GUEST COLUMNS
Wednesday, September 15, 2021
Later this month, a group of renters in the United States will get a new break when they try to become homeowners: Their history of consistently paying their landlords will count toward qualifying for a mortgage.
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Six years ago, the HBO network aired an episode of "True Detective," an anthology of complicated crime stories.
It can't be said enough; California's farming industry is a cornerstone of this great state – our growers provide food for your families and the world. As we hear so often during this pandemic, farming and agriculture are essential.
Here was Gov. Gavin Newsom, San Francisco's former mayor, who ascended to the apex of California government. Next to him stood Vice President Kamala Harris, another alum of San Francisco politics who climbed those same ranks at the same time, only to ascend further still, landing just short of the peak of American government.
Was your home damaged by Hurricane Ida? Insurance experts say you should file claims as soon as possible — if you have coverage.
Monday, September 13, 2021
Investors today live in an era offering unprecedented global investment choices, in both active and passive vehicles. Investments in each category have opportunities and challenges for investors to consider when crafting an optimal financial strategy.
State lawmakers are scrambling to craft a better solution for COVID-quarantined students — after schools and parents complained that recent changes to independent study laws were leaving them in the lurch.
Cynthia Rojas never had much interest in politics. A mother who owns an online business selling hair accessories from her home in West Los Angeles, Rojas chose Democrats when she voted. But she skipped a lot of elections — and she certainly never glanced at a city council agenda or attended school board meetings.
Legalizing cannabis was supposed to be about social justice. About ending mass incarceration of people of color for possessing a small amount of marijuana. About safer legal access.
The Central Valley's rice fields and wetlands are widely heralded as key rest and refuel stops for millions of migratory birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway. The rice fields provide more than 50% of the diet for the ducks and geese during their fall and winter migration.
Friday, September 10, 2021
Most insureds pay regular monthly life insurance premiums for years without a problem. Occasionally, a policyholder may miss a premium payment. For example, in the last few months of her life, the policyholder may be so ill or incapacitated that she uncharacteristically fails to pay the monthly premium.
Texas' new abortion law gives enforcement powers to private citizens. Is there precedent for that?
The solution to California's housing crisis is simple: Scrap the California Environmental Quality Act. At least according to the major Republican candidates in the Sept. 14 recall election.
Gov. Gavin Newsom's $6 billion broadband plan approved by the Legislature in July is a massive investment providing California's best chance yet to close the digital divide and finally connect the state's remaining unserved households that still have no internet service or very slow service.
The country is the first to use Bitcoin as an official currency, encouraging businesses and citizens to use it in everyday transactions, and authorities struggled to smooth out glitches in the new system.
Thursday, September 9, 2021
An acquaintance had some good news to impart last week: Her son, who operates construction machinery, just got a raise from $43 an hour to $57.
California's bet on transitional rehabilitation programs is novel, and recent evidence suggests it is paying off.
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Two weeks before voters decide whether to remove Gov. Gavin Newsom, a second round of stimulus payments is landing in the bank accounts of Californians who make less than $75,000 per year — with one glaring carve-out.
Unfounded rumors about election security have always been around, but they've been rampant since the 2020 election and former President Trump's "Stop the Steal" movement.
Governing a state is hard work, but governors aren't supposed to mislead citizens, make up sympathetic stories or create rules they neglect to follow. Yet Gov. Gavin Newsom is a repeat offender of all those.
More than 200 occupations are licensed the same way in California, from teachers to doctors. Professions that require public confidence are held to a high standard, and the privilege of practicing can be rescinded for failing to meet it. Law enforcement is not among those 200.
Assembly Bill 616 would grant to California farmworkers the same rights to vote by mail in union certification elections that all California voters enjoy in political elections.
The problem emerged last year as state employment systems were straining to process a crush of claims during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tuesday, September 7, 2021
Kelly Rhoden, the principal at Nevada Union High School, spent her morning Monday scrambling to find substitutes for her absent teachers.
Imagine picking up the newspaper the day after the California gubernatorial recall election and reading an entirely plausible result: 51% of Californians voted to recall the governor and 49% voted to keep him in office.
If you're among those who plan to quit your current role in search of a better opportunity, it's important to consider how doing so could affect your finances. Here are some things to think about before you hand in your two-week notice.
Friday, September 3, 2021
Each year, nearly 4,000 Californians die in car crashes. More than three times that number are severely injured. The difference between death and injury is speed — and with every mile per hour, the risk only grows.
Under California law, non-exempt employees who are not provided a compliant meal and/or rest break must receive "premium pay" equal to one hour of pay.
Thursday, September 2, 2021
Three decades ago, it became apparent that casino gambling was coming to California and the only question was who would control and benefit from it.
Republicans running to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in the recall election have talked about making some big changes in California: Cut taxes. Give parents vouchers for private schools. Roll back some landmark environmental laws.
The only California governor to ever be recalled has some thoughts about how the process could be reformed.
Here's one you probably haven't heard before: The Legislature is considering a plan to make it easier for California community college students to get into a UC or Cal State campus, but current community college students aren't backing it.
Wednesday, September 1, 2021
There is $12 billion in Gov. Gavin Newsom's state budget allocated for homelessness and affordable housing — enough to permanently take care of the vast majority of the state's needs.
Even before the pandemic, mental health disorders were among the most common chronic illnesses Californians face.
A year and a half of pandemic living has revealed — or reminded us of — some persistent patterns around money, gender, marriage and families. And they aren't always pretty.
Tuesday, August 31, 2021
In the past month, four emergency room nurses — exhausted by the onslaught of patients and emotional turmoil wrought by COVID-19 — have quit at the Eureka hospital where Matt Miele works.
