Free Republic

The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California is at the highest level since 1995, thanks to a series of “atmospheric river” storms at the new year, and another this week, holding hopes for ending the drought. As Breitbart News has noted, California’s mountainous region has been the great beneficiary of the storms that caused floods in the Central Valley and coastal cities, while dumping huge amounts of snow at high elevations. The storms come after three years of extreme drought, which meteorologists said would last through a third winter, thanks to a pronounced La Niña effect, which typically...

More than a dozen states are debating whether to adopt California's plan to ban new gas cars by the year 2035. Several of the 17 states are likely to move forward with the plan, including Washington, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Vermont. California's restrictions are the strictest in the country, mandating that all new vehicles run on either electricity or hydrogen by 2035. The mandate is facing fierce pushback in states like Minnesota, where the Minnesota Auto Dealers Association argues the weather prohibits the use of solely electric vehicles.

After eight years of driving for Uber with a perfect 5-star rating, Richard Martin is considering changing gears — not because he dislikes the work, but because California’s soaring gas prices are making his career unsustainable. “I moved to San Diego from the Los Angeles area a little over eight years ago, and I thought I would do this for a couple of months,” Martin, 60, told The Hill. “I left the other day, and I couldn't believe that I had over 12,500 rides.”

Anti-Jewish agitprop has been appearing with alarming frequency on the prestigious, taxpayer-funded campuses of the University of California (UC) system this academic year. “Unfortunately, anti-Semitism has become fashionable again,” said Joseph Potasnik, a rabbi and the executive vice president for the New York Board of Rabbis, in a statement to the Times of Israel. “It’s not a big deal to hate the Jews,” Potasnik added. “The first group to get attacked is the Jews.” Some observers believe the instances of rank anti-Semitism are related to a campus climate which is favorable to boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement campaigns and...

Sacramento — California´s budget, which bounced back after years of deficits, is now being squeezed by rising healthcare costs for the poor and for retired state workers. The mountain of medical bills threatens to undermine Gov. Jerry Brown´s efforts to strengthen state finances — his central promise of the past four years. Enrollment in the state´s healthcare program for the poor, known as Medi-Cal, has exploded by 50% since President Obama´s signature law took effect. Although the federal government picks up most of the tab, state costs have also been growing, and faster than expected. Meanwhile, the annual bill for

It’s possible you’ve already heard of the greatest harebrained political scheme of the year: Venture capitalist Tim Draper’s plan to break California into six states, which might actually face a statewide vote in 2016. It all depends on whether Draper managed to snag the necessary number of signatures — 807,615 according to SFGate — to get the plan on the ballot. He’s claimed to have 1.3 million signatures, which would mean the residents of California would get to vote on the biggest breakup proposal in state history.

If a 9.0 earthquake were to strike along California's sparsely populated North Coast, it would have a catastrophic ripple effect. A giant tsunami created by the quake would wash away coastal towns, destroy U.S. 101 and cause $70 billion in damage over a large swath of the Pacific coast. More than 100 bridges would be lost, power lines toppled and coastal towns isolated. Residents would have as few as 15 minutes notice to flee to higher ground, and as many as 10,000 would perish. For years, scientists believed the largest earthquake the area could produce was magnitude 7.5. But scientists...

At least 43 convicted criminals are working as Obamacare navigators in California, including three individuals with records of significant financial crimes. Although some of the offenses are decades old, and although convicted criminals account for only 1 percent of the 3,729 certified enrollment counselors in the state, Californians still have good cause to be concerned about their privacy. Even a single crooked navigator could do significant harm to the public. That’s because when navigators sign consumers up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, they have access to lots of private information, including Social Security numbers, home addresses, and...

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown's image as a responsible, penny-pinching steward of California's finances has been cemented in recent weeks because of his renewed call to pay off California's "wall of debt. That's a term Brown coined when he took office to describe the tens of billions of dollars California owed to public schools and special funds whose coffers were raided to help balance budgets in the past. But look behind that $24.9 billion wall and you'll see a $330 billion skyline of other liabilities threatening the state's financial health. It includes $80 billion needed to cover teachers' pensions and...

<p>When he was sworn in as Assembly speaker last month, Fabian Nunez issued brave words about a new spirit of cooperation and bipartisanship in Sacramento. But everything in the system that put him in his exalted position says precisely the opposite.</p>

<p>Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, now Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's secretary of education, says a friend tells him that the only time he opens his mouth is to change feet.</p> <p>But Riordan's take on what he calls "the mess" in financing California public schools and his hopes for reform are right on.</p>

Clinton rallies round California's Davis By Hugh Davies (Filed: 07/08/2003) Bill Clinton has become a behind-the-scenes adviser to California's Democratic governor, Gray Davis. Mr Clinton is becoming a regular visitor to Los Angeles and is said to be "micro-managing" Mr Davis's fight to survive a recall election in October. The ex-president is seen as determined to use all his efforts to keep the Republicans from grabbing power in a state that is often crucial in influencing the outcome of presidential campaigns. His wife, Hillary, now a senator, is teeing herself up to run for election as America's first woman president...