California Forum

All eyes will be on Sacramento's own Justice Anthony M. Kennedy this week when the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral argument in two important cases dealing with issues of fairness and equality under the law. These cases ask whether our Constitution allows same-sex relationships to be treated differently than their opposite-sex counterparts.

Hundreds of Stockton children – their faces a sea of brown, black and white – sit quietly on the floor of their elementary school cafeteria, eyes fixed intently on the prosecutor speaking in impassioned tones about the evils of cyberbullying.

Should a reporter disclose to readers that an interview was done via text, instead of in person or on the phone?

As a presidential candidate, Mitt Romney was pretty much a weenie.

This is Ann. … She drinks blood! Her full name is Anopheles Mosquito and she's dying to meet you!

Showing rare bipartisan determination, Republicans and Democrats after the November election vowed to fix the nation's obsolete immigration system, aiming to have a bill drafted by March.

In early 2008, the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. in Chino issued a recall for more than 143 million pounds of raw and frozen beef products, following the release of video footage showing that plant workers were abusing "downed" cows, including using forklifts to prod the animals to their feet.

Up here in Siskiyou County we're launching a 3-year-long celebration of poet and novelist Joaquin Miller. It's not surprising he's getting all this attention. Miller was a fascinating character, with large and contradictory impulses: a gun-toting desperado who wrote lyrical poetry, a gold miner who railed against the pollution caused by gold mining. He fought Indians and married the daughter of a Wintu Indian chief. Not for him a life of humdrum consistency.

"There you go again." That famous phrase was uttered in a debate by presidential candidate Ronald Reagan in response to his perceptions of incumbent Jimmy Carter's mischaracterizations. More than 30 years later, it can just as easily be applied to the latest round of health insurance increases by California companies.

No matter what Barack Obama does, he cannot escape the shadow of his former political opponent.

In Stuart Leavenworth's "Scope and impact of Delta twin tunnels is starting to hit home" (Forum, March 17), we were happy to see his growing concern regarding the extreme damage that will be done to Delta communities if the tunnels are built. His descriptions of the extraordinary impact of all the "tunnel muck" these tunnels will generate should give everyone pause.

Fewer than 14 percent of Californians smoke cigarettes or other tobacco products.

"Tunnel muck" -- a byproduct of boring tunnels through the Delta to more easily ship water south -- is just part of the big footprint of the proposed Bay Delta Conservation Plan.

Magdalena Romero sat at a picnic table in this dusty town's one park, remembering the baby she named America.

What is it about books? Books contain the kinetic power of possibilities. Gathered on shelves, multiplied in old stores and stacked in libraries, unseen spirit emanates from each. Wisdom and knowledge contained within a room full of books could mysteriously seep into me.

Even as other states struggle to implement federal health reform – or decide whether to ignore parts of it – California is putting into place the final pieces of a plan to have the new system up and running by the end of the year. But tensions between the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown and Democrats in the Legislature could still scuttle that progress.

The day an 11-inch-diameter telescope arrived at Tulelake High School was when Jeannie Smith was fully convinced that she and her students were embarking on a real astronomical adventure.

Mariska Hargitay, better known as "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" Detective Olivia Benson, is the human intersection of life and art.

If the Conservative Political Action Conference were a papal conclave, black smoke would be billowing from the chimney at the Gaylord Convention Center.

One of the biggest questions about Pope Francis is whether he will be a politically activist pontiff who – much as he has done in Argentina – will be a thorn in the side of leftist-populist governments throughout Latin America. Some say he will.

California Statewide Communities Development Authority has been successful for more than 25 years providing more than 500 city, county and special district members access to low-cost, tax-exempt bond financing for job-producing projects.

Fifty years ago this Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Gideon v. Wainwright, a seminal case that brought lasting and positive change to the American criminal justice system.

Gov. Jerry Brown recognizes the importance of public education to California's future. "Nothing is more determinative of our future," he said in his State of the State address, "than how we teach our children." He continued: "If we fail at this, we will sow growing social chaos and inequality that no law can rectify."

Like much in Vegas, the façade of Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital is deceiving.

Even cows don't like daylight saving time.