Top stories California lawmakers expect another showdown on overtime pay for farmworkers — The proposal would roll out new rules for farmworker overtime in 2019, lowering the current 10-hour-day threshold for overtime by half an hour each year until it reaches the standard eight-hour day by 2022. It also would phase in a 40-hour standard workweek for the first time. […]

Top stories Lawmakers rebuff Jerry Brown’s bid to slip cap and trade into climate bill – In a setback for Gov. Jerry Brown, legislative Democrats have rebuffed his proposal to amend major environmental legislation to authorize the extension of California’s cap-and-trade program beyond 2020. Sacramento Bee article ‘Meet your new neighbor’ cards paint extreme cases of criminal […]

Top stories  Affordable housing proposal ‘dead’ for year, Assembly leader says – Attempts to craft an end-of-session affordable-housing package are “dead” for the year, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said Thursday, saying there continues to be intense opposition to Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to relax local land-use rules in return for $400 million for housing projects. Sacramento Bee […]

Political Stories Top stories  George Skelton: Gov. Brown’s attempt to save the planet and his bullet train won’t fly — Gov. Jerry Brown needs to decide: Which does he really want to save? Our planet Earth? Or his choo-choo? He can’t handle both — at least not in the few days remaining before the Legislature […]

Political Stories Top stories Poll: California voters favor tax hikes on tobacco, top earners — Voters strongly favor ballot measures to increase tobacco taxes and extend a temporary income tax on the wealthy, according to a new poll. Sacramento Bee article Bill to allow more felons to vote heads to Jerry Brown — California could soon […]

Political Stories Top stories  Dan Walters: California’s warring education factions dueling over federal rules — The political war over the direction of California’s public schools has a new front in Washington, D.C., where the warring factions are trying to persuade the U.S. Department of Education to tilt their way on accountability. Walters column in Sacramento […]

Political Stories Top stories  Judge will wait before request to stop new vaccination law — A federal judge in San Diego on Friday said he will take at least a week before ruling on a request to temporarily stop California’s new vaccination law, an unwelcome delay for vaccination opponents seeking a speedy injunction that would allow students who […]

Political Stories Top stories  Swearengin to head community foundation after Fresno mayoral term ends — Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin still has more than four months remaining before she leaves City Hall, but she’s already giving plenty of thought to her next challenge. Swearengin, who will wrap up her second mayoral term in the first week of January, […]

Political Stories Top stories Who’s bankrolling or making bank on California ballot measures? — Over the next three months, California voters will get their fill of advertising by campaigns supporting or opposing many of the 17 measures that have qualified for the Nov. 8 ballot. What often won’t be clear in the TV ads and […]