California voters can be excused if they get a sense of déjà vu when taking their first look at the ballot initiative pamphlets for the fall election. That’s because they’ve already seen and decided on […]

The Field Poll is rarely wrong in gauging public sentiment. Its final reading prior to a major election almost never deviates more than 4 percent or 5 percent from the final vote. That’s why the […]

Not even the revelation that dishonest state parks officials hid $54 million in reserve funds from budget writers and the public can dim the wider import of a park-rescue bill now working its way through […]

When you’ve been given both the privilege and the responsibility to write a newspaper column piece on a regular basis, there is always a question of what one should write about. Certainly our own City […]

A combination of computerized tracking and public pressure have joined to make reporting of school dropouts in California the best in America, but those reports are still not good enough. For sure, we now have […]

There’s little doubt the high speed rail plan passed as Proposition 1A in November 2008 was designed to pander to voters in cities not exactly on the straight-line path between Los Angeles and San Francisco. […]

Hens were pecking at the grass in the yard. In the screened in room there were piles of beets and sweet corn, greens of all sorts, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, eggs, homemade berry pies, and jars […]

At least the conservative interests behind the latest move to limit or eliminate the influence of labor unions in California politics have heard what their critics said about their earlier efforts. Twice before, voters have […]

In the mix with the buzzing insects, the jangly nursery rhyme music announcing the ice cream truck, and the occasional stray firecracker left over from the 4th, many Santa Monica residents hear the gas-burping accelerations […]