Category: Northern California

California Legislature Taking Up Job Killer Bills

Commentary With a recession likely hitting California, now is the worst time for the Legislature to pass bills costly to state businesses. But that’s just what’s happening. Here are four of the worst bills currently on the 2023 Job Killer List of the California Chamber of Commerce. Senate Bill 399 is by Sen. Aisha Wahab…


California School Board Trustee Responds to Anti-Parent Legislative Agenda

Commentary Standing up for parental rights over our children’s education is more than a campaign slogan—it is essential. As parents are taking action to regain control of their children’s education, we are seeing disinformation campaigns launched to upend their efforts. As a newly seated Temecula Valley Unified School District (TVUSD) board member, I’m compelled to…


Google Being Sued Over New AI Data-Scraping Privacy Policy

One week after Google updated its user privacy policy to allow data scraping from millions of users for artificial intelligence (AI) training purposes, the tech giant is now facing a class-action lawsuit. Google, its parent company Alphabet, and Google’s AI subsidiary DeepMind, were accused in a July 11 filing in a federal court in San…


California Cannabis Conundrum Continues, Major Distributor Collapses

California’s legal cannabis market has suffered a series of setbacks since June that have many questioning its future, with the largest distributor in the state forced to close and a global industry leader liquidating local facilities to free up much-needed cash reserves. The closure of Herbl’s California operations—a distributor that served approximately 98 percent of…


Annual ‘Report Card’ Ranks California Beaches

Heal the Bay’s annual “Beach Report Card,” released a couple of weeks ago, assigned letter grades to hundreds of beaches across the West Coast. The report card has been an annual release for the past 33 years and advises tourists and residents on which beaches to visit and which ones to avoid. According to the…


Teen Suicide Victim’s Unintended Legacy Lives on ‘With Hope’

In the early stages of navigating the unimaginable pain and grief that followed the 2005 suicide of her 14-year-old daughter, Amber, Annette Craig was not looking to create a legacy. She just knew she had to do something to help other people avoid the same misery. More than 18 years later, “With Hope, The Amber…


Failure of Child Sex Trafficking Bill in California Assembly Committee Sparks Outrage

A bill to strengthen penalties for repeat offenders convicted of sexually trafficking children failed to pass the Assembly Public Safety Committee July 11, with only the two Republican members voting in favor of the measure. Authored by Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield), Senate Bill 14 passed the Senate with unanimous bipartisan support and would have added…


Young Californians Are Still Dying in Fentanyl Crisis Fueled by Social Media

When Amy Neville, of Aliso Viejo, California, lost her 14-year-old son Alex to an illicit pill that contained a fatal amount of fentanyl in 2020, the dealer was just one town over—continuing to sell—using the popular smartphone app Snapchat. “We think Alex bought from him over the weekend before taking the pill,” Ms. Neville, who…


Young Californians Are Dying in Fentanyl Crisis Fueled by Social Media

When Amy Neville, of Aliso Viejo, California, lost her 14-year-old son Alex to an illicit pill that contained a fatal amount of fentanyl in 2020, the dealer was just one town over continuing to sell using the popular smartphone app Snapchat. “We think Alex bought from him over the weekend before taking the pill,” Ms….


Studying: Is It Still a Thing?

Commentary Greg Tanaka grew up around violence and decided that studying would be his way out. That led to a career in computer science and a move to Palo Alto so his kids could get a great education. But Palo Alto schools don’t seem to value studying right now. Last year, they excluded high-scoring students…