Posts Tagged: statement

News

Tangled tale: Research, profits and the ‘bubble baby’ syndrome

Evangelina, a former 'bubble baby,' plays inside a giant plastic bubble. (Photo: Stem Cellar Report, CIRM)

Little Evangelina Padilla-Vaccaro is more than a poster girl for the $12 billion California stem cell agency. She embodies a big bet by the agency that its efforts will conquer at least a few of the terrible diseases that are currently incurable. In the case of Evie, as the eight-year-old is known, she was born with what has come to be described as the bubble baby syndrome, a rare genetic mutation that crippled her immune system to the point that she would have died if left untreated.

News

Groundbreaker: State Capitol’s first Muslim chaplain

Sacramento Imam Mohammad “Yasir” Khan. (Photo: Council on American Islamic Relations)

When Sacramento Imam Mohammad “Yasir” Khan leads the opening invocation for the California Assembly on Jan. 11, he will do so as the first appointed Muslim chaplain in state legislative history.

News

PG&E by any other name: Golden State Power Light & Gas?

A utility worker handles repairs on a power pole. (Photo: Richard Thornton, via Shutterstock)

PG&E’s reputation has been so battered over its wildfire liabilities and other problems that some think it should change its name. A group of bondholders trying to take over the utility company has proposed that they re-brand it to Golden State Power Light & Gas Co. They made the proposal during proceedings in PG&E’s bankruptcy court case earlier this year.

News

Rent control may roil 2018 ballot

A house goes up for rent. (Photo: Andy Dean Photography)

So far, most of the sound and fury in California politics has revolved around candidates.  But there are increasing signs that ballot initiatives may trigger additional uproar in 2018. The latest November filing is an effort to remove a 20-year barrier to local rent control, the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.

News

California gun laws and the Las Vegas shooting

People gather in Las Vegas to mourn the victims of the Oct. 1 mass shooting. (Photo: Pulsipher Photography, Shutterstock)

With the toughest gun laws in the nation, California has a few regulations on the books that potentially could have lessened the carnage in the Las Vegas shooting if those laws had been enacted in Nevada. California outlaws bump stocks and large-capacity magazines, both of which shooter Stephen Paddock used to kill 58 people and wound more than 500 Oct. 1 at a country music festival on the Las Vegas strip.

News

CalPERS steps up on climate change

CalPERS headquarters, downtown Sacramento. (Photo: CalPERS)

CalPERS is a leader in forming a first-ever global alliance of large investors that would use its combined shareholder clout to engage companies with the most carbon emissions, believed by scientists to contribute to climate change. The CalPERS board was told last week that its staff is working with others to complete the plan in time for an introduction at a United Nations investor meeting next month in Berlin, followed by a public launch in November at a UN climate change meeting in Bonn.

News

GOP’s Chad Mayes: A warrior in an uphill battle

Assembly GOP Leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley, during an August 2016 floor session. (Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)

Chad Mayes, the affable leader of Assembly Republicans, says he wakes up every morning thinking about the low state of his party in California. Mayes has plenty to ponder. Republicans have no statewide officeholders, a paltry 26 percent of registered voters (just a bit higher than the 24 percent who decline to state a party affiliation) and Mayes himself has to deal with a 25-55 Democratic supermajority in his Assembly.

News

Armed Black Panthers in the Capitol, 50 years on

A Black Panther Party member brings a shotgun into the state Capitol, May 2, 1967. He was one of two dozen armed Panthers who entered the building. (Photo: Walt Zeboski/Associated Press)

It’s largely forgotten now, but 50 years ago, it created a national sensation. It even caused the National Rifle Association and Ronald Reagan to back a gun-control bill authored by a Republican. Tuesday is the 50th anniversary of the May 2, 1967 “invasion” of the state Capitol by two dozen gun-toting Black Panthers.

News

Tensions mount at state Capitol

State Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Shuttesrstock)

The prospect of ACA repeal has triggered a mixture of speculation, caution and dread among California policymakers. One way or another, California intends to take care of those among its people dependent on government for their health care, but how the state will pick up the pieces if Obamacare disappears is the question.

News

PolitiFact: Does Prop. 67 money go to environment?

A reusable green shopping bag with disposable plastic bags.(Photo: John Nightingale)

A ‘Yes’ vote on California’s Proposition 67 would ban thin plastic carryout bags at grocery and convenience stores statewide. The ban is supported by environmental groups that argue the bags choke wildlife and cause problems for recycling centers when they wrap around machinery.

Support for Capitol Weekly is Provided by: