Editorials

One by one, the chiefs of Sacramento's parks, fire and police departments declared how happy they were to be talking about adding programs and people – not cutting them as they have for five straight years.

This was the clear and visionary speech that President Barack Obama should have delivered soon after Osama bin Laden was killed two years ago.

As early as today, the California Senate may vote on a bill that would allow nurse practitioners to practice to the full extent of their education, training and certification.

It's pruning season in Sacramento, City residents can always tell.

The obvious clues are the growing piles of yard waste sitting along curbsides uncollected. Some of the piles have been there so long the leaves and grass have turned brown.

Apple Inc. isn't doing anything outright illegal, or different than lots of other U.S. corporations are doing to shave their tax bills. It's just being more ingenious and aggressive than most about playing every possible angle.

Federal judges should be on notice: The U.S. Justice Department seems fully prepared to stretch the truth – or worse, spread falsehoods – to obtain search warrants. That's what it did in labeling a journalist as an espionage "co-conspirator" for simply doing what reporters have always done – attempting to solicit information from government employees.

Since the infamous 2010 Citizens United ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, our elections have been inundated with gobs of secret donations for spending by outside groups on political ads.

Given the promises to voters and the city's core duties, there's little doubt that nearly all of Sacramento's sales tax windfall will go to restore basic police, fire and parks services.

Meeting the Labor Day deadline for opening the long-delayed eastern span of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge must no longer be the singular focus of Caltrans.

If it wins final approval, the eye-popping $2.25 billion penalty that the California Public Utility Commission's Safety and Enforcement Division has recommended against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will be the largest ever imposed against a utility in the United States.

A yawning gap has emerged between University of California health system administrators and rank-and-file health workers.

Part town crier and part town scold, Tim Crews arrives at work each day at the Sacramento Valley Mirror with one goal – to print the news as he sees fit, and maybe raise a little ruckus in the process.

Gov. Jerry Brown has renewed his push to eliminate the $700 million to $750 million a year business tax break known as enterprise zones, this time with the goal of using that money in ways that actually would stimulate economic development.

In the nation's socially conservative heartland, Minnesota voters were the first to reject a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, which had passed in 30 states. Opponents of same-sex marriage had won every popular vote until then, including in California.

Unable to match the salaries of private and some public utilities, California cannot retain enough skilled employees to maintain and operate its complex and vital water delivery system.

The Kings are staying in Sacramento. The decisive vote Wednesday by NBA owners is a hard-earned, comeback win that should make the entire city proud.

My daughter is getting married in July so I was out shopping for a mother-of-the-bride dress last weekend.

Protecting national security is one thing. Fishing expeditions that could intimidate and impede important watchdog reporting are another matter entirely.

Gov. Jerry Brown made a call for "prudence, not exuberance" in his revised May budget Tuesday. While Democrats in the Legislature call for more spending, Brown is taking the right stance given a one-time revenue surge as a result of tax changes, the slow economic recovery and major policy changes being contemplated in education funding.