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​Over the course of the pandemic and two years of prolonged school closures, public school students experienced historic ​setbacks in math and reading progress. California’s Smarter Balanced test showed that less than half of California students met the standard for English language arts, and fourth- and eighth-graders suffered the sharpest decline in math scores since 1990. The losses were most dire among Black and Latino students. It is abundantly clear that prolonged school closures were catastrophic to the academic progress and wellbeing of K-12 students. We now have the test scores to prove it.

Notorious Cardinal Mahony ResurfacesThe retired prelate who covered up abuse has resumed his left-wing lectures.Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, is notorious for his role in the Church’s abuse scandal. In 2013, he was “removed from all public duties by his successor, Archbishop José H. Gomez, as the church complied with a court order to release thousands of pages of internal documents that show how the cardinal shielded priests who sexually abused children,” reported the New York Times. “The documents, released as part of a record $660 million settlement in 2007 with the victims of abuse, are...

In a bid to capture one of the most quickly growing segments of American voters, American Latinos United has launched a new political action committee focused on defeating President Donald Trump in the upcoming 2020 presidential election. Led by former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and entrepreneur Fernando Espuelas, the committee will specialize in Latino voter engagement in key swing states in hopes of propelling the Democratic nominee, whoever that turns out to be, to victory. "President Trump captured about 30% of the Hispanic vote in 2016. If he falls under that threshold in 2020, key battleground states will be...

California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters is certainly no stranger to controversy and scandal. In fact, she wallows in it. Waters strikes me as someone who believes she is above the law and can get away with whatever she wants. It’s one of the reasons she is seen as one of the most corrupt politicians in Congress. A new complaint has been filed against Waters and it and the new unfolding scandal surrounding the complaint has the potential to finish off her career. The complaint involves an obscure fundraising tactic that has raked in thousands of dollars from state politicians in...

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is facing scrutiny from a conservative watchdog group for possibly violating fundraising rules in a slate mailer, with the group requesting that Waters’ campaign committee be audited as a result. The Federal Election Commission received a complaint Monday from the National Legal and Policy Center claiming that Waters, her campaign, and a pro-charter school group called Families and Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa violated federal election law. The complaint claims the group paid $25,000 for Villaraigosa to be featured in the Waters mailer when he was running for governor in the Democratic primary earlier this year. Although...

Hundreds of thousands of voters’ names have been accidentally left off the rosters in Los Angeles County because of a printing error. About 2.3 percent of registered voters in the county — or 118,522 voters — were missing on the lists for Tuesday’s primaries, according to The Los Angeles Times. But those voters are still able to cast provisional ballots, though they won’t be verified right away. This will have an impact in more than a dozen House districts, but will likely have the most dramatic effect on the race to replace retiring GOP Rep. Ed Royce, where Democrats are...

CNN projected Republican John Cox will finish in the top two, and advance to the general election in the California governor’s race. Cox, a San Diego businessman, was endorsed by President Trump. Republicans feared they could be shut out of the governor’s race in November, which could have depressed GOP voter turnout and adversely affected the party's congressional candidates. Former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was attempting a political comeback in the race, but will fall short of making the general election.

The California Democratic Party will not endorse Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s re-election bid this year, with delegates at the party’s annual convention giving the majority of votes to her top primary challenger, progressive State Sen. Kevin de Leon. De Leon got 54 percent of the vote, compared to 37 percent for the more moderate Feinstein, according to results released Sunday. But neither Democrat will receive the state party endorsement because they failed to reach the 60 percent threshold. The vote totals were not a surprise, considering the state party’s liberal leaning. And Feinstein leads de Leon by 29 percentage points in...

The California Democratic Party decided not to endorse in the U.S. Senate contest on Saturday, an embarrassing rebuke of veteran Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Feinstein, who has represented California in the Senate for a quarter-century, is facing an insurgent bid by a fellow Democrat, state Senate leader Kevin de León. He earned nearly 500 more votes than the senator, who was first elected in 1992. De León has cultivated relationships with the party’s delegates. He still faces a significant challenge in trying to topple Feinstein, who trounces De León in all public polling and fund-raising. The party also did not endorse...

