News
Walters: California budget is ‘balanced’ with massive new debt
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a 2020-21 state budget he described as “balanced, responsible and protects public safety and health, education, and services to Californians facing the greatest hardships.” Whatever its other virtues may be, the budget is...
DMV puts payday lenders to shame with predatory late fees
Californians struggling to scrape by know all too well the challenge of deciding which bills to pay now and which will have to be paid later. Unexpected problems like an illness causing them to miss work can mean falling even further behind. Progressive policymakers...
Caltrans investigations find waste and wrongdoing in state transportation programs
Craft’s office separately received 256 complaints of misconduct by state and local transportation workers in the last year and substantiated wrongdoing in 28 cases, including some involving misuse of state resources and falsification of documents. Most of the $7.4...
Editorial: California can’t account for billions of education dollars
It was heralded by then-Gov. Jerry Brown as a way to simplify K-12 education spending and close the state’s achievement gap by giving more money to districts that disproportionately serve needy kids. Since then, state spending on schools has increased about 50%. But,...
Schwab is the latest company leaving California for Texas, and it won’t be the last, expert says
Operating costs in Dallas are significantly less versus San Francisco. The tax and regulatory climate in Dallas is much more business friendly versus San Francisco. This also puts a microscope on some of the qualitative issues facing the Bay Area. For example,...
California governor’s latest budget proposal doubles pension contribution to CalPERS
California Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr. proposed a revised state budget Thursday that would double the state's contribution to CalPERS to $11.8 billion from $5.8 billion for the fiscal year starting July 1. The supplemental money from the state's $50 billion...
Award-winning dairy calls it quits
Brian Medeiros sat in the office of his Hanford dairy Tuesday and let out a long sigh. On the desk was a pile of paperwork that had to be sorted through, the visual evidence of what it takes to wrap up the Medeiros and Son dairy after 27 years in the business. Looking...
Sacramento city school district hires new chief at $295,000 a year
Fresno school administrator Jorge Aguilar has been officially named the next Sacramento City Unified superintendent with a starting annual salary of $295,000 – $5,000 more than currently paid to outgoing schools chief José L. Banda. District trustees unanimously...
$155 Billion a Year in Higher Taxes and Fees Proposed in First Four Months of Legislative Session
In the first four months of the 2017-18 legislative session, California lawmakers introduced $155 billion in higher taxes and fees – a staggering amount that will give pause to every business owner when considering expansion, and cause families to reflect on...