sonoma, Napa, Yolo, Sutter, Yuba and Sierra counties and the southern borders of Marin, Solano, Sacramento, Amador and El Dorado counties along with Nevada and Placer counties.

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