California
Commentary
Why Don’t Health Insurance Exchanges Work?
A previous entry reported and discussed the lackluster basically non-existent results of the Utah Health Exchange, and promised to explain why unsubsidized exchanges are unlikely to attract significant numbers of beneficiaries from the small-group market. The answer, I believe, is pretty straightforward: The administrative costs of operating an ...
Business & Economics
Court pick echoes Jerry Brown’s worldview
Gov. Jerry Browns decision to nominate Berkeley Law Professor Goodwin Liu to Californias Supreme Court is a highly partisan poke in the eye at Republicans, given that GOP congressional criticisms led Liu, in May, to withdraw his name from contention for a slot on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. ...
Business & Economics
Jerry Brown picks his kind of judge
Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision to nominate UC Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the California Supreme Court is a highly partisan poke in the eye at Republicans, given that GOP congressional criticisms led Liu, in May, to withdraw his name from contention for a slot on the 9th U.S. Circuit ...
California
How’s ‘Jerry Brown’s charter school’ doing?
In the state Capitol, bills hostile to charter schools, which are deregulated public schools independent of school districts, have snaked their way through the Legislature. If they reach Jerry Brown’s desk, it will be interesting to see what the governor decides to do, since he founded a successful charter school, ...
Business & Economics
Give A Convict A Job
Never has it been more evident that California is in a downward spiral on the verge of economic, social and political collapse San Francisco is now pushing to make convicted criminals a protected class so that prospective employers cannot inquire about criminal records. An already precarious business climate in ...
Business & Economics
Making public pay for budget cuts
Sacramento – Last year, one of my reporters and her adult son were walking in downtown Sacramento when a couple of young toughs tried grabbing her purse. She pulled back her purse, and the robbers lunged at the two of them, leaving the son’s face covered in blood. Despite a ...
Business & Economics
The Alameda incident: ‘First responders’ who don’t
On Memorial Day, a suicidal man waded into San Francisco Bay outside the city of Alameda and stood there for about an hour, neck deep in chilly water, as about 75 bystanders watched. Local police and firefighters were dispatched to the scene after the man’s desperate mother called 911, but ...
California
It’s Time to Neuter California’s Legislature
In June, several California legislators complained about having their pay cut by state Controller John Chiang because the budget they submitted by the June 15 constitutional deadline — the only deadline they seem to care about — was unbalanced. This latest budget drama shows why California needs a part-time legislature. ...
Business & Economics
Old Boss or New Boss, state stem cell agency still a bust
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has chosen financier Jonathan Thomas as its new boss — but it matters little who runs the state stem-cell agency. The focus should be on results, and by that standard, Californians do not get what they paid for. Thomas, an investment banker schooled ...
California
California Ignores Parents, Empowers Reactionaries
Many states are passing progressive legislation to empower parents and students with choice in education. California, on the other hand, is considering legislation that ignores the needs of students and makes the most powerful anti-choice force in the state even more powerful. In the nation’s capital, Congress has revived the ...
Why Don’t Health Insurance Exchanges Work?
A previous entry reported and discussed the lackluster basically non-existent results of the Utah Health Exchange, and promised to explain why unsubsidized exchanges are unlikely to attract significant numbers of beneficiaries from the small-group market. The answer, I believe, is pretty straightforward: The administrative costs of operating an ...
Court pick echoes Jerry Brown’s worldview
Gov. Jerry Browns decision to nominate Berkeley Law Professor Goodwin Liu to Californias Supreme Court is a highly partisan poke in the eye at Republicans, given that GOP congressional criticisms led Liu, in May, to withdraw his name from contention for a slot on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. ...
Jerry Brown picks his kind of judge
Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision to nominate UC Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the California Supreme Court is a highly partisan poke in the eye at Republicans, given that GOP congressional criticisms led Liu, in May, to withdraw his name from contention for a slot on the 9th U.S. Circuit ...
How’s ‘Jerry Brown’s charter school’ doing?
In the state Capitol, bills hostile to charter schools, which are deregulated public schools independent of school districts, have snaked their way through the Legislature. If they reach Jerry Brown’s desk, it will be interesting to see what the governor decides to do, since he founded a successful charter school, ...
Give A Convict A Job
Never has it been more evident that California is in a downward spiral on the verge of economic, social and political collapse San Francisco is now pushing to make convicted criminals a protected class so that prospective employers cannot inquire about criminal records. An already precarious business climate in ...
Making public pay for budget cuts
Sacramento – Last year, one of my reporters and her adult son were walking in downtown Sacramento when a couple of young toughs tried grabbing her purse. She pulled back her purse, and the robbers lunged at the two of them, leaving the son’s face covered in blood. Despite a ...
The Alameda incident: ‘First responders’ who don’t
On Memorial Day, a suicidal man waded into San Francisco Bay outside the city of Alameda and stood there for about an hour, neck deep in chilly water, as about 75 bystanders watched. Local police and firefighters were dispatched to the scene after the man’s desperate mother called 911, but ...
It’s Time to Neuter California’s Legislature
In June, several California legislators complained about having their pay cut by state Controller John Chiang because the budget they submitted by the June 15 constitutional deadline — the only deadline they seem to care about — was unbalanced. This latest budget drama shows why California needs a part-time legislature. ...
Old Boss or New Boss, state stem cell agency still a bust
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has chosen financier Jonathan Thomas as its new boss — but it matters little who runs the state stem-cell agency. The focus should be on results, and by that standard, Californians do not get what they paid for. Thomas, an investment banker schooled ...
California Ignores Parents, Empowers Reactionaries
Many states are passing progressive legislation to empower parents and students with choice in education. California, on the other hand, is considering legislation that ignores the needs of students and makes the most powerful anti-choice force in the state even more powerful. In the nation’s capital, Congress has revived the ...
