GUEST COLUMNS
Friday, May 24, 2024
When Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a much-revised 2024-25 state budget this month, he became visibly irritated when reporters pressed him about raising taxes to cover a $44.9 billion deficit, particularly the corporate tax hikes that left-leaning groups have suggested to avoid spending cuts in health, welfare and education programs.
Based on their line of questioning, California Supreme Court justices seemed to be reaching for a compromise as they heard oral arguments Tuesday in the long-running legal saga over whether gig workers should be considered independent contractors or employees.
Special interest groups spent more than $114 million to lobby California officials and legislators in the first quarter of this year, matching the pace last year when a record $480 million was spent to influence state policy decisions.
Few places in California are as unforgiving for driving an electric car as the remote and sparsely populated Imperial Valley.
Monday, May 20, 2024
Gov. Gavin Newsom faces a huge deficit this spring, and he has one especially big money-saving option that he's not using.
In January, the University of California Board of Regents broke the hearts of undocumented students by halting a proposal to allow them to work on campus. A few days later, David Alvarez had a plan. The Democratic assemblymember from Chula Vista huddled with student organizers and decided to draft a bill to compel the UC, as well as the community colleges and California State University, to do what the UC regents would not.
Friday, May 17, 2024
Just minutes after Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a revised state budget with billions of dollars in spending reductions on Friday, advocates for affected programs began showering reporters with statements of dismay.
Desperate for a way to help the tens of thousands of people living in tents, cars and RVs on California's streets, lawmakers are attempting to upend a key tenet of the state's homelessness policy.
For students struggling with the cost of college, Gov. Gavin Newsom has some bad news: there may be less financial aid this fall.
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
The DeVillier v. Texas case highlights the need for government officials to act in good faith when dealing with citizens' constitutional rights, and the need for government lawyers to seek justice, not just convictions.
Monday, May 13, 2024
State utility regulators decided Thursday to let California's largest power providers stick their customers with a new monthly flat fee in exchange for a reduction in the overall price of electricity, a controversial change to the way that millions of households pay their utility bills with weighty implications for state climate change policy.
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
California's massive effort to shelter homeless residents during the COVID-19 pandemic was a success, according to a new report that says the effort changed the state's homeless services system for the better.
Monday, May 6, 2024
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NEWS
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General News
Friday, May 24, 2024 |
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| A pro-housing group is challenging the City of San Mateo's recently adopted housing element, claiming that the city overestimated the amount of housing that could be generated under existing zoning in contravention of state law. | |
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General News
Friday, May 24, 2024 |
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| The leader of the California Senate said Wednesday his body has passed all 15 bills in an anticrime package. These bills, collectively called the Safer California Plan, focus on curbing fentanyl distribution and retails theft. | |
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General News
Friday, May 24, 2024 |
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| A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Wednesday rejected a bid by five Republican states to intervene in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations against the Biden administration over its Legal Pathways rule designed to limit the number of non-Mexican asylum seekers crossing into the United States. | |
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General News
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 |
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| More than 1,500 graduate students, teaching assistants and researchers walked off the job at UC Santa Cruz on Monday, launching the first labor strike over the University of California's response to pro-Palestinian protests in the past month. | |
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General News
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 |
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| Tesla Inc. cannot dodge claims that the electric vehicle maker fostered a racially hostile environment at its Fremont facility after an Alameda County Superior Court judge granted class certification in one of 46 related cases. | |
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General News
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 |
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| Two types of accounts can help you pay for medical costs and have tax benefits, but both also have possible downsides, two recently published reports found. | |
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General News
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 |
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| Attorneys for an Oregon man who was sentenced to federal prison for selling a Russian machine gun capable of firing 900 rounds a minute are asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate his conviction because a near-total ban on the ownership of machine guns violates the Second Amendment. | |
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General News
Monday, May 20, 2024 |
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| Retired Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Timothy R. Volkmann joined the panel of neutrals at JAMS. | |
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General News
Monday, May 20, 2024 |
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| Federal courts do not have the authority to dismiss, rather than stay, an action involving claims subject to arbitration, according to a Thursday decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. One appellate attorney said the decision was the latest example of the court chipping away at the Federal Arbitration Act. | |
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General News
Monday, May 20, 2024 |
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| Water is a popular motif with product designers because it symbolizes tranquility and clarity. But this force of nature also "adds movement, freedom and flow in a space," said Golnar Roshan, who with her partner, Ruben de la Rive Box, recently introduced a rug collection called Fluid that evokes the moody skies reflected in the canals of Amsterdam, where they live. | |
