Opinion

ENDORSEMENTS: The Bee's picks | ELECTION 2012: Local, national coverage

The Conversation: Soldiers want service to count

By Foon Rhee - Updated: 3:39 pm

A proposed law in California would require colleges and state health licensing boards to accept relevant military training and experience toward course credits and licensing qualifications.

Editorial: How California can avoid the worst budget cuts

Updated: 8:55 am

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.

Editorial: Put pressure on Wildlife Services

Updated: 9:03 am

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.

Read Tom Knudson's investigative stories about the U.S. Wildlife Service.

Editorial notebook: Sacramento County fee shows how poor get nickled and dimed

By Ginger Rutland - Updated: 9:17 am

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.

Bridge series finds key questions unanswered

By Joyce Terhaar - Updated: 9:15 am

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.

Can market for clean-air credits resist profiteers?

By Dan Morain - Updated: 9:17 am

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

For Memorial Day: War is madness – no new statues and monuments should be our goal

By Jerry White - Published: 12:00 am

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

On the lighter side: Steer clear of actions that drive others crazy

By Bruce Maiman - Published: 12:00 am

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

California Authors

California Authors series: Rites of spring

By David Mas Masumoto - Published: Sunday, March 18 2012 - 12:00 am

Spring arrives with the first warm breezes and fogless mornings in our Valley. On our 80-acre organic farm south of Fresno, I disk our soil, breaking winter's crust. The peaches and nectarines awaken with blossoms, initially revealing their pink buds, then blooming into a glorious canopy. Millions of pink dots blanket the landscape. A new year has begun.

The Swarm blog

Wire opinions

Dave on Demand: The television week in review - May 25
An odyssey that ended well - May 25
Trudy Rubin: In Egypt, genuine political discourse - May 25
The Bain of Romney's candidacy - May 25
Facebook's lucky friends? - May 25
Alabama's bad road on immigration - May 25
Meghan Daum: Private pain made public - May 25
Courts side with voters, not campaign secrecy - May 24

Letters to the Editor

Dan Morain

Can market for clean-air credits resist profiteers?

By Dan Morain - Updated: 9:17 am

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

In memory of Rex Babin, 1962-2012
Babin's favorites	Best of 2011
The Arnold years	Babin archive
Purchase Rex Babin cartoons

Head to Head

Head to Head: Should state raise tobacco taxes for research, cessation programs?

By Ben Boychuk and Pia Lopez - Updated: Thursday, May 24 2012 - 12:16 pm

California's tax on cigarettes, last raised in 1998, is 87 cents per pack, ranking 33rd among the states. The average tax in all 50 states is $1.46. Voters on June 5 will decide whether to raise California's tax to $1.87, ranking 16th among the states. The additional money would go to cancer research, smoking cessation, prevention of tobacco-related diseases and law enforcement.

The Conversation

The Conversation: Soldiers want service to count

By Foon Rhee - Updated: 3:39 pm

A proposed law in California would require colleges and state health licensing boards to accept relevant military training and experience toward course credits and licensing qualifications.

California Sketches

Full-sized gallery | Story archive

Joyce Terhaar

Bridge series finds key questions unanswered

Editorial series

The Bee's editorial series on the sad state of our local parks

Reforming California

What should be the top priority in fixing California's system of governance?

Stuart Leavenworth

Rice country fears it could get rolled in a Delta deal

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.

Regs Run Amok

Editorial Notebook: Separating good regs from bad isn't easy

The regulatory reform debate in California just got a little spicier – not a bad thing for a topic that can be rather bland.