The Public Policy Institute of California poll revealed a tight race for governor between Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa with nary a Republican in sight. Yet, in the end it may be Republican voters who could choose the next governor because of California’s top two primary system. With the June primary four months away, Newsom tops the PPIC poll with 23% support from likely voters with Villaraigosa closing in at 21%. Third position also belongs to a Democrat with state Treasurer John Chiang claiming 9% just ahead of the first Republican in the poll,...

A statewide survey released by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) on Thursday shows Democratic gubernatorial candidates Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom just five points ahead of former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, tightening the race for who will replace soon-to-be termed out Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018.

Former Los Angeles mayor and potential California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa told the Democratic National Convention the party "must stand up and fight for these 11 million" illegal aliens in the United States, "for we are our brother's keeper." "These 11 million people have no credentials to this hall," Villaraigosa said, "they don't even have a vote."

The newly released documents buttress a report issued late last month detailing how an immigration director was swayed with respect to hundreds of millions of dollars in film and TV investments under the EB-5 visa program. The U.S. Department of Homeland SecurityÂ’s inspector general has released hundreds of pages of emails plus other documents in support of its investigation of improper influence on the EB-5 immigration program. Many of the documents discuss hundreds of millions of dollars in financing for film and television productions from Sony Pictures and Time Warner with prominent politicians including former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendall and...

3,600-square-foot 1977 contemporary home has 360-degree views of the Hollywood sign, the Griffith Park Observatory, downtown Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean. It has three bedrooms, four bathrooms, and an art studio. Villraigosa was mayor of LA from 2005 to 2013, when he was termed out...

Now that Antonio Villaraigosa has opted out of running against state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris to replace Senator Barbara Boxer in the United States Senate, Latino leaders are looking for another Latino candidate who could challenge Harris for the seat. Concerned that the Latino community’s problems would not be addressed as well by Harris as they would be by a Latino, some Latino leaders with the Legislative Latino Caucus, which is meeting in Napa at a policy retreat, opined that there are other Latino candidates who could jump in the race.

The leader in the race to replace retiring U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) in America’s most liberal state is… Republican Condoleezza Rice, according to a new Field Poll released Wednesday. Rice, the former Secretary of State and Stanford don, is backed by 49% of voters–ahead of Attorney General Kamala Harris, the liberal Democrat who was the first to declare. The poll, which sampled 972 likely voters in California, presented respondents with a list of 18 potential candidates and asked if they “would be inclined or not inclined to vote for that person,” with no limit on the number they could...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – A Malaysian recruited by al-Qaeda to pilot a plane in a second wave of Sept. 11-style attacks on the United States pulled out after observing the carnage of the 2001 assaults, Southeast Asian officials said Friday. President Bush on Thursday outlined details of an alleged plot to hijack an airliner and fly it into a skyscraper in Los Angeles. He said cooperation between Washington and several Asian countries helped expose it. The plan never appeared close to the stage where it could be put into execution. Scores of arrests in the aftermath of the Sept. 11,...

**SNIP** After all, a Senate seat is a plum job anywhere, but especially for Democrats in California, where it’s been decades since any of them lost a reelection bid for statewide office. Whoever takes Boxer’s place can expect to become the state’s senior senator after 2018, when the then-85-year-old Dianne Feinstein is also widely expected to retire. But ambitious Democrats should beware: Their eagerness, even greed, could do in their party’s hold on Boxer’s spot. It has happened before in California, and very recently. The field of potential Democratic candidates for Boxer’s slot is large, possibly going beyond obvious prospects...

In his retirement, former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has decided to enter the exciting world of multi-level marketing, taking on a new role as adviser to Herbalife, the Amway of nutritional supplements. The move comes as Herbalife hires lobbyists and gears up for a battle on Capitol Hill over its business model. Congresswoman Linda Sanchez has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the company is actually operating as a pyramid scheme. villaraigosaherbalife2.jpg Wikipedia Another silly photoshop image Herbalife looks to be signing up Democrats who might have some sway with the Obama administration. Today, the New York Post...

In a rare display of just how quickly a tightly scripted national political convention can unwind, Democrats on Wednesday struggled to complete a voice vote amending their party platform to include language referring to Jerusalem and God. It took three attempts from Democratic National Convention Chairman Antonio Villaraigosa before the platform was amended, and a loud chorus of delegates yelling "no" met each attempt to pass the changes by voice vote.