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General News
Monday, May 20, 2024 |
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| The Biden administration's move to terminate much of a long-running settlement governing the treatment of unaccompanied migrant children relies on the argument that the federal government's hands are tied by the refusal of several states to license child care programs for those minors. | |
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General News
Monday, May 20, 2024 |
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| Former Los Angeles City Attorney Michael Feuer "obstructed justice" when he denied knowledge of a scheme to settle litigation against the city over faulty utility billing software without any discovery, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent in the case. | |
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General News
Monday, May 20, 2024 |
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| Crime has become a big topic in the California state Legislature, reflecting the growing frustration many residents have expressed over crime rates. | |
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General News
Friday, May 17, 2024 |
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| Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has indicated he will sue the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in federal court claiming the Board's decision to place him on a "do not hire" list was a violation of his due process and First Amendment rights. | |
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General News
Friday, May 17, 2024 |
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| The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted to consider en banc a California resident's class action against a Canadian e-commerce platform, Shopify Inc., for allegedly violating privacy and unfair competition laws because it extracted his personal data when he was making a purchase at a retailer that used the company's services. | |
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General News
Friday, May 17, 2024 |
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| That waste-conscious message was scrawled on the back of a decades-old pickup in the Nebraska town where Martha Keen grew up. The doctor who drove it could have afforded a new one, but no: The truck had plenty of life left in it. Onward. | |
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General News
Friday, May 17, 2024 |
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| At first glance, Dave Langston's predicament seems similar to headaches facing homeowners in coastal states vulnerable to catastrophic hurricanes: As disasters have become more frequent and severe, his insurance company has been losing money. Then, it canceled his coverage and left the state. | |
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General News
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 |
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| Counsel for social media companies including Meta, Snapchat and YouTube argued against public nuisance claims brought by multiple school districts who say their products are damaging to students' mental health at a hearing on Monday. | |
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General News
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 |
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| Judith Sheindlin, who presided over televised small claims cases for 25 years as "Judge Judy," sued the publisher of supermarket tabloids for writing that she was working to get a new trial for Erik and Lyle Menendez, the brothers who killed their parents in 1989 in Beverly Hills. | |
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General News
Wednesday, May 15, 2024 |
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| Attorneys for Apple Inc. asked a federal judge in San Jose to toss a putative antitrust class action against its iCloud service, saying consumers are not required to sign up for cloud storage with the tech giant to use other Apple products. | |
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General News
Monday, May 13, 2024 |
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| The lawn is dead. Long live the lawn. Lately this entrenched symbol of American domestic life — verdant, weed-free and crisply mowed — has come under wider scrutiny as a profligate relic, out of sync with an ecologically conscious era. | |
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General News
Monday, May 13, 2024 |
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| It was a day like any other — the day my home was engulfed by fire. No one on earth or above asked me if I was ready for the shoulder shake. The morning started with a buzzy, two-minute car ride to my daughter's school. It ended with us — me, my husband, our then-4-year old and 1-year-old — sharing a queen-size bed at my in-law's house. I spent the night gasping for air while on my husband's phone with my friends and family. My phone had been lost to the blaze. | |
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General News
Monday, May 13, 2024 |
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| California draws more electricity from the sun than any other state. It also has a timing problem: Solar power is plentiful during the day but disappears by evening, just as people get home from work, and electricity demand spikes. To fill the gap, power companies typically burn more fossil fuels like natural gas. | |
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General News
Monday, May 13, 2024 |
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| Restaurant and arcade chain Dave & Busters won judgment on the pleadings in a prospective representative action by an employee claiming the company failed to provide break periods, pay full wages or provide accurate wage statements. | |
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General News
Monday, May 13, 2024 |
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| Alliant Insurance Services sued Missouri-based Lockton Companies on Tuesday, alleging its non-compete covenants deter competitors from hiring Lockton producers for fear of becoming embroiled in lawsuits. It's the latest legal volley in a dispute over the extent to which such covenants can apply to workers in California, where their use is restricted. | |
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General News
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 |
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| More details are trickling out about the cuts the California Judiciary will face under Gov. Gavin Newsom's revised budget proposal. The good news is that the current round of belt tightening won't be as bad as others the courts have weathered over the past decades. | |