California Connected Newsroom

The Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton says Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has shown great initiative in tackling the state’s aging levee system. “Give the guy credit,” Skelton writes. “If it weren’t for him, the ambitious $175-million project wouldn’t have been attempted. Not by the state, of course. Not by the feds, certainly, although it was […]

The Los Angeles Times’ George Skelton, Sacramento Bee’s Daniel Weintraub, Los Angeles Daily News, and San Jose Mercury News comment and report on a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California that finds a clear majority of voters want the bipartisan tone at the state capitol to continue. “Voters really are heaping praise […]

The Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Daily News, and the San Diego Union-Tribune report that Gov. Schwarzenegger formally laid out a new plan Tuesday to reform California’s political redistricting process.
“Schwarzenegger’s new plan would create an 11-member Citizens Redistricting Commission to draw the new districts,” The Times reports. “A panel […]

The Sacramento Bee’s Dan Walters takes a less optimistic line concerning the bipartisan honeymoon in Sacramento. While the governor and Democratic leaders renewed their vows to work together, Walters reports that Republicans are less eager to play along. He points out that Assembly Republicans have installed a more partisan leader, Clovis’ Mike Villines. Senate Republicans […]

The Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle report that Democrats pledged to continue their bipartisan work with Gov. Schwarzenegger as the California Legislature begun its latest two-year session Monday. “If we reject stalemate and stagnation, and if we commit ourselves to a path of civility and cooperation,” […]

The Sacramento Bee reports that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger intends to put voter redistricting back on the agenda alongside his plans for health-care and prison reform. The California Legislature currently selects and draws voting districts, which most experts agree breeds political gridlock. “Now, I know firsthand that nothing drives excellence more than the threat of competition, […]

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that two Democratic congressmen from the Bay Area intend to challenge the 401(k) and health insurance industries to better serve Americans. Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, says retirement firms that manage 401(k) accounts need to do more to disclose fees that eat into Amercans’ savings. Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, who will […]

The Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Los Angeles Daily News report that a federal judge has ruled that the state has switched its own position of Proposition 83, the new law that would severely restrict the rights of sex offenders. The switch concerns whether the law would apply retroactively to those who have […]

The Los Angeles Times profiles Democrat Jerry McNerney of California, a math professor and wind engineer who defeated powerful Republican incumbent Richard Pombo. “McNerney takes his place as one of the few PhDs ever elected to Congress and perhaps the only one who can prove that an imaginary number to an imaginary exponent is a […]

The San Francisco Chronicle and the Sacramento Bee report on the political and fiscal hurdles Gov. Schwarzenegger faces now that he has been reelected. As was reported this summer, the San Francisco Chronicle reminds us that the cost of health care benefits for future public-sector retirees will be massive, costing California taxpayers $140 billion over […]