Articles tagged with Governor Jerry Brown

“We live next to the ocean, but we also live on the edge of the desert. And without water, the dust will rise up and cover us as though we never existed.” – Chinatown
Gold made California boom. But water kept it going. That’s especially true for Los Angeles, whose never-ending quest for water is a deep part of its history. Much of LA’s water comes …

Dorner. The LAPD will continue providing protection to dozens of families thought to be under threat by Christopher Dorner until the body found in a burned-out San Bernardino Mountain cabin can be positively identified. San Bernardino County authorities have said they are all but certain the body is Dorner, but L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigsa told KCRW this morning that the city is willing to …

After passage of Proposition 30, which raised taxes last year, Governor Brown said he’d use some new money to help the state’s 112-campus system of community colleges. His new budget proposes some $200 million in new funding, along with reforms designed to speed students through a process in which many get lost. We hear more from Kathy Baron, who reports for EdSource, an online …

Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California want to raise health insurance rates by 20 to 26%–despite the promises of the President’s Affordable Care Act.  Should the insurance commissioner Dave Jones have the power to deny the increases—as regulators in other states can?

Lakers leader. If the Lakers are to win a championship this year, they’ll have to do it without Phil Jackson. Speculation was rampant that the man known as the “Zen Master” would return for a third stint with the team. But the Lakers have hired former Phoenix Sun and New York Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni instead. The L.A. Times reports that the team was …

Super close. California Assembly Speaker John Perez says Democrats have won two-thirds of the seats in that that house of the Legislature, and he expects his party will get the same majority in the state Senate. If so, Democrats would achieve a coveted supermajority, meaning they could pass tax increases without relying on Republican votes. Sacramento Bee
Prop. 30 win. California public school students and …

Education is the subject of two propositions on next week’s ballot. Proposition 30 is supported by Governor Brown. Yesterday, he delivered a campaign speech in support of his “temporary tax for education” at Town Hall Los Angeles in the Biltmore Hotel. “It’s either money into the schools, or money out.  And we’re asking those who have been most blessed, who are most successful, to help us out …

Governor Brown has signed legislation to allow some illegal immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses, but he’s vetoed new protections for farm workers and a prohibition on County Sheriffs from working closely with federal immigration officials. Is he still the leader Latinos have counted on? Also, LA Sheriff Lee Baca stands accused of allowing brutal violence in county jails. Can the Board of Supervisors …

The US Supreme Court has ruled that California’s overcrowded prisons constitute cruel and unusual punishment. To reduce the population, Governor Brown and the legislature enacted “realignment,” which provides that non-serious, non-violent, non-child abuse convicts be sentenced to county jails. That’s where parole violators are going now, too. But the state prisons are still not emptying out fast enough, and three appellate court judges are …

In 1982, then-Governor Jerry Brown proposed a canal to divert Northern California water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and bring it to Southern California—irrigating the nation’s bread-basket along the way.  Voters turned it down, but Brown’s back again, backed by the Obama Administration with a new plan worth 24 billion dollars.  Even some Democrats think it’s a bad idea, and there’s no guarantee it …

 An audience of construction workers and state and local government officials gathered at Union Station to watch Gov. Jerry Brown sign a bill that will enable the state to break ground on a $68 billion high-speed rail line. The train would be the first one like it in the nation, connecting the Southland with San Francisco, with construction beginning in the Central Valley. The …

There are three superior judges up for re-election next week in Los Angeles County and three open seats on the bench. Most voters have no idea who’s qualified and who’s not. We hear how endorsements are made and where to find other information. Why should voters have to decide? Also, another story about cutbacks in public schools — and it could be worse. There’s …

Governor Jerry Brown today revised his budget to say the deficit will approach $16 billion.  And he says there are two ways to whittle that number down – cut spending, and pass his tax initiative on the November ballot.
The Governor used today’s announcement to pitch his plan to raise income taxes on the wealthy.  And raise sales taxes on everyone else by a quarter …