by jpitney | Jul 20, 2025 | Budget, California Politics
Dan Walters at CalMatters: When Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders were drafting a more-or-less final 2025-26 state budget last month, they were closing what they described as a $12 billion deficit, a number that the state’s media repeatedly cited. It...
by jpitney | Jul 15, 2025 | California Politics, Public Opinion
Mark Z. Barabak: A recent UC Irvine poll found that residents, by a 2-to-1 margin, believe California is headed on the wrong track, a mood consistent with other gauges of Golden State grumpiness… A poll conducted by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental...
by jpitney | Jul 11, 2025 | California Politics, Journalism, Journalists, Local Government, Newspapers
From Muck Rack: In 2000, many Americans lived in a community with journalists — people whose job it was to cover school board decisions, announce small business openings and closures, root out corruption at city hall, warn commuters about road work and trumpet the...
by jpitney | Jul 4, 2025 | California Politics, Housing
Tobias Peter and Edward J. Pinto at AEI: In the 1970s, California had normal home prices—about on par with the rest of the nation. But since then, a toxic mix of ever-tightening environmental regulations, arcane zoning laws, and relentless NIMBY (Not in My Backyard)...
by jpitney | Jun 30, 2025 | California Politics, Democracy, Polarization
Mark Z. Barabak at LAT: Democrats may be California’s majority party, enjoying a sizable registration advantage. They hold 60 of 80 seats in the Assembly and 30 of 40 in the state Senate. But the state has nearly 6 million registered Republicans. There are doubtless...
by jpitney | Jun 27, 2025 | California Politics
Dan Walters at CalMatters: [All] of the versions of the budget, including the semi-final one unveiled this week, would fill the gaps for another year with payment deferrals, loans, accounting gimmicks and raids on reserves meant to cushion the effects of genuine...
