Political Stories Top stories Dan Walters: Late-blooming measure would fast-track bullet train’s ‘bookends’ — Backers of the $2 billion Caltrain electrification project are especially eager to proceed and see its connection to the troubled bullet train as a potential albatross. Therefore, they and Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, D-South San Francisco, are pushing a late-blooming “gut-and-amend” bill to allow the […]

Political Stories Top stories Cathleen Decker: It took only a month to count California’s votes. Here’s why, and here’s why it may get better – The lingering question isn’t who won the presidential primaries or the Senate race; the margins in those races, and most other regional and local contests across the state, were big enough that […]

Political Stories Top stories  California water-bill fight is percolating again on Capitol Hill — California water will retake the Capitol Hill stage in coming days, with compromise nowhere in sight. Deep into a largely arid legislative season, lawmakers will again reflect on the state’s drought as early as Monday and wrangle over efforts to address it. […]

Political Stories Top stories  Pot backers hope California vote will pressure Congress to ease laws — Marijuana advocates are counting on Californians to vote to legalize recreational weed this fall, bringing pressure on Congress to end anti-pot policies that include federal obstruction of banks doing business with the industry. California is nearly six times larger than […]