Free Republic

Citing significant new costs to the state and a negative effect on businesses, the Brown administration’s Finance Department is opposing a bill that would raise California's $9 minimum wage to $11 an hour on Jan. 1 and boost it again to $13 in 2017. “The Department of Finance is opposed to this bill because it results in significant, unbudgeted costs to the General Fund,” the report says. “Further, Finance notes the net impact of an increased minimum wage on California’s economy and state budget is likely to be negative.” “For the economy, losses from higher production costs to businesses would...

Sunday night in Los Angeles as a 30 year-old white woman walked with her boyfriend near Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, a mysterious Black man walked up behind the couple and without saying a word fired a shotgun blast to the back of the woman’s head, according to police. The killer was seen carrying the shotgun as he ran to a car and drove away. The search for the killer continues. The Los Angeles Times reported: “The man walked up from behind the woman as she walked with her boyfriend in Hollywood near Sunset Boulevard. He aimed a shotgun and killed...

A new experiment in California aims to solve two problems with one program. A pilot program backed by the California Air Resource Board is offering some big kick backs for residents of the Greater Los Angeles area and San Joaquin Valley if they turn in old gas guzzling vehicles for more energy efficient ones. The lower their income the more money could be coming their way. In fact, in the right situations, residents could get an electric or hybrid car for nothing. Literally $0. According to the press release from the Air Resource Board: The program works by providing increasingly...

The demographers agreed: at some point in 2014, Latinos would pass whites as the largest ethnic group in California. Determining when exactly that milestone would occur was more of a tricky question. Counting people isn't like counting movie ticket receipts. The official confirmation had to wait until new population figures were released by the Census Bureau this summer. The new tally, released in late June, shows that as of July 1, 2014, about 14.99 million Latinos live in California, edging out the 14.92 million whites in the state.

Governor Jerry Brown signed SB-277 - the highly controversial vaccine exemption bill - into law Tuesday. California will now have one of the toughest school vaccination laws in the country. The new law will require almost all children to be fully vaccinated in order to attend school - public or private - regardless of their parents' personal or religious beliefs. The only exception would be for children with medical conditions. The legislation spurred heated, sometimes raucous debate leading up to its approval. Check out the latest from KPCC 's Health Reporter Rebecca Plevin on SB-277 here. One of the law's...

California Gov says yes to poisoning more children with mercury and aluminum in manditory vaccines,” he said. “This corporate fascist must be stopped.” He went on to say the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is corrupt because they “can’t solve a problem they helped start.” Carrey, who lives in Los Angeles, said he does not oppose vaccines, but is rather “anti-neurotoxin.” He believes vaccines should be free of chemicals and certain compounds, such as mercury and thimerosal. “All we are saying is, 'Take the neurotoxins out of the vaccines.' Make them toxin free. History will show that that...

They boost their teams from the sidelines and promote them by appearing in calendars and at fan events, but some sports cheerleaders say they are still not considered team employees and are paid what amounts to less than minimum wage. California legislation believed to be the first of its kind in the nation is set to change that. The bill approved by the state Senate on Monday and sent to the governor for his signature would require that cheerleaders be paid at least minimum wage and overtime and sick leave if they work for professional sports teams based in California....

It’s official: Hispanics are now the largest ethnic group in California. About 15 million Hispanics lived in California on July 1, 2014, compared to roughly 14.9 million non-Hispanic whites, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released late last week. The California Department of Finance predicted in 2013 that Hispanics would outnumber whites in 2014; the census figures confirm that prediction.

It's a musician's forum but they talk about current events and politics, without really talking about politics. They're discussing the current water shortage and are dancing around the real issues, viz. moonbeam inviting the entire third world into the state and the fact that the "environmentalists" (who I suspect of actually following some primitive stone aged religion attaching spiritual significance to a turtle) are determined to return civilization to wilderness. Unbelievable. Liberals are truly insane. Discussion here.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday ended months of speculation by signing off on contentious legislation -- Senate Bill 277 -- that requires almost all California schoolchildren to by fully vaccinated in order to attend public or private school, regardless of their parents' personal or religious beliefs.

California has become the place where politicians go to rich people's homes to talk about the lives of less-fortunate people they rarely meet. What's notable is the fact that California, despite its huge number of electoral votes, is no longer in play politically in general elections. The state is widely considered to be a shoo-in for Democratic presidential candidates. But contenders from both parties continue to visit to raise money, which they spend on advertising and other campaign costs in battleground states. That’s why visits by presidential contenders to the Golden State tend to be private affairs rather than public...

Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva don’t agree on much, but both worry California could take Arizona’s water. The conservative governor and the liberal congressman say Arizona must be vigilant to ensure its drought-parched neighbor doesn’t use federal action to grab some of Arizona’s Colorado River supply. Of particular concern is a California drought bill that’s been quietly negotiated for months in the U.S. Senate. “The secrecy generates concern and nervousness. Nobody I know in Arizona knows what’s in this bill at this point,” says Chuck Cullom, who manages Colorado River issues for the Central Arizona Project,...

A Nation of Islam leader believes that the vaccine could harm black boys and compares it to the Tuskegee syphilis study. But a coalition of other black organizations says the vaccines are needed and the fears are unfounded.Nation of Islam Western Regional Minister Tony Muhammad warns members of the California Legislative Black Caucus of a political backlash from their community if they support a bill that would mandate childhood vaccinations, according to the Los Angeles Times. Voting in favor of the bill, which may come up in the Assembly on Thursday, would be “a traitorous act,” Muhammad said, according to...

For the past 11 years, Chief Executive magazine has been polling hundreds of CEOs from across the nation and evaluating state budgetary and economic growth metrics to determine the best and worst states for business. And for the 11th straight year, California has come in dead last. Texas repeated as the best state for business, aided by its lack of corporate or personal income taxes, and Florida, also without an individual income tax, once again finished runner-up. Rounding out the bottom five of the list were New York, Illinois, New Jersey and Massachusetts, which remained unchanged from last year’s survey....

The other forty-nine states do not fully comprehend how the Golden State has engineered the demolition of a positive job environment. The only thing most hear about today is the drought and our government-enhanced water shortage. The way most Americans become familiar with the anti-employer environment is if another one of our companies moves to their area or one of our residents moves to their area, telling horror stories of how their business was killed by the force of the accumulated regulations. The only businesses that seem to be impervious are located in Silicon Valley or the new Silicon Beach...

There's a serious drought in California, largely the result of government action in saving fish species rather than building additional infrastructure.  Now government in that state has ordered severe restrictions on the use of outdoor sprinkling, causing most of the lawns and gardens in California to shrivel and die. But many of California's wealthy citizens don't think those restrictions apply to them.  They can afford the $800-a-month water bills and don't see a need to stop the sprinklers. One such community is Rancho Sante Fe, where residents increased their water usage by 9% following the announcement by Governor Jerry...

Farmers with rights to California water dating back more than a century will face sharp cutbacks, the first reduction in their water use since 1977, state officials announced Friday. The officials said that rights dating to 1903 would be restricted, and that such restrictions would grow as the summer months go on, with the state facing a prolonged drought that shows few signs of easing. “Demand in our key rivers systems are outstripping supply,” said Caren Trgovcich, the State Water Resources Control Board’s chief deputy director. “Other cuts may be imminent.” It is too early to know the practical impact...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —It's a television ad that runs just 30 seconds, but its implication that immigrants are draining resources during the California drought has critics contending its message is divisive and untrue. "I think those ads are disingenuous," said Sen. Ricardo Lara, a Democrat from Bell Gardens. "They serve to further divide us as Californians."

<p>I offer another chronicle, a 14-hour tour of the skeleton I once knew as California.</p> <p>An acquaintance had also emailed and reminded me that not far away there was a mound of used drip hose on the roadside. That mess proved to be quite large, maybe 1,000 feet of corroded and ripped up plastic hose. I suppose no scavenger thinks it can be recycled. I promise to haul it away this week. One must be prompt: even a small pile attracts dumpers like honey to bees. They are an ingenious and industrious lot (sort of like the cunning and work ethic of those who planted IEDs during the Iraq War). My cousin’s pile across the road has grown to Mt. Rushmore proportions. Do freelance dumpers make good money promising to take away their neighborhood’s mattresses and trash without paying the $20 or so county dumping fee? And does their success depend on fools like me, who are expected to keep roadsides tidy by cleaning up past trash to make room for future refuse?</p>

Drought-stricken California is not the only place draining underground aquifers in the hunt for fresh water. It’s happening across the world, according to two new studies by U.S. researchers released Tuesday. Twenty-one of the world’s 37 largest aquifers – in locations from India and China to the United States and France -- have passed their sustainability tipping points, meaning more water is being removed than replaced from these vital underground reservoirs. Thirteen of 37 aquifers fell at rates that put them into the most troubled category. “The situation is quite critical,” said Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at NASA’s Jet...