California Forum

A promise of big money has a way of quieting nagging questions.

More than six months after Charles Piller's first report on problems with the Bay Bridge, neither the highest officials at Caltrans, nor Gov. Jerry Brown, are publicly addressing several serious questions.

When I was in Vietnam, Armed Forces Radio frequently played a song called "Abraham, Martin and John."

After the Kings' and the Maloofs' rejection of the downtown arena deal, the question is what's next for the railyard?

A state budget deficit eclipsing $15 billion, the nation's third-highest unemployment rate at 10.9 percent, and 2.1 million residents eager but unable to find work.

Driving can bring out the worst in people, which means it also brings out pet peeves that set off the rest of us.

When news broke that a vial of Ronald Reagan's blood was being auctioned online, the price quickly jumped to $30,000 as websites and blogs explored a tantalizing possibility: Did this mean the late president could be cloned?

USDA ought to make Wildlife Services contracts a matter of public record – as well as money received from states, counties, cities, livestock businesses and individual farmers and ranchers to control predators.

With the state facing a budget deficit of at least $15.7 billion, lawmakers will need to enact painful cuts to programs that provide real benefits to real Californians. But by ending certain tax breaks, they make sure the pain isn't borne solely by the state's most vulnerable.

The past several days of Newark Mayor Cory Booker's life have been painfully amusing to watch.

Last October I wrote a column complaining about the convenience fee Sacramento County courts charged me for the dubious privilege of paying a traffic fine by credit card online.

Mods seem to be on the rise, and that's good for California, although partisans remain convinced that the middle of the road is a place for yellow streaks and dead skunks.

A gift of time brings me to a hill town in Tuscany this past winter. In the footsteps of D.H. Lawrence, Charles Dickens, Henry James and other artists, writers and travelers, I'm curious. I've come here for five weeks to find out why we search for sensations and connections from this ancient Etruscan place. What makes the Tuscan countryside so extraordinary?

Steve Wiegand has taken the liberty to read the Official Voter Information Guide, distill the verbiage and present it in a more compact and much-easier-to-understand format.

California is at war over water, and rice farmers – because they plant and flood more than a half million acres of fields each year – are the state's most conspicuous users of this finite resource. That means they have a big fat target on their backs for anyone who wants to get their hands on more water.

With the U.S. House and Senate each having finally passed a multi-year, multibillion-dollar federal transportation authorization bill, Congress now must reconcile the differences between the two versions.

What a difference four years make.

American federalism was purposely crafted to make change difficult. As much as we complain about the inefficiency of government – sometimes with good reason – we often forget that its slow speed has given us a strong and stable democracy. Decisions that affect the public, or the spending of public dollars, should be methodical.

John Boehner thinks it's kind of funny.

California's history and commitment to environmental and clean energy leadership is unquestionable, with energy efficiency standards, renewable energy programs and the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act, to name a few.

There's a historic adage that says justice delayed is justice denied. The same can be said about equality. When civil rights come with a waiting period for some but not others; well, that's not equal.

Across the political spectrum, people agree that quality teaching is essential to student success. The National Council on Teacher Quality puts it this way: "Effective teachers matter a great deal and ineffective teachers may matter even more."

They're talking about pain at the $3 billion California stem cell agency. And mortality. But not the end of life as you and I know it.

Attorney General Kamala Harris is sponsoring bills in the Legislature that would allow prosecutors to more readily seize pimps' property.