We pay more than $1 a gallon above the national average for fuel. That's just for starters. The effect of those high costs is not only oppressive to lower-income workers and their families, it's discriminatory.
With many legal protections for California's borrowers because of COVID-19 set to expire, better regulation and representation are urgently required to reverse this disturbing practice.
A new crop of mobile money apps are promoting themselves as part of the solution to a stubborn problem: a lack of financial savvy, particularly among young Americans.
Monday, August 30, 2021
It is dangerous to hide the ball from the opposing party; and doubly dangerous to hide the ball from the court.
Kevin Paffrath is running to be California's next governor in the Sept. 14 recall election, but he doesn't quite look, or talk, the part.
The differences between President Biden and Gov. Newsom were never as stark as they were earlier this month. Both leaders understand the urgency of climate change.
Heather Christiansen got an email on Aug. 14 from her son's school, saying her 10-year-old had been in contact with a classmate who tested positive for COVID-19.
Budgeting and financial planning are two terms that are easily confused. Both apply to personal finances and both are activities that can help you be financially successful now and in the future. Yet, while the two go hand-in-hand, they are not the same.
Friday, August 27, 2021
One silver lining has emerged from this pandemic: Never, perhaps, has it been so clear how much we owe the physicians in our communities. And California Supreme Court case Natarajan v. Dignity Health helps clarify the standards applicable to medical staff peer review hearings.
Overnight, the Soviet Union's dictator, Joseph Stalin, was transformed from enemy to a partner of the U.S. and Great Britain in their war against Germany and its dictator, Adolf Hitler. Militarily, it was the best thing that could have happened for the Western allies because had it not happened, Hitler might easily have triumphed.
Anaheim, San Diego and Oakland are all hoping to give their sports arenas a boost by giving the surrounding real estate a makeover. In high-gloss renderings, developers promise walkable, transit-friendly cityscapes featuring housing, hotels, shops and restaurants with plenty of inviting green space.
With just three weeks until California's Sept. 14 recall election, some of the top candidates are starting to scuffle. Not Kevin Kiley.
On the afternoon of Aug. 4, a 40,000-foot pyro-cumulus cloud built over the mountains south of Lake Almanor, collapsing into a storm of red-hot embers.
There's an expression about the personal-information-grubbing practices of free digital services that sell ads, including Facebook and weather apps: If you don't pay for the product, you are the product.
Thursday, August 26, 2021
The large firms and small boutiques who sent their workers home in the early days of the pandemic are watching with wary eyes the Delta variant, even as they are opening their doors and turning the lights back on. But the attorneys who show up to work in this next phase of the pandemic could look much different than the group that departed last year.
California had a huge and growing housing problem before COVID-19 reared its ugly head 18 months ago, falling well short each year of state construction goals.
Andrew McDowell, who owns a cafe in downtown Los Angeles, says the recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom is a waste of time and money.
In California, our natural resource world has changed and continues to change faster than our policies and institutions can adapt.
As millions of renters stare down the end of California's eviction moratorium — and stories of the thousands of evictions that have taken place despite the moratorium are learned — we can clearly see the short- and long-term effects of the pandemic on Californians. It has crystallized just how many Californians decide whether they can pay rent or buy groceries, despite living in the wealthiest state in the country.
A bill that would have fundamentally changed how garment workers are paid had enough votes to pass during last year's legislative session, its supporters say, but ran out of time during the session's frenzied final hours.
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
In 2014, Scott Hassan, known by some as the third Google founder, sent Allison Huynh, his wife of 13 years, a text message that their marriage was over and that he was moving out of their home.
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
What exactly can an expert rely on for his or her opinion to be admissible? This debate has been raging since the California Supreme Court issued its opinion in People v. Sanchez in 2016.
While many people complain about the ideological biases in the California Department of Education's proposal to revolutionize the state mathematics curriculum, that's not the main problem. This plan has fundamental issues of concern and will do no child any good.
If we know a solution exists to begin cleaning our air while we work toward a zero-tailpipe-emissions future, then there is no reason to wait. The California Air Resources Board should work quickly to expand the availability of alternative fuels that can improve air quality to immediately move the state closer to achieving its climate goals.
This past school year, Madeline Waters struggled to find a way to pay for food while also studying for classes. As a nutrition major at Sacramento State, she wasn't unfamiliar with what skipping meals could mean for her academic career. So this spring she applied, yet again, for food stamps.
The coronavirus pandemic appears to have unleashed a tidal wave of entrepreneurial activity, breaking the United States — at least temporarily — out of a decadeslong startup slump.
Friday, August 20, 2021
In this era of uber-polarized politics, even the most basic functions of government become points of conflict — and in California that includes managing the ever-increasing wildfire threat.
As legislators return to Sacramento for final deliberations this year, prioritizing funding for methane reduction should be the first order of business.
There are many ways to assess the prospects for economic growth — from the performance of the stock market, to the latest unemployment data, to inflation.
Thursday, August 19, 2021
From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state's six million public school students have been used as pawns in political power struggles and abused by having their educations stunted.
Wednesday, August 18, 2021
The California Supreme Court recently clarified the scope of protection under the anti-SLAPP law for communication and conduct related to hospital physician peer review.
A Newsom loss and a Faulconer win would be a double dose of bad news for the state's Democratic Party because of all the Republican candidates, he would have the best chance of winning a full term in 2022.
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Amid extreme drought, Gov. Gavin Newsom is asking for statewide conservation of 15%, farmers are facing cutbacks in water deliveries, and a mass die-off of salmon is expected.
Most four-year degrees pay off by paving the way for graduates to recoup the cost of their education relatively quickly, a new analysis finds. But that's particularly true for some programs, while others may offer little economic advantage over a high school diploma.
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar
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