A tangle of glass and plastic beverage bottles at a Santa Monica recycling site. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)After a nice dinner with your loved ones, make sure to keep the wine and spirit containers alongside the recyclable bottles. The state Senate passed Senate Bill 1013 on a 39-0 vote and sent it to the Assembly just before lawmakers left for their summer recess.
An active older couple hikes to an outlook over a California forest. (Photo: Ulza, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Rome wasn’t built in a day, but the Romans laid bricks every hour. The same might be said about California’s Master Plan for Aging, which has laid the groundwork for this precise moment in time.
A smog L.A. skyline looms in the background. (Photo: Matt Gush, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Sadly, some Sacramento legislators choose to ignore democratic principles and are, once again, attempting to push their “state-knows-best” attitude and diminish local control at the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Voters elect local city councils and mayors to represent our best interests. In turn, these elected officials select from among themselves the members of the SCAQMD governing board.
Illustratikon of COVID impact on California. (Photo: Alexander Lukatskiy, Shutterstock)Timing can speak volumes. Consider this: As the Omicron variant of the coronavirus increases the infection rate, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cut COVID-19 quarantine and isolation times from 10 to five days on Dec. 27.
A newspaper's election gives readers information about the Sept. 14, 2021, recall election. (Photo: Matt Gush, via Shutterstock)California’s attention was focused recently on the failed attempt to recall Gov. Newsom as a rare event of historical magnitude. In fact, recall elections happen all the time, and all but a relative handful of these obscure contests disappear into the limbo of history.
The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in South Lake Tahoe. (Photo: EQRoy, via Shutterstock)Voters are facing the possibility of deciding among three fiercely competing ballot initiatives next year – all of them involving tens of millions of dollars and a revolution in California’s gambling industry. One of the three has already qualified for the November 2022 ballot. The remaining two must still gather signatures.
Photo illustration of a card identifying the recipient of Medi-Cal services. (Image: California Healthline)When Denise Williams’ baby boy was 2 months old, she became alarmed by a rattling sound in his lungs and took him to the emergency room. While undergoing treatment, he spiraled into a disabling neurological disorder.
A mule deer with sunflowera in a mountain meadow. (Photo: Tom Reichner, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Roads and development create massive barriers for wildlife. Mountain lions, desert tortoises, California tiger salamanders and many other creatures have watched their home turf shrink. Building or upgrading wildlife crossings and preserving existing habitat can go a long way toward saving the state’s most imperiled species.
An array of offshore wind turbines at sunset. (Photo: TebNad, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Offshore wind energy in California would create quality jobs. Legislators should put the state on a path to development. In California, we know that building a clean energy economy means high-quality blue-collar jobs.
Berkeley City College, which received a portion of $51 million in state stem cell research grants. (Photo: berkeleyside.org)The California stem cell agency has awarded $51 million to help train students in the art of research at the Golden State’s community colleges and universities. All 15 applicants for awards that ran as high as $3.6 million each were approved, including Berkeley City College, which was initially rejected by anonymous reviewers who met privately prior to the ratification of their decisions by the agency’s directors.